The past few days have been somewhat of a whirlwind in the Florida State University basketball world.
On Thursday, the nation’s leading scorer in women's basketball, Ta’Niya Latson, announced her decision to forego this year’s WNBA draft and stay for her senior year at FSU.
On Friday the Lady Noles lost a close game to North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and now await their fate in the NCAA tournament seeding.
Also on Friday, news began to circulate that Florida State would hire former Nole and current Sacramento Kings assistant coach, Luke Loucks, as the new head coach replacing Leonard Hamilton. On Sunday that news became official—the day after Hamilton coached his final regular season game for the Noles and clinched his 200th ACC win.
The Noles hosted Southern Methodist University Saturday at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
The first half of the game was very competitive with SMU leading most of the half. However, FSU tied the game with just under 4 minutes left and went to intermission with a 33-32 lead and thinking of an upset over the favored Mustangs.
The Noles played well on both ends of the court in the second half and led by as many as eight points. Center Malique Ewin scored a career high of 26 points with 8 rebounds and senior guard Jamir Watkins finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists as the Noles ended their regular season with a 76-69 win. And it was a special win because it brought outgoing coach, Leonard Hamilton, his 200th ACC victory in his last regular season game coaching the Noles.
The crowd at the Tucker Center was excited before, during, and after the game. And for some, the game had a special meaning. Bart Gaetjems a 1981 FSU graduate and attending his first FSU game since graduating, said he “wanted to come pay tribute to a great man.” Pamela Hamilton, yes the name is familiar, came to “celebrate her brother’s tenure at FSU and celebrate his retirement.”
Following the game, thousands of fans stayed to enjoy a post-game tribute to Coach Hamilton. For the coach, he says the game was always about much more than wins and losses as he focused on the athletes' growth as students and people as much as he thought about their growth as players. During Hamilton’s 23-year career with FSU his athletes had a 97% graduation rate and 19 Noles went on to be NBA draft picks.
Before the Saturday celebration ended, Hamilton left the crowd with this comment, “I’m a Seminole today, I’m a Seminole tomorrow, and I’ll be a Seminole forever.”
The Noles men's basketball team will travel to Charlotte to compete in the ACC tournament that begins Tuesday, March 11. FSU will likely need to go deep into the tournament for any hope of being selected for the NCAA tournament later this month.