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ACC Previews- #6 Florida State
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| All-ACC guard Tim Pickett |
The Florida State Seminole basketball program has not been to post-season play in the last 5 seasons. Their appearance in the ACC tournament play-in game has become an annual occurence. However, Leonard Hamilton has made great strides in his first 18 months as the Seminole's head coach toward ending that futility. Hamilton has hit the recruiting trails hard and has found lots of success for his efforts. Along with returning the top 3 scorers from last season's 14-15 team, Hamilton will welcome one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. Freshman Von Wafer, a 6-5 WG, is the headliner of that recruiting class which also includes 6-9 F/C Alexander Johnson, and 6-10 juco transfer Diego Romero. Those 3 should play early and often for the Seminoles. Antonio Griffin, a 6-6 WF is another juco transfer who may be able to find his way into the rotation.
In the backcourt, Hamilton's Seminoles return 6-3 senior PG Nate Johnson (4.8 PPG, 2.8 APG), and sophomore PG Todd Galloway (6.9 PPG, 3.3 APG). Those 2 shared point guard duties last season and combine to give Florida St. good depth at that position. Tim Pickett (17.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.8 SPG) was a 2nd team All-ACC selection last year and should be the leader once again for Hamilton at the wing guard position. Pickett led the ACC in steals last year, but must improve on his 38% FG shooting during the 2003-2004 season. If he does, he should challenge for a spot on the ALL-ACC 1st team. Freshman Wafer should also provide some quality depth in the backcourt, and, if as good as advertised, could force Hamilton to look at a 3-guard lineup at some point during the season.
In the frontcourt, Florida State will be deep, but relatively young. Michael Joiner (8.5 PPG, 4.1 RPG), a 6-7 senior, should start at one frontcourt spot. Joiner has the potential to have an outstanding senior season, but he needs to become much more consistent for that to happen. Another frontcourt spot should be manned by 6-7 junior Anthony Richardson (12.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG). Richardson is a very streaky shooter, who, like Joiner, needs to become more consistent, and also needs to improve on his 30% three-point shooting. The other frontcourt starter should come from among 5th year senior Mike Mattews, freshman Johnson, juco transfer Romero, 6-8 junior Adam Waleskowski (4.1 PPG), and 6-8 red-shirt freshman Al Thornton. All of those 5 are likely to see lots of minutes in the frontcourt for the Seminoles and will give Hamilton many more options and much more depth than he had during the 2002-2003 season.
The 2003-2004 edition of the Florida State Seminoles appears to be poised to make a move upward in the ACC standings. If Hamilton can get more consistent play from his returnees, and the recruiting class lives up to it's billing, this could be a very enjoyable season in Tallahassee. However, the Seminoles are likely to be one season away from being able to challenge for a 1st division finish in the ACC.
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