MONTREAL, Canada – For so many reasons, it’s great to be a Florida State basketball player.
College basketball teams are fortunate enough to travel and play international games once every four years. The Seminoles have certainly taken advantage of their opportunities to prepare for the upcoming seasons during head coach Leonard Hamilton’s 21-year tenure.
Since Hamilton began his career at Florida State in 2002, the Seminoles have traveled to Spain, Greece, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Over the next 10 days, the Seminoles will spend time competing and learning about the culture of our neighbors to the north in Canada.
The Seminoles left Tallahassee on Aug. 2 for a 10-day trip to Canada, where they will play two scrimmages and three games against top-level Canadian college teams. The trip also includes sightseeing tours of the beautiful and historic city of Montreal and an amphibious tour of Ottawa – a city known for its scenic waterways and Chaudiere Falls. Chaudiere Falls is a group of cascades and waterfalls in the center of the metropolitan city, which is the capital of Canada.
“This trip is really coming at a great time for us,” Hamilton said. “We have so many young guys that we’re counting on to be part of our rotation to be successful. We have guys coming back who are in their second years … so we probably have one of the most inexperienced teams we’ve had here. But I really like this team.
“We are quite talented; we just need to find a way to speed up our ability to join and have a full understanding of what we do in our system. We put more things in place this summer than we have in the past few years because we have so many young guys.”
Hamilton and his staff have already taught the concepts of Florida State’s press and zone offense, as well as zone defense, to the team that includes nine players who will suit up for the Garnet and Gold for the first time on this trip.
Sophomore Jalen Warley, a recipient of nearly 20 minutes of playing time per game as a freshman, understands how this trip will help the Seminoles when the season begins in November at the Donald L. Tucker Center.
“I’m really excited because we’ve been preparing all summer to prepare for this,” Warley said. “This trip will be a great learning experience for us. With such a young team, there will be plenty of growing moments. I’m excited to get out there and play against some other people, not just our team.”
Florida State is coming off an injury-plagued 2022 season where four of its five starters were lost to season-ending injuries and several other top-line contributors missed multiple games throughout the season. The Seminoles were in first place in the ACC standings with a 6-2 record after eight games at the end of January (with two wins over Miami and one over Duke), and finished with a 10-10 mark in conference play.
To illustrate just how well the Seminoles were playing before injuries decimated their lineup, Miami advanced to the Elite Eight and Duke to the Final Four of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
One thing Warley is excited about is the continued maturation of Florida State’s highly touted freshman group, which includes five true freshmen as well as graduate transfers Jaylan Gainey (Brown University) and Darin Green, Jr. (UCF). Gainey comes to Florida State as the all-time leader in Ivy League history with a .699 career fielding percentage. Green finished his career in 10th placeth in KSHSH history with 208 career 3-point field goals.
“They’re learning very quickly,” Warley said. “We are in the gym almost every day and I can see the steps of the guys adjusting to our system. We have so many talented guys coming up from the high school level who are just learning how to play in our system. I see them getting better every day.”
After scrimmages against the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and McGill University, the Seminoles will then play games against Ottawa, Carleton and McGill to close out the trip.
“There’s no question that this is one of the most important trips we’ve done whenever we’ve gone on international trips because we’ve got so many young guys,” Hamilton said. “We are talented; we like this team. We think we have the potential to surprise a lot of people. To come together, we need time to practice. This is why this trip can be one of the most important trips internationally.
“We need this trip. We must discover who we are. We play a system where we depend on creating for each other, sharing the ball and sharing playing time. You can’t do that well when you don’t really know your teammates’ strengths and weaknesses. That’s really important to us.”
