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

By Bryan Mauro | Sep 25, 2018

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 27: The head coach Brian Gregory of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets reacts against Villanova Wildcats during the NIT Season Tip-Off Championship game at Barclays Center on November 27, 2015 in Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

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WICHITA, KS – JANUARY 07: David Collins #11 of the South Florida Bulls puts up a shot under pressure from Rauno Nurger #20 of the Wichita State Shockers during the second half on January 7, 2018 at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /

Schedule Overview and Projection for 2018-19

The Bulls enter the season projected to finish near the bottom of the American Conference. Analyzing the roster and overall strength of the conference it is not hard to see why. Everything is going to have to go right for Gregory to surprise everyone and have a winning record. The Bulls roster is young and unproven.

Even the best players on the roster come with their question marks. The team as it is assembled now with more players who fit the style Gregory wants to run will improve. The number of wins they will improve by may be minimal, but improvement shows signs of progress from year to year.

South Florida has a tough non-conference schedule but has winnable games on it. They have packed it with some hopeful guaranteed wins with Alabama A&M, Florida A&M, Alcorn State, Charlotte, and Stetson. A few of the games against the lesser mid-major conferences are on the schedule and these may be a challenge for the Bulls to navigate. Colgate is a projected top finisher of the Patriot league and that game may have an unexpected result for the Bulls. South Florida has another very tough game against a mid-major early in the year against Austin Peay. Terry Taylor from Austin Peay is one of the best mid-major players in the country and he is going to pose numerous problems for South Florida.

Once American Conference competition starts, the Bulls will be outmatched and underdogs in mostly every game. The Bulls have a potential for three wins on their American schedule those games are Tulane and East Carolina twice. Coach Gregory will need to steal a win from his remaining conference games if he wishes to improve upon his year from last year. Those remaining games are against UConn twice, SMU twice, at Tulane, Houston twice, Wichita State, Temple twice, Memphis twice at Tulsa and at Cincinnati. Those are going to all be games in which the Bulls are favored to get beat and probably get beat bad.

dark. Next. Preseason AAC Rankings for 2018-19

Any improvement should spark optimism in the Bulls fans. 11-14 wins are not out of the realm of possibility especially if the team gels well and all the pieces fit together.