The Boston College men's basketball team will take on a Florida State team on Saturday that can be seen as somewhat of a paradox. The Seminoles depend on their guards to propel both their offense and their defense, but the more they lean on these guards, the more likely the team is to break. FSU's strength in its guards can also be its weakness.
The Seminoles, who are 14-12 overall and 3-8 in the ACC, have a trio of guards who are the top three active scorers on the team. Each also has the ability to force turnovers because of the amount of pressure they put on offenses, making them threats on both ends of the floor.
Toney Douglas, Jason Rich, and Ralph Mims make up the active threesome that often determines the success of their team. This congregation of guards has recently been decimated by the loss of third-leading scorer Isaiah Swann, who averaged 11.8 points per game and is out with a torn ACL.
These interchangeable Seminole guards are known for occasionally pressuring their opponent for the length of the floor and jumping the passing lanes, both of which lead to steals that translate to easy fast-break points. Because of this excessive pressure, FSU is second in the conference with 9.7 steals per game.
Other teams have had great success when they were able to pressure the Eagles and force multiple turnovers. Duke, Clemson, and even Robert Morris all beat BC, and they had their pressure defense to thank for their success. In those three games, the Eagles averaged 19.7 turnovers a game.
Although it is explicable, and almost expected, that the Eagles would lose to superior opponents such as Duke and Clemson, the loss to Robert Morris shows just how frazzled this team can become when pressured.
Taking care of the ball on offense will be imperative to this game because of the excessive pressure put on by the FSU guards. Last year, when BC faced a similar Seminole team, the Eagles were able to pull off a tough 68-67 road victory largely because they didn't cough the ball up and limited themselves to only 11 turnovers.
Douglas, Rich, and Mims average 39.6 points a game between them, and most teams have a difficult time stopping all three of these quick guards at once. When all three are in the game, the Eagles have only Biko Paris and Tyrese Rice who match up well against them. The responsibility of guarding that third guard falls on the shoulders of Corey Raji, Rakim Sanders, and Shamari Spears, each of whom isn't an ideal fit for the task.
Despite that FSU isn't afraid to put three guards on the floor at once can also play to BC's favor. All of their starters are either around 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-9, so they typically play without any swingmen on the floor. In fact, the only player in their rotation who could be described as such is seldom-used Casaan Breeden.
With so many guards on the floor, there is bound to be a mismatch that BC can exploit. Sanders, Spears, and Raji will all be able to post up when guarded by any of these guards.
BC will look inside to any one of these forwards to exploit these disparities in height. Each of these swingmen has the ability to be effective in the post, and they will most likely be called upon to do so on Saturday.
If the Eagles can elude the pressure defense of the opposition and get the ball into the frontcourt to their forwards, they may be able to escape Tallahassee with a win.
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