trueblue32

To be fair when a lot of players left Buffalo with Hurley I feel it was because they wanted to come to Buffalo to learn from an NCAA great and a former NBA player. I don't think there's that level of attachment to Oats specifically although maybe I underestimate the relationships he has with the kids.

My proof is he's paid to be a coach lol. The burden of proof isn't on me to disprove your completely random claim. I have no idea how good he truly is. Even if he's not a great Xs and Os coach 4 star talent like he's been pulling can win games in the MAC. Keep Whitesell or someone similar with experience on the bench behind him. Oats had the same role as him before becoming HC and it didn't seem to be a problem.

What do you have to back this lol

Fantastic

Hodgson or bust in my opinion. I fear anyone else will cause the roster to fall apart and then we're back at square one. I see a lot of similarities between us and Middle Tennessee last year. Senior heavy team, at-large contender, HC goes to the SEC, then they hire an outsider, lose some players (including our own Antwain Johnson) and recruits, and then they tumble down to 247 in KenPom. It doesn't take long to fade back to irrelevance in the mid-major landscape especially with our fan base just really starting to grow. I'll cheer for whoever and I'll feel bad if Whitesell gets leap-frogged but Hodgson has the most potential to keep the team together and being a WNY kid maybe he will choose to stay if he continues the success.

Oats and Noah Williams both RTd this tweet. I'd imagine they have a feel for where he's going and I don't think Oats would promote a kid not picking us haha.

While I think either ASU or St. John's is a pretty good first round matchup, I don't like the potential distractions. Additionally I feel the nature of the play in game forces us to match up with a hot/confident team. I believe at least one of the First Four teams has advanced every year so far. I also feel like we got hosed a bit in seeding for the sake of the NCAA's storylines which pushed us out West and into imo the toughest regional. I feel our 1-7 seeds are all strong for their line if not underseeded (with the exception of Marquette). Even Marquette at 5 with Howard and Syracuse with their zone at 8 are less than ideal in a single elimination tournament. Who knows though, anything can happen in March!

Our tip is around 4pm EST after the 1:30 game concludes.

Looks like he enjoyed his visit. Hopefully Hawkins did too!

Haven't gotten a chance to watch yet but it looks like you can rewatch his last two games here if you're interested: https://youtu.be/o-lJpIUn7Lo

I saw that ASU was an unofficial visit while ours and Arkansas' are officials. Searching the Verbal Commits Twitter account I don't see him ever even receiving an offer from ASU. I'd assume it's down to us and Arkansas. Hopefully he picks us but Arkansas' last 3 starting C have been all-SEC caliber with Portis in the NBA still and Gafford projected as a lottery pick. Based on his YouTube videos his build and skill-set remind me more of Perkins than either of those two though. Hopefully we land him but I can't blame him if he picks Arkansas.

48 mins to tip and student section is packed. They've been showing up. I was also in the pic posted above and it's difficult to replicate the feeling of a team fighting for their first NCAA appearance when we're destroying everyone on our way to an at Large. It'll get there and packing alumni is a good first step, fan involvement should follow but I don't expect it to occur overnight.

I think this actually helps mid majors. We didn't get CJ for example because a 5 star took his spot. He was completely under the radar. This helps programs that are good at finding talent and developing it. I count 18 one and dones in last year's class and I don't think any of our guys would have been one of the next 18 guys on a power Program other than Jeremy maybe if someone went the JUCO route. That number might be even lower if players don't have a chance to prove themselves at the college level. Trae Young was a good recruit but I don't think anyone would pick him to jump from high school to the NBA. In the end I don't think the talent drop off will even be noticeable.

To me this, in a weird way, is a positive thing. We're a top 25 team without him playing well. If he was shooting at last year's clip he's making almost an extra 3 per game. Tack 3 PPG on to our average (plus whatever it does for the rest of the offense with the floor spacing) and we're that much scarier. He's too good to continue at this rate all year.

Are you still allowed or did the coaches yank knock off Barstools credentials after the Perkins suspension tweet

I don't follow you, you've been the laughing stock of group chats since you tried telling True Blue members (from anywhere and everywhere) that they had to be Bills fans lmao

He does it's just when he's on Twitter and saying stuff to their face. See the game where he was complaining about Jordan's effort on here and then tweeted this: https://twitter.com/kevinmassare/status/1088974525763592192?s=21

Oof most of our away games have been packed but not even a top 25 team can make people care about Akron basketball hahaha

I feel like this one could be a blowout. Akron really struggles offensively, they shoot the 9th highest percentage of 3s and make them at the 299th rate. They could get run out of the gym early. They have one true PG listed at a generous 5'8", he's gonna get man handled by our guards. Also they really only play 7 so they'll probably get gassed and/or into foul trouble. Not much about Akron scares me.

Distinct lack of bench Jeremy Harris posts today

I'm not sure what pro basketball prospects Caruthers has but I'd love to see him pull a Quinten Rollins. Rollins led the MAC in steals his senior year at Miami (OH) then played football as a CB for one year, won MAC defensive POY and was a 2nd round pick in the NFL draft.

Joe Lunardi has us as the top 7 seed still lmao

#23 NC State just lost and scored 24 points. Other games to keep an eye on today: -#20 Iowa St. hosting unranked Texas -#22 Mississippi St. at unranked Ole Miss -#19 LSU hosting unranked Arkansas

Hard disagree to be honest. Our fast style of play is going to lead to seem easy buckets here and there but overall I think our defense is fine. With the MAC as competitive as it is the margin is razor thin and with a team this good we're going to run into hot teams in front of record crowds. Someday people will understand shots going in on a given day isn't necessarily an indictment on the defense. https://theathletic.com/720048/2018/12/18/kenpom-shooting-and-defending-the-3-is-random-business-i-e-relax-its-early/

Assuming he meant NET? But in KenPom the 7th ranked conference has gotten *at least* (in most cases more) 2 bids every year in the last decade. Granted the MAC is currently 9th in KP.