Florida State basketball enters a rebuilding season

As we countdown to the start of the 2025-26 Syracuse basketball season on Nov. 3, The Juice Online will be doing a team-by-team opponent analysis of every single ACC opponent. Today, we analyze the Florida State Seminoles, who the Orange will play on Jan. 13.

After a two-game road trip in January that takes them to Georgia Tech and then to Pittsburgh, Syracuse will return home to take on Florida State in the friendly confines of the JMA Wireless Dome.

Recapping the 2024-25 Florida State Seminoles season

Florida State’s season started solidly, with the Seminoles standing at 13-5 midway through January as they headed into the heart of the ACC schedule.

But the ‘Noles had two separate four-game losing streaks the rest of the way, and finished 17-14 in the regular season, with an 8-12 mark in the ACC. That record put them in a five-way tie for ninth place, and they ended up being slotted as the 11-seed after tiebreakers, where they faced 14-seed Syracuse in the ACC Tournament’s first round.

Syracuse defeated FSU 66-62, ending the Seminoles’ season as they were not offered a bid to the NCAA or NIT Tournaments.

It was also the end of a long era, as long-time head coach Leonard Hamilton called it a career at the end of last season, closing the door after 23 years as the FSU coach. The school hired former FSU player, Luke Loucks, to take the reins, locking him into a five-year deal.

Florida State Seminoles Roster Analysis

Personnel wise, the ‘Noles are looking at some major losses. They lost scoring leader Jamir Watkins (18.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg) to the NBA, where he currently plays for the Washington Wizards.

Rotationally, they lost Chandler Jackson (G), Taylor Bol Bowen (F), Jerry Deng (F), Daquan Davis (G), and Malique Ewin (F) who accounted for a combined 44.3 points.

Loucks reached into the international pool to reload, adding Thomas Bassong (France) and Maximo Garcia (Spain), joining an incoming class that also includes Xavier Osceola and Cam Miles.

They will join returning players AJ Swinton and Alier Maluk, and a seven-player transfer portal class that includes Shahid Muhammad (UMass), Chauncey Wiggins (Clemson), Kobe MaGee (Drexel), Robert McCray V (Jacksonville), LaJae Jones (St. Bonaventure), Alex Steen (Florida Southern), and Martin Somerville (UMass Lowell).

FSU comes in with low expectations

FSU sits at 96 in KenPom, the last of all ACC teams. In the ACC preseason poll released on Tuesday, Florida State was picked to finish 15th. No FSU players were selected to any of the Preseason All-ACC Teams. With a rookie head coach and a near complete roster turnover, this is certainly viewed as a rebuilding year for Florida State.

But don't expect the trend to last.

When Loucks arrived on campus, he spoke about needing to keep Florida recruits in Florida, and he set out to build a four-man recruiting class with three players (Brandon Bass Jr., Collin Paul, Jasen Lopez) who hail from the Sunshine State. Marcis Ponder, a center from Virginia, rounds out the class.

That class currently sits at third in the 2026 rankings according to 247 Sports, so the future is certainly looking bright after an upcoming developmental season.

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