USF has high expectations for the 2000-01 basketball season. The team had a good balance with a veteran backcourt and impressive front line. The roster was laden with senior leadership in LyRyan Russell, Ali Thomas, James Lee and Chris Barideaux. The Dons’ frontline had Lee, freshman of the year Darrell Tucker and seven-foot center Hondre Brewer. Sophomores guards John Cox and Shamell Stallworth would provide firepower and were joined in the backcourt by Jason Gaines. Junior college players Tayo Akinsete and Andre Brown were recruited for additional frontline help.

Everything was in place until the injuries hit. Before practice even started Russell and Cox were out for the season, and James Lee and Andre Brown also went down. USF lost their remaining two point guards by the end of the third game as Gaines was lost to a knee injury at Santa Barbara (game 2) and Barideaux went down in game three in Hilo. Suddenly USF was down to seven scholarship players and just two of them guards.

USF picked up walk-on baseball player Nick Tarbat to give them another guard, but the Dons were struggling to maintain consistency.. The pattern for the team had been set. The team would play well in stretches and not so well in others. The lack of a true point guard was hurting the team’s growth.

Despite the adversity, the Dons still had some excellent wins, including two in the same week against Brigham Young and Fresno State, but were still suffering from the lack of a healthy experienced point guard.

The things that point guards bring to the team, defensive pressure and easy baskets off of turnovers, would disappear during crucial points of games. Other team’s runs, usually caused by turnovers, cost the team some victories.

Frequently the team would fall behind, make a great run to close the score, but fall short. Sometimes, USF would lose a lead when they lost the ball during successive possessions.

But still, even though the Dons finished the regular season 12-17, 5-9 in the WCC there were some great performances put out by the team.

James Lee, a warrior, led the league in minutes played (1,015), and was close to leading it in field goal percentage, as well. An outstanding defender, he was named all-West Coast Conference for the first time.

Hondre Brewer set a block record that should hold up a long time with 107 entering the postseason tournament. With a year to go, he will soon be the league’s career shot-blocking leader, as well as the tops in the Bay Area. His offensive game is improving rapidly and Hondre should be a huge force next year.

For the second time in three seasons, Ali Thomas was forced to leave his natural off-guard slot and move to the point. He enters the WCC tournament with more assists with anyone in the conference and is among the three-point leaders, as well. He ranks 15th on the USF all-time scoring list.

Darrell Tucker again ranks high in many statistical areas, and led the league in rebounding during WCC play. He was also among the leaders in field goal percentage, free-throw percentage and scoring. He was named honorable mention all-WCC.

Chris Barideaux has played as hard as he could with a knee that he injured early in the season. He has been dependable with the basketball in WCC play and is among the league leaders in assist-turnover margin.

Shamell Stallworth also improved this season, and enters the tournament as the WCC’s top three-point percentage shooter. He has been particularly effective over the final nine regular season games.

Tayo Akinsete has also stepped up his game and has seen more minutes as WCC play moves on.

USF has played its best ball of the season over the past nine games. "If we can hold our turnovers down and work hard on both ends of the floor, we can compete with anyone in the league," said coach Phil Mathews. "In the stretches of games where we hold down the turnovers, we have been beating our opponents. With success holding on to the basketball, I like our chances this weekend."