ACC Preview: Florida State’s Burning Question
Posted by Matt Patton on November 4th, 2014This team preview is part of the RTC ACC microsite’s preseason coverage. You will find a list with links to all the team previews on the ACC Microsite Preview Page, located here.
Can Leonard Hamilton’s squad finish in the top five of the ACC?
On the surface this question may seem ridiculous. Most previews have Florida State picked to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack, and you have to expect that Duke, North Carolina, Louisville and Virginia will all be very good teams. And that doesn’t even mention perennial powerhouses Syracuse and Pittsburgh. The Seminoles also lost Okaro White and Ian Miller, but hear me out.
I’m betting we’ll see more smiles from Leonard Hamilton this year (Glenn Beil/Democrat).
Florida State has a favorable schedule: All four of the opponents it sees twice (Clemson, Pittsburgh, Miami and Virginia Tech) are beatable. They get Duke and Louisville in Tallahassee. Also the former Big East powers are due for down years after both the Orange — Tyler Ennis, CJ Fair and Jerami Grant — and the Panthers — Lamar Patterson and Talib Zanna — lost major productivity from their rosters. That potentially leaves a vacuum just below the elite tier where a school like Florida State could finish. There are also dueling x-factors here: Will Boris Bojanovsky and Michael Ojo continue making strides; and can the offense limit its turnovers? Neither question is a new one for this team, but there’s reason to believe the first will come true. The second may be less important: Hamilton has never coached a team in the top-100 in turnover percentage, according to KenPom, but he’s coached plenty of good teams over the years to earn the benefit of the doubt.
Both junior bigs have massive upsides and make for impossible match-ups on both ends of the floor. Bojanovsky showed a lot more offensive polish last season, although he at times still looks lost on defense and Hamilton’s system relies on experienced bigs knowing their roles. Ojo, on the other hand, has a longer way to go — he didn’t start playing basketball until much later in life — but he has been improving as much as anyone in the conference. Because of Kiel Turpin‘s chronic injuries (he’s back for a sixth year), the frontcourt looks considerably more experienced than the past couple of seasons. This year there will be no shortage of height or experience on this roster.
Aaron Thomas is ready to lead Florida State back to the tournament. (Mike Ewen/Tallahassee Democrat)
A secret — at least based on where the media slotted the Seminoles at Operation Basketball — is that Florida State has very good guards and wings. Junior Aaron Thomas was the team’s most important offensive player last season (he played the most minutes and used the highest percentage of possessions). Thomas is also an elite defensive player and should be a near lock for all-ACC honors this season. He’ll be back, along with Montay Brandon, a 6’8″ guard who’s one of the most versatile defenders in the conference. Devon Bookert can’t seem to buck the turnover bug, but he’s a natural point guard who doesn’t get enough credit for what he brings to the floor. Consensus top-100 recruit Xavier Rathan Mayes (class of 2013) is eligible again this season. It’s hard to know how big of a role to expect him to play, but he’s a great scorer.
A top-five conference finish is more than a little optimistic for the Seminoles, truth be told. But this season you can expect Florida State to look more like the paradigmatic defensively dominant Hamilton teams of a few years ago. Next year he will bring in one of the best recruiting classes in the country (currently top five), and the Seminoles should also keep everyone else on board except Turpin. With renovations starting on the Donald Tucker Center and a team worth enticing people to come out to see, it looks like the university may be finally ready to spend some money on basketball. That’s something that should terrify the other ACC coaches.
