By Aidan Joly
In a conference that boasts the best of the best in college basketball, Florida State was the best of the bunch this past season with a 26-5 record, 16-4 in the ACC, the school’s second conference championship and finished fourth in the AP poll. They will be looking to remain at the top of the league this coming season.
There are some challenges to this with the losses of Devin Vassell and Trent Forest, but they have new players that will help with that.
Look to the backcourt to hold down the floor. Leonard Hamilton’s teams always preach strong guard play and this year will be no exception. MJ Walker and RayQuan Evans will be the two guys to look to here.
Walker is in a position to be the team leader and the one they run the offense through at the two guard. He averaged 10.6 PPG last season and 36% from behind the three-point line, on his way to an All-ACC Honorable Mention nod. He played 25 minutes per contest last season and expect him to get some more this time around.
Running the point will be Evans. He didn’t have a huge role on the team this past season, just 12 minutes per game, but is expected to have a larger role this year. The question for him is if he will stay healthy, having some nagging injuries and missed two games during the year. If he can stay healthy, he won’t be a major name for the squad, but will have a solid presence on the floor with facilitating the offense along with a little bit of scoring.
Off the bench, JUCO transfer Saardar Calhoun has a chance to win ACC Sixth Man of the Year. He won a NJCAA All-American Honorable Mention after averaging 18.9 PPG and 4.7 RPG with Missouri State-West Plains. A breakout candidate is Anthony Polite after averaging 6.0 PPG last year and shot 35% from three while being a fantastic on-ball defender. Wyatt Wilkes will also offer very good shooting off the bench, look for him to be a guy taking key shots when they need a three.
In the frontcourt, be on the lookout for Scottie Barnes. He is the seventh-ranked recruit in the country according to 247 Sports, and the #1 power forward, standing at 6-9. At Monteverde Academy last year he averaged 11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists en route to a 25-0 season and earning a nod to Sports Illustrated’s All-America First team, MaxPreps National Player of the Year finalist and was selected to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game, Jordan Brand Classic and Nike Hoop Summit. No way around it, he will be an immediate star in Tallahassee. He is a good player inside, a great passer and can throw down highlight-reel dunks.
At center, look for defensive ace grad transfer Tanor Ngom to get the nod. Last year while playing for Ryerson University in Toronto, he averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds per game to go along with two blocks. Standing at 7-1, he will be very helpful on both sides of the ball.
The last starting spot will go to either Raiquan Gray or Malik Osborne, neither a bad option. Both are solid defensive players and can do some things well on offense as well. Either way, the pair should be sharing time at the three.
Off the bench, look at three-star recruit Quincy Ballard to get some minutes. He averaged 14 points, 11 rebounds and a jaw-dropping six blocks per game at a postgraduate school in North Carolina a year ago. He will help out mostly on defense, where his skill set lies. The first handful of games will be interesting to see what type of player he will be like. Lastly, expect Balsa Koprivica to see an increase in playing time after averaging 10 minutes per game last year in a limited role.
The outlook for this team is similar to last year. As long as things don’t completely fall apart, they will be a shoe-in NCAA Tournament team, and most likely no lower than a five seed. To stay atop the ACC, they will have to beat other heavyweights, and there’s no reason to believe they won’t do that.
AJ Hoops 