FSU Basketball: Top 4 Reasons Noles Have Dominated Early Season

Junkyard brand of defense is (somewhat) back

One staple of vintage Leonard Hamilton-coached teams is a devotion to defense. When Florida State was having their most success, between 2009 and 2012, the Seminoles were one of the best defensive teams in the country.

KenPom has a metric known as defensive efficiency, which takes into account points allowed per 100 possessions, while being adjusted for opponent. In the four years mentioned above, Florida State had, on average, the fifth best defense in the country.

But in the four years following that? That number fell to 92nd in the country. This massive drop-off is part of what made the last four seasons so frustrating. The team continued to struggle on offense, which was no surprise, but even the once-proud defense decided to lay down. Predictably, they missed the tournament in all four years.

They aren’t quite back to 2009-2012 levels, but Florida State is playing the best defense they have in years. They are currently the 45th-ranked defense on KenPom, and that number has been rising. Part of that is due to the team’s depth, which we’ll touch on in a moment. But another reason for this uptick is that the stars on the team are buying in as well.

Guys like Dwayne Bacon and Xavier Rathan-Mayes were used to being so good on offense their whole lives, that they didn’t have to worry about the defensive side of basketball. They got a rude awakening once they learned about the difficulties of ACC basketball.

This year, both guys seem to be getting after it on both ends. I showed a clip of Bacon’s improved defense earlier; here’s one of Mayes:

Upon seeing two of the team’s best players get after it on both ends, the newcomers had no excuse but to buy in. In particular, you can really see it when freshmen CJ Walker and Trent Forrest check into games. They both hound opposing guards all the way up and down the floor, making even a simple dribble feel like a hellacious task.

As a Florida State fan, it’s been a pleasure to witness this defensive resurgence. And it’s definitely going to help them once they reach their brutal conference schedule.