Heath excited as Bulls begin practice

Posted Oct 15, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Oct 15, 2011 at 02:04 AM

Like every other men’s basketball program across the nation, the University of South Florida opened fall practice Friday, the first day teams were permitted to hit the courts to begin preparing for the 2011-12 season.

A few hours before the Bulls took the floor in the Muma Center, coach Stan Heath talked about the excitement of getting going again.

“The guys have worked so hard. This has probably been one of our best summers and fall in terms of the guys just really buying in and working hard and coming together as a group,” Heath said. “I’ve been very, very pleased with the job the guys have done, and so now we get a chance to really spend that time preparing for our season and so we’re very excited. We’re just going to hit the ground running and get ourselves ready for the upcoming season.”

The Bulls return most of their significant contributors from last season, with the only notable losses being forward Jarrid Famous (graduation) and point guard Anthony Crater (dismissed from program for violation of team rules). Most of the starting positions still seem up for grabs - senior forward Augustus Gilchrist and sophomore guard/forward Victor Rudd, a transfer from Arizona State, are safe bets to pencil into starting roles - but Heath doesn’t believe there’s much of a drop-off in a nine-member rotation he’s comfortable with using on the floor right now. That group includes returning guards Jawanza Poland, Hugh Robertson and Shaun Noriega and forwards Ron Anderson Jr. and Toarlyn Fitzpatrick.

The most notable position to keep an eye on over the next month is at point guard, where sophomore Lavonte Dority, who played sparingly last season, is competing with a pair of newcomers – junior college transfer Blake Nash and true freshman Anthony Collins – for the starting role.

“I’ve just been very pleased with all three of those guys,” Heath said. “Lavonte has come back and just been a better player and has really worked hard on his game. The other two guys are really the kind of the point guards you want, guys that know how to play the position, have a presence about themselves, make plays and make the game easier for their teammates out on there on the court.”

Two players who could be in line for an expanded role this season are Fitzpatrick and Noriega. Heath called the pair of juniors most improved players on the team.

“I’m just seeing different guys out there in terms of their confidence level,” the coach said. “Toarlyn’s just playing at a – every time he plays out there guys like Dominique Jones, Chris Howard, who have been around, they’re just raving about him. At the same time Noriega left the season blazing and it hasn’t really changed.”

The Bulls obviously have plenty of room for improvement after finishing last year with just 10 wins and a program-record 23 losses, but Heath points to the group being competitive in most of its games in 2010-11 and a late win over Villanova at the Big East Conference tournament as reasons to believe this year’s team can take a step forward.

“We were always so close. When you look back and we’re taking UConn to overtime at their place and leading most of that game, BYU on a neutral setting, being in that game, having a chance to win and going to overtime. We had so many games where we just couldn’t turn the corner, and had we early in the season who knows what it would have done for our confidence and our psyche,” Heath said.

“To see that happen at the end (against Villanova), even though it was late, we got a chance to really see that ‘Hey, we can win against a very good basketball team in a tough environment,’ and I think it has had a positive effect on our guys through the summer and the fall in terms of getting ourselves ready for the season.”

The Bulls, however, likely won’t be at full strength when they open the season Nov. 12 against Vermont at the University of Tampa, which will serve as one of their home venues as the ongoing renovation to the Sun Dome continues. Heath said Poland is currently sidelined with a back injury and likely will be out 4-6 weeks.