Five years ago the University of South Florida joined the Big East Conference and its basketball team was left for dead.
The switch in conferences absolutely made sense for the football program, winning the Big East automatically puts the Bulls in a BCS Bowl game, the additional exposure helps draw better prospects and makes students want to enroll in the school.
The best part of joining the Big East was the chance to team up with the elite programs in the country. Syracuse, Connecticut, Marquette, West Virginia, Louisville, Villanova and Georgetown aren’t just some of the best teams in the conference, year-in year-out they are among the best in the nation.
Florida is a hotbed for football recruiting, but basketball has always been an afterthought. The Bulls had some respectable teams during its history, making the NCAA Tournament in 1990 and 1992 but struggled to stay relevant as the team constantly switched confrences and shifted its focus to the football program, which played its first season in 1997.
When the Bulls joined the Big East many within the college basketball community knew the team would struggle, ESPN’s legendary analyst Dick Vitale dubbed the USF job the toughest in the country.
It’s hard to recruit kids to come to South Florida and compete against those elite programs. The Bulls don’t have the breathtaking on campus basketball court, or practice facility. The crowds are pretty sparse as basketball isn’t something people in Tampa are too concerned with.
Former coach Robert McCullum, who was at the helm when the program switched from Conference USA to the Big East, said when he was fired that he would have never accepted the job if he knew the Bulls were preparing to join the best basketball conference in the country.
During two horrible seasons under McCullum, the Bulls went 4-28 in conference play leading to his departure and the hiring of Stan Heath.
Slowly but surely, the Bulls turned it around, brought in some excellent recruits and watched guard Dominique Jones blossom into a NBA prospect.
Dominique Jones has forced basketball fans to pay attention to USF.
Even with Jones making a case to be named to the All-Big East First Team a year ago, the Bulls were still unprepared to deal with the Big East Conference. USF finished 4-14 in conference play and since the Big East expanded its conference tournament to include all 16 teams, the Bulls flew to Madison Square Garden as the 14-seed and were promptly knocked off by Seton Hall 68-54.
Thanks for coming out.
Once the 2009-10 season started, there was a different fell in the air. Heath brought in some highly rated recruits and the Bulls began their season with impressive wins over Virginia, Davidson and won the battle of USF over the University of San Francisco.
USF looked like it was reverting to its crappy ways, dropping the first four Big East Conference games, getting blown out by Louisville, Syracuse and West Virginia and losing a heart-breaker to Notre Dame.
Jones drew national attention as he dropped 46, leading the Bulls to an overtime win against Providence, to start a four-game win streak.
Out of nowhere, the Bulls knocked off No. 7 Georgetown in Washington D.C., dropped Pittsburgh and closed out the season by defeating Connecticut for the first time in the programs history to finish a surprising 9-9 in Big East.
Entering the Big East Tournament on the bubble, the Bulls needed to win its first round match up against DePaul, which they did 58-49, and need to win today against Georgetown to really make a push for the NCAA Tournament.
USF is an extremely likable team. Although they probably rely a little too much on Jones, he hasn’t been shy about carrying the burden. As the second leading scorer in the conference with 21.3 points per game, Jones plays a similar style game to Dwyane Wade, a former Marquette star.
Jones constantly attacks the rim, resulting in lay-ups, dunks and free throw attempts. The rest of the team plays with heart and hustle, diving for loose balls and trying to tap in any shot missed by Jones.
USF is the major underdog, and for once, have an actual shot of making the NCAA Tournament. Big things are happening for USF, make sure you’re tuning in to see it.
How crazy has the basketball season been this year? Connecticut and North Carolina, two of the top-5 basketball schools in the country, have NO chance of being a part of March Madness, while the Bulls needs one win to make their case.
For USF, the biggest game since making the NCAA Tournament 18 years ago tips off at noon.
#8 Georgetown (10-8 Big East) vs. #9 USF (10-9)
When: Wednesday at Noon
Channel: ESPN
So for once, I can finally have a realistic chance of going completely overboard on my NCAA Tournament bracket and pencil in my school to take it all.
Go Bulls!
