Men’s College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Florida State Seminoles

The college basketball season is just over two weeks away — time is just flying by. To get you ready for the season, I’m previewing the season in men’s college basketball, team by team. In these previews I will highlight key departures, additions, returners and overall DFS viability for each team. These previews will be heavily focused on DFS and fantasy in general, so keep that in mind when I’m talking about the relevancy of a player or team rotations.

We kick things off with the ACC, a conference that severely underperformed in the pandemic-impacted season last year. While the conference will inevitably have a handful of DFS staples for us to use each slate, it still seems like the ACC lost more talent than it was able to gain. With the transfer rules changing after March Madness ended it ultimately led to what was essentially free agency in CBB. There were coaching changes as well which I will talk about throughout this breakdown because new philosophies will mean new strategies for our DFS builds. 

In this one, Florida State.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Florida State Seminoles 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 18-7 (11-4 ACC), second in ACC
Postseason: Lost in NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

Key Departures | Florida State Seminoles

• Scottie Barnes (NBA draftee)
• MJ Walker (left for NBA)
• Raiquan Gray (NBA draftee)
• Balsa Koprivica (NBA draftee/playing overseas)
• Nate Jack (transferred to Cleveland St)
• Sardaar Calhoun (transferred to Texas Tech)

Key Additions | Florida State Seminoles 

• Caleb Mills (transfer from Houston)
• Cam’Ron Fletcher (transfer from Kentucky)
• Matthew Cleveland (top 30 recruit)
• Jalen Warley (top 35 recruit)
• John Butler (top 75 recruit)

Returners | Florida State Seminoles

• Anthony Polite (10.1 PPG/4.5 RPG/1.8 APG)
• Malik Osborne (5.9 PPG/4.5 RPG)
• RayQuan Evans (5.1 PPG/2 RPG/1.4 APG)
• Wyatt Wilkes (3.9 PPG/1.6 RPG/0.9 APG)
• Tanor Ngom (2.4 PPG/1.7 RPG/0.6 BPG)

Florida State Seminoles Outlook for 2021-2022

Leonard Hamilton-coached teams are typically the most frustrating for fantasy purposes, simply because he absolutely loves to play 10-plus players each game. This of course leads to inconsistent minutes and players tend to cannibalize each other’s production because of the bloated rotation. He also loves his 7-footers, with four on this year’s roster.

I am most intrigued with a pair of freshman guards in Jalen Warley and Matthew Cleveland. Warley has been praised as already having a high basketball IQ and is expected to be a primary distributor while pushing the offense along. Warley is someone that reminds me a lot of former Seminoles leader Trent Forrest. It would not surprise me to see Warley run this team for a few years. Cleveland on the other hand is a likely one and done player that is already being projected as a first rounder. Cleveland is a freak athlete that can score at will in the paint and get after it on the glass. Caleb Mills is a bucket, plain and simple. He can score from anywhere on the floor and should flourish in this system that yielded a team average of 40% from behind the arc last year. The concern with Mills is that he has already dealt with severe ankle injuries in his early career so there is wear and tear. Cam’Ron Fletcher got lost in the shuffle at Kentucky, which happens a lot when a team signs five or more top-100 recruits every year. He only played in nine games last year and wasn’t able to contribute much in such a deep and talented rotation. Don’t let that fool you though, as Fletcher is a former 4-star recruit who will see immediate playing time.

The main returners to know for fantasy are glue guy Anthony Polite and fringe starter RayQuan Evans. Both should see their roles increase this year and will even be looked at as leaders with so many new faces on the team. Malik Osborne will also be relied upon heavily in the early going with Balsa Koprivica and Raiquan Gray off to the pros. Osborne was a 37% three-point shooter last year, which will keep him on the floor a lot in this system. The other front court spot will likely be a revolving door between Tanor Ngom, John Butler, Naheem McLeod and Quincy Ballard.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

Even though Leonard Hamilton frustrates us with his deep rotations, this will be a team to target during ACC slates. They have a pair of dynamic freshmen in Warley and Cleveland that will be important parts of the rotation immediately while vets like Anthony Polite, Malik Osborne and RayQuan Evans will be relied upon for heavy production. Transfers Caleb Mills and Cam’Ron Fletcher get a fresh start and should flourish in Hamilton’s offensive system.