# 2020–21 South Florida Bulls women's basketball team

The 2020–21 South Florida Bulls women's basketball team represented the University of South Florida during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The season marked the 48th women's basketball season for USF, the eighth as a member of the American Athletic Conference, and the 21st under head coach Jose Fernandez. The Bulls played their home games at Yuengling Center on the university's Tampa, Florida campus. The 2020–21 team was the first in USF women's basketball history to win a regular season conference championship, doing so on March 2, 2021 with a win against rival Central Florida. Nine days later they beat Central Florida again to win their first ever conference tournament. Despite their 18–3 record being one of the best in the nation and being ranked 19th in the AP Poll at the time of selection, the Bulls were selected as the eighth seed in the Mercado Region of the 2021 NCAA tournament. Their season ended on March 23, 2021 with the Bulls losing to No. 1 seed NC State in the Round of 32.

## Previous season

The Bulls finished the 2019–20 season 18–12, 10–6 in AAC play to finish in fourth place. They entered as the No. 4 seed in the AAC tournament, where they were eliminated by eventual champion UConn in the semifinal. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA tournament was canceled.

## Preseason
### AAC preseason media poll

On October 28, The American released the preseason Poll and other preseason awards. USF was selected as the preseason #1 team in the conference for the first time in program history.
Coaches Poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | South Florida | 98 (8) |
| 2 | UCF | 79 (1) |
| 3 | Tulane | 78 |
| 4 | Cincinnati | 73 (2) |
| 5 | Temple | 57 |
| 6 | Wichita State | 54 |
| 7 | Houston | 49 |
| 8 | Memphis | 40 |
| 9 | East Carolina | 36 |
| 10 | SMU | 31 |
| 11 | Tulsa | 10 |

### Preseason Awards

* All-AAC Second Team - Elisa Pinzan
* All-AAC Second Team - Elena Tsineke

## Schedule and results
### COVID-19 impact

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Bulls' schedule is subject to change, including the cancellation or postponement of individual games, the cancellation of the entire season, or games played either with minimal fans or without fans in attendance and just essential personnel.
* The December 19 home game against Houston was postponed to January 9 due to COVID issues with the Cougars
* Both games scheduled against SMU were canceled after the Mustangs canceled their season on December 29
* The January 17 home game against Memphis was canceled due to COVID issues with the Tigers. Memphis refused to travel to Tampa citing non-COVID related health reasons with the team, but played a game three days later without complaints, so The American declared a forfeit win to USF for conference standings purposes.
* The January 20 game at Wichita State was postponed due to COVID issues with the Shockers. The game was never rescheduled.
* The January 23 game at East Carolina was postponed due to COVID issues with the Bulls. The game was never rescheduled.
* The January 27 home game against Temple was postponed due to COVID issues with the Bulls. The game was never rescheduled.
* The January 30 home game against Cincinnati was postponed until February 17 due to COVID issues with the Bulls
* The February 7 game at UCF was postponed until March 4 due to COVID issues with both programs

### Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 28, 2020* 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. (RV) | Jacksonville | W 84–46 | 1–0 | Yuengling Center Tampa, FL |
| December 1, 2020* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. (RV) | No. 4 Baylor | L 62–67 | 1–1 | Yuengling Center Tampa, FL |
| December 5, 2020* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. (RV) | No. 6 Mississippi State | W 67–63$^{OT}$ | 2–1 | Yuengling Center Tampa, FL |
| December 13, 2020* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. (RV) | Stetson | W 84–46 | 3–1 | Yuengling Center Tampa, FL |
| December 16, 2020 3:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 23 | at Memphis | W 65–58 | 4–1 (1–0) | Elma Roane Fieldhouse Memphis, TN |
| December 19, 2020 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 23 | Houston | Postponed (rescheduled for Jan. 9) | Postponed (rescheduled for Jan. 9) | Yuengling Center Tampa, FL |
| December 22, 2020 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 21 | at Cincinnati | W 73–61 | 5–1 (2–0) | Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH |
| December 30, 2020 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 21 | at Tulsa | W 63–35 | 6–1 (3–0) | Reynolds Center Tulsa, OK |
| January 2, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 21 | East Carolina | W 71–58 | 7–1 (4–0) | Yuengling Center Tampa FL |
| January 6, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 18 | Wichita State | W 66–48 | 8–1 (5–0) | Yuengling Center Tampa FL |
| January 9, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 18 | Houston | W 80–51 | 9–1 (6–0) | Yuengling Center Tampa FL |
| January 13, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 16 | at Tulane | W 72–53 | 10–1 (7–0) | Devlin Fieldhouse New Orleans, LA |
| January 17, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPNU | No. 16 | Memphis | W 2–0 (Forfeit) | 10–1 (8–0) | Yuengling Center Tampa FL |
| January 20, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 14 | at Wichita State | Postponed (never rescheduled) | Postponed (never rescheduled) | Charles Koch Arena Wichita, KS |
| January 23, 2021 1:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 14 | at East Carolina | Postponed (never rescheduled) | Postponed (never rescheduled) | Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Greenville, NC |
| January 27, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 13 | Temple | Postponed (never rescheduled) | Postponed (never rescheduled) | Yuengling Center Tampa FL |
| January 30, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 13 | Cincinnati | Postponed (rescheduled for Feb. 17) | Postponed (rescheduled for Feb. 17) | Yuengling Center Tampa FL |
| February 3, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 14 | at SMU | Canceled | Canceled | Moody Coliseum Dallas, TX |
| February 7, 2021 12:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 14 | at UCF War on I-4 | Postponed (rescheduled for Mar. 4) | Postponed (rescheduled for Mar. 4) | Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL |
| February 13, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 14 | Tulsa | W 67–46 | 11–1 (9–0) | Yuengling Center Tampa FL |
| February 17, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 12 | SMU | Canceled | Canceled | Yuengling Center Tampa, FL |
| February 17, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 12 | Cincinnati | W 69–65$^{OT}$ | 12–1 (10–0) | Yuengling Center Tampa FL |
| February 20, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 12 | Tulane | W 78–69 | 13–1 (11–0) | Yuengling Center Tampa FL |
| February 24, 2021 3:30 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 13 | at Temple | W 56–47 | 14–1 (12–0) | Liacouras Center Philadelphia, PA |
| February 27, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 13 | at Houston | L 49–67 | 14–2 (12–1) | Fertitta Center Houston, TX |
| March 2, 2021 5:30 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 15 | UCF War on I-4 | W 65–62 | 15–2 (13–1) | Yuengling Center Tampa, FL |
| March 4, 2021 5:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 15 | at UCF War on I-4 | L 45–58 | 15–3 (13–2) | Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL |
| AAC Tournament ||||||
| March 9, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN+ | (1) No. 20 | vs. (9) Wichita State AAC Tournament Quarterfinal | W 48–44 | 16–3 | Dickies Arena Fort Worth, TX |
| March 10, 2021 5:30 p.m., ESPN+ | (1) No. 20 | vs. (4) Tulane AAC Tournament Semifinal | W 51–47 | 17–3 | Dickies Arena Fort Worth, TX |
| March 11, 2021 10:00 p.m., ESPNU | (1) No. 20 | vs. (2) UCF AAC Championship Game/War on I-4 | W 64–54 | 18–3 | Dickies Arena Fort Worth, TX |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 21, 2021 9:30 p.m., ESPN2 | (8) No. 19 | vs. (9) Washington State NCAA Tournament First Round | W 57–53 | 19–3 | Frank Erwin Center Austin, TX |
| March 23, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (8) No. 19 | vs. (1) No. 3 NC State NCAA Tournament Second Round | L 67–79 | 19–4 | Alamodome San Antonio, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Regular Season Polls :
| Poll | Pre- season | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16 | Week 17 | Final |
| AP | (RV) | (RV) | (RV) | 23 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 20 | 19 | 19 |
| Coaches | (RV) | (RV) | (RV) | 24 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 18 | 18 | 18 |
Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |

## Player honors
### AAC Player of the Week

* Elisa Pinzan - Week 2
* Bethy Mununga - Week 6
* Elisa Pinzan - Week 8

### AAC Most Improved Player of the Year

* Elisa Pinzan

### AAC Sixth Player of the Year

* Maria Alvarez

### First Team All-AAC

* Bethy Mununga
* Elena Tsineke

### Second Team All-AAC

* Elisa Pinzan

### Third Team All-AAC

* Sydni Harvey

### AAC All-Tournament Team

* Sydni Harvey
* Elena Tsineke
* Bethy Mununga

### AAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player

* Sydni Harvey

## Other honors
### AAC Coach of the Year

* Jose Fernandez