Luke Loucks's ambition reflected in FSU basketball preseason

Luke Loucks took over Florida State men's basketball with a desire to win at a level rarely seen on the hardwood at the Donald L. Tucker Center.Loucks was a fundamental part of the success under former Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton, winning an ACC championship in 2012 and playing in the NCAA tournament every year he was in Tallahassee. He took over the team from his former head coach with ambitions of being a consistent figure in the top half of the conference, and a regular in the NCAA tournament like the program was in his playing days. Entering Year 2 under Loucks, the Seminoles were selected to finish seventh in the ACC, which would put an NCAA tournament appearance in flux.But that hasn't stopped Loucks from stating his ambition."This team, starting from me down to the staff down to the last guy on that roster. Everyone in our building is hungry. We got a chip on our shoulder," Loucks said after the Seminoles beat LSU 89-87 in its final preseason game."I feel like I made way too many mistakes last year. I came up short. I didn't make the tournament. I want to make the tournament every year. And everyone in that locker room feels the same way in their individual journey."How Luke Loucks approached second season with FSU basketballThose mistakes he referenced from his debut campaign compiled into a season-altering loss to NC State, coached by Will Wade at the time. The Wolfpack ran FSU out of the building with a 113-69 blowout. It dropped FSU to 7-9 and 0-3 in the ACC, but it led to fundamental changes by Loucks and his coaching staff.His team ended the season 18-15 and 10-8 in the ACC. The Seminoles were a buzzer-beating rimming out short of upsetting Duke in the ACC tournament and declined an NIT invitation after missing out on the NCAA tournament bubble.It set the scene for an important summer for Loucks and the program as he hoped to retool the roster with a focus on rebounding and improved 3-point shooting.Through two preseason games, an 82-71 win over Auburn and an 89-87 win over LSU, the 12 new faces on the roster have bought into Loucks's ambition. And almost fittingly, the final preseason victory came over a Wade-coached team."I think they're bigger. They do a good job recruiting guys that fit their system... They're a good team. Very good team. Won't put too much pressure on them," Wade said after the game with a humorous wink of his eye. The pressure, however, is what Loucks wants his team to face. It's why he scheduled two SEC programs that outspend FSU by nearly $10 million for preseason games. According to a CBS Sports article that broke down roster spend by collegiate programs into tiers, both Auburn and LSU spend between $15.1 million and $17.5 million. FSU spends between $7.1 million and $9.9 million, with the Seminoles' number closer to the lower end of that range. Had FSU played Mississippi State, which it was scheduled to before the game was canceled due to Hurricane Isaias, it would have faced another program that outspends the Seminoles significantly, with the Bulldogs in the range of $12.1 million to $15 million.Money isn't everything for FSU basketballThe monetary drawbacks haven't altered Loucks's belief that his squad, led by transfers Sebastian Ranick, Shon Abaev, Kam Taylor and Ant Robinson alongside freshmen Brandon Bass Jr., Martay Barnes and Marcis Ponder.While preseason games are not the predictor for season success, they certainly provide a benchmark for what to expect. The Seminoles out-rebounded both Auburn (51-40) and LSU (42-37), shot well from the free-throw line, and had a variety of contributors on offense while also increasing offensive rebound efforts (30 total in two games). All of which were areas where the program struggled last season and hoped to improve in with recruitment.Loucks has set the standard he wants to achieve. It's now on him and his staff to get the best out of this season's roster, starting with a season opener against FAMU on Nov. 2 in Tampa. "To me, it's that hunger and that chip on your shoulder; especially if we can connect and do this together, we're all on the same mission. We're going to win together," Loucks said. "That to me is where special things can happen."FSU men's basketball regular season scheduleRegular seasonNov 2 (Mon) 8:30 PM Neutral Florida A&M Tampa, Fla. (Benchmark International Arena) Orion180 Tip-Off Classic -Nov 6 (Fri) TBA Home Troy Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Nov 10 (Tue) TBA Home Florida Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Nov 13 (Fri) TBA Home Texas A&M - Corpus Christi Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Nov 17 (Tue) TBA Home Ball State Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Nov 20 (Fri) TBA Home Green Bay Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Nov 24 (Tue) TBA Home UNC Asheville Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Nov 29 (Sun) 3:00 PM Neutral West Florida Pensacola, Fla. (Pensacola Bay Center) Battle at the Bay -Dec 1 (Tue) 7:00 PM Away Tennessee Knoxville, Tenn. (Food City Center) ACC/SEC Challenge -Dec 5 (Sat) TBA Home Dayton Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Dec 12 (Sat) TBA Neutral Texas A&M Houston, Texas (Toyota Center) Houston Hoopfest -Dec 16 (Wed) TBA Home Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Dec 20 (Sun) TBA Neutral Houston Jacksonville, Fla. (VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena) Jacksonville Hoops Showdown -Dec 22 (Tue) TBA Home Bethune-Cookman Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Dec 29 (Tue) TBA Home Syracuse, Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Jan 6 (Wed) TBA Away Cal Berkeley, Calif. (Haas Pavilion) -Jan 9 (Sat) TBA Away Stanford Palo Alto, Calif. (Maples Pavilion) -Jan 13 (Wed) TBA Home North Carolina Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Jan 16 (Sat) TBA Away Wake Forest Winston-Salem, N.C. (Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum) -Jan 20 (Wed) TBA Home Virginia Tech Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Jan 23 (Sat) TBA Away Clemson Clemson, S.C. (Littlejohn Coliseum) -Jan 26 (Tue) TBA Home Notre Dame Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Jan 30 (Sat) TBA Home Pitt Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Feb 3 (Wed) TBA Away NC State Raleigh, N.C. (Lenovo Center) -Feb 6 (Sat) TBA Away Miami Coral Gables, Fla. (Watsco Center) -Feb 13 (Sat) TBA Home Clemson Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Feb 16 (Tue) TBA Away Duke Durham, N.C. (Cameron Indoor Stadium) -Feb 21 (Sun) TBA Home Louisville Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Feb 23 (Tue) TBA Home Georgia Tech Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Feb 27 (Sat) TBA Away Virginia Charlottesville, Va. (John Paul Jones Arena) -Mar 3 (Wed) TBA Away Boston College Chestnut Hill, Mass. (Conte Forum) -Mar 6 (Sat) TBA Home Miami Tallahassee, Fla. (Donald L. Tucker Center) -Mar 9 (Tue) TBA Neutral ACC Tournament Greensboro, N.C. (First Horizon Coliseum)Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney.This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Luke Loucks's ambition reflected in FSU basketball preseason