USF Men's Basketball

It’s a rebuilding year for the San Francisco Dons men’s basketball team. Picked to finish tied for 7^th in the West Coast Conference, expectations aren’t particularly high for this season’s team. A young, inexperienced squad will have to battle in a very competitive West Coast Conference, with development as the main goal this season. Individual wins and losses will be secondary to how this team improves and gears up for the following two years as their core gains experience.

This year’s team is a far cry from the past two years. Although only four seniors graduated from last year’s team, more than half of this year’s roster is made of fresh faces. In addition to the seniors who finished their education at USF, Mark Tollefsen had a year of eligibility left and looked to be one of the team’s leaders this season, but he transferred to Arizona. Matt Christiansen had developed as one of the Dons’ best defenders last season, but he decided to forgo his final year of eligibility, return to his home state and finish his education at Oklahoma, though he opted not to continue playing basketball. Corey Hilliard had become one of the better guards on the team and was one of the bright spots on a team that didn’t live up to expectations, but he is no longer enrolled at USF. Frankie Ferrari is now attending community college and plans to transfer to another program. Four other players, including big men Derrell Robertson and Nick Loew, chose to stop playing basketball, though they remain in school. Robertson and Loew would have been extremely useful to defend against some of the bigger players in the WCC this season.

Every college basketball team has some degree of turnover on a year-to-year basis. It’s the four players who left the team but chose to remain at school, and Christiansen, who turned down a likely starting role, that should raise eyebrows. It’s not like Robertson, Loew and the two others who opted to leave the team would’ve been stars, but they would’ve provided depth and experience. The decision not to play basketball should act as a red flag. It should be seen as an indicator of the coaching and the negative responses to Rex Walters and his staff. Walters is one of the more animated coaches in college basketball, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s the negative and angry vibe he gives off that seems to turn players away from his program. As a result, USF has a completely new team this season accompanied with low expectations.

These problems are compounded by last season’s shortcomings. The 2013-14 Dons finished second in the WCC with a 13-5 record. They reached the semifinals of the WCC Tournament and earned a trip to the NIT. A nearly identical team returned the following season, with just two regulars departing – one transferred, one graduated. The 2014-15 team failed to live up to the expectations that the previous year’s group had set, going just 7-11 in the WCC and 14-18 overall. The frustrations mounted with a series of narrow losses due to poor free throw shooting and lackadaisical defense, the latter of which had been an issue for the team in previous years. Perhaps the most aggravating part of the 2014-15 team was their failure to live up to their potential. They won both matchups with a very solid Pepperdine team and pushed Gonzaga to the limit in two of three meetings.

It wouldn’t be hard to assume the program would be in a completely different place right now had some of last season’s games gone in the team’s favor. Perhaps Tollefsen and Christiansen stay on board if the team finishes towards the top of the WCC and leaves hope to contend in 2015-16. Perhaps some of the other players who left the program trust the process as well on the heels of a winning season. Instead, it’s back to the drawing board.

However, it’s not all negatives for USF. Consider the big picture. Rex Walters inherited a program that had not only struggled on the court, but off it as well. Players were constantly struggling in the classroom and getting into legal trouble. Walters has certainly lifted the program up from the depths, and he’s done so while bringing in players that represent the university in a positive light.

As for the young team on the court this year, sophomore point guard Devin Watson is averaging 19.7 points per game through the first seven contests this season and appears to be one of the top young players in the conference. Sophomore forward Chase Foster, who battled injuries throughout his freshman year, has started all seven games and is averaging seven points per game. A new group of freshmen, led by Tucson native Nate Renfro, have also given plenty of reason to hope for the future. Dont’e Reynolds, a community college transfer from North Carolina, has replaced the physical presence of Kruize Pinkins, another former community college player who graduated after last season. If all the pieces click, USF could make a run at a conference title and an NCAA Tournament bid in the next year or two. But will those pieces click? It requires the Dons to avoid the mistakes that they made in 2014-15. A team that should’ve been a contender failed to live up to expectations, and there were signs of dissent as much of the team departed. Walters and his staff will have to buckle down in order to ensure that those problems don’t manifest themselves again.

That coaching staff has a new face. Frank Allocco, who led Concord’s De La Salle High School to three Northern California titles and two state championships, is Walters’ newest assistant. Allocco is a defensive mastermind and could shore up the program in an area that it has been greatly lacking for years. He also provides a connection to East Bay recruits. Jordan Ratinho, one of Allocco’s prodigies at De La Salle, has already signed on for next season.

In addition to more East Bay recruiting, the Dons have stepped up their recruiting on the international level as well, patterning themselves after Saint Mary’s. With five NCAA tournament trips in the last ten years, including a Sweet 16 run in 2010, emulating the Gaels is certainly a solid move. Saint Mary’s has built most of their success on players from Northern California, such as Omar Samhan and Rob Jones, and from outside of the country. Australia has been a hotbed for basketball talent in recent years. Patty Mills played for Saint Mary’s and now plays for the San Antonio Spurs, and fellow Australian Matthew Dellavedova played at Saint Mary’s and has become one of the top defensive players for the Cleveland Cavaliers. USF hopes that 6’9 freshman Matt McCarthy creates a link to Australia that the Dons can feed off of for years to come.

Although this season looks to be a step back, there is certainly reason to have hope for the future of USF basketball. However, this team appeared to be ready to take that step forward last season, and it all fell apart. Can Walters and his staff ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself, and avoid the same mistakes? The future of this program hangs in the balance. Should this young core reach its full potential, USF could return to being one of the top teams in the WCC. If those expectations aren’t met, the current regime could be shown the door and the entire program would have to rebuild from the ground up. While there is uncertainty in the air, those questions will be answered over the seasons to come.