Why did the NCAA let Florida State drop from the rankings?
Florida State is still on the bubble, and despite some positive signs for the Seminoles this season, there’s no guarantee the school will make the NCAA tournament.
The ACC and Pac-12 have already picked the Seminole to finish with a record of 11-7, and that’s without question the team’s best record of the season.
But Florida State’s current standing in the nation’s top 25, despite some big wins, remains uncertain.
The Seminoles are ranked 23rd in the AP Poll, with a 0.8 percent chance of making the tournament, according to ESPN’s Poll Tracker.
The top 25 teams are all either in the top five or in the mix for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
But the Seminols still have some work to do to regain their position in the polls, as they’ve lost two games in a row.
The No. 25 Florida State team finished the 2016-17 season ranked third in the country, behind only Notre Dame and Clemson.
But despite Florida State winning the ACC regular-season title and capturing the NIT, it still fell out of the rankings in the preseason and missed out on the NCAA Championships, which it beat by defeating Miami in the Final Four.
The 2018-19 team had a better record in ACC play than the 2015-16 team, but finished 23rd, falling to Duke in the first round.
And the 2019-20 team lost to Louisville in the NCAAs, dropping down to the No. 30 spot in the rankings.
Florida State hasn’t lost at home since beating Alabama in the 2017-18 season.
The NIT is Florida State ‘s first tournament appearance since 2011-12, when the Seminomes won their first NCAA Tournament game in back-to-back seasons.
The last time Florida State lost to an ACC opponent in the postseason was at No. 11 Syracuse in the 2011-11 season.
That loss was one of the most embarrassing of the program’s recent history.
Florida St. has played at least six games in the ACC since then.
The 2017-2018 team also had an outstanding season, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-seasons title, and earning the ACC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship game.
But even with the win against Clemson, the Seminoses only have three ACC wins since then: the 2017 NCAA Tournament loss to Duke, the 2017 ACC Championship game loss to Syracuse and the 2017 Elite Eight game against North Carolina State.
Florida will play No. 10 North Carolina St. on Sunday, the first game in the 2018-2019 season.
With the NACC title, Florida St.’s season could have a chance to make the postseason for the first time since 2008-09, when it made the tournament for the third straight year.
Florida also needs to get through a tough ACC schedule, which includes No. 18 Clemson in the Coastal Division semifinals, No. 9 Louisville in one of its first two meetings with the Cardinals, and No. 16 North Carolina in the third-ranked Tar Heels’ first regular-weekend contest.
Florida could have another shot at the NCLC title after defeating Notre Dame in the title game, but the Irish lost in the Sweet 16.
The Gators also have a difficult road to the NBL, where they’ll play the New Orleans Pelicans, who are currently No. 8 in the standings.
The team has won the NBIQ regular-and-postseason titles twice in the past four seasons, including in 2019-2020 and 2021-22.
Florida won the 2017 tournament after beating Virginia Tech in the final.
However, the Tigers have lost four of their last five games against the Gators.
If the team wins the NLIU title, it’ll become the first team to reach 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, which is the longest active streak in the men’s college basketball game.