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I am finding it very hard to not be really disappointed in this team. I would like to think the Harvard and Depaul games were what we should expect from this team. But thru 11 games they have made it clear that those games may be the outliers and the reality is this team is the other team we have seen. A team that shows flashes but cannot put it together for long periods of time. They clearly lack a leader and the killer mentality needed when things are not going our way. My biggest concern with this team is how we handle adversity. We seem to be like a turtle that crawls into our shell. Coach and or a leader on this team need to fix that immediately. We have too much talent to disappear. My other two concerns are the ball movement on this team. We show it well in flashes but for the most part we struggle to move the ball to be an effective offense. See below where I lay into Grant and Johnson again, they are glue when the ball gets in their hands. Hard to have any ball movement on this team with either of them on the floor. My final concern is our ability to give up too many easy baskets. We never, and I mean never gave away easy baskets last year. Because our team was tough, hardnosed and physical. This year we are not that and coach needs to turn that around. Stop giving up easy baskets, move the ball and keep your head up when things are bad, fix those and I think we can be that team that we saw versus Harvard and DePaul. I saw a lot I did not like in the game and a lot I liked. Some positives, we had 50 rebounds and got contributions from all positions. We limited turnovers in second half but still finished the game with 18, that's too many. We finished the game with 19 assists, that's a reasonable number but still would like to see better ball movement. 7 for 24 from 3 (29%) is not going to cut it against good teams, this team needs to shot the ball better. Free throws are bad, again we shot 9 for 18 as a team, that is the kind of thing that makes u lose a game in march in Cleveland. Each of these kids needs to be in the gym everyday shooting free throws. Mballa and Hardnett are going to spend a lot of time at the line in the next 3 to 4 years, they need to get dialed in from the line. I am so tired of Grant and Johnson. The style of play each of them plays is just gross. it goes against everything that UB has become known for. We all know why coach continues to play them, he got them here by promising them playing time. To me we have gotten to the point where their play no longer warrants the playing time. At this point each of them is hurting the team. The coaches job is to do what is best for the team, and right now that means limiting minutes for both Grant and Johnson. I will break down each with some numbers: Johnson-I think he deserves some minutes as I would argue he has been better than Grant but not much. I do not think he should be starting. Segu should be starting. Johnson is much better defensively than Grant but he makes some very dumb mental mistakes each game. Defensively he is too aggressive and it burns him a few times a game. Simply put, he is not going to be a consistently affective player at this level. He has taken the second most shots on the team with 119 prior to last night. He has only made 40 of those shots, meaning he has missed 79 shots on the season. That is more shots that both Mballa and Segu have taken on the season. He is shooting 33% from the floor and 25% from 3. These numbers do not deserve playing time. If he was putting up these numbers and was a great defender I would understand him playing but we all can see is an average defender at best. No doubt we have kids on the bench who can shot much better, move the ball and play better defense. Segu should be starting in his place and if you need another bench player I think its time to give Gallion a shot with some meaningful minutes, it cannot be as bad as Johnson has been. Grant-He is the worst defender I can remember in the last 10 years at UB. He and Brock are currently battling for this award! he simply cannot defend at this level without either giving up an easy bucket or fouling. His shot selection is terrible. How many times do you see the ball swinging around the perimeter from one side to the other trying to switch the defense and when it gets to Grant the ball movement stops and he chucks up some deep ill advised three and he bricks it. With a player standing in the corner wide open waiting for the reverse pass. ON the season he is 14 for 50 from the floor (28%) and 9 for 33 from 3 (27%). Those numbers along with his terrible defense do not warrant a single second of playing time. I don't care what coach promised him to get him to transfer here, he does not deserve to be on the floor. His minutes should be given to Hardnett and Nickleberry. I am so tired of watching these two guys be anchors on this team. Coach needs to wake up and make the changes needed. Sometimes a coach needs to make these hard decisions and now is the time. UB is about defense, effort, passion and ball movement. Why play two guys who play the complete opposite of who we are as a program! Some thoughts on a few of the other players: Mballa-I love this kid. He plays hard at all times and is willing to do whatever he can to help this team. Without him inside this team would likely have only a handful of wins. Thanks goodness he was given his waiver. This kid has a bright future and I cannot wait to see it develop. His game is meant to run up and down, he is at his best when we are running. Williams-Another solid game. he hit a big three at the end and he did not take a single ill advised shot in the game (he was 5 for 7 from the floor). I love his ability to defend and rebound especially on the offensive end. I still think he needs to be able to attack off the dribble to his right! Williams also has a bright future ahead. Graves-He is either hurt or going thru something emotionally. Two games in a row he has acted disinterested, as if he would rather be someplace else. I have never seen this from him in his career here. I am very nervous about what is going on here. This team needs Graves to be who he is, aggressive and athletic. Time for coach to have a heart to heart with this kid to get to the bottom of what is going on. Jordan-He saved UB in this game! We have seen him take over the leadership role from Graves in the last two weeks. Jordan is the leader of this team. He does what he needs to do to help this team win. He hit some big shots in this game and his ability to get to the rim and finish are a dynamic this team desperately needs. Jordan has come so far with his jump shot in 4 years, when he arrived here he could not shoot at all. Its very impressive. Jordan is going to blow up the MAC when we get to MAC play. Hardnett-This was by far his best game. He rebounded the ball well, he defended well and finished around the rim. He continues to get more and more comfortable on this team. I would like to see him hit his free throws, but I like what I see from him and he also has a bright future. When we get a legit big inside he will be fun to watch on the perimeter. He deserves more playing time. Segu-He continues to impress. He defends, moves the ball, is one of our better shooters. He defines everything that UB basketball is! He deserves more playing time immediately. I am tired of the argument that he is our only backup pg. Coach can stagger him and Jordan and have them both start. Both Graves and Nickleberry are also capable to run the 1. Segu needs to start as this team is better when he is on the floor. His ability to create his own shot or a shot for a teammate is unmatched on this team. When the shot clock is running down he is one of our best creators. Nickleberry-He is starting to figure it out. You can see his confidence building. he deserves more minutes as stated above. Gallion-Time to give this guy some meaningful minutes. Lets see what we have in him. I like what I see defensively and on the bench from this kid. I am frustrated with this team and how it has been handled thus far. It is time for some hard decisions and time to tweak the rotations. This team will be much better in the long run for it. Give these guys a few games to figure it out before MAC play begins. As we have said here this season is about one thing and one thing only, getting prepared to play our best in Cleveland. Despite all my frustration, I continue to love and support this program. I cannot wait to see the Bulls play on Saturday.

Did he steal your lunch money or something? We all get your point. 5 posts about one player who you detest (during a single game) is more than enough. No one is going to disagree with the fact that he's not playing up to anywhere near what we all hoped/anticipated entering the season thus far, so give it a rest already. On another note, the AA was absolutely dead in there ALL NIGHT (the women's game yesterday had far more fan noise and interest). The first 8 minutes of the game followed the same level of intensity. I know that there are no students at the games (why? I still don't understand and never will, but I digress) but I'm very nervous that the public who bought in pretty well is losing interest. I hope that we can string a few wins together in a row on this home-stand and lure them back in with some intensity. Even in the final minutes of the game, it was down to 4 points with 4 minutes left and several people were standing up and walking out. The gym was pretty silent in a 2 possession game. It was very depressing. Hopefully we beat a far inferior Niagara by a bunch on Saturday, much as we did at their place 2 years ago before they ducked playing us last year.

This makes zero sense.. Nate Oats brought these guys, not Whitesell.. He hasn't promised them everything.. Let's stop blaming Whitesell for everything on here.. people need to get out of their minds that we won 32 games last year so we should do that every season. With two wins, we have a chance to go into MAC play at 9-4.. That is a good non-conference record. You guys are so quick to rip on Johnson, but seem to give Graves a pass when he has been terrible the last two games. And i hate this talk of no leader. DAVONTA JORDAN IS THE UNDISPUTED LEADER OF THIS TEAM!! last year we had five seniors who could lead on any given day, which was a luxary to have. This year we are asking one guy who has been in this program and is 21 years old to do it every single day. That is a lot of pressure to put on a guy and I think he has done as well as any of us could have hoped for.

Am I the only one who doesn’t have any ill will towards Hurley? I know our marriage with him didn’t last long and ended horribly but his hiring got this whole thing rolling. And we trounced them in the tournament last year. To me that was the whole thing coming full circle.

It definitely wasn’t a pretty ending. Like you said a win is a win, I’m just still trying to figure out why there weren’t any adjustments made when the same set play we kept calling against the zone wasn’t working. Still don’t understand the logic behind setting a screen on a zone, you have to penetrate the zone to collapse it, they simply weren’t doing that

Mballa and Hardnett 4-12 from free throw line!!!! Unless they somehow improve it could mean big time trouble in MAC games. Maybe they should try the 1,2 Step or shooting blind-folded or shoot for hours in practice. There are players in college basketball that are littered with never being able to shoot free throws when they have been playing the game all the lives!!!! Game time decisions are not like practice decisions and some players do not have the mental makeup during a game. That’s why the game is so frustrating and at the same time can be so exciting at the same time. As for the noise level at the game yes it was not good but a lot of that has to do with what we have seen the last few years. The intensity level and this team still not having an identity and their uneven play are reasons for the fan reaction. Still hope for team chemistry to improve. Go Bulls!!!!

The real question from the game is... WTF?

I don’t think anyone thought Hurley was going to stay in a mid major coaching position forever. Both Hurley and White started UB on the ascent level and how the last number of years were the greatest for all the fans. Go Bulls!!!!

I dislike how much he whines. I like that he brought us Nate. As for the score....eh whatever. For conferences like the PAC-12 that are trying to shed their “mid-major” label, games like these won’t help.

No more Gabe Grant please. Good win.

Win is a win so I’ll take it and some good to take out of this game, rebounding was pretty dominant. Offense looked kinda lost at times. Hardnett had a great game except for the free throws. Jordan beast as usual, and some other nice contributions. The biggest disappointment to me was Graves. That’s two games in a row where he looked terrible, and it wasn’t just the offense, he took it to the defensive side where he had really stupid fouls. I hold him to a higher standard than some of the others as an upper class man and guy that’s been on this team for while. Not fair to compare him to CJ, but one thing about CJ did is even when he had bad shooting nights he still brought it and impacted the game in big way, just haven’t seen that from Jayvon. He needs to show more energy and effort out there.

I think we have to succumb to the fact that there will be no easy wins this year. Every game is gonna feature good UB and bad UB. A lot of what I saw in the last 10 minutes of the game can be fixed with coaching. Example: zone offense and press offense. Jordan is the only senior stepping up on this team. This was easily Graves worst game. He committed a senseless foul late and his body language was off. Great to see Segu, Hardnett (his best game) and Nickleberry contribute off the bench. Williams was solid and if he develops a consistent jumper watch out. Mballa is a beast on the boards. Long way to go before we start to click 100% but I’ll take the win.

The body language of this team when adversity hits is palpable. They look disinterested in playing defense and revert back to hero ball on offense.

I could not disagree with you more, but there is no surprise in that. You say "That is how we get on the big stage", but we have already been on the big stage a few times. And we have been ranked for almost an entire season. We were on lists of "longest undefeated teams" last year and "longest home winning streaks". We were in the conversation the entire year. That's what I see as success. Last year was a big, big success. I want that every year. They talked about UB being the "Gonzaga of the East" last year. Well...with those loses to Dartmouth and Army, we won't hear that again for a long while. Basically, I am looking beyond "three days in Cleveland". Any team can get hot and win for those "three days in Cleveland". I want UB to be a constant force on the college basketball scene. We saw it last year and I want it to happen every year. EVERY GAME MATTERS when you are a team like UB trying to constantly establish your brand. I 1000% disagree with you that "this is all about March and getting into the NCAA tournament". I would have agreed with you ten years ago and I said so at the time. We are past that now.