South Florida Basketball: Bulls readying for bounce back season - College Hoops Watch

By Kenneth Cross

The Bulls’ season went south in a hurry when Alexis Yetna had a season ending knee injury on the Friday before the season started. The coaching staff had to reinvent the attack after this which is obviously a tough assignment for anybody inside of a week before the season started. USF had a big win at Memphis and won three out of their last four games to move back into the middle of the AAC.

South Florida has a myriad of returnees and should be set for their first NCAA Tournament since 2012 when the program reached the Sweet 16. Yetna will play a huge role this season while the Bulls’ perimeter could also be one of the best defending groups in the American. Depth will be prevalent as well as Gregory could be able to go 10 deep.

Returning Starters:

David Collins* – G, 6-4, 218, Sr. – A Brian Gregory type of defender with 1.8 steals per game, 6th in the AAC – (13.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg)

Justin Brown* – G/F, 6-6, 218, Sr. – Led Bulls with 55 3-pointers and shot 33.5 percent from behind the arc – (9.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg)

Michael Durr* – F, 7-0, 250, Jr. – Back to the basket player who has adding a nice mid-range ‘J’ – (6.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg)

Zack Dawson* – G, 6-3, 200, R-Jr. – Led Bulls 3-pointer shooters by netting a 37.7 percent clip –  (6.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg)

Alexis Yetna – F, 6-8, 234, Jr. – Looking for a huge year after being sidelined in 2019-20 with a knee injury – (12.3 ppg, 9.6 rpg – 2018-19)

Returning Key Reserves:

Xavier Castaneda – G, 6-1, 188, Jr. – Backed up the point while still garnering 15 starts – hard-nosed defender who is a perimeter menace – (5.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg)

Rashun Williams – G, 6-6, 222, Jr. – Looking for more offensive consistency inside of USF’s system – (3.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg)

Madut Akec – F, 6-7, 208, R-So. – Lengthy athlete who garnered five starts – (2.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg)

Jamir Chaplin – G, 6-5, 197 –  Gregory likes his improvement as Chaplin had a workout plan he executed during the pandemic – (0.9 ppg, 0.6 rpg)

Newcomers:

Caleb Murphy, G, 6-4, 170 – 4-star recruit who was rated the No. 72 in the ESPN 100

Prince Oduro, F, 6-8, 250 – Mississippi State transfer who appeared in 21 games off the bench

Luke Anderson, G/F, 6-8, 218 – Iowa State transfer who came back to Tampa after first semester

Russell Tchewa, C, 7-0, 250 – Texas Tech transfer who appeared in 23 games for the Red Raiders last season

Key Players Lost:

Laquincy Rideau* – (12.6 ppg, 4.3 apg)

Antun Maricevic –  (4.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg)

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Ken Cross, the self-proclaimed “CEO of College Hoops,” has a plethora of experience over a 20-plus year period in both print and broadcast journalism as a free-lancer on the east coast and in the Charlotte, NC area, in particular. He started with the now defunct Sports Fan Radio Network in 1997 as a reporter, giving in-game updates and then facilitating postgame interviews with players on winning teams after games via cell phones. He has also worked in the same capacity for ESPN Radio, CBS Sports Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Sporting News Radio, Yahoo! Sports Radio over the same period.

In print and on the Internet, Cross continues to write for Lindy’s Sports Annuals as one of the primary writers for the College Basketball preview as well as a writer on the Lindy’s College Football preview staff. He also contributes frequently to the Lindy’s Sports website with articles on all sports throughout the year in a feature, editorial, and game summary mode. He also writes preview material for Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and covers Wake Forest basketball for Rivals.com.

Cross has a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from Appalachian State University and a Master’s in English and Education from Radford University in Virginia.

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