The expectations for FSU basketball in Luke Loucks' first season in Tallahassee were not great among Nole fans. Leonard Hamilton didn’t finish dead last in either of his final two seasons at FSU.
However, near last is where five ACC experts had the Noles finishing before the 2025-26 season got started.
They had FSU finishing at No. 17 on average, and not a single expert had FSU finishing higher than No. 15.
It looked like they might be right after FSU started conference play 0-5. However, FSU started to figure some things out after a blowout loss against NC State. They have gone 10-3 since January 20th, with two of the three losses by three points.
#connected @FSUHoops pic.twitter.com/VaXC88SXnA
— Luke Loucks (@lukeloucks) March 8, 2026
The Noles finished 10-8 in the ACC and will be the No. 8 seed in the ACC Tournament. So much for those experts and their predictions, huh?
I’m giving them a hard time because it would have been nearly impossible to predict FSU would make that much of an improvement in year one under Luke Loucks.
However, it goes to show there’s a reason why they play the games, and folks shouldn’t go by what they think will happen.
Luke Loucks putt his FSU basketball team together in a matter of months, using pieces from the transfer portal and a couple of holdovers from the Leonard Hamilton era. He has the No. 8 recruiting class nationally arriving soon, and will have the proof of concept needed to attract solid talent from the transfer portal for year two.
FSU was near the top of the college basketball world not too long ago, and it looks like they could be heading that way again if this trajectory holds.