BullsFan14

This is what bothers me about Whitesell. I understand we will have a down year. We aren't a Top 25 team anymore. We lost our players. I get that. After the Dartmouth game, I was already down on Whitesell. I branded myself as a hater in November. But I stayed positive. I thought if Jim can improve the team from that game to the last game, I would be very happy with the season and change my thoughts on Whitesell. I didn't see it. I saw a guy that will lead us to .500 seasons in the future. Maybe I am wrong, some stat gurus on this site might be able to provide the objective facts that we have gotten better with time. I just didn't see it. I don't see the 20 win season as his doing. I see that as the doing of players that knew how to win before.

Wow. These refs are brutal.

What a close one. I only watched the last 5 minutes of the game. We looked good. I think we got lucky on some calls at the end. In particular, the Johnson charge I think he was still moving his left foot. Also the last shot by Ohio, Mballa played great defense but Johnson swiped his arm after the shot. I thought for sure they were going to call it because it was a similar play that happened before. I know I was mentioning Johnson in a negative light but Damn, he looked completely different out there. He looked like a leader. Ironic that Harris was in the audience too. Maybe he turned the corner! Great team win. Clean up the first half mistakes, play like we did in the second half (and intensify our defense a little) we are good.

Completely agree. But we were coming off some victories going into Bona that I believe helped with mentality. I am not sure anyone on this team has lost two back to back MAC games. The players are in uncharted territory.

I think the first 10 minutes of the game it will be quick to determine if we will win or not. Does the team come out flat footed after getting demolished the last two games or do they play with a chip on their shoulder?

I agree with you. I think those types of coaches who can inspire without screaming are absolutely fantastic. I am amazed when they can pull it off (because I don't know otherwise). Maybe Whitesell's style could work at UB, I just think going from Bobby Hurley (high energy) to Nate Oats (high energy) to Whitesell (low energy) is a huge change of pace especially as you are trying to MAINTAIN success. We saw what success looks like at UB. We saw things that have never been accomplished here. Do we drastically change the recipe or do we modify it? In my mind, Whitesell is a drastic change to the recipe rather than a modification of the success that we had. Is this a perfect storm? Yes. When Whitesell was announced, I was worried. After the Dartmouth game, I started having conversations that Whitesell might not be the coach to continue the success. Now we are 0-2 in MAC play. I think, by definition, I have become a hater. If we bring home a MAC Championship within the next 2-3 years, I will gladly put my foot in my mouth. It will also make me reevaluate how I look at coaches. Will I attend/watch every game? Yes. Will I still support the team? Yes. Can I be upset but still love a team? Yes. Will I still come back every year? Well, I am a Buffalo Bills fan so I think we know the answer to that question

Talking About NYBI again......

Now that Whitesell lost these past two MAC games, what would you like to see from him that you think will help get this team on track?

If only I can have that unwavering optimism

This was interesting. I see it from two perspectives. 1. Buffalo - We are a very talented team still. The biggest concern that I have with this team is the selfish ball that is very clear throughout the game on both offense and defense. In my mind, that comes to coaching and captains, especially as most of the new players were going to adopt Oats style of play and knew what they were coming into. This should have been pushed by the new leaders of the team, Jordan, Graves, and Brock (I mention Brock because the bench clearly loves him). I don't know how we took such a step back in that department. Our players play similar to how we did under Oats but we were unselfish then. How many times did we drive to the rim, kick it out to the outside and another quick pass for a wide open three. The extra pass was always there. In some of our fast breaks on 3 on 1. Our players won't even pass the ball for the easy basket, they want to pad up their own stats. 2. Every other MAC team - For 5 years, we have literally owned the MAC. We might know our team isn't that caliper, but we will still get the best from every MAC team this season. You heard the Ball State announcers talking about it so much too. I just feel like our team is going to get overwhelmed playing everyone's best ball. Putting myself in other team's shoes, it must be nice to be able to finally beat us after that much time has passed. Not ready to say that the season is a complete bust. But last night was definitely an embarrassment. The players felt that as well. It will be interesting how they rebound.

With Brock back in, what do you believe the starting line-up will be against NIU? Jordan-Graves-Williams-Mballa-Bertram or Jordan-Johnson-Graves-Williams-Bertram

Not sure if it is arrogance or ignorance, I consider a move to the A-10 more of a lateral move than anything. Maybe our sights are further out. I would rather stay in the MAC and continue to build and aim for a Power 5 then move to the A-10 and get stuck for a longer time.

Bonabandwagon. http://bonabandwagon.proboards.com Enjoy.

Welcome @TheBully. Enjoy your time at UB. Get involved and have fun. Completely agree. I was looking forward to him playing with Segu, Graves and Jordan. Can't blame him for leaving due to a coaching change. From a recruiting stand point, I think UB is in a great position. Buffalo started getting some brand recognition and some are saying they will win the MAC again. I can see some solid JUCO's coming in next year. Back to William and Mary, how do you stop Knight? I feel as if he is scoring 20 minimum against us.

The commentators on the Harvard-Buffalo game were saying that Buffalo was going to win the MAC without a doubt. I wasn't sure if they were just trying to hype up the game due to it being in Toronto. It certainly made me feel good. I think Ohio might be one of the best teams in the MAC East. Young team but they are going down the right path. They will be much better in March.

Anyone know where a replay of the game is? I was following only a little on the ESPN app but would love to watch the game. I haven't watched a game since the home Dartmouth game. I missed Naz due to work travel and Harvard due to moving EDIT: Found it. I didn't know it was on ESPN+

I know our players are talented. They will figure it out and build more chemistry. The main issue I had with this game was on one group only: The coaching staff: I know our team has the potential to win the MAC again this year but they need a fantastic coaching staff to get there. We are one game in, but I really did not like what I saw. We had barely any adjustments from 1st half to 2nd half. They ran the same pick and roll 10 times on us. We had flashes of our old fast paced team. On some fast breaks, Whitesell threw his hand up to call a play. That wouldn't have happened last year. Push the tempo to throw off their defense. And what kind of offensive plays were that?! There was nothing. Williams came right back out of the locker room after the game and started putting up shots. The work ethic is there. In January, I will see how I feel about Whitesell. He claims that he wants fast pace but everything felt so slow (maybe it is because I have grown used to the Hurley/Oats systems).

I love your positivity and enthusiasm. Welcome by the way! I can still see some growing pains during this Dartmouth game. I do not believe we will win by that much but I see a victory to continue the nation's longest home win streak.

There are probably multiple different versions of the story. I believe everyone is pretty comfortable now. I will always support Nate and I put ESPN notifications on my phone for the Alabama basketball program. He took UB to a level none of us could ever dream of. How could you not support him! But I agree with @skrabukes comments above. The type of play Nate uses requires players to put egos aside. I am not sure how long that might take for some players but with people expecting quick results, that can be a little bit of an issue. He took his three values with him to Bama, one being selfless love. If you watched the game against Penn, it was pretty selfish basketball but all of that can change by February/March.

This sounds like an exaggeration. I was all for everything you were saying but now you changed your rhetoric from supporting someone because they brought success to Buffalo to defending someone at the expense of our own leadership.

Welcome! And thank you for the analysis. ASU shows up when they play good teams (which I believe we are) should be a good match-up.

This was the main question I was focusing on watching the game last night. Dort is an amazing player. It was fun watching him and scary to see him take that fall. His hip is definitely bruised for the game. I am not sure if I want Dontay on him. Dort gets the foul line, Dontay will be foul out within the first ten minutes. They will see that on scouting reports. Once Dontay is ISO'd on Dort, Dort will drive the lane. I would love to see CJ on Dort. Remy is banged up too. You can tell through his moves he was restricted and in pain. They play very similar to us. I couldn't help but think about our team (huge lead in 1st half) when SJU was coming back in the second half. It should be an interesting match up We should win this game. But it also depends on which ASU shows up at the door. The one who took Kansas or the one that struggled against SJU.

As I drunkedly walked in the Q for the final game, a Bowling Green fan started some banter with our group (which some on this board were part of too). Which was nothing of harm or anything, but he said something and his response was hilarious. He said, "Buffalo should lose it is better for the MAC to have two teams go into the league." My response, "I don't care about the MAC, I want a better seed." The guy was dumbfounded. He turned to his friend, "You hear that, he doesn't care about the MAC." Why do people have such an allegiance to the MAC? I guess I see the MAC as a stepping stone for what we can accomplish long term. Are we in it now? Yes. Do I want it competitive? Yes. Do I want to stay in it forever? No.

Dutch, I feel like you keep going back to the same point about competitive teams in Alumni. I think what you are suggesting would hurt us. There are two fans, Die hards and Casual. Die Hards (I would say just about everyone here) will just about go to any game that UB is playing at home. We know who we are playing and their standings (RPI, KenPom, etc). It can help us in the rankings playing us at home and we know that. The games are close because of the more competitive team. The casual fan (who we are trying to attract) does not care about any of those rankings. The team we are playing in the Arena could be a top 100 team but they have no idea. So now, we blow them out of the water, we seem like a REALLY good team. We take a team like Hofstra to the wire. That could be seen as UB not being good ("How can they compete with UNC if they are taking a random Hofstra team to the final minute"). So back to my original point, make the 100's and 200's sell outs for season tickets for the next 2 years and multiple sell outs a year. Then get better teams once we have a more established fan base.