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Noles Focused On Now

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By SCOTT CARTER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 5, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - There will be times during tonight's game against La Salle, much like in Sunday's surprise victory at Georgia Tech, when Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton will look at his bench and be reminded of his new team.

At some point, Hamilton will think about how much he could use 7-foot-1 freshman center Solomon Alabi to clog the lane, or 6-10 forward Julian Vaughn to offer a low-post option on offense. At other times, he'll see suspended forward Ryan Reid and wish he could send him into the game to grab a rebound, or wish he still had 6-8 forward Casaan Breeden to call on.

But none will be available, forcing Hamilton and the Noles to take an unexpected approach for the foreseeable future.

"We're not going to be like little kids waiting at Christmas," Hamilton said. "What we're doing is trying to stay in the moment and deal with what we have. We don't need to allow our circumstances to define who we are."

Still, even for a veteran bench boss like Hamilton, FSU's circumstances are knocking at the door of dire, if not already turning the knob.

Alabi, who played in nine of FSU's first 15 games, had surgery on Wednesday to repair a stress fracture in his right leg and is likely to miss the rest of the season. A starter in seven games, Vaughn is suffering from an unknown medical condition that will require him to visit the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio next week for extensive tests. Meanwhile, Breeden is no longer on the team after requesting his release to pursue a transfer, and Reid will miss his eighth consecutive game for an unspecified violation of team rules. Hamilton said Reid will return, but the Noles must overcome losing the others by playing a guard-heavy lineup led by the foursome of Jason Rich, Isaiah Swann, Toney Douglas and Ralph Mims.

"We can't make that an excuse for us not winning or not going out and giving it up every night," Swann said. "We've got to understand, 'Hey, that's us now. We're all we've got.' We have to make the best of what we've got."

In its first game without either Alabi or Vaughn, FSU overcame the odds to win at Georgia Tech, 66-64, on Sunday. Rich hit the winning shot with 4.3 seconds left, giving the Noles a victory in their ACC opener for the first time in four years. Former walk-on Matt Zitani, who has graduated and is taking grad-school courses, made his first career start at power forward. FSU's most experienced post player is 6-9 junior forward Uche Echefu, who scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the victory over Georgia Tech.

Considering the Noles learned only 48 hours before the victory that they would be without Alabi and Vaughn for an extended period, their first win at Georgia Tech this decade was a sweet one.

"I thought the coaches did a great job preparing us for the game," Rich said. "We were very confident going into that game because we had already played four guards out there. To start off 1-0 in the ACC, and not having our big men back there, it was a good win for us."

For a program seeking its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 10 years, losing its two most-heralded freshmen wasn't in the plan. But that didn't matter at Georgia Tech.

"It was a very matter-of-fact approach," Hamilton said. "We couldn't make a whole lot of adjustments in our practice plan. Those types of situations will raise - I call them basketball demons - they raise their ugly head. You have to accept that as a challenge and step up and seize the moment.

"I think that's what happened."

He hopes it keeps happening for the Noles to have any shot at ending that March Madness

Reporter Scott Carter can be reached at (850) 294-3088 or scarter@tampatrib.com.

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