USF has a good record so far, but has anyone seen them play?

Their pre-conference opponents so far were weaker than the ones Cal played, according to Strength of Schedule.

Cal SOS: +3.75

USF SOS: -- 3.06

This could be an interesting game. How many USF fans will show up?

USF is favored by 5.5

Woooow. Thought at worst it would be a pickem.

Coaching probably the difference.

I posted this comment on 12/2:

I went to a Father's Day Weekend Basketball Camp at St. Mary's with my son when Randy Bennett first arrived. Kyle Smith was an assistant coach. I formed a very high opinion of Kyle that weekend. His success is of no surprise to me. He will have the Dons ready for the Bears.*


*Perhaps my endorsement of Coach Smith will be like the cover of SI jinx and USF will **** the bed vs the Bears.

FWIW, here are the rankings for Cal and USF per Ken Pomeroy (www.kenpom.com):

Cal PP100 (Rank)
----------------------------
AdjO 103.2 (171)
AdjD 103.4 (175)
AdjEM -0.2 (164)

USF PP100 (Rank)
-----------------------------
AdjO 105.2 (127)
AdjD 94.8 ( 34)
AdjEM +10.4 ( 60)

AdjO is the adjusted offensive efficiency, which is points per 100 possessions scored, adjusted for the quality of defenses faced.
AdjD is the adjusted defensive efficiency, which is points per 100 possessions allowed, adjusted for the quality of the offenses faced.
AdjEM is the adjusted efficiency margin (AdjO - AdjD)

USF is up to a 6.5-point favorite in vegas, and according to ESPN's BPI, USF has a 71% of winning the game:

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=401083753

The Dons will be our b_____ in thirty-two hours.

Edit: Only twenty-three hours now...

2nd Edit: We are the Don's b_____.

Looking at the USF roster and stats, USF has a big height advantage up front, as the bigs in the rotation are 7-0, 6-9, 6-9, and 6-8. The leading rebounder is McCarthy at 8.3 per game, playing only 20 minutes. He's an Aussie. How come we don't get a good Aussie? All we got from the Cuonzo's Cal trip to Australia was maybe Grant Anticevich, who has yet to contribute a lot. No one plays over 30 minutes for USF. with the Point Guard, Ferrari, playing 30. He gets the most assists, but they spread it around. Their assist to FG ratio is 51%, which is good. They only have two good three point shooters, and only one plays major minutes, so it looks like most of their scoring will be inside. We just got whipped by a team featuring several three point shooters, so this game looks to be different. They get over 40 rebounds per game, and 11 offensive boards. They have given up less than 60 points in 6 out of 8 games. The young Bears may be in for a tough night.

....and, BTW, they have a good coach.

If they play a Monty style structured offense they will likely win since they have a veteran team

That's because we won't be able to defend it well and have trouble with rebounding

But don't count out the Bears!

HoopDreams said:

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If they play a Monty style structured offense they will likely win since they have a veteran team

That's because we won't be able to defend it well and have trouble with rebounding

But don't count out the Bears!

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They won't be able to deal with our dribble-drive offense.

Plus TCTMWH has told Bradley and Austin they need to pass more and Kelly that he needs to get more offensive rebounds, so that should magically happen now that they've been told those things are important.