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William & Mary @ Buffalo (11/30 @ 2:00 PM)


Jeseph

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That was entertaining. Loved two bounce passes that Nickelberry dished for layups. Good to see Johnson and Grant shoot well. Knight was great on offense...not much of a defender. Would someone else please select different music and play it a little softer? I can’t take it! Agree with earlier post: Hardnett had some good defensive stops against Knight.

Edited by squire17
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Good solid team win against a decent team with an elite player.  This team continues to grow and defend like their lives depends on it.  I love the effort I saw from Buffalo today.  They are making the opposing team uncomfortable with the effort on the defensive end.   Bulls had 15 steals today which is a testament to that defense.  22 assists on the offensive end, sure does make the offense flow when we share the ball like this.  We out rebounded them 34 to 30.  If we shoot the ball well, rebound and play defense, this team is going to be difficult to beat.  I would have liked to see us shoot the ball better from the line (50% in this game).  We need to improve there or it will come back and and hurt us in a close game.  I would also like to see us limit the turnovers a bit more as well (15 in this game).  A good day for the Bulls, watching this team grow is going to be fun.  Looking back I think  that early season home loss to Dartmouth will end up being a moment we look back on and say we were glad it happened at that time, as it was a wake up call to this team and has set the tone moving forward for this team.

I really like what I see from Coach Whitesell so far this season.  He looks in control of this team and has the Bulls playing hard.  These kids clearly really want to succeed for him.  I love some of the plays he comes up with out of timeouts.  Those will be helpful in a close game at some point this season.   I liked the rotations tonight, I thought they flowed well and made more sense.  I thing both the coaching staff and the players are beginning to understand all of the players roles and their responsibilities.

MBalla-He did a good job of limiting his fouls.  I saw a few plays where he has typically thrown his body in over the first few games and he restrained in this game and avoided the fouls.  Josh avoiding foul trouble will be something he will need to do all season long.  Josh rebounded the ball well and I thought he did a good job fronting Knight and limiting his touches.  Josh has great anticipation and is a great help defender.  This kid is going to be a stud, buckle up bulls fans we have some fun years ahead.

Williams-Another solid game from him.   I only took exception to one of his three pointers.  The rest of the game he attacked off the dribble and was in control and composed.  He is so strong going to his left.  He recognized a mismatch tonight and exploited it off the dribble.   I thought his defense and offensive rebounding was impressive as always.  He is so long and causes a lot of deflections on the defensive end. 

Graves-I enjoyed seeing him not settle for jumpers tonight.  He too saw a mismatch and exploited it.  I have not seen a team able to keep the Bulls from attacking the rim off the dribble and Graves showed us a lot of that tonight.  If that dunk over Knight goes down we are in sportscenter top 10 no doubt.  Graves rebounded the ball well again and his defense was spot on.  When he defends like this, the offense almost always comes to him.  Graves is growing into the MAC POTY in front of us and I am loving it.

Johnson-settled for a few ill advised jumpers early, but finished going hard to the basket aggressively looking to score and get to the line.  He is a mush better player when he plays with this mentality.  He is a slasher and that is how he should play every game.  Jumpers need to remain option 2 for him.  I thought this was his best defensive game, he needs to continue to grow in that department.  I still think Segu needs to be starting in his place.

Jordan-was 4 for 4 from the free throw line, that was exciting to see.  He shot them with confidence.  His defensive ball pressure was the difference in the game.  He made whoever he was covering uncomfortable and took the ball from them regularly resulting in an easy basket for the Bulls.  Jordan is going to be a huge part of this team this year.  The Bulls will go as far as Graves and Jordan can take us.  I love seeing him get his opportunities on offense after years of setting up others.

Grant-I thought his rebounding was mush better tonight.  He also shot the ball better and seemed to play with a lot of confidence.  He is a spot up shooter, and when on he really spreads the floor for this team taking a big away from the basket.

Hardett-again was forced to cover a player that is a mismatch for him in the post.  I thought he did a decent job despite the fouls.  He sets a great screen on the top and the Bulls used it to perfection tonight.  This kid will continue to grow and get better with the more minutes he gets.  I enjoyed the halftime interview getting to know him.  He seems like a fun kid with a great attitude and seems to fit into this team very well.

Segu-He was composed and poised tonight.  The game seems to have slowed down for him and I really liked his decision making tonight in this game.  He did not force anything and was always in control.  His ability to knock don the open shot have made him a very dynamic player that can beat u an several ways.  His effort on defense is inspirational as well.  I see s HUGE season for this kid moving forward.

Nickleberry-His rebounding off the bench along with Grant are very much needed.  He made several great passes and smart decisions with the ball tonight.  I hope he is getting more comfortable and starting to figure things out.  I think his minutes continue to grow as the season goes along.

Gallion/Skogman-I love the emotions and excitement they both show on the bench.  Clearly both of these kids are well liked and love this program.  Buffalo has a  bright future with these two.

A great team win with many great things to take away from this game.  These games are getting us prepared to play the MAC season that will be much tougher than people anticipate this season.  I am loving what I see from this team and I cannot wait for Tuesday and a chance to play Vanderbilt.  GO Bulls!

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26 minutes ago, 961819 said:

DePauls looking very good this year, if we come away with a win then we should be able to ride that momentum into conference play. I thought we handled W&M’s height rather well this game. 
 

My main takeaway from this one however is that this team is learning quickly and there weren’t any head scratching moments in this one where we gave up multiple offensive rebounds in a row. Showed flashes of the potential this team has 

 

Also Hardnett May not have filled up the stat sheet but he did his job very well in this one which is to give Mballa valuable rest time. His time will come but not until we get a true 5 so that he isn’t forced into a role he isn’t meant to be in

Agree on Hardnett 100%

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I'll echo Squire here - that was fun.  They're still a work in progress but showing some of that progress.  Those interior guys Knight and Van Vliet were a challenge but the Bulls never really lost control of this one.  Even in the second half when they started slow, they got some big 3's from Graves.  They moved the ball around well today, got some assists, though if anything I thought they gave up some baskets inside and in the lane too easily.  Need to tighten that up.

Jordan - kinda quietly had a lot of points, but he's the leader of this team.  He still gets sloppy with the ball sometimes, though he's obviously really fired up afterwards to make amends for it.
Graves - he's the go-to guy and he made some big 3's that kept the Bulls in control
Mballa and Hardnett - a tough matchup today inside, hopefully some lessons learned against Knight.
Nickelberry - a couple nice assists, a good contribution off the bench, positive to see
Segu - what I love is how he's not the highly rated recruit who's too cool for school, he's putting the effort in on defense and that shows really well for his character, because someday soon he'll be running the show out there.
Williams - some positive signs, willing to use that length to good effect.
Grant and Johnson - their shooting is warming up a little.  Having a few more guys to work in off the bench is going to help down the line.

W&M - they didn't roll a lot of guys, they wanted to create that matchup problem inside and they were able to since their big guys didn't get in foul trouble.  Knight is a tough player to matchup against on offense, but as Squire said, he doesn't play defense too tough (probably to stay out of foul trouble). 

Crowd - no students or band, which meant the atmosphere was pretty tame on a Saturday afternoon.  But a nice showing by the rest of the arena, and no problem getting out of the lots afterwards.  Today was about all you could ask for in an early season non conference game.

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1 hour ago, Ubbulls84 said:

DePaul will likely be ranked when we play them. Would def. get some looks if won both but one at a time for now.

Depaul is a very beatable team. I watched their game last week and nothing really stood out. Probably similar to uconn. 

We also play DePaul after they play their biggest game and test of the year(texas tech), which could be a benefit to ub

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I call today taking care of business. Great effort and performance by all. And great breakdowns by my fellow board members here. No need for me to repeat what’s already been said. Now we can look forward to two tough road games. Will be our first true road games, so it will be interesting to see how we handle all that comes with that. Let’s get Vandy on Tuesday. They haven’t played anyone and can be got. Go Bulls!

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Just finished watching the Vandy game. They lost at home to Tulsa. They are very beatable. Nesmith is their best player and deadly from 3. One of the best in the country so far this season. Aside from him they tend to get stagnant on offense and commit turnovers. So a good defensive effort from us and we can take this. They feature 4 guys in their rotation 6’8 or better and Nesmith himself is 6’6, so again height will be a factor. But nothing I saw tonight tells me we can’t go in there and win.

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15 hours ago, DooleyBull06 said:

I call today taking care of business. Great effort and performance by all. And great breakdowns by my fellow board members here. No need for me to repeat what’s already been said. Now we can look forward to two tough road games. Will be our first true road games, so it will be interesting to see how we handle all that comes with that. Let’s get Vandy on Tuesday. They haven’t played anyone and can be got. Go Bulls!

Agree. Looks like the players are becoming comfortable with their roles. It looks like they now understand they have to play with defensive tenacity. Do agree Segu should be getting more minutes and Williams has shown some better IQ basketball but do not like his 3PT shooting at all along with his free throw shooting. For a 3/4 star recruit he has a long way to go  and only time will tell if he shows he can be a good D1 player. Both the coaches and players look to be more comfortable with each other and hope for more success in the upcoming games. Go Bulls!!!!

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4 minutes ago, John said:

Agree. Looks like the players are becoming comfortable with their roles. It looks like they now understand they have to play with defensive tenacity. Do agree Segu should be getting more minutes and Williams has shown some better IQ basketball but do not like his 3PT shooting at all along with his free throw shooting. For a 3/4 star recruit he has a long way to go  and only time will tell if he shows he can be a good D1 player. Both the coaches and players look to be more comfortable with each other and hope for more success in the upcoming games. Go Bulls!!!!

Speaking in defense of Williams...he has to shoot 3s to keep defenses honest. If not defenses will sag off him and thus take away his driving ability. What he can’t do is chuck up 3s willy nilly. He only took 2 yesterday. 2 isn’t a big deal. But he has to take em to keep defenses guessing. I see growth in his game from a year ago. And growth on a game by game basis.

As for Rondo starting, he can’t. Plain and simple. Why? Bc then we have no reliable backup PG. Yes I know Gallion is there but we can’t entrust a freshman with that big of a role, just yet. It’s a role he will have to grow into. An example is Rondo a season ago. Furthermore it’s not who starts but who finishes. Rondo should be on the court when it matters. 

I strongly agree with you that guys are finding their roles and the rotation is starting to take shape. Grant can be a guy off the bench who comes in and scores. Nickleberry can come in and buy minutes and just contribute but not be a focal point. Hardnett I’m falling in love with. Mainly bc we are playing him out of position but he is still out there hustling. Just imagine when we play him at the 3 or 4. There was a great profile on him during halftime in yesterday’s broadcast. 

Tuesday against Vandy is very winnable. Let’s go Bulls!

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8 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

Speaking in defense of Williams...he has to shoot 3s to keep defenses honest. If not defenses will sag off him and thus take away his driving ability. What he can’t do is chuck up 3s willy nilly. He only took 2 yesterday. 2 isn’t a big deal. But he has to take em to keep defenses guessing. I see growth in his game from a year ago. And growth on a game by game basis.

As for Rondo starting, he can’t. Plain and simple. Why? Bc then we have no reliable backup PG. Yes I know Gallion is there but we can’t entrust a freshman with that big of a role, just yet. It’s a role he will have to grow into. An example is Rondo a season ago. Furthermore it’s not who starts but who finishes. Rondo should be on the court when it matters. 

I strongly agree with you that guys are finding their roles and the rotation is starting to take shape. Grant can be a guy off the bench who comes in and scores. Nickleberry can come in and buy minutes and just contribute but not be a focal point. Hardnett I’m falling in love with. Mainly bc we are playing him out of position but he is still out there hustling. Just imagine when we play him at the 3 or 4. There was a great profile on him during halftime in yesterday’s broadcast. 

Tuesday against Vandy is very winnable. Let’s go Bulls!

Williams hardnett mballa will be an absolute terror by the end of the season if brock can provide some decent minutes and allow all of them to play different spots on the floor

The ability to switch defensively on this team will be unseen of at the mac level. This team defensively has a lot of potential. We have seen it already with the amount of turnovers we are forcing. They just need to build more chemistry and continue to communicate

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8 minutes ago, UBCourtside said:

Not necessarily on topic here, but could you imagine if we played Dartmouth now instead of game 1? The team is so much more in sync. Bowling Green beat them last night and all I could think was, man, I want that back

Please don’t bring up the Dartmouth game. I’m still not over it bc we should be 6-1 but it’s becoming a faded memory. Little by little. As some have said trying to view that game as a wake up call.

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1 hour ago, DooleyBull06 said:

Speaking in defense of Williams...he has to shoot 3s to keep defenses honest. If not defenses will sag off him and thus take away his driving ability. What he can’t do is chuck up 3s willy nilly. He only took 2 yesterday. 2 isn’t a big deal. But he has to take em to keep defenses guessing. I see growth in his game from a year ago. And growth on a game by game basis.

As for Rondo starting, he can’t. Plain and simple. Why? Bc then we have no reliable backup PG. Yes I know Gallion is there but we can’t entrust a freshman with that big of a role, just yet. It’s a role he will have to grow into. An example is Rondo a season ago. Furthermore it’s not who starts but who finishes. Rondo should be on the court when it matters. 

I strongly agree with you that guys are finding their roles and the rotation is starting to take shape. Grant can be a guy off the bench who comes in and scores. Nickleberry can come in and buy minutes and just contribute but not be a focal point. Hardnett I’m falling in love with. Mainly bc we are playing him out of position but he is still out there hustling. Just imagine when we play him at the 3 or 4. There was a great profile on him during halftime in yesterday’s broadcast. 

Tuesday against Vandy is very winnable. Let’s go Bulls!

Agreed Williams has to take those 3’s when he is wide open. The scouting report on him I’m sure says let him chuck from the 3. He’s gotta work on that so he can atleast shoot a 30% clip to keeps teams honest. He’s been great at attacking rim and finishing on the left side. He is definitely playing a lot smarter this year as a whole, and making the extra pass when needed. Last year he would force it when the play wasn’t there. I think he’ll be fine just taking some time to develop. 

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2 hours ago, Ubbulls84 said:

Agreed Williams has to take those 3’s when he is wide open. The scouting report on him I’m sure says let him chuck from the 3. He’s gotta work on that so he can atleast shoot a 30% clip to keeps teams honest. He’s been great at attacking rim and finishing on the left side. He is definitely playing a lot smarter this year as a whole, and making the extra pass when needed. Last year he would force it when the play wasn’t there. I think he’ll be fine just taking some time to develop. 

Agree that he is starting to play a lot smarter and he has the athletic talent to continue to get better. But he has been working on his shooting since last year and that is what was stated since last year that both he and Segu were always in the gym shooting. Hope he continues to improve but don’t take shots that can hurt the team. I did not suggest Segu should be starting but do think his minutes will probably go up as the season progresses. Looking forward to the next two games and see the overall team chemistry continue. Go Bulls!!!!

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Love the continued development that the team has shown over the first seven games. They are vastly improved from the game that should not be named to open the season.  Definitely see that this team and coaching staff working extremely hard.  Love it and look forward to seeing the rest of the season unfold.

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