Leonard Hamilton, a college basketball purest, knows the Atlantic Coast Conference has not historically recognized its regular-season champions.
But if Hamilton’s Florida State team is able to enter the ACC tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, there will be no shortage of celebration for him and Seminoles.
“We might buy rings, plaques and pictures, hats and t-shirts and everything else to recognize the accomplishment,” Hamilton said with a laugh on a conference call earlier this week. “It’s not a small accomplishment to finish a league as tough as the ACC at the top. You cherish that. But the only way you have that opportunity to enjoy that is to take it one day at a time.”
The No. 17 Seminoles (21-5, 9-4) are ranked ahead of No. 8 Louisville and No. 12 Duke for second place in the league, just one game back of reigning regular-season champ No. 10 North Carolina (22-5,10-3), and hope to keep pace at 12th-place Pittsburgh (14-14, 3-10) on Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN2.
After playing three games last week with wins against Clemson, NC State and a blowout loss at Notre Dame, FSU will play two games in three days with a home game against last-place Boston College (9-18, 2-12) on Monday.
Florida State freshman forward Jonathan Isaac speaks after the Seminoles’ win over NC State on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2016.
Florida State freshman forward Jonathan Isaac speaks after the Seminoles’ win over NC State on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2016.
Florida State freshman forward Jonathan Isaac speaks after the Seminoles’ win over NC State on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2016.
Florida State freshman forward Jonathan Isaac speaks after the Seminoles’ win over NC State on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2016.
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton talks about NC State standout guard Dennis Smith Jr. on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, a day before both teams play at the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee.
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton talks about NC State standout guard Dennis Smith Jr. on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, a day before both teams play at the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee.
Florida State guard Dwayne Bacon speaks to media after a 109-61 win over Clemson on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017.
Florida State guard Dwayne Bacon speaks to media after a 109-61 win over Clemson on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017.
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton speaks to media after a 109-61 win over Clemson on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017.
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton speaks to media after a 109-61 win over Clemson on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017.
FSU came out on top while UCF turned in a solid effort. Florida rallied and USF made a huge comback from the bottom of the ladder.
FSU came out on top while UCF turned in a solid effort. Florida rallied and USF made a huge comback from the bottom of the ladder.
As the regular season comes to an end, the Seminoles face the difficult task of playing three of their final five games on the road.
FSU has suffered double-digit road losses to unranked Georgia Tech and Syracuse, bouncing the Seminoles from the top 10. The Seminoles dropped three more spots this week after a 12-point loss at Notre Dame.
Pittsburgh will present another tough challenge, featuring two of the ACC’s top 3 leading scorers in senior forwards Michael Young (20.6) and Jamel Artis (19.7), but the Panthers have lost 11 of their last 14 games.
“We got to make sure we play to our identity, play to who we are and our strengths, and try to stay away from our weaknesses,” Hamilton said. “We got exposed defensively and [were] not being patient defensively, and those are things we have to get back to working on.”
The Seminoles do take some solace in their fortunate position, comparative to other teams in the country they’ve faced this season.
After losses in four of its first seven ACC games, Duke is on the rise after Mike Krzyzewski’s return from back surgery with a six-game winning streak. Both FSU and Duke will meet again on Feb. 28 in Durham, N.C.
NC State (14-13, 3-11) is second-to-last in the conference, and announced coach Mark Gottfried will be fired after the season.
Florida (21-5, 11-2), one of the hottest teams in the country sitting in first place ahead of Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference, saw starting center John Egbunu suffer a season-ending ACL tear this week.
Despite the road woes, Florida State is still projected to be a No. 2-seed when the NCAA tournament starts on March 14 after the ACC tournament (March 7-11). UF is projected to be a No. 3 seed in ESPN’s Bracketology with Joe Lunardi, with both teams starting the tournament at the Amway Center in Orlando.
Pittsburgh coach Kevin Stallings, in his first season after 17 years at Vanderbilt, believes the Seminoles have the talent to make a deep run in the tournament behind leading scorers Dwayne Bacon and Jonathan Isaac.
“They’re a team that could absolutely make a run to the Final Four,” Stallings said during a radio show appearance this week. “They’re Final Four talented, in my opinion. They’re really, really good.”
Email Safid Deen at sdeen@orlandosentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @osfsu or @Safid_Deen and like our Florida State Facebook page for the latest updates on the Seminoles.
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