We play Marquette in the first round with a potential match up with over #1 seed South Carolina in the second round.

Well, what little shot we had at Bob Richey is likely a big fat ZERO now.

..."I haven[t talked to anybody there (USF)." Haith went on to say that he knows Lee Butler, "he played for me at Miami and I know Mike [Kelly] too but I haven't talked to them."


I reached out to Haith to see if he was in the mix for the USF job after someone reminded me that Butler played for him.

Anthony Robinson is one of three USF signees in the 2023 class. His father gave us an update on where things stand between his son and USF.

STORY

USF could have benefitted from this

Colorado Spring Game on ESPN

...will set a new USF single-season record for made three-pointers when he makes his next three. He is currently tied with Derrick Sharp at 88.

Harris already set a new AAC record for career three-pointers this season (281).

Harris has knocked down at least five three-pointers in a game 10 times this season.

Harris is the first Bull with three 30-point games in a season since Dominique Jones (2009-10).

Harris’ three 30-point games are tied for fourth all-time on USF’s career list.

Around 10 a.m. today I’ll be driving to Orlando for the NCAA tournament First and Second Rounds. I will be there today, Thurs. and Sat. . I finagled a media credential. Today it’s just walk-throughs and press conferences for the teams. Friday is a "closed practice" day so there's no point in my being there, plus I found out the hard way that they don't have lunch for us on Friday.

While there I’ll be spending most of my time in the media workroom so I’ll be able to monitor the transfer portal and continue to contact sources for updates but my response time might be a little slower than normal depending on how hectic the workroom is.

As always, if I get any noteworthy info I’ll post it here.

I’m going to start Rumor Mill No. 2 by talking about some guys we are confident are NOT going to get the South Florida job. Before anyone gets super depressed, this is kind of how coaching searches go. It's far easier to eliminate guys that aren't interested at all, or are interested but have better options, than it is to confirm guys that are. There's no real attempt at secrecy if someone isn't a candidate. But if they are, there's a coordinated attempt to lock that down. Let’s face it, one thing Michael Kelly is pretty good at is keeping things quiet during a coaching search. Perhaps even allowing a name to leak out as a diversion.

Anyway, let’s get into the people aren't going to get, or aren't going to take, the job.

Rick Pitino: The grand slam hire is not going to happen for USF. I’m not saying it is a lock to happen for St. John’s but I’m hearing Pitino’s name less and less among my sources. At one point there was mutual interest but it seems that more attractive jobs have caught the Godfather's attention.

Dusty May: The day after we published our hot board, a very reliable source called to say that the only way May would take the USF job is if it involved a “ton” of money. So, May ain’t coming folks. It is sort of like I said in my “Why Not Him,” for May: Can USF get him? The answer is no.

Amir Abdur-Rahim: Prior to publication I was not able to connect with Abdur-Rahim or anyone in his circle to learn his interest in USF. I’ve known him for about six years but that was when he was an assistant and he was quick to respond in those days. It’s difficult to get most head coaches on the phone. His conference championship and trip to the NCAA tournament has made him a flavor of the month coach that high major programs pursue. With Georgia Tech filled and California still trying to get him, more programs could get into the mix with Abdur-Rahim. Especially if Kennesaw State upsets Xavier on Friday.

Win Case: We’ve learned that Case is in the mix at Austin Peay and it might be his job to lose. The Governors fired Nate James five days before USF fired Brian Gregory and are just further along in the process.

Now that that is over, I have two names to mention and both will be on Hot Board v2.0 – Tennessee Associate Head Coach Justin Gainey and Furman head coach Bob Richey (listed alphabetically). Tennessee and Furman are in the NCAA tournament and, it just so happens, both teams will be playing in Orlando. I’ll be in the arena and I’ll keep an eye out for Michael Kelly. A source I spoke with tonight about Gainey, Richey believe that they are pretty high on Kelly’s list.

Richey will be in more demand than Gainey because he is a current head coach. He’s helmed Furman for the past six seasons finishing above 500 both overall and in conference play each season. Richey has a fun play style using mostly 4 Out 1 In and 5 Out Motion Offense. The goal is assisted threes, close twos and free throws.

Gainey does not have head coaching experience but he spent two seasons at NC State, his alma mater, as an administrative coordinator before being bumped up to director of basketball operations. When Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes hired him he said of Gainey, “Justin has a passion for on-court player development.”

Oops, I pressed “Post Thread” too quickly. One other name has been told to me tonight and that is Louisiana head coach Bob Marlin. Ironically, Louisiana is Tennessee’s opponent in Orlando and I smell an upset coming.

Could an NBA champion get in the mix for the South Florida job?

STORY

Memphis with the upset of No. 1 Houston and grabs the AAC's auto-bid.

Probably drops Houston to a No. 2 seed UNLESS the committee finished the bracket before this game.

Two-bid league.

There’s no way this decision was made Friday. The final decision obviously was. But South Florida has been back channeling this for at least a couple of weeks. On March 3 I was told that multiple people in the Lee Roy Selmon Center wanted change, they just didn’t know where VPMK stood. There have been some initial feelers put out there. That doesn’t necessarily mean they made the actual decision a week ago; they probably still could have turned back, but the groundwork has been laid for a little while on this. That’s how it works. You don’t start your coaching search the day you fire your coach.

As for a timetable, I previously reported that VPMK does not have one in mind at this time. He’s really going into this with an open mind. However there could be discussions with coaches as soon as this weekend. A source me that a two-hour conversation was held with one of the coaches on our hot board. He declined to say which one. The early stages of this are likely to take place on the phone and on Zoom. This is one thing that the pandemic changed that probably won’t go back. Eventually you’re going to get to the point of meeting the final few people in person, but you can do the introductory stuff via a video call.

People are throwing Frank Martin’s name around. Martin has led teams to two Elite Eight and one Final Four appearance. He has also had quite a few below .500 seasons in conference play. Including this season at UMass. He and Jose are bff and he is from Florida, but are those good enough reason to hire a coach?

The truth is, national people don’t really think about USF basketball. And they’re certainly not going to think USF can pull a current head coach from anywhere but a low-major. They may very well end up being right. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t read these lists (or even ours) and say “Well, we’re all screwed based on this list.”

Every search starts with a couple “It probably won’t happen, but you have to try” attempts. No school starts a search saying “You know what we want? A young guy most people haven’t heard of who hasn’t really proven himself yet.” The goal at the start of a coaching search is pretty much always a current head coach.

Saturday I said we could scratch Kennesaw State head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim. Right now it looks like Georgia Tech or California will be his destination. About an hour before the CUSA championship game began a source told me that it would take “a ton of money to get Dusty May to leave FAU for USF.” It’s a good source and he spoke with someone close to Coach May, so scratch him.

Several new names have come to me via sources and I’m trying to get in touch with those coaches, or someone close to them, to gauge interest in the USF job. The problem is that almost all of them are on flights home from conference tournaments today.

I can say that Chris Capko’s name is gaining some traction with key people at USF and so is Charlton “CY” Young.

Some names I've had mentioned, but I can pretty much tell you it ain't happening, are Paul Mills (Oral Roberts), Sam Cassell (Philadelphia 76ers assistant) Mark Turgeon (free agent and possibly headed to Wichita State).

It’s early in the search. Stay tuned.

South Florida Coach Brian Gregory has been relieved of his duties and BullsInsider.com has a MBB hot board.

HOT BOARD v1.0

Didn't spring practices start this week? Or do they start next week? Kelly, can we get a schedule of the spring practices? Maybe some articles about position groups; things like who is injured and unable to practice, who might make a move into the top 2 rotation, things to look for, etc. Maybe Sean can chime in with his thoughts. Needing something tangible to talk about here. Thanks.

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Curious who people are interested in to replace BG if it is over. I think it is over personally.

I think you go slick Rick or bust.

If he eats too much portillos

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Tyler Ringgold said he got a call from a staff member then he reached out to his parents to discuss. Ringgold said that after those two conversations he is just trying to keep his head up. He said he is going to wait and see who the next coach will be and that he is just going to take things day by day.

I've texted Myles Che but haven't heard back. Anthony Robinson is difficult to contact because of reception issues at his school but I'll hit up his father.

Brian Gregory and Tyler Harris talk about South Florida's 73-58 loss to ECU in the AAC Tournament.

TRANSCRIPT

I was looking at the weights of the players and so far these players are bulking up. This has to be one of our biggest offensive line groups ever. Also, look at the 2 former grey-shirt DTs. They are both 300+ pounds. Like I called out Byron Brown for being a baller, I'm going to call out Danny Gonzalez as a "nice surprise" for this team. Mark my words. I forgot to add DJ Harris from Texas - He is 240Ibs up from 235.

I for