Florida State men’s basketball hit the court for its first practice of the fall, and head coach Luke Loucks met with reporters afterward to run through the state of his roster.
Health Report:
Loucks opened with the training room rundown. The good news: Sebastian Rankic is fully healthy after dealing with tendonitis over the summer and is back to full speed.
Marcis Ponder picked up a minor stinger in his shoulder at practice, but Loucks downplayed it. “The athletic trainer says a 30-minute deal. … It’s
not a big deal.”
Colin Paul and AJ Swinton are both still working back from ACL injuries. Loucks said AJ is progressing well, while Colin has hit a few minor setbacks trying to ramp up to full 5-on-5 work.
“We’ve tried to ramp Colin up a few times now, and he’s had a few minor setbacks,” Loucks said. “I’m always going to be cautious, especially with something bigger than me, to get him and make sure he’s in the safest and healthiest point possible before we ramp him up to full play. He’s gotten as far as 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 but not quite to 5-on-5.”
Shon Abaev got X-rays on his wrist this morning after tweaking it, and they came back negative, Loucks expects him back within a couple of days to two weeks.
Staff shake-up:
Several of FSU hoops staffers landed new jobs this offseason. Chris Kent is now a head coach for the Austin Spurs, the G League affiliate of the San Antonio Spurs, Perin Foot left to become an assistant at North Alabama, Jabril Durham is now on staff at FIU and Ryan Shnider took an assistant job at Eckerd College.
In-house, Loucks promoted Kyle Washington and Justin Lindner to full-time assistant coaches. “Both of them, I think, will be head coaches at some point,” Loucks said. “This is the fun part of being a head coach, and something that all the head coaches I worked for did for me. … Pouring into their assistant coaches and trying to help them prepare to get to this point, not just get the job but be ready for it.”
The Alex Steen eligibility situation:
The biggest chunk of the press conference centered on Steen’s eligibility fight. Loucks was clearly frustrated, and didn’t hold back on the inconsistency he sees across the sport.
“I don’t know if all those kids get denied, but I do know…because I was just recruiting with Jai Lucas (Miami), I was just recruiting with Todd Golden (Florida), Houston, Syracuse, like go down to the Wake Forest, Louisville, half of our schedule has someone like Alex Steen on their roster or fighting to get on their roster, and at minimum, a handful of them are already approved,” Loucks said.
Loucks was firm that Steen isn’t taking anyone’s roster spot or revenue share. “By the time we knew the five-for-five (eligibility) rule was going to go into existence, all of the rev share had already been distributed to all of our current players,” he said. “So he’s not taking anyone’s rev share. There’s rev share set aside that’s unused.”
He also described how Steen has taken the initial denial. “He was a little beat up about it. He was almost second-guessing, like, ‘I don’t know what to do here. Should I go for the appeal?'” Loucks said. “And I’m like, ‘Steen, I’m not going to tell you what to do. I know what I want…I want you to play for me. But this is your choice, your life.'”
Loucks said he expects the appeal to be filed sometime this week.
Culture and the freshman class:
Asked about team chemistry, Loucks pointed to a moment at the first practice today where a fist fight between two players ended in a hug and a laugh.
“We’ve been through one practice. There was only one fist fight, which was good. And then after practice, they hugged in front of the team,” Loucks said. “The fascinating part is, they both have a leadership council tonight to go to, just those two…so I’m like, you guys are the leaders, and on day one you’re in a fist fight. But I love it, it’s nasty, right? I love it because of the spirit of, ‘I am willing to do everything to win this rep.’ … I told them you got to be mentally composed and tough, but I really like the way this group is coming together.”
On the freshman class, Loucks singled out three newcomers: Martay Barnes, Brandon Bass Jr. and Elisee Assui as guys who can contribute right away. “Are they perfect? Absolutely not. You have a long way to go,” he said. “But all three of those guys, to me, have the toughness and the competitive spirit and the work ethic to come in every day and get better.”
Anthony Robinson II: “We Bleed Garnet and Gold”
Senior point guard Anthony Robinson II, a Tallahassee native who transferred from Missouri, echoed his coach’s message about buy-in and chemistry.
“I believe you have a special group here. Everybody’s very connected from day one with the coaching staff to the players, and I think we all just bought in off the rip,” Robinson said. “We have a great group of guys, a lot of humility in the group, so nobody’s selfish. We all connected and bonded real quick.”
Robinson, who has two NCAA Tournament appearances on his resume, said he’s leaning on that experience as the team’s clear leader.
“I’ve been to two NCAA Tournaments. So just being there and knowing what it takes to get there, I can bring that to this team and my leadership,” Robinson said. “(It’s) my senior year, time going by fast, man. Florida State means a lot to me. … Just bringing that every day, the consistent part of that.”
Putting on the jersey with his family name on the back has hit him more than he expected.
“It hit me a little bit. We had media day, we’re in the jerseys, trying them on. I’m looking at my brother like, ‘This is crazy. We got our last name on the jersey, and we bleed garnet and gold,’” Robinson said. “It just means a lot to us to put the jersey on.”
Sebastian Rankic embracing the “positionless” system:
Rankic, who chose FSU as a productive transfer from Colorado in part because of Loucks and the staff’s NBA pedigree, said the appeal was the style of play as much as anything.
“I would say it’s different, because that’s why I came here. … I didn’t want to do the same thing. What I really liked is that we kind of play positionless basketball,” Rankic said. “I’m gonna have the ball in my hands a good amount, we’re gonna make a lot of decisions, and we shoot a lot of threes. … Just a quick, effective style of basketball. That was really attractive to me.”
Rankic also played for his home country Slovakia’s national team over the summer before a knee issue cut the trip short, and said NBA draft workout feedback pushed him to sharpen a specific part of his game.
“I got great feedback. I would just say continue working on my game, becoming a more consistent shooter, being more aggressive, that’s what I heard a lot,” Rankic said. “And then just asserting myself in all areas of the sport.”
Looking ahead:
FSU’s preseason slate includes Mississippi State, Auburn and LSU, all games Loucks called intentionally tough.
“I would much rather have that moment and know where our strengths are, where our weaknesses are in October instead of in the middle of the season,” Loucks said.
The Seminoles first regular-season game isn’t until November 2nd against Florida A&M in Tampa.
Check out video from the press conferences below (Courtesy of Noles247)
