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Not UB related but some pretty impressive stuff from two other SUNY programs. Cortland rolled into the Division 3 Championship game. Their QB is a Buffalo kid. Rare for a Northeast team to make it this far as D3 has been totally dominated by Midwest programs for most of the 2000's (including Lance's Wisconsin-Whitewater teams). I think a Texas team won it a few years ago. UAlbany won at Idaho last night to make the FCS semi-finals. I saw some of the 1st Qtr on ESPN, they definitely have some good skill position players. They play defending champ South Dakota State next.

Rather than tack this on to the WKY thread, I thought I'd create a new one as we don't have a game for a while. I am trying to get my head around the knowns as 400 minutes of basketball is enough to draw some conclusions. Whether they stick is another story. Here is a laundry list of thoughts.. 1. GH3 started at Villanova in 2008, but didn't get into a coaching position (at least according to Wikipedia) till 2017. 2. When Jay Wright left, GH3 didn't get the head coach job, but stayed on for another year till he left to join UB. As far as I can tell, GH3 has no head coaching experience at any level. 3. GH3 had to replace a lot of players through graduation/transfer portal. Others have documented in other threads that, while he ultimately brought players in, UB didn't win many (any?) battles for players it seems. 4. It was a known before the season and is obvious now that we lack a true ball handler. This is certainly a failure on GH3 and his staff, as this might have really helped. 5. The general skill level to hit open shots for these players that we play with...is just not good. We have ten games of evidence. 6. It can't be that almost every team we play are fast starters. I think our opponents come out in a typical way, but almost always get out to a double digit lead early. Then, realizing that they can coast a bit, they do. And the game flow has ALOT of evidence of this sort of game flow in these first ten games. And while it is easy to say "well...if we just clean up those times where we don't score, we are competitive", that is the ultimate in seeing thing thing rose (or, in this case, blue) colored glasses. So...to recap...we don't have a lot of experience or required skill level on the court, no go-to ball handler and a coach with no HC experience. It certainly doesn't pain a pretty or optimistic picture for the future. Personally, I liked the hire for a variety of reasons. But nothing that has happened since the hire has filled me with confidence about the future. I would say the the over/under total on wins (including our 1 already) is probably 3.5. I'd be a little surprised (but very pleasantly surprised) if we get to 5 wins, to be honest. I know that people are saying things like "give it time" or "give it a few years" or "he is young" or "we see some growth"...and all of that is true...but these first 10 games happened and this isn't a one-game assessment. Of course, I bleed blue and root for UB every game in every sport. So, as usual, Go Bulls. PS: I have a feeling that Butler is going to struggle in the Big East this year...the OT win at home vs. Cal notwithstanding...

Notwithstanding a few good seasons at the FBS level including the strange COVID season of 2020 where JP ran wild and the Bulls cracked Top 25, I feel like UB is better suited for FCS after 25 years in the MAC which has only gotten weaker over that time. In football it’s so hard to compete with the P5 (or 6 or whatever) conferences, and with our difficulty in drawing even 15,000 fans to games, in all reality it seems unlikely any of them will ever come calling. Meanwhile Albany fans have a realistic shot of watching their team compete for a national championship…sounds like fun

You’re underselling Curtis Jones who is the 6th man on the #20 rated KenPom team. ISU’s starting PG is going to be in all-American consideration

Iupui is division 1 they play in the horizon league - blocker starts averages near 30 minutes a game and about 8 ppg

Hardnett is injured. https://www.rotowire.com/cbasketball/player/laquill-hardnett-12635 Wish we had similar info on Adams. Does SUNY have privacy restrictions or something?

Nice game for Boldin with 19 pts and 3/5 from 3 while rest of team shot 2/29. He’s had a good freshman season thus far, and surprisingly 2nd on the team in minutes per game behind only Chatman. His one weakness would seem to be FT where he’s shooting just 61% (11/18) and not getting to the line as much as you’d think considering he seems pretty aggressive around the rim. A good all-around player, just wonder with his talent and high profile name will GH3 be able to keep him at UB beyond this season with all the losses piling up like this?

Honestly, you could argue that GH3 had the strongest resume of the three. Like you said, he coached at a high major level and had major success. He has a HOF head coach in his corner and some very powerful names in the sport (Jalen Brunson comes to mind) who speak extremely highly of him. Hurley didn't have that, and from what I recall Oats had very little hype whatsoever aside from the players in the locker room (and we saw how that turned out - he's the greatest coach in program history). I'm hoping for the best for GH3. Trying not to be critical of a coach 10 games into his tenure. He gets time to install his system, put his stamp on the program, and that takes a few seasons. But the early returns are......below my expectations, to put it bluntly.

Go away troll.

All three were "up and coming" with either no head coaching experience or no D1 experience. GH3 was on a national championship team his first year as an assistant and spent 15 years on the staff of a Hall of Fame coach. His resume as a coach was no better or worse than Oats, Hurley, or even Witherspoon at the time of hire.

Honestly what worries me the most is we technically only lose 1 guy going into next year and he’s seemingly our best guy. Not going to replace him with better.

This isn't the summer. I think we all had our expectations of what the first 10 games would look like. I would wager not a single person (even the most pessimistic) would have identified that one win was in the range of reasonable expectations. And it isn't like we are losing games in O/T. We are/were NET 360 for a reason. Also, "wait and see" and "too optimistic" isn't the comparison to make. We all have to "wait and see" since nothing is going to happen. I think what has to happen is we have to recalibrate what is reasonable/reality for the near future. Which I why I think even five wins, at this point, would surprise me (but in a good way). I have watched a lot of UB basketball these nearly 35 years. I would be hard pressed to think of a less competitive team, game in and game out. I mean, maybe some of those Cohane teams, but at least those young players would typically stay for a few years and develop a bit. Now...anyone who develops and is reasonable...leaves through the portal. So it makes it even harder. You have to be able to build a team through the portal now and have them gel quickly...and function like a team. As has been stated by a few on this board, the team gives vibes (at times) of looking like an intramural team that just shows up and plays together, not a team that has practices, develop plays, etc. and executes in game. Combine that with the poor shooting and you get 1 - 9. I wholeheartedly disagree that this forum is "toxic", by the way. Just long standing fans, supporters, boosters, alumni, etc., communicating their thoughts and opinions about the game, team, etc. What would be much, much worse is that if the game thread wasn't started or that no one bothered to talk about it.

It looks as though this might be a long year. Nothing that a few tweaks can’t correct: A 6’9” power forward who can rebound, shoot the rock, and defend. A 6’ 4” guard who can create his own shot and take it to the rim. A 6’ 11” 260 lb center with great court awareness, a deft touch from inside 10 feet, and a shot blocker, who intimidates down low. That’s not much to ask.