Highlights From Florida State Basketball's Appearance At The ACC Tip-Off

The Seminoles made their annual appearance in Charlotte on Wednesday.

It was ACC Media Day in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday, and Florida State brought Coach Leonard Hamilton, Darin Green Jr, and Baba Miller. Coach Ham is always good for a joke or two and it's great catching up with him. 

Coach Ham, Baba Miller, and Darin Green take the stage pic.twitter.com/zdP0NVJ4jZ

— Austin Veazey (@EasyVeazeyNG) October 25, 2023

What should Florida State Basketball fans take away from today's media availability? 

Depth is Back

Florida State is historically one of those teams that prefers to play 10-12 guys, and they haven't been able to do that due to injuries and suspensions. 

READ MORE: Florida State To "Probably" Be Without Veteran Defensive Lineman Against Wake Forest

Coach Hamilton first talked about how rough it was having a guy like Darin Green Jr play the third most minutes per game in his tenure at Florida State behind Toney Douglas and Tim Pickett: "That was horrible. We play at Miami Saturday afternoon, he gets 23 points. We play Monday night against Carolina he goes 1/13. The way we play offensively, defensively, requires our guys to stay fresh. And him having to play 37, 38 minutes and play 2 or 3 games a week was just excruciating. There'd be stretches where he wouldn't practice, he'd walkthrough the day of the game, and play the game because I had no subs, I had guys that didn't practice but played, because we didn't have the depth that compliments the way we play."

When I brought up that same point to Darin Green Jr, he responded "Not knowing I was going to play that much, just had to adjust real quick. I just had to get in (better) shape... it was definitely tiring, it wasn't easy. We didn't have the result we wanted, but we're looking forward to turning it around... (the depth) is definitely there this year. We got two or three guys at every position. It's back to Florida State basketball the way Coach Ham wants to play"

Baba Miller Feels Comfortable

Sophomore Baba Miller had as rough of a freshman campaign as you'll ever see. It started with a 16-game suspension, he comes back, deals with tonsillitis, then the team is bad and they struggle to find a consistent role for him. Here is what Coach Hamilton said on Baba, "I mean gosh, you show up 18 years old, find out you're suspended 16 games. What kind of mindset does that put you in? What kind of confidence can you gain from that? We just had one of those years."

Baba was very open about last season and what he's done to take steps to improve from it. "This offseason helped me reset my mind, get my confidence back... have fun playing basketball... building chemistry with the guys I played with last year," and then later, "I've been working on my game, my body, my mind. Just getting ready for what the season is, four months of back to back to back games and practices, I feel a lot better than I did last year."

Being able to play for his home country, Spain, in the FIBA U19 Tournament went a long way towards helping him re-establish confidence. "That helped a lot. Being able to play basketball and have fun with it... Just a great experience to get my confidence back."

Can Florida State Be Successful?

Darin Green Jr certainly feels this team will be much better. "We're back to Florida State length, Florida State athleticism." He then expanded on this by touching on the transfers, "they're looking good, they're learning quick. Jamir (Watkins) is a superior athlete, just all over the floor on defense, on offense, can attack the glass. Josh (Nickelberry) is an elite shooter. We shoot every morning and night. 5th year senior he's seen things I haven't. And Primo he just brings a different spice to our team that we haven't had at the lead guard. Just dominant and you feel his presence. And I love Warley and Chandler at the lead guard, but Primo definitely brings a different taste." 

Coach Hamilton thinks people are quick to write him off after last season, but don't count out the Seminoles just yet. "I just gotta do my job... It's been challenging. We had one bad year and they forgot about us, but that's ok. They'll see." He also specified that Cam'Ron Fletcher is back to full contact practicing, and that they're taking it slow with Jaylan Gainey to make sure he's available for the entire season. 

When I asked Coach Hamilton about how he was feeling personally, his exact response was "I feel like new money." He's certainly got a fire in his eyes that I haven't seen from him in a few years, and he's hungry to prove last year was a fluke. 

For more quotes, you can go to my X/Twitter @EasyVeazeyNG, or click the tweet at the top, and it has a thread from all of ACC Tip-Off. Florida State will get their first action against someone new, with their first exhibition game on Sunday against Flagler College.  

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READ MORE: Three-Star Wide Receiver No Longer Considered Member Of Florida State's 2025 Recruiting Class

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