I don't want to be a kill joy, but let's be honest here, many on the boneyard note how many other nationally prominent teams play a soft schedule yet USF seems to be getting a free pass at this. I think this team has talent (virtually all of it from overseas) however Jose needs to buff up his OOC schedule to be legit. I am hoping this years team can make it to the sweet 16 to keep the AAC gaining in reputation. Until then, please be measured in your exuberance.
First, the soft schedule of USF this year has already been mentioned in several threads.
We had a tougher OOC schedule last year, when we were a team loaded with starting seniors.
This season, three of our top players graduated and we brought in SIX new players.
It is understandable, that the USF WBB coach would soften the OOC schedule in order to allow our new players to get an early opportunity to play and, yet, STILL be competitive.
So far it has worked out well for us.
Next week we will likely play Oklahoma State (31/29) and Oregon State (26/15) and, we are at a point now where, we have a decent chance to beat them both. Too bad that Laksa has a broken finger on her shooting hand and won't be at 100%, but that is where the new players can now possibly contribute.
We also will play Louisville (8/8) on 1/22/17.
And, of course we will likely play UCONN (1/1) THREE times and, it doesn't get any tougher than that.
USF has in the past been a bubble team, because of a poor OOC schedule and has been left out of the dance as a result, despite a good W/L record. So, our coach has made it a point, in recent years to beef it up, so that won't ever happen again.
Also, USF has for years tried to schedule FSU, UF and Miami, but they won't play a home and home series. When we did have them regularly on our OOC schedule, they often lost and they each decided to discontinue our series.
I expect that next year, with a more experienced team, we will have a tougher OOC schedule.
