Florida State is an interesting team this year.. They kinda mirror the Gophers in the sense that they are trying to incorporate a few new players(5 new players, I think).... They haven't beat any real good teams yet and lost to Temple in a very close game considered an upset. They beat Illinois but Illinois is not playing real good either as they lost to Winthrop at home(as a sidelight, the Bromans from Duluth play for Winthrop) before these last tournament losses for the Illini.
Florida State is athletic and long but I think Minnesota can play well against them.. They can turn the ball over a bit and they really have not played an opponent that would be considered a big win, so far. I think we can beat them but if Lynch doesn't play with the ankle issue, that could make things a bit more difficult. Need solid guard play and good rebound technique... If we take care of the ball and shoot better than we did the last game, I think we can steal a win in Tallahassee.
Their coach is Leonard Hamilton... Hamilton has been around D1 coaching a long long time(46 years as an assistant or head coach).. His original 'claim to fame'; was recruiting a New York City playground legend in 1971 to Austin Peay, where he had started his college coaching career as a 22 year old. Hamilton made his name by recruiting a guy named James "FLY" Williams, who was a legend in the NYC RUCKER LEAGUE at the time.. It fostered the famous cheer " THE FLY is open, let's go Peay(pronounced PEE)" when he would play home games at Austin Peay.
Joe B Hall was impressed with Hamilton's recruiting and took him as an assistant at Kentucky in 1974. Hall figured if Hamilton could get a legend like WIlliams to a town like Clarksville, Tennessee(home of Austin Peay which is 50 miles NW of Nashville and just a few miles south of Fort Campbell on the Tennessee-Kentucky border), he could recruit real well at Lexington, which he did during his time for the Wildcats. Hamilton was assistant for Kentucky in John Wooden's last game as coach(UCLA beat Kentucky in that game) and assisted for the 1978 national championship win for Kentucky against Duke.
Hamilton took the Oklahoma State job, then Miami(FL) position where he won coach of the year in the Big East with a 15-13 record...He coached in the NBA for the Wizards, as well. He also won a coach of the year award at Florida State making him the first coach to win coach of the year of both the ACC and Big East. He is a guy a lot of people have talked about over the years but what is interesting is he has never gotten out of the 2nd round of the NCAAs as a head coach when his teams made the tournament. Looks young for 68 years old but has a lot of mileage on his history as a coach.
Anyways, I think the Gophers are going to get a challenge but like I said, we have to shoot a bit better, take care of the ball, and the bigs have to rebound/defend well so the Seminoles cant get out into the open floor. Similar to the Gophers in that fashion though I think Florida State may be a little bit bigger.
Florida State is athletic and long but I think Minnesota can play well against them.. They can turn the ball over a bit and they really have not played an opponent that would be considered a big win, so far. I think we can beat them but if Lynch doesn't play with the ankle issue, that could make things a bit more difficult. Need solid guard play and good rebound technique... If we take care of the ball and shoot better than we did the last game, I think we can steal a win in Tallahassee.
Their coach is Leonard Hamilton... Hamilton has been around D1 coaching a long long time(46 years as an assistant or head coach).. His original 'claim to fame'; was recruiting a New York City playground legend in 1971 to Austin Peay, where he had started his college coaching career as a 22 year old. Hamilton made his name by recruiting a guy named James "FLY" Williams, who was a legend in the NYC RUCKER LEAGUE at the time.. It fostered the famous cheer " THE FLY is open, let's go Peay(pronounced PEE)" when he would play home games at Austin Peay.
Joe B Hall was impressed with Hamilton's recruiting and took him as an assistant at Kentucky in 1974. Hall figured if Hamilton could get a legend like WIlliams to a town like Clarksville, Tennessee(home of Austin Peay which is 50 miles NW of Nashville and just a few miles south of Fort Campbell on the Tennessee-Kentucky border), he could recruit real well at Lexington, which he did during his time for the Wildcats. Hamilton was assistant for Kentucky in John Wooden's last game as coach(UCLA beat Kentucky in that game) and assisted for the 1978 national championship win for Kentucky against Duke.
Hamilton took the Oklahoma State job, then Miami(FL) position where he won coach of the year in the Big East with a 15-13 record...He coached in the NBA for the Wizards, as well. He also won a coach of the year award at Florida State making him the first coach to win coach of the year of both the ACC and Big East. He is a guy a lot of people have talked about over the years but what is interesting is he has never gotten out of the 2nd round of the NCAAs as a head coach when his teams made the tournament. Looks young for 68 years old but has a lot of mileage on his history as a coach.
Anyways, I think the Gophers are going to get a challenge but like I said, we have to shoot a bit better, take care of the ball, and the bigs have to rebound/defend well so the Seminoles cant get out into the open floor. Similar to the Gophers in that fashion though I think Florida State may be a little bit bigger.
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