TAMPA, Fla. – The 2021-22 basketball season at USF was a disappointing one for both the men and women. Brian Gregory’s crew went 8-23. But it may have been more frustrating for Jose Fernandez’s squad. Despite 24 wins and another trip to the NCAA tournament, the year felt a bit off.

“We lost to Tulane at home,” said Fernandez. “I think we had won 18-19 straight over them and then we lost all three games to Central Florida.”

In an offseason filled with questions, and players exiting via the transfer portal, Fernandez and Gregory both did the same thing.

“Adapt and adjust,” said Gregory, who had to replace nearly an entire team last offseason via the portal.

The two coaches hit the portal and came out with some pretty good results. Gregory first landed Kansas State guard Selton Miguel, a former four-star recruit out of Florida.

“I think he’s a guy that is going to make an immediate and huge impact for us. At 6’4”, 210lbs., he’s that huge guard that we haven’t had,” said Gregory.

More recently was Memphis three-point specialist Tyler Harris, who stays in conference by coming to USF.

“He’s electric,” said Gregory of the former four-star recruit. “He can score in bunches, but he is going to be tremendous in our transition game with his speed.”

As for the women, Fernandez added three high-quality players to an already talented roster. He added two McDonald’s High School All-Americans. That would be Syracuse 6’2” guard Priscilla Williams and FSU sharp-shooter Sammie Puisis.

“We got two McDonald’s All-Americans in the transfer portal,” said Fernandez. “That just speaks to where our program is at and being able to attract high-end guys.”

Fernandez and his staff weren’t done. They landed Ole Miss forward Caitlin McGee who will help solidify their interior presence.

“Caitlin McGee, bringing her back here to Florida,” Fernandez said. “She was their first kid off the bench and helps with that forward position.”

Both coaches know you can’t just win by grabbing players from the portal. But in this new era of transferring and NIL deals, it’s important to constantly evaluate the ever-changing landscape of college basketball and hope you take the right pieces that can help build a winner.

“We signed a really good freshman recruiting class,” said Fernandez, who believes it could be the best in program history. “We just needed to get some unbelievable, quality experience.”

“There is an excitement around the program in terms of flashes we showed and the imports coming in are going to make huge impacts for us,” said Gregory.

Fernandez and Gregory believe they have found the right transfers with the right stuff. If so, both could take the steps needed to consider next season a success.