Florida State men's basketball coach Leonard Hamilton confident about depth, improvement
Florida State men's basketball started practicing for the 2023-24 season Saturday.
The Seminoles are coming off a disappointing 9-23 season, the worst one under legendary head coach Leonard Hamilton and the worst in program history. FSU is hoping to make improvements from last season, contend in the ACC and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021.
Hamilton said the team veered from his preferred methodology of playing the game last season due to injuries and personnel. But he is confident the team's configuration will allow the team to rotate guys and play a heavy press defense again.
The Democrat sat down with Hamilton last week to discuss the returning roster and transfer portal additions for the upcoming season. Here's a look at how he assessed the roster and the team's schedule.
"I feel that's one of the strengths of this team, the quality of our depth," Hamilton said. "We've always required guys to give so much energy in how we played defensively and offensively. It's extremely challenging for a guy to play 35-40 minutes. That was a big challenge that we had overcome last year. And we've had some unfortunate things that we had to deal with."
FSU freshmen growing as sophomores
Due to injuries last season, FSU was forced to press some freshmen into bigger roles than expected last year. That class includes guards Chandler Jackson, Jalen Warley, Cam’Ron Fletcher and Tom House, as well as forwards Cam Corhen, De’Ante Green and Baba Miller.
"So, hopefully now with our youngsters, our freshmen last year being thrown to the fire early," Hamilton said. "Those minutes that they got last year as freshmen, hopefully, we'll be able to prepare them to be able to make more of a contribution this year because they've been thrown right into the fire so much last year."
Jackson - who was suspended from team activities in early July - is expected to play a bigger role after he averaged 3.6 points on 40.2% shooting from the field in 12 minutes per game last season.
Miller averaged 9.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists while starting each game for Spain this past summer to help Spain win the FIBA U19 World Cup Championship.
He is coming off an interesting freshman season, where he averaged 4.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 15 games. He missed the first half of the FSU season after being suspended by the NCAA for receiving improper benefits and dealt with preseason injuries. That led him to never quite reach the NBA Draft Lottery expectations he had coming into college.
"Baba has made tremendous progress with his confidence in playing to his strengths," Hamilton said. "Obviously, it was tremendously challenging for him last year to come over here, deal with shin splints, then deal with a groin pull, trying to get preparing yourself for the season.
"Then you end up finding out you missed the 16 games. So now you come back in the heat of the season without the experience of going through those early games to prepare you for the ACC. I have to say I'm extremely proud of him for how much he was able to grow and gain experience during a very difficult period."
Players returning from injury
The Seminoles dealt with a rash of injuries last season, including season-ending ones for freshman Fletcher as he was finding his groove and Brown University transfer Jaylan Gainey tore his ACL in a preseason practice.
A number of other players also missed significant time, never allowing the team to find a groove.
"They seem to be a little bit ahead of schedule in terms of the rehab," Hamilton said of Fletcher and Gainey. "Now we are approaching this with a lot of optimism, however, we are extremely cautious, not wanting to rush the process. Fletcher's actually doing noncontact drills.
"Gainey, he's not in the drills with us as much. Fletcher along with De’Ante Green are back doing non-contact drills. ...
"And we like I said are not going to force the process. We want to have them for the long haul. So that's the way we will approach it was a positive thought process but not want to rush it because we want them to be here for the entire season."
A look at the newcomers
The Seminoles added former Georgetown guard Primo Spears, La Salle guard Josh Nickelberry and VCU forward Jamir Watkins from the transfer portal to refortify the team following the losses of center Naheem McLeod, as well as guards Caleb Mills, Matthew Cleveland and Jeremiah Bembry.
Taylor Bol Bowen, the only scholarship freshman on the roster, was ranked as the No. 22 overall prospect, and the No. 7 power forward in the class of 2023 as ranked by 247Sports.com. He is expected to have a role this season.
"The portal situation has changed a whole progression of college athletics and I kind of think we hit the jackpot with the three guys that we brought in," Hamilton said. "Because of the experience, they've already been through a lot of the wars. From a maturity standpoint, their skill set fits our defensive and offensive system.
"So we are very pleased and excited about the potential of the contribution we expect from them. And even Taylor Bowen, he's a youngster who went to prep school for several years. We see that he has matured and is probably a lot more prepared to step in and help us than the average high school player would."
Spears, who is listed at 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, averaged 16 points, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game during the 2022-23 season, his lone one with Georgetown. He is still waiting to hear if he will be eligible for the upcoming season following his second transfer.
"I feel pretty I'm extremely optimistic about where he is and only because I think that he left for the right reasons. He transferred for the right reason," Hamilton said.
Highlights of the FSU men's basketball schedule
The Seminoles play 17 games at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center this season, including hosting both North Carolina and Duke in the same season since the 2012-13 season.
The home schedule for FSU includes seven non-conference games, including the season-opener against Kennesaw State on Nov. 5.
FSU plays rival Florida Gators on November 17th, the one true road game in this non-conference slate.
"I do think we have some pretty challenging opponents in the non-conference schedule," Hamilton said. "It gives us something to put a point toward and also gives you an added motivation coming off a down near the comeback and get back to where we've been accustomed to playing.
"The type of schedule that we have now I think is what we need. You know we were growing up we've gained the consistency that we've done that we've had over the number of years."
Full FSU men’s basketball schedule
Oct. 29 Sunday: vs. Flagler 4 p.m.*
Nov. 5 Sunday: vs. Valdosta State 4 p.m.
Nov. 10 Friday: vs. Kennesaw State 6 p.m.
Nov. 13 Monday: vs. Central Michigan 7 p.m., Sunshine Slam
Nov. 17 Friday: at Florida 7 p.m.
Nov. 20 Monday: vs. UNLV 5:30 p.m. Sunshine Slam, Daytona Beach
Nov. 21 Tuesday: TBD, Daytona Beach
Nov. 29 Wednesday: vs. Georgia 9:15 p.m. ACC/SEC Challenge
Dec. 2 Saturday: at UNC 2 p.m.#
Dec. 9 Saturday: vs. USF TBA Orange Bowl Classic Sunrise
Dec. 16 Saturday: vs. SMU 8 p.m.
Dec. 19 Tuesday: vs. UNF 8 p.m.
Dec. 22 Friday: vs. Winthrop 7 p.m.
Dec. 30 Saturday: vs. Lipscomb 4 p.m.
Jan. 3 Wednesday: vs. Georgia Tech 7 p.m.
Jan. 6 Saturday: vs. Virginia Tech 4 p.m.
Jan. 9 Tuesday: vs. Wake Forest 7 p.m.
Jan. 13 Saturday: at Notre Dame 2:15 p.m.
Jan. 17 Wednesday: at Miami 7 p.m.
Jan. 20 Saturday: vs. Clemson 4 p.m.
Jan. 23 Tuesday: at Syracuse 7 p.m.
Jan. 27 Saturday: vs. UNC 2 p.m. ESPN/2
Feb. 3 Saturday: at Louisville 8 p.m.
Feb. 6 Tuesday: at Boston College 7 p.m.
Feb. 10 Saturday: vs. Virginia 7:45 p.m.
Feb. 13 Tuesday: at Virginia Tech 9 p.m.
Feb. 17 Saturday: vs. Duke 2 p.m. ESPN/2
Feb. 20 Tuesday: vs. Boston College 7 p.m.
Feb. 24 Saturday: at Clemson 7:45 p.m.
Feb. 27 Tuesday: vs. NC State 9 p.m. ESPN/2
March 2 Saturday: at Georgia Tech noon ESPN/2
March 5 Tuesday: at Pittsburgh 9 p.m. ESPN/2
March 9 Saturday: vs. Miami 4 p.m. ESPN/2
*-exhibition match
#-ACC opener
Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU men's basketball: Leonard Hamilton confident in Seminoles, depth
