This is not how the 2012 season was supposed to go for Florida State.
Three straight NCAA appearances from 2009 to 2011 matched a school record, and with its perennially ferocious defense and deep talent FSU figured to build on last year's Sweet 16 appearance. Most observers were comfortable tabbing Leonard Hamilton's program the third-best in the ACC.
Early on, matters proceeded according to expectations. Florida State rose to 22nd in the polls. Then came the big boys from the Ivy League, and things haven't been the same since.
Folks around the ACC routinely and understandably regard Ivy opponents as so much cannon fodder. But that's based on outdated information. Harvard has beaten Boston College on its home court for four straight years, including last week. Cornell, another Ivy squad then under BC coach Steve Donahue, reached the 2010 Sweet 16.
This season, Tommy Amaker's Crimson handed Hamilton's squad the first of three straight defeats, changing the complexion of FSU's fortunes.
Princeton and Harvard met in a single-game playoff for the Ivy's sole NCAA bid last year; the Tigers emerged with a one-point victory. This season Princeton lost by a basket against N.C. State at Raleigh. Then the New Jersey team journeyed to Tallahassee on Dec. 30, and at the half-full Tucker Center came away with a 75-73 victory in triple overtime.
That dropped FSU to 8-5 with a game on Jan. 4 against Auburn before commencing ACC action.
The 3 OT contest was the first in Florida State history, and the first involving an ACC team since a terrific battle on Dec. 20, 2003 in which Wake Forest won at Chapel Hill.
The Wake defeat was Roy Williams' first as head coach at North Carolina, and one of nine games ever matching ACC opponents for three or more extra sessions. Included was the longest game in ACC Tournament history, a 3OT affair won by N.C. State against Maryland in 1978.
North Carolina has played at least 15 extra minutes on six different occasions. That's the most by a league program. Most impressive were 3 OT victories on consecutive days in the 1957 Final Four to secure the national championship.
Three times conference squads engaged in four-overtime sessions - N.C. State against Canisius in the 1956 NCAAs, UNC at Tulane during the '76 regular season, and the Wolfpack again, matched with Wake Forest at Greensboro in the 1989 regular-season finale.
On that most recent occasion an N.C. State squad wearing form-fitting unitards forced overtime action before a divided crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum, using a play that rarely works.
Trailing 77-74 with two seconds to go in regulation, Pack guard Kelsey Weems was fouled. He made the first free throw and purposely missed the second. Backcourt mate Rodney Monroe rebounded the misfire just outside the lane and quickly scored to send the game into overtime. "For your information," N.C. State coach Jim Valvano said of the game-saving play, "that's how it's designed."
Only Miami among the dozen current ACC members has not played a three-overtime game.
| EXTRA CREDIT
Longest Overtime Games By ACC Schools |
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| School | Result | Opponent | OTs | Date |
| Boston College | W, 96-90 | Louisville (NIT) | 3 | 3-13-66* |
| Clemson | L, 66-65 | Maryland | 3 | 2-18-84 |
| L, 73-72 | at Duke | 3 | 2-24-82 | |
| Duke | W, 73-72 | Clemson | 3 | 2-24-82 |
| W, 87-86 | North Carolina | 3 | 3-2-68 | |
| L, 70-68 | at Virginia | 3 | 2-25-58 | |
| Florida State | L, 75-73 | Princeton | 3 | 12-30-11 |
| Georgia Tech | W, 112-105 | Georgia (N) | 3 | 12-19-90 |
| W, 72-71 | Virginia | 3 | 1-23-84* | |
| W, 71-65 | Oklahoma City | 3 | 2-14-59* | |
| Maryland | W, 66-65 | at Clemson | 3 | 2-18-84 |
| W, 67-65 | Rhode Island (NIT) | 3 | 3-7-79 | |
| W, 109-108 | N.C. State (ACCT) | 3 | 3-1-78 | |
| L, 69-64 | at N.C. State | 3 | 2-15-58 | |
| L, 47-46 | Memphis State (N) | 3 | 12-30-57 | |
| Miami | Played 2 OT on 12 occasions | |||
| North Carolina | W, 113-106 | at Tulane | 4 | 12-14-76 |
| L, 119-114 | Wake Forest | 3 | 12-20-03 | |
| W, 70-68 | Tulane | 3 | 11-30-82 | |
| L, 87-86 | at Duke | 3 | 3-2-68 | |
| W, 54-53 | Kansas (Final 4) | 3 | 3-23-57 | |
| W, 74-70 | Michigan St. (Final 4) | 3 | 3-22-57 | |
| N.C. State | W, 110-103 | at Wake Forest | 4 | 3-4-89 |
| L, 79-78 | Canisius (NCAA) | 4 | 3-12-56 | |
| L, 109-108 | Maryland (ACCT) | 3 | 3-1-78 | |
| W, 69-64 | Maryland | 3 | 2-15-58 | |
| Virginia | L, 115-111 | Georgetown (NIT) | 3 | 3-15-00 |
| L, 72-71 | at Georgia Tech | Â 3 | 1-23-84 | |
| W, 70-68 | Duke | 3 | 2-25-58 | |
| Virginia Tech | L, 90-86 | at West Virginia | 3 | NA* |
| L, 48-46 | at William & Mary | 3 | NA* | |
| W, 105-101 | at West Virginia | 3 | NA* | |
| Wake Forest | L, 110-103 | N.C. State | 4 | 3-4-89 |
| W, 119-114 | Â at North Carolina | 3 | Â 12-20-03 | |
| * Prior to joining ACC.
Key: N-Neutral court; NCAA- NCAA tournament: NIT-NIT tournament; ACCT-ACC Tournament |
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