DUKE, FLORIDA STATE MEET IN ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Tonight’s ACC Championship Game features one team looking to possibly get a No. 1 overall seed, and another team looking to continue its revenge tour this season. While Duke vs Florida State, a pair of Top 15 teams in the AP Poll, is not the glamour matchup many fans may have been hoping for, that doesn’t mean fans heading to the Spectrum Center shouldn’t expect a thrilling outcome. These two teams met a little over two months ago (Jan. 12) in Tallahassee, with the Blue Devils (28-5) pulling out a dramatic 80-78 victory, thanks to a Cam Reddish 3-pointer with a second left to play.
Superstar freshman Zion Williamson, it should be noted, sat out the second half of that game for the Blue Devils after getting poked in the eye. But Williamson has returned, and so has the likely national player of the year’s dominance. In two games so far in this ACC Tournament, Williamson has scored 60 points on 26-for-32 shooting from the field (81%), while grabbing 25 rebounds and getting 6 steals. In the first matchup with the Seminoles, Williamson was on his way to another double-double, with 11 points and 8 rebounds, before leaving with his injury.
As for the Blue Devils, they likely secured a No. 1 seed in next week’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship with their final-second win over North Carolina in the semifinals Saturday, and now with a victory over Florida State (27-6) can possibly make a case for the No. 1 overall see in the tournament. Florida State, meanwhile, started 1-4 in ACC play but has rebounded to win 14 of its last 15 games overall and will be out for its second measure of revenge in ACC Tournament.
The Seminoles already avenged a loss to Virginia during the regular season by upsetting the Cavaliers in the semifinals Saturday night, 69-59. Now, they will be looking to beat the Blue Devils for the first time in over two years (Jan. 10, 2017, 88-72). Duke, which has won this event four times when it was held in Charlotte, is trying to win the ACC Championship for a conference-record 21 st time, while the Seminoles will try for their first ACC title since 2012.
