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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 3, 2011

Leonard Hamilton

THE MODERATOR: We have with us now Florida State head basketball coach Leonard Hamilton. Coach, if you could, a few comments about your team and we'll open it for questions.
COACH HAMILTON: Obviously we just got back from a tournament in Hawaii, Diamond Head. We lost to a very good Butler team. Came out 2-1. We lost our starting center in Xavier Gibson. He has some knee injuries. Looks like he's going to be out seven, eight weeks. That does concern us. We had to insert Bernard James into the lineup. He came through for us in that tournament. So we're still kind of a team in transition. We are getting better. We're executing a lot better.
We're still a team growing and improving. We hope we can continue to keep improving while we're growing.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Can you update us on Ian Miller's physical condition?
COACH HAMILTON: He's a ways away and will be. Coming to some resolution pretty quick. We'll be announcing something when we get a little bit more information.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk to me a little bit about Chris Singleton and the season he's having. Seems he continues to do a lot of good things in all parts of the basketball game.
COACH HAMILTON: Well, obviously he's been kind of our leader in several situations. But he's working hard. We're using him at the three and the four. Not quite filled in on whether we're going to go big or small. But he's been bouncing between the small forward and the power forward, which gives us the flexibility on our basketball team for the things we need from game to game.
His defense has been solid. He's rebounding better. He's improved his shooting and decision making. Now we're putting a heavy load on him.
He's kind of a quiet youngster, doesn't say a whole lot, but he's really stepping up and giving us good, solid, fundamental play in critical parts of each game.

Q. From what you've seen of your team so far, does it look to you like you could be one of the better teams in the ACC this season? What is your assessment at this time?
COACH HAMILTON: I think all the coaches and all the teams think we all have a chance to be pretty good basketball teams. I think this is the time of year that we try and tell our kids, We got to take it one game at a time.
I think you earn the right to be one of the better teams. That's the thing about basketball: you just got to play it. We try to tell our guys that we have to take it one game at a time and make sure we try to get better with each practice and each game.
I'm not trying to give you a philosophical line. It's just that the ACC, in my opinion, will be just like it always has been: every game will be a dogfight, and if you don't prepare yourself mentally for that, bad things can happen. I think we have potential to be a good basketball team this year, but we got to go out and earn that right and prove the fact we're the best basketball team each and every night.

Q. What are you most pleased about with your team at this point?
COACH HAMILTON: We're shooting better, taking care of the ball. We're not turning the ball over as much as we were earlier in the year. We're getting the ball inside to our inside guys a lot more. That gives us a chance to get to the foul line a little bit more.
We're starting now to come together. Maybe not shooting the ball as well from the perimeter as we have at times. Been a little inconsistent in that area. But I think we continue to play good, solid, fundamental defense. That's been giving us a chance to win.

Q. What is Xavier Gibson's condition with his hand?
COACH HAMILTON: Xavier had a rough trip. I can't tell you all the technical terms other than he has a partial torn meniscus. He broke his hand. That was a tough blow for him in Hawaii. He broke his hand early in the game, didn't realize it, then went back in the game and injured his knee.
It's going to be six, seven, eight weeks for him. Right now we're going to evaluate it for another week and see exactly where we are and we'll have a much better idea of what to expect there.
It looks like right now we're predicting he's not going to have to have an operation from the preliminary reports, that his injuries are the type that can heal with rest and rehabilitation.

Q. Chris Singleton, he was already established as one of the better defensive players in the country. His offense this year, is that because you've needed him to do more offensively?
COACH HAMILTON: We need him more offensively, and he's improved tremendously with his ball handling, passing, decision making. He shot the ball very well on the Hawaii trip. But Chris is such an unselfish player, such a team guy, that many times he has to be encouraged to exert himself offensively. I think he realizes now the role that he has on the team is one that he has to be more assertive offensively. He's stepped up and given us good defensive contribution but I think he's now being more aggressive offensively.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you for taking time to be with us today. We'll hear from you next week.

End of FastScripts

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