One player makes all the difference – Archive
Written by Crow's Nest Staff, Mar 23, 2011, 0 Comments
Greg Lindberg
Sports Editor
When LeBron James made his “decision” to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for greener pastures in Miami, most NBA fans thought about what kind of impact he could have on a team with two other star players in the game. What most people probably didn’t think as much about was how much of an impact his absence in Cleveland would have.
A similar scenario can be applied to the USF men’s basketball team. When Dominique Jones—perhaps the biggest superstar in Bulls hoops history—departed for the NBA after his junior year last season, the star point guard left a huge void in the program just as large as the one James left in the Cavs’ franchise.
USF finished its 2010-11 season with a 10-22 record. In 2009-10, the team went 20-13, winning twice as many games as it did this season and capturing a long-awaited berth in a postseason tournament—the NIT. The Bulls also went 9-9 in the Big East, arguably the toughest conference in the nation. This season, they went 3-15 in conference play.
The main struggle for the Bulls was their inability to maintain leads and close out games. They would play a solid first half, for example, but made too many mistakes in the second half, giving away a handful of games to teams they could have beaten. Jones could single-handedly take over games and help the team close out these contests with victories.
Scoring was also an issue throughout the season with the team ranking 309th out of the 346 Division I schools. The Bulls averaged 61.9 points per game. Jones put up 46 points in an overtime win at Providence and led the Big East in scoring average as a junior. Losing this production at the point guard position resulted in a major drop-off on the scoreboard. Forward Augustus Gilchrist had some decent games for the Bulls this year, including a 32-point output against DePaul. But the team’s overall scoring was down significantly.
USF’s only marquee win came in the Big East tournament against Villanova on March 8. Down 16 at halftime, the Bulls stormed back for a thrilling 70-69 victory against the slumping Wildcats. It was the first time the Bulls had beaten Villanova and, at the very least, put them in double-digits in the win column. In this game, USF guard Shaun Noriega showed off his three-point skills by banking six shots from beyond the arc.
No matter how impressive some of the Bulls may have looked here and there this season, it was clear that the loss of Jones was glaring in almost every game. If he had returned for his senior season, USF might be in the NCAA Tournament right now. Meanwhile, the Cavs could be playoff-bound with King James but instead had to endure an NBA-worst 26-game losing streak this year. It just goes to show how much of a difference one player can make.
