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Jim Whitesell and UB Part Ways


Kevin

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12 hours ago, skrabukes said:

Now it's quiet on this topic after 3 straight wins, with the most recent one in blowout fashion on the road. This team is as we hoped when they play as a collective unit. Let's hope they've turned the corner after the 0-2 start and have figured things out. They're not going to go undefeated the rest of the way, but 10-3 over the rest of the regular season would be super and easily be a top 4 if not top 2 seed come MAC playoff time. It's just one game at a time, and hopefully they'll keep up the winning ways back at home next week!

Who knows where this team is going. We’ve seen it all; the good, bad and the ugggggly. The hope is always there. Yesterday’s defensive effort is encouraging. But CMU has never been the gold standard in the MAC. That challenge lies ahead with Akron high school, Toledo, BG, Can’t and perhaps one or two more since we’ve already lost to NI and BSU. 

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41 minutes ago, UB85 said:

Who knows where this team is going. We’ve seen it all; the good, bad and the ugggggly. The hope is always there. Yesterday’s defensive effort is encouraging. But CMU has never been the gold standard in the MAC. That challenge lies ahead with Akron high school, Toledo, BG, Can’t and perhaps one or two more since we’ve already lost to NI and BSU. 

No way of knowing for sure, but there were some good signs recently that the team will be a handful for anyone in the MAC.  I look for Graves to rebound as he gets over the flu, Williams has developed into a legitimate scoring threat.  If you add Jordan, Mballa, Johnson (playing better recently) and Segu, the offense should be there.  The key as others have said will be their defense.  That will determine how well they do the rest of the season.  Play solid d and they will be a strong contender.

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23 hours ago, UB85 said:

Who knows where this team is going. We’ve seen it all; the good, bad and the ugggggly. The hope is always there. Yesterday’s defensive effort is encouraging. But CMU has never been the gold standard in the MAC. That challenge lies ahead with Akron high school, Toledo, BG, Can’t and perhaps one or two more since we’ve already lost to NI and BSU. 

The losses at Dartmouth and Army were as bad as it gets. The team has been a lot better and roles are starting to kick in some. Last game was probably the best bench production we got from guys like Segu and Hardnett. At 12-6, the team can compete. Just need to not beat ourselves with turnovers, missed free throws, and wasting possessions on bad shots.

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4 minutes ago, mikescherrer8 said:

The losses at Dartmouth and Army were as bad as it gets. The team has been a lot better and roles are starting to kick in some. Last game was probably the best bench production we got from guys like Segu and Hardnett. At 12-6, the team can compete. Just need to not beat ourselves with turnovers, missed free throws, and wasting possessions on bad shots.

I think the biggest thing about this season has been the inconsistency.

Using Torvik's "game score" as a metric, UB has played 5 absolute dud games with a score of 21.0 or worse (every loss except UConn, they had a pretty average 52.0).  At the same time, they've played 4 games with a score of over 80.0 (Harvard, W&M, Depaul, and CMU), which is around where teams top-50ish like Akron have been consistently playing.  For the rest of the year, UB has been fairly consistently just-above-average.

Personally, I'm not ready to anoint this team as being back in the MAC mix until I see them put together some repeat solid performances.  They played a great game against CMU, played a little bit above their season average against Miami, and played 3 of their worst games of the season in the other 3 MAC games.  I don't expect them to play consistently like they did against Central, but we know they're capable of it.  I need to see them do it more often, or at the very least show some consistent growth as the season wears on.  They'll need to play better than they did against Miami or Ohio to come away with wins against teams like Akron, Toledo, Kent State, Ball State.

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14 minutes ago, Erie County said:

Also, The really bad performances at home is what gets me.

I can handle a neutral loss to Uconn, Road to Vandy, and even road to Ball State.

The Army, NIU, Dartmouth should be 3-0 every single day of the week. The team should be 15-3, at that isn't even being "fan boy" because Vandy/BSU aren't great teams either, but those are fine due to circumstances. 

Strongly agree. There’s no excuse for having lost to Dartmouth, Army and even NIU (even though they’ve had our number) at home. No excuse. 

Last week in practice defense was stressed by the coaches. Leading up to the WMU game the mental aspect of basketball should be stressed. Not letting down against an inferior team. This game will be a good test of our mental fortitude. If we come out and play defense the way we did against CMU we should cruise. If Johnson plays like he has been and the other guys continue to buy into their roles we should win. This is a take care of business game leading up to a huge Friday night affair with Kent St. Can’t come out with an effort like we did against Dartmouth etc.

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1 hour ago, DooleyBull06 said:

Leading up to the WMU game the mental aspect of basketball should be stressed.

I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that I felt like the team lacked that insatiable desire to win, they didn't/don't seem to have that killer instinct that we had under Oats. I hope that a little win streak is reminding that team how much more fun it is to win, and with CMU, to win handily (as a result of defensive effort). I still think there's talent on this squad and that it can show up under Whitesell if he gets the team buzzing with this sort of thinking.

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13 minutes ago, Jeseph said:

I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that I felt like the team lacked that insatiable desire to win, they didn't/don't seem to have that killer instinct that we had under Oats. I hope that a little win streak is reminding that team how much more fun it is to win, and with CMU, to win handily (as a result of defensive effort). I still think there's talent on this squad and that it can show up under Whitesell if he gets the team buzzing with this sort of thinking.

Do agree. That killer instinct was because of the players had namely CJ, Perkins, Caruthers, Harris and McCrea. Hope our present players are starting to become comfortable and confident in their roles. Go Bulls!!!!

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28 minutes ago, Jeseph said:

I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that I felt like the team lacked that insatiable desire to win, they didn't/don't seem to have that killer instinct that we had under Oats. I hope that a little win streak is reminding that team how much more fun it is to win, and with CMU, to win handily (as a result of defensive effort). I still think there's talent on this squad and that it can show up under Whitesell if he gets the team buzzing with this sort of thinking.

Also agree. Hopefully the killer instinct is being developed and the guys have turned that corner and win games they should win. This team has the talent just gotta keep developing the mental side. 

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58 minutes ago, John said:

Do agree. That killer instinct was because of the players had namely CJ, Perkins, Caruthers, Harris and McCrea. Hope our present players are starting to become comfortable and confident in their roles. Go Bulls!!!!

It is easy to look like you have a killer instinct when you have a team filled with power conference level talent.   The talent on last year's team was a step well above the MAC.  And even they suffered two losses in the MAC. 

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1 hour ago, Erie County said:

-1 in the stock watch, and 2-2 at home to start MAC play. 

Do we even have an advantage at home anymore? 

Definitely, no. Have we not been favored in all of our home losses? When the game is close at home we don’t make the shot(s) to close it out. This team has no identity, leader, or toughness.

we’ll have a winning MAC record but I now feel like that’s the ceiling for this season.

please prove me wrong.

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11 hours ago, Jeseph said:

Definitely, no. Have we not been favored in all of our home losses? When the game is close at home we don’t make the shot(s) to close it out. This team has no identity, leader, or toughness.

we’ll have a winning MAC record but I now feel like that’s the ceiling for this season.

please prove me wrong.

What stood out last night was the number of times including as the clock wound down late in the game where  we had some momentum, a chance to take the lead and maintain that momentum  Jayvon tried to take charge and missed shots some of which I thought were ill advised like a quick 3 from the top of the key. 

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14 hours ago, Jeseph said:

we’ll have a winning MAC record but I now feel like that’s the ceiling for this season.

I still think we can see any Bulls team on any given night, but I'm concerned about how tough this schedule is about to get; last night was just the tip of the iceberg.

Personally, I would be pleasantly surprised if they won any of the 2 Akron games, at Toledo, and at Kent.  They should beat Central and Miami at home, and I'll grant that they should beat Eastern even though it's on the road.  That leaves, in my mind, the 2 Bowling Green games, at Ohio, and home to Ball State as "toss-up" type games.

To finish above .500 in MAC play, they need to go 6-5 against that schedule.  They're capable of beating anyone on any given night, it's doable, but it's not gonna be easy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This team can’t shoot.  We’re at rock bottom.  Lost 3 of the last 4.   The huge amount of turnovers, lack of energy on defense, and no purpose on offense is a red flag on coaching.   I hated the hire and this is going downhill quick.  

Our supposed leaders in Jordan and Graves have both been awful for at least the last 6-7 games.   Both are turn over machines lately.

Might have been Jordan’s worst game of his career tonight.  And I blame JW for not recognizing that he just needs to be benched, it’s like he was hungover out there.  

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Everyone absolutely roasted Kevin when he created this thread and pointed out his displeasure in JW's job to-date (both with [strong] opinions and stats).

Was it early? Yep.

But is anybody ready to come in this thread and defend the job JW has done so far? Is anybody feeling confident with our direction?

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2 hours ago, SGBull said:

I'm worried, but I still will give him until the end of next year. Unless all of our young talent decides to transfer, then I am out on Whitesell.

If the players at the end of the year enter the transfer portal or do transfer. You have to make a change in my opinion. You gave a guy who was the number 2 a shot, it didn't work. I'll respect that but make the change if that occurs

This still reminds me of nate's second season here. Which to me was very frustrating. Granted this season is a bit more frustrating. 

I'm staying optimistic and believe we will put it together. I see so much potential but the mind numbing mistakes are still being made and that is wearing me down

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21 minutes ago, Tee4three said:

If the players at the end of the year enter the transfer portal or do transfer. You have to make a change in my opinion. You gave a guy who was the number 2 a shot, it didn't work. I'll respect that but make the change if that occurs

This still reminds me of nate's second season here. Which to me was very frustrating. Granted this season is a bit more frustrating. 

I'm staying optimistic and believe we will put it together. I see so much potential but the mind numbing mistakes are still being made and that is wearing me down

After this year we wont have to worry about Jordan's TO's and poor FT%.  He has done alright overall but unfortunately he cant seem to be "the guy." Also, Johnson and Grant who overall have not reached  expectations will graduate and we have a good young core in Hardnet, Mballa, Segu, Williams, plus incoming highly rated recruits (including Skogman).

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