After an eventful fall season with USF Athletics — including football's five-overtime victory against San Jose State at the Hawaii Bowl, volleyball's stunning triumph at No. 10-ranked Florida and regular-season American Athletic Conference title, women's basketball's upset win against No. 9-ranked Duke and groundbreaking for the long-awaited on-campus stadium — get ready an action-packed, historic winter and spring.
Men's and women's basketball are expected to contend for AAC championships.
Men's golf looks to repeat in the AAC. Softball, as usual, is playing a national prominent schedule.
Track and field should continue to make national headlines.
There's new leadership for baseball and women's golf.
And there's the inaugural-season excitement for women's lacrosse, a fast-paced, fan-friendly addition to USF's athletic menu.
We have assembled 12 games/events that are essential viewing for all USF fans. It's the "Dandy Dozen'' for USF's winter/spring sports slate.
1. Basketball's Autism Acceptance Games
USF's women's and men's basketball programs will stage a pair of Autism Acceptance Games — a formal acknowledgment of that important community — with a pair of meetings against the UAB Blazers (women, Tuesday, Jan. 14; men, Wednesday, Jan., 15, both games tip at 7 p.m.). Coach Jose Fernandez's women's program, which capped a rigorous non-conference schedule with a riveting 65-56 upset of No. 9 Duke, hopes to make waves in the AAC season and earn the program's 10th bid to the NCAA Tournament. The UAB women, defeated 72-69 by USF last season, entered AAC play with a 9-3 non-conference record and look to build upon a WNIT berth in 2024. Meanwhile, the USF men, off to a 2-0 conference start under interim head coach Ben Fletcher, are seeking revenge against UAB, the only AAC team that the Bulls didn't defeat last season (75-71 loss in the regular season and 93-83 loss in the AAC Tournament semifinals). The Blazers, the preseason pick to win the AAC, entered league play with a 7-6 non-conference mark.
Men's Basketball Schedule | Women's Basketball Schedule
2. Debut of Women's Lacrosse
Coach Mindy McCord's women's lacrosse program will enjoy its long-anticipated debut with an inaugural game against Kennesaw State on Friday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. at Corbett Stadium. McCord, who was hired on May 31, 2022, has promised a fast-paced, crowd-pleasing experience for this new-to-USF sport. McCord's track record — a 240-118 record in 21 seasons as a head coach, including the building of Jacksonville University's program from the ground up to national prominence, and eight conference Coach of the Year awards — suggests that the Bulls are in for a wild ride.
Women's Lacrosse Schedule
3. Softball Takes On The Gators
Coach Ken Eriksen's softball program, seeking its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2022, will host the Florida Gators (Sunday, Feb. 9, 2:30 p.m.) in the finale of the season-opening USF-Rawlings Invitational. Last season, the Bulls snapped a 26-game losing streak against the No. 9 Gators by prevailing 7-4 in Gainesville. It was USF's first win against UF since a 1-0 decision in the NCAA Gainesville Regional title-game on May 20, 2012, a precursor to the Bulls making the program's lone Women's College World Series appearance. Last season, the Gators were 54-15, falling 6-5 in an eight-inning duel against Oklahoma at the WCWS semifinals.
Sotball Schedule
4. Women's Basketball Challenges Rice
Fernandez's women's basketball team needs to keep stacking AAC victories and an important date is Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m., when the Bulls host the Rice Owls, the defending AAC Tournament champions, at the Yuengling Center. In the AAC opener on Dec. 29 at Houston, USF defeated Rice 74-64. Last season, Rice swept USF during the regular season (winning 67-64 and 69-59) and fell 70-60 against LSU in an NCAA Tournament first-round game.
5. Prime-Time: Men's Basketball Against Memphis
The biggest date on the USF men's basketball schedule could be Thursday, Feb. 13, when the Bulls challenge the Memphis Tigers (ESPN2, 9 p.m.) at the Yuengling Center. In the only meeting last season, USF rallied from a 20-point deficit on the road to defeat No. 10-ranked Memphis 74-73 for the program's first victory against a ranked opponent since 2012. This season, Memphis went 10-3 in non-conference play, including victories against Missouri (83-75), UConn (99-97 OT), Michigan State (71-63), Clemson (87-82 OT), Virginia (64-62) and Ole Miss (87-70).
6. Seminoles Visit USF Baseball
First-year USF baseball coach Mitch Hannahs (355-214-1 at Indiana State with five NCAA Tournament bids), who debuts with the opening Feb. 14-16 home series against the Iowa Hawkeyes, follows up with a marquee non-conference game against the Florida State Seminoles (Tuesday, Feb. 18, 5 p.m.). FSU, which visits the USF Baseball Stadium for the first time since 2016, reached last season's College World Series semifinals with a 49-17 mark (a 26-win improvement from the previous season). Trivia: USF baseball hasn't beaten FSU in Tampa since 1989 (but there have been only four Bulls-Seminoles meetings in Tampa since then).
Baseball Schedule
7. Here Come The Gators
McCord's first-year USF women's lacrosse program will host the Florida Gators, last season's national semifinalist, for a match on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. at Corbett Stadium. The Gators (20-3 last season), after making the program's second Final Four appearance, return 23 players.
8. War On I-4: Baseball Version
For the 41st consecutive season, USF baseball has games scheduled against the UCF Knights. The Bulls and Knights will tangle in Tampa with a three-game non-conference weekend series from Friday, Feb. 28 through Sunday, March 2. USF leads the overall series 86-83.
9. Sunshine State Hoops Showdown
Talk about a tough act to follow. Last season, USF men's basketball defeated the Florida Atlantic Owls 90-86 in a fantastic show for a national television audience and a Yuengling Center sellout crowd of 10,659, which set a program record. The Bulls and Owls renew their Sunshine State Showdown on Sunday, March 2 at noon on ESPN2/ESPNU. Who knows? Maybe it will again be a pivotal contest in the AAC regular-season race.
10. On Track For Greatness
Coach Erik Jenkins' men's and women's track and field programs, incredibly productive over the past two seasons, will showcase their strength at the South Florida Invitational on Saturday, April 11 and Sunday, April 12. The women return Shaniya Benjamin, the veteran jumper and sprinter who holds four school records. The men return Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, the AAC Outdoor champion in the 100-meters, 200-meters and 4x100-meter relay, and Goodness Iredia, the AAC Outdoor champion in the triple jump and long jump.
Track & Field Schedule
11. AAC Golf Titles At Stake
The USF women's and men's golf programs will each shoot for AAC tournament championships about an hour's time from campus.
Coach AJ Newell's women's team will compete on Monday, April 14 through Wednesday, April 16 at Southern Hills Plantation Club in Brooksville. The Bulls will learn about life without Melanie Green, one of the program's all-time best performers who was last season's AAC Player of the Year. But Newell's retooled roster includes freshman Cherry Marley, who was named AAC Player Of the Year the Month for October during the fall schedule.
Coach Steve Bradley's men's team will compete on Monday, April 21 through Wednesday, April 23 at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club in Sarasota. The Bulls won last season's AAC championship (and finished ninth at the NCAA Regional), while returning player Jake Peacock captured the conference individual medalist honors. It was the sixth AAC Tournament title in 10 seasons for USF men's golf, which tied a school record (for all sports) by earning the program's 20th conference championship.
Men's Golf Schedule | Women's Golf Schedule
12. USF Hosts AAC Softball Tournament
Eriksen's softball team will host the AAC Softball Tournament from May 7-10. USF also hosted the AAC Tournament in 2018 and 2023, but it hasn't captured the softball conference title at home since 2013, when it defeated Notre Dame 1-0 in a 10-inning thriller at the Big East Conference Tournament championship game.
