Jump to content
Buffalo Bulls - UB Fan Forum

Buffalo vs Canisius (12/18 @ 7:00 pm)


Jeseph

Recommended Posts

Postivies of the game - Jordan - 26 points / 9 rebounds could he become the leader (he mentioned in his interview) they need.  Williams 12 points / Hardnett - 9 points / 11 rebounds  / Segu - 14 points.  Finally rebounding - 50 total / 21 offensive.  Negatives - turnovers, free throw shooting and interior defense.. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think we have to succumb to the fact that there will be no easy wins this year. Every game is gonna feature good UB and bad UB. A lot of what I saw in the last 10 minutes of the game can be fixed with coaching. Example: zone offense and press offense. Jordan is the only senior stepping up on this team. This was easily Graves worst game. He committed a senseless foul late and his body language was off.

Great to see Segu, Hardnett (his best game) and Nickleberry contribute off the bench. Williams was solid and if he develops a consistent jumper watch out. Mballa is a beast on the boards. Long way to go before we start to click 100% but I’ll take the win. 

Edited by DooleyBull06
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ubbulls84 said:

Some of these are wide open 3’s also. Problem is we don’t really have anyone off the bench who can shoot 3’s besides Segu, and even he hasn’t been consistent. 

Certainly not Grant either. Whitesell benched him finally.

Segu is around 40% from three. I trust him shooting

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Kevin said:

When will grant score again? That stat line is something

Did he steal your lunch money or something? We all get your point. 5 posts about one player who you detest (during a single game) is more than enough. No one is going to disagree with the fact that he's not playing up to anywhere near what we all hoped/anticipated entering the season thus far, so give it a rest already.

On another note, the AA was absolutely dead in there ALL NIGHT (the women's game yesterday had far more fan noise and interest). The first 8 minutes of the game followed the same level of intensity. I know that there are no students at the games (why? I still don't understand and never will, but I digress) but I'm very nervous that the public who bought in pretty well is losing interest. I hope that we can string a few wins together in a row on this home-stand and lure them back in with some intensity. Even in the final minutes of the game, it was down to 4 points with 4 minutes left and several people were standing up and walking out. The gym was pretty silent in a 2 possession game. It was very depressing.

Hopefully we beat a far inferior Niagara by a bunch on Saturday, much as we did at their place 2 years ago before they ducked playing us last year.

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

Did he steal your lunch money or something? We all get your point. 5 posts about one player who you detest (during a single game) is more than enough. No one is going to disagree with the fact that he's not playing up to anywhere near what we all hoped/anticipated entering the season thus far, so give it a rest already.

On another note, the AA was absolutely dead in there ALL NIGHT (the women's game yesterday had far more fan noise and interest). The first 8 minutes of the game followed the same level of intensity. I know that there are no students at the games (why? I still don't understand and never will, but I digress) but I'm very nervous that the public who bought in pretty well is losing interest. I hope that we can string a few wins together in a row on this home-stand and lure them back in with some intensity. Even in the final minutes of the game, it was down to 4 points with 4 minutes left and several people were standing up and walking out. The gym was pretty silent in a 2 possession game. It was very depressing.

Hopefully we beat a far inferior Niagara by a bunch on Saturday, much as we did at their place 2 years ago before they ducked playing us last year.

Thanks for auditing my posts and determining how many comments are allowed.

He's not playing up to what we hoped? How about not playing anywhere near a level where he should be receiving a minute of D1 time. I'll stop commenting on it when he sits on the bench

With Hardnett playing good and Brock/Fagan coming back, I'd expect Grant to be very limited going forward. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That got dicey for a while there.  As a previous poster said, they're not going to make any of these easy, and you're going to see some good and bad.  The Bulls had some good defensive stretches that helped them build a lead, but when Canisius dropped into a zone, UB trying to run things out, they got sloppy and hesitant. I want to say they don't have the composure yet to close these out safely but then again there's the DePaul game.  Anyway, even though there were times I thought the intensity dropped off, they were still playing harder than last game.  And that showed in a lot of the stats. So much of what's going wrong can be fixed - get better at the foul line, collapse in better on defense.

I revel in beating the Little Three teams, can't get enough of it.

Jordan - he will make a couple brain-fart plays but he's become a more consistent scorer, and they need that.
Graves - his head wasn't in it.  Two games in a row.  Maybe something else is up that we don't know about.  But would someone please call the intense, hungry, aggressive Graves of last year?  We need him back.
Segu - he has a set of moves that no one else out there can pull out.  And he's getting better shooting from outside - not just from three, but that stop and fade jumper too.  I love his attitude - he's the guy running to both ends of the court.
Williams - half the time I grumble about a dumb foul, or clutziness, or missing free throws.  But the past couple games he's pulled out some smooth moves to the hoop, and man that dagger three at the end to win it, way to go Jeenathan.  But man, when he beats someone off the dribble, he's got to be aware that the next guy is setting up for the charge.
Mballa - another guy with some smooth moves inside.
Johnson - he's trying, the shots just still aren't dropping.
Grant - I don't want to pile on, but he has to play with a little more fire.
Hardnett - a really nice game.  Battled well for rebounds, got a couple put-backs, did better with his matchup inside than he did vs Army
Nickelberry - some good minutes off the bench, if he gets a little better touch around the basket he'll be more effective.

Canisius - one of our group remarked on how, if UB got a steal and a fast break, the Bulls could almost walk it down the court, Canisius didn't care about chasing back.  Hitchon was impressive, able to hurt you from outside and inside, but I thought he didn't play great defense.  No one else really impressed me.  If UB makes their free throws this wouldn't have been close.

I know they probably play these games around now so the teams don't have to travel.  But the lack of student support from those who live in this area is pathetic.  It tells me that most of the students who go to games live on campus.  I wonder what the athletic program can do to specifically engage that portion of the student body to come out to games over break.

I was fully ready for my head to blow off if they blew this game, but thankfully they did enough at the end to seal the win.  They're not there yet, but a better performance tonight than last time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Win is a win so I’ll take it and some good to take out of this game, rebounding was pretty dominant. Offense looked kinda lost at times.  Hardnett had a great game except for the free throws. Jordan beast as usual, and some other nice contributions. The biggest disappointment to me was Graves. That’s two games in a row where he looked terrible, and it wasn’t just the offense, he took it to the defensive side where he had really stupid fouls. I hold him to a higher standard than some of the others as an upper class man and guy that’s been on this team for while. Not fair to compare him to CJ, but one thing about CJ did is even when he had bad shooting nights he still brought it and impacted the game in big way, just haven’t seen that from Jayvon. He needs to show more energy and effort out there. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, UB85 said:

It is a win. We’re thankful for that. But that was Canisius ladies and gentlemen. This team has a lot more f growing to do. 

It definitely wasn’t a pretty ending. Like you said a win is a win, I’m just still trying to figure out why there weren’t any adjustments made when the same set play we kept calling against the zone wasn’t working. Still don’t understand the logic behind setting a screen on a zone, you have to penetrate the zone to collapse it, they simply weren’t doing that 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am finding it very hard to not be really disappointed in this team.  I would like to think the Harvard and Depaul games were what we should expect from this team.  But thru 11 games they have made it clear that those games may be the outliers and the reality is this team is the other team we have seen.  A team that shows flashes but cannot put it together for long periods of time.  They clearly lack a leader and the killer mentality needed when things are not going our way.  My biggest concern with this team is how we handle adversity.  We seem to be like a turtle that crawls into our shell.  Coach and or a leader on this team need to fix that immediately.  We have too much talent to disappear.  My other two concerns are the ball movement on this team.  We show it well in flashes but for the most part we struggle to move the ball to be an effective offense.  See below where I lay into Grant and Johnson again, they are glue when the ball gets in their hands.  Hard to have any ball movement on this team with either of them on the floor.  My final concern is our ability to give up too many easy baskets.  We never, and I mean never gave away easy baskets last year.  Because our team was tough, hardnosed and physical.  This year we are not that and coach needs to turn that around.  Stop giving up easy baskets, move the ball and keep your head up when things are bad, fix those and I think we can be that team that we saw versus Harvard and DePaul.

I saw a lot I did not like in the game and a lot I liked.  Some positives, we had 50 rebounds and got contributions from all positions.  We limited turnovers in second half but still finished the game with 18, that's too many.  We finished the game with 19 assists, that's a reasonable number but still would like to see better ball movement.  7 for 24 from 3 (29%) is not going to cut it against good teams, this team needs to shot the ball better.  Free throws are bad, again we shot 9 for 18 as a team, that is the kind of thing that makes u lose a game in march in Cleveland.  Each of these kids needs to be in the gym everyday shooting free throws.  Mballa and Hardnett are going to spend a lot of time at the line in the next 3 to 4 years, they need to get dialed in from the line. 

I am so tired of Grant and Johnson.  The style of play each of them plays is just gross.  it goes against everything that UB has become known for.  We all know why coach continues to play them, he got them here by promising them playing time.  To me we have gotten to the point where their play no longer warrants the playing time.  At this point each of them is hurting the team.  The coaches job is to do what is best for the team, and right now that means limiting minutes for both Grant and Johnson.  I will break down each with some numbers:

Johnson-I think he deserves some minutes as I would argue he has been better than Grant but not much.  I do not think he should be starting.  Segu should be starting.  Johnson is much better defensively than Grant but he makes some very dumb mental mistakes each game.  Defensively he is too aggressive and it burns him a few times a game.  Simply put, he is not going to be a consistently affective player at this level.  He has taken the second most shots on the team with 119 prior to last night.  He has only made 40 of those shots, meaning he has missed 79 shots on the season.  That is more shots that both Mballa and Segu have taken on the season.  He is shooting 33% from the floor and 25% from 3.  These numbers do not deserve playing time.  If he was putting up these numbers and was a great defender I would understand him playing but we all can see is an average defender at best.  No doubt we have kids on the bench who can shot much better, move the ball and play better defense.  Segu should be starting in his place and if you need another bench player I think its time to give Gallion a shot with some meaningful minutes, it cannot be as bad as Johnson has been.

Grant-He is the worst defender I can remember in the last 10 years at UB.  He and Brock are currently battling for this award!  he simply cannot defend at this level without either giving up an easy bucket or fouling.  His shot selection is terrible.  How many times do you see the ball swinging around the perimeter from one side to the other trying to switch the defense and when it gets to Grant the ball movement stops and he chucks up some deep ill advised three and he bricks it.  With a player standing in the corner wide open waiting for the reverse pass.   ON the season he is 14 for 50 from the floor (28%) and 9 for 33 from 3 (27%).  Those numbers along with his terrible defense do not warrant a single second of playing time.  I don't care what coach promised him to get him to transfer here, he does not deserve to be on the floor.  His minutes should be given to Hardnett and Nickleberry. 

I am so tired of watching these two guys be anchors on this team.  Coach needs to wake up and make the changes needed.  Sometimes a coach needs to make these hard decisions and now is the time.  UB is about defense, effort, passion and ball movement.  Why play two guys who play the complete opposite of who we are as a program!

Some thoughts on a few of the other players:

Mballa-I love this kid.  He plays hard at all times and is willing to do whatever he can to help this team.  Without him inside this team would likely have only a handful of wins.  Thanks goodness he was given his waiver.  This kid has a bright future and I cannot wait to see it develop.  His game is meant to run up and down, he is at his best when we are running.

Williams-Another solid game.  he hit a big three at the end and he did not take a single ill advised shot in the game (he was 5 for 7 from the floor).  I love his ability to defend and rebound especially on the offensive end.  I still think he needs to be able to attack off the dribble to his right!  Williams also has a bright future ahead.

Graves-He is either hurt or going thru something emotionally.  Two games in a row he has acted disinterested, as if he would rather be someplace else.  I have never seen this from him in his career here.  I am very nervous about what is going on here.  This team needs Graves to be who he is, aggressive and athletic.  Time for coach to have a heart to heart with this kid to get to the bottom of what is going on.

Jordan-He saved UB in this game!  We have seen him take over the leadership role from Graves in the last two weeks.  Jordan is the leader of this team.  He does what he needs to do to help this team win.  He hit some big shots in this game and his ability to get to the rim and finish are a dynamic this team desperately needs.  Jordan has come so far with his jump shot in 4 years, when he arrived here he could not shoot at all.  Its very impressive.  Jordan is going to blow up the MAC when we get to MAC play.

Hardnett-This was by far his best game.  He rebounded the ball well, he defended well and finished around the rim.  He continues to get more and more comfortable on this team.  I would like to see him hit his free throws, but I like what I see from him and he also has a bright future.  When we get a legit big inside he will be fun to watch on the perimeter.  He deserves more playing time.

Segu-He continues to impress.  He defends, moves the ball, is one of our better shooters.  He defines everything that UB basketball is!  He deserves more playing time immediately.  I am tired of the argument that he is our only backup pg.  Coach can stagger him and Jordan and have them both start.  Both Graves and Nickleberry are also capable to run the 1.  Segu needs to start as this team is better when he is on the floor.  His ability to create his own shot or a shot for a teammate is unmatched on this team.  When the shot clock is running down he is one of our best creators.

Nickleberry-He is starting to figure it out.  You can see his confidence building.  he deserves more minutes as stated above.

Gallion-Time to give this guy some meaningful minutes.  Lets see what we have in him.  I like what I see defensively and on the bench from this kid. 

I am frustrated with this team and how it has been handled thus far.  It is time for some hard decisions and time to tweak the rotations.  This team will be much better in the long run for it.  Give these guys a few games to figure it out before MAC play begins.  As we have said here this season is about one thing and one thing only, getting prepared to play our best in Cleveland.  Despite all my frustration, I continue to love and support this program.  I cannot wait to see the Bulls play on Saturday. 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

MaineBull - agreed on Grant and Johnson.  The transfers have been a mixed bag over the years - I don't see the point if they're not coming in and contributing pretty soon, in that case you might as well play freshmen.  I will give this to Johnson - he really looks like he's trying, almost too hard at times.

I agreed a month ago that this team had "too much talent to disappear".  At this point, I'm re-evaluating how much "talent" we have.  I think the older transfers are duds so far (I don't see any of them getting much better), but the younger ones Mballa and Hardnett show a ton of potential.  It's looking to me more like a "rebuilding" year than a "reloading" year, for whatever that's worth, being realistic about it.  The good wins this season show me what this team CAN be, and that's worth having some hope when you walk into the building any time this season.

I'm constantly watching for the different team dynamic this year.  The past couple years you had that obvious leadership of CJ, Perkins, Harris, I don't know where Jordan fit in but he was a year younger.  Then you had a young hungry Graves pushing for playing time.  The dynamic has changed drastically, where the spotlight is on those two, and that's totally different from the past two years.  You can see the team get nervous down the stretch, especially last night, they started passing the ball off to each other, no one wanted to take the shot for a couple key possessions.  Graves has always seemed like this guy who's in his own intense zone.  I can see why the program brought in a couple senior transfers (Grant and Johnson) and a junior Nickelberry, hopefully to inject a little more experience, polished skill and composure into a team that lost a ton of those things, but it hasn't seem to have worked that nicely so far.  They've seen more out of the younger guys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, MaineBull said:

I am so tired of Grant and Johnson.  The style of play each of them plays is just gross.  it goes against everything that UB has become known for.  We all know why coach continues to play them, he got them here by promising them playing time.  To me we have gotten to the point where their play no longer warrants the playing time.  At this point each of them is hurting the team.  The coaches job is to do what is best for the team, and right now that means limiting minutes for both Grant and Johnson.  I will break down each with some numbers:

Johnson-I think he deserves some minutes as I would argue he has been better than Grant but not much.  I do not think he should be starting.  Segu should be starting.  Johnson is much better defensively than Grant but he makes some very dumb mental mistakes each game.  Defensively he is too aggressive and it burns him a few times a game.  Simply put, he is not going to be a consistently affective player at this level.  He has taken the second most shots on the team with 119 prior to last night.  He has only made 40 of those shots, meaning he has missed 79 shots on the season.  That is more shots that both Mballa and Segu have taken on the season.  He is shooting 33% from the floor and 25% from 3.  These numbers do not deserve playing time.  If he was putting up these numbers and was a great defender I would understand him playing but we all can see is an average defender at best.  No doubt we have kids on the bench who can shot much better, move the ball and play better defense.  Segu should be starting in his place and if you need another bench player I think its time to give Gallion a shot with some meaningful minutes, it cannot be as bad as Johnson has been.

Grant-He is the worst defender I can remember in the last 10 years at UB.  He and Brock are currently battling for this award!  he simply cannot defend at this level without either giving up an easy bucket or fouling.  His shot selection is terrible.  How many times do you see the ball swinging around the perimeter from one side to the other trying to switch the defense and when it gets to Grant the ball movement stops and he chucks up some deep ill advised three and he bricks it.  With a player standing in the corner wide open waiting for the reverse pass.   ON the season he is 14 for 50 from the floor (28%) and 9 for 33 from 3 (27%).  Those numbers along with his terrible defense do not warrant a single second of playing time.  I don't care what coach promised him to get him to transfer here, he does not deserve to be on the floor.  His minutes should be given to Hardnett and Nickleberry. 

I am so tired of watching these two guys be anchors on this team.  Coach needs to wake up and make the changes needed.  Sometimes a coach needs to make these hard decisions and now is the time.  UB is about defense, effort, passion and ball movement.  Why play two guys who play the complete opposite of who we are as a program!

These are spot on thoughts. Well done. 

I am glad someone else sees what I saw early in summer practices. 

Grant and Johnson have been complete flops for this team as grad seniors to take the burden off of losing CJ/Harris. They don't have 3 more years to develop, nor is the solution to "keep shooting". 

We can whittle it down to "not playing as well as we hoped" or we can be honest with ourselves and realize that Whitesell should be giving zero time to Grant and limited time to Johnson. 

He also needs to make in game adjustments. He has no idea how to stop the pick and roll (lost to Dartmouth on this alone) and can't seem to ever adjust when a team switches to zone. 

Lots of work to do as we enter MAC play in 2 weeks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Kevin said:

These are spot on thoughts. Well done. 

I am glad someone else sees what I saw early in summer practices. 

Grant and Johnson have been complete flops for this team as grad seniors to take the burden off of losing CJ/Harris. They don't have 3 more years to develop, nor is the solution to "keep shooting". 

We can whittle it down to "not playing as well as we hoped" or we can be honest with ourselves and realize that Whitesell should be giving zero time to Grant and limited time to Johnson. 

He also needs to make in game adjustments. He has no idea how to stop the pick and roll (lost to Dartmouth on this alone) and can't seem to ever adjust when a team switches to zone. 

Lots of work to do as we enter MAC play in 2 weeks.

Do agree also with the objective comments. In game adjustments but Whitesell and players don’t seem to be working. Watching the bench at timeouts Whitesell seems to be drawing up plays but are they wrong or are the players not listening or capable of doing them?? Many of us just seem to sense that this team makeup does not seem right as of right now. Do agree the team dynamic is so different than last year and we have to get past that and all the success we had the last few years. It will be up to the coaching staff to make the correct player rotations for the overall success of this team. Hope to see some improvement against Niagara but the true measuring stick will be how we play against Bona is now playing very well. Go Bulls!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think what we are seeing is a team that is growing. Besides jordan our key plays are young. 

The key is to continue growing

 I think the team and the way it plays will change as the season progresses. We don't have 2 of the best defensive guards in the country anymore. And the one we still have is counted on more to do the heavy lifting offensively. 

One adjustment I think could make a difference is a full on press the majority of the game, think this will help with our lack of depth at the 5 and true point guard. Plus it will keep the game speed up

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, MaineBull said:

I am finding it very hard to not be really disappointed in this team.  I would like to think the Harvard and Depaul games were what we should expect from this team.  But thru 11 games they have made it clear that those games may be the outliers and the reality is this team is the other team we have seen.  A team that shows flashes but cannot put it together for long periods of time.  They clearly lack a leader and the killer mentality needed when things are not going our way.  My biggest concern with this team is how we handle adversity.  We seem to be like a turtle that crawls into our shell.  Coach and or a leader on this team need to fix that immediately.  We have too much talent to disappear.  My other two concerns are the ball movement on this team.  We show it well in flashes but for the most part we struggle to move the ball to be an effective offense.  See below where I lay into Grant and Johnson again, they are glue when the ball gets in their hands.  Hard to have any ball movement on this team with either of them on the floor.  My final concern is our ability to give up too many easy baskets.  We never, and I mean never gave away easy baskets last year.  Because our team was tough, hardnosed and physical.  This year we are not that and coach needs to turn that around.  Stop giving up easy baskets, move the ball and keep your head up when things are bad, fix those and I think we can be that team that we saw versus Harvard and DePaul.

I saw a lot I did not like in the game and a lot I liked.  Some positives, we had 50 rebounds and got contributions from all positions.  We limited turnovers in second half but still finished the game with 18, that's too many.  We finished the game with 19 assists, that's a reasonable number but still would like to see better ball movement.  7 for 24 from 3 (29%) is not going to cut it against good teams, this team needs to shot the ball better.  Free throws are bad, again we shot 9 for 18 as a team, that is the kind of thing that makes u lose a game in march in Cleveland.  Each of these kids needs to be in the gym everyday shooting free throws.  Mballa and Hardnett are going to spend a lot of time at the line in the next 3 to 4 years, they need to get dialed in from the line. 

I am so tired of Grant and Johnson.  The style of play each of them plays is just gross.  it goes against everything that UB has become known for.  We all know why coach continues to play them, he got them here by promising them playing time.  To me we have gotten to the point where their play no longer warrants the playing time.  At this point each of them is hurting the team.  The coaches job is to do what is best for the team, and right now that means limiting minutes for both Grant and Johnson.  I will break down each with some numbers:

Johnson-I think he deserves some minutes as I would argue he has been better than Grant but not much.  I do not think he should be starting.  Segu should be starting.  Johnson is much better defensively than Grant but he makes some very dumb mental mistakes each game.  Defensively he is too aggressive and it burns him a few times a game.  Simply put, he is not going to be a consistently affective player at this level.  He has taken the second most shots on the team with 119 prior to last night.  He has only made 40 of those shots, meaning he has missed 79 shots on the season.  That is more shots that both Mballa and Segu have taken on the season.  He is shooting 33% from the floor and 25% from 3.  These numbers do not deserve playing time.  If he was putting up these numbers and was a great defender I would understand him playing but we all can see is an average defender at best.  No doubt we have kids on the bench who can shot much better, move the ball and play better defense.  Segu should be starting in his place and if you need another bench player I think its time to give Gallion a shot with some meaningful minutes, it cannot be as bad as Johnson has been.

Grant-He is the worst defender I can remember in the last 10 years at UB.  He and Brock are currently battling for this award!  he simply cannot defend at this level without either giving up an easy bucket or fouling.  His shot selection is terrible.  How many times do you see the ball swinging around the perimeter from one side to the other trying to switch the defense and when it gets to Grant the ball movement stops and he chucks up some deep ill advised three and he bricks it.  With a player standing in the corner wide open waiting for the reverse pass.   ON the season he is 14 for 50 from the floor (28%) and 9 for 33 from 3 (27%).  Those numbers along with his terrible defense do not warrant a single second of playing time.  I don't care what coach promised him to get him to transfer here, he does not deserve to be on the floor.  His minutes should be given to Hardnett and Nickleberry. 

I am so tired of watching these two guys be anchors on this team.  Coach needs to wake up and make the changes needed.  Sometimes a coach needs to make these hard decisions and now is the time.  UB is about defense, effort, passion and ball movement.  Why play two guys who play the complete opposite of who we are as a program!

Some thoughts on a few of the other players:

Mballa-I love this kid.  He plays hard at all times and is willing to do whatever he can to help this team.  Without him inside this team would likely have only a handful of wins.  Thanks goodness he was given his waiver.  This kid has a bright future and I cannot wait to see it develop.  His game is meant to run up and down, he is at his best when we are running.

Williams-Another solid game.  he hit a big three at the end and he did not take a single ill advised shot in the game (he was 5 for 7 from the floor).  I love his ability to defend and rebound especially on the offensive end.  I still think he needs to be able to attack off the dribble to his right!  Williams also has a bright future ahead.

Graves-He is either hurt or going thru something emotionally.  Two games in a row he has acted disinterested, as if he would rather be someplace else.  I have never seen this from him in his career here.  I am very nervous about what is going on here.  This team needs Graves to be who he is, aggressive and athletic.  Time for coach to have a heart to heart with this kid to get to the bottom of what is going on.

Jordan-He saved UB in this game!  We have seen him take over the leadership role from Graves in the last two weeks.  Jordan is the leader of this team.  He does what he needs to do to help this team win.  He hit some big shots in this game and his ability to get to the rim and finish are a dynamic this team desperately needs.  Jordan has come so far with his jump shot in 4 years, when he arrived here he could not shoot at all.  Its very impressive.  Jordan is going to blow up the MAC when we get to MAC play.

Hardnett-This was by far his best game.  He rebounded the ball well, he defended well and finished around the rim.  He continues to get more and more comfortable on this team.  I would like to see him hit his free throws, but I like what I see from him and he also has a bright future.  When we get a legit big inside he will be fun to watch on the perimeter.  He deserves more playing time.

Segu-He continues to impress.  He defends, moves the ball, is one of our better shooters.  He defines everything that UB basketball is!  He deserves more playing time immediately.  I am tired of the argument that he is our only backup pg.  Coach can stagger him and Jordan and have them both start.  Both Graves and Nickleberry are also capable to run the 1.  Segu needs to start as this team is better when he is on the floor.  His ability to create his own shot or a shot for a teammate is unmatched on this team.  When the shot clock is running down he is one of our best creators.

Nickleberry-He is starting to figure it out.  You can see his confidence building.  he deserves more minutes as stated above.

Gallion-Time to give this guy some meaningful minutes.  Lets see what we have in him.  I like what I see defensively and on the bench from this kid. 

I am frustrated with this team and how it has been handled thus far.  It is time for some hard decisions and time to tweak the rotations.  This team will be much better in the long run for it.  Give these guys a few games to figure it out before MAC play begins.  As we have said here this season is about one thing and one thing only, getting prepared to play our best in Cleveland.  Despite all my frustration, I continue to love and support this program.  I cannot wait to see the Bulls play on Saturday. 

This makes zero sense.. Nate Oats brought these guys, not Whitesell.. He hasn't promised them everything.. Let's stop blaming Whitesell for everything on here.. people need to get out of their minds that we won 32 games last year so we should do that every season.  With two wins, we have a chance to go into MAC play at 9-4.. That is a good non-conference record. You guys are so quick to rip on Johnson, but seem to give Graves a pass when he has been terrible the last two games.

And i hate this talk of no leader.   DAVONTA JORDAN IS THE UNDISPUTED LEADER OF THIS TEAM!!  last year we had five seniors who could lead on any given day, which was a luxary to have.  This year we are asking one guy who has been in this program and is 21 years old to do it every single day.  That is a lot of pressure to put on a guy and I think he has done as well as any of us could have hoped for.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Jeseph said:

The real question from the game is... WTF?

 

Mballa and Hardnett 4-12 from free throw line!!!! Unless they somehow improve it could mean big time trouble in MAC games. Maybe they should try the 1,2 Step or shooting blind-folded or shoot for hours in practice. There are players in college basketball that are littered with never being able to shoot free throws when they have been playing the game all the lives!!!! Game time decisions are not like practice decisions and some players do not have the mental makeup during a game. That’s why the game is so frustrating and at the same time can be so exciting at the same time. As for the noise level at the game yes it was not good but a lot of that has to do with what we have seen the last few years. The intensity level and this team still not having an identity and their uneven play are reasons for the fan reaction. Still hope for team chemistry to improve. Go Bulls!!!!

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, BullBoy said:

This makes zero sense.. Nate Oats brought these guys, not Whitesell.. He hasn't promised them everything.. Let's stop blaming Whitesell for everything on here.. people need to get out of their minds that we won 32 games last year so we should do that every season.  With two wins, we have a chance to go into MAC play at 9-4.. That is a good non-conference record. You guys are so quick to rip on Johnson, but seem to give Graves a pass when he has been terrible the last two games.

And i hate this talk of no leader.   DAVONTA JORDAN IS THE UNDISPUTED LEADER OF THIS TEAM!!  last year we had five seniors who could lead on any given day, which was a luxary to have.  This year we are asking one guy who has been in this program and is 21 years old to do it every single day.  That is a lot of pressure to put on a guy and I think he has done as well as any of us could have hoped for.

Agree with most of your points here. Jordan is definitely the leader and the best player on the team. 

Also, agree that people ripping on Johnson and Grant, but not talking about how bad Graves has been lately, which concerns me a hell of a lot more. 
 

Whitesell does deserve some blame for the lack if intensity and defensive play in bunch of these games, and not being able to make adjustments. Too much talent on this team to lose to Army and Dartmouth, period. I’m ok with the other losses. Yes, 9-4 would not be bad I agree there, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, that St. bonnies game is far from a sure bet the way we been playing. 

Edited by Ubbulls84
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Ubbulls84 said:

Win is a win so I’ll take it and some good to take out of this game, rebounding was pretty dominant. Offense looked kinda lost at times.  Hardnett had a great game except for the free throws. Jordan beast as usual, and some other nice contributions. The biggest disappointment to me was Graves. That’s two games in a row where he looked terrible, and it wasn’t just the offense, he took it to the defensive side where he had really stupid fouls. I hold him to a higher standard than some of the others as an upper class man and guy that’s been on this team for while. Not fair to compare him to CJ, but one thing about CJ did is even when he had bad shooting nights he still brought it and impacted the game in big way, just haven’t seen that from Jayvon. He needs to show more energy and effort out there. 

Agree. A win is a win. Who knows how the outcome might have been because Hitchon missed a wide open 3 with about a minute or so to go that would of just put us up by 1. Jordan and Williams hit the key shots that won the game for us. Go Bulls!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Jeseph unpinned this topic

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...