Florida State Seminoles coach Luke signals a player from the sideline. The Florida State Seminoles host the Southern Methodist University Mustangs on Saturday, March 7, 2026 at the Tucker Civic Center. If there’s a stealth team in the ACC Tournament, it could be No. 8 seed Florida State.
The Seminoles (17-14), once buried near the bottom of the conference standings, arrived in Charlotte highlighted as one of the hottest teams in the league, having won nine of their last 11 games.
It’s ninth-seeded Cal (21-10) that faces a tough matchup against Florida State in the second round of the tournament Wednesday night.
In the next round, even tougher opponents await the winner. This is a quarterfinal matchup against No. 1 seed Duke, which matches its national rankings.
One of the early wins of the Seminoles’ turnaround was a 63-61 home win over Cal in which Chauncey Wiggins scored 18 points.
“They’re long, they’re athletic, they try to force turnovers. They do a lot of things really well,” Cal coach Mark Madsen said of Florida State on Monday.
Cal has been confirmed as a bubble NCAA Tournament team for the past month. Earlier this week, ESPN listed the Golden Bears as one of the ‘Next Four’ following the ‘First Four’ group.
Cal ranked 64th in Wednesday’s NET rankings, while Florida State was five spots lower. Translation: Both teams may need to win an ACC banner to make the NCAA Tournament, but a trip to the finals could just make it happen for the Golden Bears.
Cal has lost four of its last eight games, including an 80-73 loss at Wake Forest on Saturday despite a career-high 31 points from Dai Dai Ames.
Florida State’s turnaround was led by Robert McCray V, who paced the team in scoring (15.6 points per game) and assists (6.1 apg).
“He’s a guy that can get downhill and get in the paint,” Madsen added.
Leading the Seminoles is first-year coach Luke Loucks, who played on the only Florida State team to win the ACC Tournament in 2012.
“I truly believe that if we keep playing the way we’re playing now, we can win the ACC title,” Loucks said.
While discussing the importance of the ACC Tournament with his players last week, Loucks said he couldn’t coach the Seminoles at age 35 if he wasn’t part of a championship team.
“If you perform for just one week in your life, this is the greatest opportunity. You can benefit from it for 20, 30, 40 years,” Loucks said.
–Field level media
