Predict how USF men's bball will finish

[79 Bull]

17 - 13 plus win first game of BE tournament, plus win first game of NIT.  End the post season at 19-15.

[DELdaBull]

10-2 OOC

5-13 in BEAST

15-15. Tournament will say where we play (NIT or CBI).

[dabull80]

The game by game approach is always tough because it is a game on paper.  For the first time in years we actually have two guys that can score with Gilchrest & Jones.  Jones especially I think will be more effective this year.  He was beaten down last year by the time we got to conference play and then really got beaten down in conference as our lone scoring option.  This years team should come in better equipped to compete and more rested - that BE schedule is tough for all the teams.  Injuries will be the major factor.  No injuries we could get nine wins.  Famous would have to step up in BE play and Rivas would need to at a minimum be effective(recover from his injury).  I really don't know how much Crater adds since we already have a senior PG in Howard.  Nine wins gets us to the Dance and for me in college basketball that is the bar for success.  No I won't be upset if we only win one game in BE play because I just enjoy the game but it would be nice exciting to tune in the TV for selection Sunday wondering what/if our seed will be.  Waiting almost 20 years for an invite does make you patient.

[Bull Matrix]

I think we will get anywhere from 2 to 5 BIG EAST wins. I think we should have 9 OoC wins. So a 14 win season wont suprise me. Anything more than that, then I would be suprised. GO BULLS!!!

[USFMikeB]

I think we will get anywhere from 2 to 5 BIG EAST wins. I think we should have 9 OoC wins. So a 14 win season wont suprise me. Anything more than that, then I would be suprised. GO BULLS!!!

This is the most realistic prediction I've seen so far.  I've gotta laugh at the folks predicting USF to go greater than .500 in conference play, given our history.

Unrealistic expectations...

[Vega]

I hope people don't have unrealistic expectations and then call for Heath's head when it doesn't work out the way they wanted.

We haven't started conference games yet.  I saw we get 5-7 wins there, which would be great for our team this year.

As long as there is improvement Heath will keep the people happy and his job will be safe. The majority of people knows how tough of a job Stan has and will show patience with him. Getting into the NIT at the least will/should improve the program as that will allow USF to bring in better talent for the future.

[Velcro]

Flipping btwn UC/Pitt and UK/UNC... I wish we had someone managed to get Eric Bledsoe to commit here.  We wouldn't just be talking about NIT with him complementing Dojo and Gilchrist.  Very good player, starting for kentucky as a freshman along side John Wall.

[bigworm]

Hopefully without NCAA sanctions.

[Vega]

Flipping btwn UC/Pitt and UK/UNC... I wish we had someone managed to get Eric Bledsoe to commit here.  We wouldn't just be talking about NIT with him complementing Dojo and Gilchrist.   Very good player, starting for kentucky as a freshman along side John Wall.

He's fantastic. We had him starting for us and USF is one of the top 5 teams in the Big East.

[Vega]

This team is not deep enought to compete in the upper division of the conference just yet. We need more high-energy bodies off the bench and some additional depth at the guard position.

We have 3 bigs that can compete at the Big East level (Gilchrist, Famous and Fitzpatrick) and only 2 guards (Jones and Howard). Mercer and Leemow are fringe Big East players. Burwell, Noriega and Rivas are not Big East talent yet.

Rivas proved to be a serviceable big man in this league late last season when he trusted his legs. When healthy he can most definitely help this team off the bench. I'm not a fan of Justin Leemow and Crater getting in trouble again really hurt because that screws up the guard rotation much longer then it should. I think Burwell has talent to play in the league and Noriega can be a spot player off the bench when needed in the future, Dumars on the other hand has been a huge disappointment imo. The reason is he obviously wasn't discipline enough this past offseason to get himself into better shape. He is easily the fattest guard I'd seen playing in basketball this season. He's so out of shape that he gets almost all of his fouls of defense trying to keep up with his man by grabbing and holding or bumping guys with his belly.

I do think the gap between the better Big East teams has closed enough this season where USF can win enough games, especially at home, to where they'll play in the postseason.