Florida State Men's Basketball Announces Non-Conference Schedule for 2023-24
Florida State has announced its full non-conference schedule for the upcoming 2023-24 season, and it is far from the strongest slate, with only three or four games against high major opponents. Judging by how last season went, nothing can be taken for granted, though.
The Seminoles will start things off against Kennesaw State, who was superb last season, going 26-9 in the Atlantic Sun conference last season and making the NCAA Tournament, before falling to Xavier in a tight contest in the opening round. Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim left Kennesaw State with two of his better players to go to USF, who FSU will play in the Orange Bowl Classic in December. This game will also be the night before Florida State welcomes Miami to Doak Campbell Stadium, so should be an exciting weekend all around.
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Florida State's biggest matchup is undoubtedly against the Florida Gators on November 17th, FSU's one true road game in this non-conference slate, which landed one of the best transfer portal classes in college basketball, according to On3. With Todd Golden now in his second season in Gainesville, they should be a more formidable bunch.
Central Michigan will come to Tallahassee as part of an on-campus game for the fourth annual Sunshine Slam, before traveling to Daytona Beach to take on UNLV in the opening round, and then either Richmond or Colorado (my guess is Richmond will win that game) the next day. This is the third straight year FSU will participate in some form of mid-season tournament, though they're certainly hoping it goes better than last year's disaster in Orlando at the ESPN Events Invitational, where they went 0-3 in embarrassing losses to Siena, Stanford, and Nebraska.
Georgia kicks off the ACC/SEC Challenge as they'll come to Tallahassee on November 29th. Both teams are looking to improve on meddling seasons last year, and have used the transfer portal to bolster their rosters. This is also the first time these two have played since 1981.
SMU is a surprise addition to the schedule, as a team that went 10-22 last season and is banking on transfers to turn this around is the second season under Rob Lanier. The Mustangs did not sign any high school prospects, but are bringing in five transfers.
They'll close the non-conference slate with the always pesky and 3-point bombing UNF, a Winthrop squad that isn't as strong since Pat Kelsey left for Charleston, and Lipscomb, who was a solid 20-13 last season, but lost in the opening round of the A-Sun tournament.
Florida State won't leave the state of Florida for the entire non-conference slate, and only leave Tallahassee three times. In total, they'll be playing three teams from the A-Sun, two from the SEC, two from the AAC, and then one each from the MAC, Big South, Mountain West, and either the PAC-12 or Atlantic-10 depending on results from the Sunshine Slam.
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