As the 2012-13 season approaches, we'll count down the days to the first game with a look back at some memorable games in USF basketball history. These may not be the most famous games and they may not be the most crucial to the development of the program.  But they are 15 mileposts that helped to get us to where we are, and each is worth looking back at. 

Dec. 1, 1971

USF 74, Stetson 73

Curtis Hixon Hall, Tampa

By JIM LOUK

GoUSFBulls.com

TAMPA - Was this the very first game for the Bulls?  Well, sort of.

Don Williams had been hired away from Milliken University to be USF's first head coach in 1969.  The former Hillsborough High School head coach then led a USF all-freshmen team through a schedule of junior college and freshmen opposition in 1970-71, with the first game taking place Dec. 4, 1970.

In the 1971-72 season, USF stepped up to varsity play. That first game was on Dec. 1, 1971 against the Stetson Hatters in downtown Tampa on Ashley Street at Curtis Hixon Hall.

Pat yourself on the back if you were one of the fans in attendance; only 1,400 were present at that historic game nearly 41 years ago.

On that day, the Bulls, led by John Kiser, Arthur Jones, Fred Gibbs and Tommy Davis, went to work making USF history.

Gibbs jumped center and won the tip.  A quick shot by Arthur Jones put the Bulls up 2-0 just seconds in to the first varsity game.

When it ended, the Bulls had their first varsity win, 74-73.  John Kiser, who had scored the first-ever USF basket in a freshman game the prior year, had 30 to lead the 1-0 Bulls.

The Bulls finished the 1971-72 season with a mark of 8-17.  A look at the schedule shows the hard road USF took in its first varsity season.  After the opener against Stetson, the second through fifth games in varsity program history were against Florida, Alabama, Mississippi State and Florida again.

Kiser and Davis would be the top scorers for the Bulls that year at 18 points per game and Arthur Jones averaged 15.  No freshmen played on this team; they were still on a separate unit they played 18 games of their own.

Williams stayed two more seasons at USF, finishing 33-42 for his Bulls career.  By 1976, the Bulls had left independent status and joined the Sun Belt Conference.  And soon, freshmen could play all four years and the "JV" and "Varsity" designations went away.

The Bulls played off and on in Curtis Hixon Hall until 1980.  The building stood until 1993, when it was torn down and the land was cleared for a park.

There are a few interesting artifacts from those early days still around the hallways at USF Athletics.  The original scorebook from the first freshmen game in 1970 has been preserved, and the ball from the ceremonial tip-off that day is still with us.  As for the 1971 varsity opener, there is about 90 seconds of rare audio tape of the radio play by play of the game's opening tip.

Many of the inaugural team Bulls made a return in 1995 for the 25^th anniversary of USF basketball.  It was a fitting tribute that day to the pioneers of the program, a group of men who got USF basketball started in a now long demolished building on the shore of the Hillsborough River.  Whether you count the actual start date as Dec.4, 1970 or Dec. 1, 1971, the Bulls were off and running creating basketball history.

GO BULLS!