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Will be interesting to see how BG turns out this year. They are opting for the P5 portal and JUCO route (not exactly sure where Wheeling falls into that group). Can you get a group like this to play together in a scheme and will they be there for more than a season. This portal world is going to be interesting. Say for example, the kid that was at Michigan comes in and scores 18-20 per game, does he then leap back to the Big10 or similar? These next 3-4 years will define a new landscape.

Still on the road. Also, helps in recruiting probably even more so with the portal. Figure guys come in, play on some bigger stages and could then move up. Gotta love mid-major basketball.

Could be a solid pick up. Had a decent FR season with Utah, but redshirted last year due to an injury. https://www.deseret.com/2024/1/9/24031913/utah-utes-basketball-wilguens-jr-exacte-redshirting-2023-24-season/

A few years ago we couldn't get any "big" teams to play us. Now everyone wants to. I wonder why.

She is certainly building a brand and is demanding excellence. That is not for everybody, but I really think she can build something here and become a sustained force in the MAC and make noise in the tournament. We will see if we can retain her after this season, Watson's last year of eligibility, etc. Now that she has a young family, if we can give her some annual bumps and incentives, it make keep her here. In WBB, the pay gap is less dramatic unless you get into the top 10+ programs as compared to the MBB coaching top to bottom.

The roster has been updated on the UB website: https://ubbulls.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster Noah Batchelor listed at 6'8" 210lbs, up from 6'6" 185lbs at Maryland. His size was the same his freshman year, so his sophomore profile may never have been updated? If he's a legit 6'8" that gives me more confidence in his ability to play the 4 Armani Mighty listed at 6'10" 240lbs which matches his BC profile Tyson Dunn listed at 6'3" which matches his Western Ontario profile

I'm rooting for him too, as I want to see UB do well. I'm just saying that I realistically don't think he's the long term coach for UB based on what we've seen. I think that the days of "give a coach 3-4 years" are gone given the state of things nowadays. You can flip a roster with talent and experience in a matter of weeks. Longer contracts used to be needed to give confidence to high schoolers (and their families) that the coach that they commit to won't have the rug pulled out in their 4 years but it's clear that's not a major issue for kids any more with the portal. I think it's a huge opportunity cost to let Halcovage pilot the beginning of our NIL era. If he continues to crash and burn, and I don't think going .500 for a couple seasons is enough to fix that, there aren't going to be many people looking to throw money at the mess that he made, especially if they had already been throwing money at the teams that get him fired. Where does that leave us then?

You may be right about Oboh, but he does have athleticism and height working in his favor. If he puts in the work, maybe he can address these shortcomings. Here are some stats from the U18 FIBA that you cited for him, Ben Michaels and another teammate, Latrell Davis, on the team from GBR. Note that Davis played as a freshman this year at San Jose St. - I have provided those stats. FWIW, Davis' stats were better playing in MWC than in this FIBA championship. If Michaels got 10 - 15 minutes per game - my ballpark would be about 3-5 ppg. I expect Michaels may get up to 15 minutes a game (depending on last scholarship player that is added). It is hard to predict he would score a lot. Hopefully gives them some rebounding and interior defense.

I guess turn around is fair play. Very poignant and direct questions Do you think Halcovage will win a MAC Championship at UB? If so, when do you see that occurring by? Based on what I have seen, I am not optimistic, but as long as he is the coach I will be pulling for him and think he should have opportunity to succeed. My goal I had in mind for a new coach was competing for MAC by 3rd year. What is Halcovage's greatest accomplishment since coming to UB over a year ago? I will concede last year was bad. So I am not sure I have one. However, I still hope the staff learned from this past year and that could be an unknown accomplishment. Time will tell. I am going to abstain from last question as I do not know enough about his tenure with Villanova.

I mean yes, Freeman, Massinburg, Antonio Gates didn't play football in college, etc. You know these stories because they are notable and exceptional. They're fun stories not roster building strategies. Akron stumbled upon and developed Freeman, but all but one of their committed players for next year had many, many D1 offers. There's a difference between scouting an event and stumbling upon what you expect to be a true "diamond in the rough" to supplement your established talent, and only going after un-recruited players because you can't out-recruit anyone. The walk-on part of Freeman's story is also interesting because the only walk-ons on our bench last year were on the coaching staff. Maybe there was a Freeman walking around UB's campus last year but we'll never know

Not sure if any of you saw or read this. I respect him for actually giving an interview. He obviously has a plan in his head and is hopeful the guys he has returning and is bringing in can execute it. He is right about one thing, especially at the mid-major level, you have to work at it. We are not going to get the most naturally talented guys, it's going to take work. We all ooh and aah about Freeman. He was a walk-on destined for nothing, but every MAC team and many P5 teams would have loved him on their roster. You just never know what you have. Time will tell. https://buffalonews.com/sports/college/basketball/men/buffalo-basketball-coach-george-halcovage-roster-transfer-portal/article_d06e28ec-0bbe-11ef-8341-e7955a93de70.html?mode=comments Enrique Freeman - Look where he started, look where he ended up. How many people on the Akron fan boards were jumping up and down when they saw him added to their roster is 2019.

Seems like everyone would have preferred what he had to offer than what we got last year. I am also not a big fan of revisionist history. I'll support what is provided to us because the athletes deserve our support. At the time, the administration chose not to use Oats success as a way to set that as a new plateau, they instead decided to make that our peak. They figured we keep as many guys as we can from the Oats era and try to ride it out. Let's not fool ourselves that if the rules of today applied then, our team would have been decimated. Once that decision was made, you get behind JW and hope for the best. I gave him a lot of grace and rooted for him to be successful. Did it work out? He did ok, but did not maintain the standard set by Oats. Is GH3 going to get us back to the Oats era? Not sure yet, maybe but probably not. I also am a realist and know there is no way UB is going to eat the contract. I would be shocked if he didn't get 2 years more at least. We are not in the habit of throwing money at our failures and moving on. Since that will be our reality, I will hope for the best and root for the guys we have to come together and be successful. Bitching about what could have been or rooting for the best of what you do you have is a personal choice. I assume those that take the time to post on sites like this at least would like there to be success. Running down a group of guys that haven't even taken the floor together seems premature. My beefs with the team last year I stand behind because I witnessed what was bad. I think the 4 remaining guys have promise and I am hoping they are successful with the new pieces, but we will still be an extremely young team, so I do not think we will compete for a MAC Championship. Making it to Cleveland is my goal for this group.

Uhh no? He was a freshman 6'5" combo guard with a good jump shot that contributed to a team that won 6x as many D1 games as this past year's team. I feel like you don't understand the magnitude of how bad this team was last year. You would trade freshman Curtis Jones for any of last year's freshmen?

I would love to move on to the next coach, yes. It doesn't appear that is going to happen, so saving NIL money for a new coach is the next best thing. Probabilistically, ignoring everything else, given that Halcovage found a way to crash through the presumed floor of this program and post by far the worst season in UB history, I think it is unlikely that he will turn the program around. People are talking about him posting a "near .500" record next year as a win which should tell you how far he has cratered this program. Now not ignoring everything else, his year 2 recruiting, and filling of Cage's staff spot (not to mention him leaving in the first place) does not suggest to me that he is making any major changes to his philosophy either. His approach to recruiting has been to primarily recruit high school prospects with no other D1 offers, while nothing about his track record suggests that he just has an exceptional eye for diamonds in the rough. Even if he did have an exceptional eye for talent, success with this strategy almost entirely hinges on each player making such a big jump in year 2 that it vaults us from last place into contender status in one season before they transfer out to better opportunities. I had a post in another thread about what freshmen on the last place MAC team have done for the last 5 years (hint: it's not win MAC championships). Then you need to repeat that every year. I think coaches would understand that posting the worst season in school history would put a coach on thin ice, yes. Now some questions for you: -Do you think Halcovage will win a MAC Championship at UB? If so, when do you see that occurring by? -What is Halcovage's greatest accomplishment since coming to UB over a year ago? -What is Halcovage's greatest accomplishment as a college coach? Him specifically, not just being along for the ride with Jay Wright, what did he do at Villanova that spurred their success?

Would we have said Curtis Jones wasn’t a solid player or difference maker the summer after his freshman year going into his sophomore year? I’d say the consensus among all of us was he was just ok. He proved us all wrong and it happens all the time.

First, yes you are correct, it would not be a lack of support from the administration, but you are calling for withholding support. I am trying to understand your position. What I conclude is you believe that last season was so bad that there is (nearly) zero chance that Halcovage can learn / improve and succeed as a head coach. Time might prove that to be true. However, if that is your view, shouldn't he just be fired rather than keeping him another year and withholding NIL. It will certainly make it harder for him to turn things around. Lastly, you are saying the prospective coaches would understand the NIL funds being withheld because one year is enough to deem someone a lost cause and it was wise to save up for next coach?

It's not about who they like. I'm sure Halcovage is a nice guy but he's bad at his job. There's nobody worth paying on the roster. Throwing whatever little money they have at bad players just because it's legal now is a surefire way to make sure that this program never improves

I sure hope the NIL collective isn't petty if they don't like a coach and take it out on the student athletes by withholding money for the players

I mean, they turned out to be correct in the end, didn't they?

I’m no expert in analyzing coaches or prospects, nothing like that, but I really like the way coach handles this team. I know they’ve had troubles in the beginning with being tough, but she’s always been consistent and honest about her expectations. She expects everything out of her players and in return she gives everything from herself. Love the social media presence and the winning mindset. Definitely building a culture and identity, something men’s basketball has lacked

The collective isn't the administration. If I was a candidate I'd be a lot more interested in a nest egg of NIL money rather than an empty bank account that shows that we "supported" a failing coach (candidates will look at a 3 win season more objectively than fans). This would be a more compelling argument if it wasn't for my long post history that showed that I was rather level headed about the Whitesell era and I actually received a lot of shit for it on this board. I think my standard for the program has not really moved (be a real contender for the MAC championship every year) and the demographic of the board has shifted to where I'm one of the more negative people here now because everyone else has stopped caring. So in this scenario where we raise funds for two years and have nothing to show for it, how many people do you think are going to be throwing money at a program with a new coach? At that point we will be 7 seasons and two coach firings from our last NCAA tournament appearance. You acknowledge the lack of NIL was an issue when hiring and yet your proposition is to again go into a hiring search with no NIL money. What is a new coach going to fix the Halcovage dumpster fire with? I guess we'll just burn the first season under the new coach again while we try to raise money, but this time 8 seasons removed from the program being relevant.

Save your breath, it's no different than the group that wanted JW out the door on day 1. It will play out how it plays out. If there is NIL money available for MBB it should be used. As for spending on the Coach, we had the chance to parlay a larger buyout from Oats into a different coaching option and increase the baseline pay of our MBB Coach. We didn't do that and went the safe route, so we are back to square one (I'm not talking about hiring BH, we could have gotten a good D1 ready coach with HC experience and increased the pay to say $750k). Difference now is we have a collective, so it should be used. If GH3 and staff fail again this season, then there should be serious consideration to moving on from him. If he gets near .500 then I think you stick it out and see what Season 3 looks like. Time will tell and I will be rooting hard for their success. It should also be noted that we likely lost out on 2-3 potential coaching candidates due to our lack of NIL. GH3 was talking NIL to the administration since day 1, it got a zap in the ass when Lembo was hired (I guarantee that was part of the negotiations for him to take this job). So now here we are, what are we going to do with it and who is going to support the cause?

Do you think the next potential coach may look at not utilizing available NIL after one year as a negative? In other words, the administration did not support the predecessor. Perhaps supporting GHIII is a bit of an investment in the program's future in addition to giving GHIII a chance at success.