It's hard to fathom all that Luke Loucks has tasked himself with accomplishing in his first few weeks as Florida State's new head men's basketball coach.

He's been building his staff, with two assistant coaches announced and a few more in negotiations. He and his staff are doing all preparations they're able to before the transfer portal opens on Monday. He's started working on fundraising for his program, with a keen understanding of how important a role money will have in his FSU team's success.

But most imminently of all, Loucks has taken a head-first dive into the players on the FSU roster he's inheriting and figuring out which of them he believes will be a fit for his system.

"First day we got back from the ACC Tournament, I met with every single player on the roster for an extended period of time. It was an open conversation. I get to know you. You get to know me, what I'm about, what my values are, what my vision is," Loucks said in a sitdown with local media members Thursday. "But most importantly for them, it was an open forum. What do you like? What do you not like? What are your goals? Who's your family? Where are you from? What motivates you? These things are important when you try to build a championship-level team, because every roster is a puzzle and if the pieces don't fit, you have chaos and dysfunction. It's my job to figure out what puzzle pieces I can use as I try to create what I'm trying to create."

Before Loucks was even announced as Leonard Hamilton's successor, it was widely believed that there likely wouldn't be a great deal of roster retention from this past year's FSU team to the 2025-26 roster under the new coach.

Loucks isn't naming any names yet, letting the announcements come from the players, but he confirmed as much Thursday.

"There will be a lot of guys that hit the portal and that shouldn't scare anyone. That's by design, both for these players and for myself..." Loucks said. "They continue to be tough conversations with the players. I had to do with a couple today of just like, 'Hey, the more film I watch and the more I study you, you probably aren't going to fit with me. And it doesn't mean that you're a bad player. It just means that for your best interest, you should probably play somewhere else and look somewhere else.'"

Luckily for Loucks, what could have been tough conversations have largely been better than expected because the players and he were already on the same page about their FSU futures before even discussing it.

"The good part is, a lot of these guys were like, 'Well, I was gonna hit the portal anyways.' And I'm like, 'Great. It works out for both of us,' " Loucks said. "So that's what we're going through. Some of those conversations are tough, though, and it's just the reality of doing business."

Sophomore forward Taylor Bol Bowen became the first player from this past year's FSU team to announce he's entering the portal on Wednesday. Bowen, FSU's best three-point shooter (41.4%), averaged 8.0 points and 5.1 rebounds this season for the Seminoles, but saw his production fall off a bit down the stretch.

Bol Bowen confirmed to the Osceola that he's considering a return to FSU under Loucks while keeping his portal options open. It's quite possible he's on the shortlist of players Loucks could want to retain on his first FSU team.

As for who else Loucks wants to keep, he didn't share any details during Thursday's sitdown. However, he says he's already got a few inherited players who told him they're staying at FSU.

"There's been a few that have already committed to return and I'm not going to comment on who, you guys will see that in the coming days," Loucks said. "But I'm excited, both for these guys to get new opportunities elsewhere and I'm excited for what we're trying to build."

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