2023-2024 Men's Basketball Nonconference Opponents

[EvanJ]

South Florida's largest margin of defeat was 19 at us. That dropped them to 2-3, and they lost to UMass to fall to 2-4. It seemed like an okay but not great win for us. Since then, they won 14 of 15. They took sole possession of first at 9-1 in the American Athletic with a 72-69 win over Charlotte, who they were tied with. South Florida hosts their only game against Florida Atlantic, and that was not expected to be a big game because South Florida was ninth of 14 in the Preseason Poll. I just watched the end of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB)'s 76-73 win hosting Number 20 Florida Atlantic, who fell to 8-2, and gave South Florida sole possession of first. Of the top eight conferences that do not have a tie for first, our 19 point win over South Florida is the second largest over a team in one of those conferences, and the largest was Alabama by 22 hosting Indiana State. It means we will have two wins over teams in ESPN's bracket tomorrow, including Big South leader High Point. South Florida has not played a Quadrant 1 game, which is hard for a team that has played ten American Athletic games.

[triplec2195]

Note that South Florida did beat Memphis when Memphis was ranked #10. They're though presently not ranked!

[Mikey77]

South Florida also beat Florida State. in retrospect, this might be Hofstra's best performance this year, especially the first half. Hope we can re-capture that performance going forward.

[stuball888]

As of now this teams mantra is we play down to and up to our competition
Rather have ugly wins than pretty losses
So guys gear up
We are in for street fights the rest of the way

[Polito]

So they are a team that actually improved. That's what this means. In no way shape or form does this mean HU is good or beat a good team lol. That win was light years ago in the basketball season. HU was and is bad, and beat an even worse USF team at the time. Their players and staff regrouped, adjusted, developed, etc. and have turned themselves around. Kudos to them. HU did not. Hopefully HU learns how to do that this year or next.

[HUSID80]

Most Div I coaches would give their eye teeth to have won seven out of their last eight games in Conference play and be 20-2 over the past three years in February.

[joeg1]

We're a game out of first. Play well, take care of business, and good things can happen.

[EvanJ]

I just watched the end of South Florida's 69-50 win hosting Tulsa. On Sunday, South Florida hosts ranked Florida Atlantic, which is farther south than South Florida. South Florida has won ten in a row. One of the announcers said they lost to Hofstra.

High Point was favored by 13.5 hosting South Carolina (USC) Upstate, but USC Upstate won 86-81 in overtime. USC Upstate made 9 of 17 threes. Sub Miguel Ayesa made 6 of 8 threes in his first season for USC Upstate after four seasons for William & Mary. Ayesa led all players with 22 points. That dropped High Point into a tie for first in the Big South with UNC Asheville, and they split head-to-head.

[dutchPride86]

South Florida just held on to upset Florida Atlantic in front of their first sellout crowd since 2001 and a national audience on ESPN. They improve to 12-1 in the American, and led by as many as 25 in the 2nd half. Just goes to show cbb season really is still a lot longer than you'd think

[EvanJ]

I watched the end of the long game, which was 90-86. South Florida scored 41 in the last 8:36, including three possessions that totaled 14 points. On one possession, they made two free throws from a flagrant foul that let them keep the ball and two free throws from a regular foul. On another possession they made a three and made two free throws from a foul away from the ball. On another possession they got a basket and foul, missed the free throw, got the rebound, and made a three. South Florida is 2 games above Florida Atlantic with the tiebreaker over Florida Atlantic and 5 games left. Florida Atlantic has the much better NET, and South Florida has no chance at an at-large bid.

In terms of how long the season is, Selection Sunday is in 28 days, and the final is in 50 days.

[dutchPride86]

So despite being ranked 84 in the NET and 93 on kenpom, South Florida snuck into to the AP poll at #25 today, believe it's the first time that program has ever been ranked. Just wild considering what they looked like against us

[EvanJ]

It is the first time they were ever ranked. Their NET is fourth in the American (AAC). If they do not win the AAC Tournament, we will see if they get treated like teams with that NET normally do, or treated like poll voters treat them.

Our win by 19 is the sixth largest margin of victory by a currently unranked team over a currently ranked team.

I wonder if we are the only team who has at least three wins over first place teams none of which are Quadrant 1 or 2. They are South Florida, High Point, and Norfolk State. I also wonder when the last time (if ever) we beat three regular season champions was, and beating UNCW and/or Charleston this week could make four.

[EvanJ]

South Florida won 76-61 at Charlotte to clinch sole possession of first in the AAC. High Point won sole possession of first in the Big South. Norfolk State leads the Mid-Eastern Athletic (MEAC) by 1 game over the next three teams with 2 games left. Norfolk State lost an upset at Delaware State today, and ends with home games on Monday and Thursday. Since eight teams means only 14 conference games, it is harder to win the MEAC by a lot.

[triplec2195]

Again #24 S Florida beats Tulane last night 85-72. S Florida is now 23-5. When we look back at our season this will be our biggest victory during the regular season. Who would have thunk this!

[Polito]

An incredible run into March. I would be interested to hear more detail around this. Did they have injuries that got healed of late? Change their strategy? Gain talent that was sitting out?

I'm sure some could claim it just takes time to gel and this is result of figuring themselves out, but this stark turnaround feels deeper than that.

[Mikey77]

Polito - we didn't just win - Hofstra blew them out. It was like we were playing Malloy or Farmingdale.

[dutchPride86]

An incredible run into March. I would be interested to hear more detail around this. Did they have injuries that got healed of late? Change their strategy? Gain talent that was sitting out?

I'm sure some could claim it just takes time to gel and this is result of figuring themselves out, but this stark turnaround feels deeper than that.

Abdur-Rahim made a couple minor tweaks to his starting lineup, but for the most part it really has been team just gelling under new coach/new system I think.

Outside of South Florida, we also wound up with wins over 2 other teams that won their league's regular season titles: High Point won the Big South, and Norfolk St won the MEAC.

And as far as teams we lost to: Princeton is tied for 1st in the Ivy, and UNLV has gotten hot, won like 10 of 11 and is tied for 2nd in the Mountain West (a league thats expected to get 6 teams in without UNLV). And we all know about St Johns' wacky season

Of course St. Louis and GW turned out to be the 2 worst teams in the A10 by a mile, so not all our non conference games look better in hindsight

[EvanJ]

Norfolk State pulled away to win 77-58 hosting Howard, giving us wins over three teams that got sole possession of first in their conference.

[Polito]

Checked it out a bit myself dp86, and yep it does look like this was largely a matter of roster shifting - USF has a TON of transfers this year, and it looks like from the box scores they finally figured out their top 3 guys in Pryor Miguel and Youngblood. They do the bulk of the scoring as the often needed 3 headed monster, but they also have a deep bench of guys that actually contribute, many games with a few guys putting up another 6-9 points each. A deep and balanced offense.

The interesting thing though is they really only had one bad stretch, right at the start of the year, when they dropped 3 in a row to Maine, Hofstra, and UMass. But outside of that, they really have had a stellar year. They shot horribly in that 3 game stretch, but really that's it - so it wasn't like they had some horrible OOC, just a horrible 3 games.

And yep I know mikey, I recall, I was there - and you're right, it was completely lopsided - USF was one of the worst teams I've seen in a long time. They were athletic though, I'll give them that. But they played terribly in that game.

Kudos to them, they've put up a great season and beaten some good teams. No issue with that program at all, hope they do big things in the tourney.

[EvanJ]

In the Big South Semifinals, High Point went up 15 with 12:28 left. Longwood got closer, but High Point went up 11 with 7:17 left. Longwood took the lead with 1:19 left, and High Point scored the only 2 points after that to go to overtime 69-69. High Point ended by missing a three, getting the offensive rebound without having time to pass outside the arc, and making a two to lose 80-79. High Point hosted the tournament, and was favored by 7.5. Longwood went 12-3 (9-3 vs. Division I) nonconference, and 6-10 in the Big South. It is unusual for a mid-major to do that much better nonconference than in conference.

Saint Louis finished 5-13 in the Atlantic 10 by ending with a 73-65 win at St. Bonaventure, who was favored by 11.5 and had a bad Senior Day.

Edit: South Florida ended their 15 game winning streak with a 76-70 loss at Tulsa, who was 196th in the NET without any Quadrant 1 or 2 wins. With Florida Atlantic's win, South Florida won the American Athletic (AAC) by 2 games. George Washington lost.