TRUTH D. Antagonist

im glad we won. ive always kinda respected UAB for bringing its football program literally back from the dead… but theyre kinda starting to annoy me now.

the Big 12 isnt exactly a shining beacon of football excellence OR conference stability. when it comes to CFB there are two conferences that matter: SEC & B1G. the rest can become the Pac12 in the blink of an eye. & let’s not mope too much about blown chances; Clemson has 2 championships in the CFP era, giving the ACC as many as the B1G, yet it’s the ACC— not the bone-dry glorified mid-major Big12— on the verge of extinction & FSU, which has won 2 championships in the past 25 seasons (2 more than the entire roster of existing Big12 schools), that is repeatedly treated like a stepchild. very little of this has to do with play on the field. this is a multi-billion dollar industry run by multi-billion dollar corporation, little to nothing is left up to chance. USF had it’s time in the sunshine when we were picked to join the Big East when by all intents & purposes UCF had done more on the field to earn it. at the very least they had seniority as an older program. now it’s their turn in a not too dissimilar situation: the Big East was “technically” a power conference as it had a BCS auto-bid & theoretical chance at a championship (that may have proven realistic had WVU not shat the bed vs Pitt that year), but it was still seen as the bastard child of the BCS “power” conferences, gutted of its powerhouse team (Miami) & filled with USF & other midmajors pulled up from CUSA… the Big12 now is basically what the BigEast was in 2006, its powerhouse teams (UT & OU) gone & a bunch of midmajors from the AAC filling out the schedule. the next step will be ours & i believe it will be in keeping with history in that we will end up in the more desirable position in the end. USF is on the upswing & unlike us, UCF has never had to play a full schedule of power teams the way we did with the Big East. they didnt play West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Pitt in conference while scheduling Auburn, Miami, FSU, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Michigan State, UNC, NCState, Kansas, Florida… WE DID. they just came behind us & rode our wake. any movement by FSU/Clemson or any other ACC team in any direction (SEC/B1G) is an opportunity for USF. i’d much rather USF have an annual rivalry with Miami while playing games up the East Coast against teams like GT, VT, NCState (assuming they stay), BC & the occasional trip to Louisville than rekindle the rivalry with UCF while playing a terrible conference travel schedule against a bunch of schools in the lower Midwest & Southwest! USF has played football for what? 27 seasons? we’ve caught 1 big major break in 27 years, we’re due for another one & the school is doing everything right on & off the field & the court right now to be in position to take advantage of whatever opportunity comes our way.

ECU rhymes with happy.

24/7 Sports seems to think USC & USF are the teams to watch… Cormani McClain transfer: USF, USC worth watching as former 5-star CB enters portal after 1 year at Colorado 247SPORTS.COM The latest buzz on the college football programs involved with Colorado CB Cormani McClain, the former five-star recruit who entered the 2024 college football transfer... (feel free to merge/delete if this is redundant or doesn’t warrant its own thread)

the visibility at USF will never match Power Conference schools. i love this school & its athletics programs & have for over 2 decades but let’s be realistic. nationally speaking USF was a cute late season story. when the media talked about it they talked in generic terms about the team/program but rarely mentioned players by name & they hopped on it so late the run was over within a week or two of it finally breaking as a blip in national reporting… & it *always* came with the caveat that the computers hated USF & there was no way to make the NCAAT short of winning the conference tourneys auto-bid so even positive coverage was mitigated by negativity about the quality of competition USF was playing. USF has fewer nationally televised games against lesser competition with all but a cap on postseason potential being the NIT. ppl just dont take wins over Tulane, Temple & East Carolina as seriously as wins against pretty much any Power Conference schools, so his contributions beating those teams for another season wouldn’t be as valuable as winning against opponents on a Big 10 or ACC or even Big East schedule. similarly, nothing compares to the exposure of being a key rotation player on even a decent NCAAT run. & again, the NBA is not the only option. overseas scouts are more likely to see nationally televised games from Power Conference teams. again, i love USF but u just cant compare the benefit of playing for a midmajor to that of playing for a Power Conference & cant blame Pryor or any other player from gambling on themselves.

i have no clue, but there are 60 picks in the draft, Summer League invites, the G-League & of course international ball. the draft is not necessarily the only way to make it to the NBA & the NBA is not the only option for athletes to make a living off basketball, which id imagine is the ultimate goal, even if not the ideal of an NBA roster spot. some players (Rockets’ Jalen Green i believe) have bypassed NCAA eligibility & gone from high school to GLeague & eventually earned a spot on an NBA roster.

easier said than done unfortunately.

the question is how many minutes does he get off the bench & whether or not playing bench minutes for a Power 5 team is better for his future aspirations than playing starter minutes at a mid-major. u have to ask yourself— does playing 25-30 mpg as starter at USF with a few reg season games broadcast on ESPNU/ESPN+ and a NIT berth as the likely postseason ceiling get him more exposure than playing 15-20 mpg off the bench at a decent Power Conference school that has a few reg season games broadcast on national television (ABC/ESPN) & most of the rest broadcast on ESPNU/ESPN+ with the potential postseason ceiling being an NCAAT berth & all the national exposure that brings. & that doesnt even address differences in NIL money. classic big fish/small pond, small fish/big pond dilemma. does he want to be the best player on a minor league team with minimal national visibility & (possibly) less money or a strong rotation player/6th man at a power conference school that gets more national visibility with a higher ceiling & (possibly) more or at least the same money as he’d get at the former? i think the answer is clear. this is a business, Kasean knows it’s a business & he understands that he could be Michael Jordan but if he plays at USF instead of UNC far fewer ppl are going to see it or take the accomplishments as seriously, especially the people he WANTS to see it (NBA & other pro scouts). sucks. Kasean was my favorite player. my 13yo son’s as well. we bonded watching the Bulls play this year when he had never shown interest in attending live sporting events in the past. but these kids are just doing what they think is best to actually make a career out of athletics. cant blame him for taking a chance on himself.

my kid loved both of the games we attended, the win & the loss. best part is seeing his reaction not just to the gameday experience but to being on campus of a major university. he loves it there. next step is to take him for a more thorough stroll around campus… maybe hit MOSI first then cross the street & take a lil tour, have lunch at MSC.

yup. my son & i were running up & down stairs cuz we stopped by the restroom & almost missed him. very nice young man. appreciates his fans & never once felt rushed or like an inconvenience.

Mission Accomplished nice guy. he finished up the line & had literally turned & started walking for the tunnel & here i come flying down the steps “Kasean!” he stopped, came back, signed my son’s poster & took a GREAT pic w h8m. even asked my son his name (it is hard to pronounce) & thanked him by name afterwards. i thanked him for helping make this the best season in USF history.

yes. my son currently attends the Catholic VPK-8 in the area (not putting the school out there for his safety). they push for Mooney but we are almost as far north as u guys & Mooney is quite a haul down. St. Stephen’s is everyone’s first choice due to proximity & academic quality but unfortunately we can’t afford either. he has been a Step Up recipient virtually his entire life & also receives in-house assistance as we are parishioners… he is a perpetual Principal’s list student & receives all A’s with an occasional B due to elevated classes (& Catholic teachers who think this is the 1950s & homework is a punitive tool rather than learning enrichment but i digress… lol). has won plenty of awards & academic contests that the school gets students involved in. please message me so we can talk, possibly exchange emails/phone numbers. thank u for the information!

appreciate this, thank u

Barely five minutes on campus walking around before the Tulane game & he says to me “I wanna go here.” It’s amazing how mature (some) kids are these days. he’s a 7th grader, just turned 13 a couple months ago & he’s already thinking about college. & not just the vague “this is my dream school” that some kids have, he’s already talking about majors & asking which schools have the better programs for different fields of study. AND he’s already taking freshman Algebra this year, Geometry next & will be on the waitlist for SCF’s dual enrollment program where he completes his AA with his diploma by taking advanced classes in high school. …And he wants to stay on campus his 2 years at USF. where did my lil guy go? feels like just yesterday i was changing his diapers & now he’s a teenager talking about COLLEGE u blink an eye & theyre not babies anymore. from babies to Bulls! gotta raise em right!

AWESOME! thank u! whereabouts would i go to achieve that? is there a specific place i should be after the game? thanks again!

And how would one go about doing that? Since i took him to the Tulane game my son has been following the team on his own. I saw the loss to Tulsa then UAB & didn’t say anything cuz I didn’t want him to think that was the end after all the hype, but he texted me the scores one day while I was at work & asked me what happens next. I said “probably NIT” & explained the difference between the big tournament & the NIT. The day we beat UCF i had no idea they even played (been busy) but my son actually told me & said “I wish we could have been there so I could laugh in their face as we crushed their dreams” The kid is 13 & is very serious about wanting to attend USF. Anyway, I came out of pocket last minute (literally this afternoon) to take him to the VCU game. Is there any way he can get Kasean Pryor’s autograph at some point before or after the game? I know at NBA games there are those random moments where players sign stuff for fans, does that happen here or would it be frowned upon for my son to try & get an autograph before or after the game? Thanks. I’ll be in 106 loud & hyped for this incredible team GO BULLS

yeah we stayed to watch them cut down the nets. the confetti was a nice touch, just wish it would have come down sooner after the final buzzer. would have been cool to have the crowd still in their seats when the confetti fell.

it was incredible. i hate to admit but it had been quite a while since i’d been to the SunDome. it looks great inside & out. we got there about quarter to 6 so we walked around for a few minutes & the kid was impressed. when we finally got to our seats i asked him what he thought about the school. his response: “i wanna go here.” sat in 106 on the corner under the DJ so we could have a view of 95% of the court (the stanchion blocked the corner of the right wing but it was fine). everybody was cool, loud & full of excitement… not just about MBB but excited to be BULLS. i hadnt felt that way since the Leavitt football days. everybody there felt like this team & this school matter on a level bigger than just a cute local story. having a tight score for 75% of the game was perfect for the entertainment value. at halftime my son asked if Tulane was good because the score was still close. i told him Tulane isnt a bad team but that they were playing up to the top team in the conference. then i told him to expect us to pull away about halfway thru the 2nd when our talent would show thru. was a top 5 Bulls moment for me (sentimentally #1 cuz it was w my kid but i was at Auburn & FSU so… ) & im sure a top 5 overall moment for my son. it was as positive an experience as it could possibly have been. it wasnt just an exciting game on a Tuesday night, it was nationally relevant basketball played by the regular season champions of the best non-“power” conference in D1 sports in their best season if basketball in school history. & my son understood & absorbed every minute of it. proud to be a Bull. and Kasean Pryor is still his favorite player. dude is just so extra it’s fun to watch. the Bulls play a style of ball a lot like my favorite NBA team, the Celtics. switches on defense, lots of ball movement & drive & kicks for open threes. they look very solid. this isnt just a team on a lucky run, they play real high level basketball.

u didnt bet hard enough

it’s made by a brand called “IZAW” (In the Zone Athletic Wear) i first saw an old head wearing one around 2006… but it cant be older than 2003 because it uses the OvarianBull logo. early fan jersey that looks nothing like anything ever worn on-field, with the modern logo but ancient color scheme & jersey design (the seam across the clavicle with longer sleeves vs. seams on each sleeve). i passed on one in my size that hit $80 on eBay at the height of USFFB success & regretted it ever since, searching for another one on eBay for years until USF sucked hard @$$ and nobody was really selling vintage stuff anymore… somewhere along the way i grabbed this one for about $20 taking the ill-advised gamble that a youth XL might fit my Adult Smedium frame. it didnt & i saved it for years, unworn, until i bought Tulane tickets for my 13 year old son. it is now his. fitting that a (potential) future Bull is now the curator of this relic of USF days past. IZAW, indeed.

he asked me who our best player is so i showed him some highlights to decide for himself… i think he’s a Kasean Pryor fan. he got a kick out of the blonde hair

thank u! just bought my tickets. my kid is psyched! i dug out an old school football jersey thats yellow on the sleeves & shoulders, green on the body. i think its one of the first jerseys to use the OvarianBull logo, definitely a wild color scheme. it was always too tight for me so i never wore it but fits him perfect. i told him how uncommon that jersey is & how badly i regretted being too cheap to spend $80 on my proper size the last time it came up on eBay. he’s proud to own the jersey & even more excited for the game. future Bull in the making?

man f this. we ARE South Florida. we are named South Florida because we are the southernmost part of Florida with any real history. Miami was a friggin SWAMP in the late 1800’s while Tampa was a vibrant international city. there is HISTORY & CULTURE in the Tampa Bay area that so-called “south Florida” Miami-Dade-Broward wishes they had. theyre great for strip malls & condos & plastic titties on the beach, practicing your Spanish & eating decent Caribbean food, but they dont have the roots we have. we are South Florida because there was nothing in “south Florida” when our University was founded. the end. Miami-Dade-Broward-PalmBeach

pefect response. exactly what i was looking for. i live in Palmetto, i was thinking of driving up early & giving him a tour of the campus then heading over to the YLC for the game. i’ll grab the GA tix & follow this advice. thanks

it’s been a long time since i’ve been to an MBB game. i used to just walk up, buy the cheapest ticket & sit wherever there was an empty seat (there were plenty). suddenly i have a 13 year old who earned his role as a bench warner on his middle school team this year & FINALLY, after years of having zero interest in sports, has an interest in my favorite sport of all… basketball. & it’s happening at a time when the USF MBB program is as good as its ever been. i had contemplated a Celtics game in Orlando, but his mother & i went to MBB games at the Sun Dome when we were dating & i want him to understand the importance of USF to my life, to our family & hopefully get him thinking about being a Bull one day. SO… i am the “super loud obnoxious fan” type, my son is more reserved & low key but enjoys watching me act a fool. what section would be best for a rowdy (but not offensive) dad taking his kid to his first real basketball game not held in a middle school gym? i want to be close enough to the action where he can get the full experience but not so deep that he feels he has to stand & scream all game. definitely dont want to be near any bougie sitters who like to watch their live basketball in peace & quiet. basically does anyone have any recommendations on a loud but not intense section where we can stand & scream when appropriate but still sit down & enjoy a hot dog & explain the game to my son. any suggestions?