FSU's Loucks putting finishing touches on challenging first hoops schedule

AMELIA ISLAND — With his initial roster and coaching staff close to complete, first-year FSU men’s basketball coach Luke Loucks has also been working on putting together his schedule for the 2025-26 season.

And from the sounds of things, it will be attractive for fans and challenging for his squad.

Thanks to the ACC’s recent decision to reduce its conference schedule from 20 to 18 games, FSU and other league schools will have the freedom to schedule more non-conference opponents. And Loucks said he was determined to use those opportunities aggressively — perhaps even a little too aggressively at first.

“I’m coming from the NBA where in an off-night, you’re still going against NBA All-Stars,” said Loucks, who left the Sacramento Kings’ coaching staff to take the FSU job. “If you take your foot off the gas at all, you’re going to lose. So I’m not used to … scheduling bad teams. So I’m coming in and I’m like, ‘I want to play everyone.’

“And everyone’s like, ‘All right. Slow down, big dog. We’ll get there.'”

Loucks said he and assistant coach Michael Fly, who handled much of the scheduling leg work, ended up finding a happy medium. The Seminoles will be playing several high-profile opponents, but they also will have a few games that will be more helpful for building confidence and working out the kinks.

“We’ll have three big-time neutral games, we’ll have one big-time game at home, one on the road — obviously, the road one will be Florida,” Loucks said, adding that the contracts will likely be finalized in the next week or two. “To me, when you book those games, I want them to be top-10, top-15 opponents. Because it’s a way to measure yourself against the best. You can talk about wanting to improve the program and be the best and be competitive. You don’t know what that feels like until you play those teams, right?

“And so the first thing I said is, ‘I want to play every Final Four team from last year.’ And I don’t know if I’m going to get that done … maybe I’m just young and naive. I want to play the best.”

FSU has two of those Final Four opponents already lined up with Florida and Duke. Whether or not the Seminoles can ultimately land games against Houston and Auburn, that provides an idea of the first-year head coach’s mindset.

Loucks is in Amelia Island this week for the ACC’s annual spring meetings, and strength of schedule is a major talking point for the men’s basketball coaches. Because the conference only received four bids to this year’s NCAA Tournament, the coaches and league officials are working on approaches that will improve their NET rankings, which are used by the selection committee.

One point of emphasis, Loucks said, is not playing too many Quad 2 or Quad 3 games.

“No disrespect to those schools,” Loucks said. “But it’s a constant puzzle to put together of, OK, you’ve got to play great opponents. And then you have to have very winnable games. And those middle ground, you got to play a couple of them. But that’s where a lot of teams get in trouble is playing those teams in the Quad 2s and Quad 3s that, if you win them, doesn’t really do much for you (in the NET rankings). And if you lose them, it destroys you. And so that’s what we’re trying to avoid as we put the schedule together.”

Loucks has already signed eight new players to go with two returners, and he said he is focused now on finishing out the roster and adding one more assistant coach. He had previously announced the hiring of former Cal assistant coach Amorrow Morgan, but Morgan later was hired away by Tennessee.

“First of all, I’m super happy for him,” Loucks said of Morgan. “He’s unbelievable. I got to work with him for about five weeks. He obviously got a lot of money to go to Tennessee from Rick Barnes, and he’s from Tennessee. Not only did I give my complete blessing, I’m like, ‘You have to take this for your family, for you.’ One thing I told all of my coaches and our players is, ‘I want what’s best for each of you. And that’s not always what’s best for me.’ And so when an opportunity like that presents itself, you’ve got to go take it.

“And I’m happy for him, but I’ve got one more assistant spot open now. But our staff’s been incredible. First and foremost, we have a lot of good people that I trust, that work their tails off. But good basketball minds that know how to teach, know how to get on the floor and sweat with the guys. Know how to prep, know how to game plan … and three out of the four I have right now have been previous head coaches at different spots. And so they’ve sat in my seat, they know what I’m going through …

“It’s been super helpful for me.”

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