preview: USF Bulls at No. 17 Marquette Golden Eagles

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Records: USF 12-8, 5-2 Big East; Marquette 16-4, 5-2
Notable: USF has won three straight and has its best Big East record ever, coming off a 75-59 win at DePaul on Sunday. Senior forward Augustus Gilchrist had a season-high 22 points in the win, and Stan Heath needs him to be a scoring threat to complement guards Jawanza Poland and Victor Rudd. ? Poland leads the team at 12 ppg, while Gilchrist is at 11.1. ? The Bulls are 2-7 on the road, but Big East wins at Villanova and DePaul have given them confidence. ? The Golden Eagles have two top scorers in guard Darius Johnson-Odom (18.2 points, third in conference) and forward Jae Crowder, (16.3 points and 7.4 rebounds). ? USF can be an NIT team if it sustains just a .500 record the rest of the way.

 

[IE]

Going into tonight's game, USF basketball is in the rare position of having something to lose.​

The Bulls' shocking 5-2 start in Big East play is generating some national buzz, and even cameo appearances in bracketology pieces. As Jamie explained earlier, USF also has a very thin margin of error when it comes to achieving a solid Big East record, a winning season, and post-season play. A road win over a ranked Big East team would confirm USF as a bona fide Big East contender. A loss would return USF to also-ran status.

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And with all this at stake, look who turns up on the schedule.​

Marquette.​

Even accounting for football, has any school inflicted more torture on South Florida than Marquette?​

• The 1995 Post-Season NIT Third Round game, which will be the subject of a lengthy piece this upcoming offseason.
• The infamous 71-36 beatdown at the Sun Dome in 1997, which led Seth Greenberg to say "sometimes you're the dog, sometimes you're the tree", and nearly get in a fight with Mike Deane over a late timeout. By the way, the game wasn't nearly that close.
• In 2007, Marquette beat USF at the buzzer when Jerel McNeal stole an inbounds pass and scored with four seconds left in a tie game. His shot just seemed to float there for an eternity, then roll around the hoop, before going down and denying USF fans even the temporary excitement of an overtime loss. Good night everyone, drive home safely.
• In 2008, USF beat a top ten Marquette team at the Sun Dome, but only after Wesley Matthews missed a five-footer and Lazar Hayward missed an easy putback. Even in defeat, Marquette tortures us.
• Then there was last year's cataclysmic fiasco of a game. I don't even want to talk about it. If you must know, you can read what I said at the time.

Folks, this one has tremendous potential to hurt.