‘It’s like starting over and taking a new job.’ FSU basketball roster features 10 new players

Leonard Hamilton’s 23rd season at Florida State could feel much like his first.

With one returning starter and 10 new players on his roster, the veteran men’s basketball coach has been in teaching mode during preseason practice.

While Hamilton, in the last year of his contract, is looking for a bounce-back season after missing the past three NCAA Tournaments, a learning curve is expected. That challenge, however, could be reflected in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings as the Seminoles are projected to finish in the lower third at No. 14 by CBS Sports.

The league has expanded to 18 teams with the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU. Overall, the league welcomes back its ACC Player of the Year, Rookie, Sixth Man, and Most Improved Players of the Year, as well as the nation’s lone returning first-team consensus All American.

“Teaching, communicating with them, their level of focus, and as coaches us adjusting to how best can you prepare a team with that many new players and be ready to play by the time the season starts is an adjustment that we all are making,” Hamilton said Wednesday during the annual ACC Men’s Basketball Tipoff in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“When you have ten new guys that you are trying to integrate in your system, it’s like starting over and taking a new job.”

FSU men’s basketball returns one starter in senior guard Jamir Watkins

The Seminoles open their 31-game schedule against Northern Kentucky Nov. 20 at the Tucker Center. FSU’s 20-game ACC schedule begins at defending conference champion North Carolina State Dec. 7

Jamir Watkins, a 6-foot-7 senior guard, is the lone returning starter from last year’s 17-16 team. Watkins, who transferred to FSU from VCU prior to last season, also ranks among the nation’s top returning players.

Watkins considered the NCAA transfer portal and tested NBA Draft interest in the offseason before he opted to return to the Seminoles. An All-ACC honorable mention selection last season, the New Jersey native averaged a team-leading 15.6 points and a team-leading 6.0 rebounds in 33 starts last season.

Watkins pointed to the maturation process for his success.

“What I think led to it is just me maturing off the court kind of helped me stepping into the new role that coach Hamilton trusted me to be in,” Watkins said Wednesday. “Just taking on a new role and just trusting in myself, having faith in myself as well as the team, and just playing my heart out. Going out there and going as hard as I can and it led to success.

“That’s what I’m going to continue to do.”

Taylor Bol Bowen, a 6-foot-10 sophomore forward, played in 31 games as a freshman and was one of 11 Seminoles who averaged 10 or more minutes played per game. He is expected to take on a far more prominent role and is excited for the start of the season.

“The lights are coming on soon, man. Only time will tell. I’m excited. I’m excited,” Bol Bowen said Wednesday. “I think that you guys will see a lot of good play from myself and my teammates. Like I said, the lights are coming on soon.”

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton reflects on how college basketball’s changed

Hamilton is the longest-tenured men’s basketball coach in the ACC and second-oldest active Division I coach. He’s led the Seminoles to three NCAA Tournament Sweet 16s (2011, 2019, 2021) and one Elite Eight (2018) and compiled an ACC record of 443-281 that ranks him fifth all-time in the storied league behind Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Dean Smith, and Gary Williams.

Hamilton, of course, has seen plenty of change across college basketball over the years. And this season is no different as the transfer portal, Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) continue to impact the sport.

His roster includes newcomers Bostyn Holt (12.3 ppg, 3.1 apg at South Dakota); 2024 Junior College All-American and National Defensive Player of the Year Malique Ewin (14.9 ppg, 9.0 rpg at South Plains Community College); second-year transfer forward Jerry Deng (10.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg at Hampton in 2023-24); along with freshmen athletes Daquan Davis (17.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 5.8 apg at Overtime Elite) and AJ Swinton (8.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Va.).

“I think it’s more challenging for the young people because they’re more distracted, you know, with the internet and where they’re rank and social media,” Hamilton said.

“Sometimes they have a tendency to lose perspective on things that are important. I think it takes — with the new model that we’re operating with, consistently having a lot of new players every year, that’s going to take an adjustment, not only for the players, but for coaches. As I talk to my colleagues around the country, it seems like we all are kind of trying different things and seeing what works because this is a new system that we all are working hard to adjust to.”

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leonard Hamilton, FSU men’s basketball roster features 10 new players