2-9-17

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February 9, 2017 Vol. 54 No. 37

WUSF-TV auctioned off, will end production Page 3

Republicans misstep with Warren Page 4

Islam Awareness Week Page 6

Softball Preview Page 10

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the Oracle the University of South Florida’s student newspaper since 1966

Editor in Chief Jacob Hoag oracleeditor@gmail.com Managing Editor Miki Shine oraclemeditor@gmail.com Assistant News Editor Chelsea Grosbeck Sports Editor Vinnie Portell oraclesportseditor@gmail.com

Multimedia Editor Jackie Benitez oraclemultimediaeditor@gmail.com

Graphic Artists Destiny Moore Mark Soree Advertising Sales Alyssa Alexander Ashley Bazile Destiny Moore Dylan Ritchey

The Oracle is published Monday and Thursday during the fall and spring semesters, and once weekly, Wednesday, during the summer.

The Oracle allocates one free issue to each student. Additional copies are $.50 each and available at the Oracle office (SVC 0002).

Lifestyle Editor Nicole Cate oraclelifestyleeditor@gmail.com

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news

News Briefs

WUSF-TV going off the air UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Attorney General nominee approved

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SG Sustainability Council expected to be created

By Abby Rinaldi S T A F F

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions on Wednesday. Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, was confirmed 51 to 47 with no Republicans voting against his appointment.

Since Sessions’ nomination, he’s received criticism on his positions on civil rights. He’s also been criticized for his position on immigration, abort, and criminal sentencing guidelines among other issues, according to the New York Times.

MORE COVERAGE ONLINE

Disney starts to offer discounted tickets to USF students.

Read it at USFOracle.com

MORE COVERAGE ONLINE

Potential Student Government referendum urges USF Foundation to divest.

Read it at USFOracle.com

After over 50 years on air, the WUSF-TV station was sold and is getting ready to shut down by the end of this year. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

Campus broadcast station auctioned for $18.7M

By Miki Shine M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

After standing as a pillar of campus broadcasting for the past 50 years, WUSF-TV will end its production late this year after its license was auctioned off for $18.7 million, the school announced Wednesday.

This move is because the broadcast station didn’t “align with our resources and mission and vision,” said university spokeswoman Lara Wade. “The broadcast TV license was not part of our education mission to continue student success.”

The WUSF public radio stations will not be affected.

Members of WUSF-TV could not be reached for comment after multiple attempts.

WUSF-TV has been receiving funding from the university and from private donors through its website, but that funding is one of the aspects still being figured out.

“We announced the sale today, but it will not be finalized until late this year or next year,” Wade said.

“We will have more information to share as we go through this process.”

The sale isn’t completely out of left field. It has been in the works since late last year.

In October of 2015, the USF Board of Trustees (BOT) decided to put the station up as part of the Federal Communication Commission’s Broadcast Incentive Auction. Participation in the auction offered two options: either offer up the full broadcasting rights or share channels.

Either way, the auction’s goal was to free up space for cellphone operators to support growing traffic. The BOT decided to keep all options open, but the auction resulted in the university selling all broadcast rights.

“I am not at all convinced that a traditional TV platform has as powerful a future reach as digital content that can be developed and ‘pushed out’ to future generations via rapidly evolving technology platforms,” USF provost Ralph Wilcox said in an email to the university’s chief of staff in fall 2015, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

During a Finance and Audit of the BOT meeting in October 2015, the idea of participating in the auction was first brought up.

n See WUSF on PAGE 9

W R I T E R

USF’s Student Government (SG) might be creating a Sustainability Council to review how student’s Activity and Service (A&S) fees are spent.

The council is defined in Senate Bill 57-010, which passed in the Senate on Jan. 31 with a vote of 21 for, four against and one abstention. Now, the bill must be signed by student body president Chris Griffin in order to be made into legislation.

Griffin said he is waiting to make his final decision on the bill until he has conversed with the Student Business Services office as the director is listed to be on the council.

“Our business office has changed its leadership and when the bill was originally (coming up) … we had a different director of Student Business Services, and I want to make sure that the new director is on the same page that the last director was before making a final decision on how we’ll go forward with that,” he said.

The council, according to the bill, would evaluate spending based on three factors – “economic, social and environmental.”

Senate policy chair AlaEldean Elmunaier, who authored the bill, said the council would provide recommendations for spending based upon research it conducted and student feedback it collected on issues students care about.

The goal is to look at how the funds are being spent at a deeper level than say, the Senate A&S Recommendation Committee (ASARC), the allocation committee.

One example of a

n See COUNCIL on PAGE 5

Opinion

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

100-word rant There are many things that happen daily at USF that incite frustration and anger with students and faculty.

The Starbucks line is out the door, pedestrians greet friends in the middle of crosswalks, Chick-fil-a is out of Chick-fil-a sauce, teachers upload study guides four hours before exams, preachers condemn homosexuals outside Cooper, the list goes on and on.

Instead of firing off a bitter tweet, email us a 100-word rant, obscenity free, on the topic and let your fellow Bulls know about your plight.

Include your name, year and major with your submission. The best rant will be chosen for print and your frustrations can be shared with the world.

Driving Etiquette

By Breanne Williams Senior/Mass communications

It’s happened to all of us. We’ve been driving up and down garages of sardine packed cars when two tail lights spring to life and a car begins to leave.

You turn on your blinker and wait just to watch in fury as another car whips into the space from the opposite direction.

Or perhaps you return to your car after class to find the paint scratched off after some idiot banged into the door. Or they knocked a mirror off.

Or parked so close you can’t get in the door.

Students at USF desperately need to learn driving etiquette.

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Republicans misstepped by rebuking Warren

Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren was silenced by Republican Sen. Mitch McConell while reading a letter to the Senate and banned from speaking until vote was finished for the new attorney general nominee. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

By Breanne Williams C O L U M N I S T

Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren was silenced during a debate over the nomination of Jeff Sessions to the position of attorney general.

Now, she’s a national hero.

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell said Warren was in violation of Senate Rule 19, a rule created after a fist fight broke out in the Senate in 1902, which was designed to keep senators from disparaging each other.

The rule is vague and McConnell was convinced Warren broke it when she began to read aloud a letter written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s wife, Coretta Scott King, years ago in protest of Sessions becoming a federal judge.

The letter rebuked Sessions for his stance on civil rights and technically is simply a piece of public record.

“Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters,” read Warren.

Yes, the letter implies Sessions may not be a qualified pick, however it is not Warren who is demeaning the senator. She is simply reading the letter to the floor and many would question the motive behind refusing to listen to King’s words.

The fact that the rule was even brought to the table highlights the toxic atmosphere rippling throughout the U.S. government.

According to the Associated Press, enforcement of Rule 19 has been extremely rare and the historian’s office couldn’t even recall when it was last used to silence a member of the Senate.

Warren is by no means a meek individual, and has taken radical and sometimes irrational stances in the past.

She’s renowned for speaking her mind and debating those who have opinions different from hers.

She is self-serving and tends to make statements simply to launch herself into the limelight. She’s no stranger to the press and has found herself as the main topic of conversation many times in her nearly decade long career.

However, she didn’t overstep her right by reading that letter. McConnell was fed up with having opposition to Sessions and pulled a wild card to stop the protests, banning Warren from speaking until after the vote is underway.

“She was warned, she was given an explanation, nevertheless, she persisted,” McConnell said.

Within moments #ShePersisted began trending online. Warren shared a video of her reading the letter in its entirety

on her Facebook — Millions watched.

Republicans could not have given Warren a more effective platform. To silence a woman, especially for reading King’s letter, to ban her from opening her mouth, has enraged millions of Americans.

Republicans may have taken away her voice in the Senate, but they just gave her a microphone straight to the homes of Americans across the country.

And she’s milking every second of the uninterrupted broadcast.

Realistically, Sessions was basically guaranteed to be confirmed as attorney general. No one was surprised when the announcement came Wednesday night of the outcome of the vote.

Republicans were going to get their guy appointed regardless of what was said in the days prior. And if they would have just let Warren talk, she would have finished the letter with little-to-no reaction from the public.

Instead, they chose to forcibly remove her opinion and in doing so, they gave her a direct line to millions in the U.S., making her a champion of the people rather than simply another angry democrat.

Breanne Williams is a senior majoring in mass communications.

Students take on Wikipedia T H U R S DAY, F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 1 7

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Event enables community members to take editing into their own hands

Student Organizations of Library and Information Science is planning an Edit-a-Thon to put factual and cited information into Wikipedia pages. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

By Miki Shine

M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

A group of people hunched over laptops and books while eating pizza and drinking soda is an image commonly associated with studying. However, Student Organizations of Library and Information Science (SOLIS) has a different plan for the image.

SOLIS is organizing a group Wikipedia editing event for Friday from 5-9 p.m. at Jimmie B. Keel Library on Bearss Avenue.

Though SOLIS puts on this event monthly with varying topics, Friday’s event will focus on Black History Month.

The Edit-a-Thon’s goal is to put factual and cited information out onto Wikipedia pages that can be edited by anyone and therefore can be inaccurate. SOLIS member and event organizer Paul Flagg said the group is also looking to diversify the content on the site.

“Our Edit-a-Thons are really an attempt to bridge the diversity gap that is the content of Wikipedia,” he said.

Each participant picks an article on Wikipedia and goes through to verify that the information in it is correct while adding information that’s missing. The idea of hosting the event at a library is that research

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materials are at participant’s fingertips so they can verify facts and add citations to the Wikipedia page they’re editing.

Moving the event off campus was the group’s attempt to bring in more members of the community and prove that this isn’t just for students.

“I decided that it would be nice to move it away from the school just to represent and encourage a greater population of people because SOLIS is a student organization but we also want to engage other library professionals and information specialists as well as just other people in the community,” Flagg said.

The event is focused on articles relating to the African American community for Black History Month. However, SOLIS plans to continue hosting such events with next month’s scheduled to be about women.

“I really wanted to make it focus on really something more than editing Wikipedia,” Flagg said.

“As a group, SOLIS decided to make the Edit-a-Thon gear toward social justice and equality. We want to support diversity among the content represented on Wikipedia as well as diversity among the people who produce that content.”

COUNCIL

Continued from PAGE 3

recommendation the council could make, Elmunaier said, would be to discourage or ban spending A&S fees to purchase Styrofoam cups or plastic water bottles due to their negative environmental impact.

On the social side, the council could recommend that money not be spent to buy products from companies that treat their workers badly or don’t pay them minimum wage. The council would research the alternative and also the cost of making a change to determine whether or not it would be a good idea.

Elmunaier said it is a reflection of the university’s push to go green and also evidence of SG thinking critically about its policies.

Even something like banning the purchase of foam cups is worth noting, he said.

“I know that seems so minuscule and small, but the environmental impact of this foam is insane,” he said.

According to the bill, the council would be made up of the director of Student Business Services, the Senate policy chair, Senate relations chair, Senate president, student body president, Chief Financial Officer, and two senators chosen by the Senate president. The Senate president, student body president and Student Business Services director would be able to appoint designees to their positions.

The bill states that the council would base its recommendations on issues students find important.

“These standards shall be economical, non-divisive, and should result in minimal negative financial impact,” the bill states.

Senate policy vice chair Sarah Lucker, one of the co-sponsors of the bill, said it will bring positive change if passed. She said with USF’s track record for sustainability and helping the environment, anything SG can do to contribute will only make the environmental footprint better. “(The council is) a great way for us to kind of reflect on what we’re already doing and come up with some new ideas, and then it would be up to the Senate of that term to decide whether or not to implement these new plans,” she said.

As it is now, Lucker said funds would not be diverted to the council. Instead, it would simply research and analyze how A&S fees are currently being spent

A bill that would establish an SG Sustainability Council is waiting on the signature of Student Body President Chris Griffin.

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

and suggest alternatives that are financially sound.

“So basically they’d just be reading into making sure that we’re purchasing things in the most economically sustainable way, so things we can actually afford, making sure that we’re not buying things that are going to be harmful to the environment, and making sure that the things we’re doing are treating their workers well,” she said.

“We’re also going to have incorporation from the students because the relations chair is going to be part of the committee, so we want to hear what issues students are passionate about and what they want to see from this council.

So, it kind of depends on what the USF students from that term want and then the things that they’re passionate about. Like say, they want a product not to be used or they want us to switch to something more organic, then they can kind of lobby this council for that and then we’ll look up the research for how to make it happen.”

The council would report to the Senate, where its suggestions would have the opportunity to become bills that could eventually become law, Lucker said.

Elmunaier hopes the council will form and start its work immediately after it is signed by Griffin, if Griffin signs it. Elmunaier said it is more likely that it would begin operating during the summer semester.

However, he plans to push to for the council to start as soon as possible.

“Even if it only has a couple of meetings, it’s better to hit the ground running,” he said.

Elmunaier encourages students

to give their feedback on the council, to encourage Griffin to sign the bill and to utilize SG to make their voices heard.

“I know a lot of times, it’s kind of like the fourth floor, all in the corner, we’re hidden,” Elumnaier said. “It can even seem kind of scary, but we’re students too … Don’t forget, Student Government, you can use it as a tool. You don’t even have to be in Student Government to use it in a way … to make our college experience even better.”

Lucker shared a similar sentiment, encouraging students to let SG and the possible council know what issues are important to them so that the council can focus on those, if and when it is formed. Until Griffin makes his final decision, the council will not exist, but he said he thinks it is a good idea.

“I think it’ll definitely be able to provide students with the opportunity to make sure that their A&S dollars are going toward more green initiatives,” he said.

However, he says it has pros and cons, as more environmentally friendly options can come at higher prices.

“A lot of times using a more green initiative means we are spending more money, and I think that’s the way, that’s the decision that I have to move forward with in my decision making process is are students going to benefit more by having a green initiative on there that they’re only allowed to spend their A&S fees on or would they prefer to buy things and buy more of them even if they’re not sustainable,” Griffin said. “… That’s the decision that I’m currently debating and that’s where we’ll go from there.”

LIFESTYLE

Two events close out Islam Awareness Week

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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By Elisa Santana

C O R R E S P O N D E N T

Students will put their books down and make plans with friends on Friday. They’ll exhale for the first time since Monday morning, because Friday is the day of the week students can unwind.

For the Muslim Student Association (MSA), they’ll relax, but in their own way, as they use a portion of their Friday to get together and pray.

According to club president and biomedical science major Munazzah Bagdadi, the prayer is held every week they’re allowed to, MSC regulations permitting, as clubs aren’t allowed to book rooms in the building during finals weeks and reading days.

These prayers are always open to Muslim and non-Muslim students alike to participate in.

It starts with a 20 minute and concludes with a quick five minute prayer.

The event being held today at 5 p.m. in MSC 3708 is aptly named ‘Hijab 101’, as the goal for this one is to enlighten nonMuslims about the true nature of the religious headdress.

It is one of many events planned for Islam Awareness Week.

“The whole purpose of that event is to really teach people the fact that the head scarf that we wear isn’t, and shouldn’t, be a symbol of oppression, but rather it should be one for feminism,” Bagdadi said.

She went on to say that the wearing of the hijab is optional for Muslim women, contrary to the beliefs held by some nonMuslims.

“The whole event is to show that behind this head piece, there’s courage,” Bagdadi said.

“Every morning when a girl wakes up and puts on her hijab, she’s taking upon herself the sacrifice of representing her religion and going out in a society where what she’s wearing on her head might be seen as a negative, when it really is a positive.”

The Muslim Students Association hosted events such as Hijab 101 and Muslims in America as a part of their Islam Awareness Week event. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE. This event will feature multiple Muslim hijab-wearing women interacting with people and talking about their experience with it. Students will learn about their journey wearing the hijab through different mediums, including spoken-word poetry.

This leads into the prayer Friday. The midday prayer is highlighted as important to practitioners of Islam because Friday is translated to “Day of Assembly” from Arabic. It will start at 1:30 p.m. in MSC 3707.

Even though praying at a mosque is not mandatory, it is encouraged for Muslims to try to get to one. However, this is not always an option.

“Not every member has access to a mosque,” Bagdadi said. “Some members have classes they can’t miss or they can’t find a ride to a mosque.

Having the prayer on campus allows every member to join.”

The first event presented was a lecture titled ‘Misconceptions in Islam’ given by Mamdouh Elsayed on Monday. Elsayed is a teacher at a local Islamic school and is described by Bagdadi as someone who connects well with young adults and an engaging speaker.

For their second event on Tuesday, ‘Muslims in America’, Hassan Shibly, the chief executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Florida, spoke to the students about raising awareness for the religion and how to keep their faith at a time when they feel as if they are being treated differently than the rest of the country.

The timing of the week-long event aimed at raising knowl-

edge among students about Islam may seem strategic by some because of the recent immigration ban put on seven countries whose populations are predominantly Muslim.

According to Bagdadi, this isn’t what happened.

“This isn’t something new,” Bagdadi said. “This is something that we have every year.

Sometimes it’ll be a month.

Sometimes it’ll be a week.

Sometimes, we’ll just have events that are for awareness.

We just don’t dedicate a whole week to it.”

The ‘Islam Around the World’ event on Wednesday, showcased the variety of cultures in the Islamic community around the world with multiple booths set up showing how the religion has influenced different aspects, such as food and clothing, in

various countries.

She went on to say that while most of the attendees at these events are Muslim-practicing students, she estimates that about 10 to 20 percent aren’t. She thinks that it might sound like a low number, but it’s not about that. To her, it’s about making a difference and changing someone’s common misconception on Islam. She believes that changing one mind might lead to that mind changing another.

And so on.

“It is a place for Muslim students to come together and have a safe space and a community to interact with each other but we’re also here to normalize the fact that we’re not different than the regular student,” Bagdadi said.

Additional reporting done by Nicole Cate.

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Students drop banner in MSC 9

The plans for the building that currently houses WUSF-TV are still unknown. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

WUSF

Continued from PAGE 3

Nick Trivunovich, vice president of Business & Finance, gave a presentation on the station’s financial situation. At that time, WUSF-TV had been losing money for the past three years and had a $716K loan due in September 2016, according to the meeting’s minutes.

Also during the meeting, the members discussed other potential uses of the building WUSF was housed in, including repurposing it as a video and digital production area for students, or renting the facilities to a local station.

“You have to mourn any loss of a media outlet, and its certainly sad to see that programming in that form go,” Wayne Garcia, associate director of the Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications, said. “But it’s understandable as people move more toward digital streaming of products. I think the real question for us in the mass comm school is going to be ‘so what does that mean for studio space and studio collaborations?’

“Is that space going to be used for academics? Is that space going to be used for some other purpose on campus? I don’t know if that’s going to be in play as something that can be used academically or if it’s just going to be repurposed entirely. We’re going to have to hear about that from the BOT and the provost.”

Most of those aspects are up in the air.

The closure impacts 22 employees, according to Wade,

but the university plans to try to find other options for them.

Additionally, before the doors close, the university will figure out what’s going to happen to the equipment and programming.

For Garcia, the price that the station sold for was the biggest shock.

“I think the biggest disappointment that was our reaction across the faculty was the price because that’s a much lower number than everyone was talking about,” Garcia said. “The cost of simply even updating WUSF’s studio facilities to state of the art, from my understanding, it is quite a bit of money. I’m not sure that the sale price would even cover upgrading.”

According to the Times, original projections had the station potentially selling for $349.2 million to be taken completely off the air.

Chris Griffin, student body president and member of the BOT, wasn’t part of the decision to put the station up for auction since it was before his time on the board, but he’s not convinced this is the end for the station.

“I think we (SG and the BOT) will definitely be reaching out to the new owners to try to secure future partnerships with them,” Griffin said. “They wanted to buy WUSF, so they obviously see the potential in it, and I’m sure that they’re interested in continuing some of our great partnerships and hopefully they’re interested in making new partnerships.”

Additional reporting by Breanne Williams and Chelsea Grosbeck

United Students Against Sweatshops hung a banner in the Marshall Student Center today protesting USF President Judy Genshaft’s “silence regarding Worker Rights Consortium affiliation,” according to the press release. ORACLE PHOTO/BREANNE WILLIAMS

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Sports

Hard from the start UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

The Rundown Outside USF

Charles Oakley arrested at MSG In the latest dose of drama for the New York Knicks, former player Charles Oakley had to be forcibly removed from the arena Wednesday night and was then arrested. Oakley, 53, got in an altercation with security guards after he refused to leave the arena.

Security was originally called to remove him because he “behaved in a highly inappropriate and completely abusive manner” toward team owner James Dolan, according to the Knicks.

Oakley, who has had a difficult relationship with the Knicks because of his comments in the past, previously told the New York Times all he wants is a meeting with Dolan.

“He won’t meet,” Oakley told the Times. “I want to sit down to talk to him. I want me and him in a room. And lock the door. Lock that door! I mean, he can have the police outside the door.”

MORE COVERAGE ONLINE

Former USF men’s soccer standout signs pro deal Read it at USFOracle.com

Softball

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USF continues trend of a difficult opening schedule

Flores battles through injury in comeback

Notebook

By Vinnie Portell

S P O R T S

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Seniors Kristen Wyckoff (left) and Juli Weber (right), along with USF softball coach Ken Eriksen (middle), field questions during their annual preseason media day. ORACLE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ

By Jacob Hoag E D I T O R

I N

C H I E F

There’s no such thing as a fluff game for USF softball coach Ken Eriksen.

There’s no gradual warm up in competition or easy opponents to get the team’s feet wet.

It’s full throttle from the start and has been since Eriksen took over 21 years ago.

“I don’t know any different,” Erisken said.

USF has consistently opened up its schedule with high-caliber teams such as (rank) Michigan (Saturday), Florida (Sunday), and Auburn (March 17).

In Eriksen’s eyes, the only way to prepare for the postseason is to be thrown in early.

“The thing with us is that

BY THE NUMBERS

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The thing with us is that we start out with one heck of a schedule and it continues throughout the whole year. We’re not just preparing for conference (play), we’re preparing for national championships.”

Ken Eriksen, USF softball coach

we start out with one heck of a schedule and it continues throughout the whole year,” Eriksen said. “We’re not just preparing for conference (play), we’re preparing for national

Wins against ranked opponents in the past three seasons. USF is 2-17 against top-25 teams in that span.

”

championships.”

The postseason is constantly on Eriksen’s mind and that is the way he’s prepared his teams

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n See START on PAGE 11 Number of top-five teams on USF’s non-conference schedule.

E D I T O R

No. 22 USF women’s basketball found itself in yet another tight contest Wednesday night, before coming back in the second half to defeat East Carolina 76-66 in Greenville, North Carolina.

Trailing at halftime to ECU 39-37, the Bulls needed to make an adjustment to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time this season. That’s where sophomore Laia Flores came in.

Though the starting point guard missed the first half with a right ankle sprain she suffered in the Bulls’ 62-57 loss at Memphis on Sunday, she played the entire second half.

And despite not making much of an impact on the stat sheet, coach Jose Fernandez said her presence on the court is essential to the Bulls’ success.

“That just shows how tough that kid is,” Fernandez said.

“She wanted to give it a go and did a great job… We’re a different team without Laia Flores on the floor and we saw that today.”

Leading scorer Kitija Laksa led USF offensively, scoring a game-high 34 point on 14-of-22 shooting.

With the win, USF (19-4, 8-2) remains in second place in the AAC, trailing only No. 1 UConn.

The Bulls return home Sunday when they host Tulane at noon at the Sun Dome.

Bulls blown out as losing skid continues

n See COMEBACK on PAGE 11

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Senior Juli Weber said the team feels closer than last season in their abilities on and off the field. ORACLE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ

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throughout his tenure at USF. “It’s the wins against those quality opponents and the preparation for facing the best,” Eriksen said. “I don’t think once you get to the end of the year that there’s a pitching staff that’s intimidated us since I’ve been here because we’ve seen the best of the best.”

Despite the desire for an early test, Eriksen’s teams have not fared well in recent years when those top-tier programs enter the gates of the USF Softball Stadium.

USF is 2-17 against ranked teams in the past three seasons with the Bulls being outscored 119-38 in those games. The Bulls’ last win against a ranked team was a 3-2 win over No. 14 Stanford during the 2013-14 season.

With a rigorous opening schedule, most teams rely on the experience of its veteran players.

While that may be the case for USF as well, Eriksen also puts a fair amount of trust it his young talent.

On this year’s roster, freshman outnumber the seniors nearly 2-to-1.

It’s something the upperclassmen have taken notice of and are honing in on to

make sure the young talent can be leaned upon as the season progresses.

“I just try and teach them what I’ve learned in my three years here,” senior infielder Kristen Wyckoff said. “I just try and get them to realize that it’s ok to ask Despite missing the first half with a right ankle sprain, sophomore Laia questions and tell someone that’s Flores helped USF to a comeback win over East Carolina. ORACLE FILE older than you that they’re doing PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ something wrong.

UConn by two at halftime in “I don’t want them to be Continued from PAGE 10 their Jan. 25 matchup, but classified as a ‘freshman.’ We’re wound up losing by 20 points. all one team … it’s important The Bulls (6-17, 0-12) will to get them to realize that just Once again, USF men’s continue their search for their because they’re a freshman (doesn’t mean) they can’t do basketball entered halftime first conference win when they against UConn within striking host East Carolina at the Sun something.”

Putting ranking, talent and age range. But, once again, the Bulls Dome on Saturday. aside, when it comes to these eventually found themselves on Report: Strong hires high-profile games, Eriksen’s the wrong side of a blowout assistant coach old mantra stays true: “whoever Wednesday night, losing 97-51 shows up to play that day has a in Storrs, Connecticut.

Though USF trailed 40-30 at Shortly after recruiting three great chance to win.”

“Maybe as a freshman you the half, the Bulls allowed 57 players from state champion go out there and say, ‘Wow, I points in a disastrous second Miami Carol City, coach Charlie just watched that team on TV half in which UConn shot 10-of- Strong continues to mine the school for talent. two months ago when I was 12 on 3-point attempts.

“We got off to a bad start, but J.T. Wilcox of CBS Miami graduating,’” Eriksen said. “Now as a junior and senior, it’s like, played phenomenal over the last reported Wednesday that Strong ‘Yeah, we got Michigan and eight minutes (of the first half) has hired Carol City defensive and had a lot of momentum,” coordinator Damon Cogdell to Florida.’

“It builds a callous on fear. It interim coach Murry Bartow the 2017 staff.

Previously, Cogdell coached builds a callous on then unknown said. “We just had a terrible start to the second half.

I give a lot of as a co-defensive line coach when you play teams like that day in and day out and that’s why credit to UConn – they played at West Virginia. Cogdell will well and made a lot of threes.” likely assume the open position we do it.”

Though the lopsided halves of defensive line coach at USF, USF kicks off its 2017 season tonight against Illionois State at certainly stand out, it’s nothing leaving just one position left for new for USF. The Bulls trailed Strong to fill. home at 6.

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