There are so many reasons to be excited for today's Sweet 16 matchup with Michigan.

National television with Jim Nantz and Bill Raftery on the call. A chance to knock off a No. 1 seed. Revenge for the Elite Eight loss to Michigan three years ago.

Those are all fun and compelling.

And here’s one more -- I think FSU has a good chance to win.

***Don't miss out on our great sports coverage. Get your 30-day FREE trial!***

Two things from the Colorado game on Monday should give FSU fans a lot of hope going into this one: The way the Seminoles defended throughout the entire game, and the little baseline jumpers that Anthony Polite and Wyatt Wilkes made in the second half.

The defense, we’ve seen before. Maybe not as recently and not as intensely as the last two games, but Leonard Hamilton’s teams always play defense.

They’ve had to. The programs he’s led throughout his career haven’t historically been able to attract the kind of talent that lets you get away with mediocre effort on defense, because the players were generally average on offense.

To win, they had to defend like hell, and be good enough on offense to scrape by.

Even the FSU team that went to the Elite Eight a few years ago wasn’t awesome on offense. That team's defense was good enough to cause turnovers that led to fast-break points, which elevated its offensive production significantly.

In fact, those Seminoles were so good in the open court that when they played Michigan in 2018's tournament, then-coach John Beilein basically conceded any offensive rebounds, and dropped all of his players back after they shot it to try and minimize FSU’s ability to score in transition .

Michigan won by four. I think this year might be different.

Those jumpers by Polite and Wilkes? They represent a skillset not often featured on Florida State men's basketball teams: Shooting.

Take a deep breath and say it. This team can shoot.

I mean, they led the dang ACC in 3-point shooting this season! And it’s not just Polite, Wilkes and M.J. Walker. Sardaar Calhoun can shoot. So can Malik Osborne. And even though he hasn’t made one in over two months, RayQuan Evans has historically been a good 3-point shooter as well.

Guys like RaiQuan Gray, Scottie Barnes and Balsa Koprivica can score, but perimeter shooting matters in the tournament. The defense eventually gets too good, and the paths to the basket too clogged.

You’ve got to make shots. Today against Michigan, I think FSU can.

And if the Seminoles keep playing that elite, energetic defense, they have a chance to go to a second Elite Eight in three tournaments.

But even if they lose, it’s still three straight trips to the second weekend in March Madness. Which is heady times for all involved. Because, three straight trips to the Sweet 16 isn’t just the best stretch ever for FSU basketball. It’s the best stretch for Leonard Hamilton.

Remember, he only made one Sweet 16 at the University of Miami before being lured away by Michael Jordan and an NBA-sized paycheck to coach the Washington Wizards. And make no mistake, the paycheck was the best part of his time in Washington D.C.

The Wizards went 19-63 in Hamilton’s lone season, and he resigned after the last game, following a two-hour, post-game meeting with Michal Jordan.

And that’s another really fun part of this matchup. Since Michigan coach Juwan Howard played for that Wizards team (before demanding a trade halfway through the year), we get to talk about Hamilton’s time in the NBA!

In as long as I’ve been following him, Hamilton has not spoken much about his time as the coach of the Wizards. Which, you know, is understandable. How many of you relish the opportunity to engage in prolonged discussions about your professional failures? (Coach Taggart, you can put your hand down!)

Toward the end of Hamilton’s first season at FSU, I called into "The Leonard Hamilton Show" and asked him if there was any truth to the rumor that Rod Strickland, the mercurial guard who had feuded with Hamilton and ultimately was released by the Wizards in the middle of the season, would be joining the FSU coaching staff the next season.

“I think you know the answer to that,” was the best I could get out of him.

So the fact that he’s now facing a guy in Juwan Howard who actually played for him in Washington is a fascinating end to the arc of Hamilton’s career. I mean, Leonard Hamilton used to drive to work each day going by the National Mall. For the last 20 years, he’s driven by Governor’s Square.

I think we forget sometimes that we have a coach that the best basketball player in the history of the sport sought out to lead his NBA team. And that coach is now someone you run into at Fresh Market.

And sure, Michael Jordan and “competent basketball management decisions” aren’t exactly synonymous. But Hamilton is still a former NBA coach -- one of only four who took a team to the NCAA Tournament this year. (Lon Kruger, Rick Pitino and Eric Musselman are the others.)

The point is, Leonard Hamilton took his first head coaching job with an Oklahoma State team that had three winning seasons in the previous 16 years ... and 15 years later, he was coaching in the NBA.

That’s who is in charge at Florida State.

So, yes, I like FSU’s chances Sunday. They have the tallest team in the NCAA Tournament, with length that is among the first things every opposing coach mentions as soon as he has the chance.

You take those kinds of athletes, get them playing Leonard Hamilton's old-school, give-everything-you-have defense, rotate them liberally to keep everybody fresh ... and now they can shoot, too?

And their coach, maybe for the first time in his Hall of Fame-worthy career, has taken a program from the edge of oblivion to somewhere top players want to go because they want to win.

We're going to hear a lot about Leonard Hamilton's coaching journey during Sunday's broadcast. Thanks to his connection to Juwan Howard, there will be talk from Nantz and Raftery about Hamilton’s past, and maybe even an extended mention of his one real coaching disappointment, that miserable season with the Wizards.

But the focus for Hamilton, his players and FSU fans will be squarely on the present. This is a program that has not only become one of the best in the ACC, but the entire country.

A victory today can hammer home that point once again.

In the last decade under Hamilton, Florida State has made four Sweet 16 appearances. The Seminoles had accomplished that feat just three times previously in the history of the program.

Indeed, a win today -- on this stage, against that opponent -- would be another tremendous accomplishment. But the truly best part is there's no sign of this wild ride coming to an end any time soon, no matter what happens inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The head coach has a new five-year contract, and the recruits keep getting better and better. The next class arriving this summer might be the most decorated yet.

Hamilton has grown fond of saying his "New Bloods" have crashed the college basketball party.

They might just stay awhile.

Tallahassee resident Eric Eggers is a longtime Florida State basketball fan who once hosted a radio program devoted to discussing the Seminoles on the hardwood. He assures us he no longer makes sarcastic calls to "The Leonard Hamilton Show."

---------------------------

Discuss FSU basketball with fans on Warchant's Seminole Hoops message board