The Oracle out of print

The Oracle is out of print until Jan. 11. Have a safe holiday.

 

Women’s basketball final: USF 63 Montana 53

The Bulls got 21 points from freshman KaNeisha Saunders as USF took the first game of the Courtyard by Marriott L.A. Thanksgiving Classic Friday night.

USF (3-2) will play Loyola Maramount or Saint Louis on Saturday at either 4 p.m. or 6 p.m.

-PN

 

Men’s basketball final: USF 78 Florida Atlantic 58

Sophomore Augustus Gilchrist scored a career-high 27 points to lead USF past the Owls Friday night at the Sun Dome.

Gilchrist scored 23 points in the second half and the Bulls outscored the Owls 43-29 in the second half.  Senior Chris Howard added 15 points and junior Dominique Jones had 10 points and 11 assists.

USF (6-1) hosts Hampton on Monday.

-Phil Neary

 

Men’s basketball: South Carolina 69 USF 66

After winning three straight to start the season, the Bulls dropped their first game Friday night 69-66 to the Gamecocks in the second round of the Charleston Classic. 

USF (3-1) got a combined 35 points from its two big men, Gus Gilchrist and Jarrid Famous.  Dominique Jones added 17 in a losing effort.

The Bulls led 35-29 at halftime but the Gamecocks opened the second half with a 15-6 run.

USF plays UNC-Wilmington on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.

-PN

 

Men’s basketball: USF 65 Davidson 58

USF got a combined 38 points from Dominique Jones and Augustus Gilchrist to beat Davidson in the first round of the Charleston Classic tournament Thursday night.

Jones also had 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals and Jarrid Famous had a team-high 11 rebounds.

USF (3-0) next plays on Friday, and will face the winner of the LaSalle/South Carolina, which tips off Thursday at 9:30 p.m.

-PN

 

Bowl projections for USF

Not that this really means anything at this point, but ESPN.com projects bowl-matchups after every weekend, based on a team’s current status in its conference.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN has USF in the International Bowl against Northern Illinois, while Bruce Feldman has the Bulls facing South Carolina in the Papajohn’s.com bowl.  Brian Bennett, ESPN’s Big East blogger, also has the Bulls in the International Bowl, which places the Big East conference with the MAC.

The Papajohn’s.com bowl ties the SEC with the Big East. USF played East Carolina in the Papajohn’s.com bowl in 2007, winning 24-7. 

-PN

 

 

Kickoff time for Miami game set

Kickoff will be at 3:30 p.m. Eastern for USF’s showdown with Miami Nov. 28. 

The game will be broadcast by ABC.

Additional tickets:  USF has put an additional 1,400 tickets on sale for the USF-Miami game after Miami returned a portion of its alllotment.  Tickets are $25 and can be purchased though gousfbulls.com.

-PN

 

Men’s soccer awaits tournament seeding

Since losing 3-2 in penalty kicks to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament last Sunday, the Bulls have been patiently waiting to see where they will be placed in the NCAA tournament, which starts Nov. 20. 

Bids for the tournament will be announced on Monday at 5:30 on ESPN News after things shake out with conference tourmanents, which end this weekend.

Despite Sunday’s loss to the Irish, the Bulls (13-3-3) are still in the top 10 of four of the five major college soccer polls. 

Attinella gets big honor: USF junior goalkeeper Jeff Attinella was named the Big East conference’s goalkeeper of the year as well as a first-team all-conference selection.  In 19 games this year, Attinella had seven shutouts and allowed just 15 goals. 

-PN

 

USF drops fourth straight to Rutgers

Rutgers continues to have USF’s number.

The Scarlet Knights held the Bulls to 159 total yards and forced four USF turnovers in a 31-0 win in Piscataway, New Jersey Thursday night.

Rutgers has outscored USF 83-16 in the teams’ past two meetings.

The Scarlet Knights held the Bulls to just 30 rushing yards, while gaining 153 on the ground.  USF redshirt freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels completed just 7 of 17 passes for 129 yards and had two picks.

After starting the season 5-0, USF has lost three of its past four games.  With the win, Rutgers is now bowl eligible while USF still needs one more win.

-Phil Neary

 

 

Men’s soccer begins quest for another Big East title

Last Nov. 16, the USF men’s soccer team celebrated on its home field after defeating St. Johns 1-0 to capture its first Big East Championship in school history.The No. 13 Bulls start their quest for another title when they open this season’s Big East Tournament at home against Marquette (4-9-3, 3-4-3) tonight at 7:30.

Despite this being the first post season match for the Bulls in 2009, Coach George Kiefer approaches it as just another game.

 “We treat every match like it’s our last so the preparation is no different for us,” Kiefer said.  “We are just trying to get better every game.”

USF and Marquette faced each other this season and played to a 1-1 tie on Sept. 18 at the USF Soccer Stadium.

Kiefer said his team is anxious for the rematch.

“Playing Marquette is a great opportunity for us,” he said.  “Our players felt like they should have played better the last time we faced (Marquette).  We were not happy to come away with a tie.”

Senior forward  Zak Boggs said it wasn’t a good night for USF.

“I don’t want to dwell on the past but a lot of things didn’t go right for us that night,” Boggs said.  “We are all itching to get on the field to hopefully come away with a big win.”

If the Bulls (12-3-2, 6-3-2) earn a victory over Marquette tonight, they would travel to South Bend to play Notre Dame (10-7-1, 8-3-0) in the quarterfinals on Sunday.

USF defeated the Fighting Irish 2-1 on Sept. 20 at the USF Soccer Stadium.

No matter what happens in the Big East Tournament, however, Kiefer feels the 2009 regular season has been a huge success

“If you asked me before the season where I thought we would be at the end after losing five seniors from last year, I wouldn’t have thought we would be 12-3-2,” he said.  “I am extremely proud of our team for the way they have played so far this season.”

Last year, South Florida was chosen to host the Big East Tournament’s Final Four and the Bulls won the championship.  This season, the semifinals and finals will be held in Morgantown, West Virginia.

If the Bulls are to repeat as conference champions in 2009, they will have to do it away from the USF Soccer Stadium – where they are 23-0-4 in their last 27 home matches.

Boggs believes that winning the Big East Championship last year has nothing to do with 2009, and that USF will really need to be at the top of its game throughout the tournament if they are to repeat.

“This is a completely different season,” he said.  “All year we have played with a target on our backs and that is what we wanted.  It has helped us improve our game on so many levels, including mental toughness which is what we are going to need to win another title.”  

-Joel Leventhal