squire17

Wow! To be ranked 34th or 43rd after the debacle in Athens and losing 3 out of the final 4 games of the season...is pretty impressive.

They picked a good time to put it all together! Keep the train rolling on Saturday! Go Bulls!

Wonder how far the Bulls will drop in rankings with a loss? Look at Nevada imploding on the road to Utah St. The NET dropped them like a hot potato - from 8th to 29th. They’re still up there in the AP and Coach’s Polls. The NET is the poll that counts in March. So just don’t lose any games...unless you’re a P5 or BE. Then it’s not that big a deal. Buffalo now 23rd in NET. I was mistaken to infer that the NET ratings will determine the at-large berths in March. How foolish of me. The NET ratings are simply a tool that may be referred to by the committee members when selecting teams (initially up to 36 on each ballot) that they feel belong in the NCAA playoffs even should they not win their conference tournament. So theoretically, even should UB finish in the top 36 in the final NET ratings, it is possible that they would not be voted an at-large spot. I still will be watching all the polls, but the Bulls have to focus on each game as it comes.

These announcers just said that if E Mich continues to pick and roll, they could get back in this. Huh?

McRae!!!

McRae!

Toledo loaded up on cupcake wins...lost to a dismal Wright St. Ball St played and lost to Virginia Tech, Purdue, and Alabama; beat Loyola Chicago there...The better team is going to win this.

The way Toledo hits 3s can change this in a hurry. Ball St doing a nice job defensively...Persons and Teague getting it done.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/25662957/there-just-one-pac-12-team-march Some love for the Bulls

They stunk at the foul line and turned it over 20+ times. It looks as though Huggins left his starters on the bench at the start of the game. I don’t get it.

Maryland (#44) just knocked off Nebraska (#10). Tomorrow Maryland will be #37 and Nebraska will be #16. But what will Lunardi and Pomeroy and the other pied pipers say...stay tuned.

The Big 12 was Pomroy’s top ranked conference at the start in early November. This is Texas Tech’s first road game. They beat Nebraska and lost to Duke at neutral sites. Other than that they’ve feasted on bottom feeders at home. Hope they lose big. They’ve got a good chance of having at least two starters fouling out half way through the second half.

Today the Bulls have moved from 23rd to 28th. St John’s, which lost at Seton Hall, knocked off Marquette at home. This will be interesting to monitor throughout the season. The Bulls are 5 - 1 on the road. Most of the Power 5 plus the Big East teams have played 2 or fewer road games. Now they will be playing a road game every week. But the teams that are behind UB in this silly NET will be rewarded handsomely for home upsets. If the Bulls have only one loss going into conference playoffs, I’ll predict that their NET rank will be around 40...a bubble team in the eyes of the powers-that-be.

Reggie must have changed that ‘rule’ at some point because who can forget the infamous T called on Mitchell Watt for hanging on the rim after a dunk in the MAC title game. It was a cheap call by an incompetent official. And despite never getting UB to the dance, Reggie’s a good coach.

After the victory yesterday the Bulls lost 2 spots in the NET rankings. Toledo moved up from 69th to 43rd mainly on the basis of their blowout win against Penn yesterday. Have to take this one game at a time because I don’t trust these rankings to help their case in March.

Reggie’s zone was a good stroke for Canisius to start. Bulls got back with some great 3 point shooting. These games rarely play out as they would be expected to. Nobody in foul trouble. Turn up the defensive heat in the second half, but whatever you do: don’t let the Griffs hang around in this game at their house. Even though it looks as though there are more U.B. fans there.

Central Park Grill has great wings. Haven’t been there in awhile but it’s worth checking out.

Season so far has been spectacularly good, despite not putting it all together yet. I think the travel, number of games away, the fact that they just had exams, Christmas - the whole lot - caught up with the Bulls yesterday. And yet the Bulls played it pretty even for 31 minutes. I imagine Marquette won’t lose many games with Howard performing as he did yesterday. And NOBODY is going to lose making 18 threes. I wouldn’t count West Virginia or Syracuse out of the running just yet, but if they do it’ll lessen the impact of the wins. Barring injuries, academic ineligibilities, or illness the Bulls should be the favorite in every game until the NCAAs. Go Bulls!

Wojo showing his “Dukie” class by keeping Howard in.

Perkins is good for someone who can’t actually jump.

Plus he can go to the hole. Perkins going to his strength...bricks another 3.

Wow. Howard has figured it out.

They’re calling us for touch fouls and phantom fouls. Marquette is bumping and shoving UB - whistles disappear.

Lunardi has Buffalo as a 3 seed in the East in the latest Bracketology! Syracuse is on the Next Four Out list, and West Virginia is nowhere to be seen. Marquette is a 6 seed in the Midwest. St Francis and San Francisco are in, but SIU is not.

The odds of the Bulls going undefeated until the NCAAs are remote. But can you imagine the pressure if they, indeed, did enter as an undefeated team. I never want to see them lose, but on the other hand one or two losses are almost certain and could be helpful even - just as long as it doesn’t happen in March. Looking for another close game against Marquette. An earlier post mentioned the hazard of Carruthers and Jordan getting into foul trouble. The same could be said for Perkins, McRae, and any of the Bulls really except for Harris maybe. Still looking for a game where Buffalo is smoking from the outside early.