For much of this magical season, the USF men's basketball team rolled over opponents with a rapid-fire offense and a smothering defense.
However, the Bulls were on the wrong side of that combination Thursday afternoon for too long in their opening NCAA tournament game against 6th-seeded Louisville.
The Cardinals built a formidable lead by raining 13 3-point shots and employed a scrambling defense that left the Bulls flummoxed for much of the game. USF missed 17 of its first 18 3-point attempts. The result was that Louisville advanced to the second round with an 83-79 victory.
USF didn't go down without a ferocious fight, though.
The Bulls fell behind by 22 points with about 11 minutes left in the second half before pulling to within four points with less than a minute remaining. USF's suffocating press forced turnovers that led to baskets as the Bulls kept cutting into the lead.
"It was a tsunami," Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey said.
The hill was just a little too steep, however, and USF's remarkable season ended with a 25-9 record to go with American Conference championships in the regular-season and tournament.
"I'm extremely proud of this group of young men. I've been doing this for 18 years, and it's the best group of young men I've ever been around. Selfless, motivated, disciplined, they love one another. They celebrate each other's success, and that's extremely special. They've given me more than I could ever give them," Bulls head coach Bryan Hodgson said.
"I really wanted this one today, wanted them to experience, getting a win here in the NCAA tournament. obviously did not happen, but we're very close. This is a family. That is thrown around a lot in sports. But we really have that in our locker room, and that's special."
Bulls Nation, thank YOU! Words can’t begin to describe how much we appreciate every single member of Bulls Nation, who helped support this historic team & season. Memories that will last a lifetime coupled with incredible momentum to build on moving forward. Go Bulls always!🤘🏻😤 pic.twitter.com/TnwrxurynX
— Rob Higgins (@RHiggins_USF) March 19, 2026
The thoughts of USF fans now turn to the question of whether Hodgson will return next season. He has been linked to jobs at Syracuse and Providence, and although he reportedly turned down Syracuse earlier this week, Providence could remain in play.
Or course, USF could be in play as well.
The Bulls reportedly have made a significant financial offer to keep Hodgson.
"USF's a phenomenal place. I'm ery appreciative to the administration there for believing in me. You know, when they hired me, I had two years of head coaching experience under my belt. It was a very, very sought after job. I mean, they had guys that had been coaching for 25, 30 years that wanted that job. I had never been to an NCAA tournament before as a head coach," Hodgson said.
"They took a chance on me, and I'll forever be grateful for that. It's a phenomenal, phenomenal university, community, and athletic department. They treat their people with the utmost respect and and resources in order to be successful. The University of South Florida is just scratching the surface. There's so much momentum going on at hat campus and in that community. And it's really just getting started."