The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 70 is Florida State basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Florida State basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 1
- Final Fours: 1
- Elite Eights: 3
- Sweet 16s: 7
- NCAA wins: 23
- Bids: 18
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 17.5
- Bids per season: 0.26
- AP Polls: 184
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 35
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 3
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Florida State basketball
One man proved that you could win basketball games at Florida State, and that was head coach Leonard Hamilton. From 2002-25, he picked up a Seminoles program looking to stay afloat in the ACC, and not only did that, but at points had FSU as one of the better teams in the conference. He led the ‘Noles to eight of their 18 NCAA Tournaments, with four Sweet 16s, including an Elite 8 in 2018. 460 of his 660 career wins came with Florida State.
Hamilton also had a knack for producing some notable NBA talent, including Scottie Barnes, Devin Vassell, Patrick Williams, Jonathan Isaac, and Terance Mann.
However, long before the current age, FSU would have some solid teams here and there. In 1972, they even went all the way to the National Championship game, led by future Hall of Famer Dave Cowens. In fact, from 1966-78, Hugh Durham went 230-95 with the program, perhaps a bit underrated.
After Durham and before Hamilton, players like Sam Cassell and Bob Sura suited up for the Seminoles, and they reached the Sweet 16 in 1992 and the Elite 8 in 1993.
The program almost gets a bad rap for whatever reason, despite having more good seasons than bad seasons throughout its history in Division I. Obviously, they aren’t on Duke’s or UNC’s level, but Florida State has held its own for the majority of its time, especially since joining the ACC in 1991. And that’s the point of our rankings system – to show you that despite Baylor’s National Championship, Florida State ranks one spot higher thanks to so much more consistency and a lot of unrecognized success. The more you know!