The season opener is less than a week away, and now its time to meet the players who are vital to USF's success this year. When we last left you, Toarlyn Fitzpatrick jumped into the Top 5 as he is the only post for Coach Heath off the bench this season. Today's entrant was one of our favorite players from last year's team, and we hope we can continue his success from the previous year. The 4th Most Important Player For USF Basketball is Ron Anderson Jr.!
The Senior transfer from Kansas State immediately stepped in and had a very productive first year in Tampa. Ron played in all 33 games last season, starting in 18 of them. For the year, Ron averaged 7.0 PTS/6.4 REB in about 22.5 minutes a contest. While Augustus Gilchrist, Toarlyn Fitzpatrick, and even Jarrid Famous ventured into the 10-15 ft range, Ron was clearly comfortable inside the post. Ron was a constant ball of energy on the court, and while got him into foul trouble most excused it with him doing all the little things when it came to setting picks, boxing out, and even helping out with the press.
This year Ron is going to have to bring that same energy, but will have to stop drawing those cheap fouls. With our lack of depth at the post, it is imperative to keep Ron out of foul trouble so we won't have to rely on Toarlyn Fitzpatrick getting 30 minutes or being forced to go small and have Victor Rudd at the 4. If he's able to keep that under control, Ron has the ability to dump 8-10 PPG be our first 10 RPG player since Kentrell Gransberry.
So who do you think will be #3 in TMIPFUSFB countdown? Your choices are below.