Despite the presence of one of the nation’s best guards in Michael Snaer, Florida State fought inconsistency brought about by the overall lack of experience on its roster last season. The end result was an 18-16 record (9-9 ACC) and a loss to Louisiana Tech in the first round of the Postseason NIT.
Now with Snaer having graduated, Leonard Hamilton’s team will look to make a return to the NCAA tournament without its leading scorer. Okaro White, Devon Bookert and Ian Miller all return, and the addition of talented freshmen Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Jarquez Smith should help matters as well.
What can also help the Seminoles is the fact that next month they’ll take a summer trip to Greece next month, taking on the Greek national team in games that they won’t be expected to win. The bonding experience Hamilton’s team will experience both on and off the court is something he hopes will pay off once practice officially begins in October according to Natalie Pierre of the Tallahassee Democrat.“It’s going to be great. I feel like we’re going to spend a lot more time with each other instead of tweeting and texting our friends,” second-year Seminole Robert Gilchrist said.
“This is going to bring the team together.
“Like coach (Stan) Jones has said, the teams that he’s been on these tours with they always have a good year. So I think it comes down to chemistry, and that was one of the big things we were missing last year.”
The trip will make this an especially busy summer for Rathan-Mayes, who represented Canada in the Under-19 World Championships that came to a conclusion on Sunday. Canada finished sixth in the event, with Rathan-Mayes averaging 12.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per contest.
He’ll factor into a perimeter rotation that has both depth and experience, and if this group can develop the chemistry that wasn’t always present in 2012-13 Florida State can rebound in 2013-14.
Raphielle can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.