NCAA Tournament Part II-A: Who are we?

In this second installment of our NCAA Tournament preview, I'm going to go through the Seminoles' players individually. Watching basketball is much more fun when you know what to watch for in each player. First, the Seminole starters:

For the Seminoles, everything starts with number 23, Toney Douglas. Toney is a 6-2 senior guard, who was named to the all ACC 1st team, as well as the all ACC defensive team, and was the runner up for ACC player of the year. Toney lead the ACC in scoring at 21.3 points per game. As a scorer, he can do it all. He can penetrate and finish around the basket, he loves to pull up and take mid-range jumpers or floaters, and if his opponent plays off him, he has no problem simply stepping back and knocking down the three. He's also amazing at using his great quickness to force his opponent into blocking fouls, and he uses this ability both to score once FSU reaches the bonus, and to get opposing players into foul trouble. While the 'Noles as a whole are turnover prone, Toney is by far the most secure player with the ball. If "clutch" is a repeatable skill, Toney Douglas is clutch. The only thing I've noticed that he doesn't do well is find the roller on a pick and roll.

Perhaps even more impressive than his offense is Toney Douglas's defense. Toney has very quick hands, and is able to cleanly get steals even against opposing point guards as they bring the ball up the court. Once an opponent gets into their half-court offense, Toney stops going for the steal, and becomes a lockdown defender. In the regular season game versus UNC, Toney neutralized Ty Lawson, and later in the year versus Miami, he was able to stick to Jack McClinton so closely that McClinton only took 2 shots in the entire first half. Toney plays 90.7% of his team's minutes, the 25th highest mark of any player in the NCAA. His leadership with this young team has had a huge impact.

Uche Echefu (number 41) is the other senior on the team, playing the forward position at 6-9. For much of his career, Uche has been the Seminoles' main big man, having to fight against bigger, heavier, stronger centers. Now, in his senior year, the emergence of Solomon Alabi has taken some of the inside pressure off of Uche, but he still benefits from the toughness and grit he had to develop in those past years. He's the team's best defensive rebounder, and his defense has been described by the coaches as "clinical." Perhaps the highpoint of Uche's season was the regular season UNC game where he shut down Tyler Hansborough by keeping him from ever receiving the ball in the post. On the offensive end, Uche is well polished. He uses an assortment of power moves, finesse moves,and turnaround jumpers, and this year he's extended his shooting range to beyond the three point line. When he gets to the foul line, he's an 85% free-throw shooter. The 'Noles don't run very many isolations, but when they want to make an opposing big man play some defense (and maybe get into some foul trouble), they usually try and run Uche at him.

Red shirt freshman center, Solomon Alabi (number 32) has been a revelation. Last year, his season was ended by a stress fracture in his leg, which also prevented him from working out his lower body. Because of this, he lacks the necessary leg strength to really establish his position inside. Nevertheless, he's made himself a force. At 7-1, he's one of the nation's top shotblockers, right up there with UConn's Hashim Thabeet, and Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnando. He's also developed a beautiful finess game complete with baby hooks and a sweet 15 foot jump shot. He's a very good player now. When he has more time to build up his strength, he'll be lottery pick good.

Chris Singleton (number 31) was the most anticipated recruit of the incoming freshman class. At 6-9, 220 pounds, he's an amazing athlete. He can jump through the roof, is a beast on the offensive boards, and is a very good man to man defender. He has size, speed, and quick hands, which allows him to put up a very respectable steal rate. He does, however, tend to lose his man when the ball is shot, giving up offensive rebounds. He also sometimes gets sucked too far inside in help defense, giving up open threes. When he arrived, he drew immediate comparisons to Al Thorton. Unfortunately (though understandably) he's not quite there yet. He dribbles the ball too high, which leads to turnovers, and he's slightly prone to taking wild shots. He's not quite skillful enough yet to dominate as a driver and slasher, but he's still useful on offense because of his three point shooting. When he develops his offensive skills in future years, he'll be a force.

Derwin Kitchen (number 22) is a 6-4 sophomore guard in his first year at FSU. He became eligible with the season already in progress, so it took him some time to get up to speed. Now, he seems to have gained confidence and understanding in the system, and is turning the corner. He's a very good dribbler, and can break a press all by himself. On offense, he takes some of the ball handling responsibility off of Toney Douglas's shoulders. He can drive and finish at the basket, but he's not yet a great shooter from distance (maybe he can shoot, but he lacks confidence). Sometimes Kitchen dribbles himself into trouble, causing turnovers, but I think that his understanding improves with every game. Kitchen is at his best when he's pushing the pace after defensive stops, creating fast breaks.

Defensive Rebounds: Uche Echefu and the Rest, Part I-A

I became far too upset watching the Wake Forest game to actually analyze much of anything, and I don't think that I will be able to bring myself to go back and watch it again. Wake is really good at running the break off missed baskets, maybe better than UNC. Aminu is exceptional. We had very little answer for his offensive skill (though I thought that we could have been successful isolating Uche on him to try and get him into foul trouble). Toney handled Teague well enough, but the rest of their team was able to hurt us, even without being able to shoot the three. The most frustrating part was the refs. I won't say that they weren't consistent (though they did miss a few obvious calls that went against us). However, the game was called so tickey-tack that a team that plays aggressive man defense like we do really had very little chance. We couldn't stop their transition game, the refs kept us from being effective defending in the half court, and we never were able to build any energy offensively. Once Solomon was ejected, we were done. This game reminded me what a razors edge FSU walks between being able to beat anyone, and not even being competitive. A couple momentum swings against us can tip the balance way too far.

Anyway, back to defensive rebounding. The one play I did notice occurred in the first half when Solomon had perfect inside position on his man, but was unable to keep him sealed long enough, and his man managed to slide around him for the offensive rebound. Leonard Hamilton has often stated in his interviews that the stress fracture Solomon had last year kept him from working out his lower body at all, and that he's still suffering from a lack of strength. Now my original plan to determine why we have trouble with defensive rebounding was to compare Uche with Reid and Singleton, because the three of them spend most of their time at the forward position, while Solomon, who is our best overall rebounder, sticks more to the middle, as a true center. However, recall that Uche grabbed defensive rebounds last year (when he was our primary center) at a higher rate than Solomon does this year, and while our team last year had far less height overall, they ranked significantly better on the defensive boards. What I'm beginning to wonder is if our problem has more to do with Solomon's emergence pushing Uche out of the paint than it does with the rebounding skills of our forwards. When we next play a game that I can watch with a cool head, I will both compare Uche to Reid and Singleton, and also compare our rebounding prowess as a team with Solomon in the game to when he takes a seat.