Hours before Florida State’s defending national champion football team takes the field against rival Miami, the Seminoles’ men’s basketball team will be opening the 2014-15 season at home against defending MAAC champion, Manhattan.
The Seminoles are coming off of a 22-14 campaign which culminated in an overtime loss to Minnesota in the NIT semifinals. Florida State is losing guard Ian Miller and the school’s all-time leader in games played in Okaro White, but Leonard Hamilton’s bunch expects to be better than last season.
Junior guard Aaron Thomas led the Seminoles last season with 14.5 points-per-game and 1.6 steals. Thomas may be Florida State’s best player on both ends of the floor and is expected to take on a leadership role this season.
Thomas will be joined in the backcourt by Devon Bookert, who finished second on the team in steals and assists a season ago.
An area where Florida State expects to improve this season is on the glass. The Seminoles were in the middle of the pack nationally despite having a pair of 7-footers. Florida State will have three 7-footers in the rotation this season as Kiel Turpin returns from a knee injury.
Turpin averaged 5.3 points and 3.0 rebounds two years ago while shooting 51 percent. Guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who was ruled academically ineligible last season, is expected to make his FSU debut.
Despite winning 25 games a season ago and taking the MAAC Tournament, a return to the big dance may not be easy for Manhattan. The Jaspers are losing their top three scorers from the 2013-14 campaign.
George Beamon, who led Manhattan with 19.2 points and 6.6 rebounds-per-game last year, looks to be the biggest loss for a team that fell by just seven to Louisville in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 64.
The guy to watch for Manhattan will be 6’6″ senior forward Emmy Andujar. After averaging 8.5 points last season, Andujar is Manhattan’s leading returning scorer, but does a number of things well.
Andujar averaged 5.3 rebounds last season and was second on the team with 2.2 assists-per-game. He also shot 53 percent from the field and will be a tough cover for Montay Brandon, Jarquez Smith and the Florida State frontcourt.
The Seminoles will aim to win a second straight season-opener on Saturday. Florida State easily defeated Jacksonville to kick off last season, but was upset by South Alabama to open the year two seasons ago. Manhattan will be FSU’s first opponent from the MAAC since the Seminoles beat Iona in the Old Spice Classic in November of 2009.
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