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I know the season hasn't been what we may have wanted, but I give kudos to the Players and Coaches on this one:

Congrats to GH3 and staff on their first D1 win - been a crummy few months I'm sure. Happy for the guys too, they seemed to come out with intent and built enough of a lead to hold on. With my objections to the guard spots noted, I love seeing Sabol get forged in the fire, having to bring the ball up and play point. If he can become ideally a secondary PG with elite 3PT shooting on better future rosters, that's a weapon that we've lacked even going back to the Oats teams. Jo Smith is the heart and soul of the team. Chatman is a significant talent at the MAC level. No doubt JW would still be the coach if Sy played last season - he would have been worth 3-4 wins. Adams needs to find his groove off his injury still. Not sure if he's even 100%, like someone mentioned he looked sluggish. Graham is still a mystery, not really understanding what his game is at this point, but he's got a couple more weeks of grace period from me. It's still scary that a team in the 300s needed to go ICE COLD from 3 for us to maintain our lead, but this beggar will not be a chooser tonight. Happy with the win and happy to have felt something other than despair watching them. Go Bulls

Happy new year Buffa1-0

UB is first place in the MAC!!!! And they control their own destiny. If they win out they are a 1 seed in the post season and auto birth to the NIT!!!!!!!

With all the conference realignment going on, if the Pistons can throw together a football team they might get a look at the MAC. Great geographic fit. PS. I feel very happy for the kids. That's going to be one fun ass bus ride home tonight! Edit: I guess they'd fly to this one? Idk

Can we make sure Sabol finds a major he likes and a local GF? He needs to be a staple of the first four GH3 Bulls rosters.

Looks like the staff offered Nikita Tyukalo before Christmas, the first D1 school to do so. He's a 6'7 SG/wing from Seattle. He plays for a "prep school" that was created to let kids play outside of covid regulations, but as far as I can tell it's not even a school just a hoops team. He has a sophomore teammate ranked top 50 in his class, so there are eyes on his team. Followed by Presutti on X. Seems like a good outside shooter with some handles, bounce, and energy on D. Staff is going after some tall shooting wings based on this and Brayden Jackson's recruitment.

In other news, NIU finally rid themselves of their atrocious court

They could've easily folded down the stretch, but they didn't - encouraging for a young team and a young coach. The rest of MAC play will definitely be tougher, but maybe they can string together a few wins and salvage the second half of the season. Nowhere to go but up. Keep playing hard.

Proud of this UB squad tonight! That was a strong performance on the road to open MAC play. I understand it's never going to be pretty with this squad but it's always nice to grab a conference road win.

1-0 in the "new season" !

Nice to watch a game and not want to put a paper bag over my face. Keep playing your best players and you'll win (some) games. The top 5-6 guys are good enough to win some MAC games. Sy, Isaiah and Jo are men out there, ride them. If the 3 youngsters can hit a few shots and support, they can contend to make it to Cleveland. Do anything beyond that, and you'll see what you saw for the non-league games. Keep it simple! Cmu is not good. Neither is Wmu. Must be 2-0 after Saturday.

Man, it wasn’t easy (to win or to watch), but a well deserved first win vs a D-1 opponent. Baby steps!

1-0 in the MAC - just like everybody predicted! Happy for the whole team to get the W.

Bold statement. 8 points with 1:05 left. Let’s hope they can handle the ball and hit the FT

Good news: we’re gonna win Bad news: I’m not sure that effort beats anyone else in the MAC other than CMU when they shoot 5% from 3

Adams seems really lazy today on D and didn’t hustle back once his pocket was picked. Not sure if he’s 100%. Chatman is working hard.

Disorganized is the word that comes to mind for me, too. On offense, there's no movement off the ball, no set plays (at least they don't look like it), minimal ball screens. Whoever has the ball, if the ball is on the floor, looks terrified at any instance of defensive ball pressure. Everything is just disjointed, the timing is off on entry passes, all of that. On defense, players just get lost. And I'm not talking freshman brainfarts, you've got seniors just missing assignments, missing switches. They look scared and frantic on offense, and confused on defense. I do think Chatman is playing well. Guy needs some help on the offensive end though.

I’m not a big X’s and O’s guy, but we look like a really disorganized unit out there. No flow to what we’re trying to do on offense. Nobody to take care of the ball or slash to the hoop with some kind of control. Just let them take the ball right away from us after building a 19-pt lead a couple minutes into the 2nd half, and CMU suddenly has all the momentum

We may be testing your theory.

Brother the rest of us will settle for a W of any kind haha

Really nice first half. The ball seems to stick a little too much and turnovers are still horrible, but certainly a lot to like so far. The Bulls have three scorers on the roster. Chatman is a tough matchup because of his size and athleticism. Sabol knows the assignment today. Adams is having a a rough night...4 turnovers and just three points, but he can be a dynamic scorer. I would be thrilled if they can make this a 20 point win.

Jo with way too many turnovers but his battle level down low is all-time right now

Heck yeah, great half. High effort and some coaching strategy to put our best guys in their best spots. I think I said after the second game that Sabol should have a greenlight to shoot every time he touches it. That form ain't no joke!

I'm not sure what I'm watching

With the non conference schedule completed (6-4) the identity of this team has kind of taken shape. Coach Burke has this group playing very tough defense in the half court and transition. The guards/wings are disruptive but our post presence has been pain point. Better communication has helped weak side rotation but defensive rebounding requires size and athleticism which we lack. Offensively transition scoring off defensive stops and as of late much improved half court execution. Here is my quick spin on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The Good Chellia Watson the kid can score in bunches but efficiently (21ppg 48%fg 47%3fg) Coach Burke eluded to how special she was and she picked up Player of the week honors The entire 2023 class, guess they can be called The Replacements. Jokes aside this is a solid class that has been productive and will be leaned upon. The development of Lewis-Williams, Davis and Lopez will be fun to watch. If Lewis-Williams keeps rolling (12.8 ppg 47%fg 6reb 3.1ast 1.3 stls) should be in the FOY conversation come March. The Bad As a team shooting only 67%FTs which is 7th in the MAC but lead MAC in FT attempts per game (21). This can cost us a game or two. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/conferences/mac/women/2024.html Inconsistent scoring from Ogden, Rana and Johnson. Would like to see two of them avg 10-15ppg during conference play. The Ugly The seemingly inability to win the rebounding battle. I get the roster is limited from a post perspective but as a team this has to get better or it will cost them more than a few games. 0-3 on the road, would have been nice to come away with at least one win I think the team has been trending in the right direction. Between the talent on the roster and coaching can see them finishing with 12+ conference wins.

Bulls 76 CMU 59. Clicking on all 4 cylinders

https://www.maxpreps.com/m/news/A45bNtgfv0CuR0Xk8hqzUg/coolidge-triumphant-thanks-to-a-strong-effort-from-quintin-cooper.htm Quintin Cooper scores 35 in latest game and has been in double figures fo 9 straight games. https://www.maxpreps.com/dc/washington/coolidge-colts/athletes/quintin-cooper/?careerid=8cd46vgqko955 According to this he is scoring 29 points per game.