Two weeks ago, the South Florida Bulls were ranked in the Associated Press men’s basketball poll, riding a 15-game winning streak and their first regular-season conference title in program history.
However, a loss in the American Athletic Conference semifinals Saturday ended their chance to reach the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Bulls (24-7) accepted the consolation prize, a spot in the National Invitation Tournament.
Their opponent: former conference rival Central Florida (17-15) in Orlando at 9 p.m. Tuesday. ESPN will telecast the game. To purchase tickets, click here.
USF winning 22 of its final 25 games and clinching the ACC would have seemed enough to impress the NCAA selection committee tasked with picking the 68-team field.
Experts, however, pointed to USF’s shortcomings in two factors in the committee’s process known as NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings and Quadrant 1 victories, which reward the quality of wins and losses.
USF’s NET ranking was 73rd and the team lacked Quad 1 victories.
Yeah we lost some games early when we were learning who we were as a Team. What we did after was ELITE!
— Amir Abdur-Rahim (@sunsetAMIR) March 17, 2024
24-7 (16-2) American Conf. Regular Season CHAMPIONS! Won 22 of our last 24.
No 1 Will Define Success 4 Us But Us. We stayed TRUE 2 our habits, our culture, & to 1 another.… pic.twitter.com/ovDrmJKt3o
First-year USF coach Amir Abdur-Rahim said his team still deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament.
“If you want to see what South Florida is all about, if you want to see if we’re one of the best 68 teams put us in one of those first four games,” Abdur-Rahim said. “Put us against your best team -- whoever it is in that first four. Come see about us because this ain’t the same ol' South Florida.
USF went into the AAC tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, as the top seed. Saturday’s 93-83 loss to No. 4-seed in the semifinals did the Bulls no favors.
The Blazers defeated Temple 85-69 in the final to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAAs. Another AAC team, Florida Atlantic (25-8) earned an at-large bid as the No. 8 seed in the East Region. USF defeated the Owls, then ranked 24th by AP, in Tampa on Feb. 18.
"Again, this is -- I'm saying this not to take anything away from any of the other teams in our conference, but we got just as many Quad 1 wins ... as Florida Atlantic, we got just as many Quad 2, just as many Quad 3s," Abdur-Rahim said.
The winner of Tuesday’s NIT matchup advances to play this weekend against the survivor of the Villanova-Virginia Commonwealth game.
UCF, which finished last in the Big 12 regular season at 7-11, will host Tuesday’s game based on a new NIT formula that guarantees spots and home games for two teams with the highest NET ranking from each of the six major conferences not to make the NCAA tournament. In the Big 12, those teams were Cincinnati and UCF.
Despite the disappointing end to the AAC tournament, the Bulls made huge strides under Abdur-Rahim. In addition to earning the program’s first national ranking, the team sold out home games and had marquee wins against high-profile opponents, including a come-from-behind 74-73 win over then-No. 10 Memphis on Jan. 18.
"With all due respect to the bracketologists, and you guys got a job to do, you guys are great, don't get me wrong, I've been watching the brackets since I was a kid, but a team that wins 22 out of 24 games you're going to leave them out of the NCAA Tournament? God bless you guys," Abdur-Rahim said.
Abdur-Rahim added his team will be back strong next year.
“Get used to this,” he said. “Because every night we’re going to put a team out on the floor that represents our campus and represents our community and they play their hearts out.”
Abdur-Rahim said his team will be back strong next year.
“Get used to this,” he said. “Because every night we’re going to put a team out on the floor that represents our campus and represents our community and they play their hearts out.”
