March 10, 2010

Chris Nee
Warchant.com

The Seminoles defeated Miami on Saturday pushing their regular record to 22-8 (10-6 ACC), but they had to wait more than 24 hours to find out where they would end up in the conference standings. With Wake Forest defeating Clemson on Sunday, FSU finished third in the conference, earning a bye in the first round of the ACC Tournament for the second consecutive season.

Saturday's victory also marked the second consecutive season that the Seminoles finished with 10 regular season wins in conference play. It also marked FSU's best back-to-back seasons in the conference since joining the ACC in 1991.

"It means an awful lot not just to us but to the whole school," senior forward Ryan Reid said. "We are trying to make something happen here."

While acknowledging FSU's recent improvement in the conference and the bye in this week's ACC tournament, head coach Leonard Hamilton made it clear that he expects much more from his current team.

"Not having to play on Thursday represents a lot of things," Hamilton said. "Getting the third seed means you are moving up the hierarchy of the ACC."

"I don't think that is really our ultimate goal, to get a top-four seed," Hamilton added. "We would like win the regular season conference outright and we would love to win the ACC Tournament, but I think it is a step in the right direction. We have not reached our goals, but I do feel we are moving in the right direction."

That being said, by winning 47 games over the past two seasons the program is reaching new levels of success and appears to be overcoming some hurdles that have haunted the program for over a decade.

"I think it gives us a little bit of recognition and prestige, but in reality I think our coaching staff realizes that in order for it to be meaningful you've got to keep stacking them back-to-back-to-back-to-back," Hamilton said. "Where we are and where we're trying to get to, there's still a lot of distance. So as pleased as we are that we're making progress, this is not our destination at this point."

Reid, who will leave Florida State as the winningest player in the school's ACC history, believes there are bigger and better things ahead for this program in the coming years.

"I think we are making progress," Reid said. "I think when I leave, there are guys here capable of carrying this on and making us move up and be a No. 1 seed. But right now, we are happy about what we have done for this program."

His optimism for the future was shared by Hamilton. While hesitant to look ahead to next season with the conference tournament and NCAA Tournament still ahead, Hamilton expects his team's recent success to continue in the immediate future.

"I think that we have made progress but we have a tremendous amount of room for improvement," Hamilton said.

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