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If this were a normal year, Scottie Barnes still might have played 24 minutes Wednesday night. And Sardaar Calhoun also might have played nearly 15.
The rest of the Florida State rotation, however, likely would have looked much different than it did in the Seminoles' 86-58, season-opening victory against visiting North Florida.
Several veterans likely would have seen additional playing time, and first-year centers Tanor Ngom and Quincy Ballard might have barely left the bench -- at least in the early going.
Instead, they each played more than seven minutes, as FSU coach Leonard Hamilton tried to give them a crash course in competing at the highest level of college basketball.
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"I've got four guys that I'm learning about, and I've got some guys that have improved," Hamilton said. "So as a coaching staff, we've got our work cut out for us."
The challenge, of course, is that the Seminoles only have four non-conference games before they get into the heart of ACC play. The season is starting later than normal due to COVID-19, and schools' non-conference games are being kept to a minimum. Plus FSU's original season opener got postponed last week when Gardner-Webb experienced issues with the coronavirus.
So if Hamilton and his coaching staff are going to tap into the talents of all of their newcomers when the ACC season cranks up, they first will have to see what those players can do in real games. And how they all fit together.
That's why just over four minutes into Wednesday's game, Hamilton brought Ngom off the bench. Two minutes later, it was Ballard's turn.
Both players possess nice athleticism and great size -- Ngom is listed at 7-foot-2, 236 pounds, while Ballard is 6-11 and 240 -- but both also likely need some more seasoning before finding success against ACC-caliber competition.
"I don't think we can win with six or seven players," Hamilton said, explaining that it will be a challenge figuring out a rotation with so many new faces and a condensed season. "I'm just as inexperienced with coaching this team as they are inexperienced with playing with each other."
That might have led to some ragged rotations and a few lulls on Wednesday, but there also were a slew of positive signs for what might be in store this season.
Barnes didn't have a huge night offensively, but he gave glimpses of why some believe he could be the most talented player of Hamilton's tenure in Tallahassee. He scored eight points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out six assists, and he also turned in a sensational play in the open floor after UNF cut its deficit to 11 points.
