sportscliche

If the Bulls drop out of the rankings, they have essentially zero chance to get back in. There are no ranked teams left on their schedule. This highlights another advantage of being in a P5. A team can muddle in the lower middle of the standings, but could see one or more ranked teams leading into March. Have one freaky good game and beat a ranked team and you’re immediately in the conversation for an at-large and possibly even a Top-25 ranking.

The MAC is a one-bid league. There is so much parity that a loss by the Bulls in conference was a statistical certainty.  Another loss or two is highly likely, resulting in a slip out of the Top-25.  Just because Buffalo beat Syracuse who went on to beat Duke says far more about the uncertainty of game outcomes than their predictability.

The NCAA tournament is about P5 schools and automatic bids for the non-P5 conference tournament winners.  The only way non-P5 conferences can improve their stature and secure at-large bids is to schedule the P5 teams OOC and beat them. Here's what the other MAC teams attempted this season, pre-conference:

Akron lost to Clemson, Xavier, and Purdue

Ball St lost to Purdue, Alabama, and VA Tech

BGSU lost to St Johns

CMU lost to TCU

EMU lost to Duke, Rutgers, and Kansas

Kent St lost to Louisville; beat Vanderbilt and Oregon St

Miami-Oh lost to Butler and Xavier

NIU lost to Michigan St

Ohio lost to Xavier and Purdue

WMU lost to Ole Miss, Cinci, and Michigan

Moved to different thread

Hope there is a sense of revenge for what happened there last year. Blew a 13 point lead with 8 minutes in regulation. Eugene German went off for 28. Massinburg had just 5 points. The Bulls missed 15 of 26 FTs...yes, more than half of them. NIU came in on a 4 game losing streak and won in OT. Not sure how that debacle happened, but it was hard to watch, especially on that so-weirdly-painted basketball court.

NIU was an overtime road loss for UB last season.  It sure looks like they are a much better team now. German is an all-conference player. The ragged play of the last two games better get fixed or this game will be a disappointment. And don’t get me started on that bizarre paint job on the NIU home court. 

2 hours ago, dutchcountry7 said:

It isn’t just Oats. The staff is gone after this season. 

I see the assistants all getting poached by programs offering more money. 

They need about $2M more in total staff salaries every year and that is something I can’t see them doing. 

 

Really? I kinda thought Hodgson was the heir-apparent when Oats goes, given his WNY lineage.

Apparently lavish practice facilities — with amenities rivaling a 5-star hotel — are essential components of recruiting these days. I would think that sustained winning, NCAA appearances, and great coaching would be far more important. But hey I haven’t been 18 years old in a long time.

West Virginia is now 0-5 in conference and...wait for it...a sub-500 team. Big-12 cellar dwellers. Will their continued downward spiral diminish the UB win? They did have a healthy Konate back then.

I work at a Carnegie I university and can assure you that this distinction is a big deal. Schools work fiercely to attain and maintain their position in the top tier. UB is the only MAC school with this status.

That makes the Syracuse win a gold star on the UB resume. I think they can take a couple of MAC regular season losses and a 2nd round loss in Cleveland and still get an at-large.

13 hours ago, BullsFan14 said:

Well, at least they know whats coming....

https://test.miamihawktalk.com/talk/discussion/4085/miami-19-buffalo-sat-at-noon

That thread shows ESPN giving Miami less than a 5% chance of winning. That seems ludicrous. Now that conference play is just underway, people seem to have forgotten how much parity existed in the MAC last season. Most of those games were coin flips.

If UB is on their game, Miami should not pose a big problem, but that is far from certain. No MAC teams are pushovers.