MBB Hosts DePaul Saturday Night At 7 p.m.

[Brad]

Courtesy USF SID Office

MBB Hosts DePaul Saturday Night At 7 p.m.

The University of South Florida men’s basketball team hosts DePaul Saturday evening at 7 p.m. in a critical BIG EAST Conference matchup for the Bulls.  USF must improve its position in the league standings should the squad hope to earn one of the 12 spots in the postseason tournament.  The matchup, to be featured on ESPN360, is the first of two between the programs in 2006-07.  The Bulls will travel to Chicago for the regular season finale on March 3 to complete the home-and-home series.

USF HOLDS POSITION, BUT NEEDS TO ADVANCE  

The past few weeks have seen the USF men’s basketball team move out of the last position in the BIG EAST standings, but the team’s advance has stopped in the 14th spot.

The Bulls must move ahead of at least two more programs to earn a spot in the 12-team league championship, which would be a marked improvement from the 2005-06 season.

None of the remaining four regular season games feature an opponent in possession of a league record above the .500 mark.  Providence is currently 5-6, DePaul (home-and-home) owns a 6-6 slate and Seton Hall is 3-8 through 11 conference outings.

Six overall victories could be enough to earn a trip to Madison Square Garden, but tiebreakers could make who the Bulls defeat more important than how many wins the team collects.

Cann Makes Long-Awaited Season Debut  

USF’s depleted front line received a boost Wednesday against Syracuse with the return of redshirt freshman Zaronn Cann.

Cann, who saw just 28 minutes of action in 2005-06 because of knee injuries, made his season debut versus the Orange.  The Seffner, Fla., native chipped in six points and a steal in 11 minutes of action.  He was 2-of-3 from the field and knocked down both of his free throw attempts.

At one point this season the Bulls were down to one true post player (Kentrell Gransberry).  With the return of Melvyn Richardson (foot) and Cann, USF’s post corps now includes three bodies.  Sophomore forward Aris Williams is out the rest of the year following knee surgery.