Final Thoughts on Men's Big East Schedule

The 2011-2012 season could be worse than last season.

Everyone is focused on football right (for good reason), but after looking at the USF men's basketball schedule, I can't get over how rough of a season it is going to be. After going 10-23 (3-15) in 2010, beating just Providence and DePaul twice in conference play, the Bulls have been dealt a buzz saw conference schedule.

Opening with UCONN, the defending national champions, and going to DePaul just once and facing a retooled Providence team (Shane Larkin is now suiting up for them) there aren't many chances for the Bulls to win this season in conference play. Can they upset someone? Sure they can, teams can be beaten any given night, but the Big East, the best basketball conference around (standing by that) is a battle every week. Teams like Louisville, Villanova, Pitt, and Georgetown are always top teams and getting a win against them is usually a miracle. Mix in the non-conference schedule with a game at Kansas to top it off, it is just brutal.

While the schedule is brutal enough, the playing conditions and the roster make it even harder. The Sun Dome is being renovated right now, so they will be a homeless team, splitting time at UT, the St. Pete Times Forum, and Lakeland. While the Muma Center is great for practicing and preparing, playing constantly on the road without a real student section behind them (not every student can travel to Lakeland), the limited home court they had from last season is now erased. Remember the game at the St. Pete Forum vs. Syracuse and the sea of orange across it, the same may happen every game for the Bulls when they play Big East games there.

Then we have our players. The Bulls didn't get JUCO center Andre Jackson which will hurt the depth in the paint. Famous is gone which leaves Anderson Jr., Gilchrist, and Fitzpatrick to take over duties in the post, leaving the bench empty. When facing the big men in the Big East, this is just bad (imagine if someone gets hurt too).

Sure there is hype around Blake Nash, Victor Rudd (Heath swears he is the next Dominique Jones), JAWANZA Poland, and Shaun Noriega, but who is going to become a go-to scorer for Heath in tight games?

The real issue on the roster is the lack of a true point guard. We all slammed our heads when Crater had the ball (always Crater time in our hearts though), but now that he is gone, we will miss him (yeah, I said it). Hate it all you want, losing a senior point guard that had a ton of experience is a big lose for this team. Point guards tend to rule the basketball world these days, so who will the Bulls turn the ball over to lead them on the court? LaVonte Dority? Anthony Collins? Blake Nash? None of these players have starting experience in the Big East, making life even harder on offense for USF.

I support this team and really hope they can have a somewhat solid season, get past 10 wins, make noise and get a few upsets, but looking at all of these factors and what lies ahead of them, it could be a rough season, maybe even worse than last year.