Pinzan takes a lifetime of basketball experience and carries it onto the court.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV: ESPN2
Jenn Hildreth (PxP), Kelly Gramlich (Color)
Audio: Bulls Unlimited (iHeartRadio/GoUSFBulls.com)
Darek Sharp (PxP)
Live Stats: GoUSFBulls.com/StatBroadcast
Series: First meeting
Twitter Updates: @USFWBB
(8) NO. 19/18 USF BULLS | 19-3
Last Game: March 21 vs. Washington St. (W, 57-53)
Next Game: March 27 Sweet 16, TBA (if nec.)
Head Coach: Jose Fernandez
Alma Mater: FIU, 1994
Career Record: 392-275 (21st season)
at USF: Same
(1) NO. 3/3 NC STATE WOLFPACK | 21-2
Last Game: March 21 vs. NC A&T (W, 79-80)
Next Game: March 27 Sweet 16, TBA (if nec.)
Head Coach: Wes Moore
Alma Mater: Johnson University, 1984
Career Record: 747-233 (32nd season)
at NC State: 189-64 (Eighth season)
By Joey Johnston
Special to USF Athletics
Each day during practice at the Pam and Les Muma Basketball Center, USF junior point guard Elisa Pinzan stared at the blank banner on the wall. It was next to the other banners that documented past accomplishments for USF women’s basketball, but the new green banner purposely said nothing.
“If you walk in our gym, you might look at it and say, ‘What is that? There is nothing there,’ ‘’ Pinzan said. “But it has motivated us. We get to control what goes on that banner. We can write the story.’’
The 2020-21 season banner will soon overflow with storylines.
American Athletic Conference regular-season champions.
AAC Tournament champions.
NCAA Tournament.
Is there room for more?
Sweet 16?
Tuesday afternoon at San Antonio’s Alamodome, the No. 8-seeded Bulls (19-3) will try to make program history when they face No. 1 N.C. State (21-2) in a second-round NCAA Tournament game. If the Bulls pull the upset, they’re into the NCAA’s second weekend for the first time ever, a monumental accomplishment.
It’s exactly what Pinzan had in mind when she left her homeland of Italy to seek basketball prosperity in America. She won five Italian club-team titles, while also playing for the Italian national team in the European Championships and World Cup.
But this is different. This is March Madness.
“These will be life memories,’’ Pinzan said. “We have the team to do this. So, you know, let’s go!’’
Let’s go, indeed.
Wherever the Bulls go, they will likely be following Pinzan’s lead. She’s a basketball junkie, rooted in the fundamentals, but prone for the spectacular.
In Sunday night’s 57-53 first-round NCAA victory against Washington State, Pinzan had 12 points, including a bucket just before halftime where she floated into traffic, switched to her left hand and shot-putted it in off the glass. And who can forget last season’s behind-the-back pass to Elena Tsineke, who converted the layup and earned USF women’s basketball a spot on the ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 Plays?
“Elisa has an unbelievable mind for the game,’’ USF coach Jose Fernandez said. “She sees things before they happen. It’s really unique for a kid her age. It’s not surprising that she wants to be a coach. She knows how to make things happen out there and she wants to know the method behind it.’’
She’s a true point guard in a future coach’s body.
“She has a coach’s brain,’’ Bulls senior center Shae Leverett said. “She knows how to calm us down when we’re ready to panic. If we can’t hear coach, Elisa knows what we should be running. She just has natural leadership.
“I like the flow of her game. It’s nice. She can knock down shots and take it to the hole. And her passing? Oh my goodness, her passing. There are many times I’ll see it unfold and say, ‘I don’t know if that pass is going to make it.’ But she sees it and it works. She’s very sure of herself.’’
That confidence has matured in the proper way.
Pinzan, 5-foot-8, was named the AAC’s Most Improved Player of the Year, while also earning second-team all-conference honors. She averages 9.9 points and 6.5 assists (143 assists against just 48 turnovers), while shooting 85 percent from the free-throw line.
When Pinzan arrived at USF, she was a bit headstrong. Never afraid to share her opinion in a direct manner, Pinzan now mixes in some diplomacy. And she has a clear vision of the chain of command.
“She’s a very strong-minded, strong-willed person,’’ Fernandez said. “Guess what? She figured out we both are strong personalities. She wasn’t going to win. Once she figured that out, we got along just fine.
“She’s passionate and she’s all about the team. From the first time she stepped foot on our campus, her preparation, work ethic and commitment have all changed for the good.’’
Basketball has been a way of life for Pinzan, whose parents, brother and uncle all played professionally. Her father, Fabio, is now a master glass sculptor in an Italian region renowned for its glass making since the 13th century.
Her hometown is Murano, a series of islands linked by bridges near northern Italy’s Venetian Lagoon. Pinzan still seems baffled by the American preoccupation with cars and the traffic jams along Fowler Avenue.
In her world, those issues don’t exist. In the Venice area, everyone walks. They might swim over to visit a nearby neighbor. Pinzan’s family has a boat. For longer distances, you take the vatoretto, like a city bus on the water.
By whatever means necessary, Pinzan always found the best games for competition, whether the court was nearby or on the mainland. She remembers being at basketball clubs at age 5. She grew up playing against the guys and she was a big fan of Steve Nash, but most of her role models were in the WNBA.
“I come from a family where literally everybody played basketball, so I have been around it a lot,’’ Pinzan said. “When I was last home, I remember a guy asking me, ‘How do you see those kind of passes? When you throw the ball, do you think it’s going to get there?’
“It’s all instinct. Sometimes, I surprise myself, but I don’t hesitate. If I see it, I throw it. I think it’s from a lifetime of being around the game.’’
Now it’s the opportunity for another lifetime memory. The Sweet 16 sounds good to Pinzan. Like her bullet-sharp passes, she can visualize things before they actually happen.
Here’s a chance to fill in the blanks.
Here’s the opportunity for a truly banner season.
About USF Women’s Basketball
To stay up-to-date on the latest USF women’s basketball news, follow the Bulls on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram).
USF notched its ninth consecutive 19-win season and was poised for its ninth straight postseason appearance in 2019-20 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the end of the college basketball season. The Bulls celebrated two all-conference honorees in Elena Tsineke and Elisa Pinzan. Tsineke was named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, in addition to The American All-Freshman Team and Third Team All-Conference; while Pinzan was named a Third Team All-Conference selection.
USF has made 15 postseason tournament appearances and had six NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez’s 20 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided USF to nine 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2009 WNIT championship and won more than 350 games.
– #GoBulls –
