The start of March Madness is more than two months away, but it's never too early to talk about one of the greatest events on the sports calendar. And if The Athletic is correct, that conversation could include the USF men's basketball team.
In the latest installment of its regular NCAA Tournament Bracket Watch, the pay site the Bulls as a No. 12 seed in the South Region. In The Athletic's scenario, USF would travel to Philadelphia to play No. 5 Florida, the defending national champions.
Remember what happened the last time the Bulls and Gators squared off in a high-profile competition?
No. 4 Illinois and No. 13 Liberty are also projected to be Philly-bound.
The Bulls are the only American Conference team projected to be in the field. In it comes to pass, it would be USF's first tournament appearance since 2012.
After a pair of road wins last week, USF is 10-6 overall and 2-1 in the American. The Bulls have risen to No. 58 in the NCAA NET rankings. That's an evaluation tool that uses multiple factors to help the tournament selection committee choose and seed teams. This is the seventh year the NET has been used, and this is USF's highest ranking in program history.
Curiously, the Bulls trail American member Tulsa by three spots in the NET. USF pounded the Golden Hurricane 93-78 last week in Tulsa.
The Bulls are averaging 91.1 points per game, which is 13th in the country.
Junior guard Wes Enis is eighth in the country in 3-pointers made per game after nailing 10 shots from downtown in two of USF's last three games. Teammate Joseph Pinion is tied for 18th in that category.
"It's obviously huge (to have a weapon like Enis)," Hodgson said. "It's even better when you've two, and I thihk we have two in Joe and Wes. If someone told you this morning that Joe Pinion hit 10threes the last game, I don't think you would blink, right?
"Before Wes started really making shots, it put a lot of pressure on Joe. Teams were chasing Joe all around. Now they have to chase both. When you're chasing two guys around that can shoot the ball like that, it really makes it tough on opposing defenses."