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Ask and ye shall receive!!

The NIL is here: https://nickelcitynil.com/

Expect an announcement tomorrow on NIL from UB.

With the commitment from Mighty our roster looks as follows: Guards: Dunn, Fulcher, Sabol, Boldin, Akot Wings: Wilson, Mcveigh, Michaels, Batchelor, Jackson Bigs: Mighty, Oboh That gives us the following class breakdown: Freshman (4): Michaels Oboh Jackson Akot Sophmores (4): Sabol Boldin Wilson Mcveigh Juniors (2): Fulcher Batchelor Seniors (2) Dunn Mighty That leaves us 1 scholarship left. Hard to predict today with 1 spot left to fill but here is my guess at starters for next season as of now: PG: Dunn SG: Sabol SF: Boldin PF: Batchelor Center: Mighty I would like to see staff fill the last roster spot with a grad transfer who can start immediately and provide some veteran leadership and some scoring ability especially off the dribble. I really like the direction this team is headed and I am looking forward to next season. I think this team is much improved from last year and I think this team will be filled with the type of players this coaching staff covets and we will see a clear identity to this team next year. You heard it here first, their identity will be the ability to shoot the open shot, their effort on the defensive end and their willingness to share the ball. After last years team this will be a much welcome. This team is going to surprise some people, especially with their ability to shoot and in my opinion they will be scrappy on the defensive end. Lets hope the staff can bring in one more solid piece to build on what they have started. Go Bulls!

I already gave to every sport and am HOF as well, my point was the NIL isn’t just basketball, it is everything, so if you don’t like the MBB coach to not give at all doesn’t make a lot of sense. Bitching about not having a collective then bitching about the collective 2 days later seems to me that some people just like to bitch. I’m not a Bills fan, but a lot of Bills fans are happier being miserable so that is the local fan base. Even when Oats was here it wasn’t like people were lining the streets in Bulls gear, they are still Bills and Sabers fans first and foremost. It’s only after Oats left people lament the glory days. I’m a Bulls fan, win lose or draw and will support them. If others only want to support in the good times, so be it!

Here is sampling of some PF/C per Barttorvik. We have been in touch with Ndur, who is from Canada!

I don’t see Bradford redshirting. In today’s game there’s no time for that. Kids want to get on the court asap so they can portal. Based on the reviews, this kid has a chance to start.

My crew at Trainwreck Sports is already getting involved with supporting UB athletics through NIL.

So I met with a former player the other day, one of my best friends as well. He had played under Leopold and Linguist. He didn’t have many great things to say about linguist at all. He said the majority of the team didn’t like his coaching style and said he was very unorganized. My friend also told me that he had full control of the offense and didn’t let the OC do much if at all. He’s now ran out of eligibility but still gets to practice with the team during spring ball. He loves Lembo and the consensus around the team is that Lembo is a great coach who gets along well with his players. My friend thinks the team is in really good hands with him

Save your breath. Focus on those that want to be part of the solutions. There are plenty of people ready to poke holes in those of us that want to try to Move these sports forward. no collective = Buffalo sucks and they are falling behind. Also make sure to attack the admin for doing nothing to advance NIL even though they are independent entities collective setup = attack those volunteers willing to administer it, also attack the administration for having undue influence. Also, make sure you bitch about who gets or doesn’t get money from said collective

Here's my breakdown from the UB Bulls Spring Game with highlights and interviews from today's action.

That’s a bummer. This was the only UB basketball that was worth watching these days.

There is still one player to add, but I would not be surprised to see all preseason rankings showing little change from this past season. Halcovage has added players that I would imagine are hard to predict how they will play. Ultimately we may see, next March, they were spot on and that you are right about Halcovage. I approach being a fan a little differently than you. I am going to hope for the best. That means improved shooting from 3, fewer turnovers, better defense (critical!) and a more team oriented approach. I will wait to see if my hope is rewarded. Time will tell.

Worst among players who played at least 950 possessions, 5.88 points per 100 possessions worse than an average D1 player I wish him well wherever he goes next but if Bradford/Dunn are what people are hoping they'll be he wouldn't have played next season. That said, we learned too many ball handlers never hurt.

https://ubbulls.com/news/2024/4/25/football-nickel-city-collective-launches-as-nil-collective-for-ub-student-athletes.aspx

Good name, easy NIL possibilities with Mighty Taco To add, he was offered a scholarship from Vermont when he was coming out of highschool, likely from current UB assistant coach tibbs

My view is similar to you, I will be optimistic and hope for the best come November when we find out for sure what type of team we have. Right now I have the view that Batchelor will be an improvement over what we saw from Adams, Dunn will be an improvement as primary ballhandler, the returning players will be better than last year, the bench is deeper and they will play better team ball. We will see what they do with last two scholarships, but I believe the team will be better. That said I support those who are less optimistic than I am and have no problem with them expressing their view. I am glad that they care enough to stay interested and contribute.

I was at the Jim Christian press conference today and spoke with him afterwards. I'm going to increase my college basketball coverage next season. With me being back with Trainwreck Sports, I will be credentialed with UB, Canisius and Niagara so I look forward to providing additional content in the future.

Wow Toledo coach left for Miami can expect an exodus of players to the portal and a rebuild. Great to know her last game was a loss to UB😂🤘

If people didn't like Isaiah Adams' rebounding/defensive effort they are going to hate Noah Batchelor at the 4. His career defensive rebound rate at Maryland was 11.1%, his block rate was 0.9% Adams last year was at 12.3% and 1.3%, for his career at UB he was at 13.8% and 1.6% Offensively, Batchelor was 3 for 4 at the rim in his career at Maryland (only 5.1% of his FGA). Nothing about Batchelor is a 4 other than his height at 6'6", which is small even for the MAC

Only we can get a collective going and still bitch and complain.

I believe that is accurate. I also think it’s by design. Fulcher was a late add last year and staff was probably hoping for the best, but in my opinion, his departure doesn’t bother me, especially if a solid PF can be found.

A Canadian ivy 6’8 PF is the perfect fit to this group. Now we just need GH3 to turn into Coach Buttermaker and take this team all the way!

Good news imo. Someone shared a graphic from Evan Miya that had Fulcher as the worst D1 player in the country last season. Could you repost please? Would like to see a power forward brought in with this last spot now.

All five of the directors are doing the work for the collective for free. They are donating their time and effort. There is no need to wait for the 990 to check for salaries. Three of the five are former UB athletes. So when can they expect your contribution?

I’m with you man! keeping the negativity to a minimum until we at least know what this group looks like on the court.

I’m not down on the collective, I’m down on the decision makers running the athletic department. This is just another avenue for Alnutt and co. to light UB supporters money on fire. Last year I paid $275 per season ticket per home win and I’m supposed to be fired up about a monthly subscription to increase that? If the collective opens an avenue to support for the next coach that comes in I’d sign up. The 13 scholarships are filled and none of them had other D1 scholarship offers, much less NIL offers. Donating money this year (for MBB) is going towards a bidding war that no other D1 schools are participating in

With the final commitments from Mighty and Bradford our roster looks as follows: Guards: Dunn, Fulcher, Sabol, Boldin, Akot, Bradford Wings: Wilson, Mcveigh, Michaels, Batchelor, Jackson Bigs: Mighty, Oboh That gives us the following class breakdown: Freshman (5): Bradford Michaels Oboh Jackson Akot Sophmores (4): Sabol Boldin Wilson Mcveigh Juniors (3): Mighty Fulcher Batchelor Seniors (1) Dunn At this point we are out of scholarships it appears. My guess at starters for next season as of now with the information we have at this time: PG: Dunn SG: Sabol SF: Boldin PF: Batchelor Center: Mighty We have an improved roster in many ways, most glaringly athleticism and depth. Having a full roster for this staff to utilize will be huge. Last year was awful and we are all ready to move on. I like the direction this team is headed with the roster. The new collective NIL will allow us to compete moving forward in the current day mess of the NCAA. There are a lot of new faces on this team, it will take some time to establish our identity and to determine the players roles. I am excited to see it play out and am anxious to see these new players to see if any of them are the diamonds in the rough we are looking for. I think we will know this summer when reports trickle out about the team, or maybe it takes till early in the season but reports will come out of a strong players performance. Remember early in CJ's career the rumblings of his play and then him dropping 17 points in Cameron Indoor his freshman season. I am hopeful one of these players will be a

How about...Calvin Cage 😮‍💨

Nice feature articles on Lopez and KLW. I did not know Lopez was still on the Argentina U19 national team and will practice with the national team this summer. In the articles both players are committed to improving their game. KLW has to improve on her 12-18ft shooting. Teams played off late in the season packing the lane with true post presence now that shot will be there. Lopez weakness was her 3pt% and being sped up, not establishing pace. I'm sure they will be fun to watch in the fall. https://www.ubspectrum.com/article/2024/04/kirsten-lewis-williams-ub-womens-basketball?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_featured https://www.ubspectrum.com/article/2024/04/i-felt-like-this-had-to-be-my-place-paula-lopez-on-her-first-year-as-a-bull

Honestly, we have about as much knowledge of what the guys will do as if we had a bunch of 3 and 4 star recruits. Until everyone gets together and rotations are set you don’t know. EMU was going to be really good when 4 star went to EMU, they were a dumpster fire. Segu and Williams, arguably our best recruits ever, on paper, underperformed. Nate is now in the NBA so obviously talent wasn’t the problem. Nobody knows so I’m going to be optimistic until they give me a reason not to. We won 3 games last year, I don’t think I want those top 7 back for an encore.

Done

Deep Snow could have a special ring to it this coming season.

Fair just got drafted #17 by the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces as their first pick. Makes 2 recent UB pros, both from Rochester.

True to form, we have another Canadian! 31 minutes/game, 15.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 6.4 assists/game, 2.11 assist/turnover ratio, 37.5% 3-points (30-80), 75% FT shooter. Hopefully it can translate to UB and give us a veteran presence that looks like he can shoot and distribute. 5.8 rpg is really solid for a 6'3 guard as well, could be a gym rat.

https://umeshawksports.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/ariana-seawell/5605 Final roster spot

Anyone care to chime in on what brand of basketball we will be playing next year? The net loss on paper is significant and we were already horrendous.

You guys both bring up some great points. I agree with UBinMD that I feel like this coach and staff are trying to build a roster around kids that are interchangeable on the floor defensively and offensively both from a size and athletic point of view. These coaches are clearly looking for kids who are willing to play defense, are good athletes, and are unselfish hard workers. I think you can describe all of the freshman from last year under those categories. Those are clearly the type of kids this staff is after. I think this is the formula started by Villanova and now used by many schools, like Uconn. Obviously the talent level at these schools is above the level we are recruiting at but the type of kids are the same. The kids this staff is after are willing to sacrifice their own accolades for the good of the team. This describes, Sabol, Boldin, Wilson and Mcveigh all of this staffs recruits last year. I agree with MuchMany who feels that the veteran leadership from last year never took on these characteristics and they were a non complimentary group of players left leading this team. They were selfish players and were not willing to sacrifice for the good of the team. All of the lazy play from last year falls squarely on the shoulders of Chatman and Adams. That is why we won so little of our games. These kids let us down by being selfish and lazy. I think this staff will be the first to tell you there mistake was to allow Chatman and Adams and Smith the ability to return and their choice to continue to play them heavy minutes down the stretch of the season. It was destined to fail when the only reason these kids stayed here at UB was because they did not want to have to sit out another year because it was all of their at least second transfer if they chose to move to another school. These kids had no interest in playing for this coach, after all they came here to play for Whitesell. They had no interest in buying into what this staff was selling. That was the major issue last year. I wish the coaching staff had just benched them. It was a weird dynamic all year and I think this was the crux of it all. I think this staff is trying to follow the mold of Villanova and Uconn but we did not get a chance to see it much last year. I think they are trying to create an identity of interchangability, with athletes who work hard and are willing to sacrifice and play unselfish. Personally I think this is the approach to take in our situation. We go after the kids who are loyal and are willing to stay and play as a team. I also think this a reason you see this staff recruiting these kids who dont have a ton of other offers. They are under recruited and have a chip on their shoulder to prove themselves. I think next year we are going to see a vast improvement and I think it will be an entertaining brand of basketball. Trust me, I was as frustrated as anyone this past season. I drove 550 miles to see three games of Chatman and Adams being ball hogs and lazy on defense. I was the one standing and clapping when Chatman was kicked out of his final game, BYE! I am not happy with the status of this program but after I have let my emotions settle and I have reviewed our situation, a plan emerged that I think this staff is aiming for. Will it result in wins next year like we all want, I doubt it, but I think it takes time to build a program. I will support this approach and I hope you all will as well. I look forward to next year. I want to see a team identity based on interchangeability, athleticism and unselfish play where the players sacrifice for each other to allow for team success. If we see this from the team it will be a fun season and we can all get behind that approach. Go Bulls!

Short answer, no, I did not see that. I also saw a team that was extraordinarily fragmented. I saw a lot of lazy veteran play. I saw a lot of young players that deferred to veterans most of the season and we consistently let down. It is probably wishful thinking, but this year will be 100% GH3 recruits, so I will reserve judgement until after this season. I did listen to almost all of Dan Hurley's interview where he talks about player selection, his thoughts on building a team and I think he is 100% correct that it really only takes one bad apple and it really does change the dynamic of an entire team. I only saw one game live and it was the Niagara game and the level of selfish play and laziness I observed was painful to see. That group was not a team at that point and never really got any better.

Danny Hurley seems like a perfect fit at UConn, doesn't come across like a Kentucky coach in my opinion Oates on the other hand to me screams Kentucky

I mean all 3 programs had much better seasons than us. The recruits GH3 are bringing in are not of a higher caliber, most have no D1 offers or offers from MAAC schools and other low majors. and yes, I think it’s smart to bring in local kids and build a pipeline, even just as a walk-on. It looks like Hodgson, who just had a much better first season than GH3, is picking up on this and even has Adam March giving the team NIL who funded Blue Collar U

We’re still fumbling around getting an NIL collective started and March is giving out NIL deals to preferred walk-ons at Arkansas State. Get Alnutt out of here

We did just watch a season where the team won 3 games and were blown out in most others. Which blue blood schools offered the guys that were recently signed? While the point is not completely off base, the all time scorer here should be more than capable of getting a look from the supposed top school in the area. Much like Khalil Mack's brother not originally being offered by UB (before receiving big time backlash), it's not a super wise decision.

What a great accomplishment for Chellia Watson after her first season! Looking forward to see what the final 24' roster will look like 🤘

I was correct!

Nice to see UB at the top of the MAC in their scoring, and interesting that the newest member of the MAC is 2nd. Take it for what it’s worth I guess, won’t really matter unless we start trending upward in football and MBB, and continue the upward trend that BB has WBB on. Need to get back in the discussion of top teams in the MAC in all 3 sports!

100% agree. Talent in the locker room wasn't the problem, talent on the sideline and in the booth was suspect.

This surprised me. I know he hit the portal for a minute last year. I really enjoyed his run towards the end of the season, felt like he was finally putting it together and I think he's the only one on the team this season who tried to draw a charge. Rooting for him, wherever he ends up