Florida State head basketball coach Leonard Hamilton should ultimately be a first-ballot Hall of Famer and get into the HOF on the first ballot.
He took over the program in 2003 and has situated the Seminoles near the top of the ACC every season. He currently has a 397-260 record as the Seminoles’ head coach, while he has posted a 596-461 record after he rebuilt Miami and Oklahoma State and has fashioned FSU into a major player nationally, as well as in the ACC.
This season has been a tough campaign so far as Florida State is 1-9, but the Seminoles have been thoroughly injured. To make things worse, star forward Cam’Ron Fletcher is out for the season after he went down with a knee injury in Saturday’s 62-57 loss at No. 3 Virginia.
FSU has lost two others for the season in 6-6 guard Jeremy Bembry and Jaylan Gainey, who transferred to Florida State from Brown where he shot 70.3 from the floor last season.
Not only have those three players been out for the 2022-23 campaign, but the NCAA also reared its ugly head and suspended Baba Miller for 16 games because of $3,000 that he had taken to get to this country and try to improve his game in order to become a viable recruit.
Miller repaid the money in full as it was taken in 2020 and he did not become a citizen of this country until August, 2022, when he moved here.
(If some lawyer wants a piece of the NCAA, come to Miller’s aid … Please!!)
This is one of the worst embarrassments that the NCAA has caused for years.
Miller could be so totally used now with the struggles of the ‘Noles.
Florida State has had a plethora of injuries which has caused the Seminoles a myriad of problems. Hamilton’s roster is generally made up of freshman/sophomores that are having to learn to play this season.
“We have never had to put this many freshmen and first-year players in the position that they are in,” explained Hamilton. “The good thing is that they get some experience early that they normally wouldn’t get, so we have our second-year guys, who would normally be our leaders, still learning themselves.”
Once again, depth has been thinned as it was in the ACC portion of last season, so now players have to step up to be penned into the rotation.
It looks as though freshmen Cam Corhen and Tom House will be picking up minutes with Fletcher out of action.
“This is the first time I have had a team that didn’t have any third and fourth-year players,” Hamilton said. “Our oldest players have been here for two years and we are not quite normally where we would be.”
Sophomore Matthew Cleveland could fit in Fletcher’s spot as he is the team’s second-leading scorer (12.2 ppg) behind UCF transfer Darin Green, Jr. (13.1 ppg.). Cleveland will have to take advantage of both boards as he is the second-leading rebounder (5.1 rpg) behind the injured Fletcher (7.5 rpg).
“I am not used to playing guys in seven or eight-minute stretches,” said Hamilton. “Other people are and that’s the way they coach their team. We don’t.”
Hamilton is used to having 10-11 Seminoles in the lineup for any game and it has paid off immeasurably and would have in the COVID season of 2019.
FSU went 16-4 in the ACC that year as the ‘Noles won the conference outright over Louisville, Duke and Virginia who all finished 15-5 and tied for second. Florida State would more than likely have been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament that year.
As for now, youth and injuries have kept FSU from being a Top 5 team in the ACC, which probably lists them as a Top 5 seed in any region.
“I think we are learning,” said Hamilton. “I think there were some expectations that had been, realistically, we carry ourselves a little bit as to how we have developed our program.”
As Florida State continues to make itself over, Hamilton and his staff will watch the growth of the team on and off the court.
We have guys who have never been here before and the record speaks for itself,” said Hamilton.
