At age 71, Leonard Hamilton has Florida State basketball gunning for a No. 1 seed
Random notes:
▪ Give it up for Leonard Hamilton. Still truckin’ at age 71. Monday night, Hamilton’s sixth-ranked Seminoles put the wood to Louisville 50-27 in the second half for a resounding 82-67 victory and a sweep of Chris Mack’s Cardinals. FSU is now atop the ACC standings at 14-3.
Not that we should be surprised. Since his days as Joe B. Hall’s top recruiter, where he was the man responsible for gathering the talent on UK’s 1978 national title team, Hamilton has fashioned a long and varied head coaching career with stops at Oklahoma State, Miami, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and now Tallahassee, where after all these years he may be peaking.
This is his 18th year at Florida State. Imagine that. Seven of his last 11 teams have made the NCAA Tournament. The ‘Noles reached the Elite Eight in 2018, the Sweet 16 in 2011 and 2018. And this may be his best team yet. With Clemson, Notre Dame and Boston College left on the regular-season schedule, Hamilton has a legitimate shot at coaching a No. 1 seed come Selection Sunday.
▪ Louisville’s chances of winning the ACC probably evaporated Monday night. Jordan Nwora again struggled in a big game, making but four of 14 shots, including one of six from three-point land. The ‘Ville was just 5-of-21 behind the arc against a Florida State defense that is tight and tenacious. Having lost three of their last five, the Cardinals finish with Virginia Tech at home (Sunday) and Virginia on the road (March 7).
▪ The biggest story in college football this week, this month and maybe this offseason involved a strength coach. Alabama’s Scott Cochran, the Tide’s bald and maniacal strength coach, is leaving Nick Saban to join former Saban assistant Kirby Smart at Georgia, where Cochran will trade in his dumbbells to coach special teams.
Cochran was the most famous strength coach in the country, and not just for his intense sideline antics but for his huge role in developing NFL draft pick after NFL draft pick in Tuscaloosa. His 2019 salary was listed at $595,000. Most credited Smart with a steal, while also showing he’s not beholden to his old boss.
The headline on AL. com put it this way: Kirby Smart stealing Scott Cochran an SEC act of war.
▪ Five summers ago, when Mark Pope earned his first head coaching job at Utah Valley, I was on the phone in my car outside the outlet shops in Simpsonville — where my wife was shopping — listening to the former Kentucky Wildcat bubble with optimism over his new challenge and passion for coaching. As we talked, I thought, “Who wouldn’t want to play for this guy?”
Fast forward to last Saturday night when Pope, now the head coach at BYU, did a delightful postgame dance after his Cougars upset No. 2 Gonzaga 91-78. In his first year as the head coach in Provo, Pope surely is in line for national coaching honors. The Cougars are 23-7 overall, 12-3 in the WCC and ranked 17th in the latest AP poll. And Mark is just getting started.
▪ The Kentucky Derby trail kicks back up Saturday with the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream. Considered a prep for the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 28, the race will feature the return of Dennis’ Moment, who has not raced since a disastrous day as the betting favorite in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita. Trained by Dale Romans, the son of Tiznow stumbled badly at the start and finished last in the field of eight.
Romans is ready for the comeback, however, telling Gulfstream officials that Dennis’ Moment’s workout on Sunday, “went perfect. It was just what we were looking for from his last work.”
Fox Sports 2 will televise the Fountain of Youth during its “America’s Day at the Races” program from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The race will also be shown on TVG.
