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Forum: Talk Bulls
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Before the University of South Florida takes the court Saturday night at Seton Hall, the Bulls could already be eliminated from the Big East Tournament. USF must win its remaining three games to stay alive, but is eliminated if UConn, Providence and Villanova each win one of their remaining four games.
USF will be eliminated before Saturday night’s 8 p.m. tip-off if UConn wins at Rutgers Wednesday night and Providence defeats either West Virginia at home Tuesday night or Syracuse at home Saturday at noon and Villanova wins at Marquette Monday night or defeats Rutgers at home Saturday at 4 p.m.
“I wouldn’t say I’m worried about [motivation],” USF coach Robert McCullum said. “At the same time I can’t say I know for certain that they’ll approach it the way last year’s team did [ending a 17-game losing streak by beating Georgetown in the regular season finale].
“If here during the course of Wednesday, or we look up and another team is able to get its seventh win, so there’s 12 teams with seven or more wins, then obviously we’ll know. But until that happens, we have a chance mathematically, which means we need to win our next three, starting with Seton Hall.
“If 12 teams before playing Seton Hall [have] seven wins you refocus your attention, refocus your approach. Hey guys, there’s no chance we can go to New York, but we still have a chance to finish the year at .500, still have a chance to get six, five conference wins. There’s still a lot to play for.”
SOUTH FLORIA BULLS: That’s right, South Floria. For the second consecutive game with the game on the line, there was no D in South Florida.
Wednesday against Syracuse with USF trailing 47-44 with 10:30 remaining, Syracuse scored on 10 of its final 14 possessions to pull away for the 70-53 win.
Saturday against DePaul tied at 44 with 9:59 remaining, DePaul scored on 10 of its next 13 possessions to build a 65-56 lead with two minutes remaining. And that doesn’t include USF fouling DePaul in the final two minutes, allowing the Blue Demons to score on six of their final seven possessions.
WHAT’S SIGNIFICANT? Last season, USF AD Doug Woolard said he needed to see “significant improvement” from McCullum this year. That’s this week’s USF TBO poll question, whether there has been significant improvement this season. I’m curious why you think there has or hasn’t been significant improvement this season.
Posted by John Adams, Tampa on 02/23 at 09:37 AM
Like noted, it is hard to get a quality coach to Tampa all things considered. However, there are still some quality guys out there who can recruit, and that is what it is all about! Take a guy like Fran Fraschilla.....has Big East experience, has rebuilt his rep and most of all, he can recruit hot bed areas.
Posted by Hector Jimenez, Weston on 02/20 at 09:55 AM
I don’t think there has been any significant improvement but who else are we going to get to coach USF men’s bball at the price being offered by the University (read previous Trib stories). We are stuck with what we have and running in place....when does fball season start again?
Posted by Ryan Roark, Richmond, VA on 02/20 at 09:03 AM
The very fact that we as Bulls fans are forced to consider merely QUALIFYING for our conference tournament is a sad commentary on the state of our program. What a humble goal...and one we aren’t even going to be close to achieving. As has already been pointed out, the fact that we can’t even get to Madison Square Garden in a relatively “down” year in the Big East is embarassing! The only way this season can be considered as an improvement is if it has been bad enough for Mr. Woolard to see the light and pull the plug on Coach McCullum, a seemingly great guy who is not a Big East type head coach.
Posted by Brett McMurphy, on 02/19 at 10:53 PM
John, it has been quite a drought since USF’s NCAA days. However, whatever Doug Woolard’s decision is, it won’t be known for at least another couple of weeks when the regular season is over. Phil, when Reggie Kohn left this year, that was the sixth assistant to leave in McCullum’s four seasons. As far as players, there have been at least 13 scholarship players (six were Greenberg recruits) who have left under McCullum. The actual number may be 14 or 15, but off the top of my head, I’m only positive about 13 who have left.
Posted by john vincent, carrolwood on 02/19 at 08:38 PM
Wheres Rodenko Dobras, Chucky Atkins, Derek Sharp, Fred Lewis, Hakim Shaheed? How about coach Bobby Pascal?
How is it we went to the Ncaa or Nit tournaments 3 of 4 years back in the early 90’s but USF hasn’t sniffed basketball success in 15 years?
Significant progress? That question isn’t even based in realty.
Put Mccallum out of our misery now, don’t even wait till the end of the season.
Posted by Phil Canto, Jacksonville, FL on 02/19 at 07:57 PM
It’s frustrating to see a team play good enough to beat anyone one night, and then fall apart the next against a team they should trounce. Inconsistency seems to be the case too often in this program. I still have great respect for Coach Mac’s character. Brett: Has anyone kept a tally of how many players and coaches we’ve lost (defection, dismissal, etc.) since Coach Mac’s arrival?
Posted by Brian Smith, Raleigh, NC on 02/19 at 01:33 PM
Our leap to three conference wins (I predict we will get to four) should be qualified by how far down Big East basketball is this year. Coach Mac should be released.
I personally feel there is a college basketball vacuum in the state of Florida that is not close to being filled by UF’s prominence.
How can a state as big as Florida with such high school athletic infrastucture in place produce such a weak offering of college BBall programs? USF can do better.
Posted by Jeremy Jones, Indiana on 02/19 at 09:52 AM
Coach Mc has got to go. With Woolard letting go the baseball coach and the womens soccer coach because of lack of performance, the mens basketball job should be held to a higher standard. He was Selmon’s guy and he hasn’t panned out. Greenberg had lost his luster, but if he can turnaround Va Tech in a few years, it can be done at USF. Both schools are football dominant. Here is some free advice for Woolard, hire Indiana assistant Ray McCullum!!!
Posted by Claudel Olivier, Tampa on 02/19 at 09:03 AM
Winning 3 Big East games instead of 1 is not significant! Not playing in the post season for the millionth time in a row is not significant. If we would have at least made the NIT, I could have seen giving Coach McCullum another year. Unfortunately his teams have been putrid. Get us a coach that can recruit and coach. Remember you only need two or three good ballplayers to change a Bball program (shoot UF did it with one [Mike Miller])!
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Posted by Thomas Jones, on 02/23 at 10:53 PM
I agree with everybody on saying that Coach Mac has to go. This is no disrespect to Coach Mac whatsoever. There is one downside to all of this when getting in a new coach whoever it maybe. The program itself will have to start all over again.