Florida State basketball season is upon us.

After the FSU women began the season with a convincing win over North Florida Monday afternoon, the FSU men kick off their 2024-25 campaign Monday night (7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra) vs. Northern Kentucky at the Tucker Civic Center.

FSU returns just four players off last year's 17-16 (10-10 in ACC) team, losing a number of contributors to graduation as well as the transfer portal. To counter that, FSU brought in three D-I transfers, the No. 1 junior college player in the 2024 class (junior forward Malique Ewin) and multiple new freshmen. Depending on how the rotation breaks down Monday night, as many as nine new scholarship Seminoles could be making their debut vs. NKU.

Luckily for the Seminoles, they do return senior guard Jamir Watkins. In his debut season at FSU after transferring from VCU, Watkins led the Seminoles in points (15.6), rebounds (6.0), steals (1.9) and was second in assists (2.8). He was tabbed as a preseason second-team All-ACC player in the conference's preseason vote.

The Seminoles were picked to finish 15th out of 18 ACC teams and are ranked 90th in the KenPom rankings to begin the season. This will be FSU's first-ever game vs. Northern Kentucky and the Seminoles are eight-point favorites to win Monday's game.

I'll be there in person at the Tuck tonight providing live updates. We'll be monitoring the status of junior guard Chandler Jackson and freshman forward Alier Maluk during pregame warmups to determine if they are available after not participating in the Seminoles' second exhibition last Thursday.

For the first time this year, Mike Norvell admitted today that change is coming to the FSU football program. After a season he referred to as "shocking", he's hopeful the Seminoles can end the 2024 season on a high note before a critical offseason begins.

FSU sports information:

The Florida State softball team released its 2025 schedule on Monday afternoon that features several 2024 NCAA Tournament and Women's College World Series teams while traveling all across the country as well as a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The Seminoles will open up the season in Puerta Vallarta for the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge as they will play a regular season game outside of the United States for the first time in program history. The Noles will begin the season against 2024 WCWS participant Oklahoma State. The Noles will play the Cowgirls twice and Louisiana Tech twice while also playing Northern Colorado for five games in three days.

FSU will stay in the state of Florida for three consecutive weekends as they will play in the Shriner's Children's Clearwater Invitational in Clearwater, Fla., on Feb 13-16 before returning home for the JoAnne Graf Classic on Feb. 20-22 and the Dugout Club Classic on Feb. 27-Mar. 1. Opponents and times for the three tournaments will be announced at a later date.

The Noles will play a doubleheader against North Florida and Jacksonville on Mar. 5 in Jacksonville before playing seven games in Oregon over the course of five days. FSU will play each Oregon and Oregon State twice in Eugene, Ore., before playing a doubleheader at Portland State on Mar. 11.

The Noles will begin ACC play at home against Pitt on Mar. 14-16 before beginning a huge week where they will play a midweek game at Alabama and an ACC series at Duke which were both 2024 WCWS participants. The Noles will then play eight consecutive games at the Seminole Softball Complex as midweek games against Stetson and Florida are sandwiched between ACC series against NC State and Virginia.

The Noles will be back on the road from Apr. 9-13 as they face Saint Mary's in Moreca, California, on Apr. 9 before playing new ACC member Cal on Apr. 11-13 in Berkeley. The Noles will return home for its final home series against Georgia Tech on Apr. 18-20 before they hit the road for back-to-back weeks at Louisville and Virginia Tech. The ACC Tournament will take place on May 7-10 in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on the campus of Boston College.

2024 season ticket holders have been contacted to renew their season tickets. Tickets to the general public will go on sale at a later date.

2025 Florida State Softball Schedule
Feb. 6 – Oklahoma State (Puerto Vallarta College Challenge)
Feb. 6 – Northern Colorado (Puerto Vallarta College Challenge)
Feb. 7 – Louisiana Tech (Puerto Vallarta College Challenge)
Feb. 8 – Louisiana Tech (Puerto Vallarta College Challenge)
Feb. 8 – Oklahoma State (Puerto Vallarta College Challenge)
Feb. 13 – Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational
Feb. 14 – Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational
Feb. 15 – Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational
Feb. 16 – Shriner’s Children’s Clearwater Invitational
Feb. 20 – JoAnne Graf Classic
Feb. 21 – JoAnne Graf Classic
Feb. 22 – JoAnne Graf Classic
Feb. 27 – Dugout Club Classic
Feb. 28 – Dugout Club Classic
Mar. 1 – Dugout Club Classic
Mar. 5 – Jacksonville (at UNF)
Mar. 5 – at UNF
Mar. 7 – Oregon State (Eugene, Oregon)
Mar. 7 – at Oregon
Mar. 8 – Oregon State (Eugene, Oregon)
Mar. 9 – at Oregon
Mar. 11 – at Portland State (DH)
Mar. 14 – vs. Pitt
Mar. 15 – vs. Pitt
Mar. 16 – vs. Pitt
Mar. 19 – at Alabama
Mar. 21 – at Duke
Mar. 22 – at Duke
Mar. 23 – at Duke
Mar. 26 – vs. Stetson
Mar. 28 – vs. NC State
Mar. 29 - vs. NC State
Mar. 30 - vs. NC State
Apr. 2 – vs. Florida
Apr. 4 – vs. Virginia
Apr. 5 – vs. Virginia
Apr. 6 – vs. Virginia
Apr. 9 – at St. Mary’s
Apr. 11 – at Cal
Apr. 12 – at Cal
Apr. 13 - at Cal
Apr. 18 – vs. Georgia Tech
Apr. 19 – vs. Georgia Tech
Apr. 20 – vs. Georgia Tech
Apr. 25 – at Louisville
Apr. 26 – at Louisville
Apr. 27 – at Louisville
May 2 – at Virginia Tech
May 3 – at Virginia Tech
May 4 – at Virginia Tech
May 7-10 – ACC Tournament (Chestnut Hill, Mass.)

Passing along a note from Rivals National Analyst Greg Smith who works in the midwest region. He talked with Loftin following his visit to Nebraska.

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The good news and the main thing to note is that Loftin is expected to be back at Florida State for the Florida game later this month. So if Loftin makes it to that game with his commitment still intact, then obviously that's huge for the Seminoles' chances of holding on. However, Loftin is likely going to take visits to both Texas A&M and Missouri.

I would venture to guess that he is at Texas A&M on Nov. 16th for the New Mexico State game and Missouri this upcoming weekend (Nov. 9th) for the Oklahoma game. So by the time the Florida game roles around, then each of the other programs that Loftin took official visits to will have had a shot to flip him before he gets back on FSU's campus.

We've gone from no visits set anywhere, to a visit set to Nebraska (and nothing to FSU), to now all of the official visit recipients (including FSU) likely getting another visit in a matter of about two and a half weeks. I'm still not real optimistic about Florida State's chances of hanging on and won't be until Nov. 30th roles around and I see him with my own two eyes on campus. Still think Nebraska is in a good spot despite not knocking it out of the park and running away with the flip this weekend.