Hey South Florida

You've gone from the basement to guaranteeing a win? No wait, not one win but four in a row? Dominique Jones, you are one helluva player but c'mon.

No seriously. Look, we realize that you are perpetually one of the worst teams in conference, so the rivalry isn't quite there. Not to mention that you don't exactly count in any of the rivalry categories one would expect between a Jesuit university in "The Good Land" and a large public school in Tampa. So not many people may care, even if it seems like every game we play is competitive (and ugly).

And don't think we've forgotten about the stinkbomb we laid last year at your crappy gym.

But now South Florida is all uppity, having defeated Pittsburgh at home and then Georgetown on the road. South Florida is 5-6 in conference this year, and should honestly be considered a dangerous team to play.

We know South Florida has the dynamite 6'4 guard, Dominique Jones, who dropped 46 pts on Providence and 37 on Pitt. Jones isn't a Rosario-type gunner. He's more more efficient than Lazar in about the same possessions. Plus, all indications are that 6'10 Center Augustus Gloop-christ could return. This would be on top of their 6'11 C/F player Jarrid Famous. USF has great size, a fantastic guard, and has beaten some good teams. USF has legitimate designs on an NCAA tourney berth, and we're in the way.

Marquette fans are stuck between being either wrongly unconcerned with South Florida or fearing them because we remember all the ugly games against you, and we remember losing last year. But we've faced bigger teams than you, and better teams in tougher places to play.

Regardless, despite the uncertainty about this season, it turns out that Marquette has a decent chance at making the NCAA tournament. But none of that happens unless Marquette wins this Saturday evening. So USF, welcome to Our House in balmy Milwaukee, and the only Saturday night BIG EAST game of the year. Marquette fans recognize the implications of this game, and it's almost a sellout. We do the big game fan support well, including the Milwaukee version of pre-gaming that will have all those fans ready for you.

Marquette wins 88-76. We're predicting a fairly offensive game with both teams doing well on eFG%, minimal turnovers, and both teams getting to the line a lot. In the end, however, this will boil down to Marquette shooting well at home. Go home unhappy, Bulls.

Media Updates

• CNNSI on USF's Dominique Jones, the best guard in the BIG EAST and perhaps the league's MVP.
• Dominique Jones wants to leave his mark on USF before he leaves.
• Ray Mernagh of the NBE Report files a profile on Lazar Hayward - -a good read, and one that is still free on the NBE site.
• There's also a story on Jones from Rivals.com
  

Finally, here is Marquette's preview of the game. Way too much good content, including game notes, ticket info, Joe Fulce channeling Al Green, and over 15 min of media availability from Buzz and the players. Great content that you need to go check out, but we'll pick just this.



That's right. Couldn't be more important.