In the modern era of college basketball, it's impossible to know in March who exactly will be on any team the following year.

Some players will go pro. Some will go through the draft process and then return. Some will transfer. It's just the nature of the sport in 2021.

For Florida State, which lost in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 to No. 1 seed Michigan on Sunday afternoon, next year's team will have some sizeable shoes to fill. But depending on some key decisions, it could very well be a preseason Top 10 team and a Final Four favorite when the 2021-22 season tips off next November.

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First and foremost, it's clearly expected that freshman Scottie Barnes will elect to go pro. The 6-foot-9 guard will be a first-round NBA draft selection and could be a lottery pick after his one season in garnet and gold.

M.J. Walker also is expected to move on to professional basketball. Despite him saying after Sunday's game that he would discuss his future with his coaches -- because seniors do have the option of returning for an extra year -- most expect him to have played his final game for the Seminoles. Which is why he walked on Senior Night and emotionally touched the center of the court with both hands when he checked out of his final home game.

RayQuan Evans also walked on Senior Night and is not expected to return.

It's the other RaiQuan that everyone is really wondering about.

Redshirt junior RaiQuan Gray was the best player on the team for large portions of the 2020-2021 season. He finished the year with averages of 11.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

On Monday, he tweeted this out:

That's not a declaration that he's staying, of course. But it also isn't a tweet saying he's definitely going.

With someone like Gray, a prospect who isn't a surefire high draft pick and has only been on the NBA's radar for a few months following the transformation of his body, he could declare for the draft but not hire an agent. That would give him a chance to return to Florida State after going through the draft process and retain his eligibility.

Gray and others have until May 30 to declare for the NBA Draft. They can withdraw their names up until July 19 and still come back for next season. The NBA Draft will be held on July 29.

If Gray returns, along with fellow starters Anthony Polite and Balsa Koprivica, the Seminoles could be a force next season, even with the expected losses of Walker and Barnes.

That's because FSU is bringing in the No. 3-ranked recruiting class in the country, according to Rivals, and it's highlighted by five-star wing Matthew Cleveland (ranked No. 23 in the nation) and point guard Jalen Warley (No. 27 in the nation). Seven-footer John Butler (ranked No. 59) will be coming in as well, and the Seminoles also have a commitment from 7-foot-3 junior college transfer Naheem McLeod.

And if Division-I transfers were included in team recruiting rankings, then FSU might just vault to the top of the list nationally with the addition of Houston's Caleb Mills. He was the Freshman of the Year in 2020 for the American Athletic Conference and was the AAC Preseason Player of the Year in 2021 before leaving the Cougars in December.

Mills averaged 13.2 points per game as a freshman in 2019-2020, including eight games with at least 20 points.

So, the Seminoles are adding a ton of talent to a roster that could also include three returning starters -- Gray, Polite and Koprivica -- and five more rotation players in Malik Osborne, Sardaar Calhoun, Wyatt Wilkes, Tanor Ngom and Nathanael Jack.

All told, FSU could return five of its top seven scorers, while also adding three of the top 60 freshmen, and one of the best transfers in the nation.

That's a lot of firepower for a program that is one of the few in the country to reach each of the last three Sweet 16s.

"We've made tremendous progress with our program," head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "And what we have to do is evaluate where we are, evaluate our shortcomings, and let's go back now as a group, and let's improve on these -- on our shortcomings. So we can come back and be a little bit better than the Sweet 16 next year."

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