Welcome to The Bulls Basketball Insider, our weekly staff roundup of USF basketball news, notes and recruiting. Let's get to it:
Recruiting News
Darius Banks -- The St. Petersburg, Florida three-star shooting guard committed to Duquesne on Sunday. The commitment came shortly after his official visit ended on Saturday.
Felipe Haase -- This under the radar senior 6-foot-10 big man was visited by the Bulls on Tuesday at Miami Christian. Haase committed to Colorado State last April but reopened after a coaching change. He was born in Chile and, from what we have learned so far, attended Cathedral High School in Los Angeles until relocating to Miami. He averaged just 3.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as a junior at Cathedral while playing behind two seniors who also committed to D1 programs. Haase did average 11.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game for Chile during the South American U17 Championships in 2015.
RTB has only seen one workout video of Haase and he looked good in one-on-none drills. He repeatedly made corner threes, showed good footwork, ball handling and passing skills.
Simeon Kirkland -- Thursday morning Bulls assistant Murry Bartow made the two-hour drive to The Rock School in Gainesville where he got a good look at several D1 prospects including the 6-foot-8 senior Kirkland.
RTB likes Kirkland when he's cleaning the glass, protecting the rim and doing offensive work from 12-feet on in. Too often he puts up 15-19 footers which is not currently his strength.
He holds mostly mid and low major offers. We've reached out to Kirkland and are waiting for him to get back to us but his coach Justin Harden told us that Bartow came up to see Kirkland and one of his 2018 kids.
Clyde Trapp and David Collins -- We've combined these two seniors because not much has changed between them and USF. Both want to visit Tampa and are working with the Bulls on dates. Trapp visited Rice last weekend and he also picked up offers from VCU and Georgia Tech. Collins told us that he has recovered from a groin injury "100 percent," and is waiting for schools to reschedule in-school visits to see him workout.
Both Trapp and Collins are receiving high interest from the Bulls but we believe that Trapp may be the higher priority.
Darius Days -- A skilled 2018 PF at The Rock, Days is picking up high major interest (Illinois watched him workout this week) now that he is making 15-20 foot jump shots to go along with his post game, rebounding and excellent motor. Days is a below the rim player but he is not unathletic. He is currently ranked No. 136 in the 2018 class.
Emmanuel Dowuona -- Is a 6-foot-10 big man at Westwood Christian that we have scouted multiple times the past two years. He is a little raw offensively but he knows who he is -- a strong back-to-the-basket post player & tremendous shot blocker. Just a big piece of clay to mold.
Safir Daow -- A 6-foot-5 class of 2017 guard at Victory Rock Prep in Bradenton, Daow is receiving some mid and high major looks. USF checked him out Monday but no offer was made and it remains to be seen where things go between Daow and the Bulls.
BJ Greenlee -- A 5-foot-11 point guard with a 6-foot-3 wingspan, Greenlee is earning attention from mid and high major programs. The Rock sophomore has an advanced feel for the game, range on his shot, is a high IQ player and a good teammate. Just the kind of kid you want in your program. Coach Harden told RTB that Coach Bartow like Greenlee "a lot." Expect to hear more about and from Greenlee.
Team News
With the NCAA investigation cloud hovering over the program, RTB would be surprised if any of the Bulls 2017 targets commit and/or sign in the November early period.
We’re officially one week away from the start of the college basketball season, so that’s good news.
Recently RTB watched a Bulls team workout and liked what we saw. This group of kids seem more connected to each other than the two previous seasons. Our biggest observations:
Jahmal McMurray was competing with a high level of confidence.
Luis Santos looks great. The S&C coach and Santos really improved his body. Santos ran the court great and brought good energy to the floor. If he can rim run, rebound, protect the rim and stay out of foul trouble; he'll provide a good spark off the bench.
Ruben Guerrero looks stronger and was the most vocal I've ever seen him on the court. His English is greatly improved too.
Tulio Da Silva is going to be an important part of the offense. He and Malik Fitts will be the beneficiaries of Troy Baxter's departure.
Mike Bibby, Jr. is slow. Santos beat him in a three quarter court sprint. Bibby's shot has a low release and is kind of funky looking BUT man can he shoot the pill. We expect the staff to work with Bibby on raising his release point a little, but they will need to run him off of screens or find some other way to create space for him to get his shot off.
Troy Holston, Jr has some type of wrist injury. At one point he sat out 20 minutes of the workout. We're not sure if that was wrist related or he sat out for another reason.
Malik Fitts has a sturdy frame and showed good awareness in the 4-on-3 and P&R defensive drills. Looks closer to 6-foot-6 than the 6-foot-8 he is listed as on the athletic department website. Fitts looked like he is ready for early playing time.
Based on this one look, and it was mainly a workout focused on defense, we are projecting the following starting lineup:
PG Jahmal McMurray
SG Geno Thorpe
SF Bo Zeigler
PF Tulio Da Silva
C Ruben Guererro
Other than that, enjoy the game against FSU!
Recruiting News
Darius Banks -- The St. Petersburg, Florida three-star shooting guard committed to Duquesne on Sunday. The commitment came shortly after his official visit ended on Saturday.
Felipe Haase -- This under the radar senior 6-foot-10 big man was visited by the Bulls on Tuesday at Miami Christian. Haase committed to Colorado State last April but reopened after a coaching change. He was born in Chile and, from what we have learned so far, attended Cathedral High School in Los Angeles until relocating to Miami. He averaged just 3.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as a junior at Cathedral while playing behind two seniors who also committed to D1 programs. Haase did average 11.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game for Chile during the South American U17 Championships in 2015.
RTB has only seen one workout video of Haase and he looked good in one-on-none drills. He repeatedly made corner threes, showed good footwork, ball handling and passing skills.
Simeon Kirkland -- Thursday morning Bulls assistant Murry Bartow made the two-hour drive to The Rock School in Gainesville where he got a good look at several D1 prospects including the 6-foot-8 senior Kirkland.
RTB likes Kirkland when he's cleaning the glass, protecting the rim and doing offensive work from 12-feet on in. Too often he puts up 15-19 footers which is not currently his strength.
He holds mostly mid and low major offers. We've reached out to Kirkland and are waiting for him to get back to us but his coach Justin Harden told us that Bartow came up to see Kirkland and one of his 2018 kids.
Clyde Trapp and David Collins -- We've combined these two seniors because not much has changed between them and USF. Both want to visit Tampa and are working with the Bulls on dates. Trapp visited Rice last weekend and he also picked up offers from VCU and Georgia Tech. Collins told us that he has recovered from a groin injury "100 percent," and is waiting for schools to reschedule in-school visits to see him workout.
Both Trapp and Collins are receiving high interest from the Bulls but we believe that Trapp may be the higher priority.
Darius Days -- A skilled 2018 PF at The Rock, Days is picking up high major interest (Illinois watched him workout this week) now that he is making 15-20 foot jump shots to go along with his post game, rebounding and excellent motor. Days is a below the rim player but he is not unathletic. He is currently ranked No. 136 in the 2018 class.
Emmanuel Dowuona -- Is a 6-foot-10 big man at Westwood Christian that we have scouted multiple times the past two years. He is a little raw offensively but he knows who he is -- a strong back-to-the-basket post player & tremendous shot blocker. Just a big piece of clay to mold.
Safir Daow -- A 6-foot-5 class of 2017 guard at Victory Rock Prep in Bradenton, Daow is receiving some mid and high major looks. USF checked him out Monday but no offer was made and it remains to be seen where things go between Daow and the Bulls.
BJ Greenlee -- A 5-foot-11 point guard with a 6-foot-3 wingspan, Greenlee is earning attention from mid and high major programs. The Rock sophomore has an advanced feel for the game, range on his shot, is a high IQ player and a good teammate. Just the kind of kid you want in your program. Coach Harden told RTB that Coach Bartow like Greenlee "a lot." Expect to hear more about and from Greenlee.
Team News
With the NCAA investigation cloud hovering over the program, RTB would be surprised if any of the Bulls 2017 targets commit and/or sign in the November early period.
We’re officially one week away from the start of the college basketball season, so that’s good news.
Recently RTB watched a Bulls team workout and liked what we saw. This group of kids seem more connected to each other than the two previous seasons. Our biggest observations:
Jahmal McMurray was competing with a high level of confidence.
Luis Santos looks great. The S&C coach and Santos really improved his body. Santos ran the court great and brought good energy to the floor. If he can rim run, rebound, protect the rim and stay out of foul trouble; he'll provide a good spark off the bench.
Ruben Guerrero looks stronger and was the most vocal I've ever seen him on the court. His English is greatly improved too.
Tulio Da Silva is going to be an important part of the offense. He and Malik Fitts will be the beneficiaries of Troy Baxter's departure.
Mike Bibby, Jr. is slow. Santos beat him in a three quarter court sprint. Bibby's shot has a low release and is kind of funky looking BUT man can he shoot the pill. We expect the staff to work with Bibby on raising his release point a little, but they will need to run him off of screens or find some other way to create space for him to get his shot off.
Troy Holston, Jr has some type of wrist injury. At one point he sat out 20 minutes of the workout. We're not sure if that was wrist related or he sat out for another reason.
Malik Fitts has a sturdy frame and showed good awareness in the 4-on-3 and P&R defensive drills. Looks closer to 6-foot-6 than the 6-foot-8 he is listed as on the athletic department website. Fitts looked like he is ready for early playing time.
Based on this one look, and it was mainly a workout focused on defense, we are projecting the following starting lineup:
PG Jahmal McMurray
SG Geno Thorpe
SF Bo Zeigler
PF Tulio Da Silva
C Ruben Guererro
Other than that, enjoy the game against FSU!
