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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 24, 2011

Leonard Hamilton

THE MODERATOR: We have with us now Florida State head coach, Leonard Hamilton. Coach, if you could, a few comments about your team, and then we'll open it for questions.
COACH HAMILTON: Any time you can go on the road on the ACC and come away with a victory, you have to be pleased. Played down in Coral Gables last week and played against a team that was ready to play, defended us very well.
Like always, when Florida State plays Miami, it seems like all the games seem to go down to the wire and we are very fortunate to come away with a 2-point victory and come home and played against Boston College this week. Regardless of how well they execute, how well they take care of the ball, and with their spread type of offense, our players have a tremendous amount of respect for them.
And I thought we played one of our better defensive games this year -- I mean, last week, of the year, and I thought we in the second half, showed that we can execute on the offensive end and take care of the ball and came up with a very much needed home victory against Boston College.

Q. The loss to Virginia Tech seemed to spark something in your team. Is there anything different you've noticed in practices to contribute to your current four-game winning streak?
COACH HAMILTON: Well, I've been very consistent with the assessment of our team. We have a blend of inexperienced players and a blend of experienced players. I think that we were just not very -- I thought the Virginia Tech did a great job of executing their offense, and I think we did a very good job of playing as well as we are capable of playing.
And I think our players were taken aback a little bit and thought that we were better than we were playing, and it showed a little bit about their character that they bounced back and responded well. They have taken coaching and I've been very, very pleased with their ability to motivate each other, hold each other accountable, their communication level with each other has really gotten better and I think that the main thing is they hold each other accountable for the things they all are expected to do.

Q. Can you talk about the defense that your team has and is it any different from what they have used in previous years?
COACH HAMILTON: Not really. We have a defensive system that we try to put in early in the season and we really don't deviate from it that much. We might tweak it a little bit to address the exceptional player or something that may be we have a difficult matchup from time to time. We might make a slight adjustment but basically we stick our defensive principles and that normally has been enough for us at least be to be solid on the defensive end. We are not doing anything differently than what we have done in the past.

Q. Not sure how much specifically you have talked with Chris Singleton about his experience last summer with USA Basketball? We wondered how you seemed to help him in his game and if he's mentioned it at all in talking as he's gotten so much better this year.
COACH HAMILTON: We have talked briefly about it. Not very much. I think he enjoyed the experience. Chris worked very hard in the spring after the season was over, working on improving his ball handling, his passing. He's always been extremely competitive.
So I think the main thing he got out of the experience with USA was confidence that he's capable of defending the players that are very talented players and I also think that it gave him the confidence that -- from the standpoint that he can compete at the highest level.
And I felt that level of confidence has really allowed him to be a little bit more of a leader and feel more confident and be a little bit more vocal with his teammates. That appears to be the main thing I think he got out of it, just to gain confidence from the experience.

Q. On a much broader level and different topic, when it comes time for guys this spring to make decisions on early entry to the NBA, how much more difficult will it be with the labor situation looming the way it is?
COACH HAMILTON: We haven't talked about it very much because all of that is speculation. You really don't know what is going to happen. So we have taken the approach that we are going to worry about those things we can control. That's the next day's practice and try to get through that practice and then hopefully stack on good games.
All of the information will be available for us I'm sure at that particular time and we will evaluate and make decisions. Up until that point, it doesn't do any good to start playing the What If Game because that can be a little bit of a distraction.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Chris, just what do you feel like makes him such a versatile, talented player, in terms of being a guy who can score, rebound, but also block shots, steal, just do a little bit of everything it seems like.
COACH HAMILTON: Well, there are a lot of players with gifted athleticism, God-given physical attributes that allow you to move quick, stop, start, change direction, run, jump and the physical strength. There are a lot of players that have those types of skills.
I think what separates Chris is that he has a unique focus and a hunger, along with a competitive spirit, to defend, rebound, fight screens, block shots. Those are things that he has a passion about that he enjoys that separates him from guys who might want to be more interested in just scoring points. He's extremely unselfish. He doesn't force shots. He is not a high-volume-shot-type of guy. He doesn't feel like some guys, if they are not getting X number of shots and X number of points, it seems to effect their energy.
Doesn't bother him at all. He just wants to win. And in the flow of the game, if he gets more shots, fine. If he doesn't, he doesn't concern himself with it. He's just happy that we go on and win. I think that allows him to just play free without the pressure of having to go out and meet some statistical category for him to feel validated.
Chris is a smart player, he understands the game, he has good savvy. He's working on his skills to improve that I'm sure at some point in time will allow him to be a very successful basketball player for a number of years.

Q. What has been the key to giving him more of an offensive flow and better offensive skill?
COACH HAMILTON: I think one thing that's allowed him to get into a better floor is that our team is improving. The players that he's playing with have a better understanding of how to play well together, how to take advantage of each other's offensive skills. Execution has gotten better, creating more offense from our defense and that's allowed him to be a little more productive offensively.

Q. Just wanted to ask you, Saturday after their practice, Coach Lowe gave players a history lesson and talked about the history of the program, have you ever done anything like that or do you think your players of very aware of what came before them at Florida State?
COACH HAMILTON: We talk about that all the time. That's part of what we want our guys to understand. Now, we talk about that. We have those guys that are around and I'm not real sure how much they retain or how much it means to them one way or the other, but we realize that they have an opportunity to contribute to the history of Florida State. They know where we have been and know where we are and where we are trying to get to. We make them very much aware of as much as of the history of our program on a consistent basis as we possibly can.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks for taking time for being with us today. We'll hear from you the same time next week.

End of FastScripts

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