Last Year: 9-23; Twelfth (7-13) in the Atlantic Coast Conference, No Postseason
Head Coach: Leonard Hamilton (22nd Year; 426-265 at Florida State, with eight NCAA Tournament Appearances)
Projected Starting Lineup
| PG Amir ‘Primo’ Spears – 6’3″, 185 – Junior (awaiting NCAA Waiver) |
| SG Darin Green, Jr – 6’5″, 195 – Senior (5th) |
| SF Jamir Watkins – 6’7″, 210 – Junior |
| PF Cam’Ron Fletcher – 6’7″, 220 – Senior |
| C Baba Miller – 6’11”, 204 – Sophomore |
Projected Starters’ 2022-23 Stats
Primo Spears: 16.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 5.3 apg, 1.1 spg – 40.8% FG @ Georgetown
Darin Green: 13.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.0 apg, 0.9 spg – 36.4% 3FG
Jamir Watkins: 9.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.2 spg, 0.7 bpg – 34.0% 3FG @ VCU
Cam’Ron Fletcher: 10.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.1 apg, 1.3 spg – 39.4% FG in 10 games played
Baba Miller: 4.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.5 bpg – 47.4% FG
Experienced Reserves
| F Cam Corhen – 6’10”, 225 – Sophomore |
| G Josh Nickleberry – 6’5″, 200 – Senior (5th) |
| G Jalen Warley – 6’7″, 205 – Junior |
| F/C Jaylan Gainey – 6’10”, 230 – Senior |
| G Chandler Jackson – 6’5″, 220 – Sophomore |
| F De’Ante Green – 6’9″, 210 – Sophomore |
| W Tom House – 6’7″, 200 – Sophomore |
Experienced Reserves’ 2022-23 Stats
Cam Corhen: 8.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.4 spg – 54.6% FG
Josh Nickleberry: 10.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.4 apg – 40.1% 3FG @ La Salle
Jalen Warley: 6.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.3 spg – 49.0% FG
Jaylan Gainey: 9.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 2.1 bpg – 70.3% FG @ Brown in 2021-22
Chandler Jackson: 3.6 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.7 spg – 37.5% 3FG
De’Ante Green: 1.5 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.1 apg – 58.3% FG
Tom House: 1.5 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 0.4 apg – 24.4% 3FG
Freshmen
| Taylor Bol Bowen – 6’10”, 200 – Freshman – Consensus Top 150 recruit |
| Waka Mbatch – 6’10”, 200 – Freshman |
Florida State, which has competed in Division I men’s college basketball for 67 years, had never lost more than 21 games in a season, or finished with a winning percentage under .300. Last season, all of that changed. On the watch of Leonard Hamilton, the greatest coach in school history, the Seminoles went 9-23, bad for a .281 winning percentage.
It was a season marred by injuries, defensive failures, and a baffling suspension handed down to star recruit Baba Miller before he could even suit up to play a game. And then, after the season, two of FSU’s top three scorers left for what they hoped will be greener pastures. Had the ‘Noles fallen apart?
Not exactly – at least not yet. And it may even be that the whispers of Coach Ham’s demise have been rather overstated. With a return to better health plus the additions of three experienced transfers and a full season from one of last year’s Top 50 prospects, the Seminoles are expecting to get back onto a winning track. Hamilton and his staff didn’t take last year’s failure lightly, and they’ve assembled this roster to absorb the hits which will come along in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
While Miller had to miss half of the season due to an NCAA suspension resulting from his family’s prompt repayment of what turned out to be a misunderstanding over $3,000 worth of travel expenses, he eventually did take the floor. Unfortunately, by that point, the ‘Noles were already looking like an also-ran for a tourney bid; and Miller had a tough time finding his best fit into a rotation which had already played together in live games for months. When he was at his best, Miller ran the floor, showed off a good handle, and rose up to make unblockable three pointers. Miller shot just 25% from three though, and looked unsure how often or when to shoot at times. This year, Miller will look to become a real weapon from deep, and smooth out the mechanics on his slow, low windup when shooting deep jumpers.
It was a successful summer for the young star, as he competed for a dominant Team Spain at the FIBA U-19 World Cup. Now a gold medal winner with a growing repertoire, Miller is ready to make his mark. With the ability to put it on the floor and take his man off the bounce, Miller shows fluidity in his drives uncommon for such a big player, and his 6’2-to-6’11 growth spurt is easier to understand when he rips off a nice pass that most people his size wouldn’t have tried to make. While he hadn’t yet become a finished product when he began to grow, Miller still has his guard skills. He handed out seven assists – along with nine points, ten boards and a pair of blocks – against Team China in one of Spain’s games at the FIBA tournament. As his strength and confidence grow, Miller should mature quickly into the tremendous weapon which scouts have envisioned him becoming.
Miller was supposed to make the most significant impact among Hamilton’s three talented freshman bigs last year, but instead that honor ended up going to Cam Corhen. A skilled post player whose shooting range extends to the three point arc, Corhen is at his best when he focuses on scoring in the paint first and works out from there. Last season, while he could be pushed around by bigger, more experienced players, Corhen showed that he’s willing and able to play tough defense in the paint, and as he gets stronger, Corhen will be able to do so more consistently. Corhen showed off good offensive instincts on the perimeter and also around the basket as a freshman. He proved that he can finish a lob, has enough length and footwork to get shots off despite being well defended, and has a solid understanding of player movement combined with the talent to make good passes out of the high post to set his teammates up near the hoop. Added strength will also serve Corhen well on the boards, as Hamilton needs more glasswork from the young Texan than 3.5 rebounds per 24 minutes played. With a step forward on the defensive end this year, Corhen should emerge as one of the better big guys in the ACC.
Corhen will be joined up front by a veteran who, if healthy, will go a long way towards helping to shore up FSU’s interior defense. Jaylan Gainey is a former Ivy League star who was twice named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year while at Brown. Prior to last season, Gainey transferred to Tallahassee, but he suffered a season-ending knee injury before the campaign began and still has yet to play a game for the Seminoles. When healthy, Gainey is a defensive terror in the paint, a bouncy and highly mobile big who just can’t help but get his hands in the way of his opponents’ shot attempts and passes. Gainey blocked 124 shots in his 65 games with Brown, and his reputation is worth at least as many would-have-been shots that become passes because of Gainey’s presence. With a 7’3 wingspan, Gainey not only protects the rim but is adept at rattling it when his team has the ball. Gainey flushed 50 dunks as a junior in Providence, and he’s great at setting effective screens and then rolling hard to the basket. While Gainey is not a jump shooter, he’s developed a reliable one-dribble right-handed hook shot, and he’s good enough at scoring in the lane that Gainey owns a 69.9% conversion rate on all of the field goals he’s ever attempted. Hamilton can’t wait to see his new defensive ace healthy enough to show off in the ACC. The FSU coaches have no doubt envisioned a time when Miller and Gainey are on the floor together, and opponents have no choice but to try their shots from outside of the lane.
Big has sort of been FSU’s theme the past decade plus. Like Purdue, there always seems to be a quality seven-plus-footer who is part of the ‘Noles rotation, and everybody else is also larger/taller than average for their spot. This spring, Naheem McLeod, FSU’s 7’4 developing junior-to-be, transferred to ACC rival Syracuse. So the Seminoles will just have to make their peace with having a reasonable height/length advantage at all positions, instead of a…well, extraordinary advantage.
Fletcher is a high-flying, physically-imposing wing who can be a serious offensive threat around the painted area
Through 10 games last year, former Kentucky transfer Cam’Ron Fletcher was having a career year. And he almost made it into the 11th game, but then he went down late in the second half against Virginia with a season-ending knee injury of his own. After surgery and a tremendous effort to rehabilitate his leg, Hamilton indicated in late August that he believes Fletcher will be good to go for the beginning of FSU’s season. “We are pleased with the progress they (Fletcher and Gainey) are making and feel confident that we’ll have their availability early in the season,” Hamilton told Chuck Walsh for Seminoles.com at the start of fall practices. “Cam has gotten bigger and stronger. He has increased his athleticism as a player.”
Fletcher is a high-flying, physically-imposing wing who can be a serious offensive threat around the painted area. He’s often too much for even larger forwards to keep off of the glass, and Fletcher can make a significant impact with his defensive versatility. The former Top 50 national prospect didn’t get many minutes as a freshman at Kentucky, but Fletcher had made steady progress in Tallahassee up until his injury. A forward who can play on the wing, Fletcher hasn’t been a particularly good outside shooter just yet. If he can become even a 35% shooter from the land of trey and knock down 75% of his freebies, Fletcher could become a primary scoring option for this FSU squad. Assuming his knee comes back to full health, Fletcher’s potential when paired up with VCU import Jamir Watkins as the forwards on the floor is vast. The Seminoles were not good defensively last year. They ranked among the hundred worst teams in the country in defensive FG%, and the bottom twenty in both 3FG’s allowed and 3FG percentage. Having two big, bouncy, shot-altering forwards roving around each wing will be a change for the better.
| Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks) |
| -6.9 – Average Score Margin (314th) |
| 3.9 – Blocks Per Game (76th) |
| 53.1 – Opponent Effective FG Percentage (304th) |
| 72.6% – Team Free Throw Percentage (148th) |
| 6.5 – 3FG Made Per Game (268th) |
Another highly skilled youngster with the size to play inside and the skill to do damage on the perimeter is De’Ante Green. He played last year as freshmen, though there was a thought earlier on in summer practices that Green may not have. Green tore his ACL in January of 2022, while he was a high school senior. Despite initially expecting that he may take a redshirt to complete his rehabilitation, Green ended up playing in order to accelerate his rehab and help the Seminoles compensate for not having Miller to start the year. And though he didn’t play many minutes, Green appeared in 24 games and showed that both his offensive and defensive potential remain intact. A lanky forward with a good feel on the perimeter, Green has dangerous shooting range and can guard quicker players out to the arc with his length and quick feet. If he is fully healthy this winter, Green should push for a significantly expanded role as a stretch-4 who can play a bit on the wing when Hamilton wants to go big.
Former Central Florida sharpshooter Darin Green returns after doing a tremendous amount of the bucket-getting for last year’s Seminoles team. He was a bit overused, really, but Green kept on playing his role and giving a great effort for 34 minutes per game despite the debacle which last season became. He racked up a career-best 91 triples in his first year after moving to Tallahassee, and though his percentages suffered a bit due to the duress, Green is one of the nation’s most proven deep threats. The next triple he sinks will be the 300th of his career, and Green has made 38% of his career three-point attempts. For a Seminoles team which ranked 278th nationally in shooting from deep last season, Green’s outside production was absolutely vital, and he made three or more triples in a game 18 times last winter. A true jump shooter who is a threat to pull up from virtually anywhere, Green attempted just 24 shots at the rim a year ago, per Bart Torvik. He’s been consistent in that, though; Green has made between 14 and 17 shots and attempted between 21 and 28 shots up close in each of his four years, never shooting less than 60% there. Green is exactly who he is, but he’s also made it known that even though he’s almost exclusively a perimeter scorer, he’ll make a team pay for giving him a clear lane to cut into the paint. “Darin has added things to his game, and he is accepting the role of one of our more experienced guys,” Hamilton told Chuck Walsh for Seminoles.com this fall. “He is giving us more leadership, and he is challenging himself to play hard on every possession. That type of effort and enthusiasm is contagious.”
| Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on |
| @ Florida – November 17 |
| N – Colorado / Richmond – November 21 |
| N – UNLV – November 20 |
| vs Georgia – November 29 |
| vs Winthrop – December 22 |
Hamilton’s backcourt could go from solid to excellent based upon the eligibility of Amir ‘Primo’ Spears, a scoring point guard from Georgetown by way of Duquesne. Spears, as a two-time undergraduate transfer, is awaiting approval on an NCAA waiver in order to play this season, and if he can’t go, everyone else in Hamilton’s backcourt will be counted on that much more. When he’s allowed to play, Spears is a game-changing talent. He ranked fourth in the Big East in scoring average and second in assists per game last season, while playing an average of 37.3 minutes per contest: the most in the conference. Unfortunately for FSU, the NCAA has been taking a tough stance on two-time transfers across all of its sports in recent months, and Spears may have to wait another year to suit up officially in Tallahassee.
Two bigger playmaking guards return, and Hamilton believes that they each have the skills to keep the offense rolling with Spears on the floor or without. Jalen Warley started for most of the season, but by the end, Chandler Jackson was pushing him for minutes. Jackson made sure to show off his jumper when he looked to score as a freshman, but he’s also got the size and strength to do damage inside. With a solid handle and the vision and willingness to involve his buddies, he can be hard to handle when he puts it on the floor. Jackson showed that he’s got a lot of potential on the other end, too, as his length and athleticism allow him to stay in front of guys. And at nearly 220 pounds, there aren’t a lot of guards who can overpower Jackson. If he can continue to make good decisions off the bounce and prove that the 37.5% he shot from deep as a freshman is for real, Hamilton will have no choice but to use Jackson often. The young guard was suspended indefinitely from the team in July, though, and is working hard to be welcomed back into Hamilton’s good graces.
Warley loves to attack the rim even more than Jackson, and he knows how to finish when he gets there. A former Top 50 national prospect, Warley has great athleticism and even more length than Jackson, albeit on a more lithe frame. A good and sometimes great defender, Warley was second on the ‘Noles in steals and really knows how to flush the ball if he happens to pick an opponents’ pocket in the open court. While he’s not yet a tremendous outside shooter, Warley is great at using his dribble and athleticism to get into the lane, and last year he made improved decisions once he got there. Warley shot 62% around the rim, per Bart Torvik, and he handed out more than twice as many assists as turnovers. In fact, he shot 53% on all attempts inside the arc, and Warley showed that the intelligence and great floor vision that made him such an intriguing recruit will continue to see FSU’s cutters and bigs well-fed with good looks no matter which arrangement of guards is on the floor. It’s possible that Hamilton will feature both Jackson and Warley on the floor together – especially if Spears can’t go – to give FSU its best ballhandling lineup.
Josh Nickleberry, like Green, can stretch defenses with his outside shot, and he’s made 140 triples over the past two years. While he began his career at Louisville, Nickleberry didn’t really hit his stride until he transferred to La Salle, where he started 40 games over two seasons while averaging 11 points combined. In addition, Nickleberry won the A-10’s 6th Man of the Year award last winter. Like Green, Nickleberry has good size and length to help him create good looks on the outside, and he should prove a valuable deep threat for Hamilton’s second unit. “I committed to Florida State because I have a really strong relationship with coach Hamilton that dates back to my high school days,” Nickleberry told 247 Sports this summer; and he’s ready to let fly in Tallahassee. “The plan for me is to get and take open shots. They already know I can shoot the ball really well and do other things. Coach Hamilton has an up tempo offense and they try and score within the first six seconds of the shot clock. With the way we’re going to move the ball and the way our bigs move, it’s going to be hard for other teams to guard.”
After a solid freshman season at VCU in 2020-21, Jamir Watkins tore his ACL in fall practices and was forced to miss all of the next season rehabbing. After his redshirt year, Watkins came back strong last year, starting 17 games and averaging 24 minutes for the Rams. A great defensive player with long arms, quick hops and guard-like mobility, Watkins can play in virtually any lineup. He came up with 41 steals and 23 blocks last year, and Watkins saved his best performances for VCU’s run to the A-10 title, being named to the all-tournament team and forcing Dayton-turned-Phoenix Suns forward Toumani Camara into a 2/9 shooting day in the Championship game. Watkins can shoot it, too; he made 36 triples last year at 34%, and can really turn into a strong offensive player when he makes an early jumper to get his confidence rolling. Hamilton minced no words in explaining the importance of Watkins this year, saying in a statement “Jamir is going to help us because he is an athletic wing, can shoot the basketball and wants to play defense.” As much as the return of Fletcher is going to be highly anticipated, Watkins may well prove to be the team’s top defensive playmaker and the stopper this group needs.
Two young wings with contrasting skills will also factor into the competition for minutes this year. One, Tom House, is a wiry outside marksman who played less than eight minutes per game last season, but saw the floor in 30 contests. Hamilton has liked his confidence stepping into outside shots this summer, and sees House filling an even more significant role this winter. Taylor Bol Bowen is a new freshman, and a consensus 4-star prospect. He’s got an exciting blend of size and skill; at 6’10”, Bowen presents a very difficult matchup when guarding perimeter players, and he can really scoot from one rim to the other. “Bowen is a long and athletic forward that thrives in an up-and-down, open court game,” Adam Finkelstein of 247 Sports says of Bowen. “He’s rangy, elastic, and exceptionally mobile for his size, covering the court with long and fluid strides, able to make smooth changes of direction, and effortlessly rise up to play way above the rim.” If Bowen proves strong enough to handle a significant assignment right away, he could provide really nice depth to help Gainey and Fletcher ease back into the lineup. Hamilton has added another 6’10” prospect to develop in Waka Mbatch. He was mostly focused on becoming a soccer player until the age of 14, but now that he’s grown tall and focused on hoops, Mbatch has slick footwork for someone his size and will be another talented project for the Florida State big man factory.
The ‘Noles weren’t good last year. Especially defensively. Everyone knows it, and no one more than Florida State’s legendary coach and his returning players who are looking to set things right. “I think we will be better this year as a result of sticking with our principles, still teaching, growing and developing,” Hamilton said this summer, as reported by Brendan Sonnone for Noles247.
Hamilton has another very strong frontcourt, with multiple youngsters who could be poised to make considerable leaps. Even if Spears can’t play, there are veteran ballhandlers who should be able to keep things organized and the young post players fed. And, with more size, length, and quality at each spot on the floor, Hamilton will demand better defense from his guys or simply put in someone else who is willing to bring the noise.
“I think our depth is back,” Hamilton told Seminoles.com. “I think we now have enough depth where we can sustain the effort for long periods of time like we have in the past.” If Spears is granted immediate eligibility, this team would move up nearly double-digit spots in the rankings; he’s a proven, all-conference type of talent. As it is, though, with better overall health, more competition across the roster, and a full year from Miller, Florida State’s arrow is pointing back up. And it’s possible this team’s potential is as large as its talented youngsters.
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