abochner

Not crazy about two sport guys.

Vega, what do you know about this kid.?

Not at all disappointed. The injuries to Yetna and Q were very significant, disturbing the chemistry of an inexperienced team.

I agree that the team has some talented players. But the consensus was they would finish last. One of the reasons one can say they beat the teams they were supposed to beat is that's how it looks now, because they beat them. At the start of the season, this team was not expected to beat Wichita State or Memphis or to lose narrowly to Temple twice and to Cincinnati or to beat SMU on the road (a place they lost by 50 last year). Perhaps over-performed is the wrong word. They won 2 conference games last year, 8 this year. A gain of 6 games surely has to be considered something beyond expectations. If they don't win 10 games in conference next year, we'll likely be disappointed.

This team over-performed most of the season, with the only real under-performances against the Citadel and SMU. The defensive effort was poor yesterday given the game plan, which was to crash the boards. USF did their usual great job of offensive rebounding, but the failure to get points off the offensive rebounding led to many easy baskets going the other way for SMU. Yes, it was disappointing, but we all know there are still a few glaring weaknesses. We don't have any forwards who can score off the dribble. Our poor outside shooting makes us vulnerable to teams that can play a good match-up zone. The future is bright, but we are still a couple of weapons away from being a tournament team. Still, let's not forget we were picked for last in the conference. This has been a year to develop a "professional" and disciplined approach and, for the most part, it has been successful. We can be expected to finish among the top six next year and will have only two seniors among the top eight players. No reason to believe we won't again be the best or near the best rebounding team in the league and that's a good start. Sure would love to beat Connecticut and win our first ever game in the AAC Tournament.

We'll get the 20th win on Sunday and should add another during the Conference Tournament.The starting seven are back next year in addition to two three-star recruits and Zach Dawson (if he has his life straightened out). Durr will bulk up this summer and Yetna should continue to improve. This should give USF the talent to compete and perhaps split with the teams at the top next year. A reasonable goal of 11 or 12 wins in conference next year is attainable. Losing our point guard for the rest of this season is a blow, but we should still be able to finish on a high note. Those 2 point loses to Tulsa, and Temple really hurt, but as CBG likes to say "we know who we are."

That three point shot was a disgrace as was the missed free throw. Coach was not happy. Do like his attitude. Disappointing that UCFwanted it more

Other than the spurts at the beginning of each half, we played Houston pretty well. They are just too experienced and they haven't lost at home in two years. We will have Zack Dawson next year and that should make a lot of difference. Casatenada has progressed nicely and is playing with more confidence. He will only get better. Teams have adjusted to our preferred mode of driving to the basket. Justin Brown was expected to be a three-point threat, but he just hasn't delivered except in spurts. Lang is ok, but is a defensive liability and lacks the kind of effort we see in the other players. So we are what we are. Next year, we will have Zack Dawson. He was rated as the third best shooting point guard in the country coming out of Miami and averaged 24 points a game. And he was recruited by Arizona, Louisville, and Oklahoma State. Hopefully, he's not a head case,With 4 good guards and Yetna and Durr continuing to improve, we have to think we'll be a 22-25 win team. Moreover, I anticipate that Gregory will add another recruit in the late signing period. And the two incoming Freshman look like they can both contribute early. Q has been off his game for the past three weeks and it has hurt. We need him to have any chance of upsetting UCF. When he is on top of his game, Collins is a better than average shooter. He's playing hurt and it is unlikely we can afford to rest him

Score Update?

They take into account margin of victory. If we had won by double-digits, the ranking wouldn't have changed that much.

Hats off to ECU. They came to play. Q was not benched at any point; he had two early fouls, which is an automatic sit. Gregory said after the game, he had to ask the team at halftime if they knew the game started at 5:30 because they were playing as if it started at 6:30. Great line! Collins played over 40 minutes and was outstanding. This team was built around Yetna's offensive rebounding and ability to move inside or outside and be equally effective. Coach made some great defensive adjustments taking away the three pointers and limiting the top Freshman rebounder in the league to 3 rebounds. But as you could see, this team is offensively challenged and their are no easy solutions with the present cast. Let's be real. This team is way ahead of schedule. Each player has improved over the course of the season and once again today we at times had three freshman on the court at the same time. They just came off their biggest road win and had a quick turnaround. And would be hard not to be looking ahead to their biggest rival. Speaking of the game Wednesday, consider they play three 5th year seniors. We play one senior and he rarely plays more than 12 minutes a game. Gregory will be Coach of the Year.

1. Kudos to Collins. Two clutch 3 pointers. 2. We don't win this game without the play by Durr. They had the rebound and he forced the "ruled" jump ball that gave us a chance. If he doesn't do that, we have to foul and it's game over. Kudos to Michael Durr. 3. We can likely beat ECU without Yetna, but we're not the same rebounding team without him. He adds so many dimensions to this team. If he's out two weeks or more, the challenge will be immense. 4. At one point in the second half, we played with three true freshman on the court. That should give all of us a sense of how far this team can go over the next three years. 5. Will be able to keep this coach with the miserable attendance. If we get another 3-4000 for ECU, the impression is going to be horrible. Other conferences will be looking to grab Gregory if we manage 20 or more wins. It's time for us to show we can support major college basketball. Why can't we get 8,000 at the YC for UCF and Temple? Why is there nothing locally being written about the success of this team?

Our trips to SME have been disasters, the worst of which was last year's 79-39 loss. In the past four seasons we have lost there: 39-79 65-84 58-72 49-83 I would think this is likely to be a very tough game even with Yetna.

I am as excited about this team as anyone. But let's be realistic. We are a young, aggressive, and improving team, but we are not world-beaters--yet. The game at SMU will be telling and I don't want to think beyond that game. We have never won there. In fact, we have never come within 25 points of winning there and they are no slouch. If we beat Temple, Tulsa, Tulane (again), and East Carolina (again) we should make the NIT. We have yet to show that we can beat a decent team on the road. Without Yetna we will likely have to change our game plans. I do think the league is improving. If Gregory doesn't get Coach of the Year, I'll be disappointed.

How cool is to have Coach Gregory posting! How lucky we are to have him. What a difference he has made. Love his positive attitude, his energy during games, and his drive to do things the right way including emphasizing our players' academic work. A class act. So disappointing that we're not getting at least 7,00O in the YC. Where are the students? Why can't we do something about all the empty Green Jacket seats. Loved Coach Gregory's comment about the Tampa Bay Times not even mentioning USF Basketball in their "Things worth Doing this weekend" column. USF build their big lead withour Tideau and with a Freshman Guard who is still learning and contibuted greatly to the 30 turnovers. How do you win a game with 30 turnovers? That means the other team is going to have something akin to 20 or more shots at the basketball. That's giving up a lot. I don't think Memphis would have closed the gap with a healthy Yetna grabbing rebounds and Rideau and Collins playing in foul trouble most of the second half. But give Memphis credit they played hard and that press was effective. Consider that we have only one senior and two juniors getting significant playing time and neither were playing last year. Our entire top six players will be back next year. I've seen one projection that now gives us a 28% chance of making the NIT and 19 wins. Now we go to SMU, a team that has beat us by 30-40 points on their home court the last two years. Would be an awesome win. Without Yetna that is a tall order. Loved how he got off the floor, could hardly move and drained both foul shots. That kid is something special.

He's getting better and better. Still trying to learn how to stay out of foul trouble. Has such a natural instinct for rebounding. If he stays four years and remains healthy, he'll re-write the USF record book. Awesome player with incredible "want to."

That we even are talking about NIT and conference tournament seeds at this time of year is a tribute to Gregory's coaching and the buy in from these players. Consider that eight of the nine top players return next year and positive feeling around the team that will undoubtedly help recruiting and the future looks bright. Now what do need to do to to get the attendance up to where it should be? Let's fill the YC on Saturday for what should be a tough but entertaining game.

We likely need to win 4 of the 5 remaining home games and two on the road to make the NIT.

After three tough games against superior competition and with only two days rest, the team could be expected to have a down game. The shockers were sending everyone to the boards and preventing our guards from driving to the basket. They had a good game plan. Yetna had a mediocre game and was in foul trouble most of the second half. But he hit the clutch shot that gave USF breathing room. USF held McDuffie, the league's top scorer to 11 points. We looked very tired in the second half, but defense held together just enough to beat back the challenge. It is hard not to be excited about the future of USF basketball when you consider that the most minutes are being played by two freshman, two sophomores and a junior transfer, and we'll be adding a superb transfer guard next year. Really disappointing that we can't average 5,000-7,000 a night at the YC.

Great job on Rideau is what I meant. Sometimes you have to give credit to the other team. And how is it every opponent seems to shoot 85% at the foul line against us?

We aren't yet in the same class as Houston, which has a top 50 player and two senior guards. They did a great job and Rideau and Yenta's foul trouble was decisive. They had a great game plan and executed it to perfection. This team is fun to watch but they are vulnerable to teams with outstanding guard play. We are already the top rebounding team in the league and that shouldn't change over the next three years. It would help if Collins would play two good halves. The future is really bright and I hope fans won't get discouraged. Next year we will have four decent to good guards and hopefully will recruit a three point specialist. I still think we can get to 17 or 18 wins if we continue to improve. Who thought this was possible. I loved the emotion shown by our bench and coaches last night. Passion personified.

I've been watching USF basketball since 1984 and a season ticket holder for many of those years including this one. This is the best defensive team I've seen as well as the happiest team. By that I mean they genuinely enjoying playing together and for this coach. They are young and inexperienced. Their one senior sat out a year, gets less than 20 minutes floor time a game, and didn't play all that much at Auburn. They have a team-first philosophy. Though picked to finish last in the conference, they are 2-2 and could well be 4-0. Coach Gregory has brought the program back to respectability. Nobody can take this team lightly. Still, there seems to be a level of disappointment because they've lost four games (by 3 points or less). One theme seems to be that Gregory is not so hot because he can't teach them to shoot foul shots at a higher percentage. But this team has, if I'm not mistaken, outrebounded their opponent in every game. That's Gregory. We lead the conference in steals. That's Gregory too. True enough--they have underperformed at the foul line and we should expect better. I think they will get there, because the nine guys who are playing most of the minutes have a lot of pride and determination. Now, what about USF students and our USF community. Where are the fans? These guys deserve support. Where is the campaign to fill the Sun Dome? No excuse to draw 3,000 or fewer every game. Coach Gregory is a class act and he's just beginning.

This team is developing beautifully. They are not, however, nearly what they can and should be by the end of the season. Consider that only three of these players were even on the team last year and one of them is hardly getting any playing time, though he started last year. This team is built on rebounding and defense and will be in a lot of close games. Four of the starting five and the first three off the bench will all be here next year. They are in the process of learning how to play with each other and how to win. This takes time and patience, but one consistent feature of their play thus far is their rebounding and defense. The big question is will people turn out for their games. Would be nice if we could get 5-7,000 per game instead of "announced crowds of 3. Gregory has done an amazing job and appears to be a sound floor coach.

Couldn't understand at the time why folks were questioning this hire given Gregory's pedigree, having been trained at Michigan State. He had Dayton competing hard year after year, then made the move up to Georgia Tech and did some fine recruiting but was not given time to get his guys to gel. You could tell last year that he had class. He let the team's best player on paper leave the team for the sake of team unity and he patiently developed Collins. Though lacking Division 1 talent, the team was so much better at the end of the season than at the beginning. This was a good win for the Bulls, but it's just the start. They are SO YOUNG and inexperienced. But they will bring defense and rebounding every night and they likely won't be outhustled. Lots to look forward to in Men's BB.

Great effort. Bulls just lack a big time 3 point-shooter. I've never seen a college game in which a team was in the double-bonus withing 7 minutes of the half. Yetna was called for two touch files and had an overall miserable game. Durr appears to be a natural rebounder who keeps consistently good positioning on the floor. Rideau is a scrappy, hard-guarding guard, but has to make better decisions. Kiir was a joy to watch on the court, playing with great enthusiasm and has some outstanding inside moves. This could easily have been a double-digit win against a team that won 18 games last year and returned two of its best players. USF had only three guys on the court who payed here last year at all, and Scevic likely won't see much action unless injuries occur. Lots to be optimistic about. This should be a .500 team this year and is deeper talent-wise than any team since Greenberg was here with BB and Jackson.