Lieberman: South Florida’s Jones might upset a few fans of Big East powers this year

South Florida has never been much of a basketball powerhouse.

Sure, the Bulls have stolen… South Florida has never been much of a basketball powerhouse.

Sure, the Bulls have stolen games from teams treating their trips to Tampa more like a vacation than a road game.

But this year, the Bulls are an upset threat to any team willing to relax on them, thanks in part to their relatively unknown leading scorer.

Get used to hearing the name Dominique Jones. Never heard of him? That’s a shame, but I’ll help with that.

Just this past week, the 6-foot-4 junior put up one of the most absurd stat lines of the season. The game itself, a 109-105 overtime win against Providence, was a fast-paced affair. Jones should know, as he played all 45 minutes, scoring 46 points. That’s right, 46 points in 45 minutes, and that’s including nine of the team’s 14 points in overtime.

Jones finished the night with 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals.

Big East fans and teams should get used to this from Jones. He consistently puts up extraordinary numbers against good Big East teams.

Just this season Jones had a three-game stretch where he scored 26 points against Notre Dame, 30 points against Syracuse and 28 points against West Virginia.

He already has NBA analysts and scouts praising him. Not only can he score —­ he averages exactly 21 points per game on the year ­— but he also averages 4.4 assists per game.

A rare blend of strong passing as a shooting guard is hard to come by. Get used to the name, folks, Jones will be leading upset charges come the final weeks of the regular season.

Quick Hits:

“Final Destination” has nothing on the roller-coaster season Connecticut is having. The loss of coach Jim Calhoun because of health issues, coupled with a three-game losing streak, seemed to decimate the team. Then the Huskies regained their footing with a 75-59 win against St. John’s. After that, all they did was go and beat No. 1 Texas 88-74. Merely four days later on Wednesday, Connecticut lost to Providence by 15 points (81-66). It’s really hard to figure out this team.

Syracuse improved to 20-1 overall and 7-1 in the Big East, extending the Orange’s streak of consecutive 20-win seasons to 13 in a 73-56 win over Georgetown last Monday. Moreover, it is the 32nd 20-win season in 34 years for head coach Jim Boeheim, who moved ahead of Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun for sixth on the all-time Division I wins chart with his 819th victory.

Speaking of Syracuse, there was a great story on Orange sophomore Kris Joseph in the Washington Post last week. The 6-foot-7 forward lost 22 pounds over the summer while juggling grueling workouts, strict dieting and attitude adjustments. I don’t know about you, but my summer involved none of those activities.

Awards:

Big East Player of the Week:

Jerome Dyson, Connecticut ­— Dyson posted a career-high 32 points in the win over Texas, and 21 points and six rebounds against St. John’s.

Big East Team of the Week:

Villanova ­— The Wildcats are quite simply dominant. They are loaded on offense with guard Scottie Reynolds scoring 18.7 points per game and a team average of 85.2. Two easy wins over teams they were supposed to beat, St. John’s and Notre Dame, shows this team is motivated as well. The Wildcats are 19-1 for the first time ever. If you think they’re intimidating now, just wait until March.

Big East Matchups to Watch:

No. 7 Duke vs. No. 11 Georgetown, Saturday: Check this game out to get an early start on scouting No. 1 seeds for your bracket come March. Seriously, one of these two teams will have a top seed, and we’ll look back on this game as the divider.

Louisville vs. No. 9 West Virginia, Saturday: For two straight weeks, the Mountaineers have been on upset alert. This time it’s Louisville coming to the Coliseum. The Cardinals have the beef, with 6-foot-9 forward Samardo Samuels, to rebound well against the Mountaineers. They can also match West Virginia’s quickness in the backcourt, and funny things seem to happen when the press is smothering opposing offenses.

Who’s Hot:

Tim Abromaitis, Notre Dame – It turns out people not named Harangody can score for Notre Dame. Abromaitis has double-digit point totals in six straight games, and he has only scored in single digits twice all year. The highlight was a 30-point, six-rebound game against DePaul last Saturday.

Who’s Cold:

Rutgers – It seems that any second they’re going to lose their coach, and who can blame them? Coach Fred Hill’s team is terrible. They’re 15th in the Big East in rebounding and last in turnovers (averaging 15.7 per game). It’s especially disheartening to Rutgers fans after the team improved last season and showed hope for this one. Now, Hill is raucously booed before home games.