ACC Basketball: Analyzing each team’s returning impact players for 2023-24

Florida State

While Florida State is losing two out of their three leading scorers (Matthew Cleveland and Caleb Mills) this off-season they are still returning eight players from last year’s team. Included in these eight returning players is a fair balance of impactful players at each position on the court. For guards, they are returning Chandler Jackson, Jalen Warley, and Cam’Ron Fletcher. On the wing, they’ll return a team focal point in Darin Green Jr. And to round out the team in the post they return Cam Corhen and as well as Jaylan Gainey who should return from injury.

Jaylan Gainey was able to become one of the top contributors for Brown in his three seasons. He was a two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year before entering the transfer portal. Although he was never able to break into double-digit scoring his efficiency (69.9 career field goal percentage) was always very impressive on the offensive end, especially for a player that is such a defensive threat on the defensive end. Now with Gainey returning to the paint for the Seminoles, they will have a defensive presence amongst the best in the country.

The other big man making his return to the team is Sophomore Cameron Corhen. Last season Corhen earned the start in 21 out of 31 games played underneath Coach Hamilton. On the year, Corhen added 8.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game for the team. Obviously, the rebound numbers are lower than what would be liked from a starting center, but If Corhen and Gainey are able to share the floor together this lack of rebounding from Corhen could likely be made up for by his frontcourt partner.

At the wing position Coach Hamilton Darin Green Jr. will be coming back for his second season for FSU after making the transfer to the program. With the other two of the top three scorers for the Seminoles leaving the team, even more of the offensive load will fall onto the shoulders of Green now. While he’s proven he can lead a team in scorer as a volume shooter he has also proved to not have the best shot selection when given the keys to an offense. He’s shown that he has the ability to extend his range past the three-point line, but this has also shown to be his detriment. Last season, Green averaged 7.8 three-point attempts per game while shooting 36 percent. Now with the ball likely making its way to his hands more and more, it will be interesting to see how Leonard Hamilton uses the scoring ability that Green Jr. possesses.

With the three guards making their return in Chandler Jackson, Jalen Warley, and Cam’Ron Fletcher, the backcourt should be in good hands. Warley and Fletcher are expected to step into the two starting roles to start the season with Jackson returning to a similar 6th man type role that he played for the team all of last year.