Bulls' Foreign Tour of Canada Will Be 'Once-in-a-Lifetime' Experience
FOREIGN TOUR UPDATES: Be sure to follow USF men's basketball on Twitter @USFMBB for updates during its foreign tour of Canada that takes place Saturday through Friday, Aug. 9.
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By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, AUG. 1, 2019 – Four months after a postseason championship victory, record-breaking USF men's basketball is eager to face more competition and soak up the sights during its foreign tour of Canada that takes place Saturday through Friday, Aug. 9.
"It's a great opportunity for our guys, a once-in-a-lifetime experience to go to two great cities in Montreal and Quebec City," head coach
Brian Gregory said. "We'll play four very good teams."
USF's first game since defeating DePaul in the
2019 College Basketball Invitational championship is against the University of Quebec 2 p.m. Sunday at Meagher Arena in Montreal. Action continues Monday, Aug. 5 with the Bulls taking on Laval University in a 7 p.m. game at PEPS Arena in Quebec City.
"It's a long offseason, so every time we get to go out there and compete, we're just thankful for it," said forward
Alexis Yetna, the 2019 American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. "We're excited about playing in Canada."
USF will definitely be tested Wednesday, Aug. 7 during a 7 p.m. matchup with Carleton University at Place Bell Arena in Montreal. Carleton has won 14 national championships over the past 17 years and owns an all-time record of 44-31 against NCAA programs.
"Canadian basketball is very good," said Gregory, who went on a foreign tour of Canada during his tenure as Dayton's head coach (2003-11). "These guys are usually a little bit older. They are able to practice year-round and they're very, very well-coached."
The Bulls wrap up their four-game run Thursday, Aug. 8 at 6 p.m. against McGill University back at Montreal's Place Bell Arena.
"We're just really hoping to go up there and play the best we can," said junior guard/forward
Justin Brown of the Bulls, who get 10 summer practices to prepare for the foreign tour. "We've got the same team coming back next year with a few extra pieces."
This upcoming season, USF returns all five starters, 92.4 percent of its scoring and 94.6 percent of its rebounding totals from the 2018-19 squad that hoisted the program's first postseason championship trophy since 1990.
"Now we've got a core team," said Yetna, who started 34 games last season. "We just keep going forward and it feels good to see the progress from a year to another. We're very excited about having a lot of the team coming back."
USF has been deemed a team on rise by numerous college basketball experts after completing the top turnaround in the NCAA last season with a school record 24 victories, 14 more than the Bulls' total in 2017-18.
"I think we can definitely take this to the next level," said star junior guard
David Collins, the 2019 College Basketball Invitational's Most Valuable Player. "We've just got to take it a day at a time, focus on getting better every day and all those things are going to come."
Up-and-Coming Bulls Will Get Valuable Minutes
Most of USF's returning starters will be in action during the foreign tour, but expect to see the Bulls' up-and-coming talent on the court often.
During USF's press conference this week, Gregory mentioned the staff's plans to give 20-plus minutes each game to players like redshirt sophomore guard
Ezacuras Dawson III (Miami), redshirt freshman forward
Madut Akec (Bradenton, Fla.), junior forward
Mayan Kiir (Bradenton, Fla.), senior forward
Antun Maricevic (Zagreb, Croatia) and sophomore guard
Rashun Williams (Arlington, Ga.).
"It's a great opportunity for our guys, especially some of the guys we're going to be counting on that maybe didn't log in as many minutes, or different things like that," Gregory said.
Rideau Update
One standout who won't be getting playing time during the foreign tour is
Laquincy Rideau.
The redshirt senior guard from West Palm Beach, Fla., earned American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors last season despite dealing with a lower-leg issue. Rideau will make the trip to Canada, but Gregory said he'll held out of game action for precautionary reasons.
"He's back to going through some workouts now. He's been basically off that leg since the end of the season," Gregory said. "There's no need with where we're at right now to even take a chance… When we get back to school and we start the one month of workouts that we have before practice starts, he'll be a full go at that time."
Rideau is a go-to player the Bulls are glad to have back with the program after the all-conference selection pondered the pros. Rideau entered the NBA Draft in April and participated in the evaluation process before announcing his
return to the Bulls in May.
"It's good, I get to play another year with him," said junior guard
David Collins. "He's a really good point guard and I think we play well together, defensively and offensively. We have a great connection. That was great news."
Bulls Bits
ANTUN FINE-TUNING HIS GAME: Senior Antun Maricevic has caught the attention of his head coach because of the progress he's making this offseason. "He's had as good a summer as anybody that we have. He's done a really, really good job in terms of being more aggressive, playing with more confidence and using the strength that he's gained," Brian Gregory said. "This is a full year of strength training that he's had for the first time." Last season, the forward ranked second on the team with a .536 field goal percentage and played in 38 games.
FRESHMEN ENTERING THE MIX: The foreign tour will be a great time for the coaching staff to get a good look at two freshman newcomers in forward B.J. Mack (Charlotte, N.C.) and Jamir Chaplin (Norcross, Ga.). Both players are fitting in well with the rest of USF's roster this summer. "The two freshmen coming in, I think they found their place real quick, so that's been really good," junior guard David Collins said.
About USF Men's Basketball
The USF men's basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory. On March 22, 2017, Gregory was introduced as the 10th head coach in program history. He previously led programs at Georgia Tech (2011-16) and Dayton (2003-11). Gregory spent nearly a decade as an assistant coach under Michigan State's Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo and helped the Spartans win the 2000 NCAA National Championship. Gregory brings nearly 250 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship, to Tampa. In his second season at the helm of the Bulls, Gregory led the team to the best win turnaround in the NCAA, the most single-season wins in school history and the 2019 College Basketball Invitational championship.Â
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