NCAAB South Florida Bulls

General Info

Founded: 1971
Conference: American Athletic Conference (AAC)
Past Conferences: Big East Conference, Conference USA (C-USA), Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference (Metro), Sun Belt Conference, Independent
Arena: Yeungling Center
City: Tampa, Florida

Championships and Titles

Conference Tournament Championship
Conference Regular Season Championship

Team History

The University of South Florida’s (USF) basketball program is fairly young compared to its conference rivals. Initially meant as an experiment, the original 1970 USF team won its first game against Florida, and basketball stuck with the fans.

The team was originally called the “Golden Brahmans” as an independent team. It joined the NCAA Division I in 1973, then the Sun Belt Conference in 1976. By the 1980-81 season, USF became the Bulls and was coached by Lee Rose.

Led by Rose and Charlie Bradley, the Bulls’ team stats all-time leader in scoring, USF became a respectable program. It was invited to the NIT three times in five years and advanced to the second round twice.

When Bobby Paschal took over in 1986, the Bulls became an ascendant program. It began winning more games and became a lucrative team on the NCAAB odds. During the 1989-90 season, the Bulls achieved new heights by winning its conference tournament and qualifying for its first NCAA Tournament.

The Bulls made it back to March Madness in 1992 and advanced to the NIT quarterfinals in 1995, but it went downhill from there since the team did not make it back to the NCAA Tournament until 2012, under Stan Heath.

With Anthony Collins, the South Florida Bulls’ team stats leader in assists, the team won its first game in March Madness by upsetting Temple. However, the Bulls lost to Ohio in the second round.

The program began to struggle afterward failing to post a winning season again until 2018-19 under Brian Gregory. Here, the Bulls also won the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). But as in previous seasons, USF went back to being a losing team.

All-Time South Florida Bulls Records

Points Scored
- Charles Bradley: 2,273
- Altron Jackson: 2,017
- Radenko Dobras: 1,935
Rebounds
- B.B. Waldon: 928
- Hakim Shahid: 893
- Gary Alexander: 862
Assists
- Reggie Kohn: 632
- Anthony Collins: 569
- Radenko Dobras: 534

FAQs

When Was the Last Time South Florida Made the NCAA Tournament?

South Florida (USF) last made the NCAA Tournament in 2012 as a No. 12 seed. It also won its first game in March Madness with an upset over No. 5 seed Temple.