ACC Basketball power rankings: Clemson and Georgia Tech rises, Duke falls
By Joey Loose
12. Florida State (4-3, 0-1)
You don’t have to look too far into the past see extremely prosperity in Tallahassee. After all, Florida State made the Elite Eight in 2018 then made the Sweet Sixteen in the next two NCAA Tournaments. Since then, Leonard Hamilton’s squad has struggled, especially during last year’s 9-23 campaign where the Seminoles nearly bottomed out. However, it’s a new season and there seems to be better times on the horizon, even with former star Matthew Cleveland now at rival Miami.
Among their first few games were some easy wins and a tough loss to rival Florida. Then, the Seminoles got a very important win, knocking off a ranked Colorado squad in overtime to win the Sunshine Slam. What’s happened since then has been alarming as Florida State’s interior offense has vanished in close losses to Georgia and against North Carolina in Chapel Hill this past weekend.
It’s been a lot of Darin Green and Jamir Watkins for the Seminoles this season but there’s still a lot of improvement for Hamilton’s unit. As previously mentioned, the offensive metrics haven’t been ideal in recent weeks, though the defense has been a definite positive for this team in the first month of the year. This Florida State team is not going to finish 9-23 with the way their playing in these games, but it’s hard to imagine them winning enough to compete either.