I like what is saw at the Basketball game

[BULLfreak]

no... dunk it, just make it.

Go strong to the hoop and the ref's will reward you.  Play weak and you pay.

If you can dunk it, you should.  No need to be fancy, just get the ball through the hoop in the highest percentage fashion.

When I read this post I think of the movie anger management

[beastiebull]

Bring back the 1-3-1.

[Triple B]

I think this season will be a true testament to Heath's coaching. He will only be working with the freshmen he brought in, and the guys left from last year's team.

Jones is Mac's recruit and Curry didn't play on last year's team. Holmes should add more depth when he becomes eligible in time for conf play.

[BULLfreak]

Heath era opens with 99-70 win vs. Saint Leo

First, a caveat: I wasn't at Wednesday night's men's basketball exhibition against Saint Leo. Correspondent Brendan Galella covered for the Times, so what I'm writing here is based on the story he filed and reading a box score. Again, it's an exhibition against a Division II team, so everything should be taken with a certain grain of salt. A few observations, then ...

-- Very promising debut for freshman guard Dominique Jones, who had a game-high 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting, with five steals, four assists and one turnover in a team-high 32 minutes. My big question entering the season has been who the complementary scorers would be alongside Kentrell Gransberry: somebody besides Chris Howard will be scoring in double digits. This makes Jones a strong contender for that, though we've already heard Stan Heath talk about wanting more consistency on defense.

-- Amazing amount of turnover in players over the past year. Looking at the box score from last year's 66-50 exhibition against Saint Leo, there are only three players that played in that game and Wednesday's: Amu Saaka, Solomon Bozeman and walk-on Eddie Lovett. Chris Howard brought up a good point, saying how last season, he was "thrown to the wolves" by making his debut in Big East play. Same with Gransberry, who missed the first seven games after transferring midyear.

-- Certainly looks like Heath had a lot of four-guard looks, as his primary post players (Gransberry, Orane Chin, B.J. Ajayi) totaled just 57 minutes. Heath has talked about having options between slashers and shooters -- only three of Jones' 15 shots were 3-pointers, while all four of Solomon Bozeman's were from outside the arc. It's encouraging to see only two players (Gransberry and Bozeman) with more turnovers than assists -- last year, against the same team, USF had only two players (Bozeman and Chris Capko) with more assists than turnovers. Again, this is all against Saint Leo.

-- I'll follow up on this Thursday, but 6-foot-11 walk-on Mohamed Esseghir did not play, which would suggest to me that his NCAA waiver seeking eligibility now instead of waiting until after the fall semester has not gone through. This is important because Gransberry has been suspended from next week's opener against Cleveland State; his likely replacement is junior B.J. Ajayi, who fouled out in 15 minutes against Saint Leo. Chin was at the other extreme, with zero fouls in 23 minutes. Esseghir, who gives Heath another big body in the paint, was confident of USF being able to get that waiver in time for the opener, so we'll check on that over the next week.

-- Thoughts and comments from you readers who were there? We've already gotten some comments on the crowd, and I'll try to get a number on that Thursday -- no attendance was given in the box score or in USF's release from sports information. Keep those questions coming, and remind me to post something Thursday about my conversation with the executive director of the Gator Bowl ...

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/

[The Stampede]

One man's opinion from last night's game who went to most games last year:

Granted it was different competition, but Chris Howard looked like a different player than last year.  He was much quicker and seems like he lost a few pounds, I also didn't notice any kind of knee brace which I believe he wore last year.  He made several good passes to players going to the hoop that led to easy lay-ups.  He seemed in control of the game.

Dominique Jones looked very good as you can tell by the numbers.  I was impressed with his controlled agressiveness on the offensive end.  I didn't see many if any forced shots and he rarely settled for an outside shot before driving to the hoop.

KG - not involved in the offensive flow much last night but not worried about him at all.  Still got his numbers despite limited minutes and touches.

Dante Curry - I liked what I saw from him, good athlete and ball handler.  He will be an asset this year, capable of having some games with big pont totals.

Orane Chin - Very aggresive defensively, had the play of the night with a monster dunk over a St. Leo player.  I think the coaches will imoprove him offensively and he'll end up beign a good player.

Bozeman and Verdejo - similar to last year, both are dependant on their outside shot falling.  Hopefully at least one will get hot each game and they can spread the floor for KG.

Ajayi - first time I had seen him play, didn't have great body control as evidenced by fouling out in limited time.  Has good size though, will need some minutes out of him to spell KG for rest and foul issues.

Overall, I'm optimistic with what I saw last night.  The wing players are obviously where the strength and the depth of the team lies which should lead to an entertaining and high tempo game most nights with KG proviging the inside balance. 

[BULLfreak]

KG needs to learn to stay out of foul trouble

[Jake_Ryan]

From an out-of-towner, thanks to those who posted about last night's game.

Sounds like Heath will have a team like Kent State's a few years back with a bunch of slashers.  There will be growing pains, particularly in the Big East, but Heath is the man for the job and probably better than we could have hoped for.  Go Bulls!

[bull2saintleo]

Finally, I've been waiting for the $10 walk up ticket to these pre Big East schedule games.  No need for it to be full price for the Bethune Cookmans and FAUs.

So where about are these tix located in the Dome and which gate can they be purchased at?

[79 Bull]

Finally, I've been waiting for the $10 walk up ticket to these pre Big East schedule games.  No need for it to be full price for the Bethune Cookmans and FAUs.

So where about are these tix located in the Dome and which gate can they be purchased at?

For OOC games, they are second level end zone.  For BE games, they are the entire third level.  Buy at the regular box office, southeast corner.

[flsportsfan83]

Finally, I've been waiting for the $10 walk up ticket to these pre Big East schedule games.  No need for it to be full price for the Bethune Cookmans and FAUs.

So where about are these tix located in the Dome and which gate can they be purchased at?

For OOC games, they are second level end zone.  For BE games, they are the entire third level.  Buy at the regular box office, southeast corner.

and they are only on sale the day of the game?