In April 2025, Luke Loucks and Florida State’s coaching staff had to sell a vision. A large part of it was the NBA background that Loucks and assistant coach Jim Moran brought to the Seminoles.
But remember that Loucks was just 35 and coaching in college for the first time with FSU, which missed out on the NCAA Tournament or NIT in four straight seasons.
“A year ago when we put the team together we were literally showing Sacramento Kings film,” FSU general manager / assistant coach Michael Fly said on Tuesday. “There was nothing to show outside of, 'Hey, this is what we're going to do. See De'Aaron Fox? This is going to be you. Look at (Domantas) Sabonis, this is going to be you. Being able to show film, and I think the biggest proof of concept was the style of play.”
FSU’s struggles in the first half of the season resulted from a new group of players learning to mesh with each other and comprehend an NBA system that Loucks implemented. After opening ACC play with five straight losses, FSU went 10-3 to finish the regular season. The Seminoles defeated Cal in the ACC Tournament, and held their own a night later with the nation’s No. 1 team, Duke, down to the wire in an 80-79 loss (a Robert McCray V jumper at the buzzer missed).
An 18-15 season on paper might not seem notable. But as the wins piled up in February, there was momentum within the program and acclaim from the outside for what the players and coaches were able to achieve in the turnaround.
Fly thinks the season as well as Golden State’s selection of Lajae Jones in the second round helped strengthen the perception of the coaching staff and how they develop players.
“We talk about in recruiting that relationships matter in terms of the next level,” Fly said. “It's great to see that come to fruition. I don't think it's a coincidence that the organization that coach Loucks worked in drafted one of our guys. There was a lot of conversations about Lajae with myself, with coach (Loucks). People trust people that they know. We were able to give all of the background on Lajae, all of the positives, all of the negatives.”
Loucks had been a video coordinator and player development coach in Golden State prior to a three-year run as a Sacramento Kings assistant coach. It was natural for Golden State general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. to reach out to some people who knew Jones well — St. Bonaventure GM Adrian Wojnarowski as well as Loucks and Fly — to get feedback on the FSU guard.
“Talking with those guys, they were extremely high on him," Dunleavy Jr. said on Friday. "We watched him a ton. Specifically for me, a guy who made a lot of 3s against Duke. He almost took us down in the ACC Tournament. Thank you for not doing that but impressive performance.”
Fly says he has pushed FSU as a program where players can be developed, whether they arrive as high school prospects or transfers. Also, connections Loucks, Moran, Fly and others on the FSU staff have can help open doors in pro basketball.
Jones was drafted, but McCray V (LA Lakers) and Chauncey Wiggins (Boston Celtics) agreed to free agent deals and each will each have opportunities in the NBA's summer league. Fly noted statistically that each member of the trio made a statistical improvement in at least one category, with Wiggins' scoring average rising from 8.3 points as a junior to 13.3 as a senior.
"If you look at Chauncey Wiggins and you look at Robert McCray and Lajae Jones, those guys' numbers all went up from their previous stops," Fly said. "That's not normal in transfers, especially when you have guys come in from lower levels to the highest level."
How does that project for this most recent group of Division I transfers? Fly is optimistic in the outlook of Shon Abaev (Cincinnati), Anthony Robinson II (Missouri), Kam Taylor (UNC Asheville), Sebastian Rancik (Colorado) and Cooper Schwieger (Wake Forest).
"When you look at our transfers this year, Kam is a mid-major transfer," Fly said. "But we had more high-major to high-major transfers. I think their hope is, 'Hey, if they were able to improve those guys going from a lower level to a higher level, what can they do with the guys that we have now that have played at that level?' "
That's a question worth contemplating in the months ahead before FSU's season begins in November.
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