Notre Dame Basketball: Staff Picks - Florida State

Pat Rick, Editor (4-0)

Previous Pick: Notre Dame 84 - Virginia Tech 75

Notre Dame 84 - Florida State 81

“The football team burned me on a weekly basis for it, but I'm going to make a homer pick one more time and say the Fighting Irish shoot the lights out and pull off a shocker here. Beachem will be hitting from deep, Farrell will play fearless as always, and Bonzie will dazzle us with his moves in the post once more. Oh, and Vasturia will be his normal, consistent self and probably hit a big shot near the end of the game. Bacon and Isaac and Rathan-Mayes will all have their moments that put the fear of God into Irish fans, but Mike Brey's squad will refuse to back down and somehow pull it off. Also, Geben will get a dunk in this one, and be very emotional about it afterward.”

Jeff Czerniakowski, Staff Writer (4-0)

Previous Pick: Notre Dame 83 - Virginia Tech 72

Florida State 81 Notre Dame 70

“Nobody is going undefeated this year in the ACC. It is too deep and packed with NCAA tournament teams. This game sets up perfect for Notre Dame's first conference loss. Florida State is very good and coming off their first conference loss to North Carolina. Notre Dame could be running low on energy with this being the third straight road game. Look for it to be close throughout and then FSU pulls away late to win by double digits.”

Ryan Chichester, Staff Writer (4-0)

Previous Pick: Notre Dame 85 - Virginia Tech 79

Florida State 86 - Notre Dame 79

“We knew this day would come eventually, especially in the ACC. The Irish will fight hard, but fail to keep up with the high scoring Seminoles (second in the ACC in scoring). Steve Vasturia and Matt Farrell will keep the game close for most of the game, but asking to sweep an ACC road trip is a tall order, especially when the final game of the trip is against a top 10 team that has won 15 straight at home.”

Brad Wechter, Editor (3-1)

Previous Pick: Notre Dame 70 - Virginia Tech 65

Florida State 87 - Notre Dame 75

“At the tail end of a road trip, the Irish have tired legs and come out flat. They get behind early, and can't make up ground in the 2nd half, ending the streak of close wins.”

Bobby Norell, Editor (2-2)

Previous Pick: Virginia Tech 79 - Notre Dame 74

Florida State 78 - Notre Dame 75

“First of all, I’ve been wrong on every prediction this road trip, so hopefully this pick has the same fate. That being said, I don’t know how Notre Dame will handle Florida State’s length and depth. They did well against Louisville, but they were also in the confines of Purcell Pavilion for that one. I think this will be a close one, but in the end it’s too hard to go against this Florida State team at home.

I might be a little foolish with this pick because if there is one thing I’ve learned over the past two seasons, once you start doubting Notre Dame that is when they prove everyone wrong.”

Joshua Vowles, Site Manager (4-0)

Previous Pick: Notre Dame 86 - Virginia Tech 71

Notre Dame 67 - FSU 63

“We can still make crab jokes, right? Yeah- SO MUCH CRAB!”