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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 30, 2012Leonard HamiltonLEONARD HAMILTON: Well, we seem to be improving once again as a program. We up to this point, up until maybe three or four games ago, we were kind of still searching just for the right mental and emotional approach, and somehow or another we have stayed positive and we have stayed confident. We've kept working, talking and communicating and working hard and playing unselfish. Our guys seem to be in a pretty good place now, realizing that we have to take every game with the right mental and emotional approach, and it seems to be giving us a lot of confidence to find ways to play to each other and trying to play within our skill set. We now face a Georgia Tech team that we're going to do everything we possibly can to give the same level of respect that we've given the last four teams that we've played, and hopefully there will be positive results that will occur. Q. Last week in an interview with ESPN Michael Snaer guaranteed 100 percent that Florida State would win the ACC title. LEONARD HAMILTON: That's a case of a kid who has not been there and done that, an excited kid who probably just really spoke out of turn. He's talked about it, feels sorry for what he said. I think sometimes when you're trying to go to a place you haven't been, sometimes you've got to deal with things that you haven't ever dealt with, and I think that's a case of a youngster being overly exuberant, a kid who probably obviously stuck his foot in his mouth. Michael normally doesn't do that, but I think just the excitement of every day having a microphone stuck in your‑‑ somebody calling you and asking you about this and asking you about that, that's a learning process, as well, and I'm sure he regrets saying that. No disrespect to anybody, but that's kind of part of the growing‑up process. You guys can make a big deal of it if you want to. I'm sure you guys were perfect when you were 18, 19, 20 years old and you never stuck your foot in your mouth. My kids aren't that way. I think sometimes they speak out of turn. I know you guys don't misspell words, you guys do it all right, but my kids are still learning and growing and maturing. If you say it publicly sometimes it can be taken out of context, and I've never been around a more humble, respectful kid than Michael. I think he just got a little overly excited. Q. I was going to ask, though, I know you weren't happy he said that, but are you happy that he has that kind of confidence in himself and in the team? LEONARD HAMILTON: Of course I'm happy. I mean, if you watch Michael play, he plays with the fire of a warrior. That's his nature. I think he's as good a defender as we've had here at Florida State, and we've had two guys that were defensive Player of the Year. Michael Snaer just gives 100 percent every time he shows up, and he does the same thing in practice each and every day. But that's what makes guys‑‑ those competitive spirits make guys work hard and become good players, but also that same competitive spirit sometimes can allow you to kind of speak sometimes off your emotions and not sometimes‑‑ it doesn't always come out right. Q. You've cut your turnovers in half basically in the last three weeks. What, if anything, in practice have you done to help bring that about? LEONARD HAMILTON: I think that our guys have accepted their skill sets, and we're playing better within our abilities, not trying to do things that maybe we're not quite as skilled at. We've accepted our roles, and guys have tried to play within their roles. I think we have a better understanding of how to play with each other and to each other, and that's kind of the process I think most teams go through maturing. We've had some moving parts all year long. We have some guys, some inexperienced guys, that have had to assume starters' roles and lead guys that took a while for them to adjust. And I also think that the players are holding each other more accountable for doing things the right way. It's a combination of a lot of things, but the main thing is that we're improving. We're not coaching any different. We're not telling them anything that we haven't been telling them since October. I think that they now are just figuring it out and accepting their strengths. I guess I want to say maybe they're listening better and accepting their roles better. Q. Could you talk a little bit about the play of Ian Miller, what he meant to your team since he didn't play pre‑Christmas and now that he is in the regular rotation in the post‑Christmas schedule? LEONARD HAMILTON: The interesting thing about Ian is that he has stepped in like he has been there all year long. He's a very confident youngster, plays with a lot of confidence that kind of‑‑ and our players kind of feed off that. He has an uncanny way of finding ways to score baskets. He gets baskets, easy baskets, and I think he takes the pressure off some of the other guys. You can't really key as much on Michael, Deividas, some of the other perimeter guys, because when Ian comes on the floor you have to give him a certain amount of attention. He stretches the defense a little bit and we're able to get the ball inside to our inside guys a little more because he shoots the three, and he's a pretty good passer. So he's meant an awful lot to our team. We've always said we win games by committee. He's playing starters' minutes. All of them are playing basically about the same. He's playing 24, 25 minutes a game, and we try to keep our starters around 27, 28. We try not to play them a whole lot more than that. So he's meant an awful lot to our team, and I'd say he has as much to do with our turnaround as anybody on the team. Q. I'm writing something about Austin Rivers, and I was curious what your impressions were from you guys' game against Duke. LEONARD HAMILTON: Well, he's a multi‑talented player that's really‑‑ there's not anything really physically that he can't really do. He dribbles it, passes it, shoots it. He's athletic. He blows by you, got a great quick first step. He was a handful for us. I mean, we knew in that last basket that he scored, we knew what he was going to do. They was going to give him the ball on the wing, and they've run that play for years and they're going to lift everybody and he was going to take off, and we knew what he was going to do and we still couldn't stop him. He just is a very talented youngster who's a freshman, and my goodness, I can't imagine when he grows up how good he's going to be because he's a handful right now. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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