Urban: Crucial stretch for Dons starts now

By Mychael Urban
USFDons.com

OK, now it's getting interesting. Really interesting.

It's not quite the perfect storm; if you saw the movie of the same name, you certainly don't want it to end like that, anyway.

But it's a beautiful confluence for the USF men's basketball team, which opens on Thursday what, without question, is as a big and potentially program-changing a three-game stretch on The Hilltop as we've seen in recent memory.

First, the great news: The Dons -- led by Angelo Caloiaro, Perris Blackwell, Rashad Green and Michael Williams, all averaging at least 11 points per game -- are playing some awfully good ball these days.

Head coach Rex Walters' unforgiving, unflinching and indefatigable style is being reflected by his charges, who have won five of their past six games in West Coast Conference action to turn a 2-5 start in the WCC into a respectable 7-6 mark that's even more impressive when you dig another layer deeper.

The Dons were 0-4 in the WCC before posting a home blowout of Portland on Jan. 12 to start their current 7-2 run, in which the only losses have been an 11-point loss at nationally ranked Gonzaga and a heartbreaking two-point loss on the road to Loyola Marymount.

Loyola, by the way, is the squad standing between USF and a first-round bye in the upcoming WCC Tournament in Las Vegas, Feb. 29-March 5.

In case this slipped through the cracks, it's important to refresh: The addition of Brigham Young University -- henceforth "BYU" but spelled out here to spare you an acronym overload -- to the WCC prompted a change in format to the conference tournament.

It's not exactly something for which you need an abacus, but read the following slowly.

With nine teams in the conference, it was decided that a version of the NCAA Tournament's play-in game was required. Thus, the last-place team will face the second-to-last place team -- for seeding purposes, No. 9 vs. No. 8 -- at Orleans Arena in Vegas on the tournament's opening night.

The winner of that game advances to face the No. 5 seed in the early game on March 1, and if the WCC tourney started tomorrow, USF would be the No. 5 seed.

The late game that day would pit No. 6 vs. No. 7, and the winners would move on to March 2 to face, respectively, the No. 4 and No. 3 seeds, who will have earned a bye into the quarterfinals.

As of today, Loyola, at 9-4 in conference play, is the No. 4 seed, though only because they've played (and lost) one more game than 9-3 BYU.

Those winners advance to the March 3 semifinals, where the incredibly well-rested No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, whose regular-season dominance will have earned them a free pass through the tournament's first three days, await.

Right now those teams are Saint Mary's, 12-1 in the WCC and ranked 16th in the nation, and the Zags (10-2, 24th).

On Sunday, everyone rests in Sin City. 

On Monday, March 5, in the name of the conference's automatic NCAA bid, history will be on the line.

So the obvious goal for the Dons is to move up into the No. 4 spot, and with BYU right in front of them and Loyola at St. Mary's (on Wednesday), Thursday represents a golden opportunity to do just that.

As an added bonus, it'll be Pete Newell Night at War Memorial, an evening to honor the legendary former USF coach, and ESPNU will be on hand to send the action across the country.

Two nights later, Comcast SportsNet California will be there as USF honors another legendary figure from the program's glorious past, as all-time leading scorer (and former Nerf basketball adversary of mine) Bill Cartwright is feted with, among other things, replica jerseys handed out to the first 750 students to show up for the Dons' grudge match with Gonzaga.

All great stuff, and it could get even better the following Saturday in the Dons' regular-season finale. Also at home, it's against mighty Saint Mary's.

Can you imagine how absolutely nuts War would be should the Dons head into that game having taken down BYU and Gonzaga? You never know what freaky things momentum can do for a team, and if USF boarded its flight to Vegas with consecutive wins over the top three teams in the conference and a first-round bye in hand, anything's possible.

Even if the Dons don't pull off any upsets in this three-game homestand, you can bet it's going to be entertaining, and no matter what they'll still have a shot at that automatic berth via the WCC's mini-version of March Madness.

Yeah, this is where it gets interesting. Really interesting. If you love your ball with a big dose of drama, this is all you.