Transcript

Julian Rodriguez

6 February 2018

Title

Julian: With a subpar football season in 2017, how much more excitement and optimism is there for basketball season this year compared to other years?

Vincent: There’s definitely more interest, because this is first and foremost a football school, so after what Bowden and Jimbo did, so it’s always going to be a football first. But this year, you know we go 6 and 6, hit those people off. I definitely think people were thinking, basketball, baseball, soccer, the women's teams. People definitely turn towards others sports when football doesn’t go well. So there’s definitely more interest, there’s always been interest. I’ve been going to these games since freshman year and there were always fans, but I’ve definitely seen a growth. While we had some of those home games that were sold out last year, packed to the brim, when we had (Dwayne) Bacon and (Jonathan) Isaac, and some of these big names. Well we might not have that now, but I think we have just as good of a team, if not better. And I think people are starting to realize that now. If our basketball team can play, and play well, we can compete with the best in the ACC, which is the best conference in basketball.

Julian: Does the recent talent coming out of FSU and into the NBA create a buzz for FSU basketball and create momentum for future basketball recruiting?

Vincent: While I think having guys like Bacon and Isaac in the NBA, it’s big. Yeah it does put us on the map as a respectable basketball program and all that good stuff. At the same time, at this point, there is so much talent in college basketball, and it’s only getting better. The reason for that is the demand for these NBA skill trainers and these private coaches, because it’s so easy to market yourself if you just post some video of yourself on instagram training some kid. So eventually these kids get so talented, they can pick whatever D1 school they want. So while we have some of these great recruits we’re bringing in, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to get greater and better guys. We have a great prospect in (MJ) Walker here, and we have some guys that may not be the biggest names, but there turn out to be decent players.

Julian: Do you think we’ll get to the point where we can compete with the basketball powerhouses like Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky?