Welcome back V5ers to the greatest 13 person countdown in USF history! Last time we left you, Arizona State transfer Victor Rudd was named as the 12th most important player this season. All we ask Victor is that you dress in something other than a warmup all year.
Now onto the countdown! This is the part of the countdown that will be the most difficult to rate. As we've said on the podcast, there are only a couple of known entities on this team, and with so many new players, it will be interesting to see who steps up, and as we saw in the poll this weekend, there were multiple votes for four players this week. In the end though, we can only choose one player, so The 11th Most Important Player for USF Basketball is LaVonte Dority!
The 6'1 PG from Foreman HS in Chicago signed with USF in the fall recruiting period, and comes with very high marks from the major recruiting sites. ESPN gave Dority a 90 rating, and had him as the 40th ranked point guard in the nation. ESPN had this to say about Dority when he commited to USF in the fall last year,
"LaVonte has a college ready body that should make him an immediate impact player at the next level. He makes great decisions with the ball and depending on what the possession dictates he has a solid feel for when to set the table or score the ball himself."
One negative that ESPN had with Dority was that he needed to improve on his man to man defense, which is why I have him down here in 11th. As we have seen time and time again, Stan is willing to sit a player if he is not up to par defensively like he did with Shaun Noriega and Mike Burwell last season. I hope that he improved enough during the trip to Brazil and these preseason practices that he can compete with Anthony Crater and Shedrick Haynes for playing time, because he looks like he will be a good one for us here in the near future.
As always, we want to know who do you think will be next on the countdown. You're answers as always are below