Florida State is a week away from its exhibition opener, which will be against Alabama in Birmingham on Oct. 16. For the first time since 2001, a new coach will be leading the Seminoles’ men’s basketball program.

Luke Loucks played for Leonard Hamilton, winning an ACC tournament title in 2012 as the point guard, and calls the coach a mentor. So perhaps it was appropriate that much of the early conversation with Loucks was on Hamilton.

"Coach Hamilton, in a respectful way, he's kept his distance, but I talk to him multiple times a week," Loucks said. "Some about basketball, some about life. He's always been a great sounding board for me as I obviously played for him and then and went and played professionally and coached professionally. Most of what I've dealt with, he has seen at some level in the past four or five decades."

Loucks has opened the doors to Hamilton and alumni players to watch practices. Hamilton watched the Seminoles' scrimmage on Tuesday.

"He sat on the side with his hat kind of crooked on the side and took in our practice," Loucks said on Wednesday at the ACC Basketball Tipoff event. "I went and talked to him after practice, and he gave me what he liked and what he didn't, which is Coach Hamilton. He's going to give it to you straight. I said, 'Would you mind just saying exactly what you just said to me to the team? They get to hear my voice nonstop, and these guys will probably tell you they're already tired of me, and we haven't played a game.'

"He huddled the team up and got his coaching hat on and talked to the team for five to 10 minutes. The message coming from him that's seen it all was spot-on. It's the exact same thing I would have said, but just a little bit different, right?"

While FSU’s first exhibition game is on the road, the Seminoles will play host to Florida A&M (and coach Charlie Ward) on Oct. 26 at the Donald L. Tucker Center in the Seminoles’ second exhibition.

Wiggins' ACC expertise

Chauncey Wiggins is like most of FSU's transfers, a veteran with years of experience and plenty to prove. He's also proven he can contribute, playing in 97 games at Clemson as well as 58 in the ACC.

While Loucks has ACC experience and has been on the job more than six months, Wiggins how valuable his ACC experience could be for Loucks.

"I can teach him that basically everybody has a different scheme, and it's pretty weird, because being in the ACC, you have teams that just always play the same way for three or four straight years," Wiggins said. "I feel like with the experience that I have, I mean, whether that's offense or defense, I feel like I have some knowledge on what teams do. I feel like that's some way I can help."

It's why they're here

The hook with Loucks was that he would be able to recruit players to FSU based on his NBA background, one where he captured NBA titles with Golden State and developed players in Sacramento. Without coaching a game at FSU, Loucks' experience and resume resonated with transfers.

"His experience with the NBA just shows not only me, but our team that it's achievable, especially him coming down to the college level," guard Kobe Magee said. "The player development, the people that he brought in, coaching staff, they all have the same mindset and they all have the same goal. With that energy that they bring in every day, I think it's definitely something that's motivating. It's very motivating to all of us. I think we're all on the right track to go where we want to go."

Steen, double-double machine

Loucks feels confident that Alex Steen's ability to rebound at the Division II level will translate to the ACC. The 6-foot-9, 230-pound Steen was a consistent presence at Florida Southern College, picking up 1,168 points, 709 rebounds and 194 blocks in three seasons.

Loucks calls him, "Alex Steen, the double-double machine." FSU's coach thinks his personality connects easily with teammates. What has also impressed is Steen's work ethic.

"Almost every day he's the hardest working guy in the gym. Kobe may say he works harder, Chauncey may say it. But Steen every day brings it,” Loucks said. “His skill level is still developing, but I can count on one thing. When Steen is on the court, something is going to happen. Sometimes good and sometimes bad, but there's going to be some chaos.

"And then offensively he doesn't need the ball. He's a connector. He's OK with swinging it to the right guy. ... he's okay doing the dirty work. As long as he keeps playing exactly how he's been playing, he's going to find minutes for us. That jump that a lot of people worry about from the D2 to the D1 level, to me he's handling great."

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