Friday night's 59-54 loss to No. 13 Syracuse was a near-miss for USF men's basketball, but coach Stan Heath got something big out of the game. Former Ohio State guard Anthony Crater, who attended the game with his mother, has decided to join the Bulls as a midyear transfer.

"I see myself making a difference there," said Crater, who will start classes this week. "The style of play and the coaching staff were great, and this is what I wanted, from a school standpoint and a basketball standpoint."

Crater, a quick 6-foot-1 guard who played 10 games at Ohio State as a true freshman, will not be able to play for the Bulls until the end of fall exams in December, but will then have two and a half years of eligibility with USF. (Originally, we reported he would have three-plus seasons at USF, but he has used a full year of eligibility this season.)

He said he had intended on making a visit to Baylor before making a decision, but liked USF enough Friday that he didn't need any other visits. He said his strengths on the court are his quickness and his passing ability.

"My best strength is that I can make everyone around me better. I think I'm a leader," Crater said. "I've been working on my defense the last two years, so my defense is getting better, too."

The Flint, Mich., native averaged just 1.2 points as a Buckeye, playing 13 minutes per game, but comes to the Bulls with high recruiting accolades. Both major recruiting sites rated him a three-star recruit, and Scout.com ranked him as the No. 21 point guard in last year's class. He had scholarship offers from elite national programs such as Kansas, Arizona and Pittsburgh, according to both recruiting sites.

He's the fifth midyear transfer to join the Bulls in the past four seasons -- guard Jesus Verdejo (Arizona) and center Kentrell Gransberry (LSU) in December 2006, guard Aaron Holmes (Florida State) in 2007 and guard Mike Mercer (Georgia) last season.

He's often known by the nickname "Noopy," given to him by an aunt when he was a toddler, but he said he'll simply go by Anthony at USF. He'll be the second freshman guard from Michigan on USF's roster next season, joining Jordan Dumars of Detroit.