Few observers in the Sunshine State will realize. Not with the No. 1 football team in the nation also residing in Tallahassee.

Such is the life of an overshadowed sports squad — just ask the Duke football team how many fans showed for its game against Georgia Tech the day after a packed Midnight Madness practice for the hoops squad.

“The success they’ve had (on the football field) over the past 12 years, they have a dynasty there,”Florida State forward Ron Hale said of the “other” Seminoles. “The biggest thing is that we have to win ball games. If you win ball games, people start respecting you and coming out to the games. If I was just a normal student I’d support the football team too. They’re going to win and compete for championships every year.”

That’s not something the Seminoles are expected to do yet in basketball. Steve Robinson’s team was selected eighth in a preseason poll conducted by media members at the recent ACCOperation Basketball meeting in Greensboro. Florida State tied for seventh in the league last year with a 5-11 mark (13-17 overall). That season came on the heels of an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1998, Robinson’s first year.

“I think we’re moving in the right direction,”Robinson said. “We’re certainly not where we want to be as a basketball team, but Ican tell you this — we’re a whole heckuva lot closer now that when we first got here.”

One of the main reasons for that is Hale, a 6-foot-8 senior who led the Seminoles in scoring, field goal percentage, free-throw shooting, rebounding and blocked shots. Hale averaged 18 points a game in the ACC last season and earned all-conference honors.

The small forward enjoyed the stats as well as the honors that came with them, but wants a little more help this season.

“I wouldn’t mind leading again, but it’d be good to have some other guys up there competing for those spots,”Hale said. “The more guys up there competing for those spots, the better this ball club will be instead of every night going out, ‘There’s Ron Hale leading in all these categories.’ ”

Still, there is no question that this is Hale’s team.

“Ron has to learn that he can dominate games. As he continues to grow and mature as a player, those opportunities will exist.”

An inside game could help Hale the most. Opponents out-rebounded Florida State last year and blocked nearly twice as many shots as did the Seminole front line.

Two of three freshmen on the team stand 6-10 and fill both forward and center spots. Included along with the 230-pound Mike Matthews is Nigel Dixon, a 350-pounder out of Orlando. Robinson said Dixon can leg press 1,000 pounds and bench 320, making him sound more like a Bobby Bowden recruit than one of Robinson’s.

Senior center Justin Mott, also 6-10, brings a season of experience to the floor after starting 24 games a year ago. David Anderson (7-0, 245 pounds) played his freshman year at Brigham Young and transferred after participating in a two-year Mormon mission.

“I see a lot of bodies around the basket that I haven’t seen before,”Robinson said. “There’s a lot more grunting and groaning going on under the basket than there was last year, that’s for sure.”

The sophomore center is the lesser-known of FSU’s twoAndersons. Damous Anderson started half the ACC games last year and played well, averaging 12.4 points and 5.3 rebounds a game.

Also finishing strong was point guard Delvon Arrington. His sophomore debut included a trial by fire as he started 29 of 30 games. But he knew how to find his teammates, finishing third in the league in assists (six per game) and 17th nationally.

“Delvon played his first ACCgame and by the end of the year he was third in the league in assists,” Robinson said. “That’s a tremendous job for a guy in his first year. He’s got to come back with that kind of performance and upgrade it a little more.”

That’s what Robinson hopes all his players can do — improve their individual skills and realize their potential as a team.

“A lot of winning is in knowing how to. That’s such a learned behavior,”Robinson said. “You want your team to want to compete. Going on the road, playing in somebody else’s place, I love it. Then coming back home — ‘Fellas, we’ve got to defend our home turf.’

“You’ve got to love that kind of environment. You don’t come into this league if you don’t love the challenge. If you’re not into those things, you’ll just get swallowed up, chewed up and spit out.”