TALLAHASSEE -- A couple of Florida State students spent a Friday night visiting with Michael Joiner at the apartment complex where they reside near campus.
Joiner, a senior forward on the Seminoles' basketball team, was taken aback by some questions.
"When does the new college basketball video game come out?"
"When can we get tickets?"
Videos? Ticket demands? Why, what is going on with Florida State's basketball program?
"The buzz is definitely there," said Joiner, a three-year starter who is one of four seniors on the team. "People around Tallahassee who I've come in contact with have said they've already purchased season tickets.
"It's still a shock to me. I don't know how to react. But it's a great feeling to have people start to come back from the dead and support us. The one thing I know about this senior class is we all realize we haven't accomplished anything yet. We're happy, but we're going to work as if we're picked ninth in the ACC."
The Seminoles, in their second season of coach Leonard Hamilton's revival, have been predicted to finish as high as fifth in one preseason magazine. The consensus has them sixth. This is a far different set of expectations than the past half-decade.
Florida State began its preseason practice without fanfare. First, he wants the program to be established with success.
"We have to earn our place," said Hamilton, who welcomed a recruiting class rated among the nation's top five. "Expectations and predictions are just that.
"It is too early to start making a whole lot of predictions and I'm not the kind of person to do that anyway. I will tell you the guys have shown a tremendous work ethic and eagerness to learn.
"That's something we're going to need in order for us to catch up to the people that are ahead of us right now in the ACC."
The Seminoles' season opener is Friday in Tallahassee against Maine.
For the first time in five years, the game against Florida won't be staged on the eve of the football game. Instead, the teams meet Jan. 3 in Gainesville. Florida State will play three extra games this season as part of a tournament arranged by the University of Pittsburgh.
Fueling optimism are Hamilton's three returning starters, led by guard Tim Pickett, the team's leading scorer and a player projected to be among the best in the Atlantic Caost Conference.
Joiner and point guard Nate Johnson, a junior college transfer like Pickett, also return. Much of the new buzz is being generated by freshman Von Wafer, a swing player considered to be among the nation's top prospects. He is among four newcomers signed last year.
Hamilton already is on his way to luring another top-rated class by getting early commitments from two of the nation's top 100 players.
"When you have at least a number of guys returning, there is some familiarity to what you are trying to accomplish," Hamilton said. "Sometimes we would be trying to teach certain fundamentals last year and it took us a long time just to teach the drill we were using to teach the fundamentals."
Hamilton said he wants to use the next several weeks to reinforce a system and get his team schooled on the basics of running the team's offensive and defensive sets.
"We have six or seven less days of practice this season," he said. "It may not seem like much, but those days are important, especially when we have guys we are trying to work into the system.
"Anytime you are in the developmental stages of building a program you have to make sure you get an understanding of the whole system with sound fundamentals."
http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/sportstoryS1120FSUBASKETBALL.htm
Joiner, a senior forward on the Seminoles' basketball team, was taken aback by some questions.
"When does the new college basketball video game come out?"
"When can we get tickets?"
Videos? Ticket demands? Why, what is going on with Florida State's basketball program?
"The buzz is definitely there," said Joiner, a three-year starter who is one of four seniors on the team. "People around Tallahassee who I've come in contact with have said they've already purchased season tickets.
"It's still a shock to me. I don't know how to react. But it's a great feeling to have people start to come back from the dead and support us. The one thing I know about this senior class is we all realize we haven't accomplished anything yet. We're happy, but we're going to work as if we're picked ninth in the ACC."
The Seminoles, in their second season of coach Leonard Hamilton's revival, have been predicted to finish as high as fifth in one preseason magazine. The consensus has them sixth. This is a far different set of expectations than the past half-decade.
Florida State began its preseason practice without fanfare. First, he wants the program to be established with success.
"We have to earn our place," said Hamilton, who welcomed a recruiting class rated among the nation's top five. "Expectations and predictions are just that.
"It is too early to start making a whole lot of predictions and I'm not the kind of person to do that anyway. I will tell you the guys have shown a tremendous work ethic and eagerness to learn.
"That's something we're going to need in order for us to catch up to the people that are ahead of us right now in the ACC."
The Seminoles' season opener is Friday in Tallahassee against Maine.
For the first time in five years, the game against Florida won't be staged on the eve of the football game. Instead, the teams meet Jan. 3 in Gainesville. Florida State will play three extra games this season as part of a tournament arranged by the University of Pittsburgh.
Fueling optimism are Hamilton's three returning starters, led by guard Tim Pickett, the team's leading scorer and a player projected to be among the best in the Atlantic Caost Conference.
Joiner and point guard Nate Johnson, a junior college transfer like Pickett, also return. Much of the new buzz is being generated by freshman Von Wafer, a swing player considered to be among the nation's top prospects. He is among four newcomers signed last year.
Hamilton already is on his way to luring another top-rated class by getting early commitments from two of the nation's top 100 players.
"When you have at least a number of guys returning, there is some familiarity to what you are trying to accomplish," Hamilton said. "Sometimes we would be trying to teach certain fundamentals last year and it took us a long time just to teach the drill we were using to teach the fundamentals."
Hamilton said he wants to use the next several weeks to reinforce a system and get his team schooled on the basics of running the team's offensive and defensive sets.
"We have six or seven less days of practice this season," he said. "It may not seem like much, but those days are important, especially when we have guys we are trying to work into the system.
"Anytime you are in the developmental stages of building a program you have to make sure you get an understanding of the whole system with sound fundamentals."
http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/sportstoryS1120FSUBASKETBALL.htm
