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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 11, 2013Leonard HamiltonCOACH HAMILTON: Our team seems to go growing up a little. We have not played out standing basketball but we have shown improvement late in the season just with our young guys learning, the intensity that we have to play with to focus, the importance of execution every time down, we rebound a littl4 better. By no means do I feel that we have arrived, but I think there seems to be a sense of progress that we are making. This is probably as consistent as we have been this season, and so hopefully that will be something we can gain a little momentum from as we go into the ACC Tournament. Q. What is unique about Bookert that makes him such a tough matchup? COACH HAMILTON: He has tremendous poise. He never seems to get flustered. He's consistent. He plays within his self. He doesn't try to do a lot of things out of his skill level. He's a lot like his brother in that they have a good feel for the game and they have good savvy. If you back off of him, he'll knock down a jumper and he'll go over his right shoulder and he'll go over his left shoulder ask he's extremely strong and physical. He has great hands and you can't seem to throw him a bad pass. And he's always been a handful for us. He's one of the most effective players against us and always has been. I hope he's the last brother coming along, unless he's going to come to Florida State. Q. Looks like Devon Bookert is one of the guys that's really made a lot of progress in the last few weeks and come of age; is that correct? What is he doing better now? COACH HAMILTON: First, just remind you, he had the infamous moped accident the day we had the Media Day in Greensboro and he didn't practice before the first came and he's had scar tissue problems under there and recovering from the injury, and so he really has not been 100% all year. So he's probably 85 percent of what we would like for him to be but he is gaining a little bit more experience of understanding how play within himself and with players. I also think his team to play a little bit better, and that gives him an opportunity to lead people when they know what they are supposed to do. Q. Watching from a distance, it seems like you have set a little more on the post rotation with Turpin and Bojanovsky, it seems like you have developed a little more comfortable rotation there. Is that correct and if so what are they doing for you? COACH HAMILTON: All three of our big guys give us something different. Unfortunate that Michael Ojo has not been able to show how much progress he's made. He's the least experienced guy. He's the one that starts for us and he's my team's best rebounder. He's starting to finish around the basket a lot better. Defensively he's been very, very sound. And Turpin was a guy who was getting in foul trouble early, so this gives him opportunity to steady and see what's going on and Bojanovsky is probably the most skilled of all three of them. So all three of them, we kind are kind of like the three‑headed monster in the post. Just try to keep them as fresh as possible, and they are learning and growing and they all have areas where they need to improve, but they seem to complement each other. Q. Can Michael Snaer, Miller and White, can they impart to the younger guys, just how important this tournament is and how well you have to play in it and what it means to win the thing? COACH HAMILTON: There's no doubt that that conversation will be going on. Miller has been not quite as involved because he's been injured the whole year. He never practices. We never really know how effective he's going to be until he warms up and on the bicycle goes into the game. He can't even warm up with our players. He wears a boot all week, and he shoots jumpshots and free throws and rides the bicycle. So he has been probably not quite as vocal as he would have been had he been more of an integral part; Okaro is a quiet youngster and Michael has been more aggressive. That's been a process we have struggled with, just our players understanding what it's like to play in the ACC. Terrance Shannon has not been healthy and Ian has not been hell jumping and basically Okaro and Michael, they have done a pretty good job with these guys. But there seems to be a little bit better understanding now and I think mentally and emotionally, we are probably as mentally prepared to come to the ACC Tournament as we have all year long. So I think we'll be okay. Q. Is there any chance that Terrance Shannon can play? You got a couple minutes out of him at Wake Forest. COACH HAMILTON: Well, during his recovery, because of the neck injury, he could not do any type of physical running or jumping or aggressive conditioning. So he's only been allowed to do that, and his condition deteriorated quite a bit and now he's trying to recover, and he's physically, I think he might be able to play some. We are trying to get him ready for the tournament. We have another week and hopefully you'll see him play some minutes. I think he definitely will be somebody who we can use because he's a pretty good defender and rebounder, and we know that Bookert and those guys are a handful at Clemson. Hopefully we'll have him available, but right now we have to see how the week goes with him. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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