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Are The Bulls Out Of Place In The Big East?

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Coach Stan Heath celebrates during USF's win over Cincy, the Bulls fourth Big East win this season.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 4, 2009

TAMPA - One of my most favorite Tribune headlines ran this morning:

"USF tops Cincinnati 70-59 for team-record fourth Big East win."

And that's all you really need to know about the decomposed state of South Florida men's basketball.

Understand, four wins in the treacherous Big East Conference is quite a feather in your cap if — oh, I don't know — you've played four conference games, or six, or even eight when you factor in USF.

But, no, the Bulls' record fourth conference victory — a team record! — comes in their 17th conference game of the season.

They're 4-13 in the Big East.

There's your success story.

Throw in a 9-20 record overall, and that's pretty much another argument for why this program, no matter who coaches it, including Stan Heath, has no business running around the Big East. Things are never going get better.

Is there any program more out of place than USF in the Big East? I mean, in America?

The Bulls had never won more than three Big East games. Thus four is a big deal. They managed No. 4 after six consecutive losses. But four is four. Wonder what the rings the players receive will say on them.

"It gives us a lot of confidence; it's a momentum builder," USF's Dominique Jones said after scoring 30 points to lead the Bulls past Cincy. "We started at the bottom and we're working our way up."

God bless you, son, but …

Mind you, the Bulls aren't last in the Big East, and, it's true, for the first time in their brief Big East life, they actually get to travel to New York for the bright lights of the conference tournament. Granted, it's only because the conference now lets everybody in the tourney, but just think about it, the South Florida Bulls playing Madison Square Garden. Well, they hold the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show there, don't they?

It just seems so very futile sometimes. The Bulls haven't made the NCAA Tournament since the early 1990s under Bobby Paschal, back when they were in the Sun Belt Conference, or was it Conference USA, or does it really matter? They really haven't come close since. Seth Greenberg ran into a stone wall while he was coach, then went off to Blacksburg, Va., and made Virginia Tech an NCAA tournament team. Heath has tried but hasn't made a real dent.

I'm not blaming him.

I'm just starting to wonder whether it's possible.

Actually, I'm done wondering.

Too bad USF couldn't work out a reverse deal to Notre Dame, which plays hoops in the Big East but remains a football independent.

USF basketball, Notre Dame football.

Sure, why not? Hey, did Notre Dame have eight wins last season?

Perhaps I'm being hard on Heath and the Bulls — four wins is four wins, after all, and they did beat Marquette at the Sun Dome this season, the program's first win over a top 10 team in history. That was good stuff.

But then there's all the bad stuff. You can see the tunnel at the end of the tunnel.

Still, the Bulls are in "The Show" next week. They might not be there long. Come to think of it, they're not staying in Manhattan after Saturday's regular-season finale at Rutgers in nearby New Jersey. The school's athletic department really can't afford New York hotels for that long. Sigh.

Enough of that. On to Rutgers.

The number is four.

On to the Drive for Five.

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