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My takeaways from the first couple of games: -There were questions about who would step up and be a closer, Segu and Williams to me look like two guys that can get and make their own shot. Graves was a good player, but I don't think him being a creator was ever the best role for him. -I had concerns about Jack stepping in for Graves, but I think being a better shooter + lower usage is a better fit in an offense with the Big 3. He's rebounding at about the same rate, I still need to see more defensively -I'm not concerned about style points in the North Texas game. Their brand of basketball is winning rock fights. They were a top 50 defense last year and 350/357 in pace. There were 65 possessions last night, the last time we played such a slow paced game was against Coppin St. 12/10/2016. That's a style of game we've struggled with for the past 5 years, and we came out with a win on the road. I'll take it. -Hardnett being back is big, he doesn't post the rebounding numbers that Mballa does, so he doesn't get the love, but I think he's the best defender on the team. I'd like to see Mballa/Skogman split the 5, and Hardnett/Mballa split the 4. I like Brock but he's not one of our top guys, so if everyone's healthy I don't think he needs to start. One of my main criticisms of Whitesell is that he tries to match other teams rather than making them match us. Oats played 6'7" Jeremy Harris against 7'1" DeAndre Ayton, we don't need to be trotting Brock out just because the other team has someone 6'10"+

I forget if I made the results open or you have to vote, but whatever the case, these are the results: Regular Season Wins. (Respondents: N = 33) 25 - 29; Nate who? Whitesell is the man. 2 votes 21 - 24; UB justifies the optimism that many feel about this season. 25 votes 17 - 20; Okay season, but some unexpected losses. Questions remain. 6 votes 13 - 16; Something bad happened (injuries, regression, coaching, etc.) 0 votes 12 wins and under; Yikes... 0 votes This averages to almost exactly 22 wins (sorry...no error bars here). I think it is interesting that 33 people voted and no one thought we would have 16 or fewer victories. it is a long season, with ups and downs, so we will check in at the end of the regular season to see what happened. Thanks to all who voted.

This is THE year for JW. The team is showing signs that depth is not improved from last year, and with an experienced team there is a lack of offensive/defensive consistency. Are they seriously protected from criticism on this front, again?

Finally got around to reading through this thread…. Sadly It went exactly how I assumed it would. Gotta love half the board writing off the team after a loss to a national title contender and one half of a game they ended up winning. I get it, we come here to vent but yikes. Did anyone expect us to be 2-0 on the road against Michigan and north Texas? LOL its hilarious that people were calling for Whitesell to blow up on the refs, when a technical foul and the resulting free throws literally could’ve lost us the game. And come on, we’re seriously going to complain about Williams after he struggled to start the game? Dude just dropped 32 against Michigan and is one of the best players in the history of the program. they definitely have some things to clean up, but this was a good road win regardless of how it happened. In the previous couple seasons we lose this one (the Syracuse and Ohio games last year come to mind). Pulling off a W against the odds in the 2nd half is a great sign going forward this year. the refs were awful tonight. Some phantom calls and some that were really soft. The one to foul out Mballa at the end was ridiculous, it was a jump ball and they just decided to call a foul. The north Texas announcers were a little tough to take as well, but at least they were trying their best to be objective (and failing). some positives from tonight: Jack’s shooting was on, that’ll be huge if he can keep it close to that level I thought Skogman and Hardnett both looked good down low Mballa’s foul shooting has been money this year we stole a win against a quality opponent on the road in a game where we turned the ball over frequently and shot poorly for long stretches.

So all of a sudden this board thinks we are no longer MAC favorites? What did you expect, for us to beat Michigan and blow out N Texas? The game closed with NT as 1.5 pt favorites. If they scrape by Rider, then ok, but what did you honestly expect through two games? A good showing in game 1 and a close win tonight should be what was expected.

Jones is still a freshman and is not really out there to add a bunch of points. I’d let him develop his game a bit, he seems like he’s going to be a decent player. Brewton on the other hand to put it mildly is awful, just chucks up threes and is terrible defensively. He really needs to have a good game soon or I’m going to chant for Perry or Blocker to get some minutes

We toughed out a road win against a very solid mid-major in which we trailed by double digits in the 2nd half...is anyone happy? Sheesh.

I'm superstitious so I stayed negative lol

I’ll give credit to these guys for gutting out the win. Need to put it all together for a more complete game, but that is a huge win to hopefully get us rolling.

He’s been swarmed by multiple defenders. Yes I agree he needs to make a pass. Again…coaching has to emphasize that

I'm guessing we can stop talking about conference realignment altogether. At least as it applies to UB.

No insights from me into who might replace our Head Coach after a strong road performance vs a national title contender and a tough road win vs a legit mid-major...

Brock is playing so much because of opponent (Michigan and their 7 footer) plus injury to hardnett I would imagine as hardnett gets healthy, we see a rotation of mballa/skogman/hardnett at the 4/5 spot with Fagan and Brock providing more limited minutes

R-E-L-A-X 🙂

We all agree expectations are high. Your observations are fair - based on the two games played. Improvements are needed during the rest of the season - not only for this year but the following as well. Getting a healthy Hardnett back will help depth a little, but Skogman needs to start contributing solid minutes. For comparison - here are Segu / Williams' numbers in their sophomore year through first 10 games: Skogman is close in minutes at 21 per game, but is only averaging 4.5 ppg on six field goal attempts. Hopefully he steps it up over the coming weeks. Not calling out Skogman - but his development is integral to success of this team this year and in future.

Agreed, that one was a stretch but the other 3 mentioned are putting up a better or equal showing to anything we've done so far this year. The point is, we aren't clear favorites anymore given the way we've played. Again, that UNT team lost 7 of its 12 players from last year's roster and 60% of its scoring, yet we were the team that had no chemistry, playing lazy defense and turning the ball over 15 times.

The MAC is going to be a dog fight again. Have to stay healthy, stick to fundamentals, preparation, execution, and good coaching. The team that ends up going to the NCAAs isn’t going to be handed it on a platter. So prepare for more games like tonight.

Rider composite rank in vicinity of 280 (some have them around 200), at home, so cannot lose this game under any circumstances. Hopefully, it is a game where the second team gets more minutes and contributes in meaningful way.

I'll be there as one of the green shirts. Can't move around the arena at all. If I get a chance pre-game, I'll let you know where I am stationed, so you can come and say hi. Would be great to get to meet some of the board.

Between the free throws disparity and turnovers we had no business winning this game. But the seniors made clutch plays. And we stole one. Good fortitude building win. Great for the mental psyche of this team.

For me - we are playing about where preseason polls had us. Personally I expected a bit more. Also in my opinion, Ohio is performing better than preseason polls were projecting. So Ohio has been the better team through 2 games. I am not saying we are not the favorites, would be silly to do after two games, but in my opinion we can and should play better from here on out.

I think we are all expecting crisper basketball. But as you said it’s game 2. To goal is to continue to progress. Define roles and develop depth. All while winning. No one wants to peak in November. So you’re absolutely right.

Yes. Definitely defense got better with Hardnett

Well that was a slog. Positives: Showing resilience to come back from 11 down on road; good night scoring from Mballa, Segu and Jack. Credit to Williams for playing better down stretch on a tough night for him. Negatives: no bench; defense was a bit porous. I will take the win. Also, so far we have played about where we are ranked ~80; Ohio has been the better team so far. Still early and hope the pieces start coming together. One last things - I don't know if I am the only one, but seems like the refs were in love with blowing the whistle and disrupted flow of game.

Definitely happy with the win. There was a lot of good in spurts in that second half. Still a lot to work on on both ends and mentally. But that’s what the non conference is…work out the issues that need to be addressed by conference season. Anyone notice that we got better when Hardnett came in?

Those refs easily gave North Texas another 10-15 points. It was just obvious how biased they were. Buffalo should have won easily.

Look, I'm happy we won the game but for christ sake why is our senior-laden team the one making all of the mistakes in the first 2 games of the year against freshman teams? That team lost 60% of its offense and had absolutely no problem playing right through us. Granted the reffing was atrocious but there was nothing impressive about that performance and I'm not nearly as hopeful as I was a week ago about winning the MAC this year.

Boy we did not deserve that game. Absolutely sloppy pathetic ending.

NOT the way to end that game wow. A win is a win, but very very ugly

Anyone ever say anything nice about our boys? Furious comeback here, let's take this!

Meanwhile, early season college BB continues to be wacky: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401371872

Defense!

Seriously, can our crypt-keeper of a coach lose his $hit on these refs already!? I'm so sick of this. Nate would be screaming his a$$ off and Bobby would've thrown a damn basketball into their faces.

I’ve given the benefit of the doubt for years now but man Whitesell just isn’t a good head coach. Great assistant but just lacks total leadership. This is a mess

Somebody needs to send this tape to whomever oversees the refs. Really obvious missed calls or incorrect calls

Bulls need to go to their strength - tough defense and scoring in transition.

Agreed on Brewton. Fantastic trolling as always.

Remember when we thought we were going to be a tourney team this year? Took 2 games...

We need to start drawing fouls

Why are we not using our size advantage inside? Everyone wants to jack 3s. Mballa needs to plant is ass on the post and score

This Perry kid is tough

Refs as bad as I think they have been?

He’s trying to impress scouts who label him as a 3 and D NBA player. I don’t like it either.

The lighting at the court is so bad what in the world?

I noticed that Denton County and the University of Buffalo were both founded in 1846. Completely worthless information that I find interesting.

I live in Houston these days, so I made the 4 hour drive north and I'll be lucky enough to see the game. Denton is a nice town with a historic town center. Much nicer than I expected. My first UB basketball game in almost a decade.🤠 (Full disclosure. I'm often not the best of luck for UB teams)

Decommitted today