Welcome back to the finale of the greatest 14 person countdown on the 2010-2011 USF basketball team in recorded histroy. Last time we left you, Jawanza Poland and Anthony Crater came in at numbers four and three respectively.
Its funny how much a team changes from year to year. Last season, this team was a senior laden, guard dominated offense. Sure Chris, Mike, and DoJo would spread it around to the posts every once in a while. One year later, the posts are the leaders of the team, and they will have to carry the our talented but inexperienced set of guards until they get their feet wet.
I think both Jarrid and Gus are extremely important to the team, but one guy has the talent and skill set to carry the team like Dominique Jones did last season. So with that said, The 2nd Most Important Player for USF Basketball is Jarrid Famous!
The 6'11 center from the Bronx held his own during his debut season in the Big East, averaging 10.4 points and 7.5 rebounds a contest while logging in an impressive 30 minutes a game. Because of injuries to Gus and Alex Rivas, Jarrid had to do a lot more than what Coach Heath was prepared to ask Jarrid to do at the begging of the season. He did a tremendous job in the paint when Heath went to a four guard set, and when given the chance, he proved he could dominate opposing players in the post like his 18 point effort against Luke Harangody and Notre Dame.
This season, I think Jarrid averaging a double double isn't out of the question at all. He has gotten a lot stronger, increasing his bench press max to 325 lbs. which was an insane 50 lbs move. Famous also improved his 185 pound max reps up to 25, which is 7 more than what he started out in the offseason.
Now lets get to The Most Important Player for USF Basketball, Augustus Gilchrist!
The 6'10 junior from Clinton, MD looked to take the next step after a sophomore season getting acclimated back into the game after two years on the bench. In 18 games last season, Gus averaged 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds a contest.
Do you guys know who was the team's leading scorer in the 13 games before Gus' high ankle sprain? No it wasn't Dominique Jones. Gilchrist led the team in scoring, netting 18 a game until injuring his ankle before the Central Michigan game. When Gus did come back, most saw that he was not playing at 100%, but he toughed it out and helped the Bulls make their first postseason appearance in 8 years.
Once again Gus will have to shoulder a lot of the scoring load until the rest of the team jells, but he does have the skill set and the offensive mind to do it. If you told me that Gus will average 20 points a game this season, I wouldn't think twice about it. He is that good.
--------------
Just wanted to say thank you for going through the countdown with me. I'll have a brief preview of Southern Miss up later this morning, and then our first basketball gamethread tonight! See you then