College basketball

Seminoles told you so

With an NCAA berth nearly certain, the FSU women have met goals only they believed in.

By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published March 4, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - With the season opener mere days away, Florida State women's basketball coach Sue Semrau conducted an open, spirited give-and-take with her staff and players about the team's goals.

As they decided on one, she'd take a grease pen and write it boldly on the board.

The Seminoles would win 21 games.

They'd finish in the top four in the powerful ACC.

They'd reach the NCAA Tournament.

"We were very serious about it," she said. "We weren't going to put it up there unless we really believed it."

Outside that room, most folks had done a little writing of their own about what to expect from a program beset by tragedy and turnover.

Promising forward Ronalda Pierce died June 8 from an aortic rupture attributed to a genetic disorder, Marfan's syndrome. The top returning player, point guard Shante Williams, told Semrau she was taking the season off for personal reasons. In all, the top six scorers from the 2003-04 season were gone.

The Seminoles, a group of mostly guards and just 10 deep, were picked to finish eighth in the ACC.

Some saw that as a generous prediction.

"While everything was going on and we were trying to figure things out, we didn't know what to expect," said senior guard Roneeka Hodges, a transfer from LSU. "But once we got into preseason conditioning and played some (exhibition) games, we started believing in ourselves and the things we had. We felt we could make it work."

Let's go back to the board now, shall we?

The Seminoles are 23-6, their most wins since the 1990-91 season. At 9-5 in the league, they enter the ACC tournament as the No. 4 seed, earning a first-round bye and setting up a quarterfinal matchup against No. 5 Virginia on Saturday.

Given their record and RPI (17, according to Collegiate Basketball News), the Seminoles appear to be a lock for an NCAA Tournament bid, which would be the fifth in program history.

"This team has provided genuine inspiration for everybody and anybody who has seen them play and is cognizant of what they've had to overcome," athletic director Dave Hart said.

The road to this point actually began in the spring with a chat about goals.

Semrau, coming off a disappointing 15-15 season and facing outside speculation that her job was in jeopardy (she had two years left on her five-year contract), met with Hart for her annual job evaluation. She arrived with a written plan of the things she could do, wanted to do and needed to do.

She called it "Phase Two," which focused on getting players to embrace rebounding, defending and going all out.

Ability was no longer enough. Attitude was just as vital.

"Phase Two was going to be about people who would believe or leave," Semrau said. "We were never going to compromise again."

That's kind of what she'd been hearing for years from football coach Bobby Bowden, who helped persuade her to take the job and has been a staunch supporter.

"I just think she's got the tools, as good as anybody else, to coach, and she's got the personality and the positive attitude that it takes to be a winner," he said.

Semrau also realized she had to move into a new phase as a coach, emulating Bowden and men's coach Leonard Hamilton. Both have long delegated significant responsibility to their assistants, taking full advantage of their gifts. That's something many young coaches don't do.

"I was ready to go in that direction," Semrau said.

In May, she hired Cori Close, a former star point guard at California-Santa Barbara, a graduate assistant at UCLA (where she regularly picked the brain of John Wooden) and then an assistant at her alma mater. Close had built a reputation as a demanding, detail-oriented offensive-minded coach.

"That complements who I am so much," Semrau said. "Really, my gift is more motivating. Her gift is teaching. ... I knew she wouldn't come if I had tried to put handcuffs on her."

She hasn't.

"We get stopped for not doing things right and, in the past, that might have been overlooked at times," junior guard Ganiyat Adeduntan said. "It seems like she sees everything. But that definitely helps us in games."

It's no coincidence that Adeduntan, sophomore guard Alicia Gladden, senior guard Linnea Liljestrand and junior point guard Holly Johnson have all more than doubled their career scoring averages this season.

It's also no coincidence the Seminoles have excelled in close games. They've won four in overtime, three in a row in January against ranked foes Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia Tech. They've won two recent league games by a basket; at Wake Forest on Feb. 13, they erased a 10-point deficit in the final 3:43.

While tragedy and turmoil has provided the Seminoles a carefree perspective and uncommon poise on the court, Semrau has given them an unflappable faith in each other.

"They're having fun playing basketball; all you have to do is watch them," said Hart, adding the "environment is very positive" for contract talks to come with his coach at season's end. "They don't play tight. ... They expect to win."

"It's a real confidence," Semrau stressed. "I like to say, "It's a backbone, not a wishbone.' "

That should have been on the board, too.

'Cause then there would be another check mark.

[Last modified March 4, 2005, 00:31:15]