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UBlearns

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Everything posted by UBlearns

  1. Truthfully fellas, I'm not particularly optimistic. I understand that in this transfer portal era it's entirely possible that the team has 10 new players next year, but the sad fact remains that this team was not competitive for the vast majority of the season. They lost 20 games by double-digits, including 13 (!) conference losses. They had no semblance of a cohesive coaching/gameplan scheme. Coach will get a second season and I accept that, but the entire staff should be on the hot seat as of the beginning of training camp. I haven't figured out my benchmark yet for next season. I want to say .500 overall and .500 in the MAC, but this team was not remotely close to either of those benchmarks this season.....and let's be honest, those aren't exactly lofty goals to begin with.
  2. Awesome story, congrats to him and good luck against whoever they play in the final.
  3. For what it's worth, Torvik shows trendlines for the reason that shows the team's averages over the season, moving averages over the last 5 games, etc. According to the metrics, UB is playing slightly better basketball, on average, as the year has gone on. That said, those metrics are very bleak and UB is still ranked 346th in the rankings. Edit - whoops, this has already been posted above. I didn't realize there was a second page of this thread, so I didn't see it before posting. My bad.
  4. On paper it seems like a great move for everything except football. Their basketball program (while no, it's not Gonzaga) will raise the overall tides of the conference and they'll compete at a high level. Academically it seems like a slam dunk and gives UB an academic peer in the conference. Football doesn't move the needle much, but overall I think this is a pretty nice get for the MAC.
  5. Watching Kent vs Akron - Enrique Freeman is just so good.
  6. I don't doubt that this is the case, but you know what else will cause a hole in the athletics budget due to loss of income? Dwindling results on the court and on the field because you haven't been able to keep up with the changing NIL times.
  7. With all due respect, if you're referring to a window of true national relevance (i.e. frequent NCAAT appearances in mens and womens basketball, frequent bowl games, frequent conference championships, upgraded conference, somewhat regular national top 25-50 rankings), the window is long closed. You could argue whether the window was ever open at all. UB does not have the donor base, the state funding support, the student support, the brand recognition/media market, the athletics cachet of a program that can sustain success and move up the ranks. The "Haves" in college athletics are consolidating, and UB (along with every other G5 school, and truthfully many of the bottom-feeder P5's) is on the outside looking in. That doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for success. UB should absolutely have an NIL collective and solicit donations, and UB should have the resources to be a contender in the MAC in all sports. But the Tilman Fertittas and T Boone Pickenses and Phil Knights of the world don't grow on trees.
  8. For what it's worth, UB is 4 games back of going to Cleveland (WMU is 5-7 in the 8-spot, with UB at 1-11). Western is home to Miami on Tuesday, with UB home against Eastern. If Western wins and UB loses, I'm not sure how the tiebreakers work but UB would be 5 games out with 5 to play. It's conceivable (though again, I don't know how the MAC tiebreakers work) that UB could be eliminated from postseason play on Tuesday night.
  9. I mean.....looking at the results? I would.
  10. Down to 348 on Kenpom and 349 on Torvik. Here are the teams that UB is better than: LIU-Brooklyn, Lindenwood, Alabama A&M, VMI, Siena (not sure what's happened to them), Stonehill, St. Francis PA, IUPUI, Southeast Missouri State, Detroit Mercy, UMES, Coppin State, and Mississippi Valley State. These are our peers now, fellas. What a complete and unmitigated disaster.
  11. Chatman didn't play last year - he missed the entire season with a torn ACL. Frankly, he could've been the missing piece that the team needed to get over the hump last year.
  12. Dismissed from the Old Dominion basketball team today. He's their leader in ppg, rpg, and apg, averaging 17.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg, and 3.1 apg in 19 games, as a freshman.
  13. Can't say I have a strong opinion about the hire, but on the surface I don't hate it. Onward and upward.
  14. I know Brian Polian has Buffalo ties and UB ties, but I'd be pretty disappointed in the hire. No offense to the guy, but it's not a hire that would inspire much confidence, for me personally. I'd rather someone who has a winning history at lower levels of the sport (like Leipold), or take a shot on a young rising coach (like Linguist). Someone like Joe Harasymiak, as already mentioned, could fit the bill if there's interest.
  15. Anecdotal, but I watched one of the non-conference games with my girlfriend. She's a basketball fan and follows her high-major alma mater closely; she doesn't know anything about mid-majors but she generally knows her way around college basketball. I forget which game we were watching, she just mindlessly asked me, "what level this is - is this D3?" I said something to the effect of "uh, no, this is D1. UB was ranked a couple of years ago and made tournament 4 out of 5 years." She just kinda blankly looked at the TV, confused, and said "well, this looks like a high school team." Not ideal.
  16. I assume you're referring to Javon McCrea, not Montell McRae? No knock on Montell, of course.
  17. They could've easily folded down the stretch, but they didn't - encouraging for a young team and a young coach. The rest of MAC play will definitely be tougher, but maybe they can string together a few wins and salvage the second half of the season. Nowhere to go but up. Keep playing hard.
  18. I.....don't think that random man in the crowd was Anquan Boldin Sr?
  19. Disorganized is the word that comes to mind for me, too. On offense, there's no movement off the ball, no set plays (at least they don't look like it), minimal ball screens. Whoever has the ball, if the ball is on the floor, looks terrified at any instance of defensive ball pressure. Everything is just disjointed, the timing is off on entry passes, all of that. On defense, players just get lost. And I'm not talking freshman brainfarts, you've got seniors just missing assignments, missing switches. They look scared and frantic on offense, and confused on defense. I do think Chatman is playing well. Guy needs some help on the offensive end though.
  20. I don't have any info as to how the coach search went behind the scenes, but if Alnutt's coaching target list didn't appropriately factor in the money requirements, that's just as much a failure as him not having a list at all. You or I could put together a list of pipe dream basketball coaching candidates as much as anyone could - it's his job and his staff's job to understand realistically how much money UB needs in its athletics coffers to pay that person's (and their assistants', etc) salary. If Alnutt and staff completely misjudged the cost of a basketball coaching staff in 2023, that's just as much an indictment as anything else with the search, in my opinion.
  21. In theory this sounds fair - but what is your definition of "competitive product" (serious question, not being snarky)?
  22. Honestly, this was my thought - money will be the deciding factor.
  23. Preface by saying this is purely a hypothetical at this point: if this team goes winless*, do they fire GH3 after 1 season? How can you not? * I'm not counting a win over D-2 Roberts Wesleyan
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