Xavier Rathan-Mayes is returning to Florida State basketball for his junior season.
With guard Malik Beasley officially signing an agent and Dwayne Bacon set to return to Tallahassee, the Florida State Seminoles were waiting on one more decision in order to complete their backcourt rotation in 2016-17.
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On Monday night, the program announced that soon-to-be junior guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes is opting to return to school for at least one more season.
Rathan-Mayes’ scoring average dropped from 14.9 points per game to 11.8 points per game last season, but that was because the guard made a more concerted effort to improve his playmaking and passing. He averaged 4.4 assists per game, lowered his turnover total to 2.5 giveaways per outing and was given less of a load with Beasley and Bacon stepping in their freshman campaigns.
Rathan-Mayes will still need to work on his three point jumper (29 percent last season), his defense and his ability to draw fouls, but the guard’s experience will be greatly valued by Leonard Hamilton this upcoming year.
The Seminoles backcourt should now be one of the more feared units in one of the best conferences in the country. Rathan-Mayes will join Bacon, Terance Mann, Benji Bell and four-star recruits Trent Forrest and C.J. Walker at the guard positions.
That’s a group that is loaded with impressive talent.
Even though five-star small forward Jonathan Isaac will be the player with the most upside and Bacon will be the team’s likely leading scorer, Rathan-Mayes may be the program’s most important player.
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The reason: He takes so much pressure off Bacon and the rest of his teammates. Rathan-Mayes can bring the ball up the court, get the offense into their sets, settle the team down in late game situations and push Bacon off the ball where he is capable of making more plays in space.
Rathan-Mayes also gives FSU another dimension of balance in their backcourt. Bacon, Mann and Forrest all rely in part on their athleticism, while Rathan-Mayes picks his spots with his high skill level, shows an outstanding ability to create space, and uses a plethora of moves to find rhythm with his smooth mid-range jumper.
Because of the incredible depth that the ACC possesses next season, Florida State will have a difficult time making the NCAA Tournament. Challenging Duke, North Carolina, Virginia or Louisville atop the conference is also highly unlikely and with other teams rising, Hamilton will have his work cut out for him.
What this team is capable of doing is giving their opponents a scare, knocking off some competitive squads in their own building and putting themselves in a bubble position down the stretch.
Maybe they will prove themselves and jump a Syracuse team that could be missing Malachi Richardson next year. Or maybe their talent will trump a Miami squad that will greatly miss Angel Rodriguez and Sheldon McClellan. And there’s certainly an outside chance of Hamilton’s squad being better than a Virginia Tech team that returns practically their entire roster.
Next: Northern Iowa Panthers season review
The ‘Noles have talent on top of talent, especially in the backcourt where they became five times more effective thanks to one single decision.