The giant slayers have arrived.
Florida State (14-5, 3-3 in the ACC), fresh off recent victories over then-No. 7 Wake Forest and former No. 11 North Carolina, will try to complete the hat trick Thursday in Durham against No. 1 Duke (16-1, 5-0). Seminoles' head coach Leonard Hamilton, who has pumped new life into his program, understands the magnitude of the task.
"In all my years of coaching, I've never been a part of a scenario where your team is on the rise and you play the [seventh]-ranked team, the [10th]- ranked team, and then have a chance to go play the No. 1-ranked team all in succession," Hamilton told Tampa Bay Online. "That's going to force you to really, really elevate your focus and intensity... Hopefully, that's what will help us understand what we have to do and hopefully it's something that will carry over for the rest of the year."
But as impressive as FSU has been in recent weeks, this has been the year of the Blue Devil. Duke comes into the game with its 36-game home winning streak intact, and having obliterated Georgetown in front of a sold out MCI center 85-66 Saturday. Chris Duhon and Shelden Williams highlighted the contest for the Blue Devils, scoring 17 and 26 points, respectively.
"Those two guys work together," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said to the Washington Post. "Duhon hit a couple of threes that gave us a working margin, and then all of a sudden, he'd go right in to Shelden, and Shelden produced. He was really strong with the ball, and he finished. You should shoot a high percentage if you get the ball around the basket."
On the other side of the floor stands Seminoles' guard Tim Pickett. The senior from Daytona Beach leads FSU in points per game (14.9), and steals per game (2.21). And against big teams Pickett has stepped up. In a matchup with Wake Forest, Pickett had 18 second-half points, which included six straight clutch free throws to seal the victory. Versus the Tar Heels, Pickett dropped 30, including six overtime points. His efforts earned him ACC Player of the Week honors for the second time this season.
Krzyzewski is a fan.
"He's a really good kid," Krzyzewski said. "He has fun playing. He's not going to lose because of being nervous. He loves being out there. It's an energy that he doesn't keep inside of him, it spreads to his teammates. I admire him for doing that." Besides Pickett, the Seminoles also have the consensus No. 1 freshman class in the nation. Starting center Alexander Johnson and reserve guard Von Wafer were both five-star prospects according to rivals100.com. Johnson is averaging 8.9 points per game, and Wafer is averaging 7.8 off the bench. Both freshman are great athletes, and perform well on the defensive side of the ball. "I think their defense at critical times gave them stops and gave them momentum to where they can execute," Krzyzewski acknowledged. "They have a good mix of veterans and some really talented young players. They're just a really good basketball team." Florida State's accomplishments over the last two games are remarkable--but both of their victories came in Tallahassee. Stepping into hostile territory amidst the Cameron Crazies will be a daunting task. "We have not been as successful on the road as we'd like to be," Hamilton admitted. "But I think that's a learning process. Hopefully we've learned from our last two visits. I'm encouraged by the progress we've made in the last week or so, and I'm hopeful that we'll have a better understanding of how to prepare ourselves when we go up to Durham this week."
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