The Seminoles secured their biggest transfer portal move this week, by keeping their prized freshman.
Florida State basketball secured its most important College Basketball Transfer Portal move after Easter.
Keeping Thomas Bassong from drifting off rises as a huge offseason win for head coach Luke Loucks, the FSU staff and the program in general.
Bassong ensures the Noles have someone to build around after graduating a deep senior class. But what motivated Bassong to chose FSU again and now explore portal options?
He broke his silence on the move with reporters on Friday.
"The way we ended the season got me thinking about coming back directly and start where we left off," Bassong began.
Was there any thought of testing the portal waters on his end?
"I never though about leaving," Bassong stated. "I'm a good guy and I'm going to be there."
Still, Loucks and the coaching staff needed to convince Bassong that he is a priority.
"He's a great coach, great person...so I never thought about leaving. I knew I was coming back," Bassong said.
He adds there's already a plan in place for Bassong to take the next step.
"I need to develop my shooting abilities," Bassong began. "I have a lot of work on the offensive side. I'm working with coach [Chris] Kent about my shooting."
He adds the defensive side is Bassong's current strength, which FSU will likely lean into next season.
Bassong included how earning minutes became one of his best teachers during his freshman campaign.
"The more I play, the more I get used to playing with those guys and play at such a high level, the game slowed down a bit," Bassong said. "As a player, when you have a coach who believes in you and is letting you play through your mistakes, I would say that's extra power."
The France native doesn't plan to head back home for the summer months and play for its national team. He'll stay in Tallahassee to fine tune his game for next season.
He's aiming to build off his 5.9 points per game from a year ago. Plus grabbed 3.5 rebounds a night. He also shot the ball at 48.6% from field goal range.
Bassong will likely aim to to improve his long range shooting, after hitting just 26% of his 3-pointers last season.
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