UB85

Was talking to a buddy of mine. He and 17 others are going to the SIU game. Many of them are Canisius grads. Having a excellent track record of success enhanced by a top 25 ranking is a big draw. UB has been mostly irrelevant on the national stage. Making the tourney 3 out of the last 4 years and hopefully 4 out of 5 is a big deal. The was a huge buzz in the local community, I presume because playing in the tourney is a national event. People here want to support big time sports. A buddy of mine had it right decades ago. I went to a lot of Canisius games when they were in the NE conference. I had a hard time figuring out why they couldn’t get more than 2k or so in the aud. My buddy’s theory? No one wants to watch “North” Hampshire play. He was right. Oats has the program on an upward path. If it continues community support as well as student support will get significantly larger. I see signs of it already.

His article, https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/sports/columnists/graham-couch/2018/12/10/graham-couch-ap-top-25-college-basketball-ballot-why-duke-kansas-tennessee-didnt-make/2264942002/

My weekly review of the voting (for some odd reason I enjoy looking at how everyone voted). Graham Couch of the Lansing paper has us at #5, which is up from 8 last week. He values true road wins. Dicky V has us at 14. A writer from the St. Louis Post Dispatch is the only voter without UB is his/her top 25. Two or three voters have UB at #9 and one at #10.Let's keep it rolling with a big win next Saturday against the Salukis! Go Bulls!

If you have to yell F this and F that then you’re pretty dumb bunch of fans. I didn’t go this game. But the AP article being read throughout the country prominently says profanity-chanting fans. Beyond the obvious of it being fit only for drunkards and being vulgar Bona gets a black eye in the national press. I don’t see how you want your school known to be that way especially at a catholic university. I’m not a fan of the “you suck” chant when an opposing player fouls out either. I don’t think I’m high and mighty. Just think it’s disgusting and terribly inappropriate.

This is spot on. Not that most Bona fans recognize this. They have great fan support. They’re in the stands whether they’re a tourney team or not. They’re loyal though many are disgusting in their use of foul language. It surprises me that the Franciscans don’t try and rein that needless stuff in and are not embarrassed by it.

They will. They’re all AP voters who read the AP articles. Check out the AP article I posted on the game thread. UB hasn’t won there in over 100 years. Bona best the last 5 ranked teams they played at the RC.

Same to you and Bona.

That’s what I don’t get about a handful of Bonnie fans on the bandwagon board. We should all realize that the higher profile a team or teams are the better it is for college basketball in WNY. That dude bonaballa is a complete train wreck. He’s pissing all over Buffalo which means he’s pissing all over a ton of Bona alums here in the Buffalo area. While I don’t know for sure I’d guess the highest percentage of Bona alums live in the Buffalo area. It sure seems so anyway as I know 30-40 of them. And then there’s the dude who insists UB is cheating. They say ignorance is bliss so he must be extraordinarily blissful. As far as the game Bona just doesn’t have, yet anyway, someone who can control the game when it’s on the verge of getting away from them. They sure could have used an Adams or Mobley today. But Bona also struggled with UB’s maturity. They start three seniors and two juniors while bringing in two seniors as the first two subs. Given UB’s experience and how’ve they have been tested over their careers it probably isn’t surprising that we won by double digits even though I thought it would be an extremely close game. Bona with Stockard back are heading in the right direction. With Schmidt at the helm they’ll only get better as the year progresses and the young guys get more experience. Good luck going forward.

Good luck to Bona! The better the teams in WNY the better it is for each team. Thanks for being classy. Enjoy the holidays and have a great 2019!

I’m just happy to be in the top 25. Anything else is gravy. 🙂

No reason to troll them. While many were plenty haughty those same fans now have to remove their shoes from their mouth. There are plenty of great Bona fans. A couple posted on the board. I know many more. Just let the game speak for itself.

While savoring this win I am also looking forward to Monday at noon.

Then there’s this, http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/recap?gameId=401085724 “The Bulls ... were unfazed by a rowdy, sold out and profanity-chanting crowd....” I cannot imagine that’s how Bona, its administration and fans want to be known. The rowdy and sold out is what makes college basketball special. The profanity-chanting should be left in the gutter where it belongs. And that goes for every sporting event anywhere.

All the more impressive! Javon was very close to his grandfather. He made his grandad proud today! Way to go JG!!

This was a good win as is any road win. Bona will be ranked far higher as the season progresses. SIU will be tough. We need a huge crowd. As Derek said, just an outstanding performance by Javon Graves today. Nothing frazzles him. Also let’s not forget Williams. His best college game by a mile today. That’ll be extremely important for his confidence and morale going forward. Which is huge for the team’s success going forward.

I agree. True Blue should take some of the denigrating comments from their board and maybe that’ll get them fired up and bring more students out.

Let’s just enjoy the win. One game at a time. We have something to look forward to in Monday.

Extremely impressive win today! It is extremely difficult to play in the RC. Credit Nate and the team for coming out of the gates on fire. They made a very good Bona team look like a jv team in the first half. Let’s keep it going!

Perkins playing like he has two right feet. Just like a fish out of water. Imagine if he was playing his usual game and the refs didn’t call nearly 20 fouls on us in the second half.

The refs suck. Terrible inconsistency on block/charge call. Jordan has had excellent position and they called two blocks then they call a charge on CJ

Give Bona a lot of credit for getting back in the game. Really great app cowrie cr for the guys. They let the foot off the pedal just enough to give Bona life. Now we’re presing and risking a lot of shots. Gotta slow it down and ramp up the defense. Make them shoot the jumpers, get the rebounds and run.

You knew they’d have a run. Now it’s time to snuff it out. A lot of missed chippies and bad decisions on offense leads to a 12-0 Bona run to cut lead to 15. Very good time out by Nate.

Two things. Let’s get Perkins going in second half. And it would have been nice to get the third foul on Stockard in the first half. A missed opportunity there.

The first half went as well as it could have. Have to keep up the defensive intensity in the second half. I think the boys were aware of the history and some of the smack.

Some excellent contributions from Williams. That is just fantastic to see. It seems pretty apparent that we have more depth than Bona. Should be a big factor in second half. Graves also playing great.