BrickBardo

Since then Arkansas has been doing what? one NCAA tournament appearance since they fired Heath.

How can you say that this USF team is the same as last year when they have added 2 bigs who can rebound and score? This is obviously a much different team that is able to score from the inside and also added another guard that can create his own shot. So if USF fires Heath, who will they bring in to replace him? I doubt there is any coach out there (that USF can get) that is going to recruit better than Heath. Let's not pretend like USF basketball would be lost without Stan Heath... There are plenty of really good coaches at smaller programs that would love the raise to come to USF and those coaches at smaller programs have been able to put really good seasons together with less talent and resources than a school like USF has. Is USF that great of a destination for a college basketball coach? I think for USF to have a top 25 recruiting class and potentially another tournament bid is pretty good. This team is young and most of these players haven't played together before. They lost a game against a team that they are 10X more talented than. So it is disappointing but I think it is way to early to call the season a bust.

How can you say that this USF team is the same as last year when they have added 2 bigs who can rebound and score? This is obviously a much different team that is able to score from the inside and also added another guard that can create his own shot. So if USF fires Heath, who will they bring in to replace him? I doubt there is any coach out there (that USF can get) that is going to recruit better than Heath.

1) USF 2) 18 3) Allen 23 4) Egbunu 10 5) 71%

USF 2 Rudd-22 Egbunu-12 75%

That will probably be the starting 5. Brock and Allen will have their hands full with Marcus Smart. You would love to have Allen pressure him all over the court but Smart is just to big and strong for Corey plus USF cannot ever allow Allen to get into major foul trouble or they're done. Brock is not an offensive player and using him on Smart most of the game will probably be what we see. Brock is also a clever flopper so I expect him to get at least 1 offensive foul on Smart during the game. I also see Smart covering Brock and not Allen since Corey could cause problems for him with his quickness and motor. Covering Brock allows Marcus to save all his energy for offense.The thing is out of the all the guys on USF roster that matches up best with Smart from a physical standpoint is Abdul Aleem, but his bad footwork on defense would doom him in that matchup. Defensive rotation will need to be the best it can be all season long for USF to win. Smart will get a lot of attention and help guarding but whoever is leaving his man to help, USF needs to rotate to that open man. If our rotations are slow, Okie st will destroy us from long range and at the basket will put backs and drop off passes. You mentioned Leday and I can't help but wonder what is happening to him. He had a better motor going last season and really came on strong down the stretch. I'm pretty much done with the overrated and soft Javontae Hawkins but LeDay I had high hopes for, still do. USF needs him to be a scorer and rebounder this season. On defense I think USF should have Allen guard Smart really tight to possibly get a steal or at least cause Smart to waste energy dealing with Allen's annoying defense. The important thing is how USF comes over to help once Smart drives the lane. There needs to be better rotation down low when Egbunu comes over to help on the ballhandler driving the lane. Rudd(or another big) needs to rotate over. How is USF going to operate on offense against Ok State? Get the ball into the post? or have Collins drive and dish? Ok State is so athletic I think it will be extremely difficult for Collins or Allen to drive in and get those layups that they have been getting the last couple of games. IMO the only players who are going to score any points in the paint are the two bigs and Rudd.

What do you think the starting 5 will be on Monday? Is it going to be the same starting 5 as last game: PG-Collins SG-Allen SF-Brock PF-Rudd C-Egbunu The only player on the above starting 5 that I question is Brock. He makes to many mistakes and doesn't appear to be a good shooter. I have heard Heath talk up LeDay, but he never gets minutes so it is hard to see anything from him.