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Started as a 1.5 favorite, now we are 3.0. I hope we transition well to a mid-week, night game. Don't want to get into a hole with Ohio and give them confidence. Go Bulls!!

First impressions, against a D2 team (albeit a good, well coached one) - so keep that it mind. I don't want to say I have low expectations - just no preconceived ones. This is essentially a completely new team. It feels like the year after Hurley left, but even more so - so many new faces, you go in with no expectations and see how it goes. They might be good! It's going to take time to figure it all out, and the more games they play the better. The Bulls are playing the same style as in previous seasons. What they need to figure out is: what is their starting 5, plus next couple guys off the bench; do we have a lock-down defender that we can match up against star guards (like Dontay was); do we have anyone on this team who is a dead-eye outside shooter (that was missing the past couple years); do we have any clutch player(s) you can count on when the game is on the line. Curtis Jones - he looks like the one guy who has a year of working knowledge of the plays and the system. He showed good composure inside today to hit some little floaters and jump shots. Blocker - has a good quick first step past defenders. Foster - he's a smooth, polished player, as he should be at this age. Jo Smith - the site says he's 6'9" but he looked taller. He seemed a head taller than anyone on Daemen. He's spindly but will be effective if he has good touch and positioning underneath. Adams - showed glimpses of being the kind of guy who's physical on D and hard to the basket. Willing to shoot from outside Caesar - the dude is FAST. Literally zoomed past everyone all the way down the court when he chose to. That's an interesting quality to have in the lineup. Powell - good and bad. Hit some shots, finished some layups, and for a while was the guy they had bringing the ball up the court (I had assumed they'd have Curtis doing that). But got called for traveling twice in the first half and had a giveaway on defense right under the basket. Jack - that guy looks interesting. Decent footwork already, works hard, really physical. Not quite totally confident with the ball yet but he's a freshman. When he gets purposeful with his movement (think, Nick Perkins) going to the hoop, and develops that hook shot, he'll be good One of the main problems last year (and probably the year before) was poor shooting percentage. The coaches can draw up whatever play and get someone open, but that doesn't matter at all if they can't hit the shot. Daemen made it a game in the first half because they were hitting 3's and UB wasn't. Whatever they said at halftime corrected that (until the very end) because the Bulls roared out of the gate, shut down the outside shots, and made their trips count, opening up a lead that was never threatened again. After today, considering we haven't seen Chatman yet (and who knows Hardnett's status, he was hurt a lot last year), I would say my starting five would be: Curtis Jones, Foster, Jo Smith, Adams, and I don't know, Blocker. Caesar coming off the bench for Jones; Powell for Foster; Jack for Smith. But as I said to start - very early first impressions, with a small sample size.