Column: Even during a difficult first season at FSU, Luke Loucks is providing proof of concept

Luke Loucks is still learning to be a college basketball head coach, a task made even more challenging during a difficult season that’s seen Florida State come up just short in matchups as often as the Seminoles have been blown out.

Loucks finally found the breakthrough in an upset victory over Miami on Tuesday against fellow rookie head coach Jai Lucas. The Seminoles were 12.5-point underdogs and came in winless in ACC play against a Miami team ranked as a No. 9 seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology.

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However, FSU brought the fight to the Hurricanes, turned UM over 14 times, and played with better desperation, according to Lucas, to provide Florida State its first quad one win on the road since Wake Forest on February 12, 2025.

“You can learn a lot from losing. At times, you can learn a lot more from losing than winning.” Loucks said after the victory on Tuesday, “We had a tough schedule, we did that for a reason. I wanted a barometer of how far we have to go as a program. We’re going to keep building this program the right way.”

The head man believes in brutal honesty in front of the media, a philosophy many coaches have abandoned, providing a refreshing taste for the reporters — such as this quote that he said to the local Tallahassee media after FSU’s one-point loss to Wake Forest.

“We’re close to breaking through. If you know basketball and have watched us through the season, you know when we fight, we are a pretty good team. When we play hard, we are a pretty good team. When we defend, we are a pretty good team.”

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“When we don’t, we get the breaks beat off us.”

The Seminoles, with a lack of administrative support and NIL funding, still have a mountain to climb to become competitive in the college basketball landscape. This season has not been easy by any stretch and has been worse than many expected, featuring two separate five-game losing streaks littered with blowouts and demoralizing moments that could have…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/column-even-during-difficult-first-233926666.html

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Publish date : 2026-01-21 23:39:00

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