Jeseph Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Can we defend one of the top 3pt shooting teams in the country? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire17 Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 2 hours ago, Jeseph said: Can we defend one of the top 3pt shooting teams in the country? They are red hot from 3. Bulls will have to get in their faces without picking up cheap fouls. If they can do that, they have a chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeseph Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 I have a feeling our run of dominance in the Ohio Conference has Akron pissed off. They might plan this one with something to prove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UB85 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Eff Akron and their obnoxious fans. Their sense of entitlement is beyond compare. With that said it’s pretty clear they and BG are the clear top 2 teams in conference. Toledo beat them by shooting lights out in a shoot out. Our guys will need to be sharp from deep and Jordan will have to get back to his MAC defensive player of the year play which is asking a lot when so much else Is being asked of him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UB92 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 5 hours ago, Jeseph said: I have a feeling our run of dominance in the Ohio Conference has Akron pissed off. They might plan this one with something to prove. I know... Two years ago we thoroughly embarrassed Akron at their place. Last year was a closer match, but we got the better of them in the second half. For a team that has been near the top most years, I think they are going to remember the recent UB domination and really be motivated to turn the tables in a big way. While I would like to be very wrong, this one has all the makings of an 80ish to 60ish score... Make me eat my words, Bulls! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGBull Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I think we lose this one by 15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skrabukes Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I'm not sure that I've heard one person on this board say that they thought UB was going to win tonight. While UB has had it's struggles at times, the team has come up very big when faced with strong opponents this season. UB is 4-1 against their "strongest rated" opponents thus far this year, so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that record moves to 5-1 after tonight. This game means quite a lot to the squad, not wanting to go to 4-4 in league play, so that might play into things as well. I think that Kent had a similar chip on their shoulders the other night, not wanting to drop 4 straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 17 minutes ago, skrabukes said: I'm not sure that I've heard one person on this board say that they thought UB was going to win tonight. While UB has had it's struggles at times, the team has come up very big when faced with strong opponents this season. UB is 4-1 against their "strongest rated" opponents thus far this year, so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that record moves to 5-1 after tonight. This game means quite a lot to the squad, not wanting to go to 4-4 in league play, so that might play into things as well. I think that Kent had a similar chip on their shoulders the other night, not wanting to drop 4 straight. I do believe UB can win. Wins against DePaul, CMU and WMU shows they can play good team wide ball. I do think the key is to keep positive mental makeup even if they fall behind and not have one player think he has to make all the plays to win. Go Bulls!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaineBull Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I believe this team can win as well. I think we have seen enough of this team so far this season to see a series of trends that have defined whether they win or lose. They can win if they limit their turnovers, take quality shots (meaning make the extra pass) and defend and limit the easy baskets in the post. The three other major factors that will determine if they win or lose is how they deal with the adversity that they will face tonight, if they hang their heads like they have in games in the past this season it could be trouble as they will no doubt face adversity at some point in this game. Also they need to get out in transition after turnovers and get a few easy buckets, unlike they were unable to do against Kent State. They also need to shoot the ball better. This team seems to get down when they are not shooting the ball well and you can see that in each of the loses they have suffered this season. This team is athletic and can get to the rim and put pressure on the defense by getting to the line. If the shots are not falling look to attack off the dribble. Our free throw shooting has been a bit better the last few games (minus Kent State I know). I think this team shows up tonight and trades blows with Akron on the road. At this point I think we are a better team on the road. I think it comes down to who makes a few plays down the stretch to win this game. Win or lose this game and it does not define our season. The key to this season is continuing to improve so that come Cleveland we are ready to play our best basketball of the season so that we can make it 5 in 6 years. A top 4 seed would help, but is not critical to the success of the season. Play our best come Cleveland and we have a chance to win this conference. I like where this team is headed and I want to see them continue to grow and improve tonight against the best team in the conference. I am one looking forward to this game tonight! Go Bulls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skrabukes Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Erie County said: Who are the strongest rated? You can't pick and choose which ones you want to count. 4-1? How? They are actually: 2-3 against their top 5 ranked Kenpom teams (Conn, Depaul, Kent State, Ball State, Harvard). Akron is the best "rated" of the bunch too. It's in Akron, they have a premier scorer and UB has a selfish/defense problem that was finally admitted to by the team. RPI ranks Harvard, Kent, Depaul, Bona, W&M as their top 5 ranked opponents. That's a ranking system, so I didn't "pick and choose". You can choose to continually dwell on negatives within this team, but at the same time, I can continue to support and seek the positives. In keeping it real, this team that lost 4 All MAC caliber seniors last year, is still 12-7 and 4-3 in league. While we all want to be 19-0 and 7-0 it's not realistic. While this team could and should have at least 2 more wins, if not 3-4, it has had it's flaws in games. When has another MAC team had 4 All-MAC caliber guys? When has another MAC team had 4 All-MAC caliber guys all leave in one season and then have be flawless the next year? We aren't Duke, Kentucky, etc. getting instant 5 star guys to replace past stars. We have to develop our players and it does take time. This team still is quite young, even though it added the 2 grad seniors. There are a lot of developing pieces within this team (Segu, Williams, Mballa, Hardnett - all of whom look to be potential All-MAC guys, some sooner than later) in addition to future hopeful development (Skogman, Gallion). Don't forget about the loss of Fagan this year. I think that loss looms large at times and he'll be a strong piece moving year's forward. Edited January 28, 2020 by skrabukes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skrabukes Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Erie County said: I am not expecting 7-0 in MAC play. But saying we've sunken to the level of losing to Dartmouth, NIU, Army, AND Kent all at home is a lot. We shouldn't have needed four home losses there. That should be a 3-1 stretch. I'll agree not getting much out of the freshman and the grad seniors struggling has hurt the continuity of the team. We were using the last 5 minutes of the Kent game for a teaching moment (rather than the first 4 like Kent did). I didn't like that there and I'm allowed to think the best team in the conference by far is going to beat us at home. I agree that we shouldn't have lost all 4 of those games, even with all of our changes in roster. Games are hard to win, no matter who you play. This roster isn't SO good that they can just roll the ball out on the floor and expect to win. They have to show up for 40 minutes and grind. There are very few teams in the entire country that are THAT good anymore. Wins are hard to come by, they need to be earned, and we didn't earn them on those days. Are you certain that it was a "teaching moment" or was the staff simply going with the group that closed the gap to even over a few minute stretch towards the end of the game, trying to go with what they felt was the "hot hand" at the time? Whether I agree with it or not, I'm not the coach and I don't wish to try to judge his decisions when he's the one who has some sort of plan (again, whether I agree with it or not) to win the game. You're welcome to think that "the best team in the conference by far" is going to beat us, but at the same time, I will choose to think otherwise. It's quite plausible that we get beaten, or even blown out, but I don't think that it's too grossly far fetched to think that UB wins this game or even blows them out. If we ever can get hot from the outside for a game or a period of games (it would be a welcome change), we could very easily blow any team out in this league. Additionally, very little would make me happier than beating Groce. While I greatly respect his coaching, I'm not a fan at all of his! Edited January 28, 2020 by skrabukes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UB85 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) 16 minutes ago, skrabukes said: I agree that we shouldn't have lost all 4 of those games, even with all of our changes in roster. Games are hard to win, no matter who you play. This roster isn't SO good that they can just roll the ball out on the floor and expect to win. They have to show up for 40 minutes and grind. There are very few teams in the entire country that are THAT good anymore. Wins are hard to come by, they need to be earned, and we didn't earn them on those days. Are you certain that it was a "teaching moment" or was the staff simply going with the group that closed the gap to even over a few minute stretch towards the end of the game, trying to go with what they felt was the "hot hand" at the time? Whether I agree with it or not, I'm not the coach and I don't wish to try to judge his decisions when he's the one who has some sort of plan (again, whether I agree with it or not) to win the game. You're welcome to think that "the best team in the conference by far" is going to beat us, but at the same time, I will choose to think otherwise. It's quite plausible that we get beaten, or even blown out, but I don't think that it's too grossly far fetched to think that UB wins this game or even blows them out. If we ever can get hot from the outside for a game or a period of games (it would be a welcome change), we could very easily blow any team out in this league. Additionally, very little would make me happier than beating Groce. While I greatly respect his coaching, I'm not a fan at all of his! S what are the keys for the Bulls to win tonight? We all know they can, that's why they play the game; but imo I think they'll need to shoot 50% from the field, 40%+ from 3, play rock solid defense, not get beat in transition, get out in transition for 10+ easy points and hit their free throws. In other words I think there isn't much of a margin for error tonight as Akron has played well in pretty much every game this year. Edited January 28, 2020 by UB85 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skrabukes Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) 7 minutes ago, UB85 said: S what are the keys for the Bulls to win tonight? We all know they can, that's why they play the game; but imo I think they'll need to shoot 50% from the field, 40%+ from 3, play rock solid defense, not get beat in transition, get out in transition for 10+ easy points and hit their free throws. In other words I think there isn't much of a margin for error tonight as Akron has played well in pretty much every game this year. I'd say that they need to: - Limit defensive breakdowns that result in EASY baskets - we've seen far too many cupcake baskets for our opponents. They will happen over 40 minutes, but they need to be few and far between, especially tonight. - Improved shooting overall, including free throws - this starts with some easy transition baskets that result from solid D, followed by good ball movement passing up the good shot for the better shot, finishing at the basket when we get there (I don't know how many <3' shots have been missed this year, but Jordan rarely missed those in year's past and has missed many lately, among others). - Play as a team, playing with and FOR each other, not worrying about who is the guy who gets it done, just that it gets done. This probably should be #1, as #2 and #3 probably take place due to this one. Edited January 28, 2020 by skrabukes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UB85 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) 3 minutes ago, skrabukes said: I'd say that they need to: - Limit defensive breakdowns that result in EASY baskets - we've seen far too many cupcake baskets for our opponents. They will happen over 40 minutes, but they need to be few and far between, especially tonight. - Improved shooting overall, including free throws - this starts with some easy transition baskets that result from solid D, followed by good ball movement passing up the good shot for the better shot, finishing at the basket when we get there (I don't know how many <3' shots have been missed this year, but Jordan rarely missed those in year's past and has missed many lately, among others). - Play as a team, playing with and FOR each other, not worrying about who is the guy who gets it done, just that it gets done. This probably should be #1, as #2 and #3 probably take place due to this one. As usual we’re on the same page. Edited January 28, 2020 by UB85 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikescherrer8 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Won’t be surprised if UB wins this one, won’t be surprised if they lose. Hoping they can rebound from that stinker against Kent State. Time for the seniors to step it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UBlearns Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 14 hours ago, UB92 said: I know... Two years ago we thoroughly embarrassed Akron at their place. Last year was a closer match, but we got the better of them in the second half. Both regular season games were close, but UB beat Akron by 36 in Cleveland in the MAC tournament - the last time these two teams played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UB92 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 1 hour ago, skrabukes said: I'd say that they need to: - Limit defensive breakdowns that result in EASY baskets - we've seen far too many cupcake baskets for our opponents. They will happen over 40 minutes, but they need to be few and far between, especially tonight. - Improved shooting overall, including free throws - this starts with some easy transition baskets that result from solid D, followed by good ball movement passing up the good shot for the better shot, finishing at the basket when we get there (I don't know how many <3' shots have been missed this year, but Jordan rarely missed those in year's past and has missed many lately, among others). - Play as a team, playing with and FOR each other, not worrying about who is the guy who gets it done, just that it gets done. This probably should be #1, as #2 and #3 probably take place due to this one. Akron has three guys in the top 12 in the conference in 3-point attempts (williams, jackson, banks). They shoot 40% from 3 as a team -- top in the conference. So they shoot the most 3s and make them at a high percentage. No guesswork as to why they are 16 - 4. Playing Akron in the JAR is tough...some strong UB teams had trouble there. The key to this game is getting out on those 3-point attempts because Akron will look for it on the fast break and in their half-court offense. UB has to avoid the bad turnovers that plagued them last game. They gave away possessions because of bad passes. But Akron turns the ball over as well. Whitesell will need to use his timeouts wisely to stop runs. Toledo beat Akron at home a few weeks ago and just outshot them, basically (and make their FTs). They were above 50% on 3 pointers. If UB is going to win this game, they will need to shoot a high percentage, especially on 3s. However, UB has been over 50% on 3 pointers twice this year (Nazareth and Niagara). In conference...it has been more of a struggle from deep. If UB shoots well and can limit turnovers, it can be a close game with the score within 5 points at the 5 minute mark. If not...it will be a long night at the office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeseph Posted January 28, 2020 Author Share Posted January 28, 2020 9 minutes ago, UB92 said: Playing Akron in the JAR is tough...some strong UB teams had trouble there. While I wouldn't call it hostile. Their crowd responds to runs, they are a team built to put up a ton of points quickly (3s). I absolutely agree with your points about 3pt defense and when to look for it. Also: 11 minutes ago, UB92 said: Whitesell will need to use his timeouts wisely to stop runs. 11 minutes ago, UB92 said: UB has to avoid the bad turnovers that plagued them last game. I think we need to consider badly-timed and/or forced 3pt attempts as turnovers in this case. I can't count how many times a bricked 3 has led to an opposing 3pt shot to start or continue a run/momentum swing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UB92 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 46 minutes ago, Jeseph said: While I wouldn't call it hostile. Their crowd responds to runs, they are a team built to put up a ton of points quickly (3s). I absolutely agree with your points about 3pt defense and when to look for it. Akron is a bigger city, so it draws folks from the local community...and, sometimes, students. The team is good, so maybe there will be some students at the game. It just gets noisy there and I have seen Akron hit multiple 3-pointers in a row against the Bulls on various runs...and a 4 point game becomes a 13 point game in a jiffy. Stopping runs through time outs and taking good shots when you have the ball (not rushed 3 pointers by Johnson and Grant...who are 96th and 97th, respectively, in 3-point percentage in conference...and Jennathan is 92nd, by the way, all 3 under 30%) is key as well. Let's see how the guys do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UB85 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) They play in a high school gym much like Canisius and Niagara but not as nice. It can get loud because the ceiling is about 40 ft from ground level. A nice spot for a gym in Bolivar or some such out of the way town but not for a legit college basketball program. Edited January 28, 2020 by UB85 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BasketBull Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I'm not one to complain about refs but calling charge 3 consecutive times seemed really questionable. The first I was fine with, but Johnson and Williams didn't earn those calls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
121Merrimac Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 For such an amazing team, the arena sure has a lot of empty seats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire17 Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 What a sloppy game so far. Both teams look like shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UB85 Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Shows you how much I know. We’re up 10-8 shooting 20% from the field and 25% from 3. Beat the zippers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
121Merrimac Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 UB has lead for 10 minutes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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