Photo by Jorden Pompey | The Crow’s Nest
By Jorden Pompey
The University of South Florida men’s basketball team was defeated in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) 70-65 on March 24.
With it, the Bulls end the season 25-8.
The team was predicted to finish ninth in the American Athletic Conference preseason (AAC) rankings, but against all odds, ended up winning the AAC regular season championship.
“I’m really proud of this group, a group nobody gave a chance. I don’t even think they took enough time to figure out who was on the roster,” head coach Abdur-Rahim said in the post-game conference.
Senior guard Chris Youngblood led the team in points with 28 shooting 10 for 16.
Junior forward Kaysean Pryor treaded behind with 14 points shooting six for 12 in addition to recording his 13th double-double with 10 rebounds.
The second-round battle included 15 lead changes. USF took the lead in the beginning of the second half, but VCU responded with an 8-0 run to push the lead to seven with 17:51 left in second half.
VCU’s largest lead was eight with 10:08 left in the second half. USF brought it back within one point after senior guard Selton Miguel’s shoot-and-one basket.
After the time out, Miguel missed the tying free throw.
A new season calls for new players and developing the current talent over the offseason. Coach Abdur-Rahim expressed his excitement for what is to come. The departure of senior forward Sam Hines Jr., guard Jose Placer and Miguel, those roles will have to be earned by the younger players.
“I can’t wait to see Jayden Reid’s body change… when he’s 6’1, 185 [pounds]. I can’t wait to see Daniel (Tobiloba).If you saw him three days ago in practice, it’s gonna be fun with that big boy,” Abdur-Rahim said. “Y’all thought Chris Youngblood was good this year, that dude has gotten better every year in college it’s about to get scary.”
Preparing for the next season will take some time and Abdur-Rahim and the team plans to take some time off and look back at the accomplishment made this season.
2023-2024 accomplishments:
- South Florida recorded a program-record 25 wins overcoming a 24 win season in 2019
- First regular season AAC Championship in program history.
- Country’s longest and program record winning streak of 15 games this season from Jan. 12 to March 5.
- Ranked No. 24 by the Associated Press, highest rank in program history.
- Head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim named AAC Coach of the Year.
- Selton Miguel named All-Conference second team Most Improved Player, unamimous Sixth Man of the Year and AAC Player of the week
- Chris Youngblood named to the All-Conference first team, AAC Co-Player of the Year and AAC Weekly Honor Roll.
- Jayden Reid unamisouly named to the AAC All-Freshman team and AAC Freshamn of the Week.
- Kasean Pryor named AAC Player of the Week and AAC Weekly Honor Roll.
