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Florida State Seminoles basketball is set to make its official season debut Wednesday night, taking on the University of Pennsylvania Quakers at 9 p.m. in Tallahassee.
“We are excited about getting the season started, no doubt about that. We’ve hit that point, like most schools during this time of the year, where it’s important to play against somebody else other than ourselves,” head coach Leonard Hamilton said during media availability earlier this week.
“Even though we do have some experience, the energy we have to play with, the philosophy of sharing the ball and the playing time with a tremendous amount of effort, we need a little bit more time for it all to come together.”
In two exhibitions to prep for the season, the Seminoles beat Mississippi College 94-51 and Florida College 102-55.
Penn was picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League in a preseason media poll after the conference didn’t play in 2020. The Quakers field a mixture of experience and newly-infused talent, with the main name to know being sophomore Jordan Dingle, who won Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2019 while averaging 13.5 points per game.
“This is a very experienced team that we’re playing in Pennsylvania,”Hamilton said. “They’ve had this team together for a lot of practices, a lot of growth, a lot of development. They’re probably one of the more mature teams in the country... We expect them to be a well-oiled machine.”
As for FSU, here’s our quick rundown on this year’s team, via Matt Minnick from SB Nation’s Top 25 preview:
Projected rotation: G Rayquan Evans, G Caleb Mills, G Anthony Polite, F Malik Osborne, C Tanor Ngom
Once again Leonard Hamilton’s team loses multiple guys to the pros—including another top 5 pick—and once again he somehow finds a way to field a team with depth, length, experience and NBA talent. Blue chip recruits Matthew Cleveland and Jalen Warley will both play early and often, but the best newcomer just might be Houston transfer Caleb Mills. Meanwhile, upper classmen Malik Osborne, Anthony Polite, and Rayquan Evans bring shooting, defense, and an understanding of what it takes to win in March. The floor on this year’s version might be a little lower than the last couple seasons thanks to uncertainty in the front court, but the ceiling is another second weekend run in the Big Dance…or even one step further?
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ACC Network