THE MODERATOR: We have Florida State joining us. Coach Loucks will offer an opening comment.
LUKE LOUCKS: First of all, what a good-looking group in here. I am so happy and blessed to be back and stand in front of you guys as a head coach of Florida State. Obviously a place I love dearly, a place I played, a place we won an ACC Championship as a player, a place where I met my wife, who was also a student-athlete.
So I'm blessed, lucky, fortunate, whatever you want to call it, to be the head coach of Florida State. A day doesn't go by that that doesn't hit me how fortunate I am to be in this spot.
With that being said, I'm also fortunate to coach -- and I don't think this is an opinion; I think this is statistically correct -- the best basketball conference in the history of college basketball, the ACC.
Again, as a player, I experienced how good this conference was, and now as a coach, again, to coach against some of the nation's best coaches, some of the nation's best teams, is why we do this as a competitor.
Just reflecting on last year, we started off really rough and ended on a really high note in terms of winning 10 out of the last 12 regular season games. Ultimately, coming up short on the two goals I'll always have for our teams as a head coach of Florida State: Winning an ACC title and making the NCAA Tournament. If you take care of the former, the latter just comes, right?
So every year I'm the coach I want to win the ACC. I know what it feels like to win the ACC at Florida State. I also know what it feels like to lose in the ACC championship to Jon Scheyer, and I do not want to do that again as a player or as a coach.
But with that, I feel as the season went on, we laid a really good foundation for the way we want to play. I made a lot of mistakes as a rookie head coach and a first-time coach in college that I will not make again, but I also was glad to go through that. I was glad to go through some of those tough moments.
Our staff did an incredible job helping me through those moments. I think we got one of the best staffs in America when it comes to teaching basketball, but also developing real relationship with our guys. We're a big believer in player development.
I think all of you that followed the league saw not just as a team, but how our individuals developed as the year went on.
We had Robert McCray transfer up from Jacksonville and be an All-ACC caliber player. We had Lajae Jones transfer from St. Bonaventure and was barely a double-digit scorer at St. Bonnies get drafted by the Golden State Warriors. We had Chauncey Williams come to us from Clemson and averaged 14 a game and shot almost 43 percent from three. Those three guys were a good example of what aware trying to build at Florida State.
We want players to come to us eager to develop and eager to help us win games and ultimately win championships, and the trade-off is we're going to help them develop on and off the court. These two, you'll get to know them. I'm super excited about what they bring to the table, but going back to the foundation of what we're building at Florida State, I think the conference is better when Florida State is one of those top-tier teams.
You look at obviously Duke and Carolina and the history they have, Louisville, and the job that Coach Odom did at Virginia, the job that Coach Lucas did at Miami.
I'm excited to get into that tier as a program, and I think we have the support to do it from top-down. From our Board of Trustees, from Peter Collins, our president, president McCullough. All of those guys understand I didn't come to Florida State to be average and to be okay with being okay, all right?
We came here to win, and we are all-in on getting Florida State back to being a top-tier, winning program. Not just in the conference, but nationally.
From there, you know, and we can talk about these guys here in a second. I'll open it up for questions for you guys, anything you guys got.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. You mentioned the two gentlemen that are up here on stage with you. A lot of new faces in the program here at Florida State this year. Just what you can say to the assembly of this team and the makeup of what the Seminoles will be this year?
LUKE LOUCKS: Yeah, first of all, just operationally and foundationally we had an entire year to get our feet under us and understand, you know, what we wanted and what we needed to build as a program and then resources-wise I think we were dead last in the ACC and dead last in Power 5 basketball last season.
We were fortunate enough to fight and still tie for seventh in the ACC, but our resources went up, and that's why we were able to go get guys like Anthony Robinson and Sebastian Rancik, two guys that are proven at this level. They're not transferring up from lower mid-majors.
Sebi was a 12- or 13-5 guy in the Big 12 and has been an All-SEC defender and one of the best defenders in the country the last few seasons. And I could keep going down the roster, which you guys will get to know our roster.
I think as most Florida State teams are, and I really don't give -- I don't really care about preseason rankings, but I assume we'll be somewhere in the middle to lower half of the ACC, and it's my job and these guys' job to continue to overachieve and push towards that upper tier of the ACC where we're competing for a title.
It starts with these two, and then it goes down the roster. These two understand the importance not just of what they bring in terms of production on the court, which both of them are very talented basketball players, but what I need from them in terms of a leadership role, what I need from them day in and day out in terms of their competitive nature.
Not just when the bright lights come on. I'm talking in the weight room. I'm talking in conditioning. I'm talking winning every sprint, winning every drill as two of the leaders of this team. Those winning habits ultimately help you go get the results you are looking for.
Q. In your collegiate and coaching career you have been a part of a lot of successful postseasons. What is the biggest technical factor you have addressed in the summer workouts that you think was standing between postseason victories and going home early last season?
LUKE LOUCKS: Yeah, I think there's -- I don't think, I know. There's only two ways to win a basketball -- there's really only one way. Score more points than the other team. What goes into that really there's only two things, and it's efficiency and possessions.
Either you can be more efficient than your opponent, and if you're not more efficient, you got to get more possessions. It's as simple -- you got to get more cracks at the hoop.
What goes into that is obviously the possession battle and turnovers and offensive rebounding and controlling the glass and controlling your turnovers or forcing turnovers to gain more possessions.
And then efficiency is the way we want to play, the way we want to move, the way we want to share the ball, the type of shots we want to generate. Most of those are created for someone else.
To me, the best way is to play fast that's efficient, but ultimately, to break down the paint, to get the ball in the paint, to get it closer to the rim. That generally would generate more free-throws, which is most efficient shot in basketball, and generate a lot of rim attempts and kick-out threes.
Ultimately I'm not going to handcuff our guys. They know how they need to score. They know how to create for each other. I'm not going to tell them they can't shoot this shot or can shoot this shot, but if you want to win basketball games, there's really two ways to do it: Be more efficient and get more possessions.
I don't know if that answers your question, but that's the way you win. It doesn't matter if it's preseason, postseason, middle of the season. Just be more efficient and get more possessions.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Questions for Sebastian Rancik.
Q. Coach Loucks has a pretty amazing story of how he recruited you to come to Florida State. You don't have to go through the whole thing, but can you just talk about what it means to play for a guy who would do all of the things, would fly overseas, meet with your mom, and do all that stuff to bring you to be part of the Florida State basketball program?
SEBASTIAN RANCIK: Yeah, it meant a lot, just him and Coach Moran's willingness to go see my mom back home in Slovakia just meant so much. Willing to spend time with her and kind of make her comfortable as well with me coming here and just getting to know the people that I would be around. It was really special and it meant a lot to me.
Q. Coach noted that, hey, we didn't start the season off last year the way we had wanted to, but we finished off better. As a new addition, how do you keep that momentum throughout the entire season and hit the ground running early?
SEBASTIAN RANCIK: Yeah, just kind of practicing up to our standard. We as a program, we have a standard that we're trying to achieve and trying to have the bar at, and we just got to play to that standard every practice, every drill, every rep. We just got -- as players, woe just got to hold each other accountable that we play to that standard.
Q. What is that standard from what you know of Florida State and being around the team and the program so far? How would you describe the Seminole standard?
SEBASTIAN RANCIK: We have a theme that we say before every practice and after every break. We say, "all in." We got to make sure that we put the team first in everything that we do. We compete in every possession. Then we have to have fun with it. Basketball, at the end of the day, is a game that we all love, and you got to have joy around it.
But I would just say competing every possession on both sides of the floor and being good teammates.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Anthony Robinson.
Q. Obviously you're a Tallahassee native; get to play at Florida State with your brother. How special is that for you?
ANTHONY ROBINSON: Man, the opportunity is crazy. To think about it, playing with my brother on this stage, man, means the world to me. Being from Tallahassee, just putting on this jersey right now is a crazy feeling. I don't take it for granted.
Q. After three years in the SEC, what best parts of your game do you think will translate better here in the ACC?
ANTHONY ROBINSON: Yeah, the SEC is a tough conference, and the ACC is a tough conference as well. I'm just ready to show my full abilities on the offensive side of the ball.
With Coach Loucks' playing style just going to be able to showcase my full abilities. I've been tested in the SEC and ready to show what I'm really capable of in the ACC.
Q. Coach Loucks called you a leader of this team, but there's so many new pieces on that team. What does leadership look like as you guys learn each other from your perspective?
ANTHONY ROBINSON: Oh, man. Well, we have a lot of leaders on this team. We connected from day one, I feel like, and we have a lot of good guys in the group.
So just us being able to gel from day one and really feel like connected is a big key. So I believe the most connected team wins, and we were really connected through day one.
Through tough times we'll see how connected we really are.
Q. Both of your parents were collegiate athletes and now your brother is a collegiate athlete along with you. What was that standard of competitiveness like growing up?
ANTHONY ROBINSON: Oh, man (smiling). Yeah, my whole family is competitive. My dad, my mom won't let me win any games growing up. They would beat me. Me and my brother crying in the driveway. We play 2V2 with my parents, so, yeah, we're just an athletic family.
We love each other. My parents push me to be the best I am, me and my brother. Just growing up in that household is fun, and everything is a competition in the house.
Q. When you look at this homecoming for you and a return to Tallahassee, what are you most excited for when you get to step on that floor and look at your city, your home?
ANTHONY ROBINSON: Oh, man, the biggest key is trying to -- we're going to get Florida State basketball to where it's supposed to be. You know, me growing up watching Florida State make runs in the March Madness, that's what I want to do here as well. So just coming back home, you know, I have an agenda, and I'm sticking with that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports