Dwayne Bacon’s return to FSU fuels NCAA Tournament run

Emblazoned on the shirts were two words written in gold: Winner Stays. Fellow guard Canyon Barry has scored seven or fewer points in four of those games, including two scoreless outings.

While preparing for the first round matchup with Florida in the NCAA Tournament, East Tennessee State threw down a series of epic dunks in their practice on Wednesday.

The No. 3 seed Florida State Seminoles and No. 14 seed Florida Gulf Coast Eagles open West Region play with a first-round game in front of what each program could nearly consider a home crowd Thursday night at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.

“It would mean a lot to the city [Johnson City]”, Cromer said, “and to just know that our season is not over”. “We had our ups and downs”. We know, and we understand its’ win or go home. “I feel like he’s disrespected and we’re going to try and go make it right for him”.

The victor between Virginia and UNCW faces the victor of East Tennessee State and Florida.

The Buccaneers finished the regular season on a 9-1 tear over their last 10 games and wrapped up their year with a 27-7 record overall.

Regardless, it’s great to play in the tourney again, and hopefully it’s a long, successful run for coach Leonard Hamilton’s guys.

17-3 in games where they shoot worse than 38 percent from three…but remember, FGCU isn’t a very good three-point shooting team to begin with. “Our margin for error has decreased, so we’ve just got to be ultra sound”. They finished the year 25-8 and finished second in the best conference in College basketball, the ACC and now have everyone knowing who they are. “There’s a lot of teams that we haven’t played. We’ll be familiar with them”.

Unlike fellow standout guard Malik Beasley, who entered the NBA draft after last season and has spent his rookie season with the Denver Nuggets in and out of the NBDL, Bacon decided he needed another year of college basketball to improve.

Despite being neighbors, they have only met once previously, with the Seminoles winning 58-53 but failing to cover the spread as 10.5-point chalk in the 2014 NIT.

Brandon Goodwin seems to be the lucky charm for the team he leads with 18.1 points per game.

The reason why they are able to play at a fast pace is due to 12 players averaging eight minutes or more per game. The Eagles remain the only No. 15 seed to get that far in the NCAA tournament.

“I feel like I’ve improved my defense a heckuva lot better than a year ago”, Bacon said. All they have is the film. The consecutive losses to Vanderbilt to end the season are a bit troubling, but Florida is better than they played in those contests and they are playing in Orlando here. “They haven’t really seen us in person”.