The South Florida Bulls are embarking on a new era of basketball – an era that hopefully will catapult USF as a force to be reckoned with across the college basketball landscape.
Brian Hodgson takes over as the new head coach after a disappointing 13-19 record last season, and is looking to bring USF back to respectability. Hodgson spent two years at Arkansas State, compiling a 45-28 record, including an appearance in the second round of the NIT last season.
The Bulls have 13 new players on a 15-man squad, with the only holdovers from last season being guard CJ Brown and De’Anta Green.
There are two players that fans may want to keep an eye on this season. Senior forward Izaiyah Nelson and swingman Joseph Pinion are two players that came with Hodgson from Arkansas State. Nelson is a terrific rebounder, and Pinion is lights out from three-point range, something that was sorely missing on last year’s USF team.
Last Friday night was our first chance to see the new look Bulls in their exhibition game against Saint Leo College, and here is what we learned.
The team is fast. They will not milk the shot clock, let it run down, and then take a shot. They will be up and down the court at a blistering pace, daring other teams to keep up with the pace. They will play with an upbeat tempo and good defense. As a fan, expect to see lots of three-point shot attempts.
Hodgson said previously, when FL Teams interviewed him this summer, that he would employ a pro-style offense this season, and that is precisely what we saw. The Bulls had a 21 point lead at halftime, but maintained their aggressiveness in the second half. Hodgson said that he does not care if his team is leading by 10 or 30 points; he expects the Bulls to play with the same intensity and pace at all times.
“We’re going to be the more intense team. We deliver the first punch, the last punch, and as many in between as we can,” Hodgson said.
This style of play led Arkansas State to a 13 point win at Memphis and a nine point win at UAB last season.
Another name to keep in mind is Wes Ennis. He led the Bulls with 26 points in the exhibition.
The Bulls were strong defensively, holding St. Leo to 28 points in the second half. USF demonstrated good depth and bench scoring as the Bulls’ bench added 37 points in the 120-63 win.
Hodgson elaborated on his coaching philosophy in the game against St. Leo. “We’re not playing the scoreboard. We break the game down into four-minute wars between media timeouts. We weren’t going to allow any let-up. If I felt like there was any let-up at all, I was going to call a timeout and we were going to fix it.”
Hodgson went on to say that his goal is to hold opponents to 25 points in the second half.
The Bulls are finally gaining some respect from the national media, thanks to their 29th-ranked recruiting class in the country. In the preseason coaches poll, USF was picked to finish second behind Memphis in the American Conference.
It is shaping up to be a fun season of basketball at the Yuengling Center. And the fun all starts Monday night, November 3rd, at 7 p.m. with the Bulls hosting Florida A&M.