FSU Basketball: Blowout Tourney Loss a Possible Preview of Next Season

FSU basketball saw their season end with a 25 point loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament – and that could just be the start of a rough stretch.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock Saturday inside the Amway Center, it became apparent that the FSU basketball season was going to come to an end in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the hands of the No. 11 seed Xavier Musketeers. Oh, who I am kidding – it was apparent with about 11 and half minutes to go and the men from Cincinnati up three touchdowns.

Indeed, a season of historical proportions for the Seminoles ended with a complete thud in Downtown Orlando – something fans of the team may want to get prepared to deal with for years to come.

Following the 91-66 loss, players in the FSU basketball locker room talked about they were happy to be a part of bringing the program “back” to their first tournament in five seasons – a program that tied the mark for most regular season wins while finishing second in the ACC, their highest finish in nearly a quarter century.

Head coach Leonard Hamilton talked about how proud he was of his team and what they accomplished this season – and he should be. 26-9 is nothing to sneeze at for a program that, with all due respect, has always had a tradition of being good, but not quite great.

Take a picture of this season, FSU basketball fans…because we’re in for a rocky road come this fall.

Florida State Seminoles Basketball

There is a reason people have been so high on what the Seminoles could do this season – because it is seemingly the last chance for a while that Florida State could make a deep conference and tournament run. Being seeded No. 3 in the West Region set the team up for at least a Sweet 16 appearance – which would be just the fourth time that happened in program history.

Now, the team is left with the sour taste of a 25 point embarrassing, run you out of the gym loss heading into a season where – with Michael Ojo graduating, Dwayne Bacon and Jonathan Isaac likely going pro and Xavier Rathan-Mayes possible heading that way – you could have just one returning starter (Terrance Mann) when the team returns this November.

If the ‘Noles do indeed lose all four players, that would mean a departure of over half the team’s points per game (44.5 of 83) and nearly half the rebounds (17.2 of 38) to go along with the two best players, the team’s leader when it comes to being a floor general and a seven foot wall in the middle.

Head coach Leonard Hamilton has been able to do wonders with a program that was basically left in shambles by the previous coach (Steve Robinson), but it might even be asking him too much to keep this team at a championship level with all those losses. I’m not saying FSU basketball is going to be an under .500 team next season…but it might be back to the NIT for the garnet and gold next spring.