Leaderboard

I was curious how some of our former players were doing with their new teams and their run to NBA prominence they couldn't get here at UB. Most are 9-10 games into the season, so I thought it was a good sampling: Skogman - 9 games, 21 minutes, 5.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.1 apg, 1.4 TO/game 40% FG, 85.7% FT, 27.3% 3-pt. Looks like he is getting a lot of playing time off the bench, maybe their 6th man (he's averaging 7th most minutes on the team. Looks like he is the end of the rotation. The rest of the team is 5 mpg or less). Not tearing it up as of yet, 0 pts last 2 games in 2 losses with a fair number of minutes. Not sure if this was an upgrade for him yet or not. We will see how conference play goes. Mballa - 7 games (team has played 8), 8.9 minutes, 3.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.1 apg, 0.7 TO/game, 50% FG, 71.4% FT, 100% 3-pt (1-1 so don't get too excited 🤣). He is 11 out of the 13 players in playing time. That may not bode well for him come SEC time. Looks like the team as a whole struggles offensively. They have their top player at 14.0 ppg and second is 11.8 ppg averaging a total of 69.1 ppg, but the last 2 losses they had 55 and 57 respectively. Highest game was 80 against Florida Atlantic, the others were in the low 70s. Not sure this was a vertical move for the big man to gain "status". Time will tell. Fagan - 10 games, 14.7 minutes, 6.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg (Leads the Team), 1.0 apg, 0.7 TO/game, 45.1% FG, 85.7% FT, 28.6% 3-pt. He's 8th on the team in time played, but seems to be doing well cleaning the glass, leading the team and playing less than half the game. Overall the Retrievers are 6-4 so he seems to be a solid contributor there and could be impactful in conference. They haven't played a really tough schedule overall, a couple of Ivy Teams, some Patriot League, Tulane (lost 89-67) and Georgetown (79-70) were their biggest "name" games this year, even though Georgetown is a shadow of their former selves lately. Their conference doesn't look particularly strong so he may get back to another NCAA this year. Overall, I'm not sure the guys are fairing much better than if they had stayed, but hopefully they are happy in their new home. I'm surprised by Skogman's stats, lots of time on the court, but not much on any line showing what he is doing out there. I haven't seen any Davidson games so maybe he is being disruptive or contributing in other ways that don't show on the stat sheet. Mballa's regression seems to have followed him, tougher league for sure, but expected him to get his fire back and play well. Seems like they have broken him of jacking up ill advised 3's but maybe it's just due to limited opportunities in his 9 minutes. I think Fagan could be a nice veteran influence on UMBC which could be a big help down the stretch if they are competing for a conference championship and NCAA berth. Will be fun to track these guys this year when conference play begins. Looking at what we have this year, I'm not sure if Skogman would fit in with this group, unless he would have continued to grow as a down low presence and playing the in-out passing game. As just another perimeter player, not sure he's much of an upgrade over what we have. Mballa could be a Perkins like beast down low, but he didn't seem to want to do that, so again, not sure if we would be better off with his presence. I'm hoping Jack and Smith grow into that role a bit as the season matures. Smith has been much more active the last few games which I like. I also liked his post-game commentary after the Bonnies game, seems like he understands what he needs to do, now it's about execution. I think Fagan would have fit well, but likely similar contribution to what he's bringing to UMBC. Overall I think I'm happier with our current team now than I thought I would be when Skogman and Mballa left. Go Bulls!!🤘🤘

Not sure what is up with DeBerry...she could certainly play just about anywhere in the nation. For sure would be a massive boost to a mid-major like UB but very unlikely in my mind. The bigger issue over the past 12 months IMO is failing to retain any of the top local talent within the 2023 class. Players like Clara Strack, Gretchen Dolan, Kaylee Kryzstof, not to mention some top players from the Rochester area. Sure, Strack and Dolan are headed to power conference programs(Va Tech and Illinois) but it is not as if either was such an "untouchable" level of recruit like DeBerry was or Madison Francis is showing herself to be currently. I am not sure if UB was even in on any of those players...Kryzstof is committed to Binghamton, basically a Canisius/NU level program, but is a pure shot maker, something UB sorely lacks these days. I know Shay Ciezki had an early offer from UB and Coach Jack years ago and she already looks like a budding star at Penn State. Imagine the difference she could've made on this team. That said, maybe none of those players ever seriously considered UB for whatever reason, but it would be nice to retain more local players. Basically Summer and Fair were the two locals to play under Coach Jack and look what happened, they were the two best players over that tenure. The incoming recruits Coach Burke has coming in next season are sure promising and now with the commitment of Bri Barr-Buday from Nichols for 2024 I am hoping that there will be more locals to come in the coming years.

Hoping for at least a somewhat respectable MAC season, that sees some growth and improvement with competitive games. This season is more about just weathering the storm in advance of a crop of promising recruits coming in next year. Of course it will be a process but hoping within a few season we will be back to competing for MAC titles.

The opposite of jumping in the portal,, how about the UTSA QB coming back for his 7th season? Frank Harris started there in 2017. They were able to pool enough donations from fans and businesses in San Antonio to give him NIL compensation in the six figures. So now the program keeps their solid QB for the start in the AAC conference.

Hey, it’s better than Akron right? 😂

This is an interesting question. If the coach does leave, I’d expect our PFR (portal flow rate) to double. That may cause us to seriously think about cancelling. But I can’t see a scenario where UB doesn’t play this bowl game if Mo is still coach. We have a depth chart. The betting line may move, though!

If your meaning of “contrary” is “as everyone is saying”, then you would be correct. Everyone on this board knows the HC is learning on the job. Everyone on this board (well..maybe not one guy, but I can hide posts) would like for him to learn and get better.

Okay. Point taken. I hope this continues for UB next year. We will need it.

The Howard game was a disappointment. However, winning 2 out of 3 is a pretty tall order. If they beat Tulane, it gives them four solid wins and I will be hopeful for the MAC.