Can you hear ’em making noise up on the Hilltop?
Everybody knows that the West Coast Conference has been largely dominated by that team from Spokane over the past couple of decades. Everybody knows that there’s another outstanding program an hour away in Moraga. Pretty soon, everybody is going to realize that the Dons are becoming a tremendous program in their own right.
Eight of the past nine years, San Francisco has won 20 or more games. What’s more, that success has been sustained under three different head coaches. What’s further, the Dons have grown their win total – both overall and within WCC play – in each of their first three seasons under Chris Gerfulsen, the team’s current field marshall. However you slice it, San Francisco has diligently built the reputation of a powerhouse. All that’s left to attain is a title to go with their cred…and that’s proven to be an extraordinary challenge.
Simply put, Gonzaga (occasionally Saint Mary’s, but mostly the Zags) is the reason why. The Bulldogs have been an immovable monolith set in the path of San Francisco’s progress at every turn. In fact, the Dons have lost a soul-crushing 33 straight games to their foes from eastern Washington. The Zags are headed for the reanimated corpse of the Pac-12 after this year, though. Can the Dons finally stake their claim atop the league – and as a program to be feared across the country – during Gonzaga’s farewell tour?
Leading the Dons will be a sophomore who didn’t quite average 10 points last winter. Which may sound strange, but however new he is to the throne, Tyrone Riley IV’s pedigree is legit. For starters, his father starred for San Francisco in the early 2000’s; Tyrone Riley III averaged 15.8 points and 8.7 rebounds for USF in 2004-05. Prior to joining the Dons, Riley IV had been heralded as a 4-star high school recruit. As a rookie, Riley IV started every game he played and quickly became one of the most disruptive defenders in the league. So impressive was his debut that, this spring, Team USA invited Riley to try out for the U19 national team. Meanwhile, NBA scouts were gauging his chances as a 1st-round prospect. All that, plus Riley did his diligence by entering the transfer portal. There, he received a glut of attention, including serious interest from such programs as Kentucky, Arizona, and Creighton. Oh yeah, and Riley heard from the defending national champions Florida. After all, the Gators’ head coach, Todd Golden, was in charge on the Hilltop just three years ago and oversaw the infancy of Riley’s recruitment to San Francisco. That he’ll be back in a Dons jersey this fall is a huge coup for Gerfulsen & Co., and they expect that the maturity of his game will help to carry the squad.
“It’s hard to find a player who – it doesn’t matter who you combine them with on the floor – they just figure out a way to play and blend in,” Gerlufsen told the San Francisco Chronicle this summer. “Tyrone has a unique ability where you can put him on the court with any other four players, and depending on what that group looks like, he’s going to figure for his team to be successful. That’s something he’s well beyond his years in.”
Riley’s return is all the more significant to USF given that the team must replace the co-headliners of last year’s backcourt. With Marcus Williams out of eligibility and Malik Thomas gone to Virginia, the Dons have lost 35.0 points and 6.4 assists per game from their rotation. That means it’ll be up to Riley to grow as a scorer, and his efficient approach as a freshman hints at vast potential. After all, outside of their clashes with Gonzaga, the Dons were undefeated last year when Riley scored 10+ points in a game. He shot 50.2% from the floor in his debut, a tremendous rate which was produced by Riley’s athleticism and assertive approach in getting to the rim. Despite his lanky frame, Riley takes the most direct path to the rack whenever possible. He thundered home 35 dunks as a rookie, per Bart Torvik, and his evident effort in the weight room the past two summers ought to help Riley burst past the increased defensive attention he’ll see this winter.
Up to this point of his career, Riley has not been a ball-dominant offensive player. Having the veterans Williams and Thomas to make smooth passes and run offense last season was an advantage in helping Riley to settle in quickly, but now he’ll have to take more initiative. The potential is clearly there for Riley to become a devastating downhill threat coming off of screens. In order to do so, Riley will have to show that he can distribute to open teammates and keep defenders honest as a shooter – all while becoming the focus of opponents’ defensive schemes. His natural tendency to play a complete floor game and keep the ball moving are skills which many top youngsters take awhile to truly embrace. If he can enhance his handle and develop a killer instinct to pair with the bevy of other things he already does well, there should be no cap on Riley’s potential. There will be help for Riley, too – particularly from another youngster who may be on the verge of a breakout.
Two years ago, Ryan Beasley was named the WCC’s top freshman. Last season, Beasley scored in double figures in nine of the Dons’ final 12 games, averaging 9.0 points on the season and posting a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio as the team’s 6th man. He looks ready to take the reins alongside Riley, and USF will be counting on Beasley to step forward as a big-time shooter, too. As a freshman, Beasley sank his triples at a 35.4% rate, but last year his percentage dipped under 30%. As he heated up down the stretch, though, Beasley’s ability to bomb away shone through. He sank more triples during the Dons’ last dozen contests than he had in all of their previous games combined, and that has the team feeling like Beasley can become an every-game threat.
Last season, Williams, Thomas, and graduated stretch-big Carlton Linguard, Jr, combined to splash 182 of the Dons’ 302 triples, and opponents had to guard people all over the perimeter. In order for Riley and USF’s frontcourt newcomers to be at their best, Beasley and Vukašin Mašič (who’s also new) will need to pull foes to the outside. With those aforementioned additions to the post, the Dons brought proven size and experience to shore up what’s long been a sore spot. There’s excitement for their arrival, but now that they’re on the Hilltop, can Guillermo Diaz Graham and David Fuchs transform USF’s post? In their many high-stakes clashes with teams like the Gaels and Zags in recent years, San Francisco has been able to hang in almost all aspects of the games. Rebounding and interior defense have, time and again, been the primary outliers.
That’s where, the Dons hope, David Fuchs comes in. Following the loss of rising senior Chips Newbury just 11 games into last season, the team tried a kaleidoscope of different players at the forward spot in various situations…with mixed results. Now that everyone from last year (save Newbury, who is still rehabbing) will be joined by Fuchs – who led the Atlantic 10 in rebounding rate each of the past two seasons – has come aboard, USF looks deeper and better. One of the country’s elite rebounders on a per-minute basis, the Austrian-born Fuchs will immediately be numbered among the stoutest presences in the WCC. He largely shared the pivot with 7-footer Javonte Brown last winter at Rhode Island, but Fuchs wants to show that he’s got the tools to be more than a rotational piece. There have been glimmers of a wider range of skills; Fuchs hit nine triples across his two years as a Ram, and he can convert a turnaround jumper after backing into the post. The challenge for Fuchs will be to shoot and operate confidently and without turnovers when he gets his opportunities this winter.
There should be real contrast among the Dons’ bigs, because there are proven shooters around Fuchs. Guillermo Diaz Graham, who’s newly arrived from Pittsburgh, and Junjie ‘Barry’ Wang, who received a brevet promotion to starting forward after Newbury went down last year, combined to splash 68 triples a season ago. Now that both players have gotten some starting experience under their belts, they should be ready to play with a bit more boldness.
After going toe-to-toe with guys like Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud, Duke’s Khamam Maluach, and Clemson’s Viktor Lakhin last year, Diaz Graham should be better for the experience. He isn’t a bruiser, and Diaz Graham wasn’t really the equal of the ACC’s best big guys last year in starting 25 games for the Panthers. Now that he’s at San Francisco, though, arriving on the heels of Linguard’s successful campaign, there’s anticipation that Diaz Graham could be on the cusp of a big performance. A good passer who retains perimeter skills despite having grown to seven feet, Diaz Graham will need to show improvement defending near the basket. Both Linguard and Newbury were solid rim protectors; Wang, Diaz Graham, and Fuchs swatted just 40 shots in their 94 combined games played a year ago.
Stronger and with a greater sense of how to make an impact after his 24 starts last year, Wang ought to be on firmer footing headed into his third year. As a freshman, he was a deep reserve who saw about seven minutes per game; by the new year of his sophomore campaign, Wang was seeing 25+ minutes of action regularly. Though he didn’t shoot the ball with great efficiency last season, Wang’s threat from downtown is a nice wrinkle and helps to space the Dons’ offense. Like Diaz Graham, the biggest strides from Wang will need to come on the boards and defensively. Also back is Saba Gigiberia, a 7’2″ center from Georgia who has certainly been around awhile. After debuting at Georgia Tech during the 2020-21 season, Gigiberia is back for his final year of eligibility to provide spot minutes at the pivot. He didn’t play chunk minutes very often last year, but you can’t teach the size Gigiberia brings. If he can play a composed game and produce when he’s out there, USF will be stronger in the paint.
High-end guard play has come to define San Francisco in recent years, but this year’s backcourt doesn’t appear to have the depth or established star power that they’ve become accustomed to on the Hilltop. It will largely be up to Mašić and fellow fifth-year senior Isa Silva to help Beasley run the show and keep the Dons dangerous from downtown. Mašić is already familiar with the WCC; he spent the past two seasons at Portland. As a part of the Pilots’ ensemble backcourts, Mašić honed his playmaking talents and sharpened his focus; last season his assist to turnover ratio rose from 1.43 to 2.28. He also shot 38.3% from the land of trey at Portland, and Mašić brings great size to complement the more diminutive Beasley. Unfortunately, the Pilots were also one of the worst defensive outfits in America while the Serbian-born Mašić was there, and he’s going to need to guard people up to Gerlufsen’s standards.
Four years ago, Silva was a 4-star prep recruit on his way to Stanford. Now at his third school and coming off of a redshirt, Silva is looking to show all he’s learned along the way. Up until now, he’s largely been the same player from season to season: a good, savvy, unselfish passer and committed defender whose shooting percentage seems to stumble around drunkenly from one week to the next. With 100 games’ worth of collegiate experience on his side plus the feel he gained practicing with last year’s group, the hope is that Silva can at least provide a steady hand to help manage the offense.
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