The Crow's Nest

We are now halfway through the spring semester, and it has been a tough academic year for two of the three revenue sports for the South Florida Bulls. These sports are football, men’s basketball and baseball —commonly referred to as “The Big Three.”

The football squad finished with a dismal three and nine record while going a big fat 1-6 in the Big East Conference. Sure, we started out nice with wins over the University of Tennessee Chattanooga and the University of Nevada – though for the win over the Wolfpack we had to wait until the final minute to secure a one-point victory.

We choked against Rutgers University again on a Thursday night in Raymond James that started a six game losing skid to schools such as Ball State, the fourth ranked Florida State University (who were getting us back for 2009 when we beat the ‘Noles in Tallahassee), Big East newcomer Temple University, the University of Louisville, and Syracuse University by one point during our homecoming game.

We somehow managed a victory over the University of Connecticut before retuning to “A Holtz New Era” of losing. We were drubbed 40 to nine by in-state rival the University of Miami, and rounded out the season with losses to the Universities of Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

In the aftermath of the horrible season and failing to play in a bowl game for two consecutive seasons, Holtz was let go, and Willie Taggart was hired to be the Bulls’ third head coach in the history of the program.

The Men’s basketball season opened with a loss to in-state and future Big East rival Central Florida. We compiled a nine and three record with wins that included in-state Stetson University, the University of Georgia in the Big East-SEC Challenge, a triple overtime thriller over Bowling Green University, 2006 Cinderella George Mason University, and avenged the season opener over Central Florida in Orlando going into the Big East season. It looked like a back-to-back NCAA tournament appearance was an actual possibility.

We opened Big East play with four consecutive losses that included Syracuse and third-ranked Louisville before stealing a win from Georgetown University. Nine consecutive losses have followed, to schools such as No. 24/23 University of Notre Dame, No. 25 Marquette University, twice, UConn, and then No. 12 Louisville.

We have four conference games left against at Pittsburgh on Feb. 27, home against DePaul University on March 3, UConn at home on the March 6, and we finish the season at Cincinnati on March 9.

We will play at Madison Square Garden during the Big East Tournament, which starts on March 12. As of press time we are the 14th seeded team with one conference win. Seton Hall University and DePaul both have two, so there is the possibility of rising to the 12th seed. Rutgers is the current 11th seed, with four conference wins, so if they choke and we win there is a possibility.

It would be impossible to catch 10th-seeded Providence College, with seven Big East wins and a first round bye. The only way for South Florida to make it back to the “Big Dance,” is to win the Big East Tournament.

That brings me to the last of the “Big Three,” baseball. The season started two weekends ago with a 10-to-one loss to Louisville, a 20-to-two win over Purdue University and a 12-to-two loss to Indiana University. This past weekend we traveled to Tallahassee for a three-game series. We dropped the first game 14 to three on Saturday afternoon. There was a double header on Sunday due to a rainout on Friday, with an 8-0 loss to Florida State and (game two score).

The Bulls do not leave Florida until a three game series in D.C. against Georgetown in the last weekend of March. Before departing for the District, we travel to Central Florida for a Tuesday night game, host Toledo University, play a midweek two-game set against Boston College and Valparaiso University. We then travel to Florida International for a midweek two-game series, return for three games against Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University, go to Bethune Cookman College on March 19, and host Cincinnati and then Florida Gulf Coast University for a Tuesday night showdown.

In April we face Stetson home and away; host Pittsburgh, Central Florida and Alcorn State University. We travel to UConn and on the 23rd to the University of Florida. The Bulls host St. John’s University and Bethune Cookman to round out April.

On May Day we host Stetson, travel to Notre Dame, Seaton Hall, and one game against Florida Gulf Coast. We host Rutgers to end the regular season; followed by the Big East Tournament which runs from May 22 to 26.

If we have a solid season, play well in the Big East Tournament, there is a possibility that the Bulls can make it to the College World Series. If that happens to be the case I’ll have a seventh post-season shirt, one for each year of attending this university system, to add to my collection of five bowl games and one NCAA tournament bracket shirt.