It’s been 14 years since the South Florida Bulls were invited to the Big Dance. This year, USF proved to everyone that they would not be denied and were worthy of an invite.
The Bulls officially accepted their invitation and punched their ticket to March Madness on Sunday afternoon, taking down Wichita State 70-55, capturing their first American Conference Tournament Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
In October, South Florida was on no one’s radar as a contender in the conference, let alone a team that would earn an NCAA Tournament bid. But here we are.
It is the first conference tournament championship for the Bulls since they won the Sun Belt Conference Championship in 1990, and the first time in program history that the team has won the regular-season crown and the conference tournament in the same season. This will be the first NCAA Tournament appearance for the Bulls since 2012.
The Bulls are a No. 11 seed in the East Regional and will play No. 6 Louisville in Buffalo, New York, the backyard of Bulls head coach Bryan Hodgson. This will be a homecoming of sorts for Hodgson, who grew up right down the road in Jamestown, and many of his family and friends will be in attendance.
But what makes this game even more special is that for the first time since he became a head coach, Hodgson’s father will get to see his son coach in person.
Hodgson, who was known in NCAA circles as an excellent recruiter, was faced with a rebuilding task of biblical proportions when he first walked onto South Florida’s campus. He would need to build a team with all new players except for lone holdover CJ Brown. He brought in 13 new players from 12 different schools. He then lined up one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country to prepare them for conference play and make sure they would be battle-tested come March.
Hodgson had expectations for his first South Florida squad, and he reached the first of his many goals last Sunday afternoon in Birmingham, winning the conference tournament championship.
But these Bulls aren’t done yet. Hodgson believes they are built for bigger and better things.
“We are not done yet,” Hodgson said. “This is probably the most mature team I’ve ever coached, and it’s a very connected team. They understand our team’s goals, and it’s no coincidence that we’re here”
“I saw USF as a program capable of doing big things. We’ve got a team full of winners, and I’ve got the best coaching staff in the country. My assistants are phenomenal. We’ve got a bunch of guys with a chip on their shoulder, hard-working guys who were unheralded and maybe even ignored at various points of their career. But they have come together to form a really great team, a championship team.”
Hodgson never fails to praise his coaching staff when discussing his team’s success. He is also quick to talk about the late Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim and how Abdur-Rahim laid the groundwork for the program’s current success. Hodgson wears his AAR bracelet every day, a reminder of the core values Abdur-Rahim embraced and that Hodgson has embraced as well.
“Trust, responsibility, unity, toughness, and humility. Those are the traits that Coach Amir carried every day,” Hodgson said. “Talk about a man who practiced what he preached, and he treated so many people the right way for so long.”
“He built that program here at South Florida. I wouldn’t have taken this job had I not seen what Coach Amir did.
One of Hodgson’s goals when he arrived at USF was to win a conference tournament title. And guess what? Year one, mission accomplished.
Also, as reported earlier, Hodgson has turned down an offer to take on the position of head basketball coach at Syracuse.
The last time USF was in the NCAA Tournament was in 2012. They won two games before bowing out just before the Sweet 16. That is the only time that South Florida has won a game in the NCAA Tournament.
USF will enter Thursday’s March Madness game against Louisville riding an 11-game winning streak.
This is not the same old South Florida. The events of the last week have solidified that. The South Florida Bulls are back in the NCAA Tournament.