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Message: [QUOTE="Rooster C., post: 5324470, member: 10168"] Florida State..... FSU did not finish their season on a high note losing in the 2nd round by 30 points at LSU. Over her 4 seasons as the HC (one interim) at FSU, Booke Wyckoff has managed to maintain the 4th best record in the ACC with a .657 win pct. (.672 overall). With the loss of the #1 scoring talent in the country to the portal along with the graduation of #2 and #3 scoring options it's very close to being a total rebuild for the 'Noles. I look for her lofty winning in the ACC to slide this year. Last season FSU began the year ranked #19 and finished it ranked #22 but getting ranked at all this year will require some heavy lifting. What was lost: Well.......A LOT. T. Latson, (25.2ppg) the nation's leading scorer for starters. She will finish her illustrious career at S.Carolina before moving on to the WNBA. Speaking of which that is where the #2 scorer on the team M. Timpson (17.5ppg) is now at. The #3 scorer O. Gordon (15.9ppg) and the other starter M. Williams (4.4ppg) both graduated. They also lost most of their reserves to the portal : M. Valenzuela (6'2" F 3.5ppg) to S. Hall, T. Viegas 5'9" G 6.0ppg) to rival Pitt, R. Dias dos Santos (5'9" G 2.6ppg) to rival Va., B. Turnage (6'1" G 1.7ppg) to rival GT, and M. Chavez (6'1" F ) to Fresno St. That's a total of 4 starters and 5 reserves lost. Remaining: The lone starter S. Bowles (Sr. 6'0" G 10.6ppg) is back to "steady the ship" along with A. Bonner (Sr. 6'0" G 3.4ppg) who is ready to move up to a starting spot. Also back is reserve A. Threadwell (Jr. 6'3" F 2.8ppg). That's not much to be honest. Incoming Transfers : J. Shavers (Sr. 5'8" G 14.9ppg) from Tx. Tech, E. Risch (6'1" G 5.7ppg) from rival ND, A. Kubeck (Gr. 6'2" F 9.1ppg) from MD, S. Williams (So. 5'9" G 7.6ppg) from Tx. A&M, T. Greene (So. 6'3" G 4.4ppg) from rival BC, and P. Davis (Jr. 6'6" C 15.0ppg) from NM JCC. Incoming Freshman: M. Gerton (5'7" G ) who was once ranked in the the Top 100 but fell out when it was updated. So what has Wyckoff got here ? A total of 10 players with only 3 returning players and 1 starter. I doubt the freshman will figure prominently so that leaves 9 usable players 6 of whom are transfers who have to learn a new system. It's going to be impossible to replace a player like Latson period. Not to mention the combined 63 points of offense that left with the departing starters. Even with them last year was up-and-down with losses they shouldn't have had. The transfers will make or break this team. Shavers is a bucket but she is also a volume shooter and that can be problematic. Kubek is solid but is no Timpson. Risch and Williams are also solid players but Gordon scored as much as the two of them combined. Greene should be a solid bench player. And then there's Davis who I'll discuss in a minute. The back court is going to be Bowles, Shavers, Risch, Bonner, and Williams probably with different line ups until Wyckoff figures out what combination works best as a starting rotation but I expect the remaining 2 will see plenty of action in rotation. The front court will be Kubeck and probably Davis. Davis is an interesting pick up - an Australian, ranked #1 player coming out of Junior College. Being 6'6" will definitely help as I still believe most teams will be using a more traditional C/PF duo this year. You have to be able to match up when push comes to shove 😉 Can Davis step up at the next level or become a player relegated to the bench like Sakima Walker was at SC last year ? Of course Dawn had more choices. The only other player of size (who is not a guard) is returning Jr. forward Threadwell at 6'3". Any way you slice it this is a difficult task. FSU and Wyckoff are in a similar boat to Ivey and N. Dame. The main difference being Ivey has Hidalgo. Wyckoff does have the pieces to make a competetive team but like Ivey hasn't done a stellar job of recruiting. In fact she hasn't been able to sign a Top 100 player since she took over unless you want to count 2021 and 2022 which I don't. Even with that core group - who just left - she was never able to get past the 2nd round of the NCAA even with Latson. Wyckoff is a fighter. She has missed very few games even while battling cancer. She will continue to persevere in spite of the odds. But let's be honest - it's a steep climb. She's going to lose another 4 players minimum at the end of the season. Until she starts recruiting better this year is likely to be what FSU's future will look like. Can her system of all -offense, no -defense succeed going forward? Unless you have the horses I don't think so. Look for FSU to be middle of the pack between 7th and 12th. [/QUOTE]

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