FSU Basketball: Leonard Hamilton deserves praise after Elite Eight season

FSU basketball got to the round of eight teams for just the third time ever in what may have been their long time coach’s best performance in Tallahassee.

Just over 16 years ago, the FSU basketball program got a new leader when the Seminoles hired Leonard Hamilton as their next head coach – a man who had gone to the postseason half of his 14 seasons at Oklahoma State and Miami before a forgettable year in the NBA that allowed him to be available for a new job.

In his first six seasons in Tallahassee, Hamilton was praised for having winning campaigns four of those years but not being able to get the team back to the NCAA tournament despite having several future NBA players and having two seasons of 20 wins or more.

For the following nine seasons, the Seminoles went to March Madness five times – including after winning the ACC tournament in 2012 and being a fifth seed or higher three of those times – but only got to the Sweet 16 round just once (ironically, when they were the lowest seed out of that span) and thus some FSU basketball fans openly questioned whether Hamilton was the answer.

The 2017-18 season proves that Leonard Hamilton is the best man for the job – and not just because they team went to the Elite Eight for the first time in just a quarter century and third time in program history, but because this team never gave up due to his leadership.

Yes, I will be the first person to admit that I have been critical of some decisions that Hamilton has made during his tenure and grew frustrated when my alma mater would get to the tournament and get bounced out early. Too often, me and other FSU basketball fans were looking at unrealistic expectations that came from a program that hadn’t really been decent since the early 1990’s.

I know the expression “you are what your record says you are”, but that couldn’t be the furthest thing from the truth. This Seminoles’ team was not a real 20-11 team with seven losses being by seven points or less during the season. Despite that number, not many people gave the Noles a chance and the comments began about if this was another one-and-done Hamilton special.

You know what? The veteran coach stuck with his guns and his game plan and it worked. It was a game plan of strong defense and massive depth and playing nearly a dozen players that toppled a national title contender in Xavier, thumped a Gonzaga team who played for a title was within four points of just the second Final Four in program history.

You are still going to have some naysayers in the FSU basketball fan base and among so called experts that are going to blame him for an Elite Eight loss. Leonard Hamilton is not the reason the Seminoles lost on Saturday – but he is the reason that the Seminoles were even PLAYING on Saturday.

Yes, I am disappointed that FSU basketball will not be heading to San Antonio – I got a taste of tournament success and I liked it. I also recognize that it was the leadership of the often disrespected head coach (a season after losing three players who are on NBA rosters this week) that got us to this point.

Next: FSU is true Cinderella of 2018 NCAA Tournament

So, on behalf of the real fans of the Seminoles, thank you Coach Ham for one of the best tournament runs in program history – it may not ease the pain from some earlier letdowns in your tenure, but credit needs to be given when good things are accomplished.