bull_trojan

I think Caruthers comes out pretty good on this, Kent thew up 6 more shots than UB over 31 minutes with Caruthers on court, but Caruthers was +2 in points, so pretty decent for the kind of game that was, but UB would probably prefer to out shoot the opponent as we force turnovers and avoid turnovers and win the rebounding battle... Graves...not so good

I think we matchup really well, and it kinda depends on 2 things: Can Harris and Massinburg out score the Martin twins. We're better shooters, their better at creating their shot, so it would be their movement vs our 3 ball. Can Perk dominate their big man. They have a Mini Perk at 6'8 225 that does a lot of damage especially with the attention given to the twins, but our Perk is 6'8 250, and we dont need center help in the key because of our length across the lineup so...that should be advantage Buffalo, but Nevada's big is a better leaper than Perk (like Theo John who just devastated us in Milwaukee) so that would be my 2nd key matchup. I'd love to see this on the 2nd weekend of the tourney.

I think we just got tired. Theo John did so much work stopping us at the rim, then you play 30 seconds of defense just to see Howard sink a redic 3, eventually our shooters got heavy arms and our shots didn't fall. Outside of this game McRae, Segu & Williams avg 16 - 10 and 9 minutes. In this game, 5 - 4 - 4. A difference of 22 game minutes. Not exactly our game style...but I think a good time for Oats to see what happens when we play 6 guys instead of 9.

Sometimes less is more as UB's best lineup ran out of gas against Marquette. https://www.ubbullrun.com/2019/1/29/18201771/ubs-top-basketball-lineups-marquette

Nevada and Buffalo I'd put in the same category...we've got big wins over some (old) big east powers which is impressive enough to get voters on our side but not objectively impressive. Nevada has big wins vs the top of the PAC 12, but the PAC 12 is awful. Not our fault or Nevada's fault that Cuse/WVU/USC/ASU/Utah keep failing. That 6 point win vs Akron in Reno however, might have shown the nation that MAC-Conference play isn't a cake walk. Nevada has won their home MWC games by an average of 29 points, but their home game vs a mid-tier MAC program was only a 6 point win...so the MAC needs to get more credit.

As some of our best players come off the bench and constantly cycle on and off the bench, I got curious what is our best lineup. Here are my first three articles on it. I hope to keep adding updates as the year goes on...both going back at the games I missed (Marquette through NIU) and keeping up with games as they happen going forward. Overall Best Lineup through SIU II: https://www.ubbullrun.com/2019/1/27/18199265/ubs-top-basketball-lineups-part-i Best Lineup, the UB @ Syracuse: https://www.ubbullrun.com/2019/1/27/18199878/ubs-top-basketball-lineups-syracuse Best Lineup, UB @ Kent: https://www.ubbullrun.com/2019/1/28/18200222/ubs-top-basketball-lineups-at-kent-state

And they got the MACK finder Wimberley

http://www.startribune.com/wnba-coaches-gms-tab-mccowan-for-top-pick-in-mock-draft/504146602/ #24

#25 Indiana lost by 15 #7 Kansas lost by 1 to WVU #2 Michigan by 10 to Wisconsin #12 or #14 will lose #1 or #4 will lose We might be looking at getting back to #14 as our floor for next week.

I'll add this to the Gonzaga Comparison... It took the Zags 9 years to receive an At-Large bid and in this run they have 4 total At-large bids over this 25 year run. A major part of that is that they've only lost the conference tournament 7 times in 25 years.

I make the distinction, because you need a foundation. I put the numbers up to show our foundation is about the same as Gonzaga's foundation. Then you need to build on that. Then you need to maintain it and keep up with your new peers. The question of this thread is what does UB do next to keep that Gonzaga progress...that's what the fans want, and probably is what would keep Oats around.

I think we can say we are where Gonzaga was in the 90's. But we don't know if we will convert that success into sustained and profitable success the way Gonzaga has.

I'm also reading the Zags increased ticket revenue by 400% once they went to their new building. They went from 4000 seats selling for a total of about $89/season to 6000 seats selling for a total of about $240/season. Our demand hasn't reached that level yet, sadly, I thought we would sell out every game this year

Comparison not bad... Looking at Gonzaga starting with the last time they went NCAA before this current blue blood streak of 20 straight years in the NCAA... 1994-95 NCAA round of 64 95-96 NIT 96-97 no tourney 97-98 NIT 98-99 NCAA Elite 8 Overall: 109-47 (69.9%) Conf: 47-23 (67.1%) Coach 1, was there for the first 3 years (the end of a 12 year stint) Coach 2 was there for the final 2 years (leaving after 2 years) UB last 5 years NCAA round of 64 NCAA round of 64 no tourney NCAA round of 32 NCAA likely Overall 103-50 (67.3%) Conference 52-24 (68.4%) Coach 1 was there for the first year, (the end of a 2 year stint) Coach 2 was there for the final four years (TBD) **** In the next 5 years at Gonzaga, Coach 3 (Few) took over they went 99-00 NCAA sweet 16 00-01 NCAA sweet 16 01-02 NCAA round of 64 02-03 NCAA round of 32 03-04 NCAA round of 32 Overall 133-32 (80.6%) Conf 62-8 (88.6%) From 05 - present, they have retained Few, he's won 82.3% overall and 89.8% in conference and have not missed the NCAA Tourney..

If we're a top 10 team we should be a 3 seed. 😠

Well Jacobs doesn't seem to be hurting for money so I'm sure you're right. I have never really dove into it, but I always think about how concessions are a very big touchpoint for fans, yet most orgs at the NCAA and pro level outsource it to companies that offer generic, boring, and often bad food. I think the Delaware Norths and Aramarks and Sodexo's have recently gotten better at being less generic and more regional in their offerings... Campus Dining and Shops was nothing special when I was a student, which is a shame, cause I'd walk from the Union to NSC outside in February to get to Berts, but I wouldn't leave my seat to eat anything at Alumni...granted my last game was 12 years ago, so it may have gotten better since then...

There is however 22 million for the Utica Nexus Center, but I kinda think that money would be more wisely used in Amherst as the Nate Oats Basketball Center

In my experience, whoever is in charge of concessions will do their own estimate of concessions needed based on expected sales...I think they usually budget conservatively margins are small, labor costs high...so better to send a few fans home thirsty or hungry than to over-order and have to eat thousands in unused food. So you'd really have to blame I assume A) Campus Dining and Shops and B) Fans for not buying 6,100 season tickets for a team that beat freaking Arizona and brought everyone back.

DC7 made me change my mind about needing a 10k arena...I do worry about students being shut out..BUT that is good for business. A lot of the mystique about the Cameron Crazies is that it is impossible to see games, don't even try to get to the UNC game. If you're in the arena, you better go nuts cause you can't take it forgranted.. So lets keep our games intimate and keep the value high. UB games become a privilege. If we could get our games off ESPN+ and on in all the local bars that would help. Anyone who can't get in, put the game up at the student union and start having watch parties.

WVU still 100 in NET, better than all MAC teams outside of us, Toledo and Ball State. So the win will still help on selection sunday.

You wouldn't have to shuttle students, they can bus to south and then take the 'subway'! Good point about the impact of student tickets on the flip side, if they are willing to pay, then the University gets double paid. If we had 6-7k area fans interested in going, + 10k students for a total of 16-17k people, Keybank would be a good way to get everyone in the building, at AA, only a third would be able to get in. But risky, if people dont show it's embarrassing (i.e. the ralph game in 2013) If we lose at Keybank we'll be pissssed about giving away our home court advantage (i.e. ralph game 2013). At this point it seems all the risk is taken by UB and the upside is not that great. I wouldn't do it.

I'd argue if I was KJ, I get 1 year of free grad school and 1 year competing with and against ACC players. This tells me a lot: 1) Do I enjoy uprooting my life and learning new systems? 2) Do I have what it takes to beat out top players at the next level for playing time? 3) Do I have what it takes to beat top defenders on the field? If yes to #1, then going NFL with no control of my next move is OK, if no I might want to stay in grad school in south beach and keep control. If yes to #2 & #3, then going to the NFL and fighting for a job is OK, if no, I might want to stay in grad school and try a different career. Staying at Buffalo and dominating doesn't answer either of those 3 questions. I think some players are at their best when they are comfortable, some are best when they are challenged... Seeing how we performed against our best opponents, a lot of our guys were probably better comfortable than challenged.

We lost to 4 teams: 2 seem to be lifers (Ohio, Army) the other 2 went to a better job...and a guy we outcoached got a P5 job too... Temple - Ga Tech Troy - W. Virginia NIU - Temple

Our players aren't used to playing more than 12 games. lol.

So if KJ stayed and at next year's camp Lance said Charlie and Nunn were better and were gonna start over KJ, would you be talking about how we invested 4 years in him and how he deserves to start? No. Nothing is guaranteed, you just want to win, that's fine, we all do, but don't drag down athletes who are just living their lives. Like your argument is we gave him four years of training, he owes us the 5th year. KJ would probably counter that he gave you four years of his life, battling to put this team in a better position. Now, he's taking the 5th year transfer he earned by graduating to do something for himself. He owes us nothing. And you keep saying transfers makes us look JV. I think crying over individual players makes us look JV. You think we dont have another QB or WR on the roster...Look at Bama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State...they have the top QBs in the nation and back them up with even better QBs... If you're not stocking your cupboard like that (at whatever level you are at) then YOU ARE JV and that is what it is. This year we'll know if we're JV or not.