Every week, CNNSI.com's Albert Lin uncovers a player you should know about now and expect to see much more from later.

To say that Brett Blizzard cost Steve Robinson his job would be oversimplifying matters. Blizzard did, however, have a lot to do with the former Florida State coach's firing last March.

Blizzard, one of the country's best shooters, should have been a Seminole. Instead, he is firing jumpers and earning acclaim for UNC Wilmington. In his first three seasons he was named Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year, won the Edward Steitz Award as the top 3-point marksman in the country, and earned CAA Player of the Year honors. Heck, he even made the CAA All-Defensive team.

As a freshman, he helped the Seahawks to the first NCAA tournament appearance in school history. Last March, UNCW knocked off No. 4 seed Southern California in the first round, then made a furious second-half rally -- behind Blizzard's 29 points -- to put a scare into eventual national finalist Indiana.

"Blizzard is unbelievable," Indiana coach Mike Davis said after the Hoosiers' 76-67 victory. "Dane Fife is the defensive player of the year in the Big Ten, and [Blizzard] made unbelievable shots in his face."

The son of a coach, Blizzard plays with a sixth sense on the floor, moves well without the ball, knows how to use screens, and has a super-quick release. Other than a mysterious, year-long sophomore slump, he has put up consistently excellent numbers every time he's stepped onto the court. This season Blizzard has been even better, posting career-best figures across the board as he carries the Seahawks toward another NCAA berth.

"I like having things go through me," Blizzard told The Charlotte Observer. "I love being the guy who has to make the big shot."

Blizzard By the Numbers 6-foot-4, 195 lbs., Sr., guard 2002-03 Stats 20.6 points per game 4.2 rebounds per game 3.5 assists per game 2.5 steals per game 48.1 FG percentage 80.0 FT percentage

"The kid is just incredible," former coach Jerry Wainwright, who departed for Richmond in the offseason, told the (Wilmington) Star-News. "His work ethic, his game knowledge and his relentlessness are truly remarkable."

So where does Florida State fit into the picture? It doesn't, which is precisely the problem.

Blizzard grew up in Tallahassee. He attended Florida State University School, a "developmental research charter school" run by the university. It sits on the edge of the college's campus. Its teams even have the same nickname, Seminoles. Blizzard was Florida's Class 3A player of the year as a senior. The four players who finished ahead of him that year in voting for Mr. Basketball -- Casey Sanders (Duke), Tony Bobbitt (Cincinnati), Justin Hamilton (Florida) and James Jones (Miami) -- all play for major Division I programs.

Despite all that, Robinson and his staff didn't come knocking.

"They wanted me to wait a year and walk on," Blizzard said. "They thought I'd do whatever I had to do to go to Florida State. I'd worked hard and felt like I deserved a scholarship."

While Blizzard was becoming one of the top mid-major players in the country, his hometown Seminoles were enduring four straight losing seasons under Robinson. Boosters frequently cited Robinson's failure to recruit Blizzard as proof that the coach didn't know what he was doing. So although Blizzard never dealt Florida State a blow on the court, the program still felt his impact.

That slight, however, in some ways is what spurred Blizzard to reach such heights. He has always taken great pride in his game -- as a teenager he not only did shooting drills for hours on end, but he also worked on defensive footwork by himself -- and being spurned by his hometown school has made more palpable his 5:30 a.m. wakeup calls, which is when he rises to begin his workouts.

"One of my biggest motivations has always been to try to prove to people I can play," he said.

Rest assured that the rest of the nation -- everyone in Tallahassee, in particular -- knows that now.