Wednesday's Worth the Price of Admission

Florida State at Duke 9 pm ESPN Currently Duke (16-3, 4-2) and Florida State (15-4, 3-2) are firmly in the middle of the pack in the ACC race right now. One of the two is looking for some seperation this evening. The game is at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the Blue Devils are undefeated this season.

Duke is coming down from a monster win at Clemson on Saturday, 60 to 47. Nolan Smith had a great outing, netting 22 points and is averaging 22 over the last four games. The Plumlee brothers, Duke's talented freshman forwards, are pulling a disappearing act. Kyle Singler has been playing better, but Duke really needs the Plumlees if they want to make a serious run at the ACC crown this season.

Meanwhile, there is no doubt that Florida State's strength is down low. Their leading scorer is Solomon Alabi, their 7'1 center, who's also averaging almost 3 blocked shots a game. The Seminoles second leading scorer is forward Chris Singleton. Florida State is going to try and bang in the paint. The most interesting storyline will be how Duke responds. For a team that has consistently been questioned about it's interior presence the past four or five seasons, this is a big one at home.

I see Duke doing just enough down low to allow their superior guard play to pull this one out. Unfortunately for the Seminoles, I don't think they have the depth or the maturity at the guard spot to pull off the upset at Duke. Still, likely to be the best action around this evening.