So far, two easy wins over the vaunted Maryland pitching staff, with Luke Weaver going for the sweep tonight, 7PM on ESPNU.

R.I.P., M.C.A.

Now my name is M.C.A./I've got a license to kill. I think you know what time it is - it's time to get ill/Now what do we have here - an outlaw and his beer/I run this land, you understand - I make myself clear.

Probably share the accolades with Baylor, who should garner the top spot in the Collegiate Baseball poll. Good to see Florida's funk continue, as they drop 2 spots to #7 after losing 2 of 3 to Arkansas at home.

And Miami is finding yet another sport to be irrelevant in, as they are out of the poll.

Kind of surprising, I think. I would have expected Florida (really the nation's best team?), LSU (5-0 week), or Kentucky (took 2 of 3 at Arkansas) to ascend to the top spot.

The hits for this year's squad keep coming.

The combination of UNC's win over Maryland, Miami's loss at NC State and Florida State holding all tiebreaking edges over UVa means the Noles are the ACC Tourney's #3 seed for the 3rd consecutive season. Which, as can be seen from the link, means a 9pm (or thereabouts) start time for the Noles' tourney opener on Friday, March 10, opponent unknown. No need to call in sick, first-shifters.

Let's hope this #3 seed works out better than the first two years.

No, ESPN.com is not the selection committee, but its still nice to read. I pity the poor Tomahawk Nation member closest to our First Weekend location who's gonna have to deal with my drunk ass on their couch.

"Florida State is a lock. The Seminoles haven't looked like their best selves in the past couple of weeks; the offensive spurt that led them to wins over UNC and (at) Duke appears to have been a product of a small sample size, rather than any lasting improvement by this defense-oriented program. But no matter. Wins are the thing, and with two more last week -- a 48-47 win over Va. Tech and a that's-more-like-it 76-62 win at NC State -- FSU just keeps piling them on. With top-20 RPI, SOS and nonconference SOS numbers across the board, plus those two marquee wins, there's absolutely no chance this team misses the tournament. Book 'em."

Of course, the ACC can re-communicate this policy with all officials to ensure proper protocol is followed, but the question is, will it do any good to Hess' case?

Also up to #17 in the Coaches' Poll.

One wonders how long its been since FSU has been as high as #15 in the AP poll. Someone find out.

I also noticed that the folks at ESPN.com, in their infinite wisdom, put the Noles #2 in their ACC Power Rankings, a slot below UNC. Who petulantly fled our court before a 33-point beatdown was over. Makes sense.

Also newly ranked at #24 with the ESPN/Coaches Poll, and I noticed Lunardi's Bracketology has us at a #6 seed.

Also up to #20 in Coaches' Poll:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings/_/poll/2

And one other thing: for anyone who knows anything about the college basketball analysts over at ESPN, it will not come as a shock that, if only one of them was going to pick FSU to win the Battle4Atlantis, it was going to be one Mr. Doug Gottlieb. That guy has loved our hoops team for quite some time:

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/39442/feast-week-predictions-brackets-2

Second of two exhibition games. Jon Kreft, glad to have you back. 5 fouls and 4 points. Well, it could have been worse. Butler lost to their Division II opponent.

Writers slot the Noles in the same spot just outside the official Top 25 that the coaches did. But hey, lose a first round pick and still get a #26 ranking in the nation must be some kind of sign of respect. And not that it was unexpected, but only two ranked ACC teams.

I was initially unhappy with this, considering that FSU got to the Sweet 16 last year, but then I realized it is 108 more ballot points than we got in the current football coaches poll.

Accompanying article at the Democrat indicates his status is still uncertain, but I like the photo.

Tar Heels pull off upset at Wake Forest, 77-68. A win by Maryland at Virginia Tech (which would not be a total shock) later today (after Cassell Coliseum gets their bathrooms working again, see http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/preview?gameId=300580259), and the Noles are all alone in 3rd place (admittedly with one fewer game played).

Maybe not only are the Noles gelling at the right time, but the rest of the ACC is going to conspire to our benefit as well.