The one thing we know for sure about the path the USF men's basketball team will follow in the American Conference tournament is that the Bulls will play at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
But who will the Bulls face?
Um, we'll get back to you on that. That's. because USF's opening opponent won't be set until around 3 p.m. on Friday, the day before the Bulls will take the court.
They could face Tulane, which eliminated Memphis on Wednesday night. Or they could face Charlotte. Or they could face UAB. Since Tulane and Charlotte face each other today, the Bulls will able to scratch one of those teams off the list.
Head coach Bryan Hodgson said the Bulls' recent games against Tulane and Charlotte are still fresh in the minds of his team and coaching staff. That should make preparation a little easier.
But UAB?
"We haven't played UAB in a long time. 
We played UAB twice in 10 days in our first four games of conference play. So we're spending a lot of time right now. (on UAB)," Hodgson said.
"I've watched every minute of basketball that UAB played since they played us. 
That's where we're at right now. Preparing for anything that they do different."
USF split its two games with UAB -- losing 109-106 in double overtime at the Yuengling Center on January 4 before defeating the Blazers 82-69 in Birmingham on January 22. That was 12 games and about seven weeks ago.
The Bulls flew out to Birmingham on Thursday. Until they know for sure who they will play, the preparations will be mixed bag. They will focus on the similarities between the three possible opponents, but with a twist.
"You take a team like UAB, who's very different from (Tulane and Charlotte) in a lot of ways. and incorporate some of that into practice. until we have a definitive answer on who we're gonna play," Hodgson said.
USF has risen to No. 47 in the NET rankings, which is on the fringe of being strong enough for an at-large NCAA tournament bid if the Bulls don't win the American tournament.
But by preparing and playing like they've done in the second half of the season, the Bulls hope sweating out Selection Sunday whiled praying for a bid won't be necessary, The game plan is to keep things focused and do the things that got them into this position.
"We'll spend time looking at the things we did well against those (possible opponents), fix the things that we didn't do well. and attack that game, one possession at a time, one four-minute war at a time. That's how you win in March," Hodgson said.
"The people that put too much of an emphasis on, man, it's postseason, you know, win or go home -- no, you just, you make the guys tight, We haven't lost a game in a long time because we take it one game at a time."