Pieces in place for Bulls as Big East tourney opens

One by one, the dominos began to fall three years ago in Atlanta.

Arkansas arrived at the 2007 Southeastern Conference Tournament as an afterthought, but following wins over South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State on consecutive days, Stan Heath's Razorbacks were in the SEC title game against eventual-national champion Florida.

Arkansas lost that afternoon to the Gators in the Georgia Dome, but later that evening the Razorbacks - who finished 18-12 and had a losing conference record (7-9) during the regular season - learned they were invited to the Big Dance.

Heath is seeking a similar scenario starting today when his University of South Florida Bulls (19-9, 9-9) take the court against DePaul at Madison Square Garden.

The tournament's No. 9 seed, USF's unlikely bid to make its first trip to March Madness in 18 years remains a possibility if the Bulls can do some damage here.

"I'm proof that you can be way out of the conversation, win some games and get to the tournament," Heath said. "I've been there before. We are going to try and push every button we can to get back."

USF junior guard Dominique Jones, named to the All-Big East first team after winning the league scoring title (23.2), has received most of the accolades during USF's climb in the Big East standings this season.

However, in his ninth season as a head coach and third at USF, Heath has quietly done some of his best work. USF was picked to finish 14th by the league's coaches, but after starting 0-4 in conference play, USF went 9-5 to finally introduce itself to the Big East. In their first four seasons in the Big East, the Bulls went 11-57.

"Stan had done a great job of building this program," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "Clearly, they have a pretty good pool of players. I like their team. He's had the patience to go through a couple of tough years and has never, ever appeared ... to waver from what he wants to do."

Heath understood when he accepted the challenge three years ago that many in the coaching community viewed the job as a career-killer.

"It's the hardest job in America if you listen to Dickie V," Heath said. "I think we have proven that's not true. We can win here."

USF's 10-game improvement from last season's 9-22 mark is the best of any team from the six major conferences. The Bulls' improvement didn't come without some pitfalls, such as a 15-game stretch without forward Augustus Gilchrist (ankle) and the departure of guards Justin Leemow and Jordan Dumars before the spring semester.

Through it all, Heath voiced his belief that this USF team was much better than his first two. His players proved it.

"It's weird to think we have a better record than a lot of these teams in the Big East," said senior Mike Mercer. "What people don't understand is that winning is a process. It's tough just to come into a program and win right off the bat. I feel like he did a great job of just building us into a winning program."

Senior Alex Rivas, who didn't join the team until midseason after offseason surgery to put metal rods in both of his legs, credits Heath's guidance from the bench as the primary reason for USF's breakthrough season.

"The preparation was there," Rivas said. "He has more confidence in his players. He knows what we are capable of, and allowing us to go out there and do what we can do."

Earlier this season when the Bulls reeled off a school-record four-game winning streak in the Big East - defeating Pittsburgh and Georgetown along the way - Heath's name surfaced briefly as a potential national coach of the year.

That chatter faded when USF lost four of five games before rallying to win their final three games of the season. If the Bulls have an extended stay in the Big Apple, you can bet Heath will again be a hot topic of conversation on Selection Sunday.

"We have to win games," he said. "We certainly don't want this to be a one-year wonder. This is still a lot of basketball to play and some more things we can accomplish."