USF Basketball expert lays out what Florida fans should watch for in opener

Basketball season is finally here for the Florida Gators as Todd Golden and crew will open their season tonight against the USF Bulls at 8:30 PM in Jacksonville.

The Bulls enter the season as the defending regular season AAC champions but also have the backdrop and uncertainty of coach Amir Abdur-Rahim unexpectedly passing away at the age of 43.

To get a better idea of what to expect from USF, we reached out to our Fansided sister site Green, Gold, and Bold and had Joe Henderson, who may or may not also be my father, give us the scoop on what Gator fans should look for.

Hail Florida Hail

How has the backdrop of Amir Abdur-Rahim's death altered the expectations for USF this season?

Joe Henderson

It created uncertainty more than anything, but that's natural, given the circumstances.

The Bulls were picked 3rd in the AAC preseason media poll, and I think they can at least live up to that. Interim head coach Ben Fletcher did a lot of the X's and O's last year as the associate head coach for USF, and he promises the Bulls will play the same up-tempo style that proved successful in 2023-24.

They return guard Jaylen Reid, who was on the AAC All-Freshman team last year. Guard Kobe Knox started all 33 games last season. Guard Brandon Stroud is a team leader. USF expects to be good.

HFH

Even though USF was 25-8 last season, their strength of schedule tanked their chances of making the tournament. Given that Florida is the only team on their schedule ranked in the AP Preseason poll, how much stock is the USF camp putting on this game?

JH

I put little stock in the preseason polls. Remember, USF was picked to finish 9th last year in the preseason AAC poll. The Bulls sent 10th-ranked Memphis State into a tailspin when they rallied from 20 points down in the second half to beat the Tigers on the road.

Their problem last year was a slow start against a weak non-conference schedule. Their non-conference schedule this year is tougher, starting, of course, with Florida. They'll travel to Loyola Chicago and Utah State.

They're in the Myrtle Beach Invitational with solid programs like Bradley, Middle Tennessee, Ohio, Portland, Princeton, Texas State, and Wright State. And as Amir Abdur-Rahim noted, so-called "power" programs didn't return his calls this year when he tried to schedule them.

HFH

USF was raided in the transfer portal and lost their top three scorers to Power Four programs. Who are the Bulls hoping to step up in 2024/25 to put the ball in the basket?

JH

Obviously, that is the big question about this USF team. Seven different players combined to knock down ten 3-pointers in an exhibition win against Edward Waters, but that was against an overmatched Division II team. Doing that against the Gators is a whole different story.

I suspect that, like last year, the onus won't be on one or two particular guys to provide the scoring punch. They'll play a lot of guys and share the wealth.

HFH

USF was 213th in defensive rebounding percentage last season. Florida meanwhile was 8th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage. Most of Florida's big men are back, so has USF done anything in the offseason to address this?

JH

Size matters, and that's an area the Bulls needed to improve over the last year. They brought in 6-10, 275-pound forward Jamille Reynolds from Cincinnati through the portal, but he only started one game for the Bearcats last year. Sophomore center Daniel Tobiloba, who didn't play much last season, needs to step up.

But remember, the style USF plays doesn't depend on dominant bigs. They still won 25 games despite those defensive rebounding numbers.

We thank my father for his time. You can check out all of his USF content at Green, Gold, and Bold.