FSU Basketball 2023-24 Season Report Card

Who had our highest and lowest grades for their performances this season?

With Florida State’s season coming to a close with a 92-67 loss to North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, let’s go through player-by-player and give them a season grade. I won’t be doing it strictly as the best performers get the best grades, I’ll be mixing grades relative to what my expectations were for the player coming into the season.

I’ll be ordering these by seniority.

Jaylan Gainey, Graduate Student: C-

A setback in Gainey’s ACL recovery over the summer impacted his return to the floor, not playing until December, and he only averaged about 11 minutes per game when he did return. I think he could be a better player next year if he gets another season of eligibility and if Florida State changes back to their 2016-2019 defense (switch most of the time 1-4, funnel middle into the 5), which I’ve heard is a possibility. But even then, it's been reported he needs yet another surgery this summer. 

FSU Goes For The Jugular, Calls On ACC To Release Any Knowledge Relating to CFP Snub

Still, I was expecting a little more than what he showed. FSU wanted to use him around the rim on offense with dunks and alley-oops, but his lack of confidence in his leg was so apparent defensively. Switching everything just doesn’t fit him as much as it would’ve before the injury.

Darin Green Jr., Graduate Student: C-

Just know, this grade was a lot lower before scoring 26 points against Miami on senior night. Maybe this is harsh, but I was extremely disappointed in Darin Green’s performance this season. This is one of those cases where you look at the base numbers and think “He did alright,” but there were many games where I’m shaking my head wondering what he’s doing. The ball would just stop moving any time he got it.

He fell off a cliff with his 3-point shooting as ACC play progressed and saw the weirdest drop-off in free throw shooting I think I’ve ever seen, shooting just 71.4% this season (he shot 88.6% last season and was a career 80.3% heading into the season). He was in the 60% range for most of the season. There were many times when he looked disinterested or was very easily taken out of games by opposing defenses and shot just 30.9% from 3 from January 13th to February 27th, a stretch of 12 games.

I think the game at Georgia Tech at the beginning of March was a microcosm of Darin Green’s season: a quick 1:20 flurry of three-made threes and then didn’t score a single point the rest of the game. If I saw one more spin-around contested shot from the top of the key, I might’ve lost the little sanity I had left. His one saving grace is his surprising uptick in steals this season, with a total of 45, which was a career-high.

Josh Nickelberry, Graduate Student: F-

I won’t spend too much time on this one. Nickelberry was brought in to be veteran bench depth as someone who could provide quality shooting. He played about 10 minutes per game, hit 27% of his 3s, and was a negative on both sides of the ball, finishing with the second-worst offensive rating, the third-worst defensive rating of scholarship players, and the lowest box plus/minus by a wide margin. He was borderline unplayable, in my opinion, and they won’t be missing him next season.

Cam’Ron Fletcher, Senior: INCOMPLETE

I feel so bad for Cam’Ron Fletcher. He recovered quickly from a torn ACL in December of 2022 to be ready for this season, played in just 7 games, then re-injured the same knee at UNC almost a year to the day after his first injury, and was done once again for the season. He’s been at FSU for three seasons and has played in 46 of a possible 95 games due to injury.

This will be my only incomplete grade of the article.

Jamir Watkins, Junior: A

What a season from Jamir Watkins. He would’ve been on my All-ACC First Team ballot if I had a vote, leading Florida State in almost every major statistical category. I don’t think anyone saw this coming from him when he transferred in from VCU. The only thing keeping him from an A+ is his turnovers and fouls, averaging over 2.5 per game of each, the fouls particularly kept him out of games at times he needed to be in there.

Still, Watkins became a potential NBA prospect as the season progressed and was very easily Florida State’s best player this season. Whatever has to be done to retain him has to be done. It got to the point where he was good so consistently that it felt monotonous. That’s a good thing.

He could still stand to improve his pull-up three-point shooting and his ball-handling.

Jalen Warley, Junior: B-

I thought Warley made a ton of progress offensively this year. He shot close to 80% from the free throw line in ACC play and became a much better finisher around the basket. Couple that with borderline elite on-ball defense and he’s become a quality player and gave FSU some bright moments in the ACC Tournament.

That being said, he was still inconsistent game-to-game. He had two massive games this season: 19 points in the overtime win over Colorado and 23 points in the loss at Louisville. Both of those games were followed by stinkers. His decision to just not shoot jump shots, especially from 3, stalls the offense at times and is the biggest thing he can stand to add to his game.

Warley became a beloved figure in the locker room as someone everyone in the conference respects. At this point last year, I didn’t see a future where Warley was a quality guard in the ACC and now I absolutely can.

Primo Spears, Junior: D+

Let’s just say I understand why Spears was at his third school in three years. Again, you look at the base stats with double-digit scoring and think it’s solid, but this was a weird year for him.

The idea of Primo Spears is great, as a great driver with a tight dribble who can get in the lane and finish, while also having the ability to hit tough 2s and pass the ball around. The actuality of Primo Spears is not, as he finished with the worst offensive rating on the team by a WIDE margin and shot around 39.2% from the floor and close to a 1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

He had great moments. His game against NC State at the end of February was fantastic. But there was also the stretch right before it where he intentionally fouled an 89% free throw shooter against Virginia Tech with 1:30 remaining which fouled him out of the game, had a -14 first half against Duke then didn’t play in the second half, and then was sat by Coach Hamilton in the following game against Boston College.

There’s a good player hidden inside Primo Spears and he clearly has talent, but it’s fair to wonder if his game leads to wins.

Baba Miller, Sophomore: C-

Another instance where there’s a good player hidden somewhere inside him, but it’s fair to wonder if Baba Miller will ever fully unlock it at Florida State. When he was locked in defensively and aggressive offensively, good things happened. Unfortunately, those moments were few and far between. You can almost fully pin the Lipscomb loss at the end of December on him, as he just had zero desire to be on the floor.

Luckily for him though, his bad moments weren’t as bad as others on this list, which pulled his grade up slightly. I thought he was spectacular against Wake Forest and Syracuse, but he was really poor from the free-throw line this season (including a brutal 4/13 performance against USF) and got a little too comfortable from 3 when he’s a surprisingly crafty finisher around the rim. You could just tell towards the end of the season, like the game at Georgia Tech, that he wasn’t having fun on the floor.

Cameron Corhen, Sophomore: B-

Corhen’s raw numbers look good and he had some games with big numbers, but I feel like he took a small step back this season. I’m sure part of it was a decision by the coaching staff, but after taking 30 threes his freshman year he took just 2 this season. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but then his free throw shooting just plummetted, going from 79.2% last season to 67.2% this season.

His inability to catch or hang onto the basketball around the rim was infuriating at times. He averaged 9.4 PPG this season, but very easily could’ve been around 15 if he simply caught the ball cleanly every time.

The future is still bright for Corhen even if he could get a lot better defensively. As far as this season, though, he left me wanting a lot more.

Chandler Jackson, Sophomore: C+

Some weird things were going on off the floor for Jackson, like his suspension before the season and being sat for the two-game road trip against Louisville and Boston College. However, I thought he was Florida State’s second-best guard for most of the season, having a stretch in February where he was competing with Watkins for MVP game-to-game.

The game started to slow down for him a little bit this season and he realized he could use his size to get in the paint and finish with a nice touch on his floater. The 3-point shot looked steady throughout ACC play. His defense was crafty. He just wasn’t seeing consistent minutes and I’m sure part of that has to do with the extracurriculars.

I’d love for Jackson to come back next season with a stronger sense of maturity and I think he could be a really good player for this team.

De’Ante Green, Sophomore: D

De’Ante Green had a 4-game stretch early in the season where he was in double-figures scoring in each game. That and the toe injury to Corhen gave him a promotion to the starting lineup and he was good for most of non-conference play, but he’d only play about 9 minutes per game once conference play kicked in.

He’s an underrated passer and is the tough guy every team needs, but he’s not good enough defensively and his shot IQ is lacking at times, which makes him hard to play. It’s not a huge surprise that he was only playing 3 or 4 minutes per game down the stretch of the season and even a couple of DNPs.

Tom House, Sophomore: F

This team desperately needed shooting, the thing House is supposed to be good at, and yet he could never see the floor. He only averaged about 4 minutes per game, not even playing in every game, and shot just 17 total 3-pointers.

Taylor Bol Bowen, Freshman: A-

I am a proud owner of a lot of Taylor Bol Bowen stock after this season. He really impressed me this season with his defensive versatility, his quickness on his feet, and his surprisingly solid mid-range pull-up. I think he’s closer to realizing his potential as of this moment than Baba Miller is.

Bowen does have a ton to work on this offseason; free-throw shooting, fixing his mechanics from 3, adding some weight, etc., but I expected him to maybe take a redshirt this season. Instead, I think he’s the second most important player for the future of the team behind Jamir Watkins, and showed some flashes of brilliance. His game at Boston College was incredible for someone who doesn’t see a ton of minutes. It’s not unreasonable to think he could be starting next season depending on the progress he makes this offseason and who FSU brings in. 

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