National Champs! Late heroics from Forrest, Walker lead 'Noles to title*
ATLANTA -- When Louisville's desperation final shot bounced off the backboard late Monday night, Trent Forrest broke down and fell to his knees.
CBS announcer Jim Nantz told a national television audience: "The Florida State Seminoles just went H-A-M for their head coach. And Leonard Hamilton has won it all."
The celebration that followed FSU's 75-73, national championship victory over Louisville was unlike anything the State Farm Arena in Atlanta had ever seen.
The "Green Vipers" scout-team squad sprinted to midcourt to jump on Forrest, who appeared to be re-enacting the dramatic pose from "Shawshank Redemption." Malik Osborne let out a scream so loud that Nantz had to ask him to dial it down a notch.
M.J. Walker hobbled over to midcourt and gently laid down on top of the celebratory scrum. Patrick Williams almost smiled. Anthony Polite threw Swatches into the crowd. And Wyatt Wilkes high-stepped the full length of the court wearing Cimarron's head on his shoulders.
It was like something out of a "Harlem Shake" video.
And Leonard Hamilton, after hugging his assistant coaches -- Stan Jones, Charlton Young and Steve Smith -- just stood there and soaked it all in.
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Hamilton's Florida State Seminoles were the 2020 national champions.
"I guess we can take some bows now," Hamilton said with a smile. "By all means, we ARE a finished product. I'm just so happy for these young men. They stuck together. They believed. And now they'll be a part of history forever. That banner won't ever be taken down.
"It's so hard to beat a good team three times in one season, but our kids found a way."
"You know," said Wilkes, who was still wearing the mascot head in the locker room afterward. "You can't spell Louisville without 3 L's."
That's a fair point. This game, though, wasn't nearly as easy as the first two.
The Cardinals held the lead virtually the entire game, always seeming to respond with a big 3-pointer when the Seminoles would get close. Jordan Nwora hit five 3s in the game, and Ryan McMahon hit four.
Nwora, who scored 18 of his 24 points in the first half, scored the final seven points before intermission to give the Cardinals a 37-30 lead at the break.
"He was on fire," Osborne said. "When he banked in that 3-point hook shot falling out of bounds, I thought it might not be our night. Luckily for us, the 'Quans played so well in the first half we were able to keep it close."
The self-described "Big Shot RaiQuan" Gray scored 8 points (on two 3s and a dunk) and backup point guard RayQuan Evans added 7, including a follow dunk to tie the game at 30. Despite shooting less than 40 percent from the field, and despite both Forrest and Vassell being in foul trouble, the Seminoles were able to hang around thanks to the role players.
Wilkes also knocked down a 3 midway through the first half to end a Louisville mini-run.
"I know he says some crazy things," Forrest said of his sophomore teammate. "Like all day he kept calling them, 'Poo-is-ville. Poo-is-ville.' And I'm like, 'Man, let me get my shots up and warm up. Plus, you already used 'Poo' for another team.' But he's a great role player for us And he can really shoot. That was a big-time shot for us."
About an hour and a half later, Forrest would hit one much, much, much bigger.
But the senior's dramatics were only set up after one of the most entertaining second halves in recent NCAA Tournament history.
Both teams exchanged haymakers. The Seminoles came out of the locker room and immediately went on a 7-0 run, punctuated by a Walker alley-oop dunk over Louisville's Fresh Kimble.
"More like 'Stale' Kimble," Walker said. "Sorry, I guess Wyatt has been rubbing off on me. But it was a big play. Not sure why he jumped. That didn't work out for him. But that was a great pass from Devin."
Kimble and the Cardinals answered back. He hit two mid-range jumpers in a row and then found Nwora for an and-1.
And when McMahon hit his fourth 3 of the game -- a 30-footer from way past the top of the key -- with 11:44 left, the Cardinals had a 52-42 lead.
"That kid is a great shooter," Vassell said. "For real. One of the best in the country. Unfortunately, he has to play defense, too. So that's who we attacked. And he wasn't happy about it either."
Vassell, Forrest and Walker each took turns hitting shots over McMahon. Vassell's 17-footer with 7:26 to go cut the Louisville lead to 58-55. Walker scored six points during that 13-6 run, and Forrest added a runner in the lane as well.
From there, it was back and forth. Every time FSU would hit a big shot -- like an Osborne 3 with 4:33 left -- the Cardinals answered right back.
And when Nwora drilled a baseline 3 over Williams with 1:07 to go, Louisville was up 73-69, and it looked like the Seminoles were in real trouble.
"Kudos to (Nwora) for playing so well after Trent baptized him the last time we played," said Williams, who had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocked shots in his last game as a Seminole. "A lot of guys would shrink after being murdered like that. But he stepped up. Respect.
"But then, you know, M.J. got him a few seconds later. I guess you could say he was in the Nwrong place at the Nwrong time. ... Sorry, man. I think Wyatt is rubbing off on me too."
It's been an inexplicable postseason for M.J. Walker. There was the tuba accident. There was the T-shirt gun injury that required stitches. There was the one-game suspension for beating up the Houston Rockets mascot, Clutch the Bear.
But on Monday night, with the championship on the line, the junior guard was playing in his hometown of Atlanta, in front of dozens of family and friends. He had been hearing it all night from Louisville fans, holding signs like: "Go Punch Renegade!" And, "Walker and Clutch don't mix!" But the former McDonald's All-American responded by making the biggest play of the season.
Down 4, the Seminoles ran a set that had Walker coming off a screen by Williams. Walker caught the ball on the right wing, rose up and fired. As the FSU guard was shooting, he was barreled into by Nwora, who had tripped over Williams' foot and started to stumble. Nwora wound up head-butting Walker right in the groin as he released the shot.
Walker went down in agony. The ball went straight through the basket. The foul was called on Nwora (his fifth). Walker writhed on the floor. The Florida State bench simultaneously celebrated and squirmed as Walker tried to catch his breath.
He was a free throw away from trying the game with 44 seconds left.
"No way I was coming out of the game, I had to shoot the free throw," Walker said. "I mean, it was the perfect way for this season to end for me. I've been elbowed in the mouth by my own teammate. I've tripped over a referee. I've landed in a tuba. I've caught a T-shirt gun in the face. So, no, I wasn't surprised that Jordan Nwora head-butted me in the crotch. Seemed like a natural progression.
"But hey, I guess Walker and Clutch DO mix after all, huh?
The junior guard calmly knocked down the free throw to tie the game at 73. He then was replaced by "Swatch" Polite for defense.
Polite did a great job on guard David Johnson on the ensuing possession, hounding the talented freshman into a contested pass that was deflected and eventually stolen by Forrest with 28 seconds on the clock.
"It was time for someone to make a play on defense," Polite said. "And they don't call me "Swatch" for nothing."
The Seminoles ran the game clock down to 10 and then called timeout.
"There was no doubt who we were drawing up the play for," Hamilton said. "Trent is the captain. He's the leader. He's the senior. It was his moment."
"I wanted the ball," said Forrest, who had 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. "I was going to the lane, and if they helped off, I was going to hit either Devin or Swatch for a 3. But they didn't help off. And I just got to my spot and went up."
Forrest's 12-foot floater over Fresh Kimble went in with 0.8 seconds left.
Johnson’s half-court 3 was well off the mark, and the Seminoles celebrated their first-ever national championship.
"We knew Trent would win it for us," Gray said. "He always hits those kinds of shots. That's what he does. He's clutch. Like a bear.
"If the No. 3 jersey isn't hanging from the rafters a few years from now, a giant mistake will have been made," Vassell said. "This was Trent's team. We're all good. We all played hard. But we followed his lead. And he led us to a championship."
Said Forrest: "I'm just glad we won it for Coach Ham. He put this team together. He's the reason we were 26-5 in the regular season after losing six of our top eight scorers. He's the reason we won the ACC title. He's the reason we're cutting down another net. He's the reason we just put that third L in Louisville.
"He deserves all of this. I'm so happy for him."
Hamilton smiled as he listened to his senior captain talk.
"Trent's one of the best leaders I've ever had. Maybe the best," Hamilton said. "I'm just so proud of all of these guys. They gave us everything we asked of them. They went HAM every day to try to get ol' Coach Ham a national title. And that's exactly what they did.
"What a ride."
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About this story
It was the best regular season in school history, and one that was punctuated with an ACC Championship and a No. 4 national ranking heading into the postseason.
Which is what made what happened next so frustrating and heartbreaking.
With the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament, Florida State's players, coaches and fans will never get to know just how far the Seminoles would've gotten.
Would more nets have been cut down? Would another trophy have been hoisted? Would Trent Forrest and the boys have had any more heroics left in them?
Well, it's time we find out ... with Warchant's 2020 What Could Have Been NCAA Tournament?
Here's the recap of FSU's first-round win over Belmont, and this is how the Seminoles knocked off LSU in the second round. In the Sweet 16, the Seminoles rallied from a huge deficit to knock off Maryland. Then they dropped Ohio State in the Elite Eight and No. 1 seed Kansas in the Final Four.
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