AMELIA ISLAND — The Florida State men’s basketball team went 18-15 in year 1 under Luke Loucks, playing one of the toughest non-conference schedules in program history.
Even though FSU faced Florida, Houston, Texas A&M, Georgia and Dayton — dropping all of them — those were games that helped the players grow and build chemistry for what became a 10-3 finish in the Seminoles’ final 13 ACC games.
Loucks confirmed FSU’s non-conference scheduling for 2026-27 will be just as challenging, featuring return trips (including some neutral-site games) with those same schools. Much of the conversation at the ACC’s Spring Meetings on Monday and Tuesday reaffirmed his scheduling philosophy and how it could help the Seminoles return to an expanded 76-team NCAA Tournament.
“In terms of helping your schedule and what actually the conversations in those room, what actually gets teams in, as opposed to keeps them out, how you schedule is the biggest thing we can control to help ourselves,” Loucks said. “I think we did a good job last year, but we made some mistakes, and that's what year one is about, fixing some of those mistakes and giving ourselves the best chance to look back on this season and make sure we end up in the tournament.”
The Seminoles will host Florida as part of the long-running rivalry. FSU agreed to travel to Dayton in 2025-26 and will host the Flyers this season. A game featuring Houston, an Elite Eight team in March, will be played at a neutral site.
“Since we played at the Toyota Center, where the Rockets play, that was technically not on their campus,” Loucks said. “I can't release it yet, but I think we got it pretty much ironed out. We'll play that in a big market in Florida, similar to the Texas A&M game last year.”
FSU will also play Florida A&M in Tampa early in November, the Associated Press reported later on Tuesday. The Seminoles’ ACC schedule hasn’t been set but games against the likes of Duke, Louisville and Miami help strengthen the league slate.
Loucks said members of the NCAA basketball selection committee spoke to the ACC coaches and said “there’s a good chance we would have made it if the tournament had expanded last year.” He jokingly said it doesn’t make him feel better, but it’s intriguing that committee members were watching the Seminoles’ late run.
A year ago at the ACC’s spring meetings, Loucks said he wanted to play all of the Final Four teams in 2025-26. In the end, he lined up games with Duke, Florida and Houston while just missing out on Auburn before playing an exhibition at Alabama. Loucks described the dynamics of scheduling and how teams can be perceived.
“You got to play quality opponents, but you got to play games that you can win,” Loucks said. “And now I'm confident, I think we can win every game. Obviously, that wasn't a case early on last season, but I do think playing those games helped us later, and it helped us find areas where we had extreme weaknesses that we had to work on.”
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