Tomorrow is Toney Douglas’ birthday. This one is his 23rd. None would be better than this one should he work his magic for the Florida State Seminoles one last time in the ACC Tournament.
Mr. Defense. Mr. Offense. Mr. Desire. Mr. Clutch.
Click here to see our special online-multimedia project on Douglas. It was begun weeks ago, before anyone dared dream FSU would be this close to history, before Douglas was named first-team All-ACC and ACC Defensive Player of the Year. You can see a 50-photo gallery on his FSU career by clicking here.
Douglas has taken this ’Noles team places none has gone before: to the ACC title game.
Sure, there are a bunch of great and very good players on the team. But ask them why they’ve accomplished so much more than expected this year. I’d bet they’d say T.D., taking nothing away from ACC Coach of the Year Leonard Hamilton, or Derwin Kitchen or any of the fabulous freshmen.
After shocking No. 1 ranked North Carolina in the semi-finals, probably costing UNC the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, but not much more, Douglas fell to his knees in the Georgia Dome. Afterwards, on national TV, the Georgia native said: “I’m so happy I’m about to cry.”
FSU’s opponent in the championship game is one of the teams always there: Duke, a team that is a media darling for a good reason. It is always THAT good.
Duke seems to own a spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine, a permanent spot on ESPN’s SportsCenter show.
FSU, on the other hand, was picked to finish 10th in the ACC. It came within a hair of beating Duke once in the regular season and took a whipping in the other game. The only time an FSU basketball player is on the cover of Sports Illustrated is when he needs extra cushioning for the bus ride.
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