There’s a lesson to be learned from Florida State’s season, one that sees them back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 years. They’re not the only school here this weekend that serves in this regard, but they’re the best one for it.
The Seminoles didn’t get to this point by accident, even compared to past seasons. One player was quick to point out health as the biggest difference. Another talked about the team playing more for each other, as a more together unit. They also learned how to close out games, winning a number of close games on the season.
But the lesson to be learned is the rewarding of patience. In today’s world of instant gratification, especially in sports, people want results yesterday. Fans and athletic administrators alike want their team in the NCAA Tournament every season, or at some, in the Final Four every year. We’ve seen coaches who have fine records lose their jobs after just a couple of years, even years that have seen progress. We’ve seen coaches who clean up a program that was beyond messy get fired simply because they don’t win enough games fast enough.
Leonard Hamilton was hired in 2002 to get Florida State going again. The program at the time looked nothing like the one of about ten years earlier, when they went to the NCAA Tournament three years in a row, reaching the Sweet 16 in 1992 and the Elite 8 a year later. They had been through four straight losing seasons and had lost at least 10 ACC games nine straight years. One would figure he would have time to get the program back to the NCAA Tournament, but nowadays you never know.
Well, Hamilton is now in his seventh year. Along the way, the Seminoles had close calls that fell short of the NCAA Tournament. They were 9-7 in the ACC in 2005-06, but had to settle for an NIT bid. The last two years have also produced NIT bids after 7-9 showings in the ACC. The Seminoles have been snake-bit during that time, in part from injuries but also from things like an early defection (Alexander Johnson). It seemed like every time they were on the verge of being an NCAA Tournament team, something came into play to set them back.
Given the culture in sports, and indeed much of American society, it would not have been a surprise to see Hamilton fired or forced out before this point. That’s not to say he would have deserved it, only that it would not have been a surprise. Schools want to be in the NCAA Tournament, and that had not happened yet. It’s a bottom-line business almost to a fault.
This season, things have been different. The Seminoles enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 5 seed and with a 25-9 mark overall. The 25 wins is the most since the Seminoles won that many in their Elite 8 run of 1992-93, and they went 10-6 in the ACC to finish fourth and earn a bye to the quarterfinals for the conference tournament. They snapped a losing streak to North Carolina to reach the championship game in the ACC Tournament for the first time since they joined the ACC in 1992.
The Seminoles are also in a good place to show that this year is no fluke. They will lose two seniors of significance and return eight players who have averaged at least 13 minutes per game this season and another (Xavier Gibson) who will probably see his minutes jump. They will continue to have plenty of length and size inside, assuming no early defections.
Granted, one of the two significant seniors they will lose is Toney Douglas, and that’s no small loss – calling him the heart and soul of this team is probably understating things. But they’ll be in a position that a lot of teams would envy, and that’s not something that could be said about Florida State on the hardwood for a long time.
There’s also some buzz about this program, another thing that has been lacking. Yes, it’s a football school, and football drives athletic business in Division I because it’s a higher-revenue sport. But plenty of football schools have had a buzz about them that Florida State has lacked. The football team might still be on top, but basketball has some life now. Several players have talked about changing the perception of it as a football school, which is a monumental task. Where that once seemed beyond impossible, now it looks like basketball could at least gain more interest in Tallahassee.
It took seven years, longer than a lot of coaches get, but the Seminoles are in the NCAA Tournament. Patience with Leonard Hamilton has been rewarded with the desired result. Hopefully that isn’t lost on fans, alumni, boosters and athletic directors all across America.
