Basketball teams always say they want to be playing their best ball when their conference tournament rolls around. The USF women's and men's team can truthfully say they are doing just that.
After some mid-season struggles, the women enter American Conferece tournament play with a 20-11 record and seven wins in their last eight games. After finishing third in the conference, USF gets a double bye to the quarterfinals. The Bulls play on Thursday at 3 p.m. against either Temple, Tulane, or UTSA.
The game will be carried on ESPN+.
“We’re at the point where they’re looking around, like, hey, we’re pretty damn good,” interim head coach Michele Woods-Baxter said after her team beat Temple on Senior Night. “And I hope they can keep this confidence up through the tournament.”Â
The men, newly crowed as the regular-season American champion, are even hotter. USF is 23-8 overall with nine straight wins and 12 out of its last 13. The Bulls haven't lost since falling by one point at Temple on January 31.
USF is the tournament's top-seeded team and receives a bye to the semifinals. They will play on Saturday at 3 p.m. on ESPN2.
"This is the most selfless, driven group of men that I've ever coached," Bulls head coach Bryan Hodgson said. "And I've been a part of some damn good teams, but this one is different."
Both teams likely have to win their respective tournaments to secure invitations to March Madness. The men are ranked a program-best 49th in the NET -- a key metric the selection committee uses -- while the women are 66th.
Rice and USF are the only American women's teams ranked in the top 100 NET. The next closest conference team to USF is North Texas at 105.
It's a similar story for the men.
Tulsa (50) and Wichita State (80) join the Bulls as the only teams in the top 100. The next closest after Wichita State is UAB at 117th.