The Texas A&M Aggies travel to Chicago to take on the Florida State Seminoles in their opening round matchup of the NCAA Tournament.
The Aggies were one of the multiple Big 12 teams on Selection Sunday who felt slighted by the committee. Originally the thought was A&M would most likely be a #6 seed with a possible chance of moving into a #5 seed.
Florida State comes in as the #10 seed but the Seminoles possibly could be welcoming back their best player for this game in forward Chris Singleton. After missing the last six games due to a foot injury, Singleton has been practicing and could reasonably be expected to play although coach Leonard Hamilton wouldn't confirm whether Singleton would play or not in interviews done recently.
On the season Singleton was averaging 13.8 points and 7.1 rebounds a game which aren't eye popping numbers but he has the ability to score in bunches as he did earlier this year against Butler. In that game he poured in 28 points while connecting on 6 of 12 from deep.
No other Seminole is averaging in double figures in points scored as the 2nd leading scorer is senior guard Derwin Kitchen who averages 9.9 points a game. On the season Florida State only averages 69.3 points a contest which is good for 154th in the nation. Texas A&M is actually a little bit worse in scoring as they average 68.9 points a game.
This game should be a defensive contest as the Seminoles have been plagued at times by poor outside shooting. Many times during the season teams would play a 2-3 zone against the Seminoles to take away their big men down low and dare the guards to beat them from deep.
Texas A&M also is not an offensive juggernaut but have some talented players especially Khris Middleton who will need to step up and have a big game against a tough defensive minded team.
To win this game the Aggies will need David Loubeau to play strong inside while getting the contributions needed from role players Nathan Walkup and B.J. Holmes.
No matter which team you cheer for in this game there is one player whom you should hope does well. Florida State forward Bernard James, 25, spent six years in the military and served a tour in Iraq. After completing his time in the military he played two years at Tallahassee Junior College before moving onto Florida State. If you get some free time do an internet search and read one of the many stories out there about him as it's a good and interesting story to be told.
Tip Time of the game is scheduled for 3:10 central time and the game can be seen on TBS.
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