The
University of South Florida's athletic website undoubtedly took a ton of hits
Monday night from Lubbock as soon as the pairing was announced.
While
the 21-10 Bulls have a nice team and are having a very good year, they play in
one of the most heralded conferences for women's basketball in the country
largely because of perennial powers Notre Dame and UCONN – the Big East.
So
many in Lady Raider land, including myself, had to hit the world
wide web to see what this team is all about.
And
for someone who does what I do in looking at numbers, I think the Lady Raiders
MUST do one thing in particular very well in order to win their first tourney
game in 8 years, and that is protect the basketball.
That
should be good news as Tech normally does that well. But just as well
South Florida can cause a team to cough it up.
The
Bulls force 10.7 steals per game (for the season that's 332 swipes). That's
more than 100 more than their opponents.
As
a result, they've turned the ball over 115 fewer times than opponents.
Tech was the best in the Big 12 during the regular season at turnover
margin themselves.
But
if you believe you're only as good as your last game, you can find 21 reasons
against Oklahoma State why Tech needs to do a better job at eliminating
turnovers.
Protect
it well, and South Florida will get impatient at the other end. Why?
They
shoot a LOT! 269 more field goals attempted than opponents, including 57
more three-point attempts.
Word
from some who saw them recently was they do it from the outside too, a nice
change for a Lady Raider opponent since so many try to take advantage of the
Lady Raiders lack of size at the post.
So
if the Lady Raiders can be smart with the ball and South Florida doesn't shoot
lights out at the other end, the 8 year drought could be over, and we can then
start surfing the web to learn more about Cal or Fresno State in time for
Monday.
See
you at the USA, and let's protect AND pack the house!!