Rancik and Taylor Look to Develop at Florida State

In his first season as the Florida State basketball coach, Luke Loucks led the Seminoles to an 18-15 overall record and a 10-8 mark in ACC play.

A missed shot that would have beaten Duke in the ACC tournament essentially ended Florida State's season as the team declined to play in the NIT.

So, Loucks and his coaching staff used their time away from the court wisely and raided the transfer portal for talent. Loucks came out the other side with two of college basketball’s most talented prospects: Forward Sebastian Rancik (6-foot-11, 220 pounds) and shooting guard Kam Taylor (6-foot-7, 185 pounds).

A 4-star prospect in the portal class, Rancik played two seasons at Colorado, starting 37 games for the Buffaloes. A native of Slovakia, Rancik started 26 games last season and averaged 12 points and five rebounds per game. He played high school ball in California.

He was deadly from the free throw line, converting 86 percent of the time. That was good enough for No. 4 in the Big 12. For a big man, Rancik is adept at distributing the basketball to his teammates so they can score points.

Rancik was second on the team in rebounds and blocked shots. In 2022, Rancik represented the Slovakian national team at the FIBA U18 European Championship, and averaged 14 points and five rebounds per contest.

Taylor was rated as a 4-star prospect in the portal, and started 32 games at UNC-Asheville. Last season, Taylor averaged 18 points per game and earned first-team All-Big South honors. Taylor led the team with 97 assists, and he played 34 minutes per contest, which was tops in the conference. He possesses elite athleticism and is a playmaker.

Under Loucks’s tutelage, former Seminole star Lajae Jones was a second-round draft pick by the Golden State Warriors in the 2026 NBA Draft after just one season at Florida State. Loucks, a former Seminoles basketball star himself, now has set the precedent for developing players and preparing them for the next level, which bodes well for both Rancik and Taylor.

Taylor and Rancik come to a Florida State team that was one of the hottest teams in the country down the stretch last season, winning 10 of their last 13 games and almost beating Duke. That led to high praise for Loucks in year one.

Florida State will replace six seniors, including Robert McRae V, who averaged 16 points per game for the Seminoles, but went undrafted. He later signed an Exhibit-10 contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. The addition of Taylor and Rancik will ease the pain of losing McRae’s production. Year two under Loucks looks promising.

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