Leonard Hamilton Players Quotations

I think we have as much experience in advising and discussing futures of players as anyone in the business. If there's some decisions that need to be made, I guarantee you all the appropriate information will be gathered and there won't be any stones left unturned if a youngster needs our assistance in any areas. But it becomes counterproductive when it becomes a draft watch.

To go on the road in the ACC and come away with the victory, you have to have a lot of people play very well. I thought our players played with a tremendous amount of focus and aggressiveness.

I thought our players really, really stayed focused. Even when (Butler) took the lead at the end, they had a very positive attitude.

I thought our players just found a way to bounce back from the disappointment to play with a full heart for 40 minutes.

I just thought our players found a way to bounce back from the disappointment. We haven't spent time dwelling on anything negative. Now we're in the NIT and we have to go about handling our business.

That was what the players were saying - 'We have to get stops,' because they were kind of having their way with us there for a little while. So, they just buckled down, and we started switching everything. ... We just put a smaller lineup out there on the floor and switched everything and hoped that we could do a better job containing them.

He's only scratched the surface of his potential. I knew he played the game with an extreme passion, he enjoyed playing and I knew that we needed those kind of players at Florida State because you knew they were going to get better.

I don't know whether you say he's unstoppable, but he is playing at a level that makes him one of the top one or two players in the country. The thing that you respect him for is he's gotten better every year.

Any comments that I make in relation to the technical foul, and the impact that it did or did not have on the game, I think would be seen as (taking) away from how outstanding I think Duke's players played. They made tough shots. They made the plays they had to make to win the game. We had equal opportunities, and we didn't come away with the points. We didn't get the stops that were necessary during the critical parts of the game, and we had maybe even some better looks than what they had; they knocked theirs down and we didn't.

As I was coming in (the interview room), I was thinking about how much energy he brought to the game tonight. His comments and his enthusiasm on the bench and his communication with the players was extremely animated, unlike A.J. Sometimes he is very quiet, but he had a lot to say.

We were very focused in guarding their very good perimeter players at the beginning of the game.

I think prep basketball over the entire state has gotten better. And I think you can see it from these players that spring up at programs from around the country and you say, 'Where did this kid come from?

He has worked very hard in practice. I think he has earned the respect of all his teammates. He has shown that he's more than capable of being a major contributor to our team. I think our players look forward to playing with him.

What I was looking for was for the players to gain some confidence in themselves and the system.

We had a very difficult time there toward the end of the game getting the right stops. I thought we played good enough defense for the most part, but you have to give Duke a lot of credit. When the game's on the line, they made some real tough shots that were very well defended and that's what great players will do.

They were defended about as well as we can defend them. They made shots that were tough shots and that's what great players do. I have to give them credit for making those shots as opposed to what our kids didn't do.

I'm going to encourage my players at this particular point to have absolutely no comment to make plus or minus, good or bad about what their plans are because I think that takes on a life of itself.

It's always interesting when we have our coaches' meetings, and it seems that we play so many teams that had to have their best night against us. We've been getting everyone's best shot. But I thought when we had to have the stops, when we had to get the rebounds and when had to make the baskets, or players stepped up.