In the afterglow of the clinic the Hoyas put on against Duke, it seemed like everyone is interested in making the irrepressible comparison between 2006 and 2010. While the Hoyas' performance over the Blue Devils was certainly one of their best of the season on the biggest stage yet, it was, as Coach Thompson mentioned, a non-conference game, albeit a high-profile non-conference game against a very capable opponent. Ultimately Georgetown and Duke's competitive zeal is far more fierce when it comes to attracting undergraduates than on the basketball court. Now it's time that we focus back on the Big East, where the Hoyas face off against long-standing rivals like…South Florida??
This will be the Hoyas' fifth game against the Bulls since USF joined the Big East for the 2005-06 season. For comparison, the Hoyas and Blue Devils have now split 14 games in their respective histories. And yet, because of that transformative 2006 win, I'll always keep the Blue Devils and Bulls connected in my mind. Four days before We Beat Duke signs redecorated campus, the 05-06 Hoyas slogged to a 50-47 win over the Bulls in front of an MCI crowd that would be generously described as sparse. I left that game, a few hours shy of my 18th birthday, glad that the Hoyas had at least managed to not make me nauseous and wary of how we would fare against Duke. Later that season, the Hoyas would bookend their Big East season with a surprising loss in their first Big East trip to the Sun Dome in Tampa.
"Slog" has been an excellent descriptor of Hoyas-Bulls games since then. In 2008 the Hoyas fought their way to a ten-point victory despite their second-worst shooting performance of the Big East season, and last year the Hoyas managed to temporarily right the ship with a 65-40 victory. The shooting was back for the Hoyas, but they were helped by a Bulls offense that was one of the worst-shooting teams in the country.
If we're judging this matchup by recent history, well…let's get the win first and worry about style points later.
However, for as much as we as fans tire of the "will the 2010 Hoyas follow the path of the 2009 team?" storyline, the team across the court tomorrow is just as strongly leaving the past behind. These Bulls, even without big man Gus Gilchrist, are nothing like the team that would miss out on the Big East Tournament, leaving a few scattered Bulls fans* to represent Tampa in Madison Square Garden.
*As an aside, even without having a team in the arena, USF is still one of my favorite programs to follow in the BET, all thanks to this gentleman, who has since affectionately been named "That USF Guy With The Horns." People like this, enthusiastic about their team and Big East basketball in general, are exactly why the Big East Tournament is one of the greatest sporting events in the country. Nowhere else can you convince a guy dressed like that, and a guy dressed like a leprechaun, to pull for your team when they're ostensibly neutral, but between TUSFGWTH and the Notre Dame mascot, we pulled it off in the span of an hour.
These Bulls are on an unprecedented three-game winning streak. It might not sound like much, but until a few days ago USF had never even managed back-to-back Big East wins, and they extended the streak to three with an impressive win over Pitt, their first ever over the Panthers. USF's leading scorer, junior guard Dominique Jones, has been a revelation over the mini-streak, averaging 37 points in the last three games, including 46 in an overtime win over Providence.
With two teams lighting up on offense, could this be the first time someone tops 65 points? We'll find out. One thing's for sure: Feel free to bask in the fact that the Hoyas won going away in front of an audience of national TV and national leaders. But just because the Hoyas haven't been regularly playing USF since the 1980s, if you overlook Hoyas-Bulls V, you might miss a much better, much closer game.
Because this is the Big East, after all.
Paul Campbell (MSB 09)
Generation Roy
