OK, here's your basketball update ...

I shouldn't tease you guys. Busy day with lots of football -- I'll have more on that Monday -- but I do want to get to the basketball recruiting update I'd mentioned a few posts back.

We know that USF is in prime position to get IMG Academy center Teeng Akol, but that probably won't happen until June or so. Stan Heath wants at least one more big man for his frontcourt next season, and it looks like that recruit may be someone we mentioned on the blog here once last month: Alejandro "Alex" Rivas-Sanchez, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound center from Pratt Community College in Kansas.

"They've shown significant interest in the last couple of weeks," Pratt coach Trevor Rolfs said of USF. "He's got a lot of schools after him, but South Florida is intriguing because it's close to home."

Rivas-Sanchez is from the Dominican Republic, and played for Florida's Team Breakdown AAU team. He averaged 8.7 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.1 blocks at Pratt this season, earning second-team all-conference honors. Rolfs listed several schools also recruiting Rivas-Sanchez, including West Virginia, Nebraska, Texas A&M, SMU and James Madison. He said USF has not formally offered, but is expected to do so.

I talked Saturday with Kenny Gillion from Team Breakdown, and he was more optimistic about USF's chances: "They're the front-runners for sure," he said, naming Baylor and Nebraska as the closest rivals to the Bulls for his services. Gillion said Rivas-Sanchez is familiar enough with USF that he won't need a campus visit to sign with the Bulls.

One interesting tie between Rivas-Sanchez and USF is Roodly Prophete, who was a walk-on guard on the Bulls' roster in 2005-06, logging 47 minutes in the first Big East season. Prophete is involved with Team Breakdown and has spoken highly about USF with Rivas-Sanchez; he might return to the team in some capacity next season.

Gillion said the Bulls have talked with another Breakdown player, an unsigned recruit from this class named Frank Barnes, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound senior at Westlake Prep in Fort Lauderdale. Haven't been able to reach Barnes to gauge how serious the interest is, but the Bulls have already offered a 2009 recruit on the Breakdown roster, forward Keith Clanton of Orlando.

-- As anticipated, the Jeremie Simmons sweepstakes is over, with the talented guard from Mott Community College committing to Ohio State on Saturday night. Again, seems like USF saw this coming, as they were moving quickly on Gaby Belardo, the 6-foot-3 combo guard from Puerto Rico who will make a campus visit next weekend and has a good chance of signing.

-- Is USF assistant Dan Hipsher officially in the running for the Florida Atlantic job? Hipsher has expressed interest in the job, but last I'd checked with him, there hadn't been any contact from the Owls. Hipsher's name came up in a story in the Reporter-Times of Indiana, about a speaking engagement from coaching legend Bobby Knight, in this paragraph:

"Knight still showed a knack for doing the unexpected. In the middle of the program, he took a cell phone call from somebody named “Craig” asking for his opinion of Dan Hipsher, the up-and-coming coach at South Florida. Knight gave Hipsher a solid recommendation right on the spot."

Who is Craig? Certainly makes sense that it could be FAU athletic director Craig Angelos, though he couldn't be reached for comment Sunday night. Hipsher, with head coaching experience from Akron and Stetson, is certainly qualified for the FAU job, which has gotten short stints from Matt Doherty and Rex Walters in the last three years.

Thoughts? Comments? We'll jump back to football notes in the morning ...

Comments

[Josh]

We all assumed it was going to be Sanchez but I really hope we are in the drivers seat for Akol b\c he is a much better prospect.

[AGW]

Do not offer Rivas Sanchez Coach Heath. He is not a BE quality big man. Put all of your resources into Akol and Ben-Eze. Even if we get Akol only. That still gives us Espinosa, Akol, Teague, B.J. Moyabi and Aris Williams. Dont waste ships that can be carried over to next season or given to a transfer that could help out in 2010. I don't want Belardo either, not worth it. Think big picture Stan.

[Steven]

Do we play in the big east? I realize Stan needs time, but wow, what a bad recruiting class.

[Jordan]

Whats the deal with this guy? I dont know anything about him but have heard a lot of negatives...

[Mr. Ari Hinkelberger]

not one of your better updates greg..

disappointed

[The Champ]

I tried to warn you guys a few times earlier about this.

I have researched every prospect that USF has been on of late and I like them all except this Sanchez guy.

This Byron Samuels recruit cannot play not just in the Big East but at any High D-1 level.

From what I understand this guy is basically to take Williams place, but that is just stupid.Aris is on his way out one way or another, but we would be stuck with this SORRY big man for 2 years.

Now even if we get Ben Eze he is not going to be much help next season since he will be recovering from ACL surgery.

Kiss and make up with Goins because he can help us if he was to come.Sanchez means we have another Mohamed Esseghir on the team.

I like getting Belardo because he is better then Howard and better then either Holmes or Bozeman who transferred.He will be a part of our strong guard rotation next season.

[G.A.]

Was thinking this might be the response on Rivas-Sanchez. Again, they haven't offered yet, best I can tell. I'm sure if they thought Goins was superior and there was a reasonable chance of him doing what he needs to be at USF, they'd pursue that option.

My initial thought on Rivas-Sanchez is that he's about where Ajayi was this time a year ago, and I think Ajayi was a relevant player last year, even during the Big East season. I think the logic is the same, in that if you're going to sign someone this late in the process who's as yet unclaimed, it's better to make it a two-year investment than a four-year investment.

[reality]

I Told you so!

Meanwhile Bob Huggins is bringing in Devin Ebanks and we get this guy?

What a joke.

Rising Senior Aris Williams with one leg is better than this guy.

I hope you guys are starting to see the light. Take off the green and gold glasses, lay off the koolaid and see what is going on.

[Dave W]

Really depressing. So much for victories.

Heath will be scraping the bottom of the big man barrel yet again. Wonderful.

We need a big man to defend and rebound. If Champ is down on a guy, he must be pretty bad. I like the 13 boards, but not much else other than 6'10". Basically, GA is right. Better to be stuck with him for 2 years instead of 4.

[Seth G]

Greg,

I am really disappointed in Coach Heath's recruiting for this class! I expected so much more from him. He has had over a year in the program, enough to make a difference.

It seems like we are just getting left overs. Can his assistants not recruit?

What is up with this?

Seth G.

[Tad]

Does USF still have a men's basketball team?

[reality]

So Champ, would you rather have Frank Barnes or Sanchez? A top 50 player like Barnes is hard to pass up isnt it?

Top 50 in Florida that is....

OMG, Stan, just get the JUCO kids and surrender.

[Herman Momart]

Man did we drop the ball on not getting Bobby Huggins a few years back. And everyone spare me the "he would have left after a year". Who cares? He would have left us with a sold out dome, an NCAA bid and a bunch of hype for kids to actually want to come play in a beautiful city in Florida, in the Big East...I mean how hard can it be to recruit here?

This might be our worse upcoming year ever and thats hard to believe with the coach we had before Heath.

Im starting to rethink if I should purchase season tix again. Probably will though because there is something about losing and USF basketball that in some kind of sick way intrigues me.

[The Champ]

Seth G the best thing Stan can do is hire some assistants because he doesn't have any other then Hipsher.The '09 class will be strong because most of that recruiting will be done with some assistants that know what they are doing.

Now yes I am down on Sanchez because like I have been doing for a while, I do my research on these kids.I get opinions from others and I use my own when I either see the guy or gathering old fashion info.

I like the recruiting class up to the point of getting Sanchez.No need to waste a scholarship or take up space on the bench with this guy.If USF gets this guy and he comes here and produces then I will come on here and admit to being wrong about him.No problem there.

A class of McMillian, Teague, Espinosa, Belardo, Akol, Ben Eze(hopefully), and Mercer will make you better then you were IMO.Combine that class with a strong '09 class, we have Noriega already, and things will be where they should be during the 3rd year of Heath's at USF which was wayyyyy behind the other high major schools in basketball, not just in the Big East either.

The '09 class is the one that everybody needs to keep a close eye on.

[Mr. Ari Hinkelberger]

Let me ask everyone on this board this question..

Your 6-10.. You have a 37 inch vertical... You have played AAU ball for the last 4 years and you have been preparing to play college ball your entire life..

Stan Heath walks into your living room and offers you a full ride to a school that has never made the conferenc tournament. Hasn't made the NCAA tournament in about 16 years. They play in front of 2000 people on a good night.. And haven't finished higher then 15 in the Big East conference.

Why on Gods green earth would you ever sign with South Florida..??

Is there a major college basketball program that is in worse shape than South Florida??

Find me one. Maybe Rutgers.

Im just saying. In the words of Seth Greenberg.

"I just don't know what to say about recruting at USF.. Its hard. Kids don't grow up wanting to play basketball at South Florida."

[Mr. Ari Hinkelberger]

I think for USF to turn the program around its going to take a lot of luck, some real good coaching and finding a star in the weeds.

The answer to USF's problems won't be solved by a 5 star recruit, because we are never going to get one. We need some long rap shee Juco, or some kid that didn't qualify grade wise at the big schools, or maybe a guy like Mercer who got kicked off his current team.

I really think Heath should work on picking up some scraps from the good schools and trying to coach up some raw talent that nobody wanted.

It is going to take a solid 5-7 years to get to 19-12.

i have given up hope on short term success.

[AGW]

Ari is pretty much rigth on the bitton here I'm afraid to say. Thats why I have begging for us to get in on the Bud Mackey sweepstakes. Same goes for Jon Kreft. I will take my chances. Its the only way.

[Dave W]

Ari, Rutgers has an ESPN Top-25 recruit. We're clearly below them on the recruiting front, mainly because they have easy access to Jersey, NYC, and Philly players. We compete with UF, FSU, UM, and many others for guys that wouldn't start at some places up there. A top Florida recruit would laugh at you if you suggested USF to him.

That's why I like focusing on Jersey and using our best selling point: where would you rather be in January? Freezing in the middle of nowhere, or wearing shorts watching girls with shorter shorts? Teague and McMillan realized that its not a bad way to spend 4 years. However, playing to embarrasingly sparse crowds and losing 80% of your conference games is bad.

For Ben-Eze, Davidson provides a beautiful campus and a chance to go undefeated in conference play, as well as a strong academic reputation (no school provides a better education than another, its just that some people think they do. I just need to convince law schools of that fact...). Anyways, we probably weren't his best option, as long as he doesn't plan to be a doctor.

Short-term success is making an NIT within the next 4 years. In our conference, that would be a positive step. However, without a quality big man (I have Ajayi as serviceable but not someone we should rely on), we simply can't compete every night. Stan should focus on turning the Sun Dome into a fortress, winning at least half of our home games, and in taking out Rutgers, St. Johns, and Seton Hall every year.