South Florida Bulls
2020-2021 Overall Rank: #102
Conference Rank: #6 American
After winning the CBI championship in 2019, South Florida finished just 14-17 last season. That was a young team though and an injury to Alexis Yetna certainly did not help matters. Two years ago Yetna averaged 12.3 points and 9.6 rebounds on his way to earning American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year accolades. With a healthy Yetna back in action, the Bulls suddenly have the dominant force in the paint they need to move up the conference standings.
2019-20 Record: 14-17, 7-11
Coach: Brian Gregory
Coach Record: 48-53 at South Florida, 296-233 overall
Key Departed Players:
Laquincy Rideau, Guard, 12.6 ppg
Antun Maricevic, Forward, 4.1 ppg
Key Returning Players:
David Collins, Senior, Guard, 13.7 ppg
Justin Brown, Senior, Guard/Forward, 9.1 ppg
Michael Durr, Junior, Forward, 6.7 ppg
Ezacuras Dawson III, Junior, Guard, 6.6 ppg
Xavier Castaneda, Junior, Guard, 5.2 ppg
Rashun Williams, Junior, Guard, 3.1 ppg
Madul Aker, Sophomore, Forward, 2.1 ppg
Jamir Chaplin, Sophomore, Guard, 0.9 ppg
Alexis Yetna, Junior, Forward, dnp last season
Key New Players:
Luke Anderson, RS Freshman, Guard/Forward, Transfer from Iowa State
Caleb Murphy, Freshman, Guard
Prince Oduro, Junior, Forward, Transfer from Mississippi State, pending waiver
Russel Tchewa, Sophomore, Center, Transfer from Texas Tech, pending waiver
Projection:
Coach Brian Gregory will be very happy to have Yetna back, but he also returns four starters from last season. David Collins led the Bulls in scoring for the second year in a row, averaging 13.7 points to go along with his 4.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.8 steals. Collins struggled shooting the ball as a junior, but he deserves credit for cutting back on his outside shots and working on attacking the basket. Wing Justin Brown is another experienced senior who can score from anywhere on the floor. He connected on a team high 55 three-pointers. The percentage was not great, but hitting 33.5 percent from beyond the arc did significantly boost the team’s three-point shooting percentage. Ezacuras Dawson and Xavier Castaneda played significant minutes in the backcourt and their experience will be a huge benefit to USF in 2020-2021. The frontcourt returns Michael Durr who was forced into a larger role last season after Yetna got hurt. He did pretty well though, averaging 6.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Now USF has the ability to play much bigger than they did last season. Some transfers could help with their frontcourt depth too. Prince Oduro has had the most productive collegiate career of the transfers so far. He spent his freshman campaign at Siena where he averaged 9.1 points and 5.1 rebounds before redshirting and seeing limited action with Mississippi State in 2019-2020. If eligible, Oduro should at least provide enough depth for Coach Gregory to put out a big lineup that includes Brown on the wing with Durr and Yetna in the frontcourt. The bigger concern could be at point guard though where Castaneda will have to take on more of a leadership role than he did in 2019-2020.
Projected Postseason Tournament: CBI/CIT
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 62.7 (336th in nation, 12th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 62.7 (20, 2)
Field-Goal Percentage: 40.6 (320, 11)
Field-Goal Defense: 44.3 (252, 11)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 6.3 (265, 10)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 30.9 (297, 11)
Free-Throw Percentage: 65.0 (324, 12)
Rebound Margin: 2.6 (106, 7)
Assists Per Game: 10.2 (338, 12)
Turnovers Per Game: 14.7 (306, 11)
Madness 2020 Men’s Basketball Recruit Rankings:
#71 Caleb Murphy
