TAMPA, Fla. — With the regular season in the rearview mirror, South Florida head coach Bryan Hodgson and standout forward Izaiyah Nelson made it clear Wednesday that the Bulls aren’t looking to “flip a switch” for the postseason—they’ve been playing at that intensity for months.
Coming off a historic regular season where Hodgson was named AAC Coach of the Year and Nelson swept the league’s top individual honors, the focus has shifted entirely to the immediate challenge of the American Athletic Conference tournament.
The “Four-Minute War” Mentality
Despite the increased stakes of March, Hodgson is keeping his squad grounded in the same habits that led them to a regular-season title. He dismissed the idea that the team needs to change its approach now that the games are “win or go home.”
“We don’t have to flip a switch,” Hodgson said. “We play every game the same way. We play it to win. There’s no extra pressure. We’re not going to play differently, and we’re not going to prepare differently.”
The strategy for the upcoming weekend is broken down into small, manageable increments. Hodgson described the team’s goal as winning “one possession at a time” and “one four-minute war at a time.” He noted that making players feel the weight of the postseason only leads to them playing “tight,” which he intends to avoid.
Navigating the Bracket
The Bulls face a unique challenge in the tournament: they won’t know their specific opponent until the day before they take the court. However, the bracket alignment provides some familiarity. USF’s side of the bracket includes Tulane, Memphis, and Charlotte—all teams the Bulls have faced in the last two weeks.
“We just played Memphis twice in ten days. We played Tulane two weeks ago. We played Charlotte the other day, so that is all very fresh to us,” Hodgson explained.
The outlier is UAB, a team USF hasn’t seen since the first four games of conference play. To bridge that gap, Hodgson revealed he has watched “every minute of basketball” UAB has played since their last meeting. In practice, the staff is focusing on the similarities between all four potential opponents while slowly incorporating UAB’s unique wrinkles into the game plan.
Defensive Identity as a Safety Net
For Izaiyah Nelson, the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, the key to the upcoming games lies in the “Race to 27″—the team’s goal to be in scoring position by the time the shot clock hits 27 seconds—and a stifling defense.
“All 15 guys understand now that defense leads to offense and defense wins games,” Nelson said. He described his role as a “goalie in hockey,” protecting the rim so teammates can play aggressively on the perimeter.
Nelson’s focus remains purely on the blue-collar work required to survive the weekend. “All I’m thinking about is doing whatever I need to do to help the team win,” he said. “If it’s diving on the floor, grabbing every rebound, yelling, screaming… I’m just going to be out there bringing all the energy.”
The Resume Debate
While much of the national conversation surrounds USF’s “bubble” status for the NCAA Tournament, Hodgson remains adamant that the team’s non-conference strength of schedule and top-tier metrics should speak for themselves.
“We put our resume up against some of the other people that are being talked about,” Hodgson said. “That decision is not up to us. We’re very big on controlling what we can control… and that’s winning basketball games.”
The Bulls head into the tournament with the confidence of a team that hasn’t lost a game in the month of March, relying on a “well-connected unit” and a coaching staff that Hodgson calls the best in the nation.
READ: Triple Crown King: Izaiyah Nelson Sweeps Top Awards As USF Bulls Charge Into History
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