Florida State basketball imploded on Saturday. It capped off a two-week stretch of brutal losses, horrible effort, and apathy. While not wholly his fault stay with me , the initial slice of blame pie for the wheels falling off the program belongs to head coach Leonard Hamilton.
Leonard Hamilton deserves the respect of every Seminole. In the early s, he brought FSU out of the wilderness, implementing an identity and culture for over twenty years.
With multiple years in the program, players could develop their bodies on and off the court, becoming smarter and more physical and often wearing down their opponents.
The program also allowed younger recruits to come along slower, learn the system, and get minute cameos a night. When players stayed at the same school for three or four years, they resulted in two ACC titles in eight seasons and eight tournament appearances in 13 years. The head coach won with his team running an intricate style of play on both sides, including completing passes a game, packing the paint, and rotating ten players a night to wear down opponents.
However, with the changing NIL landscape, he did not adapt and became the master of his downfall. Take the season for example. Compared to in-conference teams, FSU ranks second to last in defensive rebounding percentage, third to last in three-point makes, and while the stats do not bear it out, almost always, a team shoots the lights out from deep.
