CHARLOTTE, N.C.—It's Terance Mann's turn to guide Florida State's basketball team.
In his first two years in Tallahassee, he supported teammates such as Malik Beasley, Jonathan Isaac and Dwayne Bacon, all in the NBA now, while they carried the scoring load and led the Seminoles to back-to-back postseason appearances. Now, as the lone returning starter and captain from a team that went 26-9 and finished second in the ACC behind defending national champion North Carolina in 2016-17, the 6-6, 215-pound junior must step up in word and deed. However, his brand of leadership won't look like that of his predecessors, a group that also included former guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who's traversing through the G League.
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But, in order for FSU to return to the Big Dance in back-to-back seasons for the first time in nearly a half decade, it doesn't have to.
Mann was fourth behind Bacon, Isaac and Rathan-Mayes, a triumvirate which combined to average 39.8 points per game and accounted for almost 50 percent of the ACC's No. 3 rated offense's scoring, putting up 8.4 points per game on 57.6 percent shooting. That's just a piece of his game. He was second on the team in rebounding at 4.5 boards a night and tied for second in steals (1.0) and assists (1.6.) He led the Seminoles with 30 putbacks and was second with 125 shot attempts at the rim, according to Hoop-Data. His versatility is what gives coach Leonard Hamilton the confidence he can depend upon him to produce on a nightly basis and provide stability for a team that lost four starters.
"What I've tried to instill in him, is that, 'You are unique.' Some guys get all the attention based on how many points they can score and how well they shoot the ball. He does all the other intangible things and he's improved his perimeter shooting and people will see that this year. The end result is I think he's going to be a complete player because he does all the other things that sometimes guys who only score don't. "
Mann said he won't be a top-down, authoritative leader in the locker room but will instead be receptive to the input of his teammates. That's how things were last year.
"It wasn't like you had two captains and everybody else is below," Mann said at ACC Media Day. "Everybody speaks up in their own type of way. That's kind of why were were so successful."
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Florida State, which tips its season off at home against George Washington Nov. 14, will welcome five true freshmen, a group comprised of former four-star prospect and preseason ACC Rookie of the Year nominee M.J. Walker, Raiquan Gray, Ike Obiagu, Anthony Polite and Wyatt Wilkes. Their maturation during the non-conference slate could determine how prepared FSU is for a conference schedule that did it no favors in matching it on the road against Duke and home versus UNC in its first two league games.
"For me, honestly, it's for them to match the intensity of the starters," said Mann when asked what his expectations for the newcomers are. "I want our freshman to come in, play as hard as they can for however long they're in, come back out, come back in and punch the other team in the face when the starters are off the court. That's what we need from them."
Ranked among the conference's top three in rebounds (37.7), blocks (5.09) and steals per game (7.36) in 2016-17, FSU will also need to maintain its identity as one of the ACC's better defensive clubs. "Every team has two or three dudes where it's like, "Man, we gotta guard these dudes tonight. It's crazy how this league is. There's no guaranteed wins."