TAMPA, Fla. — The South Florida men’s basketball team (24-7, 16-2) begins the National Invitation Tournament against a familiar in-state rival, UCF, on Tuesday night.
Bulls’ head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim said he’s happy to still be playing basketball in March but had much higher aspirations.
“We’re going to be grateful for the opportunity,” he said. “It’s not, in our opinion, what we’ve earned or deserved.”
Abdur-Rahim led USF to the greatest season in program history, including their first-ever American Athletic Conference regular season title and winning 22 of their last 24 games.
But the Bulls were not rewarded with an NCAA Tournament berth. The consolation prize was an opening-round match-up with UCF in the less prestigious NIT.
“People get wrapped up in the NIT,” Abdur-Rahim said. “We’re champions. We won a championship. We won the harder championship.”
USF’s chances at the NCAA Tournament took a hit with a loss at Tulsa in the final regular season game. That loss also broke a school record 15-game winning streak.
“The success we had this year wasn’t a fluke, it may have been for some others, stay true to our habits, stay true to one another, find trust and find belief in one another,” he said.
The Bulls' loss to UAB in the conference tournament semifinals all but ended their chance of an NCAA berth. The selection committee pointed to a lack of quality wins.
“We were only able to schedule three or four games in the non-conference,” Abdur-Rahim explained. They didn’t take that into consideration. You didn’t know that. To penalize us for a non-conference schedule that we weren’t able to put together is insane. To leave a conference champion out 24-7, 16-2.”
Despite the feeling of disrespect, USF’s first-year head coach said he will have his team ready to take on the Knights at 9 p.m. in Orlando.
“Is the NIT that standard? No,” he said. “I don’t want to just get to the tournament, I want to win games in the tournament. This is part of the step to win the games in the tournament.”
