We’re now just 21 spots into the “ACC’s Top-100 Returning Players” countdown and I’m about to throw in my second Florida State point guard. In fact, it will be our fourth Seminoles player. Hard to believe, right? Well, look at it this way…no team will have more players on this list than Florida State. The Seminoles are deep, so deep they’ll put her butt to sleep (yeah, I went old school on ya).
PLAYER: Luke Loucks
POSITION: Shooting Guard
TEAM: Florida State
YEAR: Senior
TAPE: 6-5, 205
TWITTER: @lukeloucks
2010-11 STATS: 2.9 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 2.2 APG
DEEP THOUGHTS:
Like Pierre Jordan, Luke Loucks arrived on campus in 2008 with a goal of becoming a starting point guard for Florida State. Not so much right away, but certainly by the time their senior seasons came around.
Of the two, Loucks got the best of Pierre Jordan, who has basically earned scrub minutes throughout his career. Loucks though had earned quality minutes at both point guard and shooting guard throughout his time as Tallahassee.
In fact, during his sophomore season, Loucks played nearly 20 minutes per game, which included a 19-point game in a win against in-state rival Miami. Loucks was credited with providing the spark that led Florida State to a home victory.
However, when coach Leonard Hamilton brought in hotshot five-star recruit Ian Miller last season, Loucks suddenly had some competition for playing time.
In the end, Loucks did play more minutes than the freshman, but his own time on the court was cut to about 14 minutes per game. Neither shot lights out, but Miller’s misses can be forgiven since he was a freshman.
Here’s the deal. Miller is coach Hamilton’s best recruit ever (5th ranked point guard in the 2010 class). He performed well last year as a solid spark off the bench. He showed enough to prove he can run Florida State’s offense. The starting job is Miller’s to lose.
Luke Loucks will get his playing time though.
He’s an old-school point guard. He’s not flashy and he’s not going to make too many ESPN highlight reels…what I’m trying to say is, the kid is as slow as dirt. However, he’s got great height and he’s a distributor. He is always looking to deliver the ball to the right spot and to the right player, i.e. he’s a poor-man’s Jon Scheyer. As a bench player who only played 14 minutes, he finished tied for second in assists (76) to only 54 turnovers.
Loucks biggest crutch continues to be his shooting. After three seasons of basketball, he’s shooting percentage has gone down each and every season (.385/.382/.342). He’s not a terrible shooter, but he tends to rush his shot. If he sets his feet when shooting from deep, he can certainly improve on his 32-percent average from three.
Like I said before, this is Ian Miller’s team to run. He’s too talented to have on the bench. He will make mistakes (he’s turnover-prone), so look for coach Hamilton to use Loucks plenty, especially when he needs a cool, reliable point guard on the floor.
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