Seminoles collapse in second half of season

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Posted 7:36PM on Monday, March 14, 2005

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) While more than 100 NCAA Division I-A basketball programs fan out this week for postseason play, Florida State is once again on the outside looking in. Coming off its best season in seven years and a NIT bid, the Seminoles rolled into the 2004-05 season with high hopes, but instead suffered its worst finish in school history and narrowly avoided its second 20-loss season of the decade. In coach Leonard Hamilton's third season, the league's perennial bottom feeder never found a winning combination and disintegrated with just one win in the final 11 games, punctuated by a winless February and a 39-point loss at Wake Forest. ``It was evident we were not all on the same page,'' Hamilton said Monday. ``The right consistency never really developed.'' The Seminoles finished 12-19, sharing the Atlantic Coast Conference cellar with Virginia at 4-12. Florida State has now lost 10 or more games in league play for a dozen straight seasons extending its own record for futility in the conference. While Florida State managed upsets over the likes of Minnesota, Florida and Wake Forest, it was also embarrassed by such schools as Texas A Corpus Christi and Florida International. ``You have to be up every time you play or something bad is going to happen,'' said Hamilton, who has five years left on his contract and is not in trouble with the administration or fan base. ``It hasn't shaken my confidence one iota in Leonard,'' athletic director David Hart Jr. said Monday. ``I think we're close. I think Leonard is the guy.'' Brian Bibeau, a local attorney and lobbyist who has been going to Seminole games since his days as a student in the early 1960s, echoed Hart. ``Everything that could go wrong did go wrong,'' said Bibeau. ``This year aside, I think Hamilton has us on the upswing and this is a momentary downturn.'' Diego Romero, a highly trumpeted 6-foot-10 junior college transfer, didn't pan out after picking up some rust a year ago while the NCAA and Florida State fought over his eligibility. And three acclaimed freshman recruits struggled to find their roles while less talented players chewed up playing time. The Semioles got little production from starters Andrew Wilson and Alexander Johnson while junior point guard Todd Galloway was erratic in his first season running the offense. A fifth-year junior, Wilson averaged just 3.5 points in 28 starts and matched his career shooting accuracy with a 35 percent season. The 6-foot-10, 250-pound Johnson who shot 67.5 percent from the floor and averaged 9.5 points as a freshman, managed only 6.8 points a game this year and shot 45.5 percent despite most of his tries coming from point-blank range. He averaged 4.3 rebounds, and just 1.5 on the offensive side. Von Wafer was the lone Seminole to average double figures, finishing with a 12.5 mark significantly at the end of the year when he managed just one basket in the final three games. And while Wafer and Al Thornton were inconsistent, the two sophomores showed flashes of ACC ability. Thornton finished second in scoring and rebounding and at times dominated in games. Freshmen guards Ralph Mims, Jason Rich and Isaiah Swann gained valuable playing experience, and will be relied on more next season. Hamilton would like to add a couple of mature transfers like he did in his first year when he landed Tim Pickett and Nate Johnson from the community college ranks. ``We're looking under every rock available,'' Hamilton said Monday. ``We've got to go through the recruiting process now to see how many pieces we can add.'' He has already signed a pair of 6-foot-8 high school players, Casaan Breeden from Marlboro County High School in South Carolina and Ryan Reid from Lauderdale Lakes High School. Hamilton, who is now 45-48 in three years at Florida State and 245-258 in a career that includes stops at Oklahoma State and Miami, is anxious to get the Seminoles regrouped and back to postseason. Florida State has had only three winning seasons in the last 11. And while his boss is also looking for improvement, patience is important as well. ``It's going to take some more time and the recruitment of some more players who can perform at the ACC level,'' Hart said. ``I think we're close.'' On the Net: Florida State Athletics: www.seminoles.com (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)