2007-08 Best Of The Bulls
June 19, 2008 | General
TAMPA - The 2007-08 athletics year was unlike anything the University of South Florida had ever seen before.
It truly was a special and exciting year.
So with things continuing to move forward in Green & Gold land, the Athletics Communications staff figured it was time to recognize the coaches, players, teams and individuals who make up the “2007-08 Best of the Bulls”...
Best Meteoric Rise...
In just its seventh season as a full-time member of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, the football team made its first appearance in the USA Today Coaches' Top 25 Poll and the Associated Press Top 25 Poll on Sept. 16. Over the next four weeks, the Bulls rose to No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series standings & AP poll and No. 3 in the Coaches Poll. USF became the fastest team in the modern era of college football to go from upstart NCAA FBS school to a top-10 ranking. There were 106 AP polls and 112 coaches' polls since USF became a full-time FBS member in 2001. The same can be said about the top-5 ranking, which took USF 107 weeks to achieve.
Best Christmas Gift In March...
Christmas came early, as in March 26 early, for the men's and women's basketball programs when USF alumni, civic leaders and local philanthropists Pam and Les Muma gave athletics a $3 million gift as the lead effort on a Basketball Center for the programs. The Mumas have been long-time supporters of the University, including recognition as Iron Bull Champion Donors for their annual giving to athletics. 
Best All-Nighter...
Combined, it took 33 players, 22 hits and nearly five hours for the baseball team to defeat Notre Dame, 3-2, in 16 innings on May 16 at Red McEwen Field. The 16-inning marathon tied the longest game played in innings in USF history.
Best Back-to-Back Performances...
Dominique Jones became the first USF freshman in men's basketball history, and only the third USF player ever, to score 30 or more points in back-to-back games when he hit for 30 against UCF and Richmond. He was also the first BIG EAST freshman in 13 years to score 30 or more points in consecutive games. The last BIG EAST freshman to accomplish the feat was Georgetown's Allen Iverson in December of 1994.
Best Regular Season Title...
Softball captured the school's first regular season title, in any sport, since joining the BIG EAST three years ago. The Bulls advanced to the NCAA Tournament and ended the year with a 44-20 record.
Best Performance By A Trio...
Three members of the men's track and field team brought home BIG EAST Championships in Philadelphia on May 2-4. Sean Young took the gold in the pole vault after clearing a height of 16'6.75”, Glenn Fowler placed first in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 51.47 and Mikese Morse took the long jump crown thanks to a leap of 25'7.5”.
Best Clutch Performance...
USF football upsets should no longer be a surprise. Jesse Hester caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Matt Grothe to lift the Bulls to a 26-23 overtime win over No. 17 Auburn, giving the Bulls a victory over a ranked team each of the last three seasons.
Best Picasso...
Kentrell Gransberry gets the “Best Picasso” award for his work in the paint the past two years. The big fella led the BIG EAST in rebounding for the second consecutive season and was the first First Team All-BIG EAST selection in men's basketball since joining the conference three years ago.
Best First-Timers...
Defensive end George Selvie and cornerback Mike Jenkins will forever be remembered in USF football lore for becoming the school's first All-Americans at the NCAA FBS level. The duo were both named First Team All-Americans.
Best Single-Game Performance...
Junior guard Shantia Grace poured in a season and career high 35 points as she helped the women's basketball team to a thrilling 78-73 win over No. 25 DePaul on Feb. 5, 2008 in the Sun Dome. Grace's single-game total was tied for the sixth-best in school history and would be the second of four outings where she would record 30 or more points in a game.
Best Attendance Jump...
Only eight college football schools increased their attendance average by 10,000 or more from 2006 to 2007 and USF led the pack among all NCAA institutions with an increase of 22,948. The Bulls led the next closest school, Temple at a 13,049 increase, by almost 10,000 fans (9,899).
Best All-Americans Both Indoor And Out...
In the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, freshman Denise von Eynatten set a personal record of 13'11.25” en route to a fifth-place finish to earn All-American status. Mikese 
Morse also claimed the right to be named All-American after his strong performance in the long jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Morse, a sophomore from Tampa, set the school record in the preliminaries with a mark of 25'11” that propelled him into the finals where his placement was high enough to earn the coveted award.
Best Atmosphere...
Hundreds of jubilant students vaulted from a wall behind the north end zone, ignoring the public address announcer's plea to celebrate in the stands rather than storm the field after the football team upset No. 5 West Virginia 21-13 in front of a record sellout crowd of 67,012 at Raymond James Stadium.
Best Olympic Hopeful...
Sophomore Mikese Morse, the all-time school record holder in the long jump at 7.90m (25'11"), will take his talents to Eugene, Ore. for the USA Olympic Qualifying meet. Morse reached the necessary mark during the 2008 outdoor season this spring and will compete on Fri., June 27. The opportunity for Morse to become a member of the United States Olympic track and field team is a tremendous individual honor as well as an excellent recognition for the University of South Florida athletics department.
Best Tournament Run...
The men's soccer team ended the season with the fourth-best all-time record (14 wins), and a team-best two wins in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Round of 16. The Sweet 16 appearance is just the second ever for the Bulls, matching the 1997 squad.
Best Streak...
Freshman center fielder Ryan Lockwood, who missed the final nine games of the baseball season with a broken finger, ended the season on a 30-game hitting streak, which began March 19 against Oklahoma, and is the longest active streak in the country. In those 30 games, he batted .464 with 58 hits, including 11 doubles and two triples. He ended the year batting .415, good for second in the BIG EAST, second among freshman nationally and 20th in the country.
Best Record Broken...
Dominique Jones had arguably the best season of any freshman in USF basketball history as he shattered the freshman scoring mark by tallying 531 points on the year, besting the previous record of 455 set by B.B. Waldon during the 1998-99 season. He earned All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention accolades and was a unanimous selection on the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team after averaging a team high 17.1 points per game. Jones was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week four times as well as being named The Sporting News National Player of the Week once.
Best Hardware Winner...
Where do we start at with football star George Selvie? Ok, let's just list the awards: USF's first consensus All-American; First Team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America, American Football Coaches Association, Associated Press, SI.com, Walter Camp Foundation, Rivals.com and CBSSportsline.com; Winner of the Bill Willis Trophy by the Touchdown Club of Columbus, given annually to the top defensive lineman in college football; First Team All-BIG EAST and BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year; Finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (top college defensive player) and Ted Hendricks Trophy (top college defensive end).
Best Freshman Season...
It was a close call but center fielder Ryan Lockwood edged out guard Dominique Jones for the best freshman season by a Bull. Lockwood was the first-ever freshman to lead the BIG EAST in batting average, posting a .454 clip in league games, and hit .415 overall, second in the conference. For his performance in his rookie season, Lockwood was honored as the Collegiate Baseball News Freshman of the Year, and a Louisville Slugger, National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association and PING! Baseball Freshman All-American. He was also a first team All-BIG EAST selection.
Best Team Perseverance Award...
No USF team went through more than the softball team did this past season. The Bulls suffered the loss of one of their biggest supporters when head coach Ken Eriksen's mother passed away in March. A few weeks later, pitcher Cristi Ecks collapsed during an afternoon practice and an Automatic External Defibrillator was used to resuscitate her. Ecks did not return to the pitching circle in 2008, but was an instrumental leader in the dugout that rallied the Bulls to the 2008 BIG EAST Conference Regular Season Championship. The team posted winning season number 22 and made their fifth NCAA Regional appearance in six years after an emotional 2008 season.
Best Selection...
USF set another football program milestone when Mike Jenkins was taken by the Dallas Cowboys with the 25th pick in the first round of the National Football League Draft. Jenkins is the first player in the 11 years of the program to be taken in the first round. The previous high was the second round selection of Kawika Mitchell by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2003.
Best Coaching Debut...
In her first season at USF, head coach Denise Schilte-Brown and the Bulls earned the school's first berth into the BIG EAST Women's Soccer Championship since joining the league three years ago. The last time the Bulls appeared in a postseason league tournament was in 2003, when USF was still in Conference USA.
Best Team Study Table...
The women's cross country team brought home a national championship in the classroom by posting the Division I's best team GPA. The recognition was handed out by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. USF led all schools with a 3.78 team GPA out of a total of 325 teams that represent the NCAA Division I in women's cross country.
Best Sustained Runs...
The women's basketball team played in their fifth-straight postseason tournament (NCAA or WNIT) which marks the first time that a men's or women's basketball team at USF accomplished that feat. The Bulls also advanced to the second round of the BIG EAST Conference Tournament for the third time in its three years in the conference and posted its fourth-straight .500 season or better, the longest stretch in the program's 36 years.
Best Extensions...
USF had four teams who didn't quite want their seasons to end and made sure of it by advancing to the NCAA Tournament in their respective sports. Men's soccer, men's and women's tennis and softball all made NCAA appearances.
Best In-State Win...
The football team scored at least 12 points in every quarter on its way to a 64-12 rout of Central Florida on October 13 at Raymond James Stadium. The Bulls amassed 543 yards of offense and held the nation's leading rusher, Kevin Smith, to just 55 yards.
