BullyPulpit

The deadline is in 25 minutes, so if you want them, or know a local Bull that would be interested in going, make sure you get your request in now.

Not up yet. They'll be here when they're up http://www.sportbet.com/lines/basketball_college_women Thanks for the link. Odds are up. Looks like the game is a pick-em. Considering that UL is a 3 seed and we are a 6 seed, I thought they would be the betting favorite. I presume that home cour advantaget for us is a big factor in making those odds. Home court typically accounts for about 3 points. So, looking at this line, Louisville would be a 3 point favorite on a neutral court. This is supported by the Sagarin ratings in which Louisville would be expected to have a 3.5 point edge on a neutral court. http://www.rpiratings.com/womrate.php

Our ladies just don't seem to have two sub-par games in a row. Although the LSU game was a big win, they definitely didn't play up to their potential. Remember, we looked very suspect against Tulane in the AAC semis and then gave UCONN one of their 3 toughest games all year. I believe that we will come out tonight with guns blazing. Also, keep in mind the revenge factor, as we lost to them 3 times last season, including by 4 points in the AAC tournament when a win might have placed us in the field of 64.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I believe that they raised UK to a 2 and dropped Louisville to a 3 in order for USF/Tampa to host 3 additional games prior to the tournament to help build a little more local interest from the casual sports fan. I think it is further supported by the fact that they placed us in UCONN's bracket in order to do so. They generally try to avoid teams from the same conference playing each other until as late as possible, and that could have easily been done in this case, but it wasn't.

Sounds legit!

Not really a crap bracket. Because Louisville is a 3 seed we get the opportunity to play them at home. Also, UK is the weakest 2 seed. If this is about getting to the Sweet 16 or Elite 8, this is the easiest route possible. Also, if UCONN was to lose a game, I think it is more likely in the Elite 8 than the Final Four

Other than possibly playing UCONN in the Elite 8, we received the best possible draw. Getting to host the first two rounds is a huge plus and then possibly getting a rematch with a Kentucky team we should have beaten the first time.

Tonight (7 pm) is Judgement Night. Here is hoping for a 6 or 7 seed (I don't think a 5 is in reach). An 8/9 seed would be devastating and I would rather have the committee disrespect us and give us a 10 or 11 instead. Easier path to the Elite 8 and would hopefully have the ladies playing with a massive chip on their shoulders.

The NCAA basketball tournament is by far and away the BEST American sports tournament. I don't think that there is much they can do at this point to change it for the better.

Well it is a bunch of crap. Watch where the committee seeds Rutgers and you will know right away whether or not their seeding process is legit. They should be, at best, an 8/9 seed.

RU still being ranked is a travesty. Their schedule is actually weaker than ours. The numbers above don't lie and paint a pretty clear picture. Out of all the teams vying for 6/7 seeds, Rutgers is by far and away the least deserving, with Syracuse right behind as the second least deserving. Can someone please tell me what I am missing about Rutgers?

I definitely understand your frustration, HOWEVER if we were coming off a couple 9 or 10 win seasons, many people would be saying that " USF is a bunch of jerks for doing this & they are only doing so because we've been better but I stuck with the team when they had 3 and 4 wins & now they are trying to screw me" Its a no win situation however what is a win is the long term effect this will have on revenue and the athletic dept. The "grandfathered" people are the only ones going to be frustrated and frankly there isn't that many to be concerned about. Though we all should appreciate those than have been there since day 1 and have attended every single home game unfortunately those $100 donations aren't going to pay the bills & that's the bottom line! Just buy tickets on stubhub or outside the stadium. I have been to almost every game since 2004 (was a student from 04-07) and don't think I have even spent $800 total. Does anyone else find it rich that some that complain the most about USF are the ones that actually support (in the financial sense) the program the least?

Here is an interesting blind resume test. Team 1: 21-9; Record against RPI: TOP 25: 1-6; TOP 50: 4-6; TOP 100: 8-8 (one bad loss to #218) Team 2: 20-11; Record against RPI: TOP 25: 2-6; TOP 50: 6-9; TOP 100: 13-11 Team 3: 22-10: Record against RPI: TOP 25: 4-4; TOP 50: 5-7; TOP 100: 11-10 Team 4: 23-9: Record against RPI: TOP 25: 2-4; TOP 50: 5-5; TOP 100: 10-9 Team 5: 26-7: Record against RPI: TOP 25: 2-5; TOP 50: 6-5; TOP 100: 9-7 Team 6: 29-3: Record against RPI: TOP 25: 2-2; TOP 50: 2-2; TOP 100: 4-3 Team 7: 27-2: Record against RPI: TOP 25: 1-0; TOP 50: 5-1; TOP 100: 9-1 (one bad loss to #148) Team 8: 22-9: Record against RPI: TOP 25: 0-5; TOP 50: 3-8; TOP 100: 7-9 Teams 1 and 2 are Syracuse and Oklahoma and I cannot find a projection where they are not either a 6 or 7 seed. Teams 3 and 4 are Texas and Texas A&M and the projections I see list them anywhere from a 5 to a 7 seed. Team #5 is obviously USF. Teams 6 and 7 are Chattanooga and Florida Gulf Coast and the projections have Chattanooga as a unanimous #7 and FGCU between a 7 and 9. I'm actually shocked at how strong FGCU's resume is. If the committee gives them the credit they deserve, they should be much closer to a 5 seed than a 9 seed. It will be very interesting to me how the selection committee ultimately decides where to place these teams. I chose record against RPI Top 100 because that represents the only "decent" teams in the country. There really isn't much more value in a win over team #160 and team # 280, especially in women's basketball. Also, the conferences, even the power conferences, tend to be much more top heavy than on the men's side. The real litmus test for the committee will be Team #8. That is Rutgers, a team that comes from a power conference, has name recognition, but really falls short when compared to the rest of the competition. They are listed as a 7 or 8 seed in online projections. If Rutgers is a 7 seed, we are a 5 seed.

You have to keep in mind that the NCAA frequently does procedural/geographic bumps and drops for women's basketball. We are likely to be either a 6 or 7 seed. I hope we don't get screwed with an 8 seed, as that would mean an extremely difficult Round of 32 match-up. The Oklahoma win is solid and, if you put our resume next to theirs, we stack up just as well, if not better than they do. They are viewed as a solid 6/7 seed as well. No one can discount the win over Chattanooga, even if they don't get the respect the major conference teams get. They have wins over Tennessee and Stanford. Their losses were to us, Notre Dame, and (their only head scratcher) to Arkansas State, who still might win their conference tournament. Villanova was a decent win and so were our 3 wins over Tulane (5 of their 10 losses were to us and UCONN and they beat UALR, LSU, Miami, NC State, and played FSU close). It is also hard not to think about what could have been with this team. The ECU, St. John's, and Kentucky games were all very close and winnable. Just imagine if we had taken care of business in those 3 games. We would be 29-4 with a two decent showings in losses to UCONN and Maryland. In that scenario we would be a 3 or 4 seed.

If we make some of the wide open looks we have in the first half, it might have been a much more interesting game down the stretch. At one point, we were down 13-8, but we had missed 2 fairly easy layups and a wide open 3 pointer. Hit any 2 of those 3 shots and we are tied. From there, UCONN went on a mini-run and stretched the lead to double digits where it remained for the rest of the game. In order to beat a team as complete as UCONN you have to make the most of every opportunity. At the end of the day, no one is going to beat this UCONN team and, quite honestly, at this point I think USF has the best chance out of any other team in the country, just given the fact that we have played them 3 times already and keep getting progressively closer.

I think that the selection committee will look at us as a team that is 26-4 versus the rest of the field and 0-3 versus UCONN, improving each time we played them. Creme has us pegged as a #6 seed, although I could see us slip to a #7. If we are a #6/7 hopefully we end up in Louisville's sub-regional so that we get to host the first two rounds. We still have to show up with our A game in each round of the NCAA tournament. Our opponents will likely be 11/12 seeds and they tend to be awfully dangerous at-large teams or, in the case of Arkansas-Little Rock, the best low to mid-major conference champion. If you look at UALR's profile, it is pretty impressive and all but one of their losses was close.

Too many missed opportunities early on. It should be at least 13-12 right now. Just have to get another stop and a score to feel like we are still in it. Can't let UCONN go on a run!

We need a few players to get hot from 3 point range in order to spread out their defense and give Ms. Williams some room to work inside the arc. She is a natural play maker and the most dynamic player on the floor, even against UCONN.

With the players and coaching we have, we can legitimately beat any team in the country (with the exception of UCONN) on any given night. Sure, we might lose more than we would win against South Carolina or Tennessee, but neither is dominant enough that I could see us losing more than 7 out of 10 to them. Notre Dame might be the only other team that we would lose to 75 to 80% of the time, but I like our chances of making the Sweet 16 at a minimum, with the Elite 8 as a distinct possibility.

The 4th time isn't guaranteed, so I would rather cash in now to be certain.

Only if we get some production off the bench from Mary Samsonite.

The Bulls did just enough to win. I think there was a bit of the look-ahead factor going on with UCONN waiting in the wings. When they needed key stops and shots, we had what it takes to put a fringe tournament team like Tulane away at the end. I will say CJF out-coached the HC from Tulane down the stretch. Excellent use of timeouts from the 3:40 mark down to the wire. Also, the technical foul on the Tulane coach was INEXCUSABLE! She let her emotions get the best of her and virtually eliminated any chance that they had of finishing off the comeback. I also watched the post-game handshakes and she was not very gracious in defeat. Tonight, hopefully the 3rd time is the charm!

Creme updated it to have us as a #6 with Duke the host as the #3 seed. That would be an intriguing 2nd round match up. Duke has ZERO speed and horrible guard play. We would be able to stretch them out and I think Courtney could have a field day against them with the potential holes in their defense. On the flip side, Duke is a BIG physical team and could give us fits on the boards.

While I realize that we have a 0.1% chance of winning, there is at least a chance. Remember, we outscored them in the second half of last week's game. It will take an absolutely flawless performance by our ladies and an exceptional game plan from CJF, and even then we will have to hope that UCONN only brings their B game. Realistically, if the Bulls can keep it the margin within the teens instead of the twenties I will be pleased and eagerly awaiting our run to the Sweet 16/Elite 8.

We want Ohio State to beat Maryland tonight. They did not submit a bid to host the opening round games and would be at least a 4 seed with a win, creating a 2nd wild card host spot to go along with the one that will be in Louisville's sub-regional.