South Florida Basketball: Previewing the 2018-19 season for the Bulls

Potential Starters

LaQuincy Rideau – Junior

The junior point guard is a transfer from the Big South. Rideau has shown he can be extremely productive when given the keys to an offense. Coach Gregory is going to rely on Rideau to score early and often in his offense. The Bulls are desperately looking for a breakout player to help lead the team to a few more wins.

The point guard can carry an offense, and at points can take over a game on the offensive end. Rideau can be a calming influence on the younger players on the defensive end of the floor as well. He is great at jumping into passing lanes and creating easy offense. The question remains of who is going to help Rideau for the Bulls this year.

TJ Lang – Senior

Lang is another transfer and he heads to Tampa after three years at Auburn. The senior can play a wing as well as both guard positions. Lang being able to provide lineup flexibility is a huge advantage for Gregory and the coaching staff. They can use different lineup combinations while keeping a player on the floor who has a lot of major college basketball experience.

Lang does come with some question marks. Is he going to be able to score consistently to earn enough minutes for the lineup flexibility to matter?  In his career at Auburn, the senior played a good number of games. Made 40% of his shots from the floor but did not have much to show for it.  The senior only averages just under 5.0 points per game for his career.

Nikola Scekic – Senior

The Serbian big man returns as an incumbent starter. He’s big man is entering his second and final season for the Bulls after transferring from a Junior College. Scekic is not known for his scoring but will rebound well enough to earn some minutes. The minutes he is going to earn early on may dwindle as the season rolls on, especially if the big Serbian does not improve on his 2 points and 3 rebounds per game.

Coach Gregory is hoping that Scekic is not going to have be relied upon to score much. If they can bring him in the game for rebounding that will help South Florida. The Bulls lacked mostly everything last year, but rebounding was a point that they need to get better at in a hurry.

David Collins – Sophomore

Collins was a starter a season ago for the final 13 games of the season. The sophomore guard looks to have a breakout season after putting himself on the American conference radar last year. Earning all-freshman team honors a year ago. Collins is the player on this team who can elevate his game to a high enough level to form a great one-two punch with Rideau.

The sophomore guard averaged 10 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in his inaugural run through the conference. The guard is a true stat stuffer and has the potential to stake a claim at first team all-conference honors before he leaves Tampa.

Justin Brown – Sophomore

Brown is a sophomore wing, who much like Lang has lineup versatility. Brown is the shooter of the bunch as he is the returning leader from the three-point range. Brown will see his minutes increase, as well as his production. One of the more underrated parts of the wings game is his prowess for rebounding.

As mentioned earlier the Bulls needed rebounding more than anything. If Collins and Rideau live up to their scoring potential. Brown will be a nice third piece for a team desperately in need of a lift on offense. While Brown is a good rebounder, he is especially good on the offensive glass which is going to lead to more easy baskets and second-chance points for the Bulls.