Lost to Detroit @ Home?

[USFbulls24]

 

and it really started with the return to Anthony Collins as the main ball handler. I have said it before the season and since it started, this USF team cannot play in a halfcourt because we don't have the shooters or the skill at SG to do so. The team has really lost it's aggressiveness with Collins dribbling and dribbling and dribbling until a shot is forced or somebody dribbles the ball off their own leg. We basically are last season's team without the 3pt shot of Fitzpatrick. The slowed styled and dominate dribbling of Collins has taken it's toll on Allen who looks confused and frustrated these last two games. When Brock is your best player on the floor then you have major problems my friend.

 

This was such a critical season for USF needing to produce a winning season that ended in tournament play because of the vital 2015 recruiting class, but now another dreadful season under Stan Heath looks more then likely at this point. You cannot lose by almost 30 at home to anybody and you certainly cannot lose at home to a team that you have to beat by 20 points.

 

Doug Woolard and Judy Grenshaft needs to really be prepared to act on the best interest of the USF basketball program going forward should USF finish at the bottom of the AAC where they are projected to do so. I really didn't believe I would have to write that this season because I bought into Heath finally getting things right, but a bad season and our basketball program is in real trouble for the future if he remains on as head coach.

 

How can you say that this USF team is the same as last year when they have added 2 bigs who can rebound and score?  This is obviously a much different team that is able to score from the inside and also added another guard that can create his own shot.

 

So if USF fires Heath, who will they bring in to replace him?  I doubt there is any coach out there (that USF can get) that is going to recruit better than Heath.

 

 

Let's not pretend like USF basketball would be lost without Stan Heath... There are plenty of really good coaches at smaller programs that would love the raise to come to USF and those coaches at smaller programs have been able to put really good seasons together with less talent and resources than a school like USF has.

[BrickBardo]

 

 

and it really started with the return to Anthony Collins as the main ball handler. I have said it before the season and since it started, this USF team cannot play in a halfcourt because we don't have the shooters or the skill at SG to do so. The team has really lost it's aggressiveness with Collins dribbling and dribbling and dribbling until a shot is forced or somebody dribbles the ball off their own leg. We basically are last season's team without the 3pt shot of Fitzpatrick. The slowed styled and dominate dribbling of Collins has taken it's toll on Allen who looks confused and frustrated these last two games. When Brock is your best player on the floor then you have major problems my friend.

 

This was such a critical season for USF needing to produce a winning season that ended in tournament play because of the vital 2015 recruiting class, but now another dreadful season under Stan Heath looks more then likely at this point. You cannot lose by almost 30 at home to anybody and you certainly cannot lose at home to a team that you have to beat by 20 points.

 

Doug Woolard and Judy Grenshaft needs to really be prepared to act on the best interest of the USF basketball program going forward should USF finish at the bottom of the AAC where they are projected to do so. I really didn't believe I would have to write that this season because I bought into Heath finally getting things right, but a bad season and our basketball program is in real trouble for the future if he remains on as head coach.

 

How can you say that this USF team is the same as last year when they have added 2 bigs who can rebound and score?  This is obviously a much different team that is able to score from the inside and also added another guard that can create his own shot.

 

So if USF fires Heath, who will they bring in to replace him?  I doubt there is any coach out there (that USF can get) that is going to recruit better than Heath.

 

 

Let's not pretend like USF basketball would be lost without Stan Heath... There are plenty of really good coaches at smaller programs that would love the raise to come to USF and those coaches at smaller programs have been able to put really good seasons together with less talent and resources than a school like USF has.

 

Is USF that great of a destination for a college basketball coach?  I think for USF to have a top 25 recruiting class and potentially another tournament bid is pretty good.  This team is young and most of these players haven't played together before.  They lost a game against a team that they are 10X more talented than.  So it is disappointing but I think it is way to early to call the season a bust.

[bullcocky101]

I just don't think USF has the money or the resources to compete with the likes of Detroit University in basketball or McNeese St. in football...we are expecting entirely too much.

[Brad]

As I recall Arkansas fired Heath after two straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Unlike here, where one appearance will give you ten more years to prove it wasn't a fluke.

You will not be the beneficiary of low expectations at Arkansas.

I didn't see the Detroit game, but I did see the Stetson game and others in which the team seems to be headed into another season with a rudderless offense.

[raptorcj]

Honestly I don't get AC. In terms of running the offense, he looked far more poised in his freshman year than now. Coaching? I dunno, but if I'm watching my team consistently run down the clock and heave up the low % shot, I call time-out and find out what poison is in their heads. If I'm the source of the poison, I just stand & watch...

[Triple B]

Honestly I don't get AC. In terms of running the offense, he looked far more poised in his freshman year than now. 

 

I don't think he's 100% healthy ... He's doing wacky crap like dribbling off his leg and other simple ball handling mistakes that he normally didn't do. Only time will tell ...

[BrickBardo]

As I recall Arkansas fired Heath after two straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Unlike here, where one appearance will give you ten more years to prove it wasn't a fluke.

You will not be the beneficiary of low expectations at Arkansas.

I didn't see the Detroit game, but I did see the Stetson game and others in which the team seems to be headed into another season with a rudderless offense.

Since then Arkansas has been doing what? one NCAA tournament appearance since they fired Heath.  

[Ghost]

The team's body language bothers me too. When things seem to be bogging down their body language just makes it worse for 2-3 minutes before something happens to wake them up like a block or 3pointer. 

[Vega]

USF can ill afford another Detroit debacle

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/basketball/college/hed-news-feattyure-chronicle/2155362

 

TAMPA —The smoke alarm hasn't been triggered, but the conditions are prime for plumes. Calamity remains in the distance, but concern is front and center. No one in the Bulls basketball camp is panicking, but some soon may be pacing.

Saturday's 65-60 loss to 3-4 Detroit was ugly. The Bulls' RPI (261, according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi), is uglier. Fortunately for USF (4-2), the NCAA Tournament selection committee doesn't convene for another three months.

But because it resides in an unforgiving conference, USF's should-win games are must-wins. If the Bulls want to make a second March Madness excursion in three seasons, they can ill-afford another Detroit debacle.

 

"I don't know the last time we've had an undefeated team and I also know the best season we ever had in the history of our program (2011-12), I think we were 7-6 in the non-conference season," coach Stan Heath said Monday. "So it's not panic time at all, but we do need to improve ourselves."

Improvement starts with the veterans, who appear to be taking ownership of a two-game skid.

Heath was unhappy with how players mentally emerged from the locker room after halftime Saturday, when they led by eight. The nonchalance, he suggested, was clear during warmups.

The following day, the veterans called a players-only meeting. "We've got to know each other's role and what they try to expect," senior guard Martino Brock said, "because it's about to be harder going down the road. We've got to beat the easy teams."

Even the pushovers will be a struggle if the Bulls can't find a shooting touch. USF ranks seventh in the American Athletic Conference in field-goal percentage (44.9) and last in 3-point percentage (29.2).

Detroit essentially closed out Saturday's game in a zone. The Bulls are likely to see a lot more unless the clangs follow complacency out the door.

"We've got to really improve our rebounding and we've got to start knocking down some shots," Heath said.

"Those are the two major culprits (against Detroit), our inability to finish possessions with a rebound and inability to knock down shots. You can't go 3-for-18 from the 3-point line."

 

 

Perhaps the corrections will come with chemistry. For all the hope that arrived with super-sized freshmen John Egbunu and Chris Perry, the Bulls remain a work in progress: an enticing blend of upperclassmen, heralded rookies and juco talent (Corey Allen Jr.).

Heath still is sorting out his rotation, tweaking lineups, gauging the nightly intensity of his rookies. When solid answers come, so, too, might consistency.

"We've got three veterans that have played, but we have a lot of new guys and they're still trying to figure some of it out," Heath said. "Sometimes, they come to the game and they say, 'Oh, who's Detroit? I don't know much about them.' And they don't have that same game readiness."

The Bulls have plenty of time to increase their RPI, quality-win total and optimism. The panic-mode mechanism has not been activated.

But after Detroit, the safety has been disengaged.

[Brad]

"Sometimes, they come to the game and they say, 'Oh, who's Detroit? I don't know much about them.' And they don't have that same game readiness."

Is there really no top-down scouting profile given in practice days before? I prep my club team for what the opponent will do. I sure hope the USF coaches aren't expecting the players to do the homework.