Sad News: Biggest FSU Star Enters Transfer Portal As ‘Unfriendly’ Problems Pile Up

The offseason of change continues for Florida State. Leonard Hamilton resigned after 23 years in Tallahassee, and former player Luke Loucks is now the man in charge. Any time a coach leaves, players usually follow suit, and that’s what’s happening here, as one of Florida State’s best players has hit the portal.

Star center Malique Ewin is entering the transfer portal after arguably being FSU’s best player in the 2024-25 season, averaging 14.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 1.7 APG while leading the ACC in field goal percentage at 59.6%. His passing and ball-handling made him a rare offensive threat for a center, but he was poor defensively. FSU’s switching scheme didn’t help things, but he often lacked focus on that end of the floor.

Ewin is the ninth Seminole to enter the portal, joining Taylor Bol Bowen, Chandler Jackson, Justin Thomas, Daquan Davis, Anastasios Rozakeas, Christian Nitu, Jerry Deng, and Waka Mbatch. This is the kind of player who could have success with Luke Loucks, who spent time in the NBA with Draymond Green and Domantas Sabonis, bigs that had the ball in their hands often. Sabonis is the much better offensive player and has been a multiple-time All-Star. That kind of pedigree should’ve helped, but Ewin will be one of the more sought-after commodities in the transfer portal.

Coach Loucks is having to navigate the transfer portal for the first time, with this being his first experience as a coach in college basketball. How he chooses to replace Ewin will be interesting to watch. He’s landed a couple of transfers already in Kobe MaGee and LaJae Jones, but the market for bigs is a little dry.

This was Ewin’s first season at Florida State after starting at Ole Miss as a blue-chip recruit before transferring to junior college last season. He was the top-rated JUCO prospect and chose FSU, performing at a much higher level than many expected. He single-handedly won games for Florida State, but the Seminoles also lost some games they could’ve won because he fouled out or got hurt.