FSU men's basketball set to face South Carolina in inaugural No Room for Racism Classic

With final exams week in the rear-view mirror, basketball can become a bigger focus for the Florida State men's team over the next few weeks.

The Seminoles (5-3, 0-1 in ACC) have four non-conference games left on their schedule, two of which are neutral-site clashes. The first of those will be played Sunday at noon as FSU takes on South Carolina (6-2) in the inaugural No Room for Racism Classic at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center in Rock Hill, S.C.

For FSU, the matchup with the Gamecocks represents a chance to snap their recent skid. The Seminoles dropped both of their games last week at Purdue and at home vs. Syracuse.

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They have had eight days since that loss to the Orange to reflect on the problems that have proven tough to overcome at times this season.

"With the team that we have this year, it's growing with a lot of moving parts, a lot of adjustments that the players individually are making, a lot of evaluating and learning..." FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said.

"It's challenging us to really, really grow and mature a little faster as we prepare for the ACC, which is a great conference. We think this is a great opportunity for us to learn a little bit more about who we are and what we're doing and try to improve."

Part of FSU's problem has definitely stemmed from how heavily it has had to rely on new players. Five of FSU's six new players this season have appeared in every game and are averaging 14-plus minutes per game.

Injuries and absences of some returning players and other veterans not living up to expectations so far this season have complicated the Seminoles' issues and limited their usually stout depth.

"We're still in such a learning mode that you can't imagine the difference in what we have been doing in the past and what we're doing now..." Hamilton said.

"There's a lot of teaching going on, a lot of going over film and pointing out certain things to them...We're constantly looking and evaluating. As we look back at even what we've done in the preseason, we've been so unaccustomed to have to depend on so many newcomers on the floor at the same time."

While the Gamecocks enter this weekend's clash with the better record of the two teams this young season, FSU will be the toughest opponent they have faced to date. Of USC's first eight games, only one was against an opponent ranked in the top 100 of the KenPom rankings.

South Carolina beat No. 42 UAB 66-63 at home on Nov. 18, but has already lost to Princeton (No. 153) and Coastal Carolina (No. 203) this season.

A special event for Hamilton

When Hamilton signed his team up to play South Carolina in this year's neutral-site event, he didn't yet know the circumstances.

The No Room for Racism Classic is being played as a commitment to fostering relationships among diverse social, cultural, and racial backgrounds. It will honor the Friendship Nine, a group of nine African-American college students who chose to spend 30 days in jail rather than bail themselves out for $100 because the nine men knew what they were standing for was the correct thing to do.

This group, eight of whom were basketball players at Friendship Junior College in Rock Hill, went to jail for staging a sit-in at the segregated McCrory’s lunch counter in Rock Hill in 1961.

"As time moved on and I found out the emphasis placed on this tournament, I became more and more excited," Hamilton said.

"I'm hoping that there's something we can do or say that will help move the needle in terms of the climate that we're dealing with now in America."

Hamilton knows quite a bit about breaking the color barrier. He grew up in segregated Gastonia, N.C. and was the first black college basketball player at both Gastonia College and Austin Peay University.

He was also the first black assistant basketball coach in University of Kentucky history when he was hired in 1974.

"There needs to be a clear understanding of the history of these types of issues. Look around the world and see the negative effects of people not being able to get along with each other and allowing our selfish motives to overtake good sound judgment and reason. That's why I always encourage dialogue, communication, understanding, patience..." Hamilton said.

"I'm glad to participate. I don't want to be someone to instigate or motivate or bring a negative light. I'm not trying to make anyone feel some kind of way about who they are, what they should or should not be doing. I just want to encourage people to have dialogue, communication and have a clear understanding there's enough of this good life that we have in America. We can share the water, we can share the air, we can share the sunshine and we should be able to share relationships."

South Carolina head coach Frank Martin's relationship with Hamilton goes back decades. Martin was an assistant coach and then head coach at Miami High when Hamilton was head coach of the Miami Hurricanes from 1990 through 2000.

He credits Hamilton for being the first college coach to let him into his office and see how a program of that magnitude is run.

"There's not a coach in America that gets less credit for the person he is than Leonard Hamilton..." Martin said.

"I'm a living example. I was a 22, 23-year old high school assistant coach that knew nothing about nothing and he let me into his office and showed me what it's like to be in a college basketball office. No one else ever did that."

Martin also credits Hamilton for teaching him a good amount about some of the unfortunate aspects of America's history that he had to deal with while growing up and climbing his way up in the coaching world.

"Growing up as a Cuban kid in Miami, I didn't understand a lot of these challenges that this country had in its history..." Martin said.

"I learned a lot about the history of what happened back in the day from coach Ham. He lived it, he felt it, he saw it and he was willing to share some of that with me...

"It's going to be a great event. I can't thank coach Ham enough for agreeing to come up and bring Florida State to South Carolina and play in a great event that's for such a great cause."

Florida State vs. South Carolina

No Room for Racism Classic

When: Sunday, noon

Where: Rock Hill Sports and Events Center, Rock Hill, S.C.

TV/Radio: ESPN2/101.5 FM

Reach Curt Weiler at cweiler@tallahassee.com or follow him on Twitter @CurtMWeiler.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU Seminoles basketball set for neutral-site clash vs. South Carolina