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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEFebruary 11, 2013Leonard HamiltonCOACH HAMILTON: We played two games last week, on the road at Georgia Tech and played well enough to come away with a victory and went on the road against a Wake Forest team that played extremely well. I was very disappointed. I feel that we had not played with the type of focus that we played with at the Georgia Tech game. And now that we face probably one of the hottest teams in America, Miami, we'll have to make a tremendous improvement. Q. How do you size up Miami, you've only seen them once this year and you just referenced them being one of the hottest teams going? COACH HAMILTON: Well, you like watching them play. They have a maturity and a poise about them and confidence that they are allowing‑‑ they are doing a lot of things right from a defensive standpoint, they are in the positions that they need to be. They are rotating. They are helping each other out. It's like they are kind of reading each other's minds; they have such good focus with one another. Offensively, they have that balance of shooting as well as the big strong guys inside so that you have to give their inside offense a lot of attention. And then they have guys that stretch you on the perimeter. I don't know if I've ever seen a team shoot the ball as well as they did against Carolina on Saturday, ten of 16, halftime was just phenomenal. But they have had several games where they have shot the ball exceptionally well like that all year long. So they are a mature team, playing well. They are if not the hottest team in America, they are definitely one of the top two or three. They are the team right now in the ACC to beat. Q. In any way because of the fact that they have got so many seniors and veteran players, any similarities there to you from last year? COACH HAMILTON: A lot of similarities. Maybe a couple games we shot the ball well, but I do think that our team played in itself, I think that's what they do. I think they are consistent with their execution, and I think that's one of the reasons why we were as consistent as we were last year. We were consistent with our effort and our focus. I think also they execute and they allow the game to come to them, and everyone is kind of holding their end of their responsibility. Q. Are you making any changes? I know you've struggled up‑and‑down here the last few weeks; any changes that you have got planned? COACH HAMILTON: Well, we can make changes, but we'll be making them‑‑ I'm not sure any one of them‑‑ we might change for the sake of changing but not because someone is out‑playing. We might have a different approach. I'm not going to give a scouting report in a press conference, that's for sure. Q. We don't think of Miami home court as a snake pit, but the last four games at home, they have won by 20‑plus, including 24 against you guys, but also against Duke and North Carolina. And yet, in their last three ACC road games, two of them have been one‑point wins. Do you see a big difference? You get them at home; is there a big difference where you're playing them? COACH HAMILTON: What's happening, I think we're getting everybody's best shot. I felt in the past at Florida State, I thought that even though I thought we were improving as a program, I kind of felt that sometimes it was hard to get the team to get motivated‑‑ some of the teams didn't get as motivated because traditionally we had maybe not earned the right or earned the respect from everyone. But after winning the conference title last year, I see teams a little more inspired, a lot more intensity and a little bit more focus. I think what I'm is getting when they go on the road, they are getting‑‑ the fact that they have been so successful, they played so well, they are getting everyone's best shot because they feel that they don't; they get a little bit of the medicine that they have been giving people when they come down to Coral Gables. So it's obvious that people are playing better against them out of respect for their program as a result of how well they have played. So I think it's a little bit of both. I think obviously it's a little tougher on the road but also teams that they are playing against are playing extremely well. Q. What do you have to do to get it to the last second to get the ball in Michael's hands‑‑ COACH HAMILTON: I think we have to play a lot better than what we have. I've watched the Wake Forest game and I've looked at open looks that we had, the layups and uncontested jump shots that we had, and we just didn't make them. I thought it got to a point there we did turn the ball over; I thought that really hurt us. I didn't think we were creating any offense from the defense like we have done in the past. But I think that what we have got to do, we've got to make shots. We execute and we get good looks, we have to make them pay. And I think that's what Miami's been doing. If you don't catch them in transition or on quick ball reversal, they don't miss very many open looks. I'm hoping that we play one of those games where the opportunity that we have that we make those plays, that we finish them; that when we are going for a layup that we finish the layup and we get an open look and we knock them down. That's what they are doing. If you don't keep pace with them, they have shown that they can really be consistent with their ability to finish plays. Q. I did want to ask you about Michael Snaer, he had another game last week against Georgia Tech, how do you put into word that this game has five last‑second game winners in the last two years? Have you ever had a player that's done anything like that? COACH HAMILTON: I have, but I've said many people who have asked me this over the last several weeks, Michael has the ability, and when he goes in the gym in the summer and the off‑season when he's in the gym by his self, to put his self in that magic moment, that mental state that causes him to work extremely hard, almost like he's working in a game. If he's in the gymwith a toss‑back, he's out there working one of the tournaments, you will hear him out there grunting and groaning, just like he was trying to‑‑ just like he was just in the game. And he takes shots at game speed, and I think what that does to him, it makes him a little bit more relaxed, because he does it over and over and over again in the gym by his self; almost like there's a coach out there working him or pushing him or encouraging him. He has done a real good job of putting his self in that mental frame of mind almost like he's in the game, so that once he gets in the game, it doesn't seem to faze him very much. You see the look on his face, he's a lot more relaxed, more focused, he's not stressed. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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