FSU Women's Basketball: Seminole season outlook at the end of January

The 15-7 Florida State Women's basketball team had an up-and-down month of January. Sandwiched in between an eight-point overtime loss against North Carolina State and an 11-point win over Georgia Tech was a three-game winning streak and a three-game losing streak.

Looking ahead to the matchups that follow in February, the Seminoles will tip off with rival Miami twice and take on the rest of their challengers before conference tournaments and post-season play begin.

I expect a late run in the ACC Tournament and a solid performance in the NCAA end-of-season tournament. FSU Women's Basketball began the season with a strong out-of-conference schedule that included wins over foes such as Tennessee, Northwestern, and rival Florida.

They would falter against the likes of Stanford, Arkansas, and UCLA, but a manageable rest of the schedule. A hot start to ACC play and a run of four straight wins meant the Seminoles entered the month 13-3 and ranked inside the AP Top 25 and the Top 25 of the Coaches Poll.

Despite FSU’s early month hiccup in an 88-80 overtime loss to NC State, they remained ranked through much of the month. The Seminoles would rattle off three straight wins, 78-72 against Clemson, 70-62 over North Carolina, and beat Virginia Tech 89-81.

A three game skid, which included a 79-73 loss to Syracuse, another tight loss (91-87) to Virginia, and an 88-46 drubbing from Duke, saw the Seminoles fall out of both of the Top 25 lists. A 78-67 win over foe Georgia Tech salvaged the month as Florida State looks to turn the page in February

Only conference games remain for FSU as they will face rivals Miami on February 4th, and the Pitt Panthers four days later. The Seminoles then play host to Notre Dame and follow that up with trips to Wake Forest and Coral Gables for a rivalry rematch. They finish a busy and pivotal February hosting Boston College and traveling to Louisville.

They close out regular season play with a rematch against Clemson at home before turning their attention to the ACC tournament. It is not yet a given that they will make the NCAA tournament, as they sit at 15-7. However, they sit tied for sixth in the ACC, which sits in the middle of the road.

They will need a strong February to play their way into at least a first round bye in the ACC tournament and solidify their place in the NCAA end of season Tournament. It will take a star like Ta’Niya Latson (00), who leads the team in points, assists, and steals, to continue to play well and stack good performances.

The Seminoles coach, Brooke Wycoff, will also need Makayla Timpson (21) to continue her play as she leads them in blocks and rebounds. Wycoff is almost the polar opposite of Men’s coach Leonard Hamilton in just about every way.

She not only much younger than her Hall of Fame male counter part, she keeps a shorter roster and shorter rotation, as she plays four guards and one forward at a time, and has starters like Latson and Timpson averaging in the low 30s and high 20s in minutes per game.

Other names to know on Coach Wycoff’s team are O’Mariah Gordon (3) and Sara Bedjedi (4). They are two of the four starting guards and average double digits points per game. Gordon and Bedjedi also make up two of the four players averaging double-digit points per game, which include Latson and Timpson.

A continuing question for Coach Wycoff’s Seminoles is who can take the next step and command the fourth starting guard role between Alexis Tucker (2) and Amaya Bonner (24), as they essentially share that role and similar figures in many statistical categories.

It is hard to tell if that is how Wycoff intends to construct her teams, as her squad has faced many injuries, shortening their rotation. She will also need players like Brianna Turnage (1) and Carla Viegas (13) to continue to provide a spark off the bench and round out the scoring a little more.

Solving these issues surrounding depth and positions as well as keeping the team healthy will be key in ensuring the Seminoles Women’s Basketball team finishes the season where they feel they should.

Stats and results from ESPN and Seminoles.com