The 2020–21 South Florida Bulls women's basketball team represented the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

during the

2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began in November 2020 and ended with the championship game of the 2021 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on April 4, 2021. Practices offi ...

. The season marked the 48th women's basketball season for USF, the eighth as a member of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

, and the 21st under head coach Jose Fernandez. The Bulls played their home games at

Yuengling Center Yuengling Center (formerly the USF Sun Dome) is an indoor arena on the main campus of the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida. Construction began in November 1977, and it opened on November 29, 1980. It is located in USF's Athl ...

on the university's

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

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 The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

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 COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the NCAA tournament was canceled.

Roster

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.

Preseason Awards

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

Schedule and results

COVID-19 impact

Due to the ongoing

, 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

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Rankings

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

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 South Florida Bulls women's basketball team South Florida Bulls women's basketball seasons

South Florida Bulls The South Florida Bulls (also known as the USF Bulls) are the athletic teams that represent the University of South Florida. USF competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the American Athletic Conference for all sports besides sailing, w ...

South Florida Bulls women's b South Florida Bulls women's b

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...