BullyPulpit

I was at the first meeting between the two squads. The thing that is so deceptive about UCONN is the way they quickly break you. In the blink of an eye, they will run off 8 straight points and leave you to wonder..."how the heck did we get down by 10 points already?" From a strategic standpoint, I think our only hope is to try and spread them out on defense, letting Williams drive into space and either draw the quick double team and kick it out or shoot it. We should always have a player at the top of the key prepared to get back in transition in a hurry, as UCONN will attack quickly when given the opportunity. As for our defense, we really don't have the horses to play man-to-man defense against them, but I think we could pull off a match-up zone. The key is to prevent KML from getting hot from the outside. Every game I see her she seems to get wide open and, even with the tiniest bit of space, she drills the threes with ease. My hope for tonight is that we make a respectable showing. A loss of 20 points or less will speak volumes about our squad and its potential, anything else won't really tell us too much about where we stand relative to the rest of women's basketball. A win.....well, that would shock the world and put everyone on notice that we have a chance to make it back to Tampa for the Final Four. Good luck tonight ladies and make us proud!

That's a very good bracket for us. We could realistically win it. I agree that it would be a great draw for us. Ideally, we want to be a 6 or 7 seed. It is imperative that we avoid the dreaded 8/9, as the gap between the top 3 teams (I tend to think South Carolina is beatable) and the rest of the field is sizable. As I said, I would rather be a 10 or 11 than an 8 or 9. Let's hope we get a favorable draw and make a deep run in this tournament.

I think you meant Flores, a freshman. Ferriera is a forward, also a freshman. Stringfield is our starting junior PG and just isn't good enough against elite competition. It showed in our losses to UCONN and even ECU.

We need a better PG as well.

THIS!!!!: “We’re not going to sit back and wait for things to come to us,†Allen said Wednesday after USF’s second spring practice. “We’re going to be aggressive in our approach and that’s the way we want to play.â€

Well, Oklahoma (a team we beat by 15 on a neutral court) beat Baylor last night, so that all but assures a potential 2 loss UCONN team with a #1 seed in the women's tourney. It is also a good sign that a team we beat handily was able to "out physical" Baylor (a definite #2 seed) and win the game at the free throw line. With the right draw, this USF squad could make a deep run in the tournament. We just need to avoid bigger, physical, defensive minded teams.

I think UCONN could lose to us (and only us) once and still would get a #1 seed. You don't do what they have done all year and then not get rewarded with a #1 seed. Right now, regardless of RPI, they are the #1 overall squad. Even with a loss to us, the worst that happens is that they drop to # 3 or 4. Not to mention that all of this is likely moot anyways as UCONN is going to be a 25+ point favorite to beat us next week.

Again, I just pray that we avoid an 8 or 9 seed. It sets up an extremely difficult (ie. almost not winnable) match-up in the second round against one of the #1 seeds. I would much rather be a 10 or 11 seed than an 8/9. The difference in quality between a #1 seed and a #2/3 seed in women's basketball is shockingly large.

I think it might be time to either do another donation drive for the website or, in the alternative, to do a group donation to USF Athletics on behalf of The Bullpen.com. It would be cool to get enough gathered as a group to provide some sort of financial aid to a USF athlete annually. Thoughts?

To be fair, our passing is more of a joke.

Correa moved up to #60 in the college rankings on Golfweek.com He was also selected as the Player of the Week and the team was selected as the Team of the Week. Excellent showing by the Bulls! It could be a battle between the men's golf and soccer squads to see which one will win a national championship first.

I have to agree. One or two great basketball players and you can turn a 7 win team into a 20+ win team. It takes much more to turn a football program around.

USF is currently ranked #25 in the latest AP Top 25 for this week. Keep the momentum going ladies! http://sports.espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/rankings

I could stomach losing if we were losing with exciting football. The product the last 4 years has been pretty bland...and we are still losing. I agree with raptorcj that I haven't yet seen the ability to convert players and find the right spots on the field for them under Taggert the way we saw under Leavitt. The jury is still out for me, but I HAVE to see something this year to have any faith moving forward.

Congratulations to Coach Leavitt! Very well deserved. The Buffs have themselves a new casual fan.

One of the biggest differences I have seen out of the last two coaching regimes (Taggert and Holtz) is a lack of creativity in the personnel that they put on the field. One of the best parts of the Leavitt staff was the way they were able to get the most athletic players on the field and put the ball in their hands. Leavitt frequently moved players around to get them into a position where they could excel (see Nate Allen). This led to greater creativity in the play calling. I remember the PITT game from 2006 and listening to a PITT alum behind me bemoaning how we use too much razzle-dazzle and gadget plays. I would love to see Taggert do the same. Thoughts?

This team, barring any disasters, will be dancing for sure. It is just a matter of how high of a seed we can land at this point. If we can knock off UCONN once (wishful thinking) and take care of the rest of our games, we could be a 4 seed. At this point, given how traditionally top-heavy women's college basketball can be, I would much rather be a 10 seed than an 8 or 9. I think we ultimately end up in the 5 to 7 range.

You could convert one of the bigger/faster LBs into a pass rushing DE/LB hybrid on 3rd down plays.

If they do not lose again there is ZERO percent chance that UCONN doesn't get a #1 seed. Don't forget, they likely get to play us twice and have a game against the current #1 and unbeaten South Carolina.

UF is in crisis control/scramble mode. They appear to be missing on most of the elite recruits they were pursuing and are likely to try and poach the best recruits at the mid-level schools at this point.

We could have one of the best classes in the nation, but without a high quality QB (or really any QB) to fit the system, we will continue to flounder. I like Kean on paper, but if we are truly moving to a spread option, he is a square peg trying to fill a round hole. We look to be decent everywhere else, but the game is more QB driven now than ever before.

The ignorance and pessimism on this board never ceases to amaze me. Why in the world would Kentucky play a true road game against USF? Their only true non-conference road game this season was at Louisville, their in-state rival with an incredible pedigree and Top 5 ranking. To get Kentucky to agree to play us in the State of Florida should be viewed as a huge win and a perk of having hired Orlando Antigua. To get the opportunity to go on the road to Rupp and play the Wildcats should be viewed through the same positive light. Do you think there is a single player on our team that won't be completely amped for that opportunity? The same would be true for any opportunity to play Duke. Wherever, whenever!

I believe that I was the ONLY Bull in attendance at the game. Unfortunately, they punched us right in the face from the opening tip and really didn't relent. Quite honestly, they are better than us at every position. They are faster, stronger, and better shooters. However, with the right game plan and proper execution, we can play this team closer. We had a lot of unlucky misses that went 2/3 of the way down and rattled out. We also had a lot of bone-headed turnovers at the top of the key that led to easy transition scores for UCONN. We need a much better PG.

I honestly like where we stand right now. It appears that we have a solid class and we will hopefully end up ranked around 50th and at the top of the G5s. Not that it really matters, but public perception is a nice thing I suppose.

1 pm. Perfectly timed to end so you can flip over to the NFL games.