TAMPA, Fla. — Fresh off clinching the American Athletic Conference regular-season championship, the University of South Florida men's basketball team moved up another spot in the Top 25 this week.
USF clinched the regular-season title with a road win over Charlotte on Saturday. The 76-61 win was the Bulls' 14th in a row, with the team's last loss coming in early January against the UAB Blazers.
Overall, the Bulls have racked up a 22-5 record and won 20 of their last 21 games this season.
But there's still unfinished business to take care of for USF. The team has one home game remaining against Tulane on Tuesday night and an away game to finish the regular season at Tulsa on Saturday.
Two more wins would keep the Bulls' NCAA Tournament hopes alive. USF will be the top seed in the AAC Conference Tournament, where the winner will get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
If USF stumbles in the AAC Tournament, the team still has an outside shot of getting into the NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee looks at a team's record and how they did against different levels of competition or quads.
Quad 1 is the top level, and Quad 4 is the lowest level. Currently, USF has one Quad 1 win and is 16-2 against Quads 3 and 4. But those two losses are considered bad losses coming against Quad 4 (losses to Central Michigan and Maine early in the season).
Quad 2 wins against SMU, and Charlotte help put those Quad 4 losses in the rear-view mirror. If USF finishes the season with two more victories, it would improve the team's record to 24-5 and keep them undefeated against Quad 3 teams and have winning records against all other quads.
And those quad victories carry quite a bit of weight in the NCAA's NET rankings, which currently ranks USF at 79th in the country. NET rankings include factors like winning percentage, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses, to name just a few elements.
USF tips off against Tulane at 7 p.m. The game will also be senior night as the team honors its senior players.
