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USF basketball coach Orlando Antigua needs to beat the odds again

 
Orlando Antigua is 17-48 heading into his third season as USF men’s basketball coach.
Orlando Antigua is 17-48 heading into his third season as USF men’s basketball coach.
Published Nov. 10, 2016

TAMPA — USF men's basketball is set to begin another season on Friday night.

Gentlemen, start your asteroid.

Is anything in this sports town more cold and lonesome than USF men's basketball?

It's hard times under coach Orlando Antigua. Just 17 wins in two seasons. Some of the problems were there before he arrived. Some of them are eternal, in a tree falling in the forest kind of way. USF men's basketball coach might be the toughest job in town. And you can always count on empty seats.

But it's hard to see how Antigua survives if he rolls out another lousy season.

There are the players who've left Antigua's program or been dismissed from it. There is the current six-game suspension of the team's top returning scorer, sophomore point guard Jahmal McMurray, for an undisclosed violation. Also, forward Chris Perry and guard Roddy Peters were dismissed last spring for repeated violations of school policy.

There was last July, the resignation of Antigua's younger brother, Oliver, amid an NCAA investigation that is still going on. There was the hiring of assistant coach Murry Bartow, who has two previous head coaching stops.

Then there are the rest of us, pretty much, wondering how in the world Orlando Antigua will survive this. Who isn't wondering if Bartow is the coach-in-waiting?

I ran all of this by Antigua as he sat in his office. He smiled. Likable man. He has never lost at smiles.

"All good questions and observations," Antigua said. "Obviously, there are a lot of things that I'm not allowed to elaborate on. There have certainly been a lot of challenges. When I was looking to take this opportunity, I knew there would be some challenges, that there would be some growing pains, knew there would be things that you would have to address in trying to get the program going in the right direction."

"No one wants to have success this season more than Orlando and his staff, and I know how hard they're working to turn us in the right direction, on the court and off," USF athletic director Mark Harlan said.

"We'll continue to provide all of the support and resources necessary for success, and we expect that there will be improvement."

If I'm Harlan, I'd need to see real improvement, on and off the court.

"My family and my friends and the people who know me know my character and know what I'm about," Antigua said. "People have their opinions, and they're entitled to those. I'm confident that we've got an opportunity to show what we're about. I'm confident that we're going to show what we are about here and how we go about business."

Hopelessness and USF men's basketball have always gone together. Stretches of good, but mostly bad.

At least if you're going to be bad, you could be local. There are kids on Antigua's roster from everywhere but here. There is no local connection on the Bulls roster.

There have been patches of light for USF, including the NCAA Tournament appearance under Stan Heath in the 2011-12 season. There have been four losing seasons since then, including the two under Antigua, 9-23, then 8-25.

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Antigua still believes this is doable. Then again, his life is about beating odds. He was homeless at one point in high school. He was once shot in the head but lived to talk about it. His story tells him there is always a tomorrow.

All I see right now is the asteroid.

Martin Fennelly is a columnist for the Tampa Bay Times. Contact him at mfennelly@tampabay.com.