The late Al McGuire, who won an NCAA basketball title at Marquette in 1977, often had little use for freshmen. When he became a college basketball commentator following his retirement, he was fond of saying “the best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores.”
College basketball is in a different era now because freshmen are often freshmen in name only. One need only look at the roster of the Kentucky Wildcats, which is often restocked with freshman after previous freshmen went to the NBA.
This season, Florida State Coach Leonard Hamilton knows that the amount of success this year’s team enjoys will depend a great deal upon freshmen. He has a couple of dandies.
Guards Dwayne Bacon and Malik Beasley have led the Seminoles in scoring in both of the team’s first two games. In the two victories over Nicholls State and Jacksonville, FSU is averaging over 100 points and the two freshmen are accounting for nearly half that amount.
With both scoring more than 20 points in their first two games, they became the first freshmen to accomplish the feat since Tat Hunter in 1985.
Bacon, a 6-7 guard from Lakeland is “the most heralded and anticipated recruit in the history of the Florida State basketball program,” according to Seminoles.com. He has not disappointed.
He has scored 23 and 27 points respectively on 58 percent shooting. They are not all layups and dunks. Bacon is shooting 44 percent from 3-point range, making him a multiple threat.
Beasley, a 6-5 shooting guard from Alpharetta, Ga., scored 21 points in each game while shooting 70 percent from the field. He is also 7-for-10 in his 3-point attempts.
“There is no doubt they are making major contributions,” Hamilton said after Tuesday’s 98-79 win over Jacksonville. “And I think they’re playing the game the right way. We challenged them and Dwayne really responded … Beasley plays that way all the time.”
Bacon and Beasley were the crown jewels of Hamilton’s 13th-ranked recruiting class of 2015. Bacon was the No. 22-ranked player in the country while Beasley was No. 43.
Bacon was also a McDonald’s All-American and was the winner of the McDonald’s Slam Dunk competition. He is the first Florida State recruit to play in the McDonald’s game since Michael Snaer in 2009.
The Seminoles will be interesting to watch this year as these freshmen continue to develop in this guard and small forward-oriented lineup. If Bacon and Beasley continue to play exceedingly well, perhaps they might follow the Kentucky model of heading to the NBA after one season.
Then, Hamilton would need to use FSU’s 8th-ranked 2016 recruiting class to restock. Of course, he would prefer they become what Al McGuire liked best: sophomores.
