rma

15 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

We have 6 QBs on the roster. Was our scouting and staff so bad they picked 6 duds?

I hope not but then again you never know. Hoping to see some good signs at the spring game.

3 hours ago, Bluebird96 said:

On paper the OOC schedule seems favorable with what *should* be 3 winnable games vs FCS (gulp) Lafayette, vs UMass (3-9 last year) and @ UCONN (also 3-9).

Is it too early to predict a 6-6 first season under Coach Lembo?  As I think I’ve seen posted on here, that should be the bare minimum expectation every season in the MAC for UB Bulls football in my opinion 🤪

 

We need a QB

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_horn

Bull horn, used by minutemen. It makes too much sense. From 11.5 years ago:

https://www.ubbullrun.com/2012/9/11/3317930/should-there-trophy-game-with-umass-what-should-it-be-for

15 hours ago, verandaman said:

Liberty didn't fair so well.  69-0.

Jeez I thought there was a mercy rule. 😆

13 minutes ago, DaBulls99 said:

I think this is what some of us mean when talking about the MBB program. Last year all our coaches and recruits had bailed end of the year and we were not good. One year later and they’re competitive in every game and in line for a 4 seed. 

I don't think I ever really doubted Burke's X's and O's. My doubts were if she could put together a staff and team that doesn't hate basketball after working for or playing for her. The season isn't over but so far we are in a better spot than last year. So far we've only lost one player who played 5 minutes and scored 1 point. And zero coaches.

E: I don't have the same faith in GH3's X's and O's as I do with Burke.

4 minutes ago, Blue03 said:

Can we repurpose center for the arts for this? I think the middle part with the vaulted ceiling all lit up would make a cool rink. I want a hockey team so bad, we’d suck the first few years being outrecruited and without a conference, but it would be so much fun.

Call up Jeremy Jacobs and get him to fund it

I don't want WKU without MTSU. I don't really want either because we have enough open enrollment schools in the conference, but if you're adding one you have to add the other. Conference realignment has killed so many rivalries already, no need to add to that list.

14 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

Also, by this logic St Bonaventure would be #1 in the MAC as well.

They would be near the top in men's basketball but they're a one trick pony. Bare minimum resources to other programs, especially women's programs.

Our softball team, lead by a rotating set of coaches, that up until this year rotated their home field with a high school field, a D2 softball field, and a swamp, was 3-5 against them in the past 10 years. The other sports we both compete in aren't nearly as competitive for Bona as the softball series is. Our soccer team is 5-2 the last 10 years, women's basketball 8-2, women's tennis 12-0 (last loss to Bona was September 2000).

21 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

Was this chart supposed to be impressive somehow? they are worse than any MAC team in football and Buffalo over this time period is better then UMASS. They are a good academic and research school, spend more money on athletics than anyone in the conferences, yet suck in football and a middling in MBB. Marcus Camby is currently 49 years old, so if that is the “rich basketball history”, that was a while back.
 

Who are our 5 National Champions? Jones obviously and the D3 wrestling team, but I can't recall the others.

I also did a sport by sport analysis in another post. They are upper half of the MAC in men's basketball but it isn't like we're adding Gonzaga. They'll compete with Akron and Kent State for an upper seed in Cleveland.

Nice to add some academics to the conference though. I'm really getting worried about Akron potentially folding their entire school at some point. They had a program accreditation lapse a few years ago and had to settle with some students that sued them. Whoops!

Comparison of UMass, UB and the Mid-American Conference using Massey Rankings, last 3 years of completed seasons only.

Football:

UMass - 131, 131, 130

Buffalo - 122, 101, 110

MAC Median - 115, 106, 97

MAC Low - 133 (Kent), 130 (Akron), 127 (Akron)

Men's Basketball:

UMass - 168, 158, 129

Buffalo - 178, 121, 97

MAC Median - 215, 241, 147

MAC High - 67 (Kent), 88 (Toledo), 79 (Ohio)

Women's Basketball:

UMass - 62, 63, 102

Buffalo - 178, 71, 100

MAC Median - 183, 124, 133

MAC High - 59 (Toledo), 67 (Toledo), 85 (CMU)

* Worth noting that the Minutewomen lost their head coach last year and are having a GH3-like year. Here's the A10 standings. Oh hey there Bonnies!

Men's Soccer:

MAC doesn't sponsor anymore, used implied rankings of 4 MAC schools for 2023

UMass - 103, 73, 74

MAC Median - 67 (RIP), 62, 41

MAC Low - 111 (BG), 112 (NIU, since Chicago State is a fake school), 75 (WMU)

Women's Soccer:

UMass - 128, 180, 152

Buffalo - 152, 78, 114

MAC Median - 172, 199, 151

MAC High - 91 (WMU), 78 (Buffalo), 84 (Bowling Green)

Baseball:

UMass - 281, 251, 256

MAC Median - 206, 206, 182

MAC Low - 273 (NIU), 272 (Akron), 268 (Akron)

Softball:

UMass - 246, 243, 257

Buffalo - 244, 190, 222

MAC Median - 169, 172, 199

MAC Low - 278 (Bowling Green), 234 (Toledo), 264 (Akron)

Women's Tennis

UMass - 194, 140, Did Not Compete

Buffalo - 158, 153, 176

MAC Median - 158, 165, 145

MAC Low - 226 (Bowling Green), 220 (Bowling Green), 216 (EMU)

MAC High - 69, 103, 104 (All Ball State)

 

Seems like they're no clear #1 in any MAC sponsored sport though they would compete with the top of the MAC in women's soccer and be towards the top in men's basketball. Massey does not have rankings for other team sports UMass competes in such as field hockey and lacrosse, and does not have any individual sports like swimming, track, and field. UMass does not appear to have a history of having a top shot put thrower, which is good news for us to continue our reign as a shot put school in the MAC.

4 minutes ago, BrooklynBull said:

How?

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/11/north-carolina-wake-forest-non-conference-game-explainer

 

Its happened before. 

1 minute ago, verandaman said:

I guess UB will be looking for OOC games for 25'(?), '26, '27 and '28 season??

We could still play them OOC

6 minutes ago, TheCommish said:

MBB majors

4 - Communication, 1 - Legal Studies in Coaching, 3 - Exploratory, 1 - Psychology, 1- Business Admin, 1 - none

The 1 business major went to a great hs, most likely here for education first, and will probably graduate from UB, not transfer. 

Not enough communication majors based on the communication I see on the court

Currently at 580 with 4 to go in the regular season, Cleveland seems very likely but not a certainty. With her season average and 5 games, she'll be at 696.

2 hours ago, skrabukes said:

We need that track gone so that the 500 people in attendance on a Tuesday night can enjoy the game more I guess.

We need it gone to improve the fan experience so that we have more than 500 people in attendance on a Tuesday night. And because it is no longer standard to have a track around a football field in division 1 football anymore. Lance had a better stadium (from a fan perspective) at UWW than we have here. 
 

The rest of what you said I don’t necessarily disagree with, it’s just how the industry has changed. Cam Newton took (allegedly) around $200k to play at Auburn. These days $200k wouldn’t get you close to a heisman winner. 

1 hour ago, MuchMany said:

It's a strange teetotaling misnomer that an adult "needs" to have a beer if they'd simply like to have one at a game. Plus food and drink offerings are obviously a key consideration in modern sports entertainment.

So yes, I'm hypothesizing that some would have chosen not to attend, evidenced by the already meager crowds for the awful on-court product. "With this team, I need glasses to watch. Specifically two glasses, of scotch." (Shout out to the goat Norm Macdonald.)

If a couple buddies in their 20s-30s are considering going to a UB game vs grabbing food and drinks somewhere on a winter evening, it's likely that the option to have a few beers at the game (like hundreds of millions have at sporting events since the Roman Empire) would influence their decision.

UB poobahs would be wise to listen to any advice that breaks up the staid, septuagenarian vibes at basketball and football games. New voices are needed to revamp the deathly boring game presentation and arena experience. We already have quite a few libraries on campus, we don't need Alumni to be one.

I don’t “need” WiFi to enjoy a game but I like having it so I can check scores or stats during the game.
 

I don’t “need” concession stands to take credit cards, but I will make fun of local rivals for not accepting them.

UB doesn’t “need” a mascot, scoreboard, in-arena announcer for games. We’re all there to watch basketball, right?

But all of those things add up to the gameday experience. And when the team is good, it matters less. CJ making threes from West Seneca and Nick Perkins making Akron bigs his bitch you could excuse some lack of amenities. But right now the men’s team sucks so less people are coming and the people that do come are going to want the gameday experience to not suck. I admit, I really don’t care for a lot of the “extra” stuff but I also am in the minority (just give me WiFi and credit cards). Families are going to want entertainment between airballed three pointers.

I don’t think there’s many people saying “I’m going to the UB game because there’s beer” but if there’s no beer, no fire shooting stage props, no blue bull running around, obnoxious DJs, AND bad basketball, there’s going to be less people around. Which those of us in Buffalo see.

This is my whole argument for the track being removed at UB Stadium, except I think being in a different zip code in the stands might influence a bit more than adult beverages.

I’ve returned to some college football stadiums specifically for non-football related reasons. UMass I made a priority to go back because of their world class marching band. I took a day off to drive to Virginia Tech because it is an absolute circus during Enter Sandman. I stayed an extra day in West Virginia after the UB basketball win to sing Country Roads after a football win. Last year I went to Penn State on a day’s notice because I found cheap tickets, heard the Ohio State band was visiting, and wanted to go to the creamery for “lunch.” The gameday experience absolutely matters.

 

ETA: The long line of people outside the PSU creamery with large coolers after the game didn’t go to the game to load up on ice cream, but people that might be more marginally attached to the program have more of an incentive to drive from Pittsburgh to State College if they can watch their football team AND fill up their freezer for a year. 

1 hour ago, Blue03 said:

Yes a lot of them were student athletes that left, but the rest of the students were there because they were giving away Drake tickets, and they all promptly left as soon as the winners were announced

They are the WIN-NARS! Let’s go let’s go

6 hours ago, MKBullsfan said:

But doesn’t he have to show success at Buffalo to be even considered?

 

What did Allen Greene do here as Athletic Director to show success before getting hired at Auburn? 

1 hour ago, squire17 said:

By cutting instructional staff salaries $5000 across the board, and funneling the proceeds to the Athletic department, UB paradoxically enhances its comprehensive reputation.

Hoping this is all sarcastic, but a lot of (most?) UB employees are part of a contract that's collectively bargained.

And it's absolutely a bad idea and terrible optics.

  

1 hour ago, squire17 said:

increased earnings for athletic staff - the heart of academia.

ah ok point taken

20 minutes ago, BrooklynBull said:

We would be going from the best academic institution in the MAC, to probably best in the AAC.  Rice is an AAU school, and the only school that would be close to UB in academics.  The rest of the full members (not counting Army and Navy) are no different than the bulk of the MAC.

UB, USF, Temple, and Tulane are all more or less the same in most academic rankings. UAB is the only AAC school that does more annual research (in terms of $) than UB but their academics are ranked lower.

In the MAC it's UB 1, Miami 2, then a bunch of schools that are not selective at all and are bleeding enrollment.

I'm with you that the AAC isn't attractive but they actually have some schools that have some level of selectivity, compared to the MAC where our 25th percentile of standardized test scores is multiple other schools' 75th percentile.

46 minutes ago, TheCommish said:

And that’s why ub is the way it is. It’s called investment, I could easily find a million dollars of waste on that campus that should be redirected towards athletics. Do you want me to start listing all of them?

How many employees are in different classifications and should be reclassified but won’t because they would take a $30k pay cut?

 

Do you think the overall fan and student athlete experience would be better playing schools like UTSA and North Texas over Central Michigan and Toledo? Our academic profile fits better with the AAC but that isn't the only reason schools join conferences.

The Missouri alumnus who is the current Athletics Director for the University at Buffalo has a number of accomplishments at the University at Buffalo.

• Was athletics director for a season of UB men's basketball that saw the team nationally ranked nearly the entire season and make it to the round of 32
• Was athletics director for a season of UB women's basketball where the team won the MAC tournament
• Was athletics director for a season of UB football where the team was nationally ranked for the first time ever, and had a 6-1 record
• Hired a football head coach that won a bowl game in his second year as a head coach
• Presided over a department that won a number of institutional awards
  • 2022-23 1-MAC Institutional Award
  • 2022 MAC Institutional Sportsmanship Award
  • 2023 MAC Institutional Sportsmanship Award
  • 4 Straight years of MAC Diversity and Inclusion Institution Award
• Construction of the field house and weight room
• Replacement of the softball field
• Department-wide 3.169 Fall 2024 GPA
• Hired a women's basketball coach who has the fourth leading scorer in NCAAW
• Hired a men's basketball coach who has presided over an unprecedented streak on the court

Honestly I don't understand why a SEC school has not been knocking at the door of this Missouri alumnus yet.

Go Bulls

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/39557409/arizona-hire-ad-desiree-reed-francois-amid-budget-woes

3 hours ago, MuchMany said:

Lol what's your beef with the Tank? 

He's an encyclopedia of baseball knowledge but acts like a child when his team (which happens to be my team) does anything remotely bad.

He's predicting they go 32-130 this season, which is 18 less wins than a team that signed something like 3 free agents and has an owner that is attempting to move the team. And is worse than every other team in the history of MLB since 1900. To Frank every player is washed up until they sign elsewhere, then they're an all star. FWIW the three top pitchers he whined about that signed elsewhere or were traded are injured and returning in June (Scherzer), injured and returning in August (DeGrom), and may or may not be available on opening day (Verlander).

I get that it's all part of his shtick and Barstool needs the clicks so he says outrageous stuff. I'd just rather listen to him go through random baseball anecdotes and history than watch him scream into a microphone about a 5-4 loss in April. And there's so much screaming that it isn't worth it for me to follow the other stuff IMO

Agreed on your points but if there’s one thing that will keep me away from a UB basketball game it’s Frank Fleming. I’d watch us get destroyed by Niagara over seeing that guy in Alumni Arena. 
 

 

get rid of cotton eyed Joe please