Who will hit the buzzer-beaters in the ACC after Michael Snaer graduates this year? The conference’s most reliable provider of last second miracle shots did it again — a banked three as time expired gave the win to a Florida State team that trailed Clemson for most of the game. In a season where road wins have been hard to come by, it looked like the Tigers might just pull out the victory in Tallahassee. Powered by the forward tandem of K.J. McDaniels and Devin Booker, the pair combined for 30 points and 10 rebounds, offsetting the dreadful performance by the mercurial Milton Jennings (who managed to make only one of his seven attempts from the field and turned the ball over five times).

Yet two newcomers to the Seminoles’ team managed to put Florida State back in the game. Kiel Turpin, a 7’0″ center, didn’t score (or even attempt) any baskets or grab a single rebound in the first half. Leonard Hamilton, despite all this, saw it fit to play Turpin in the second half as well, and it was a good decision. Turpin scored a game high 16 points, all in the final 20 minutes of play. The big man had some help from the backcourt too, as freshman Devon Bookert, not to be confused with Clemson’s Devin Booker, was a non-factor in the first half (outside of a pair of made free throws). Yet, Bookert would close out the game by recording a perfect shooting night that netted the Seminoles 11 points in the most efficient manner possible.

Of course, the efficiency of Bookert’s performance is mostly a footnote to the freshman guard’s own big shot, a three to tie the game with a little under a minute remaining. In another world, the transfer Turpin and the freshman Bookert would have been the stars of the Seminole comeback with their sensational second half play and clutch shooting. In this world, however, Michael Snaer is still on the Seminoles, and he hits the last second shot to give Florida State the improbable win. I doubt that Turpin or Bookert have any problems with their veteran leader hitting the winning shot, but it’s important to give the duo credit for setting the table for a phenomenal second half comeback and providing the rest of the conference a glimpse of Florida State’s future.

Michael Snaer won’t be playing at Florida State next year and it might seem that graduation will again devastate the Seminole’s roster. Yet, beyond the Seminoles’ star guard, everyone else is staying. Okaro White, Ian Miller and Terrance Shannon will be seniors. Turpin, Bookert, and the other freshman will have a year of experience under their belts. With an incoming class that has already signed highly regarded recruits Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Jarquez Smith, Hamilton has all the ingredients for a dynamite team. The fact that Florida State also has a legitimate shot at top prospect Andrew Wiggins is just gravy. There is no doubt that Florida State has benefited from Snaer’s leadership and penchant for clutch shots — last night demonstrated that fact. It also showed, however, that the Seminoles are a team that is rich with big-time performers.

KCarpenter (269 Posts)

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2013 at 6:45 am by KCarpenter and is filed under acc, microsites. Tagged: acc, clemson, devin booker, devon bookert, florida state, kiel turpin, kj mcdaniels, leonard hamilton, michael snaer, milton jennings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.