Could USF men's and women's basketball one day make the Final Four?

If you've never attended the men's or women's basketball Final Four, you have missed a rare treat. For my money, it's the best event on the sporting calendar every year.

It always delivers drama and excitement. I've been fortunate enough to attend several FFs as a sportswriter, and I've seen some doozies, starting with Larry Bird-Magic Johnson. I saw Jim Valvano jump around like a crazy man when N.C. State upset Houston. And so on.

The women's FF opens tonight (April 3) while the men tip off a day later. Get the popcorn ready.

This event has always seemed out of reach for USF men because, well, the Bulls would have to qualify for the NCAA tournament first. This year was only the fourth time that happened in program history.

However, recent events on Fowler Avenue show that the sleeping giant has awakened in all sports, so should the pinnacle of college basketball be beyond USF's ability to achieve?

Absolutely not.

After all, just three years ago Florida Atlantic -- USF's American Conference brother -- advanced to the national semifinals and came within a point of playing for the national championship. San Diego State, the team that beat the Owls, is another so-called mid-major.

That year was the first time since the NCAA began seeding the tournament in 1979 no former McDonald's All-American participated in the Final Four. You get the right coach, player buy-in and chemistry, and maybe a lucky bounce or two and, voila!

Rocky The Bull goes national.

Chris Mack was hired a few days ago as USF's new men's basketball coach. The reaction across college basketball was extremely positive.

Analyst Jay Bilas said "Chris Mack is a winner, plain and simple."

Mack knows what it takes to wade through March Madness. While at Xavier, he made four trips to the Sweet 16 and one Elite Eight appearance. And he views USF as a destination job instead of a way station to advance to a program in a power conference (and yes, the Bulls may land in one of those P4 destinations within a few years).

Amir Abdur-Rahim and Bryan Hodgson showed what USF can be. Mack will build on that, and you can bet the idea of the Bulls in the Final Four doesn't seem outrageous to him at all.

On the women's side, the newly hired Kristy Curry from Alabama will aim high as well. However, It's different in the women's bracket. For the second year in a row, all Final Four participants were No. 1 seeds. Not only that, the same four teams -- Connecticut, South Carolina, UCLA, and Texas -- were in last year's Final Four in Tampa.

For now, the top power in the women's game is concentrated in just a handful of teams, and the gap between the top teams and everyone else seems to be increasing.

In the Elite Eight, for instance, there were no close games. UConn beat Notre Dame by 18 points. UCLA beat Duke by 12. Texas demolished second-seeded Michigan by 36 points, and South Carolina smoked TCU by 26.

But USF has been to the tournament nine times since 2012 and always has great expectations. Curry will have a lot to work with here. And she didn't come here just to make the tournament.

The target will at least be the Sweet 16, and after that you take your chances.