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Setting The Scene
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USF vs. DePaul
Date: March 9, 2010
Arena: Madison Square Garden
Location: New York City
Tip-off: Noon
TV: ESPN2
Radio: 1250 WHNZ
Webcast: BullsVision on GoUSFBulls.com
Webcast: BullsVision
Webcast: Live Stats
Live Chat: GoUSFBulls.com
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DePaul Notes
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The Series
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USF is 3-0 against DePaul in the past two seasons to improve to 3-4 in the series against the Blue Demons since joining the BIG EAST in 2005. Overall, DePaul leads the series 15-7.
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The Coaches
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USF: Head coach Stan Heath is in his 23rd season of coaching, ninth as a head coach and third at USF. He has posted a 152-129 overall record and is 40-52 at USF. Heath has made three NCAA appearances (2002-Kent State, 2006 and 2007- Arkansas) in his eight-year career.
DePaul: Tracy Webster, a native of Harvey, Ill., joined the DePaul men's basketball program as an assistant coach in April 2009 and was named interim head coach for the remainder of the 2009-10 season on Jan. 11. He has spent the last eight seasons as an assistant coach at Kentucky, Illinois, Purdue and Ball State.
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TAMPA -On March 9, USF faces DePaul at Noon in the first round of the BIG EAST Basketball Championship presented by New York Life.
In regular season action, the Bulls defeated the Blue Demons, 63-59, just one week ago at AllState Arena in Chicago. Junior Dominique Jones tallied 20 points and seven rebounds while senior Chris Howard chipped in 13 points and four assists and sophomore Augustus Gilchrist added 11 points and five rebounds.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Junior Dominique Jones has averaged 21.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.6 steals in 30 games this season. He is shooting 45.4 percent from the field and 76.4 percent at the charity stripe. Jones' season-high was 46 points at Providence on Jan. 23. He also had 37 against No. 17 Pittsburgh on Jan. 31.
USF IN THE BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
- The Bulls earned the No. 9 seed in the Championship despite being selected to finish 14th in the preseason poll.
- In 2010, USF makes its second appearance in the BIG EAST Championship after last season's 68-54 loss to Seton Hall in the first round.
- Junior guard Dominique Jones was named First Team All-BIG EAST after picking up honorable mention honors his first two seasons in the league.
- Jones earned the BIG EAST scoring title with his 23.2 points per game in conference play.
- USF is 16-28 all-time in four different conference tournaments. The Bulls were 9-14 in the Sun Belt from 1977-91, 0-4 in the Metro Conference (1992-95) and 7-9 in Conference USA from 1996-2003.
- In 1990, the Bulls won the Sun Belt Conference Championship, the only conference tournament title for the program.
JONES SETS NATIONAL STAT MARKS
Dominique Jones is the only player in the country averaging at least 20.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
THREE-STRAIGHT AGAINST DEPAUL
USF has defeated DePaul in the last three meetings after the Blue Demons won the first four games after both teams joined the BIG EAST. DePaul leads the all-time series, 7-15.
LARGEST REBOUNDING MARGIN OF THE SEASON
Against DePaul last week, the Bulls held a 43-31 advantage in rebounds. The +12 differential tied for the largest rebounding margin for the season (42-30 at Marquette).
TOPS IN THE COUNTRY IN RECORD TURNAROUND
As of March 3, USF has made the biggest turnaround of all of the six major conferences, in terms of comparing last season's wins to this year. The Bulls were 9-22 last year and 4-14 in the league and are 18-11 overall and 8-9 in the BIG EAST this season. Kentucky and Georgia Tech have seven more wins than they finished last year with, Oregon has six and Colorado five. No other major-conference programs have improved by more than four games.
Of the 320 college basketball teams in the NCAA, six teams have made bigger improvements than USF, including Coastal Carolina (+16), Loyola Marymount (+13), Detroit (+12) and Maine, Northern Colorado and William&Mary (+10). Murray State and Lafayette each are tied with USF at nine more wins.
19 WINS, SEVEN TIMES
USF has collected 19 wins or more only seven times in 39 seasons of men's basketball.
BULLS MATCH BEST RECORD IN EIGHT YEARS
With their 19-11 overall record, the Bulls have matched the school's best record since 2001-02, when USF won 19 games and played in the NIT. Ten years prior, USF also had 19 wins and played in the NCAA Tournament.
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Overall
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Conf
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Conf
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Postseason
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2009-10
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19-11*
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BIG EAST
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9-9
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???
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2001-02
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19-13
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C-USA
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8-8
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NIT
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1991-92
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19-10
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Sun Belt
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7-5
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NCAA
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*At least one BIG EAST Tournament game remaining
JONES TOPS 1,700 CAREER POINTS
Dominique Jones has scored 1,732 points in his three seasons with the Bulls, only the fifth USF player to score more than 1,700 points in his career.
JONES SCORES 600 THIS SEASON
Junior guard Dominique Jones scored 600 points in his 28th game this season, only the fifth time a Bull has scored 600 points in a season. Jones now has 640 points for third in the category. Charlie Bradley holds the top two spots in the season-high category with 901 (1982-83) and 652 (1984-85).
MERCER'S POINTS ADDING UP
Senior guard Mike Mercer has scored in double digits in five of his last six games to up his season average to 9.5 ppg. He had 18 vs. Providence, 11 at Villanova, 17 against St. John's and 12 vs. Cincinnati and Connecticut.
JONES IN TOP 15 IN THE NATION IN SCORING
Junior guard Dominique Jones is tied for 13th in the country with his 21.4 points per game according to NCAA stats through March 4.
