Written by: Bryce Brimhall
CHARLOTTE-At a southern school where the minds of the students and alumni are focused on football, it can be difficult for the basketball team to make a lasting impression on the college.
Florida State University falls under this category. With the football team becoming a dominate force under Bobby Bowden in the late 70’s and the more recent 2013 national championship, the university has had no problem establishing an identity for itself as a household name in football.
With this extreme emphasis on football, it takes a great team, and an even greater coach to capture some of the limelight normally shed on the gridiron game.
“You get that ‘football’ is the main sport, but I think we are gonna make a statement, as far as putting basketball on the map.” said guard Aaron Thomas, “I know no one in the ACC respects us, so we just gotta focus and prove a lot of people wrong.”
Excluding the short stint in the late 80’s/early 90’s under Pat Kennedy, the team failed to consistently make the NIT Tournament, much less the more prestigious NCAA Tournament, until 2003, when under the direction of head coach Leonard Hamilton, the Seminoles were able to make it to the NIT Tournament for four of the next five years. Then was able to make it to the NCAA tournament for the next four years in a row from 2008 to 2011, the same year the team won the ACC championship, an accolade that eluded the team since it joined the conference in 1991.
After retaining a spot in the fabled four letter tournament for four years, FSU missed the mark in the 2012 and the 2013 season but still remained above .500 for both years.
“I think coach Ham is doing a good job, the last two years we haven’t been to the [NCAA] tournament, we had some bumps in the road,” said Thomas, “but I think were taking steps as far as how close we are from being at that level again, and we can show this year why were deserve to play in the tournament.”
The Seminoles finished 22-14 last season overall and 9-9 in the ACC, a respectable record, but a record that didn’t earn them a spot in the NCAA tournament. However, the team was able to make it to the NIT Semifinals before losing to Minnesota 67-64.
“The most important thing is applying ourselves for the season,” said head coach Leonard Hamilton, “I think our guys are coming along well, we have a lot of room for improvement, but I like this team and I think we have a chance to be pretty good.”
Returning to the team for his junior year is seven-foot three-inch center from the Slovak Republic, Boris Bojanovsky. The towering international student put up impressive numbers his sophomore year, making 77-131 field goals for a .588 percentage from the floor, the second highest field goal percentage on the team. Bojanovsky showed his height last season making 1.9 blocks per game, giving him the fourth highest BPG in the ACC conference.
The team lists three of their players at seven feet or over, Kiel Turpin at 7’0”, Michael Ojo at 7’1”, and Bojanovsky at 7’3”, giving the team an apparent vertical boost over their fellow ACC teams, but the ability to use that height correctly will define the usefulness of having three seven-footers.
“For height to be an an advantage, those guys got to be a little more ‘in to it’ than they have been, but I feel like they’re about ready now.” said Hamilton on the tall guys on the team “They’re learning the system now, they’ve made a tremendous improvement, but I think now they have a much better understanding of what is expected of them.”
Also coming back to the garnet and gold court will be junior Aaron Thomas who led the team in field goals, steals, and total points scored, throwing 172-379 from the floor for a total of 522 points including three-pointers and free throws. His work at stealing the ball made his the fifth best ball stealer in the ACC making 1.7 steals a game.
Even with the recent success in the ACC and NCAA, coach Hamilton keeps his eye on the day-to-day business rather than concentrate on making the tournament again.
FSU was voted to finish eighth in the ACC by the media in the 2014-15 preseason poll.
“You can’t worry about the end of the season because we haven't started, the most important thing for me is to make sure we are as prepared as we can possibly be,just take it one game at a time as we move through the season.” said Hamilton, “You can’t control what happens in April, but you can control what happens right now, just gotta take it one day at a time. Right now, what I try to do is focus on the things I can control, that means that if we prepare ourselves, we can put ourselves in the position to reach our fullest potential.”
The Seminoles will return to the court on Nov. 3 to face Embry-Riddle University for their first exhibition game of the preseason, then will continue to the Hall of Fame Classic on Nov. 15 to play the Manhattan College Jaspers which will appear on ESPN3.
Florida State University falls under this category. With the football team becoming a dominate force under Bobby Bowden in the late 70’s and the more recent 2013 national championship, the university has had no problem establishing an identity for itself as a household name in football.
With this extreme emphasis on football, it takes a great team, and an even greater coach to capture some of the limelight normally shed on the gridiron game.
“You get that ‘football’ is the main sport, but I think we are gonna make a statement, as far as putting basketball on the map.” said guard Aaron Thomas, “I know no one in the ACC respects us, so we just gotta focus and prove a lot of people wrong.”
Excluding the short stint in the late 80’s/early 90’s under Pat Kennedy, the team failed to consistently make the NIT Tournament, much less the more prestigious NCAA Tournament, until 2003, when under the direction of head coach Leonard Hamilton, the Seminoles were able to make it to the NIT Tournament for four of the next five years. Then was able to make it to the NCAA tournament for the next four years in a row from 2008 to 2011, the same year the team won the ACC championship, an accolade that eluded the team since it joined the conference in 1991.
After retaining a spot in the fabled four letter tournament for four years, FSU missed the mark in the 2012 and the 2013 season but still remained above .500 for both years.
“I think coach Ham is doing a good job, the last two years we haven’t been to the [NCAA] tournament, we had some bumps in the road,” said Thomas, “but I think were taking steps as far as how close we are from being at that level again, and we can show this year why were deserve to play in the tournament.”
The Seminoles finished 22-14 last season overall and 9-9 in the ACC, a respectable record, but a record that didn’t earn them a spot in the NCAA tournament. However, the team was able to make it to the NIT Semifinals before losing to Minnesota 67-64.
“The most important thing is applying ourselves for the season,” said head coach Leonard Hamilton, “I think our guys are coming along well, we have a lot of room for improvement, but I like this team and I think we have a chance to be pretty good.”
Returning to the team for his junior year is seven-foot three-inch center from the Slovak Republic, Boris Bojanovsky. The towering international student put up impressive numbers his sophomore year, making 77-131 field goals for a .588 percentage from the floor, the second highest field goal percentage on the team. Bojanovsky showed his height last season making 1.9 blocks per game, giving him the fourth highest BPG in the ACC conference.
The team lists three of their players at seven feet or over, Kiel Turpin at 7’0”, Michael Ojo at 7’1”, and Bojanovsky at 7’3”, giving the team an apparent vertical boost over their fellow ACC teams, but the ability to use that height correctly will define the usefulness of having three seven-footers.
“For height to be an an advantage, those guys got to be a little more ‘in to it’ than they have been, but I feel like they’re about ready now.” said Hamilton on the tall guys on the team “They’re learning the system now, they’ve made a tremendous improvement, but I think now they have a much better understanding of what is expected of them.”
Also coming back to the garnet and gold court will be junior Aaron Thomas who led the team in field goals, steals, and total points scored, throwing 172-379 from the floor for a total of 522 points including three-pointers and free throws. His work at stealing the ball made his the fifth best ball stealer in the ACC making 1.7 steals a game.
Even with the recent success in the ACC and NCAA, coach Hamilton keeps his eye on the day-to-day business rather than concentrate on making the tournament again.
FSU was voted to finish eighth in the ACC by the media in the 2014-15 preseason poll.
“You can’t worry about the end of the season because we haven't started, the most important thing for me is to make sure we are as prepared as we can possibly be,just take it one game at a time as we move through the season.” said Hamilton, “You can’t control what happens in April, but you can control what happens right now, just gotta take it one day at a time. Right now, what I try to do is focus on the things I can control, that means that if we prepare ourselves, we can put ourselves in the position to reach our fullest potential.”
The Seminoles will return to the court on Nov. 3 to face Embry-Riddle University for their first exhibition game of the preseason, then will continue to the Hall of Fame Classic on Nov. 15 to play the Manhattan College Jaspers which will appear on ESPN3.