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Carleton lost to Albany by 10 last year. Just saying'...

Losing to Carleton is embarrassing and it serves the Buffalo Bulls basketball team right for not being ready or tough enough down the stretch late in games in my opinion. This is one of the reasons why UB basketball comes up short every year in the MAC tournment under Reggie Witherspoon in my opinion. Don't worry Reggie Witherspoon excuse makers Reggie isn't going any where just like Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff jobs for life as mediocre head coaches in my opinion. Is that great for Buffalo basketball and hockey I guess that is in the eye of the beholder. I say no fire both of them but I want more for both Buffalo teams then average middle of the road teams. Let's Go Buffalo

I have to agree with you.  This was a bad loss and cause for concern because we had a significant talent advantage.  Even though this is just a summer exhibition, I hope it is not the first sign of another underperforming year to come.

We were running a depleted becnh because of injury in a series fo games that saw our stars get less time than they will in the regular season.

Carleton lost to Albany by 10 last year. Just saying'...

Losing to Carleton is embarrassing and it serves the Buffalo Bulls basketball team right for not being ready or tough enough down the stretch late in games in my opinion. This is one of the reasons why UB basketball comes up short every year in the MAC tournment under Reggie Witherspoon in my opinion. Don't worry Reggie Witherspoon excuse makers Reggie isn't going any where just like Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff jobs for life as mediocre head coaches in my opinion. Is that great for Buffalo basketball and hockey I guess that is in the eye of the beholder. I say no fire both of them but I want more for both Buffalo teams then average middle of the road teams. Let's Go Buffalo

I have to agree with you.  This was a bad loss and cause for concern because we had a significant talent advantage.  Even though this is just a summer exhibition, I hope it is not the first sign of another underperforming year to come.

We were running a depleted becnh because of injury in a series fo games that saw our stars get less time than they will in the regular season.

This seems like a case of everyone anxiously anticipating the upcoming season, which isn't such a bad thing. We're still 3 months away but we have been given a "preview" of the season in the form of this 4 game Canadian tour. Is it a reliable predictor of our season in any way? Unlikely. We were missing several key players and based on the write-ups, Reggie most likely did not deploy his line-ups the way he will when the season starts. Nevertheless, some people will choose to nitpick the Carleton game as a possible cause for concern because that is all we have to go on right now with this year's team.

[should]

You guys can say what you want about us playing with a depleted bench, but the fact remains - we lost to a Canadian team that is in a rebuilding mode that was squashed last year when they had a veteran squad by a crappy Albany team. I don't really care that they "kept up with UNLV". They still lost as they should have. Hell, we "kept up with Uconn and Pitt" a few years ago but we still lost as expected. I don't know if we should really care at all about this since it's basically the equivalent of a preseason NFL game, but it's still disconcerting to see us lose to teams we should have the talent to beat. Who cares if they're the Duke of Canada? Any relevant D1 school that has played them has found a way to beat them(regardless of how close it was) and we shouldn't be the exception.

Here is a quote before our game with Carleton from their head coach. You tell me if it sounds like a team we should lose to.

“We’re as talented as we’ve ever been, we just have no idea what we’re doing. Last year, we were a veteran team with a pretty decent amount of talent, so in August we looked good. This August we’re going to look awful.”

But they still found a way to beat Buffalo...

[should]

You guys can say what you want about us playing with a depleted bench, but the fact remains - we lost to a Canadian team that is in a rebuilding mode that was squashed last year when they had a veteran squad by a crappy Albany team. I don't really care that they "kept up with UNLV". They still lost as they should have. Hell, we "kept up with Uconn and Pitt" a few years ago but we still lost as expected. I don't know if we should really care at all about this since it's basically the equivalent of a preseason NFL game, but it's still disconcerting to see us lose to teams we should have the talent to beat. Who cares if they're the Duke of Canada? Any relevant D1 school that has played them has found a way to beat them(regardless of how close it was) and we shouldn't be the exception.

Here is a quote before our game with Carleton from their head coach. You tell me if it sounds like a team we should lose to.

“We’re as talented as we’ve ever been, we just have no idea what we’re doing. Last year, we were a veteran team with a pretty decent amount of talent, so in August we looked good. This August we’re going to look awful.”

But they still found a way to beat Buffalo...

So you can get that quote from their coach, but you seem to neglect to realize that it pretty sums up our team the same way. Last year, we were a veteran team too, but now we lost the winningest class in program history and four of our top five scorers and you expect this team in August to be ready to hit the ground running? This thread is either lousy with trolls, or panicky petes who can't see the big picture.

We just played four more games than most of our opponents will. If you don't think that will go a long way in integrating our new guys into the system with the returners, then you just don't understand how this all works.

[should]

But who says we should beat the best Canadian team? We'd like to, but the reality is they are quality. They offer scholarships just as we do. That last quote is clearly coach-speak. He's not trying to give his team a big head. They aren't rebuilding, they reload. You don't win as they have this past decade if you don't reload. Yeah, they are in such disarray they've dropped 70+ points on 2 quality D-1 teams.

Since 2001 they are 10-18 vs D-1 programs. Included in those 18 were 3 loses to BC, 3 to Cincy, 1 to Villanova. In their 10 wins were:

LaSalle in 2006 (10-20 A-10) 76-75 OT
UB in 2008 84-74, and 2012 77-75
Northeastern in 2008 (19-13 CAA) 87-47
South Alabama in 2008 (20-13 Sun Belt) 78-59
Illinois St in 2011 (21-14 MVC) 91-80
St Louis in 2011 (26-8 A-10, NCAA Tourny Bid) 80-56, 78-73
NU in 2011 (14-19 MAAC) 85-55
UCSB in 2011 (20-11 Big West) 71-61

If their losing to Albany chaifs anyone the wrong way then what about us beating Cornell the last 2 seasons, while Albany lost to them both seasons? Does that not trump pre-season scrimmage results?

[should]

You guys can say what you want about us playing with a depleted bench, but the fact remains - we lost to a Canadian team that is in a rebuilding mode that was squashed last year when they had a veteran squad by a crappy Albany team. I don't really care that they "kept up with UNLV". They still lost as they should have. Hell, we "kept up with Uconn and Pitt" a few years ago but we still lost as expected. I don't know if we should really care at all about this since it's basically the equivalent of a preseason NFL game, but it's still disconcerting to see us lose to teams we should have the talent to beat. Who cares if they're the Duke of Canada? Any relevant D1 school that has played them has found a way to beat them(regardless of how close it was) and we shouldn't be the exception.

Here is a quote before our game with Carleton from their head coach. You tell me if it sounds like a team we should lose to.

“We’re as talented as we’ve ever been, we just have no idea what we’re doing. Last year, we were a veteran team with a pretty decent amount of talent, so in August we looked good. This August we’re going to look awful.”

But they still found a way to beat Buffalo...

The clodney fire Reggie posts are starting extra early this year.

Imagine if there was a video replay of the last play. This board probably would be livid.

Livid?  Probably.  If watching live, it would have been hard to ignore the similarity.  But, not knowing much about the newcomer to begin with, and then realizing that he made 2 of 3 from three in the next game changed my feelings.

This loss is concerning because we have a very experienced team with the best depth we have ever had.  I don't think there is a bad player on the roster.  We actually have star players with McCrea and hopefully Reagan.  I was expecting this to be our best shot at a MAC championship since the Turner Battle days.  Even if this is an exhibition, Reggie SHOULD have been coaching to WIN.  No one plays these games to lose with such an experienced team. 

I've always been a Reggie supporter because he is a local guy and deserved his chance to coach UB. But we need to be a top tier MAC team, not just competitive.  We should not lose to Oakland U in post season tourneys or Canadian teams in preseason exhibitions.  Maybe I was too optimistic, but the only reason that we should not have a great season is because of Reggie's coaching. 

I can't agree that 2012-13 is our most experienced and deepest team ever, not compared to past years. Do we even know who will be the starting SG yet? The player to play when Auraum sits? CR² is athletic but hasn't shown much in the minutes he's played, blowing a few break-aways and never having made a 3 in-game before. He's a TBD. Ford also has potential but played very green last year, and with Titus gone we NEED Ford to produce when McCrea sits. Tony is now our #2 returning scorer and best outside shooter, but can he be the shooter if Skeete is slow to develop, and he needs to be back-up PG? Our rotation is a big mystery.

And, make it 2-1 vs D-1 teams as Carleton beats Northeastern by 13. Their coach once again talks like they lost. Smart move on his part.

Pre-season wins in any sport don't count for much.  I would hope that Reggie or any coach would use this 4 game trip to evaluate line-ups, try to pair different players, and find ways to refine his system.  Wins and losses don't matter, and I don't care if we got trounced 88-45 so long as we gained information about how this this team works together.

There are times when we play early season OOC road games and the mood/thought on the board is that Reggie should use those games to figure out his rotation, get some guys early playing time, etc.   In light of that, I don't really see much reason to concern ourselves with an OOC (out of country!) pre-season game. 

Having said that, I like the fact that there is interest/action on this board over these Canadian exhibition games. 

Go Bulls.

For the chicken little stuff that went down here earlier,

The Eagles hosted a secret scrimmage with Carleton University (Canada) on Saturday. The scrimmage was broken into two sessions with Carleton winning the first and BC winning the second. According to a source, both scores were "close". The split is a good start for the Eagles, as Carleton is one of the most respected college basketball programs in Canada. Last year Carleton defeated St.Louis twice, which is impressive considering Rick Majerus' team went on to the NCAA Tournament. This summer, Carleton defeated Buffalo and Northeastern, and lost to nationally ranked UNLV by 4.

Some BC PR spin here re: Carleton's strength, but BC was probably not close to UB last year. Their big weakness was a bunch of freshmen who needed to gel, so they'll get better faster than UB.

But my point is: Carleton is a good team that can compete with NCAA-level opponents. No shame in losing a preseason scrimmage and coming out healthy.