Everywhere Leonard Hamilton looked there were old friends. About 150 players from his playing days at Tennessee-Martin to teams at Oklahoma State, Miami and Florida State were among those in attendance on Saturday.

Hamilton tried not to be distracted. There were reminders everywhere. Hamilton joked that even the morning shootaround was wild, with sons and daughters of his alumni players hanging out in the stands and playing hoops on one end of the court.

“Visiting with all the players that made the sacrifice to come and want to be here, a part of this moment, was somewhat overwhelming to me,” Hamilton said. “I thought maybe I could block it all out and just stay focused on the game. But it seemed like every few minutes, someone had to have their moment and us reminisce about some of those things that we experienced along our journey, and then you start realizing how important those relationships were and how meaningful it was to each individual.”

Hamilton took time for each, even a familiar face on the other bench in Andy Enfield, an FSU assistant from 2006-11. After four straight losses, the Seminoles bounced back as Malique Ewin's return helped ensure Hamilton's send-off at the Tucker Center included a win.

Ewin shot 10 of 13 from the floor to surpass his season-best and score a career-high 26 points in FSU's 76-69 win over SMU on Saturday. The junior forward/center also shot 6 of 7 from the line and had eight rebounds after missing two games due to a foot/ankle injury.

Jamir Watkins scored 20 points on 5 of 12 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds in his final regular-season game at FSU. (He has scored 20 or more points in four of the last five games.) Watkins, Bostyn Holt and walk-ons Jesse Jones and Jason Simpson all started, as is usual in prior years under Hamilton.

FSU (17-14, 8-12 ACC) snapped a four-game slide and damaged SMU's postseason chances. Saturday's victory was Hamilton's 200th regular-season win, and it came in his final opportunity ahead of next week's ACC Tournament.

The Mustangs finish the regular season at 22-9, 13-7 in Enfield's first season at the school.

“Coach Hamilton is one of the best coaches in our game of basketball, college basketball,” said Enfield. “Everybody is really appreciative of him as a person. It’s just incredible when you talk about 50 plus years. He is just one of the best."

More than 150 alumni from Hamilton's teams were in attendance to honor Hamilton. Many of his old teammates from Tennessee-Martin wore white T-shirts with a garnet circle and an image of Hamilton, who will soon wrap up his 23rd and final season as FSU's head coach. One of Hamilton's former Kentucky players, Sam Bowie, also sat courtside.

“I felt very proud,” Hamilton said. “I have guys from my high school, from my high school here. I got guys from University of Tennessee at Martin, where I played college basketball. When I was inducted to the Tennessee Hall of Fame, those guys were right there with me and for them to make that sacrifice. Solomon Alabi coming all the way from Seattle with his family. Ryan Reid, four or five kids here, and I'm looking at all the other kids, former players, who have brought their families to be a part of this. I got Sam Bowie and Dirk Minnifield from Kentucky.”

A cluster of Seminoles from the last decade also sat above FSU's locker room entrance to the Tucker Center. Players from the 2011-12 ACC Tournament team like Okaro White, Xavier Gibson and Jon Kreft were in the stands, as were Phil Cofer and Green Team players like Travis Light and Justin Lindner. One of Hamilton's early starters, Isaiah Swann, also was in attendance.

Hamilton was the first Black player in the history of Tennessee-Martin basketball. He recalled fond memories of teammates from decades ago as well as how they reconnected in Tallahassee.

“We had a little reception last night. To be honest with you, it was hilarious," Hamilton said. "One of them actually thinks he can sing. He actually sang the national anthem at the UT Martin game last year. It was horrible. He goes to karaoke bars and tries to take over the microphone. That was one of the funniest things that I experienced, but I have a lot of fun stories that we've been reminiscing about, the games that we played on each other, the foolishness in the dormitories that we did to each other. It was shameful.

“But that's the unique thing about college sports, a unique thing about college basketball specifically, is a relationship that you form when it doesn't matter what you look like, what color you are, everybody's on the same page. Everybody's in that fox hole together. And I wish that our society could represent the relationships that we do and that you earn and you develop when you're on a college basketball team. Everybody makes sacrifice for each other. Everybody's hanging out together. None of the disrespect and hatred that we seem to be experiencing in our society is part of a really good basketball.”

FSU plays Syracuse on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the ACC Tournament (ACC Network).

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