By Aidan Joly
It’s been one of the biggest stories of the college basketball season so far: the 0-4 start for the Florida State Seminoles.
Following its loss to Florida on Friday night at home, which in and of itself was a huge collapse, the program is 0-4 for the first time since 1959 and are just the fourth ACC team to ever start a season 0-4, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
It goes without saying that this is a historically bad start for one of the most consistently good programs in the country for the past five yeas or so.
Friday night’s game against Florida perfectly encapsulated that. The Seminoles led by as many as 19 late in the first half and held a 17-point advantage at the break, only to be outscored by the Gators by 26 in the second half and lose 76-67.
This came after an 83-74 loss against Stetson on opening night on November 7, a 68-54 loss at the hands of UCF on November 11 and a 79-72 loss to Troy on November 14. Three of these four losses came at home too, the UCF loss being the lone road game.
The Seminoles missed the NCAA tournament this past March for the first time since 2016 – due to some injuries down the stretch, it struggled.
It was never going to be a top season for the Seminoles after Malik Osborne and Anthony Polite opting to not use their final year of eligibility and prized grad transfer Jaylan Gainey done for the season. It lost additional depth for the beginning of the season with an injury redshirt for top recruit De’Ante Green as well as a suspension for Baba Miller.
However, it wasn’t supposed to be this bad, this early.
The Seminoles were picked fifth in the ACC preseason poll in a down ACC this year. It was picked there due to some talent still there with Caleb Mills and Jalen Warney seen as experienced ball-handlers, Matthew Cleveland expected to emerge to be an NBA prospect, Cam’Ron Fletcher seen as an effective forward and some promise in 7-4 senior Naheem McLeod.
UCF transfer Darin Green Jr. has shown some promise, but of that group, the only one not underperforming is Mills, who has averaged 13.5 points per game over the first four.
Warney hasn’t scored more than nine points in any game this season. Cleveland is struggling. While Fletcher’s scoring average has increased, his shooting percentage has taken a 10-point dip so far. Meanwhile, McLeod isn’t seeing too many minutes.
It’s been an ugly start for FSU, to say the least here. The ACC is down as a whole and almost thankfully for them, Louisville is also off to an 0-3 start. Conference doormat Boston College also has a pair of inexplicable losses to Maine and Tarleton State.
The point here is that the Seminoles need to use the rest of nonconference play to get right, or else they are at risk of getting eaten alive in the ACC. It faces Mercer on Monday night, which maybe it can use to beat up on before the ESPN Events Invitational, where play begins on Thursday.
It will need to win some games, and quickly, before this start gets even worse.
AJ Hoops 