#1 – UNC || #2 – NC State
|| #3 – Wake Forest || #4 – Virginia|| #5 – Clemson||#6 – Miami || #7 – Louisville || #8 – Pitt|| #9 – Georgia Tech || #10 – Syracuse || #11 – Boston College || #12 – Virginia TechTo be candid, the two teams we were most curious about for preview season were B.C. and Florida State, because both have hired coaches with vast potential.
Luke Murray did a terrific job as Dan Hurley’s lead assistant with UConn, and Luke Loucks had, in our opinion, a dazzling debut with Florida
State.
Let’s recount.
Loucks started last season with four guys over 6-9: Shah Muhammad, Alier Malik, Alex Steen, and Chauncey Wiggins.
Other than Wiggins, who wasn’t a post player, do you remember any of them?
Loucks had a serious problem inside, and for several weeks it showed. Aside from a narrow 78-76 loss to rival Florida, once FSU got past the Georgia Southerns and Cal State Bakersfields part of the schedule, things got brutal.
The Seminoles lost to Texas A&M by 36, Georgia by 34, Houston by 15, UMass by 8, and Dayton by 28.
It looked like a lost season might be imminent.
That impression was furthered when Florida State started ACC play 0-5, and later had a dreadful home loss to NC State, 113-69.
By the end of conference play, though, no one wanted any part of this team. Duke escaped an FSU upset in the ACC Tournament by a single point, 80-79.
The ‘Noles finished the season winning seven of their last nine games.
So how did Loucks pull this off?
First, he benched guys who weren’t playing defense. He focused on protecting the rim, even without useful bigs, intensity, and quick closeouts on the perimeter.
Second, once he found his guys, he re-emphasized rebounding and physical play.
And all of this helped FSU obviously, but especially on the road. For years, this program has struggled to win on the road in the ACC. That stopped in a big damn hurry last season.
When it came to ACC Coach of the Year, Jon Scheyer got 51 votes, Jai Lucas got 19, Ryan Odom got 9, and Loucks got 4.
It’s hard to argue with the results of that, but did anyone do a better job than Loucks?
We’re not sure they did.
So what are things looking like for Year II with this guy?
In a word, promising. Here’s what he’s working with:
Returnee
- AJ Swinton – 6-6 JR
Portal Players
- Kameron Taylor – 6-7 JR- UNC Asheville
- Sebastian Rancik – 6-11 JR Colorado
- Anthony Robinson – 6-3 SR -Missouri
- Shon Abaev – 6-8 SO – Cincinnati
- Cooper Schweiger – 6-10 SR – Wake Forest
- Amere Robinson 6-1 – JUCO
Freshmen
- Marcis Ponder – 7-0
- Martay Barnes – 6-2
- Brandon Bass – 6-6
- Collin Paul – 6-7
- Jasen Lopez – 6-0
- JD Jones – 6-5
- Elisee Assui – 6-5
The only guy back from last season is Swinton, who missed the year after blowing out an ACL. He’s a solid athlete and at 6-6, with a 7-2 wingspan, should be a major pain as a perimeter defender. He’s also going to be an asset in transition, and can shoot a bit, too.
Loucks addressed his post problems well. The portal fairy brought Rancik from Colorado. He was Louck’s #1 priority in the portal, and he should fit his system like a glove.
He shot 33.1% from behind the line last year, which should space the floor beautifully. Last season, he averaged 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in the Big 12, and also hit 86% from the line.
Defensively, he can apparently hold his own as well.
Also of note: Florida State beat out almighty Kentucky to get this guy. Loucks was willing to fly to Slovakia to also recruit Rancik’s mother and sister, and that made an impression (presumably, so did NIL money).
It’s a major win.
He also got a massive recruiting win – pun intended – with freshman Marcis Ponder.
This guy is 7-0 and north of 280, and it’s not fat. His nickname?
Baby Shaq.
He’s going to be tough to stop near the basket, and Rancik will make it very difficult to double-team him, assuming that Loucks starts both, which seems like a reasonable bet.
Schweiger played for Wake Forest last season, and frankly, too much was asked of him. With this team, he’ll be a reliable backup, and in that role, he might really shine. We hope so – Schweiger seems like a nice guy.
Aside from Swinton, Loucks will have plenty of wings to use in his NBA-inspired system.
The more experienced of those are Abaev and Taylor.
Abaev was a Top 30 player in high school who went to Cincinnati. He’s good enough to play some point, and should play well off of Rancik, who opens the court, and Ponder, who will draw a lot of attention in the paint.
Abaev will get a lot of opportunities. At Cincinnati, he got about 15 minutes per game, averaging 7.0 ppg, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists. He did not shoot well (33.5%), but that should improve with experience and better talent around him.
Perhaps it’s a sign of the times, but his FSU bio doesn’t mention that he was born in Israel. That’s too bad, because as it turns out, he comes from Mountain Jews, and that seems like a story worth mentioning. Pretty fascinating bit of history, actually.
Like we saw with Rancik, Florida State beat out big hitters for Taylor, coming out on top of schools like Kansas and Indiana. He’s quite thin, but Loucks says there’s a chance he could measure out as the most athletic player in Florida State history, and that’s really saying something.
He averaged 18.9 points for Asheville, and shot 45.3% from the floor. He gets to the line a lot, too. Last year, he got 7 free throws per game. He’s also versatile: last season, he led Asheville in assists (3.0), was second in rebounds (5.0) and blocks (0.7) as well.
With his elite athleticism, Taylor should be a superb defender. He should fit right in with this group.
Bass Jr. should be in the rotation as well. The son of former NBA player Brandon Bass, he is 6-4 with a 6-8 wingspan. He shoots well, is a solid athlete, and if he’s a willing defender, absolutely should play.
Same goes for Powell. Like Taylor, he’s an outstanding playmaker and a solid ballhandler. He could be a real threat on the break, and is functionally a point forward.
He has a wingspan of just under 7-0. It’s not a coincidence that Loucks keeps getting these guys.
Jones played basically every position in high school – his parents enrolled him in a smaller school so that he would have to do that – and as a result, he’s highly versatile. The staff loves him for his toughness, his defense, and his impact on team culture.
As for Assui, the Italian native is strong and an elite defender, capable of guarding four positions.
Surprise: he’s got a 6-11 wingspan.
Moving on to the guards, Missouri transfer and Tallahassee native Anthony Robinson could be a problem.
He’s a terrific defender in particular, but also a solid point guard.
Brief side track: we had a lot of respect for Leonard Hamilton, who built a winning program at FSU where none had truly been sustained, but he had some flaws. He rotated guys in and out so quickly that most players never really got a chance to get much going, and that also meant he rarely had an outstanding point guard.
Loucks appears to have one.
He also has his brother, Amare.
In a very clever move, Loucks offered Amare first. Did he know the brothers wanted to play together?
Like his brother, Amare is a very serious defender. He comes to FSU from local JUCO Tallahassee Community College. He’s smaller than his brother, but could be useful.
Lopez is also a superb athlete, and Loucks combined with football coach Mike Norvell to pitch him on playing both at Florida State. That will limit his usefulness somewhat, but he could still carve out a role as a pit bull defender. Loucks has praised his court vision as well.
As for Barnes, he’s prized for his speed and aggressiveness. Like the rest, he doesn’t mind defending at all, and should be outstanding on that end. And on the break, he will be a big challenge for defenders.
So as you can see, Loucks has quite a bit to work with. He’s got a fleet of long-armed wings that will make life difficult for offenses. He’s got an excellent point guard and at least two backups for him, not counting the bigger guys with guard skills.
He’s got a European big man who can stretch the defense with his three point shooting, and he’s got an enormous space eater inside.
Like Hamilton, he has great depth to throw at you. Unlike Hamilton, though, Loucks is very likely to have a rotation the way most people understand it. The elder Robinson will be the point guard. We expect Rancik and Ponder to start as well, and probably Abaev.
Whoever starts, though, Loucks has a deep, flexible roster to work with.
You never know of course, but we think Florida State is poised to make a major jump, and will challenge the top tier teams in the ACC.
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