Friends with Bennies: Voodoo Five and the South Florida Bills

Welcome back to Friends with Bennies, our occasional feature where we invite another blogger over to discuss their team. Today we have Jamie from Voodoo Five to talk about tonight's game. I also answered some questions for him and I'll post a link to that when it's up.

TheUConnBlog: Cincinnati excepted, everyone else in the conference is the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked, yes? What are your thoughts on our collective sense of abandonment?

Voodoo Five: I've never really been upset with the football schools. The conference wasn't willing to look out for them, so they had to look out for themselves. But the basketball schools, with the way they showed their selfish asses from beginning to end, they can all burn in the hell they all so fervently believe in.

I really don't think our abandonment is going to last forever, though. The ACC is going to get ripped up by the B1G and the Big XII, and the three of us will get called up at some point. We'll have to hear all the jokes about there goes the neighborhood, but we're all very used to that by now.

TUB: UConn and Cincinnati haven't been shy about wanting a different home, but I haven't heard much out of USF? Is the school just resigned to staying behind?

V5: I wish they'd come out and say this... They aren't resigned to staying, but they know FSU is blocking their way into the ACC. There's no way USF moves up as long as the Noles are still there. So unlike UConn and Cincinnati, their politicking isn't very helpful. But the minute FSU leaves, USF and maybe UCF become very attractive to the ACC.

TUB: Do you still want to #FireEveryone involved with USF?

V5: Not EVERYONE, but our leadership is just abominable. We stink at most of the sports that get any attention, our AD is tremendously overpaid, people are lining up not to work there anymore, and we can't even do something as basic as spell a kid's name right on his senior class award. We may stumble up the ladder, but it will have very little to do with our athletic leadership, and we know they won't capitalize on the opportunity because they already squandered the potential of being in the Big East when they joined. Change is needed badly and it looks like we have to make the waves because no one else will.

TUB: Let's talk basketball: USF snapped a 10-game losing streak (including one to UConn in OT) by beating DePaul. What are the Bulls going to need to do to turn that into a two-game streak?

V5: Well, UConn is actually a pretty good matchup for USF. The Bulls don't rebound well -- but neither do the Huskies. And they can still defend the perimeter pretty well, except for when Shabazz Napier went off in the first game. Obviously they need to check Shabazz better, but if they do that and they don't shoot a terrible number from the field, then they have a chance.

TUB: This is UConn's first trip to the remade Sun Dome. What are the changes like? What sort of environment is UConn walking in to?

V5: The building is nice. I was there Saturday when USF played the UConn women and the amenities are a million times better than they were before. The crowd probably won't be good, though. Students basically quit showing up at the end of January, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the UConn bluehairs who were there Saturday decide to drop by again for the men's game.

TUB: What's your prediction for tonight?

V5: Like I said, this isn't a bad matchup for USF, and their mental batteries should be recharged by finally winning a game and knowing how well they played against the Huskies at Gampel. But I still like UConn in a pretty close one. Just habit, I guess.