POSTERIZED: USF's Rudd bullies St. John's

This post is brought to you by the University Plaza Hotel in Springfield, MO.

We haven't had a legit Dunk of the Year cadidate is quite some time. But South Florida's Victor Rudd ended that streak.

The Sophomore forward had a career night, scoring 24 points and unloading a nasty #POSTERIZED dunk on God's Gift Achiuwa.



The Bulls now have four conference wins, which is tied for the most Big East wins in program history.

You know what they say:

"You mess with the bull, and you get the horns"

But was it as good as these?

C.J. Fair, Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh, 1/16
TrayVonn Wright, North Dakota State vs. South Dakota, 1/14
Bandja Sy, New Mexico State vs. Utah State, 1/12
Kenny Hall, Tennessee vs. Mississippi State, 1/12
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Duquesne, 1/11
Kadeem Batts, Providence vs. Louisville, 1/10
Karam Mashour, UNLV vs. CS-Bakersfield, 1/6
Tony Snell, New Mexico vs. Houston Baptist, 1/3
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Georgia Tech, 1/3
Trevis Simpson, UNC-Greensboro vs. Miami, 1/2
Orion Outerbridge, Rhode Island vs. Boston College, 1/2
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Indiana, 12/31
DeShon Minnis, Texas Tech vs. Southeastern Louisiana, 12/30
Keith Gabriel, VMI vs. Old Dominion, 12/22
Eric Etherly, Loyola (Md.) vs. Kentucky, 12/22
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. Texas-Arlington, 12/21
P.J. Hairston, North Carolina vs. Texas, 12/21
Robbie Hummel, Purdue vs. IPFW, 12/20
Robert Brown, Virginia Tech vs. North Florida, 12/19
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Kansas State, 12/17
Torye Pelham, Southern Mississippi vs. Ole Miss, 12/17
Quincy Diggs, Akron vs. Florida A&M, 12/17
Anthony Davis, Kentucky vs. Chattanooga, 12/17
Langston Galloway/C.J. Aiken/Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Villanova, 12/17
Terrence Ross, Washington vs. UC-Santa Barbara, 12/16
Jared Cunningham, Oregon State vs. Howard, 12/15
Raheem Appleby, Louisiana Tech vs. McNeese State, 12/14
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Detroit, 12/12
Vander Blue, Marquette vs. UW-Green Bay, 12/11
Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Creighton, 12/10
Dion Waiters, Syracuse vs. George Washington, 12/10 (DotY Candidate)
Victor Oladipo, Indiana vs. Kentucky, 12/10
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, 12/10
Vander Blue, Marquette vs. Washington, 12/6
Terrence Ross, Washington vs. Marquette, 12/6
Deville Smith, Mississippi State vs. West Virginia, 12/3
Terrence Jones, Kentucky vs. North Carolina, 12/3
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Georgetown, 12/1
Anthony Marshall, UNLV vs. UNC, 11/26
Michael Kidd-Glichrist, Kentucky vs. Portland, 11/26/11 (DotY Candidate)
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/25
Rodney Williams, Minnesota vs. DePaul, 11/24
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Duke, 11/23
Stan Okoye, VMI vs. Ohio State, 11/23
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Southern Utah, 11/19
Ra'Shad James, Iona vs. Western Michigan, 11/18
Alandise Harris, Houston vs. Arkansas, 11/18
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Jackson State, 11/18
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Wichita State, 11/18
Eric Griffin, Campbell vs. North Carolina A&T, 11/18 (DotY Candidate)
Olek Czyz, Nevada vs. Pacific, 11/17
Chris Watson, Pikeville vs. Mountain State, 11/16
Ray Willis, North Carolina Central vs. Wagner, 11/16
Mike James, Lamar vs. Ohio, 11/15 (DotY Candidate)
Quincy Acy, Baylor vs. San Diego State, 11/15
Deniz Kilicli, West Virginia vs. Kent State, 11/15
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. West Virginia, 11/15
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Oakland, 11/14
Isaiah Brown, East Tennessee State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/12
Michael Lyons, Air Force vs. Army, 11/11
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Morgan State, 11/11
Jeremy Lamb, UConn vs. Columbia, 11/11 (DotY Candidate)
Andre Drummond, UConn vs. CW Post, 11/4
Moe Harkless, St. John's vs. CW Post, 10/26

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Vermont lost to USF because the Bulls didn't have replay monitors?

Over the weekend, Butler lost a fairly controversial game to Evansville.

Andrew Smith scored on a length-of-the-court pass that would have won the game in regulation, but officials ruled that the shot had happened after the buzzer. Butler went on to lose in overtime. The refs were able to go back to the video feed from the game to review the shot, but one thing you'll notice missing when you look at screen-grabs of the shot is that the square on the back board didn't light up when time expired.

Did I mention this game was played at Evansville, where the Purple Aces were debuting a brand new arena? Why didn't the back board light up? Could it have changed the officials view of the play?

That wasn't the only controversial ending to a game this weekend.

Vermont traveled down to South Florida on Friday, but found themselves trailing 61-59 with 4.3 seconds left on the clock. Four McGlynn drove to the bucket, but he missed the layup. Luckily, Matt Glass was there for the tip-in. Overtime, right?

Wrong.



South Florida's in the midst of getting a new arena, which means that they are playing their home game at the University of Tampa, a D-II school. What that means is that there were no cameras at this game. So when the refs decided to wave off the game-tying bucket, they didn't have any video to go back and review. And, according to Vermont's play-by-play announcer who somehow managed to see a replay after the game (no video, eh?), that lack of a review cost UVM the game.

"Ball was through the net when the light went off and the horn sounded…game should have been tied at 61 going to OT," Chris Villiani wrote on twitter.

I'm going to take this time to remind you that South Florida plays in the the Big East, but there was no video of the game? No online stream? No assistant coaches gathering film? No parents in the stands recording? Nothing?

The ironic part is that apparently the America East is better prepared for situations like this than the Big East is. Sean Tainsh, the director of communications for the league, said that replay monitors are required at all home games.

The video of the ending was put on the South Florida website in the highlights of the game. If you have video, please email us at ContactBIAH@gmail.com or send me a tweet @ballinisahabit.
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The Real March Madness: Day 8

Everyone loves the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Four straight days jam-packed with 12 hours of do-or-die college hoops is more than most people can handle.

But for junkies like us, the next 13 days are just as good, for it is when the true Madness takes place. Over the course of these two weeks, we whittle some 347 teams down to 30 conference champions (the Ivy doesn't have a tournament). Auto-bids will be won. Bubbles will be burst. Buzzers will be beaten. And most importantly, a 68 team bracket will be made.

For a comprehensive listing off all the conference tournaments, follow this link or click the "Complete Conference Tournament Schedules" page at the top of the screen. To become more acquainted with the teams that have already sealed up autobids, follow this link.

Here is what happened on Tuesday:

Upsets, close-finishes, comebacks, and more upsets.


Game of the Day: Arkansas-Little Rock 64, North Texas 63
The No. 5 Trojans of Arkansas-Little Rock rallied back from down six with under 90 seconds to go, and Solomon Bozeman hit a deep 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left to win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time in school history. The game was back-and-forth for the first 37 minutes, but North Texas looked like they would pull away late. But Matt Mouzy hit a 3-pointer with 17.6 seconds left to make it 62-61. Mouzy then stole the in-bounds pass but missed the 3-point attempt, and the rebound was grabbed by North Texas' Tristan Thompson, who was immediately fouled. On Sunday, in the semifinals, Thompson hit a perfect 20-20 from the charity stripe, but with just nine seconds left in the conference title game, he missed the first of two shots. After making the second, North Texas led 63-61. Bozeman collected the in-bounds pass and well, I'll let the video explain the rest:



North Texas called a timeout and set-up for a final shot, but were unable to get a clean look. When the clock hit zeros, Arkansas-Little Rock had punched it's first ticket to the dance in 21 years. The Trojans went 7-9 in the Sun Belt regular season and lost to North Texas both times they met. Bozeman was named tournament MVP and averaged 22ppg during the four-game streak.

They were good too:

- Rutgers 76, Seton Hall 70 OT

This one of the more-entertaining games of the day. The two teams traded leads for much of the game, and neither team led by more than nine. As the game-clock wound down, you knew that the game was going to end in exciting fashion, and it did. For the last four minutes, neither team led by more than two points. After Mike Coburn sank two free throws to put the Scarlet Knights up three, Jordan Theodore took the in-bounds pass with nine seconds left and set up a crazy finish to end regulation:



In overtime, Rutgers made nine of their final twelve foul shots and earned their first Big East tournament win since 2005.

- La Salle 75, St. Bonaventure's 73 2OT

Steve Weingarten hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 3o seconds left in the second overtime to seal victory over St. Bonaventure's in the first round of the Atlantic-10 tournament. The No. 10 Explorers, who will face the No. 2 Temple Owls in the quarterfinals, erased a 14-point deficit in regulation then overcame a seven-point deficit in the first overtime. The Explorers had three players score in double-figures, led by Jerrell Williams who had 19 points. Ruben Guillandeaux had 18 points including the tying shot at the end of regulation.


Team of the Day: South Florida Bulls

The Bulls were playing in only their fourth ever Big East tournament game, and erased a 15-point halftime deficit to beat the No. 10 Villanova Wildcats in the first round of the Big East tournament.This was the first time in conference history that a No. 15-seed won a tournament game. South Florida played shut-down defense in the second half, limiting the Wildcats to just four field goals. The Bulls were led by Shaun Noriega, who had 22 points, including 18 points from behind the arc. Anthony Crater only had six points, but he scored the four most important points of the game.


.

They were good too:

- Butler Bulldogs

The bulldogs had been written off by most of the country after a mediocre non-conference record and a uncharacteristic three game conference losing streak. But like they have done in season past, the Bulldogs plowed the the Horizon League tournament and are once again back in the NCAA tournament. Butler lost both their regular season games against UW-Milwaukee, but were able to beat the Panthers when it truly mattered. The Bulldogs only trailed once, and except for a five minute scoring drought in the second half, were in complete control of the game. Matt Howard led the way with 18 points and Shelvin Mack chipped in with 14 points.



Player of the Day: Keith Benson, Oakland

The Summit League Player of the Year had a monster night as he led the No. 1 Golden Grizzles to their second straight Summit League championship. Benson scored 28 points on 10-17 shooting. Benson also pulled in 14 rebounds, dropped four dimes and turned back three shots. This was Benson's 19th double-double of the season.

They were good too:

- Jonathan Mitchell, Rutgers

The senior had 25 points and made 11 of 14 free throws in the Scarlet Knights first Big East tournament win since 2005. Mitchell sparked Rutgers late-game comeback with a clutch three-pointer, and made eight free throws in overtime to seal the victory. He also had three rebounds, three assists and one steal.



Tuesday Results


Horizon League Tournament Finals

#2 Butler 59, #1UW-Milwaukee 44


Summit League Tournament Finals

#1 Oakland 90, #2 Oral Roberts 76


Sun Belt Tournament Finals

#5W Arkansas-Little Rock 64, #4W North Texas 63


Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament First Round

#9 Dayton 78, #8 UMass 50
#12 St. Joseph's 71, #5 George Washington 59 OT
#10 La Salle 75, #7 St. Bonaventure 73 2OT
#6 Rhode Island 70, #11 St. Louis 61


Big East Conference Tournament First Round
#9 UConn 97, #16 DePaul 71
#13 Rutgers 76, #12 Seton Hall 70 OT
#15 South Florida 70, #10 Villanova 69
#11 Marquette 87, #14 Providence 66


Big Sky Conference Tournament Semifinals

#2 Montana 57, #3 Weber State 40
#1 Northern Colorado 73, #4 Northern Arizona 70


Mid-American Conference First Round

#5 Ohio 74, #12 Toledo 57
#6 Akron 67, #11 Eastern Michigan 53
#7 Bowling Green 74, #10 Northern Illinois 54
#8 Buffalo 64, #9 Central Michigan 50


Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament First Round

#10 Maryland-Eastern Shore 87, #7 Florida A&M 85 2OT
#9 South Carolina State 64, #8 Delaware State 59



Wednesday Slate of Games

Northeast Conference Tournament
Finals (at higher seed)

7:00PM - ESPN2 - #3 Robert Morris at #1 Long Island


Big Sky Conference Tournament
Finals (Greeley, CO)

11:00PM - ESPN2 - #1 Northern Colorado vs. #2 Montana


Big East Conference Tournament
Second Round (New York City, NY)

12:00PM - #8 Georgetown vs. #9 UConn
2:30PM - #5 St. John's vs. #13 Rutgers
7:00PM - #7 Cincinnati vs. #15 South Florida
9:30pm - #6 West Virginia vs. #11 Marquette


Big-12 Conference Tournament
First Round (Kansas City, MO)

12:30PM - #9 Oklahoma State vs. #8 Nebraska
3:00PM - #12 Iowa State vs. #5 Colorado
7:00PM - #10 Oklahoma vs. #7 Baylor
9:00PM - #11 Texas Tech vs. #6 Missouri


Conference-USA Tournament
First Round (El Paso, TX)

12:00PM - #8 East Carolina vs. #9 UCF
3:30PM - #5 Southern Miss vs. #12 Tulane
7:30PM - #6 Marshall vs. #11 Houston
10:00PM - #7 SMU vs. #10 Rice


Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournnament
First Round (Winston-Salem, NC)

3:00PM - #6 Norfolk State vs. #11 Howard
8:00PM - #4 Morgan State vs. #5 North Carolina A&T


Mountain West Conference Tournament
First Round (Las Vegas, NV)

7:30PM - #8 Wyoming vs. #9 TCU


Pac-10 Conference Tournament
First Round (Los Angeles, CA)

9:00PM - #8 Stanford vs. #9 Oregon State
11:30PM - #7 Oregon vs. #10 Arizona State


Southland Conference Tournament
Quarterfinals (Katy, TX)

1:00PM - #2 Northwestern State vs. #7 Texas-San Antonio
3:30PM - #3 Sam Houston State vs. #6 Stephen F. Austin
7:00PM - #1 McNeese State vs. #8 Nicholls State
9:30PM - #4 Texas State vs. #5 Southeastern Louisiana


Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament
Quarterfinals (Garland, TX)

1:30PM - #7 Prairie View A&M vs. #2 Jackson State
9:00PM - #8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. #1 Texas Southern


WAC Tournament
First Round (Las Vegas, NV)

6:00PM - #5 Hawaii vs. #8 San Jose State
8:30PM - #6 Nevada vs. #7 Fresno State

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POSTERIZED: USF's Poland stars in "Jawanza-man"

South Florida's Jawanza Poland is a stud. You probably haven't seen USF play too much this season, and I don't blame you. But if you get a chance to watch them play, make sure you focus on the kid in the green-and-gold No. 5 jersey



This is not the first time Georgetown's Julian Vaughn has been on the wrong end of a posterization. Back in November, NC-State's Lorenzo Brown made Vaughn his personal fathead.

But was it as good as one of these?:

POSTERIZED - Brady Jardine, Utah State
POSTERIZED - Tony Mitchell, Alabama
POSTERIZED - John Williams, UNC-Asheville
POSTERIZED - Peyton Siva, Louisville
POSTERIZED - E'Twaun Moore, Purdue
POSTERIZED - DJ Newbill, Southern Mississippi
POSTERIZED - Scotty Hopson, Tennessee
POSTERIZED - Justin Brownlee, St. John's
POSTERIZED - Tyrone Johnson
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Georgia
POSTERIZED - Terrence Ross, Washington
POSTERIZED - Justin Tubbs, East Tennessee State
POSTERIZED - Harrison Barnes, North Carolina
POSTERIZED - Andre Roberson, Colorado
POSTERIZED - Durrell Summers, Michigan State
POSTERIZED - Phillip McDonald, New Mexico
POSTERIZED - Kyle Kuric, Louisville
POSTERIZED - Anthony Nelson, Niagara
POSTERIZED - Cory Joseph, Texas
POSTERIZED - Will Sheehey, Indiana
POSTERIZED - Tom Pritchard, Indiana
POSTERIZED - Shay Shine, High Point
POSTERIZED - John Holland, Boston
POSTERIZED - Keith Gabriel, VMI
POSTERIZED - Travis McKie, Wake Forest
POSTERIZED - Jefferson Mason, Minnesota State (D-II)
POSTERIZED - Tyler Johnson, Fresno State
POSTERIZED - John Williams, UNC-Asheville
POSTERIZED - Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Hollis Thompson, Georgetown
POSTERIZED - Darnell Wilks, Cincinnati
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Darius Johnson-Odom, Marquette
POSTERIZED - Darrius Garrett, Richmond
POSTERIZED - Travis Cohn, Jacksonville
POSTERIZED - Ramon Galloway, South Carolina
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Justin Tubbs, East Tennessee State
POSTERIZED - John Williams, UNC-Asheville
POSTERIZED - Kevin Smith, Richmond
POSTERIZED - Mitchell Watt, Buffalo
POSTERIZED - Chandler Parsons, Florida
POSTERIZED - Kenny Gabriel, Auburn
POSTERIZED - Paris Horne, St. John's
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Georgia
POSTERIZED - Laurence Bowers, Missouri
POSTERIZED - Drew Gordon, New Mexico
POSTERIZED - Tony Mitchell, Alabama
POSTERIZED - Jeffery Taylor, Vanderbilt
POSTERIZED - LaMarcus Reed, UT-Arlington
POSTERIZED - Marcus Morris, Kansas
POSTERIZED - Jared Cunningham, Oregon State
POSTERIZED - Langston Morris-Walker
POSTERIZED - Chris Wright and Juwan Staten, Dayton
POSTERIZED - D.J Stephens, Memphis
POSTERIZED - Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Reeves Nelson, UCLA
POSTERIZED - Kendall Marshall and John Henson, UNC
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Joe Jackson, Memphis
POSTERIZED - Shay Shine, High Point
POSTERIZED - Harrison Barnes, North Carolina
POSTERIZED - Kent Bazemore, Old Dominion
POSTERIZED - CJ Fair, Syracuse
POSTERIZED - LeBryan Nash
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Georgia
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Marcus Jordan, Central Florida
POSTERIZED - Lorenzo Brown, NC State
POSTERIZED - Tai Wesley, Utah State
POSTERIZED - Trent Lockett, Arizona State, and Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Brandon Paul, Illinois
POSTERIZED - Jordan Hamilton, Texas
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Georgetown looked like a contender against USF, but how long will it last?

Pregame, it was billed as a rematch.

Postgame, it looks more like revenge.

But whatever you want to call Georgetown's 69-49 man-handling of South Florida in the second round of the Big East tournament, what is clear is that the Hoyas played some of their best basketball of the season today.

"Our team is healthy right now", Georgetown coach John Thompson III said after the game. "I think that the guys are extremely focused right now. And so mentally and physically and emotionally I like where we are right now."

He should.

Chris Wright had 16 points, 6 boards, and 4 assists without a turnover against USF.
(photo credit: UPI)

This was Hoyas basketball to a T. Defensively, they didn't let South Florida feel comfortable the entire game. The Bulls only turned the ball over 12 times, but they shot just 29% for the game. Dominique Jones was the only player to get into any kind of rhythm on the offensive end, and even he required 18 shots and 14 free throws to get his 21 points.

Offensively, they did just about everything JT III could ask for, from balanced scoring, the knocking down their perimeter shots, to getting easy baskets in transition.

Greg Monroe had 16 points and 8 boards. Chris Wright went for 16, 5 boards, and 4 assists. Jason Clark had 16 and his four threes.

If there was one knock on their performance, it was the 18 offensive rebounds they gave up to the Bulls. But Georgetown struggles to rebound the ball and South Florida has one of the better front lines in the conference. Giving up just 7 second chance points to the Bulls is, in the long run, a pretty good performance.

But the question that every Georgetown fan should be asking themselves is how long it will last.

On a few different occasions, this Georgetown team has looked like they were ready to reach their potential. They romped Duke in front of Barack Obama, but proceeded to lose to this very same South Florida team a few nights later. After beating Villanova at home, the Hoyas lost four of their next six games, dropping them into the 8th seed in the Big East.

Consistency is not a virtue this Hoya team has enjoyed much of this year.

Perhaps this time is different. As we all know, Austin Freeman is being treated for his diabetes. For the first time maybe all season, he is healthy. Don't underestimate what Freeman brings to the table for Georgetown. Clearly, he is the leading scorer for the Hoyas, but perhaps more important is his floor game. He is as good as anyone the Hoyas have had under JT III at running the offensive correctly; knowing when is the correct time to shoot and when to pass.

Which is huge, given that the Hoyas will be playing Syracuse tomorrow for the third time this season.

For those that don't know, Georgetown-Syracuse is probably the fiercest rivalry in the Big East. There is a genuine dislike between the two fan bases. And as of today, the Orange have all of the bragging rights.

Syracuse has won both matchups this season. In the first game, the Orange over came an early 14-0 deficit and eventually beat the Hoyas 17. In the second matchup, the Orange dominated the Hoyas for 30 minutes, before a furious Georgetown rally came up two points short.

So what do the Hoyas need to do to win tomorrow?

"We have to make shots and guard our guys," Thompson said.

Or, in other words, play better basketball.

Maybe they are now.

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South Florida keeps their tourney hopes alive

Of the 123 Big East teams that have won 20 games in a season, 120 of those have made the NCAA Tournament.

With their win over DePaul in the opening game of the Big East Tournament, South Florida improved to 20-11 on the season. But despite the weak bubble, South Florida may still need to win one more game -- tomorrow's noon tip against Georgetown -- if they want to make the tournament.

"We need to win", South Florida coach Stan Heath said. "We definitely need to win. The best thing you can do is control your own destiny. We all want to make the NCAA Tournament."

The first step was today, and South Florida passed that test.

This game looked like it was going to be a blow out. Early on, USF took control. They were dominating play in the paint, they were forcing turnovers, they were getting out in transition, and they looked like a team deserving on an NCAA Tournament bid.

"Everybody just wanted to get this first win at Madison Square Garden in the Big East tournament," Dominique Jones, who had 20 points, 9 boards, and 4 assists to lead the Bulls, said after the game.

DePaul hung in there, though.

A scrappy Blue Demon team got hot in the second half, getting was at one point was a 28-11 lead into single digits for much of the second half, although they were never able to get closer than five.

In the end, South Florida was able to hang on, but the win didn't come without worry. South Florida did not hit a three for the entire game. In fact, they only scored one basket outside of the paint -- they had an unreal 50 of their 58 points in the paint and hit six free throws.

Heath wasn't terribly worried about it -- "We won. If we lost I would be concerned." -- but the Bulls will need a better performance from the perimeter if they are to beat Georgetown. This isn't a team that relies on the perimeter jumper, but the threat of knocking down a three opens up the paint, where this team thrives on Jones and Mike Mercer's ability to slash to the rim.

South Florida won their first Big East tournament game today.

A win tomorrow will send them to their first NCAA Tournament as a member of the Big East.
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South Florida denies investigation

On Friday, we talked about the Fanhouse report that South Florida was being investigated by the NCAA for violations regarding a Terrelle Woody, a video and conditioning assistant that joined the staff as part of a package deal to land Gus Gilchrist.

Among other things, Woody is accused in the report of bringing Gilchrist to Game 4 of the NBA Finals in Orlando, of sitting in on open gym sessions, and of illegally running the players through workouts.

Well, Gilchrist's parents denying the accusations that their son went to Game 4 of the Finals. They have documentation showing that he not only flew home on the day in question, but that he went to doctor's appointment the next day.

South Florida has also released a statement saying that they have no record of the NCAA's probe into the basketball team.

The NCAA does not confirm or deny any investigations, but they do alert the school when it is under investigation.

More on this as news becomes available.
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South Florida's Anthony Crater suspended as the NCAA begins their investigation in the program

There are going to be a lot of questions thrown at Stan Heath in the coming weeks as a result of the investigation into alleged violations at South Florida under his watch.

More on the investigation in a second.

The bigger issue may be the kind of players Heath has been bringing into the program.

Let's start with Anthony Crater. Crater, a native of Flint, MI, has had issues since he enrolled at Ohio State last season. Just ten games into his freshman season, Crater left the Buckeyes in large part because he wasn't being used in the role he felt he deserved (read: he wasn't starting). Crater also failed a drug test at Ohio State, according to a Big Ten source, which may or may not have played a role in his playing time or decision to transfer.

Just a month after transferring to USF, Crater found himself in more trouble, as he was arrested, along with teammate Mike Mercer, for possession of marijuana. Then in April, Crater - along with teammates Dominique Jones and Justin Leemow - was a primary suspect in the theft of $8,000 worth of items from former teammates Jesus Verdejo and Gary Belardo. Crater was never charged, but he did admit during interrogation of a prior theft where he "took [Belardo's] necklace and watch" because he thought "it was Jesus [Verdejo's] stuff."

And now news has leaked that Crater has failed his third drug test in a little over a year, his second since coming to South Florida. Crater is not eligible to play until Dec. 13th, and at that point he will be suspended for another four or six games, depending on how the athletic department interprets the school's hand book.

Mike Mercer, who was arrested along with Crater for possession, has also had a checkered basketball career. He was suspended for academics at Georgia before ultimately being kicked off the team for violating team rules. The January arrest for possession was his second arrest at USF, which resulted in Stan Heath kicking him off the team.

Heath reinstated Mercer in August after he graduated.

And then there is Gus Gilchrist. Gilchrist originally signed with Virginia Tech, but reneged after the shootings that happened there in 2007. He then committed to Maryland, but due to ACC transfer rules, he would have only have 2 1/2 years of eligibility left, as opposed to the four years he gets at USF.

So Gilchrist signed with South Florida and became eligible last December. But the only wat Gilchrist would sign is if Stan Heath hired Terrelle Woody as a strength coach.

Heath did, and it looks like it may bite him is the ass.

Like I said, the NCAA has begun their investigation into the allegations against USF, among which were providing transportation to student athletes, sitting in on open gyms, and illegal work outs with players.

All of it was Woody.

Allegedly.

But like I said, the issue in my mind isn't the accusations against USF; it is who Stan Heath has playing for him. Look, I'm all for second and third and even fourth chances if the situation merits it. I think it is great what Heath did for Mercer. He used basketball - the threat of no longer having it - to motivate Mercer to clean up his act, get his degree, and with any luck turn his life around.

I'll say the same about Crater if Heath can get him focused.

But at some point, you have to look at your roster and ask what price you're willing to pay for success. As Kevin Broadus taught us all, building a program on the foundation of basketball vagabonds with checkered pasts is a risky maneuver.

Heath will win some games this season. He has proven that already.

But is it worth risking his job, and possibly a career?
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