PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A year ago around this time, the University of South Florida looked to be on the verge of a breakout. The Bulls had struggled early in their Big East days to be competitive, but appeared to finally have assembled just enough talent to knock off someone near the top of the standings and even get something else that had escaped them: a road win. Those started to happen, and it looked like USF might be on the road to contending for an NCAA Tournament spot in a year or two. However, that progress doesn’t seem to be there now as wins have been hard to come by both at home and on the road in 2010-11.
It started when the Bulls got just their third Big East road win ever at Providence in an amazing comeback around this time last year. With Augustus Gilchrist close to returning from injury and other players coming along, they looked ready to win games and even knock off a top team or two along the way. Sure enough, that happened, as just over a week after the win at Providence, they knocked off Pittsburgh, and a few days later went to Georgetown and got a win. A few weeks later, they ended the regular season with a win over Connecticut.
With all of that, USF looked like they weren’t far from finally arriving, and the thought was they might get closer in 2010-11. Gilchrist is back, Ron Anderson, Jr. was eligible after transferring, and Toarlyn Fitzpatrick showed plenty of promise as a freshman last season to give the frontcourt a good deal of talent. But the backcourt has not measured up, and that’s a big part of why the Bulls are 2-8 in Big East play after losing 68-63 at Providence.
Defense hasn’t been an issue for the Bulls. They held Providence to 42.3 percent from the field, including 5-16 on three-pointers, and on the season opponents are shooting just over 40 percent against them. They have a solid rebounding margin with their frontcourt leading the way. On the season, they have a bad combination of poor shooting and a high number of turnovers, as they lead the Big East in turnovers by a wide margin and only Seton Hall shoots worse from the field than the Bulls. On Wednesday, 16 turnovers didn’t help in the loss, especially with 40.7 percent shooting from the field and a 6-21 mark from long range.
“It’s too much to overcome. You’re not a good shooting team as it is, and you’re giving the other team multiple possessions,” said head coach Stan Heath. “So my focus is a little more on getting better with the basketball and making it easier.”
The backcourt doesn’t lack talent. Anthony Crater was highly-regarded coming out of high school, but didn’t last long at Ohio State before heading to Tampa. Jawanza Poland and Hugh Robertson have some potential on the wing, with Robertson giving them some size on the perimeter at 6’6″. Mike Burwell had a reputation as a scorer in high school, but has struggled since arriving in Tampa.
While the team lacks a shooter who can strike fear in opposing defenses, the bigger problem is getting someone to drive consistently to make things happen. Heath noted that they only got to the foul line 12 times on Wednesday, a reflection of how they played offensively. Poland gave them that for some of the evening, and the results were generally good as he led them with 20 points. He might be the driving scorer they need to potentially open up the outside game.
“I’d like to see him do more of that, and really that was one of our game plans was to penetrate against their defense,” said Heath.
The Bulls lost a lot with the early departure of Dominique Jones to the NBA. As Heath noted, they replaced the likes of him, Chris Howard and Mike Mercer with a lot of inexperienced guards, which always means growing pains in college basketball. It’s showing right now with the guards as a unit struggling to score and complement a solid frontcourt that can compete with just about any in the Big East.
USF has been within striking distance of victory often this season. Only five of their 23 games have been decided by 11 points or more, and they are 4-1 in those games. But they are 1-13 in games decided by 4-10 points, while they have actually fared well in one-possession games with a 3-1 mark. Being so close but falling short has, not surprisingly, not been easy.
“It’s not easy on the kids, it’s not easy on the coaches because you play people so close and you come up short,” Heath said.
There’s plenty of time for the perimeter to get better, especially with first-year players in key roles. The Bulls aren’t going to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team, and getting to one of the other postseason tournaments will be very difficult this time around. But if the guards improve, especially by becoming better scoring threats, and the Bulls take better care of the ball, some of the close losses can turn into wins. They might get closer to breaking out at that point.
