TALLAHASSEE, Fl. — Leonard Hamilton, who led Florida State to its first ever regular season ACC Championship, was named the 2020 ACC Coach of the Year while senior Trent Forrest and sophomore Devin Vassell were named to the All-ACC Second Team in a vote by a panel of all 15 coaches and media members from around the league. Forrest was also named to the ACC All-Defensive team while Patrick Williams was named the ACC’s Sixth Man of the Year and to the ACC All-Freshman team as announced by the league office on Monday.
It marks the third time Hamilton has been named the ACC Coach of the Year. He was also named the ACC Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2012. Hamilton has led the Seminoles to a 26-5 overall record and a 16-4 record in ACC play. The 26 wins for the Seminoles are a regular season school record, as are the 16 ACC wins. Florida State leads the ACC with four victories over ranked teams this season including two over Louisville, which finished in third place in the league standings.
Hamilton was the runaway choice as the ACC Coach of the Year, outdistancing Tony Bennett of Virginia and Chris Mack of Louisville.
Hamilton will lead the No. 1 seeded Seminoles into the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday against the winner of a second round game between Miami and Clemson at 12:30 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.
Vassell (12.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg) and Forrest’s (11.6 ppg, 4.1 apg) selections to the All-ACC Second Team marks just the third time in school history that two Seminoles have earned All-ACC First or Second Team honors in the same season. Vassell is ranked 15th in the ACC in scoring while Forrest is ranked second in the ACC in steals (2.2 spg) and 10th in assists (4.1 apg). Junior M.J. Walker (10.6 ppg 44 3FG Made) earned All-ACC Honorable Mention honors.
Vassell, who improved his scoring average by more than eight points per game, finished tied for second in the voting as the Most Improved Player in the nation’s best basketball conference.
Forrest is ranked second in the ACC in steals and is the first Seminole to be named to the All-Defensive Team since the 2017 season. He is the 13th Florida State player to be named to the All-ACC Defensive Team since 2004. Forrest enters the 2020 ACC Tournament with 224 career steals and needs only 15 steals to become Florida State’s all-time steals leader.
Forrest also finished fifth in the ACC Player of the Year voting and second in the balloting as the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
Williams ranks fourth on the team in scoring (9.2 ppg), fourth on the team in rebounding (4.0 rpg) and is the Seminoles’ leader in blocked shots (1.0 bpg). He is Florida State’s fourth leading scoring despite not starting a single one of the Seminoles’ 31 games this season. Williams’s selection as the ACC’s Sixth Man marks the second consecutive season a Seminole has won the award. Mfiondu Kabengele, a first round draft pick of the Los Angeles Clippers, was named as the ACC’s top sixth man in 2019.
Williams was also selected to the five-member All-ACC Freshman Team. His ranking among the top first-year players in the ACC marks the fifth time in the last six seasons at least one Seminole has been named to the All-ACC Freshman Team.
Williams also finished fourth in the voting for the ACC Freshman of the Year.
The Seminoles finished as the only undefeated ACC team at home (16-0) and finished with a 3-2 record against Virginia (1-1), Louisville (2-0) and Duke (0-1) – the four teams which earned double-byes in the conference Tournament.
2020 All-ACC Team
First Team
Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 367
Jordan Nwora, Louisville, 359
John Mooney, Notre Dame, 351
Tre Jones, Duke, 348
Elijah Hughes, Syracuse, 305
Second Team
Mamadi Diakite, Virginia, 234
Devin Vassell, Florida State, 212
Garrison Brooks, North Carolina, 209
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 200
Markell Johnson, NC State, 101
Third Team
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 98
Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 87
Aamir Simms, Clemson, 79
Cole Anthony, North Carolina, 69
Olivier Sarr, Wake Forest, 63
Honorable Mention
Landers Nolley II, Virginia Tech, 58
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 48
Brandon Childress, Wake Forest 44
Chris Lykes, Miami, 32
M.J. Walker, Florida State, 22
Braxton Key, Virginia, 16
Dwayne Sutton, Louisville, 15
Steffon Mitchell, Boston College, 11
ACC Player of the Year
Tre Jones, Duke, 34
Jordan Nwora, Louisville, 17
John Mooney, Notre Dame, 11
Elijah Hughes, Syracuse, 7
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 4
Mamadi Diakite, Virginia 2
Freshman of the Year
Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 70
Landers Nolley II, Virginia Tech, 2
Cole Anthony, North Carolina, 2
Patrick Williams, Florida State, 1
All-Defensive Team
Tre Jones, Duke, 64
Mamadi Diakite, Virginia, 55
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 55
James Banks III, Georgia Tech, 34
Steffon Mitchell, Boston College, 30
All-Freshman Team
Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 75
Cole Anthony, North Carolina, 55
Landers Nolley II, Virginia Tech, 54
Cassius Stanley, Duke, 36
Patrick Williams, Florida State, 29
Coach of the Year
Leonard Hamilton, Florida State, 62
Tony Bennett, Virginia, 12
Chris Mack, Louisville, 1
Defensive Player of the Year
Tre Jones, Duke, 45
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 18
Steffon Mitchell, Boston College, 8
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 3
Manny Bates, NC State, 1
Most Improved Player
Garrison Brooks, North Carolina, 17
Olivier Sarr, Wake Forest, 16
Devin Vassell, Florida State, 16
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 10
Aamir Simms, Clemson, 6
Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 6
Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame, 2
DJ Funderburk, NC State, 1
Jay Huff, Virginia, 1
Sixth Man of the Year
Patrick Williams, Florida State, 35
Malik Williams, Louisville, 28
Dane Goodwin, Notre Dame, 9
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 3
