Anyone up for a little menage a blog? Good, because that is what you are getting. Me and Scott over at the Bearcats Blog combined forces to tackle some questions from the guys over at Voodoo Five. Obviously none of us expected this to happen, but it just sort of did. Part one between Scoot and Ken is available here. Part two, with me answering questions is available here. Part three is now up over at Bearcats Blog, check it out. This is the bit from me and Ken DeCelles. Enjoy.
1: Where does the Anthony Crater shot from last year rank in the grand scheme of USF plays. Is it confined to comparisons with recent history or is this a pantheon moment for the Bulls.
USF isn't a school rich with basketball history, so this is big at least for me. Any time you win a conference game on that stage like Crater did huge, and for me its up there in the Top 3. I'm sure Toro, Gary, or Voodoo have a couple other shots, but normally we are the team getting its heartbroken like that, so its nice to be on the other side of it for once.
2: Augustus Gilchrest has been on an offensive tear in recent weeks. What do you attribute to his increasingly efficient performance on offense?
The shots are finally going in. It helps that Shaun Noriega is starting to emerge as a legitimate scoring threat from outside, which helps stretch out the defense and we don't have all 5 defenders clogging the paint. But he is a fantastic offensive talent who can beat pretty much any post when given the time. It just depends if they are going in, because he is going to shoot regardless.
3: Jawanza Poland broke out of what looked to be a bit of a dip offensively before breaking out. If my calculations are right, never a good bet to take, he has been shooting under 36 per cent since the start of February. Is it bad shot selection or a general lack of skills beyond throwing down slick dunks.
Jawanza has been bothered by a stiff back over the past couple of weeks which spells doom for any basketball player. Most of our guards had a bad shot selection not attacking the basket, but after 31 games they finally started going to the basket last night. Who knows if this is an abberation or they are actually getting it. If the latter is true, I'm extremely excited about what next year brings.
4: Win or loss any pressure on Stan Heath yet or does he have another year?
He's good for at least two more seasons. Stan signed a 5 year extension over the offseason, and with the brand new 50,000 sq. ft. Muma Basketball Center and a renovated Sun Dome to use as recruiting chips, he'll have a couple of recruiting classes to bring it all together. I mean he did just have a 20 win season last year, just hard to replace 70% of their scoring from the year before.