South Florida vs. California preview capsule

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When/where: 9:10 p.m., University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio.



Records: USF 20-13, 12-6 in Big East; Cal 24-9, 13-5 in Pac-12.

Notable: Cal was ranked for the first month of the season, peaking at No. 20 in the AP poll and No. 18 in the coaches' poll. ? USF is very balanced in scoring. Leading scorer Augustus Gilchrist averages 9.6 points a game (lowest ever for a Bulls' leading scorer) and the No. 7 scorer, G Hugh Robertson, averages 6.8. One advantage for USF is a deeper bench; Toarlyn Fitzpatrick and Jawanza Poland average a combined 48 minutes per game and Cal gets only 28 minutes a game from its top two subs. ? USF's Victor Rudd played against three Cal players ? Allen Crabbe, Justin Cobbs and the injured Richard Solomon ? in high school in Los Angeles. ? Today's winner plays Friday night in Nashville against fifth seed Temple. Fans in ESPN.com's Bracket Challenge are picking the USF-Cal winner to beat Temple on 23 percent of submitted brackets.

 

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Cal knows all about criticism, too


The University of South Florida Bulls (20-13, 12-6 Big East regular season) have defended their worthiness as an NCAA tournament team, heading into tonight's opening-round game against the California Golden Bears (24-9, 13-5 Pac-12) at the University of Dayton Arena.

California, which lost three of its last four games, can relate.

"We've been pretty roundly criticized for being here winning 24 games,'' Golden Bears coach Mike Montgomery said.

California was selected over Washington (21-10, 14-4), which won the Pac-12 regular-season title. Colorado, the surprise winner of the Pac-12 tournament, claimed the league's automatic NCAA bid.

The battle for respect

USF-Cal has the NCAA stage all to itself in the second time slot and Bulls senior forward Ron Anderson Jr., hopes the Bulls can show the nation what they're all about.

"We know that we're a good basketball team,'' Anderson said. "We just want the nation to understand that, too. We're going to continue playing Bulls basketball and playing defense. No matter how sloppy it is or how unflashy it might be, we're going to stick with our foundation and hope for the best.''

Long journey, short-term goals

USF's placement in the opening round means it must play an extra game in the tournament ? and it would require five victories to reach the Final Four. That may seem unlikely, but VCU accomplished just that from the same position last season.

USF coach Stan Heath said the key is to think about short-term goals.

"(Look at) what VCU did, what Butler has done, what UConn did last season winning a national championship after finishing ninth in the league,'' Heath said. "Anything can happen. This is what I learned from Tom Izzo (Heath's former boss at Michigan State). We are in a tournament bracket right now. This is the Dayton/Nashville bracket and we need three games to win this championship. If you give them smaller goals to set, it helps them going down the line.''

Noteworthy

USF freshman PG Anthony Collins said the finger on his left hand, which he sprained during the second half against Notre Dame during the Big East tournament quarterfinals, is still a bit swollen, but he will be ready to go. ?


Heath earned a $25,000 incentive bonus for making the NCAA tournament as stipulated in a contract extension he signed in July 2010. He also earned a $15,000 bonus for being selected as Big East men's basketball coach of the year. ? Small world: USF assistant coach Steve Roccaforte, who was fired as Lamar's head coach last March after a five-year record of 76-78, is in the same tournament field with his former players. Lamar-Vermont, a No. 16-seeded matchup, precedes USF-California tonight. "That's my guy,'' Lamar's Anthony Miles said. "That's our coach. He's the one who got us to come to Lamar.'' Lamar is now coached by Pat Knight (son of Bobby), who famously called out his seniors on Feb. 22 in a rant made for YouTube. Lamar has gone 6-0 since.