FSU Basketball: National Champions? State Senator Joe Gruters Passed Legislation Saying So: Exclusive Interview
The cancellation of the NCAA Tournament felt as sudden and final as an avalanche sliding down the side of a mountain. Over the course of last Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the NBA suspended its season, collegiate conferences vacillated between playing without fans or not playing at all, the NCAA first announced it would play the tournament without fans, and then canceled the tournament, along with the Winter and Spring Championships. That's all.
College athletes across the country were shocked and devastated by the news. Possibly even more shocking was that the NCAA, not known for the shyness in producing revenue (upwards of $1 Billion) through their men's basketball tournament, canceled the entire endeavor.
This year was a year where non traditional powers felt like they could make a run to the Final Four, and even win the National Championship. Florida State certainly felt like it could-- that maybe their team was a team of destiny.
State Senator Joe Gruters thought so, too. So on March 13, Gruters introduced and helped pass a resolution naming the FSU men's hoops team the 2019-2020 NCAA National Champions.
March 13 was also the last day of the legislative session. Gruters decided it needed to be done: "This was more of a spontaneous decision on my part as we were on the final day of the Legislative Session and waiting on bills to bounce back and forth between chambers. This took about five minutes total and it did not interfere with other business of the Legislature."
The Seminoles completed the best regular season in school history, going 26-5 overall, 16-4 in conference, which included a perfect 16-0 at home and an ACC Regular Season Championship-- the first for the program. They finished the year ranked No. 4 in the AP.
Gruters is a State Senator representing the 23rd District in Florida, comprised of Sarasota and some of Charlotte County. It was a natural decision for him. He earned his undergraduate degree from FSU and served on the Board of Trustees from 2011-2016.
"As we were waiting, I thought about all of the impacts that the Coronavirus was having, including on athletes and sports teams. I was disappointed that the FSU basketball team and Coach Hamilton would not be able to compete. I think they had a real chance at winning the tournament."
He attended or watched many of the games this year, and feels the team was good enough to win it all. When asked if there was one team that he wanted the 'Noles to face off against, he responded, "Bring on any of them."
If this resolution seems provincial or at worst, disrespectful, to other programs who also did not have a chance to compete, Gruters says, "[It] is a little bit of collegial fun."
He admits that it is a resolution in the Florida Senate, not by the NCAA or some binding organization, but says, "We will never know what could have been, but I wanted to highlight the success they had this year."
