ACC Tournament 2012 Scores: Seminoles Send a Message in Defeat of Duke

In a surprise to perhaps the rest of the field, the No. 17 Florida State Seminoles sent a message to the entire nation as they took down the No. 6 Duke Blue Devils Saturday in the semifinals in the ACC tournament.

Next on the agenda for them is the finals, in which they will take on the North Carolina Tar Heels before making their way into the NCAA tournament.

If we learned anything from these Seminoles in this upset win over the No. 6 team in the nation, it is that coach Leonard Hamilton's team is resilient and will play it down to the wire.

It wasn't a runaway victory for the Seminoles, but they kept ahead for the majority of the game. They continued to do so even when things got close and the Blue Devils looked to be prepared to flip the momentum.

Still, the team stuck in it and made sure it didn't lose the edge it had on its opponent.

Even when Duke freshman sensation Austin Rivers split apart the Seminoles to make the game 60-59 with the closing seconds approaching, the Seminoles made sure they wouldn't let that lead completely slip away.

Luke Loucks made a two-pointer with just about 10 seconds left in the game, which gave the team a three-point lead.

When Loucks shot the ball, he didn't even seem fazed as he let it off and sank it with great confidence.

If the team can continue to play like this in the final and going forward, FSU can potentially be a real threat going into the Big Dance.

By no means are the Seminoles an easy team to begin with, but their play here late down the stretch just shows that they are ready to take the field by storm.

It will be interesting to see how they will fare against the Tar Heels in the final game, but if they play anything like how they did today, this team may be able to once again shock the world as they claim the ACC title.

Jeff Chase is a Featured Columnist for the Chicago Cubs and Arizona State football team.

Follow @Real_Jeff_Chase