South Florida coach Stan Heath laughed over the phone yesterday when he was told that he was still despised at the University of Pittsburgh six years after he handed Pitt a devastating defeat in the NCAA tournament.

"Let it go, Pittsburgh," Heath said good-naturedly. "I'm at South Florida and the other coach [Ben Howland] is at UCLA."

In March 2002, Heath was the coach at Kent State when he and forward Antonio Gates spoiled Pitt's hopes of reaching the Final Four in an NCAA third-round game in Lexington, Ky.

Pitt was 29-5 and a No. 2 seed; Kent State was a No. 10 seed, a decided underdog. Many Pitt basketball followers bemoan that loss to the Golden Flashes as the game that denied the Panthers of their best shot at competing for a national championship.

The No. 1 seed in the Lexington bracket was Duke, but the Blue Devils were knocked out in the first game of the night by No. 5 seed Indiana. All Pitt had to do was beat the Golden Flashes and the Panthers would be the favorites to advance to the Final Four.

But Kent State played giant-killer and upset Pitt, 78-73, in overtime. Two days later, Indiana, the eventual national runner-up, beat the Golden Flashes to move on to the Final Four.

"That was a great year, a magical year," Heath said. "That game opened up a lot of doors for me and a lot of other people like Antonio Gates. I think about that game all the time. Some of the wins we had that season were unbelievable. We were really proud that we were able to beat a great team like Pitt and reach the Elite Eight."

Heath became the hot coaching prospect after the upset and parlayed the victory into a big payday. He left Kent State and accepted the head coaching position at Arkansas. Gates parlayed the exposure into an NFL tryout. He is now an All-Pro tight end with the San Diego Chargers.

Heath stayed at Arkansas for five years and is in his first season as head coach at South Florida. The Bulls are 10-5 and 1-1 in the Big East after opening league play with a home victory against Rutgers and a loss at Syracuse.

Heath is trying to rebuild a program that struggled in its first two seasons as members of the Big East. The Bulls won a total of five conference games the past two seasons.

"Going from Conference USA to the Big East is a big step and there was going to be an adjustment," Heath said. "Fortunately for me, I have some guys who have experience in the Big East."

South Florida's top player is senior center Kentrel Gransberry, who is averaging 15.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. Heath also has received a boost from freshman guard Dominique Jones, a holdover recruit from previous coach Robert McCollum.

Jones leads the team in scoring with 16.7 points per game.

"Our team has grown tremendously from the beginning of the season," Heath said. "We've become better defensively and we've become a good rebounding team. And our offense has been coming around."

South Florida began the season with losses to Cleveland State, Buffalo and Rhode Island. Heath said Gransberry was not a full strength after an injury.

Since losing Nov. 16 to Rhode Island, South Florida has won 10 of 12 and enters tonight's game with six consecutive victories at the Sun Dome.