Seminoles seeking a fresh start as ACC tourney tips off

This hasn’t been the typical season for Florida State men’s basketball, with the Seminoles limping into the postseason with a disappointing 9-22 record.

But even on the eve of the ACC Tournament, FSU coach Leonard Hamilton sees this next phase as an opportunity for a fresh start for his team.

“Our approach has been we’re all undefeated,” Hamilton said. “Everybody is starting from scratch now. We have to put a bad season behind us and now we have another opportunity to start over and see whether we can finish as strong as we like.

“It’s a new opportunity for us and we’re approaching it hopefully with a new spirit where we have to go out and play.”

No. 12-seeded Florida State tips off against No. 13 Georgia Tech in the first round of the ACC Tournament Tuesday (2 p.m., ACC Network) in Greensboro, N.C. The winner faces No. 5 Pittsburgh Wednesday (2:30 p.m., ESPN) in the second round.

FSU hopes to avoid losing in the opening round of the conference tournament for the second straight season.

With traditional powers Duke and North Carolina struggling, Hamilton believes there is a better chance of someone else making a run at the championship.

“It makes it a wide-open tournament where anyone’s capable of coming in and getting hot and going through like Virginia Tech did last season as the seventh seed,” he said of the Hokies’ run to the 2022 ACC title.

Hamilton said that to make a postseason run, teams need to be able to find that next gear.

“You have to have that feeling going into this tournament that you have as much of a chance to win this thing as anybody,” said Hamilton. “The older, more mature teams, for the most part, find a way to have those conversations because they have guys who have been through the wars and have had successes. It becomes a mentality you take into the tournament that separates you from the other teams.”

If Florida State hopes to make a run at its first ACC tournament title since 2012-13, the Seminoles will face a grueling schedule of five consecutive days of games. FSU has struggled in this area, especially with some players playing for extended minutes.

FSU has two players averaging more than 30 minutes a game — guards Matthew Cleveland (34.1) and Darin Green Jr. (33.9) — for the first time since the 2014-15 season.

Hamilton points to the team’s recent stretch of games against Miami (Feb. 25) and North Carolina (Feb. 27) as examples of the impact of a short turnaround in the schedule.

“You can see the results of them not having the legs to shoot their jump shots because they’re not getting that extra lift you normally get from your legs because you’re somewhat fatigued from playing heavy minutes,” he said. “It has affected us.”

To help alleviate the wear and tear, Hamilton and his staff have done something they’ve never done before.

“We’re holding guys out of practice,” Hamilton said. “They’re walking through things instead of physically going out and doing the drills. It’s helped some, but for this edition of Seminole basketball, it creates a bit more of an issue because of how we play and the style we’ve implemented.”

TIMOTHY D. EASLEY/AP Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton sees the upcoming ACC basketball tournament as an opportunity for the Seminoles to put a bad season behind them and start anew. At 9-22, this has been the worst season since 2000.