Sunday, January 15, 2012

Hamilton Might Be Holding Back The Seminoles

I'll admit this much when I watch college basketball. I do keep an eye on the Florida State Seminoles. I'm not a Floridian or an alumnus from the university.  I loved the fact that they blasted North Carolina by 33 yesterday. I found the team fairly exciting to watch during the Pat Kennedy years and have watched since. From that point on the Seminoles have attracted top 100 talent to Tallahassee. It's just that they've never really put it all together. They did have a Sweet 16 run last year, but other than that they haven't had much success.

I like Leonard Hamilton as a coach. I think he's done a fairly good job at FSU and has put them in position to be the third best team in the ACC behind Duke and North Carolina. However, I think the Seminoles are capable of bigger things. I hate to say it but I think Hamilton might be holding them back.

Before anyone blasts me about Hamilton's accomplishments in Fla., just hear me out. He has consistently recruited the best talent behind Duke and North Carolina. He's built a fantastic defensive team, but his teams are quite offensive. As in bad.

With yesterday's blowout win over the Tar Heels being more the exception than the rule, the Seminoles have trouble throwing the ball into the ocean. I call them the "gang that can't shoot straight". They have the athletes/players, but the offense gets so stagnant they have trouble scoring. I think Hamilton needs to turn them loose. Not Paul Westhead run and gun, but they need to take advantage of their superior athleticism against some teams. There's no reason they should struggle against the likes of Harvard, Princeton, and Clemson.

The Seminoles won't be able to ride the hot streak they had against the Tar Heels yesterday. They need to generate more easy baskets on the offensive end. They have the defense to do it, they just need to trnaslate the defensive stops into points. If not they'll find themselves on the outside looking in come March.

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