Perseverance Personified - Swift

[ChiTownBull]

http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGBHYQZ5D5E.html

Perseverance Personified

By BRETT McMURPHY bmcmurphy@tampatrib.com

Published: Feb 19, 2005

 

TAMPA - South Florida senior point guard Brian Swift is barely 5-foot-10 - and that's with his shoes on. Swift might be the Bulls' smallest player, but he is, without a doubt, their biggest leader.

``Clearly, Brian is our most valuable player,'' USF coach Robert McCullum said. ``He's the player we can least afford to lose. But, when you look at his size, his consistency, it's no secret he has to take care of the ball-handling chores.

``He's got to fight the defensive pressure from our opponents. He's got to get us into our offense. And on top of that, we ask him to score. It's almost amazing that he's handled those things as well as he has.''

Swift has handled everything except the losing.

After the Bulls' uninspired effort at Houston on Wednesday, Swift's frustration erupted like Mount Vesuvius.

``Sometimes I don't think the guys are giving their all,'' Swift said. ``I don't feel like everyone is on the same page. It's hard to go into a game with 10 guys and only half the guys think we can win.

``This frustrates me as a leader. I try to tell guys stuff and they look at me like I'm crazy, like they don't understand me. But I'm not going to quit doing what I'm doing. I told the team on the bus [Wednesday], there are only a couple of guys who can look in the mirror and have respect about this season.''

Swift's passion - on and off the court - has been a breath of fresh air this season for the Bulls, who host East Carolina tonight in a game pivotal to both teams' chances of reaching the Conference USA Tournament.

``By far it's the biggest game of the season,'' Swift said. ``This will define our season, by the way we come out and play as a team.''

Out of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, Swift appeared headed to Marquette or Wisconsin until the Golden Eagles signed Travis Diener, now an All- American point guard, and the Badgers signed Devin Harris, now with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks.

At USF, Swift spent his first two seasons backing up Reggie Kohn, but has since established himself as one of the league's top point guards.

His 5.2 assists per game in league games is C-USA's top average. He's also USF's second-leading scorer (15.3 points), ranks sixth in school history in career 3-pointers (144) and his free throw percentage (84.3) this year ranks 10th best at USF.

Swift also has been USF's most durable player. In 25 of his past 38 games, he's played at least 38 minutes, including 13 games playing all 40 minutes.

``Brian is not only our leader on and off the court, but he's having a good year,'' USF senior forward Terrence Leather said. ``The type of year you expect to have in your final season. This man gives it his all. I wish this team had half the heart he has.''

Freshman guard Collin Dennis said he has benefited from playing with Swift.

``He's taught me a lot,'' Dennis said. ``If I get out of line, make a mistake, he's there to correct me. He's helped my development a lot.''

Swift will graduate in four years in May with a finance degree.

``I just want to be remembered as a person throughout all the adversity, who persevered through it all,'' Swift said. ``He gave it his all, he kept playing through it all. He was always there and never turned his back on nobody.''

[Jewbull]

Maybe Swift will want to come back next year and be an assistant coach,  he seems like that type of guy. Alot of teams have former players come back and coach most notiablly Duke with former players Johnny Dawkins and Steve Wojo.

[ChiTownBull]

Maybe Swift will want to come back next year and be an assistant coach,  he seems like that type of guy. Alot of teams have former players come back and coach most notiablly Duke with former players Johnny Dawkins and Steve Wojo.

what about RK?

[beastiebull]

I feel bad for Swift.  Having to play with such a hearless group (in HIS own words) of Mac's recruits.  Look for very bad times after he, TL and MB are gone.