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    Great Season Bulls!
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The land of big and tall


Guest BasketBull.

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im feeling an undefeated season

You must be feeling sick...

lol

GO BULLS!!!

i predict us to go undefeated every year. im not realistic. i cant pick against us, even how far fetched it is

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assuming Gilchrist were to get a waiver, and Akol qualifies...

starter (reserve,3rd,4th)

PG Howard (mercer,mcmillan,Jones,Daniels)

SG Jones (mercer,verdejo, Belardo)

SF Verdejo (mercer,Espinosa)

PF Espinosa (Ajayi,teague,williams,Sanchez,Akol,Emory)

C Gilchrist (Akol, Sanchez)

Looks good to me but I think CSH may want to start both Akol and Gilchrist.  One at PF and the other at C.  They are both natural PF anyway.  I also think that Ajayi has a position to lose(which he may) since he played well for us last year.   As far as Mercer, he has a position to win.  I don't think of him as our initial starter but if he plays and practices well that he could become a starter. 

Lets remember that we could have potentially 8 new players eligible next season and that the starters may shift thoughout the year depending on who CSH considers is the best player after seeing them in action. 

All the scouts that have seen Akol play or workout have called him raw.  He's got a lot to learn, like most African players that have limited American exposure- from what has been described your getting a slightly more skilled player then Ajayi, although he does have four years to hone those skills where as Ajayi had 2.  Gilchrist on the other hand is being described as a top tier talent.  I don't see anyway he doesn't start the moment he's eligible to play.

With that being said, mama bull, be careful over projecting.  The top half of the BE sign players like Gilchrist year-in, and year-out and have rosters loaded with talent.  For the most part aside from Gilchrist, and maybe Mercer, the remainder of the Bulls team is full of solid but not overly talented players (sure maybe a freshman or two may surprise but that's a wait and see and no scouting report has put any at an elite level).  That's not to say they can't be great, or play great as a team, but none have that exceptional take it to the NBA type talent except for those two.  As for anyone that wants to imply Jones does, that just isn't the case, he's a special talent because of many of his intangibles and skills, but definitely lacks certain exceptional abilities like leaping, jump shooting, and speed that would make the NBA troublesome for him at this time.  I say this because we're still short-handed, so to speak, going into the BE, and it will take a bit more than just showing up with Gilchrist to win 10 BE games. 

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Actually, T8 in the Big East won 9 conference games last year. If we could get BOTH Akol and Gilchrist, that seems plausible. We were in a lot of close games last year with much less talent and even less depth. Going .500 in the Big East would be a goal to shoot for this season with a FULL roster. 

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Actually, T8 in the Big East won 9 conference games last year. If we could get BOTH Akol and Gilchrist, that seems plausible. We were in a lot of close games last year with much less talent and even less depth. Going .500 in the Big East would be a goal to shoot for this season with a FULL roster. 

Again, that's where I get concerned as a long-time hoops season ticket holder, people expecting immediate gratification, then being promised it by other fans, and crushing down on Stan before it's time, and putting unneeded pressure on him.  We had some close games last year, true, but some teams clearly overlooked us, and the BE will be tougher this year, and remember as far as eligibility goes, even if Gilchrist is available immediately, like Mercer, it won't be until the 2nd semester or basically January.  Then you've got to contend with the fact Gilchrist has not played organized hoops in two years, and ditto for Mercer.  Against Uconn, Gtown, Cinci, WVU, Nova, Syracuse, UL, and Butgers that will make a huge difference!  Also, before crowning Gilchrist over Gransberry he needs to play in more than one game at the BCS level.  Until then he's no Gransberry just a basket full of potential.  Also, 'more depth' is something that is a HUGE, HUGE IF for now.  As it stands Aris Williams was average at best before his major injuries, McMillan and Akol have yet to become eligible and both are still projects, and let me see Belardo, Espinosa, Rivas, and teague play before we decide who will be contributing.  For that matter all are extreme unknowns and all were ranked 250 or worse on national ranking charts- meaning they'll need to come in and develop a little before being counted on for minutes.  It looks like great depth down the line, if they all develop properly, but i've bought a bill of goods before that wasnt' what it turned out to be.  Read the link below from quotes by Chin on what Heath said of him, and what Heath said of Chin himself.  There are other future articles where Gransberry and Howard allude to the fact Heath believes Chin can contribute right away.

http://usf.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=665580

http://www.gousfbulls.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=36686&SPID=2923&DB_OEM_ID=7700&ATCLID=877930

To Chins defense, early in the season he did immediately contribute , against FSU he had something like 13pts, 5 bounds and assists, and against UCF he had 10 boards and 12 pts.  Then around December things slipped, and Chin never got back on track.  Clearly he could play, you can't rack up stats like that as a true, true freshman without some ability, but either there was headbutting, laziness, mental block, physical limitations...believe what you want, but Chin didn't live up to expectations and Stan moved on.

To date, only Gilchrist that we signed, was ranked ahead of Chin.  All the other guys, by most national standards, we've signed this year, are hovering at or below about where Chin was at last year.  Just dealing with the facts here (oh and yes Jones was ranked ahead of Chin, and no Jones was not a fluke or a diamond in the rough, thankfully CRM scooped him up in the early signing period because he would have never been available for Stan, and might have shot up in ranking, had we not signed him early), so to me only Gilchrist is the sure think the rest need to show us something and I fully expect 1 or 2 will end up like Chin did, because Stan is not stopping until he builds a winner here!

The future is bright for sure with Gilchrist, Espinosa, and McMillan (who to me are the only three relative sure things- personally I am very high on McMillan and Espinosa), but proclaiming to win 9-10 games in the BE, when we possibly won't even have Gilchrist, and Mercer available for the first 1-2, and they'll definitely be getting up to speed, and the fact next year in the BE, undoubtedly 5 maybe 7 teams will be in contention for top 25 honors.

I do hope you're right, and I do feel good about hoops again, and love Stan Heath.  But with all the transitioning that will be experienced in 08-09 I am just hoping for modest improvement, maybe 4-6 wins, then 1-2 more big signees by Stan, and then 09-10 is when we start setting our sites on post-season and top tier in the conference.

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I think the positivity is coming from

1)  Full roster, finally

2)  Size

3)  Jones is incredible

4)  Mercer was incredible as a freshman

5)  Verdejo has finally shown his true ability

6)  More than one true center, one of whom is very highly rated

There are plenty of unknowns, but at the very least, those are all positives that we can look forward to seeing next year.  Hopefully it translates into better results than last year.  It should.  How much... ???

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I think the positivity is coming from

1)  Full roster, finally

2)  Size

3)  Jones is incredible

4)  Mercer was incredible as a freshman

5)  Verdejo has finally shown his true ability

6)  More than one true center, one of whom is very highly rated

There are plenty of unknowns, but at the very least, those are all positives that we can look forward to seeing next year.  Hopefully it translates into better results than last year.  It should.  How much... ???

Oh how we miss the ole #1. 

Mercer and Jones together can be a sick combo that puts USF bball on the map. 

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if mercer can't break the starting line-up we got problems

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if mercer can't break the starting line-up we got problems

Or the guys that would play at Mercer's spot are playing better then expected and the team is rolling.If the chemistry is good and the team is playing well CSH will be very reluctant to make a change.

However having seen Mercer play 2 years at Georgia he certainly will eventually play his way into the starting lineup because he is very good.He was the closest thing to Ronnie Brewer in the SEC.

Another note; expect Akol and Espinosa to get a lot of work playing the SF position if Gilchrist gets to play this season and of course Akol passes his ACT.

Akol and Gilchrist playing this year for USF also will likly mean that Teague redshirts which benefits both him and USF.

Also CSH is not going to start Gilchrist at center.Rivas-Sanchez and Ajayi are centers.It would take away from Gilchrist's strengths as an offensive player if he was force to always play close to the rim and with his back to the basket.The guy basically has the game of Carlos Boozer and making him a center would be a mistake.

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Hoopscoop had Akol ranked #79 player overall while in HS:

HOOP SCOOP'S RANKING OF THE NATION'S TOP 900 SENIORS (CLASS OF 2007)

Published on October 3, 2006

79.Teeng Akol 6'11 2007 PF Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY

http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/classof2007-postsummer-2006.asp

They now have Akol ranked #27 player overall as a fifth year player:

HOOP SCOOP'S RANKING OF THE NATION'S TOP 100 5TH YEAR PLAYERS

Published on February 21, 2008

27. Teeng Akol 6'11 2008 PF Bradenton (IMG Academy) FL

32. Dwan McMillan 5'11 2008 PG Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ  South Florida

85. Gabi Belardo 6'2 2008 2G Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA  South Florida

http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/classof2008-5thyearrankings.asp

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Many have forgotten just how good Belardo was and now that he is healthy again.The guy was a star for that great Montverde Academy team before he headed to prep school.He was one of the best players on that team before he suffered an injury.He showed his toughness by still trying to play despite against better judgment.His play suffered and his ranking suffered during that time period.Well along came CSH and he happens to catch Belardo this spring playing at full strength and that was enough for CSH to offer this guy a scholie.

Check any article about Gabby before he got hurt and you will be impressed about what kind of player he was and what he has a chance do for USF.The fact that he gets a chance to play with his idol in Jesus Verdejo will only help him.I fully expect Belardo to have a nice 4 year career at USF and make some big big plays along the way.

If we get everybody in the fold it would be worth a gameday ticket just to watch so many newcomers and the returning guys battle it out for starting jobs and PT.

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