TAMPA, Fla. — Priorities are priorities. Upon his hiring last March, new USF men’s basketball coach Bryan Hodgson knew there was paperwork to sign, boosters to schmooze, even office keys to acquire.

But nothing took precedence over the point guard.

Virtually coinciding with Hodgson’s late-March hiring was CJ Brown’s announcement that he would join a handful of other Bulls teammates in the NCAA transfer portal. While Hodgson knew a degree of roster turnover was inevitable with the arrival of a new staff, he had seen enough film on Brown — the sleekness, the elevation, the dribble penetration and pull-up jumper — to know this kid could be his initial team’s cornerstone.

“I was really impressed,” said Hodgson, a former Alabama assistant who led Arkansas State to a 45-28 record and two postseason appearances in his two years at the school. “Through the interview process, when I was watching his film, I knew he was a guy I needed here with us. He was priority No. 1, to be honest with you.”

Hodgson immediately got on the horn and imparted that sentiment to Brown, a member of the American Conference’s All-Freshman team in 2025. The following day, he had a half-hour sit-down with the 6-foot-2 Georgia native, showing Brown film and pointing out where he felt his game could progress.

“He immediately let me know ... that I was a main priority, his No. 1 focus, and he told me he wasn’t going to recruit anybody until I gave him my answer,” Brown recalled. “So I really loved that, and he really made me feel wanted, and I really did want to play for him.”

Days later, roughly a half-hour before Hodgson walked to a makeshift podium inside the Muma Basketball Center for his introductory news conference, Brown announced he was remaining at USF.

In the Bulls’ lone exhibition, a 120-63 rout of Division II Saint Leo on Oct. 24, Brown finished with 20 points and 11 assists.

“It says a ton about him and his family; they were about the right stuff,” Hodgson said of Brown’s decision to remain.

“Not once did they ask about money. ... It was about style of play, it was relationship, it was player development. It was all the right questions, which made us fall even more in love with him and his family. It just really, really does say a lot about who he is and this university, right?”

Having secured Brown, Hodgson went about rebuilding the rest of the roster.

He also retained veteran forward De’Ante Green, who had arrived from FSU the previous year; brought in two of his seniors from Arkansas State (sharpshooter Joseph Pinion, 6-10 forward Izaiyah Nelson); landed former five-star prospect Daimion Collins (who had played at Kentucky and LSU) from the portal; and signed a five-player freshman class ranked 38th nationally in the 247Sports composite rankings.

Collectively, the group intends to operate what could be the most blistering tempo in program history, one predicated on defense creating fast-break opportunities at the other end.

“Obviously defense leads to offense, right?” said Hodgson, whose club recently was picked to finish second in the American Conference’s preseason coaches poll.

“We get stops, we can get out in transition. Our goal is to have a top-50 offense and defense; teams that have done that historically have had great seasons and great runs in March. We really say that our defense is our anchor, and we want to start by getting stops. Three stops in a row is our goal to start the game. We call them kills.”

Their primary perimeter executioner has transformed his body. Brown, who estimates he weighed around 163 pounds this time last season, has beefed up to 175 via high protein intake and high-intensity offseason weight training.

“Man, I’m just excited he’s on our side because he’s tough to guard, and he fits really well into what we want to do on both ends of the floor,” Hodgson said. “I think this offense is tailor-made to who CJ Brown is, and I think you can expect to see him take a massive leap forward.”

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