Multiple FSU men's basketball players enter NCAA transfer portal following end of season
Florida State men's basketball has lost three players to the NCAA transfer portal.
Sophomore forward De’Ante Green, junior guard Primo Spears and sophomore forward Baba Miller have all recently announced their intentions to look at their options.
Green, Spears, Miller enter NCAA transfer portal
Green announced he planned to enter the transfer portal on March 22.
In 31 games he averaged 4.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 11.9 minutes. He hit a season-high 14 points in FSU's 68-66 loss to Georgia on Nov. 29.
Spears, who was a force off the bench, announced his intention to transfer a day later on March 23.
He averaged a team-third-best 10.6 points. He hit his season-high 17 points twice in losses to Louisville, 101-92, and North Carolina in the ACC Tournament.
This is Spears' third time in the portal in four seasons. Before FSU he was at Georgetown and Duquesne.
Spears played only 24 games this season, sitting out the first nine games waiting for the NCAA to approve his transfer waiver. He played his first game with FSU on Dec. 16 against SMU.
Six days after Spears' announcement, on March 29, Miller said that he planned on entering the transfer portal and reportedly is "testing the NBA waters" according to ESPN NBA Draft analyst Jonathan Givony.
The 6-foot-11-inch forward played in all 33 games, averaging 7.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.1 fouls. Miller hit a career-high 14 points in the Seminoles' 87-82 win over Wake Forest on Jan. 9.
He also had his first career double-double in an 88-72 loss to South Florida, recording 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Similar to Spears, Miller's arrival at FSU was complicated. He missed the first 16 games of the 2022-23 season after multiple appeals to the NCAA Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement were denied.
Before his recruitment by FSU, Miller received travel to and from a training camp from his native Spain to the United States. Upon learning of relevant NCAA rules, Miller and his family immediately repaid the benefits received.
Are Jamir Watkins, Leonard Hamilton returning to FSU basketball?
FSU men's basketball's account on X posted a seemingly random hype video of junior forward Jamir Watkins on March 28 and said "THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND… JAMIR WATKINS."
Watkins transferred from VCU to FSU this winter and averaged a team-high 15.6 points, six rebounds and 33 minutes. He was an All-ACC honorable mention selection, the only FSU player to earn All-ACC honors.
The 2023-24 season was another shaky year for the Seminoles.
They started 6-6, infamously losing to Lipscomb, 78-75, on Dec. 30 at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
FSU opened up conference play at 5-1, looking like it was going to turn its season around.
However, losing nine of 14 games to end the regular season dropped FSU to ninth in the conference heading into the ACC Tournament.
It defeated Virginia Tech in the tournament's first round 86-76 but was rolled by top-seeded North Carolina, 92-67 in the quarterfinal round.
FSU reportedly denied an invitation to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton, with the program since 2002, is also entering the final year of his contract.
The Seminoles have not made the NCAA Tournament since 2021.
Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on X @jackgwilliams.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: What is status of FSU men's basketball after 3 players enter NCAA transfer portal
