Leonard Hamilton opens up on why Florida State has struggled with inconsistent effort

Florida State has gotten off to a shaky start to the year, losing to a number of high-major teams that has appeared on the schedule. But the Seminoles knocked off ACC foe Georgia Tech on Wednesday to move above .500 again, at 7-6.

Coach Leonard Hamilton is still working to get his team on the same page when it comes to what’s required to win games.

“I’m not trying to make any excuses for it because toughness is a talent, and you’ve got to bring that level of talent to win,” Hamilton said. “We’ve been very inconsistent. That’s, the way we play is a little different because 94 feet we hold play, we switch one through five, we front the post, we try to deny the elbows, try to deny the wings. And this is the age of the pack line, where people don’t come out and defend you past the 3-point line.”

Hamilton’s style of play when it’s working is highly effective. Florida State gets into the passing lanes and clogs things up with elite length across the floor.

Of course, it requires a lot of effort from players, too. That takes some getting used to.

“And we expend more energy. We like to push the ball up the court and score in a very short period of time,” Hamilton said. “And we have a number of passes that we try to make so on the defensive end we’re moving and on the offensive end we’re moving. That’s why we’ve always needed a full complement of our players.

“The fact that we can play 12 players and 12 of them score, that’s been our way of competing with the teams in the ACC. You have some of the winningest programs in the history of college basketball and we’re kind of late to the party, we have to find ways that we can do things a little different that give us a chance to win.”

Despite the fact that Florida State is 7-6 and will have to fight for its NCAA Tournament life in conference play, Hamilton is confident that his system can work. After all, he’s seen proof positive of that several times in the past.

There’s just one vital difference this year.

“That’s what we have done in the past, but we’ve always been a team that developed till the end,” Hamilton said. “We’ve always been a team of freshmen or sophomores coming along while the juniors and seniors have been in the program for their third year. So execution has been a lot smoother. We don’t have that now.

“We have one player that’s been with us three years, so we’re still learning and growing. Have some transfers and a freshman or two that we’re trying to work in. Because that’s the challenge, the new basketball. We were a little late to the party coming to the portal. We got the middle of it, so expect us to be a little more aggressive as we move forward.”