Florida State basketball turned to one of its most recognizable former players to set the tone for the beginning of the 2026-27 season. Former Seminoles standout Terance Mann narrated FSU basketball’s season-opening hype video Monday as Florida State prepares to begin its 80th season against Florida A&M in the Orion180 Tip-Off Classic in Tampa.
The video centers on the work required to build a successful program and the “all in” mentality head coach Luke Loucks has emphasized throughout the offseason.
“Time doesn’t mean anything if you don’t put in the work,” Mann says in the video. “From Tallahassee to the NBA, generations have proved what work looks like.”
New season. One mindset.
— Florida State Men’s Basketball (@FSUHoops) November 2, 2026
ALL IN. pic.twitter.com/JnblkIH9pW
Mann knows that path well. He
played four seasons at Florida State from 2015-19, helping the Seminoles reach three consecutive NCAA tournaments, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2018 and the Sweet 16 in 2019. He finished his FSU career with 1,322 points and a then-school-record 140 games played before becoming the No. 48 overall selection in the 2019 NBA Draft.
The message eventually shifts from individual work to the larger culture Loucks is trying to establish in his second season.
Mann highlights the students, fans and community surrounding the program before declaring, “At Florida State, it’s all in or nothing.”
The closing portion features Loucks addressing his team about maintaining that standard regardless of circumstances.
“We’ve got to have a standard every single day of how we work and why we work,” Loucks tells his players. “When things don’t go your way, that’s when you need to be all in.”
That message arrives after an encouraging preseason in which Florida State defeated the Auburn Tigers 82-71 and LSU Tigers 89-87 in consecutive exhibitions against SEC competition. The results do not count toward FSU’s record, but they offered the first extended look at a reworked roster entering Loucks’ second year.
Now the games begin to count.
Florida State opens the 2026-27 regular season against Florida A&M on Monday at 8:30 p.m. ET at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa. The game will be televised on ESPNU. For a program trying to establish a new standard, the message entering opening night was straightforward: all in.
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This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: Former FSU basketball star voices preseason hype video
