bullsbucsfan426

Phew! That was close. Huge win on the road. Beat ECU on Sunday and we're going to Orlando with 4th place in the conference on the line.

They're starting to press now. Need a big play here.

Those two missed threes would have helped here. Tight game.

USF's depth, persistence, and toughness is starting to push SMU out of this game. I expect they probably have one more run in them. Push through it and the game is ours.

I love watching Kiir getting better. He just loves to dominate around the rim and try to impose his will. At some point he's going to figure out everything and he will be dangerous inside.

I am amazed at SMU missing like three wide open threes. Insane.

Left Mike wide open there. Come on guys.

THREE! LANG!

We are better than this team. Now if we can get them into some real foul trouble that lead will get real big real fast. Easier said than done though.

I want that filthy traitor to see the horns he betrayed every time DC flashes past him for another basket or hits another 3 pointer.

It's not impossible that we end up with the 3rd or 4th seed. Outside of Cincy and Houston, teams 3-6 are all within a game and a half of each other, and we play all of those teams except for Memphis in the remaining 8 games of the season. We'd probably have to go 7-1 to get the 3rd seed, but opportunities are available. We will have to face Cincy or Houston in the semifinals regardless of seeding if we get there. I don't see them losing their quarterfinals match up.

I don't know if any of these schools had a cancellation, but if that's what we're going to argue, then Wofford did have one with Stanford.

I think Liberty, Wofford, or NMSU would be good wins home or away, but if we're traveling, then my choice is Liberty or ODU. Beating a top 100 NET team on the road will be a strong boost to our resume for the NIT or NCAA, and beating Liberty probably pushes us close to the top 60 if not into the top 60. You saw what beating a top 60 team did for us at home. As far as Liberty goes, they have two games left in the regular season with winning records-at Lipscomb and at NJIT. Lipscomb is ranked 32 and NJIT is ranked 165. They are going to want their chance at a strong top 75 win to protect their chances of getting to the tournament. USF is now a tier 1 game for road teams, so they may not mind coming here. On the flip side we would be a tier 2 win for them at their place.

They did not say, but here's who has open dates that week and could conceivably help us at least assure an NIT bid: ACC Miami (ranked 110 in NET, 9-12 record). Not sure if they'll travel, but might sell some tickets given the in-state fan base. Probably not strong enough to boost our resume. Atlantic 10 George Mason (ranked 126 in NET, 13-9 record). Would likely love to get out of the cold, but doesn't move needle on attendance or schedule strength. Atlantic Sun Liberty (ranked 50 in NET, 19-5 record). This would be ideal as they are well ranked, we could beat them at home, and they could probably use it for scheduling purposes as they have a game three days later against UNF in Jacksonville (saves travel costs). Given it's Liberty would probably sell a ton of tickets. Big 12 Kansas (17 in NET, 19-5 record). This would be ambitious and perhaps unrealistic, especially because they have a tough road game against Texas Tech three days later. They may be willing to play us if we travel. Texas Tech (16 in NET, 19-5 record). See above. Texas (41 in NET, 12-10 record). Strong team, probably would make us travel, but winning in Austin would be a tier 1 win. Big Sky Montana (108 in NET, 15-6 record). Would give us a decent win, but not sure it moves the needle. Montana probably doesn't want to fly this far as they'd have to fly all day and tickets are $400 RT as we speak. We would probably slaughter them after all that travel. Big South Winthrop (166 in NET, 14-8 record). They won't have to fly very far, but they don't help us at all. Hard pass. CUSA The entire league is off that week. Utterly bizarre. ODU is their top team and ranked 89 in the NET, so it would be a good win at home. North texas is 112 in the NET. I wouldn't consider scheduling anyone else from CUSA. We already beat FIU. Colonial Delaware (228 in NET, 14-10 record). In other words, hard pass. MAC They are fully scheduled out and Buffalo is playing on Tuesday and Friday that week. Answering only because you asked about Buffalo. Southern Wofford (28 in NET, 19-4 record). Can we beat these guys? I think it's possible. They'd really boost our resume. They're off that week. Southland Abilene Christian (161 NET, 18-4 record). Certainly a win, but doesn't really move the needle. WAC New Mexico State (61 NET, 18-4 record). They are completely off that week and would have plenty of time to recover from that travel. I suspect they would probably want this game as well to boost their seeding hopes for the NCAA tournament (because it's likely a resume builder for them and they would want to offset a bad loss to California Baptist). If I had to rank my top 5 on scheduling from this group 1. Liberty-winnable game, the scheduling will work well as they can hop on a fast flight to Jacksonville after the game. 2. New Mexico State-moves the needle, good schedule timing for them so they would be willing to come here 3. Old Dominion-good home win, will probably be willing to come here and get out of the cold weather for a bit. 4. Wofford-Would be a tough team to beat, they did have a game against Stanford postponed so they're willing to travel if it benefits them. They do have to go on the road to Furman three days later, but it's a 50 minute drive-not exactly a long trip. 5. Miami-their ACC arrogance would probably lead them to insist the game is played in Miami, and they are basically "ok" this year, yet it would be a good win in Tampa or Miami. They have had a decent reputation in the ACC the past few years so it would turn heads from a program building standpoint.

I heard rumors on TOS they are working on getting a better game scheduled. Looking at the schedule, we would probably need it done this week because the best available date is between the Temple and Houston games (there's a week gap between 2/16 and 2/23).

You have to keep in mind that we basically had an assembly line of talent going. Jose has a tendency of playing his top 7 all game every game, so the younger girls sat and learned how to play the game in America the first year with very limited minutes plus getting their conditioning up to play here. Kit and Laura also had the benefit of playing alongside Courtney Williams and Alisia Jenkins, which made their job easier as they were given specific responsibilities and not asked to do everything.

We're nasty now. Memphis is a top 60 team (although they suck on the road).

No, he does not. He's independent but has closer ties with Florida Hospital. Guess it wasn't him.

I'm hearing all the right things from Strong and Bell. Hoping we see a huge resurgence on the offensive end, there's just so much speed-and it's my hope the line matures from last year. I don't think we lost anyone on the OL, correct? Could be a huge key-with Cronkrite, Ford, Bell, plus McDoom, Horne, St. Felix, and even Wilcox there are all kinds of concepts and philosophies that can be used. Does anyone have a link to VSU's statistics? I didn't see anything on their home page.

I hope it went well-I wonder if my dad was the one that did it for you, that's his specialty. .

More like "looking at you, Sterlin Gilbert". Lol. This guy has done it on a regular basis. I'm excited to see what he puts together for next year.

Cincy has always been a really bad match up for us. Their defense gives us fits.

How long is Cincy going to crowd the paint? No 3-second violations?

We held them 21 points under their scoring average. We've been pretty good defensively all season, but 3 point shooting is a clear up and down situation. This game isn't in question with a minute to go with 70% free throw shooting. Don't like it but this is who we are right now. Uconn will use the exact same game plan on Wednesday, they have a really deep line up. Their back ups will be hacking all game.

It's a great play. fantastic play. you gotta mix it up with dives, tosses, and clear the box with passes to the TE and bubble screens, it won't stand on its own, but as part of an offensive package, it's a great way to impose your will on teams and run out the clock when you're up 28 in the 4th quarter.