Clark: As NCAA Tournament starts, let's evaluate FSU men's basketball

This is the first time since Malik Beasley was a freshman at Florida State that the Seminoles aren't involved in March Madness.

Well, to clarify: Nobody was involved in March Madness in 2020, because we were dealing with a whole different kind of madness. But we all understand that particular FSU team was not only going to make the NCAA Tournament, it was likely going to be a 2 seed.

Now here we are, and for the first time since 2016, the FSU men's basketball team isn't involved in the big dance when the dance is actually happening.

It's a weird feeling, honestly. To be here, now, with this program, and not tuning into today or tomorrow to watch the Seminoles try to advance again. But it's the reality that comes when injuries completely besiege your team and cause loss after loss after loss in the middle of the season.

But I'm not here to write about that.

I'm here to write about the future. And what exactly we should make of the future of Florida State basketball.

*** Don't miss our exclusive FSU football and recruiting coverage. 30-day Free Trial ***

First and foremost: That will depend on who exactly is on the roster in 2022-23.

The Seminoles had three very talented freshmen on their roster this season in Matthew Cleveland, John Butler and Jaley Warley. If all three of those dudes come back -- and let's be honest here, none of them should be thinking about leaving -- then there's a pretty decent chance the Seminoles get back on the NCAA Tournament train next season.

Though there is a caveat to that.

How much of the FSU culture do these guys really have? How much did they absorb this season with so many injuries and so many losses?

There's no denying the talent. But I watched in horror -- like all of you -- in the ACC Tournament, when this team simply gave up and stopped fighting. I thought we were over that back in Chapel Hill, but the Florida State team that took the floor up in Brooklyn was an embarrassment to what Leonard Hamilton has built over the last two decades.

And I'm hoping that was a one-off. Or at least a last-off. And we won't ever see it again.

Because injuries or not, there's no excuse to not try. Or seemingly care about your season coming to an end. To an average Syracuse team. That had its best player punch one of your seniors in the chest ... and absolutely, positively nothing done about it during the game.

To me, that's concerning.

Toughness in this sport matters. Florida State, after showing quite a lot to win its final three games of the regular season, showed zero in its lone postseason game.

If this team comes back with its eligible roster intact, who is the leader? Who is the alpha? Who is the dude that goes and challenges Buddy Boeheim instead of letting him laugh and smile all the way to a 40-point win?

Cleveland, if he returns, will be one of the supreme talents in this league. And he's already got two buzzer-beaters to his credit. But is he a leader? Is Bulter? Is Warley? Is Cam Fletcher?

These guys are immensely talented and proved it multiple times their first year in the program, but are they guys who can pass down a culture to all the newcomers who will be joining the team in the summer?

Or are they guys who are accustomed to not only losing, but occasionally doing so in humiliating fashion?

Malik Osborne was supposed to be the guy this past year who was the spiritual leader, who showed the Seminole way to the new guys, who exemplified what Florida State basketball means.

Well, he got hurt. So did the other senior starter, Anthony Polite.

And the culture that had been built over the last half-decade, the one that involves grittiness, defense, toughness, seemed to dissolve at times.

At North Carolina, they were down by 40.

They lost to Pitt at home and got blown out at Boston College.

They got beat by Syracuse by 39.

These are things FSU basketball should not be doing. Ever. Especially not coming off of back-to-back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances.

And I know the injures play a large role in all of this. If Osborne and Naheem McLeod and Caleb Mills and Polite are healthy all season, there's a very good chance we'd be getting ready to watch them play in an NCAA Tournament game this weekend.

But they weren't.

And now I'm left to wonder, especially after that Syracuse debacle, how much of what Isaac and Bacon and Mann and Forrest and Walker built is still bubbling through this program right now.

My guess is that it's still there. That if all these freshmen come back -- hopefully with Butler 40 pounds heavier -- and Mills and Fletcher continue to develop, then Florida State will be right back where it was before the injury plague.

The Seminoles are bringing in some talent from the high school ranks. And maybe Polite comes back for another senior year to show them the ropes. That would help immensely.

And maybe Hamilton and his staff tap into the portal and bring in a big who can guard 1 through 5. Or maybe a knockdown shooter. Both would be great additions.

Either way, here's hoping one bad season riddled with ridiculous injuries hasn't derailed our annual expectation of watching Florida State in the NCAA Tournament.

Because I'll be honest: This feels weird.

Here's hoping we don't feel it again for a good long while.

Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.

-----------

Discuss the game with fans on Warchant's Seminole Hoops message board.