| 08 December 2011
As the Noles continue to establish an identity as a basketball team, the season draws closer and closer to conference play, where games truly start to hold some weight. The Seminoles' defensive play is still a force, although not quite as strong as last season, while the offense continues to be an inconsistent factor at best. In some games, FSU has players who will score from the outside and in and in others, seemingly everyone is cold. What is consistent, is the Seminoles' inability to take care of the basketball. It is difficult to perform well when you turn the ball over on roughly 30% of your possessions. It is the type of sloppy play that FSU is unfortunately becoming known for and what has people in a weird limbo between high and low when it comes to their perception of the job Coach Hamilton is doing.
Recently, Rushthecourt.net released an article giving a quick snapshot of the ACC. They have FSU ranked 4th in their power rankings, which is about where they belong in my opinion as well. Here is what they had to say about the Noles:
Florida State (6-3) snapped a three-game skid by blowing out a less than mediocre Charleston Southern team at home. Unfortunately, a promising first half (the Seminoles scored 45 points!) yielded a “meh” overall performance that included 21 turnovers. If this team can figure out how to limit turnovers, it could be very dangerous. If not, it’s just another very good defensive team.
Ken Pomeroy Fun Fact: In contrast to North Carolina, only three Florida State players–Michael Snaer, Terrance Shannon and Deividas Dulkys–average a point per possession.
Check out the rest of their take on the ACC here.
Young Players finding their groove and gaining footing
There has been some questioning surrounding why certain young players haven't seen the court much. In Monday night's contest against a decent Charleston Southern team, we got a good glimpse at freshman guard Terry Whisnant, who played a career high 19 minutes. Whisnant is a talented scorer, but is still working on picking up the rhythm and speed of D-1 basketball. He was able to show that he has what it takes, but also shed light on why he has not seen more important minutes against better competition. Whisnant took a few shots that were missed badly, which probably had as much to do with nerves as anything, but keep an eye out for him in his time at FSU.
In contrast, sophomore Okaro White looks to be settling in to this season and becoming more comfortable with his new role. White scored 20 points on Monday night, but what was more impressive than the points themself was the efficiency and confidence he displayed while scoring them. White has a versatile game and when he makes the right decisions, he is a dangerous weapon for the Noles to have.
Keep an eye out for in the next couple of weeks for the player that has been conspicuously missing from the lineup. Sophomore guard Ian Miller claims that he will be back on the floor by the time the Seminoles take on the #12 Gators on December 22nd. Hopefully he's able to work his way into game shape soon, but Miller will immediately present a scoring boost for FSU when he's back on the active roster. Remember, it's tough to know for sure when he will be available because Hamilton is about as forthcoming with this type of information as Jimbo Fisher is with injuries, which is to say--not at all.
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