FSU Basketball 2024-25 Season Preview: Roster Breakdown

Florida State has almost an entirely new roster surrounding Jamir Watkins. Plus, a projected starting lineup and depth chart

Austin Veazey | Oct 8, 2024

Florida State Seminoles forward Jamir Watkins (2) looks to make his next move. The Florida State Seminoles hosted the Central Michigan Chippewas on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. / Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Florida State Seminoles

Florida State Basketball tips off in about a month, and media day is approaching. To get everyone prepared, let's take a refresher on the roster.

My mentions on Twitter were filled with questions all offseason revolving around some variety of "Why hasn't FSU filled out the roster?" or "Can Coach Ham even put five players on the floor yet?" You'll be happy to know Florida State does have a full roster of 13 scholarship players, which not every ACC team has.

Before we get to who's on the team, let's remember who's not.

Departures (10)

Darin Green Jr., Jaylan Gainey, and Josh Nickelberry exhausted their eligibility. Green was the only starter of the three, but Gainey could've been an incredible player had he not torn his ACL right before the start of the 2022-23 season. No offense, but I don't think they'll miss Nickelberry's on-court performance too much.

Seven other players transferred out. Baba Miller tested the NBA Draft waters before pulling his name out and transferring to Florida Atlantic, which has a new head coach. Miller had a tumultuous two years in Tallahassee between shin splints, a bogus 16-game NCAA suspension, and a differing opinion on what his role should be. It made sense for both sides to move on here.

Jalen Warley transferred to Virginia for his final season of college basketball and is on an... odd roster (more on this in the ACC preview coming next week). He initially chose FSU over Virginia out of high school and will finish playing for Tony Bennett. Personally, I thought his transferring was the biggest surprise of the offseason. He had grown into a valued leader in that locker room and started to play well in the latter half of ACC play but he still fell well short of the expectations he had coming out of high school.

Cam Corhen also transferred to an ACC school, as he now plays for the Pittsburgh Panthers. They have an intriguing frontcourt with him and the Diaz Graham twins, but I don't think he was a great fit for FSU's system. FSU generally likes their bigs to be great rebounders and paint protectors, and he wasn't really either of those (partially because of FSU's scheme). He is very talented offensively but it's tough to provide as little defensively as he did.

Primo Spears is now on his fourth different team in four years, now suiting up for the UTSA Roadrunners. Four schools in four years. I don't think I need to say much else.

Cam'Ron Fletcher is going to attempt to play basketball again after back-to-back ACL tears on the same knee, as he transferred to Xavier this offseason. He's a talented player, but hopefully, that knee stays intact this year.

De'Ante Green, who fell out of the rotation by the end of last season, transferred to USF. Tom House, a reserve who saw little playing time, transferred to Furman.

In total, Florida State is losing 64.3 PPG of production from last season, which is about the middle of the road in the ACC but is still a lot of production. One could argue that not all of that production was valuable production, and I wouldn't disagree. The team needed an overhaul, I'm just not convinced they overhauled correctly.

The Returners (4, Technically)

Florida State received a major gift late in the offseason, with Jamir Watkins announcing his return for his final season of college basketball. He tested the NBA waters, tested the transfer portal, and still chose to come back to FSU. What a guy. He saved this team from arguably being in the cellar of the ACC.

Watkins should've been All-ACC last season but was only an honorable mention, averaging 15.6 PPG, 6 RPG, 2.8 APG, and 2.7 StocksPG (steals + blocks). With a refined three-point jumpshot, he should be one of the best players in the ACC, and he'll need to be for this team to succeed. He'll be relied upon for even more shot creation than last year but I think there should be better spacing around him this year.

Chandler Jackson is back for his junior season and showed some real promise last year. His 17 points against Virginia should've been enough to win FSU that game, but Isaac McKneely decided to channel Kyle Guy's energy. He'll need to be more consistent this year on a nightly basis, but he's a tough, physical guard who has never lacked in confidence. After three years of watching Jalen Warley scared for his life to shoot, I'm not opposed to that idea.

Taylor Bol Bowen is back for his sophomore season, looking to improve upon some stellar flashes in his freshman year. He still has a lot of filling out to do on his frame, and hopefully, his jumper looks smoother this year, but he has great instincts and I'm really high on his potential. He'll be relied upon a lot more than last year.

Waka Mbatch is technically back, but I wouldn't fault you for not knowing who he is. Mbatch was a late addition to last year's roster as an overseas flier, and I don't believe he was on a scholarship, but now he is and is likely FSU's backup center. We'll see what kind of impact he can have on the team.

Incoming Transfers (3)

I wanted Florida State to dive straight into the deep end in the transfer portal this offseason. That didn't exactly happen, only coming away with three transfers.

Bostyn Holt is the most experienced of the bunch, starting his career at Coffeyville Community College, transferring to Utah for two seasons, and then spending last year at South Dakota. He was the Coyotes' third-leading scorer (12.3 PPG), and they weren't a great team, winning just 12 games. Holt will bring experience and rebounding from the wing, at the very least. Most of his scoring has come inside the arc, with 87.4% of his made field goals in his career being two-pointers. He's hit his threes at a 39% rate but he needs to shoot it more to be respected in the ACC as a threat. Holt's a contender to start for the Seminoles.

Jerry Deng spent his freshman year at Hampton and was a very intriguing player, hitting 39.1% of his threes at a high rate and at 6'9". He has the tools to be a great defender, but it hasn't been unlocked yet. If FSU can unlock that defensive potential, pairing it with his elite shooting would be a great player. When I see a player coming from a small school trying to protect their production in the ACC, I look at how they did against the better competition last season. The best team Hampton played last year was James Madison, who won 32 games, and Deng had one of his best games of the season: 18 points, six rebounds, and 4/5 shooting from behind the arc. That'll play.

Justin Thomas is a take I didn't understand. He's on his fifth college team in five years and hasn't been a high producer... anywhere. He started at Queens University (before they were Division 1) and averaged 8.7 PPG. He then transferred to Navarro College (JUCO) and averaged 12.6 PPG. He used that solid production to transfer to Milwaukee, where he averaged 7.3 PPG and was the sixth-highest scorer on the team. Deciding that wasn't the right place for him, he transferred to UTSA last season and didn't play. While it was never announced why, I think it's because of the multi-time transfer rule forcing him to sit out the first part of the season, UTSA was bad when the transfer rule was lifted, and he decided to sit out the whole season to keep his eligibility intact. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't think he's an ACC-caliber player.

Incoming Recruits (6)

A surprise addition in the offseason was the top-ranked JUCO player, big man Malique Ewin. A former blue-chip recruit who started his career at Ole Miss, he was very productive last season, averaging 14.9 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 3.3 APG, and 3.7 StockPG while shooting it at a 62.6% clip. Obviously, it's JUCO; we can only take so much from it. But he's a surprisingly good passer, has natural instincts as a shot-blocker, and is athletic. I expect him to start for FSU, and I think he'll hold his own.

The player I'm most excited for, outside of Jamir Watkins, is Daquan Davis. I don't think Florida State has ever had a player like him. Davis is listed as 6'1", but he looks closer to 5'11" and is absolute dynamite. He's a natural passer, a bulldog defensively, and a gifted scorer. While playing for Overtime Elite last season, he averaged 17.9 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 5.8 APG and shot the three-ball well at 35.4%. When they got to the playoffs, all of those statistics improved. The only other player I could compare him to in recent FSU memory is C.J. Walker, but I think Davis is more gifted as a scorer.

A.J. Swinton comes in as a borderline four-star prospect and is incredibly athletic. He's a prototypical Leonard Hamilton wing recruit with all of the athleticism in the world, a crazy wingspan at 7'2" (he's listed at 6'5"), and a very good defender, he just needs to improve his jumper. The shot looks fine he just needs to gain confidence in it. Most of his scoring early in his career will come around the rim because he's an exceptional finisher.

Alier Maluk was a top-50 prospect in the 2025 class but reclassified to join the Seminoles this year and fell to a three-star prospect on 247Sports. I don't get it, but whatever. Maluk is a really talented big who has the potential to stretch his shot to three-point range, but he'll be known for his quick feet defensively despite being 7'0". He's built in the same mold as Bol Bowen, but I think Maluk's offensive game is further ahead than when Bowen first got to campus. As the cousin of former Oregon star Bol Bol, there are a lot of similarities in his game to Bol's, and he displayed those in an open run against some NBA players recently. He could be a nice surprise for this team.

FSU incoming freshman Alier Maluk participated in a recent open run against NBA players like Jalen Williams (OKC), Gradey Dick (TOR), Alex Sarr (No. 2 pick for WAS), and more. FSU might have themselves another one 👀 #Noles pic.twitter.com/KlftsDez2Q
— Austin Veazey (@EasyVeazeyNG) October 4, 2024

Anastasios Rozakeas was the last addition to the team and was a sharpshooter in Greece last year. I'm not sure how much he'll contribute this season, but FSU needs shooting, and he can provide it at a high level. He has great size for a wing at 6'7" and 225 pounds.

Christian Nitu is a player I'd be surprised to see much of this year. The positives: tons of potential at 6'11", can handle the ball in the pick-and-roll, can shoot the ball well, and has experience playing internationally in Canada. The negatives: way too slight, didn't get to play much last year due to an unknown injury, and is far away from realizing most of that potential, in my opinion. He was originally committed and signed to Indiana State before their coach left for Saint Louis and Nitu opted for the Seminoles. He may be a good player one day but he seems like a redshirt candidate.

Projected Starters and Depth Chart

Don't take the positions too seriously. Florida State swaps around their wings and roles within the team often, but just for the sake of tradition:

PG: Chandler Jackson, Daquan Davis
SG: Jamir Watkins, A.J. Swinton, Justin Thomas
SF: Bostyn Holt, Anastasios Rozakeas
PF: Taylor Bol Bowen, Jerry Deng, Christian Nitu
C: Malique Ewin, Alier Maluk, Waka Mbatch

FSU lacks the most depth on the wing, in my opinion. Outside of Watkins, there's not one player out of Holt, Swinton, Thomas, and Rozakeas that I'm confident in being ready for ACC basketball this year (Swinton will be in the future; we'll see about this season), and I'm not that high on the conference as a whole once again this year. Maybe Deng slides up and plays some at the 3, which would provide them with some needed spacing. I'll address more of the team's strengths and weaknesses, improvements, and worries in another article.

Next week will be the ACC preview. ACC tip-off is Wednesday for Florida State, with Jamir Watkins and Taylor Bol Bowen representing FSU in Charlotte.

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