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Buffalo vs Olean CC (12/30 @ 7:00 pm)


Jeseph

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Very happy with the win and sending Bona fans home with the L.

That said, Whitesell hasn't shown that he can instill discipline in this team. We spent maybe 20 seconds over 4-5 possessions at the end of the game, which is inexcusable. It's going to burn us in the big moments come March.

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Phew, what a tense ending.  But a really good win tonight for these Bulls.  I said before the game that they'd need to hit their foul shots (they did, for the most part) and keep their cool down the stretch (they didn't, but got out of it).  Bona drove to the hoop way too easily early, five or six times, and opened an early lead.  But maybe that was a little by design - I wonder if Whitesell didn't want to get Mballa in foul trouble early.  (I like Hardnett but he's not the same player inside).  Meanwhile, Bona's bigs did, and it affected their game.  UB eventually got rolling, just as much by making shots as by getting some stops on defense.  I'm really impressed by how they competed tonight, as in previous games I wish they kept their composure.  Early on, UB was driving and kicking it outside, and missing the shots; it wasn't for some time that they were able to get on some rebounds and layups.  I like how the team played intense tonight even if they lost their focus at times near the end.

Jordan - sat for a while in the first half with a couple fouls, he had a tough time getting to the net
Graves - we said before the game the Bulls needed a big game from him and he delivered.  The kind of game we knew he could have in an increased role this season.
Mballa - what more can you say, I mean the guy gets better every week, he puts in the work underneath and it's only going to get better.
Segu - some big minutes in the first half when Jordan was on the bench
Johnson - had a big three early second half, and a couple free throws at the end.  I was too negative during the game about him, he's so frustrating but I don't want to pile on more.

Whitesell and company did a great job managing Mballa's minutes and fouls to make sure he was there to have an impact, something Schmidt lost control of on his side.  Man, Lofton is good, he seemed to hit every shot he took. 

Rma and a few of us had a great time making some noise behind the basket and the cheerleaders.  Hopefully it had some impact.

Bona - the fans would've had more impact if they weren't diffused around.  I don't think they handled beer being served at the game very well.  A friend of mine said a few of them near him were hammered and got kicked out second half (he said, when have you ever heard of people getting kicked out of a UB game?)  Some drunk Bona fans a few rows behind us toasted the flag during the national anthem; later on when Mballa (#34) was shooting free throws one of them screeched about how he had OJ Simpson's number.  Well, in my experience they've never been a classy bunch.  They're Nobodies, from Nowhere.

A sweep of the Little Three, that feels very sweet right now.

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Sometimes I feel it's just not in this team's DNA to slow it down, even when it's prudent to do so.  Hurley, then Oats, now I assume Whitesell, they're built to run.  As much as I agree that they act too rashly down the stretch with a lead, I also think they get rattled a little when they slow it down.  But the veteran leaders out there have to be smart and close it out.

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Here is a Bonafan quote from after the game that just makes you feel sooooooooooooooooo good about this win! 😆
 

There is no point in the existence of UB. You would get the exact same education from listening to lectures on youtube. They print out 50,000 diplomas a year and frequently win their high school level league and still can't get anyone to care unless it's free t-shirt night

It's a soulless commuter state school that no one on Earth cares about. The only people that wind up there are international applicants that don't realize they're not going to NYC who become shitty pediatricians and local pizza shop employees/bar backs who have to sign up for 6 credits a semester so they can continue to live rent free in the house their mom kept in the divorce.

UB is inherently transactional and irrelevant even to its own alumni. An embarrassment to what higher education should be.

Free Lester.

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1 minute ago, clodney said:

Here is a Bonafan quote from after the game that just makes you feel sooooooooooooooooo good about this win! 😆
 

There is no point in the existence of UB. You would get the exact same education from listening to lectures on youtube. They print out 50,000 diplomas a year and frequently win their high school level league and still can't get anyone to care unless it's free t-shirt night

It's a soulless commuter state school that no one on Earth cares about. The only people that wind up there are international applicants that don't realize they're not going to NYC who become shitty pediatricians and local pizza shop employees/bar backs who have to sign up for 6 credits a semester so they can continue to live rent free in the house their mom kept in the divorce.

UB is inherently transactional and irrelevant even to its own alumni. An embarrassment to what higher education should be.

Free Lester.

I saw this, and wanted to leave it alone, but now that it's here...

Find me one place where Bonaventure is ranked higher or more selective than UB.  One.  It's okay to admit that you paid more for a less prestigious degree. 

How many people have we put in space? How many Nobel Laureates have we had teach here?  How many Fortune 500 CEOs are part of our alumni base?

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Really excited about what I've seen from Mballa, Segu and Williams this season. As frustrated as we have been about the play of some of the upperclassmen, there's a lot to be hopeful for with these guys getting better. I didn't expect to see Mballa doing what he's been doing so soon. He's held his own against some great big men this year. I'm most excited about what we're seeing from Williams now. He's looking like he's taken the next step. He seems like he understands his role in the offense so much better this year. He's now good enough from 3 that the opposing team has to respect them, and he's becoming a terrific slasher who is starting to realize how he needs to move his body to avoid charges. Possibly more important, he's not a liability on defense. Segu I think deserves more minutes and I know he has to be fresh to spell Jordan but I feel like he's a good enough defender and a ++ offensive player that would do more good than harm in late game situations.

 

We're hypercritical of this team because our expectations of what good basketball looks like are based on the greatest run in UB Men's basketball history. In reality they're still likely a top 5 UB team of all time and should have every opportunity to show how good they are in MAC play. 

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3 hours ago, Kevin said:

It's tough to argue. I've been a Johnson defender, but he has had a rough OOC stretch with all those minutes. He jacked shots on a bad MTSU team.

Not defending his play so far this year but he shot 44% from the field and 39% from 3 on 25-8 team. He's shown the ability to contribute at a similar D1 level, just gotta hope the shots start falling during conference play. Taking less contested shots would definitely help him for sure

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1 hour ago, ub2019 said:

Not defending his play so far this year but he shot 44% from the field and 39% from 3 on 25-8 team. He's shown the ability to contribute at a similar D1 level, just gotta hope the shots start falling during conference play. Taking less contested shots would definitely help him for sure

His shooting has just been terrible. Some of these shots were not bad shots they were wide open. Other times he passes up wide open shots, and then takes a deep contested fade away 2 which is almost always a miss. Even the ones at the basket he’s struggling to finish. Only positive I’ve seen is he’s been solid at the FT line. He’s a 5th year senior who has lot of experience, but he just not showing it. Luckily for him we really don’t have another higher level 2 guard off the bench (Segu I view as a 1), but at this point you gotta limit his minutes until he can prove otherwise.

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27 minutes ago, dutchcountry7 said:

Well I went and checked KenPom to see how much we moved up.  

 

We didnt.  We remain ranked behind St Bona.  Must be the home court advantage or something weighted it so it didn’t help us. 

It might have something to do with them being in the A-10 and they had won like seven in a row.Hope the team just concentrates on playing one game at a time and does not take any team for granted. Go Bulls!!!!

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1 hour ago, ub2019 said:

Not defending his play so far this year but he shot 44% from the field and 39% from 3 on 25-8 team. He's shown the ability to contribute at a similar D1 level, just gotta hope the shots start falling during conference play. Taking less contested shots would definitely help him for sure

What Johnson did in the past is in the past and not the present. We have been told that he has been great in practice but if that does not translate to games especially after 13 games I do not understand the amount of playing time he is getting. Other players on the team should get the chance to contribute. Still somehow hope he can get his confidence back in games that matter. Overall another game where we started out slowly with no offensive flow or defensive intensity but the players did not hang their heads or get frustrated, They definitely played a better 2nd half except for the last three minutes on shot selection and overall play. The key was Bona’s big men along with Welsh being in foul trouble and Graves having a good game . Looking forward to the first MAC game. Go Bulls!!!!

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19 minutes ago, mikescherrer8 said:


27E2E9EF-4D86-4D06-9C2A-8A71ADC58973.jpeg.d8bba963f88953b896c79d3e30a221d2.jpeg
 

in all my years of going to basketball games, I can’t recall someone being kicked out. I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy is lying or that he instigated an altercation between him and a UB fan. Either way. Go Bulls!

What’s their forum called? I want to read it for comedic purposes 

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It’s always interesting to see the take away from the opponent’s fans. By and large the comments on BB were pretty much on target. Of course there were a few dolts but that’s expected with fanatics of any team. I thought their pre game comments were especially astute. A lot of the in game comments were too. As a local team I wish them well. Go Bulls!

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Congratulations.  You have a good team.   We had the best player,  you had the best team.  I think you guys have a decent chance to win the MAC.. It was a good atmosphere and fun time (except for the outcome)   
This is not to trigger anything as some of my posts are, but is there ever any consideration of getting rid of football and trying to join a conference like the Atlantic 10?  Playing teams like VCU, Dayton, and Davidson is fun.  The teams from the A-10 would be a lot better draw than your MAC slate.   You would also have a natural rival built in.  Is football giving you enough to justify the expense?  Just asking. 
 

I will let you guys discuss and i will be back again next year.  Go Bills! 

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5 minutes ago, Buffalobonnie said:

Congratulations.  You have a good team.   We had the best player,  you had the best team.  I think you guys have a decent chance to win the MAC.. It was a good atmosphere and fun time (except for the outcome)   
This is not to trigger anything as some of my posts are, but is there ever any consideration of getting rid of football and trying to join a conference like the Atlantic 10?  Playing teams like VCU, Dayton, and Davidson is fun.  The teams from the A-10 would be a lot better draw than your MAC slate.   You would also have a natural rival built in.  Is football giving you enough to justify the expense?  Just asking. 
 

I will let you guys discuss and i will be back again next year.  Go Bills! 

Good game. Around halfway through the second half I told my wife this was the most fun I’ve had at a UB game in years including last season’s powerhouse team. Your bigs getting in foul trouble is what ultimately lost bona the game. I was very impressed with Lofton (obviously, 30 points), but with no inside presence it was a losing battle.

as for the football argument, it’s not trolling it’s been brought up by many. But UB has invested heavily including a new $20 million Indoor field house and the program is seeing sustained success for basically the first time ever. Long story short football isn’t going anywhere, our best bet to change conferences is the AAC but that’s a pipe dream at the moment unless the athletics department really takes off.

 

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6 minutes ago, UB85 said:

It’s always interesting to see the take away from the opponent’s fans. By and large the comments on BB were pretty much on target. Of course there were a few dolts but that’s expected with fanatics of any team. I thought their pre game comments were especially astute. A lot of the in game comments were too. As a local team I wish them well. Go Bulls!

It sucks to admit it, but the better they are, the better it is for Big 4 hoops.  You would not have gotten 6k people in AA for UB-SBU if the Bonnies were pulling single digit wins like they were just over 10 years ago.  Bonnies fans wouldn't want to watch their team lose, and we don't exactly get a huge crowd when we play teams like Coppin St unless it's a Friday night or Saturday game.

Of course, I wish their success is overshadowed by our success, and it would be funny if they lose to other Little 3 programs here and there.  Which it appears to be headed that way.

1 minute ago, Buffalobonnie said:

You have a good team.   We had the best player,  you had the best team.  I think you guys have a decent chance to win the MAC.. It was a good atmosphere and fun time (except for the outcome) 

Completely agree.  I do not know how Lofton only had one D1 offer, he's insanely good.  Reminds me of CJ Massinburg.  If he holds true to the Massinburg comparison, he'll be hard to beat the next two years.

5 minutes ago, Buffalobonnie said:

This is not to trigger anything as some of my posts are, but is there ever any consideration of getting rid of football and trying to join a conference like the Atlantic 10?  Playing teams like VCU, Dayton, and Davidson is fun.  The teams from the A-10 would be a lot better draw than your MAC slate.   You would also have a natural rival built in.  Is football giving you enough to justify the expense?  Just asking. 

It's been discussed over and over by the former Buffalo News talking heads.  It comes down to a few things.

-Football makes more money even in our shitty stadium than the remainder of the other athletics programs combined.  There is little reason to drop football or go independent at this time. 

-We do not fit culturally or academically with the majority of A-10 members.  We don't fit well in the MAC either, but the MAC is all public universities at the very least. 

-We can schedule Little 3 schools in OOC for the majority of sports, which we do.

-The MAC is improving in basketball.  Last year Toledo might have had a shot at an at large bid, and the conference would have had an at large bid if we lost in the MAC Tournament.  On the women's side, we've been a two bid league recently, and last year the third "bid" was one of the first four out.

-More realistically is to build up our budget and program to the AAC as @UB05 mentioned.  The travel would suck and we would be the only flagship in the conference with UConn departing, but the schools are much closer to UB in terms of size, culture, and academics than the MAC or A-10.

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47 minutes ago, Buffalobonnie said:

Congratulations.  You have a good team.   We had the best player,  you had the best team.  I think you guys have a decent chance to win the MAC.. It was a good atmosphere and fun time (except for the outcome)   
This is not to trigger anything as some of my posts are, but is there ever any consideration of getting rid of football and trying to join a conference like the Atlantic 10?  Playing teams like VCU, Dayton, and Davidson is fun.  The teams from the A-10 would be a lot better draw than your MAC slate.   You would also have a natural rival built in.  Is football giving you enough to justify the expense?  Just asking. 
 

I will let you guys discuss and i will be back again next year.  Go Bills! 

Until next year, good luck the rest of the way.

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1 hour ago, Buffalobonnie said:

Congratulations.  You have a good team.   We had the best player,  you had the best team.  I think you guys have a decent chance to win the MAC.. It was a good atmosphere and fun time (except for the outcome)   

Eh. Lofton is a really nice player to be sure. But his 32 came on a 52.6% true shooting percentage, while Graves had 28 on a 75.1%. Sure Lofton had to jack up some tough shots due up score effects at the end, but Graves was just as good and likely better. Lofton's lack of efficiency likely lost Bona the game.

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