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2020-2021 Lineup


Kevin

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Awfully early for this thread, but here we are

PG) Ronaldo Segu/Malik Zachery (LOI)/Chanse Robinson (LOI)
SG) Jayvon Graves/Savion Gallion
W) Jeenathan Williams/David Nickleberry/Tra'von Fagan
PF) LaQuill Hardnett/David Skogman
C) Josh Mballa/Brock Bertram

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7 minutes ago, squire17 said:

Prediction 16 - 16

This sounds right. 
 

I have no idea how they replace Jordan’s leadership, defense, and minutes. 
 

if JW strikes out again in his class (less Mballa) then this team is in deep trouble 

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Id imagine williams and hardnett play in the 3 spot before Freeman or nickelberry. Also imagine skogman is a 5 unless they go with a big lineup where he plays a 4. 

In my opinion as of right now the starting line up would be

Segu

Graves

Williams

Hardnett

Mballa

Where hardnetts spot is up for competition and if a guard out performs him you just slide williams down to the 4

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Seeing as how the season its over, it's never too early to starting looking towards next.  That being said, I agree for the most part with your roster predictions.  However, I could see Mballa taking the Perkins role and being the "6th man" as if that really counts, and having Hardnett or Skogman start in his place.  I'd say Skogman only because he fits the position more.  We've seen Hardnett play the 5 and it wasn't right.  Gonna miss Jordans leadership and defense for sure, but I do have hopes that Robinson can be the next one to take that role.  From what I've seen he seems to have a similar style in play and hopefully gives the same effort on defense too.  Freeman seems to be a natural shooter, which was atrocious at times for UB this year so that will be a welcome addition.  I've said it many times already, but I like next years roster a lot... ON PAPER.  My concern still comes down to whether or not JW can put all the pieces together in a system that lets them flourish as a team.  If we finish with 20 wins next year, great.  If we finish with less, that's fine too.  Just show some consistency with each game.  Don't beat DePaul, then lose to Army.  Beat St. Bonnaventure, and lose to Dartmouth.  Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised next year.  I'm hopeful.

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2 hours ago, SGBull said:

I feel like Segu, Graves, Williams, and Mballa are locked in. That is unless Whitesell continues to bring Mballa in as the 6th man.

Gallion might be a surprise starter at the 3 next year. He looked decent in a small sample size this year.

I think Gallion is an under the radar star potential. I know when he signed last year it felt like a “hey we need bodies for the roster might as well take a chance on this kid.” I don’t remember his ranking or other offers being anything impressive. So far it looks like my assumptions were way off. I’m really excited to see what he brings to the roster next year, and hopefully he can take over for Graves after he graduates 

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55 minutes ago, UB05 said:

I think Gallion is an under the radar star potential. I know when he signed last year it felt like a “hey we need bodies for the roster might as well take a chance on this kid.” I don’t remember his ranking or other offers being anything impressive. So far it looks like my assumptions were way off. I’m really excited to see what he brings to the roster next year, and hopefully he can take over for Graves after he graduates 

He definitely brings energy to the court. Looking forward to see him get more minutes next year. 

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4 hours ago, UB05 said:

I think Gallion is an under the radar star potential. I know when he signed last year it felt like a “hey we need bodies for the roster might as well take a chance on this kid.” I don’t remember his ranking or other offers being anything impressive. So far it looks like my assumptions were way off. I’m really excited to see what he brings to the roster next year, and hopefully he can take over for Graves after he graduates 

The little he played I liked what I saw especially the last few games. Seemed nervous when he first started playing but not scared, which is good

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Overall this roster is in good shape for next year. Which reiterates my position that Whitesell has some runway. Aka a win now window.

Mballa - Was great. Simple said. Beast on the boards. The more he rebounded the more it led to us winning. Going forward would love to see him improve his free throws. And develop a few low post moves. I want to see him in more screen and role. 

Wlilliams - Made a big time jump from year 1 to 2. Now I want to see more. I want to see him continue to improve his outside shot and work on his right hand dribble. The combination will make him deadly bc defenders wouldn’t be able to sit on his left or play off him. And work on his defense. With his length he could be a better defender.

Graves - Graves was Graves this year. We learned who he isn’t. He isn’t Batman. But he’s still a scorer and a leader. Maybe not a vocal one but still will be our senior leader. The more he can refine his all around game the better.

Segu - Started off strong and closed out strong. Struggled in the middle. He is likely to be the starting PG and will have big shoes to fill. So we need him to take a big time leap. He needs to get better defensively and if he can refine his pull up game he will be deadly bc of his dribble skills. But more importantly he’s gotta be ready to be our floor general. 

Gallion - Was an after thought until the final weeks of the season. But he surely impressed. Wasn’t afraid to shoot and could shoot. Maybe just maybe we have a future diamond in the rough. Maybe he can be that vocal floor presence and outside scorer. Hope he makes a solid leap like Williams and Segu did. I wanna see him guard and rebound also. When we win our guards contribute in all stat categories.

Hardnett - Started off slow. Was played out of position. But then found his niche before completely disappearing. I need to see more from him. And I realize he’s just a freshman. I don’t know what his game is though. When he was successful he just scored around the basket off second chance opportunities. I wanna see more. He will only be a sophomore.

Nickleberry - Perhaps we expected too much from him. Hopefully he’s healed from his concussion. He’s going to be a senior so he needs to grow rapidly. I saw someone who could use both hands to dribble. Hopefully he refines that and just finds a role and becomes a useful contributor. I don’t need him to be a star. But I need more than what we got this season.

Bertram - Is what he is. I think he’s been here long enough for us to know his game by now. I won’t be heartbroken if he grad transferred. Otherwise he’s a 10th man off the bench. Big bodied big man if you need to spell 5 minutes.

Freeman/Robinson - I will just temper expectations so that we don’t fall into a trap like we did with Nickleberry. My only hope is that they come to UB for 4 years and are the future for this team. I would love for them to contribute next season but can’t depend on it. But hopefully they are backcourt mates for a long time here.

Skogram - Really excited about him. Big men take longer to develop and he will be just a freshman but have high hopes for him long term. Hopefully he is good both inside and outside. Will add a nice pick and role or pop dimension to the offense. Could be a good stretch 4.

Did I miss anyone? On paper we have a solid team. Great young nucleus. And tons of room for growth and improvement. We could reclaim the MAC in the next year or two. But a lot of that will depend on our PG play and willingness to play defense. Hopefully we get better shooting as well. Better shot selection. I feel that without Grant and Johnson that will be the case. Hopefully the coaching staff learns from their miscalculations this season and gets the best out of this team going forward. 

We have an open coaching spot let’s fill it. And an open scholarship...let’s get hard at work on that.  Sorry for the looong post.

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9 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

Overall this roster is in good shape for next year. Which reiterates my position that Whitesell has some runway. Aka a win now window.

Mballa - Was great. Simple said. Beast on the boards. The more he rebounded the more it led to us winning. Going forward would love to see him improve his free throws. And develop a few low post moves. I want to see him in more screen and role. 

Wlilliams - Made a big time jump from year 1 to 2. Now I want to see more. I want to see him continue to improve his outside shot and work on his right hand dribble. The combination will make him deadly bc defenders wouldn’t be able to sit on his left or play off him. And work on his defense. With his length he could be a better defender.

Graves - Graves was Graves this year. We learned who he isn’t. He isn’t Batman. But he’s still a scorer and a leader. Maybe not a vocal one but still will be our senior leader. The more he can refine his all around game the better.

Segu - Started off strong and closed out strong. Struggled in the middle. He is likely to be the starting PG and will have big shoes to fill. So we need him to take a big time leap. He needs to get better defensively and if he can refine his pull up game he will be deadly bc of his dribble skills. But more importantly he’s gotta be ready to be our floor general. 

Gallion - Was an after thought until the final weeks of the season. But he surely impressed. Wasn’t afraid to shoot and could shoot. Maybe just maybe we have a future diamond in the rough. Maybe he can be that vocal floor presence and outside scorer. Hope he makes a solid leap like Williams and Segu did. I wanna see him guard and rebound also. When we win our guards contribute in all stat categories.

Hardnett - Started off slow. Was played out of position. But then found his niche before completely disappearing. I need to see more from him. And I realize he’s just a freshman. I don’t know what his game is though. When he was successful he just scored around the basket off second chance opportunities. I wanna see more. He will only be a sophomore.

Nickleberry - Perhaps we expected too much from him. Hopefully he’s healed from his concussion. He’s going to be a senior so he needs to grow rapidly. I saw someone who could use both hands to dribble. Hopefully he refines that and just finds a role and becomes a useful contributor. I don’t need him to be a star. But I need more than what we got this season.

Bertram - Is what he is. I think he’s been here long enough for us to know his game by now. I won’t be heartbroken if he grad transferred. Otherwise he’s a 10th man off the bench. Big bodied big man if you need to spell 5 minutes.

Freeman/Robinson - I will just temper expectations so that we don’t fall into a trap like we did with Nickleberry. My only hope is that they come to UB for 4 years and are the future for this team. I would love for them to contribute next season but can’t depend on it. But hopefully they are backcourt mates for a long time here.

Skogram - Really excited about him. Big men take longer to develop and he will be just a freshman but have high hopes for him long term. Hopefully he is good both inside and outside. Will add a nice pick and role or pop dimension to the offense. Could be a good stretch 4.

Did I miss anyone? On paper we have a solid team. Great young nucleus. And tons of room for growth and improvement. We could reclaim the MAC in the next year or two. But a lot of that will depend on our PG play and willingness to play defense. Hopefully we get better shooting as well. Better shot selection. I feel that without Grant and Johnson that will be the case. Hopefully the coaching staff learns from their miscalculations this season and gets the best out of this team going forward. 

We have an open coaching spot let’s fill it. And an open scholarship...let’s get hard at work on that.  Sorry for the looong post.

Very good recap. Still not sure about Hardnett and Nickelberry and what their potential is. Neither have shown any outside game at all and for that matter not real inside game. neither played any defense and overall the team lacked defensive intensity and hardly no help defense. I think what could help is finding a 6’5 or 6’6 athletic wing who can shoot and can be a high intensity rebounder to help Mballa. Hope to see improvement from Williams in all aspects of his game along with some added strength from Segu. Year two for Whitesell could be pivotal for us to gain back our momentum that we had in the 4.5 years prior. Go Bulls!!!!

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52 minutes ago, John said:

Very good recap. Still not sure about Hardnett and Nickelberry and what their potential is. Neither have shown any outside game at all and for that matter not real inside game. neither played any defense and overall the team lacked defensive intensity and hardly no help defense. I think what could help is finding a 6’5 or 6’6 athletic wing who can shoot and can be a high intensity rebounder to help Mballa. Hope to see improvement from Williams in all aspects of his game along with some added strength from Segu. Year two for Whitesell could be pivotal for us to gain back our momentum that we had in the 4.5 years prior. Go Bulls!!!!

100% agree. Would love to add a lengthy wing as you said. Agree with your take on Williams and Segu. And with Hardnett he still has 3 years ahead of him. Nickleberry needs to make immediate impact next year.

 

27 minutes ago, UB05 said:

I’d have to think with our last scholarship we’ll be looking to the transfer portal for a big, especially if Brock does in fact end up transferring 

We’d have 2 scholarships if Brock transferred.

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46 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

100% agree. Would love to add a lengthy wing as you said. Agree with your take on Williams and Segu. And with Hardnett he still has 3 years ahead of him. Nickleberry needs to make immediate impact next year.

 

We’d have 2 scholarships if Brock transferred.

That’s right. Then 1 of the 2 would have to be a big. It’s doing no good to Hardnett making him play center 

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17 hours ago, Kevin said:

This sounds right. 
 

I have no idea how they replace Jordan’s leadership, defense, and minutes. 
 

if JW strikes out again in his class (less Mballa) then this team is in deep trouble 

100% agree there. No chance to replace Jordan with what they got now. I like Segu, but he brings nothing to the table like what Jordan brought defensively and driving the ball to hoop. 
 

I see them as middle of pack team probably sitting in that 4-7 range in conference. 
 

Best thing to happen is if Brock/fagan/nickel berry transfer, would open up lot of spots to get some quality In there.

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4 hours ago, John said:

Very good recap. Still not sure about Hardnett and Nickelberry and what their potential is. Neither have shown any outside game at all and for that matter not real inside game. neither played any defense and overall the team lacked defensive intensity and hardly no help defense. I think what could help is finding a 6’5 or 6’6 athletic wing who can shoot and can be a high intensity rebounder to help Mballa. Hope to see improvement from Williams in all aspects of his game along with some added strength from Segu. Year two for Whitesell could be pivotal for us to gain back our momentum that we had in the 4.5 years prior. Go Bulls!!!!

I think Hardnett is going to be good. He has shown flashes of being useful inside. I think he might be further ahead now than Williams was last season. He is a 4 player who was kind of stuck in the 5 position because of the lack of forward depth. I have a lot of hope for him. 

Nickelberry though, I'm not too sure he will adjust to D-1. He disappeared and I wouldn't be surprised if he transfers and heads home. Hard to say. He was a big disappointment and a guy based off his JC numbers to be a Jeremy Harris 2.0. Just alas, not the case. 

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12 hours ago, mikescherrer8 said:

I think Hardnett is going to be good. He has shown flashes of being useful inside. I think he might be further ahead now than Williams was last season. He is a 4 player who was kind of stuck in the 5 position because of the lack of forward depth. I have a lot of hope for him. 

Nickelberry though, I'm not too sure he will adjust to D-1. He disappeared and I wouldn't be surprised if he transfers and heads home. Hard to say. He was a big disappointment and a guy based off his JC numbers to be a Jeremy Harris 2.0. Just alas, not the case. 

I hope you are right on Hardnett. Thinking back on his potential forecast even though he did not play at Cincinnati I can not recall what the tape looked like on him. He did not even play in the 4 spot so it should be interesting to see how Whitesell tries to use him. Nickelberry seems so laid back in the little time we have seen him that not sure how he can adapt his game to D-1 play. There will be so many questions about this group of players next year and only time will tell on how the outcome will be. Our family will still be there every step of the way. Go Bulls!!!

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1 hour ago, Erie County said:

This is not an enticing roster right now. UB has a lot of work to do replacing Jordan. We lost about 3-4 less games without him for a whole season.

Freeman and Robinson need to stay and UB needs to do really good with the last few scholarships based on who they lose to the portal

Do agree. There are so many unknowns with the current roster?? If Robinson and Freeman show they are not ready  to play meaningful minutes like some of this year’s players it could be a very tough year. All indications are Robinson and Freeman should be able to contribute based on their performance and their abilities. Again Hardnett, Nickelberry, Johnson and Grant on paper looked like they were going to be players but that is why we play the games. Already looking forward to the start of camp and will be supporting the team. Go Bulls!!!

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On 3/10/2020 at 1:47 AM, Kevin said:

PG) Ronaldo Segu/Chanse Robinson (LOI)
SG) Jayvon Graves/Savion Gallion
W) Jeenathan Williams/David Nickleberry/Tra'von Fagan(T?)
PF) LaQuill Hardnett/David Skogman
C) Josh Mballa/Brock Bertram(T?)

 

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On 3/12/2020 at 12:02 AM, Tee4three said:

For those questioning the talent level on next years team, we will have 4 out of the top 5 highest ever rated recruits on our team next year(might be 4 out of 6)

On paper, we're loaded. Just need to perform.

When Hurley left, we weren't loaded and brought in a low ranked recruit. Went to the tournament more years than not and that recruit almost broke the scoring record.  

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37 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

Looks like no Jordan next year...

 

 

The NCAA is getting this right.  Winter sports basically had their entire season.  Did some lose out on conference and national championship tournaments, yes.  But they got to play their last season.  It is not like spring sports that were stopped early in the season.

There will be issues with scholarship limits next year if they give an extra year in spring sports.  If a school made offers of partial scholarships to the freshmen starting school in the fall what do you do with a player who comes back for another season, who you thought would be out of eligibility?

The only athletes impacted for going pro are really baseball players who were expecting to be redrafted or drafted for the first time this spring.   Are their other sports to go pro in after college that are spring sports? Yes. But there is so little money and jobs the loss of the spring season was most likely a make or break for them.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Looking at a snapshot of our roster for next season...we are thin at shooting guard. If, a big if, but if Graves leaves all we have is Gallion at the 2. In recruiting we seem to be after PGs (Gage and Zachery) and a wing (Griffin) but no shooting guard. Last season perimeter shooting was an issue and so far, with two scholarships left open and us being in a couple recruits final schools, we have not addressed the shooting guard position. This could be a concern going forward. 

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