Alabi Finds Success Without a Defined Role
Last night, in their loss to Duke at Cameron Indoor, Florida State looked quite impressive. Three of the Seminoles best players are sophomore big men: Chris Singleton, Solomon Alabi and Xavier Gibson. Singleton is the smallest of the three standing at 6'9", while Gibson is 6'11" and Alabi is 7'1". As shown by last night's ACC match up, the Florida State can only be as successful as their bigs. They aren't an outside shooting team as evidenced by their 34% 3-point shooting, but they have performed well when Alabi, Singleton and Gibson can score in the paint. Singleton is the most-perimeter oriented of the trio, making his outside game complementary to Alabi's and Gibson's post-oriented offense, but he does not handle the ball well enough nor shoot the ball well enough to stay on the outside.
Since Toney Douglas left the Seminoles for the New York Knicks in the offseason, no one has stepped up in his absence. Or maybe someone has, but Florida State has yet to utilize him. Offensively, even though Alabi is still developing and learning (he started playing organized basketball just a few years ago at age 15), Florida State needs to get him touches every time they can. At 7'1", Alabi can survive his lack of offensive game and score in the post- he is shooting almost 60% on the season. On top of this, he is shooting 82% from the foul line. For team success, he needs to get double-digit shot attempts every game; last night was just Alabi's second game in his last eight getting at least 10 shot attempts. Considering he is the team's leading scorer and most efficient scorer, the Seminoles need to work from the post out to the perimeter to have a better shot at winning.
By Corey Ruff - President - 1-28-10
