FSU Basketball: Can 2018-19 team be best in program history?

FSU basketball is again finding themselves having one heck of a non-conference part to their schedule, but will they end up being the best team ever?

For the second straight season, the FSU basketball team walked out of the BB&T Center in Sunrise with just one loss on their resume – but unlike last season when that loss came in the annual Orange Bowl Basketball Classic, the Seminoles left South Florida after dominating yet another team that could be dancing in the NCAA Tournament this year.

The Noles’ 22 point victory over St. Louis on Saturday moved head coach Leonard Hamilton’s team to 11-1 on the season – a season that has included five games against teams current ranked in the latest Bracketology projections (including the Billikins) with FSU basketball coming up with four wins in those games and the loss being by six points to defending champs Villanova.

With plenty of hype surrounding the Seminoles so far this season, the question has not been can this team make it back to the Elite Eight like last season – but can this team go even further than that?

After the game Saturday, St. Louis head coach Travis Ford said the Seminoles were a “Final Four team” – and this is coming from someone who got to that level while playing at Kentucky in the 1990s. While Hamilton wasn’t ready to talk about that in his comments and said the team still has work to do, the conversation has started.

One of the reasons why is that FSU basketball has been able to do all of this without having Phil Cofer for much of the season. After returning for his senior season, Cofer was hurt in the preseason and has seen 22 combined minutes this year – with 17 of those coming this weekend. As he gets more comfortable, things will only improve.

Another factor has been grad transfer David Nichols – who was the game’s MVP and scored a season high 19 points. His ability to gel so far this season with returning stars like Terance Mann and others has been a lifeline especially while Cofer has been out.

Now, the season is still young and we forget that FSU basketball was 11-1 heading into ACC play and finished .500 in the conference to straddle that line for March Madness. Barring an upset in their final non-conference game on New Years Day against Winthrop, the Seminoles will sit at 12-1 on the year.

Of course, ACC play means six teams currently listed in Bracketology and a three game stretch to start that includes Virginia, Miami and Duke – so FSU basketball does still have their work cut out for them.

I’m not saying to book tickets for Minneapolis this April just yet (site of this year’s Final Four), but if the first part of conference play goes like the non-conference slate did it might be okay for FSU football fans to at least look at travel information.