Another year of uncertainty looms for the Seminoles.

After three seasons of near-misses for making the NCAA Tournament, this team finds itself in the familiar position of transition. The veteran backcourt has graduated. The formerly inexperienced frontcourt is now a team strength.

FSU realizes there has never been a proper mesh. It's either one or the other. That's the biggest reason why this program has gone 11 years without making the NCAA Tournament.

Once again, head coach Leonard Hamilton has signed an acclaimed recruiting class. But FSU supporters have seen this before. The problem has been growing the talent and keeping the players.

Now in his seventh season, Hamilton is hoping to build a team around point guard Toney Douglas and a strong frontcourt. Douglas believes this is the year it will come together.

"We didn't really define a lot of people's roles (last season). So at times it would be frustrating because we weren't meeting our expectations for what we felt we should have done," said Douglas, speaking to Warchant.com, a site dedicated to coverage of FSU sports. "It is a new year, I am happy I am back for my last year with this group of guys."

Hamilton has put together a more challenging nonconference schedule that includes LaSalle, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Florida.

"Our schedule has a great mix of teams from every region of the country that all play different styles of basketball," Hamilton said. "When we assembled our schedule we looked at playing teams from around the country that would challenge us to play well as a team and at the same time adjust to the many different things teams are doing around college basketball."

To handle the schedule, Hamilton is pinning hopes on his big men, Ryan Reid and Uche Echefu, both of whom made significant strides last year. In addition, Solomon Alabi, a 7-foot-1 center, who missed most of last season with a leg injury, should provide another boost.

"He's as athletic as any big man you'll ever want to see," Hamilton said. "It's very difficult for any guy on our team to out-run him. And that was one of his strengths coming out of high school (Alabi spent his junior and senior years at Montverde Academy near Orlando). He can run, jump, rebound and block shots."

Those three will be joined by nine newcomers, including Brian Hoff, a player the Seminoles hope can solve a major backcourt void. With exception of Douglas, the Seminoles are heading into this season without any player seasoned in ACC basketball battles.

That is usually a recipe for failure. Hamilton has to hope this group can break the trend.

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