trueblue32

Amongst freshmen playing at least 30% of their teams minutes Sabol and Boldin rank 140th and 157th respectively in PRPG! (Offensive rating adjusted for usage and quality of competition). People are overestimating the demand for the 6th and 7th leading scorers on a 2-15 team. I like them as pieces for the future but I don't see a bunch of high major schools kicking down their doors. Maybe they leave if they want to play a smaller role on a mid/low major that could win their conference, but I don't think we're gonna lose them in a bidding war to a P5 unless they light the world on fire in the last ~15 games

https://barttorvik.com/playerstat.php?link=y&minGP=15&yvalue=Fr&year=2024&minmin=30&start=20231101&end=20240501

Mo's a carpetbagger who talks big and then takes a new job before anyone can realize he's a fraud, goodbye. Thanks for the savings Alabama. Now if we could replace Alnutt before we let him make another hire..

15 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

They ran off Kanye.

I haven't said anything in case he does have things going on in his personal life, so I hope all is well, but I don't buy their story on him. He's slowly had his role reduced, didn't get into the last couple of games before break, then disappeared after Christmas break. It sure seems like he just quit or was told not to come back. He was also in the group that didn't play a half in Cancun Fort Myers for what Jay Wright alluded to as attitude issues. Diovion Famakinde wasn't dressed the first few games (I assumed injury), and then disappeared off the bench. Bryson Wilson was brought in with 4 mins left when we were getting blown out and then pulled for no apparent reason with two minutes left? The vibes surrounding this team are dogshit. Maybe its some "bad eggs" but at a certain point Halcovage is responsible for who he brings in and how he handles it. Halcovage didn't want to use the 13th scholarship so we now have 8 healthy players who Halcovage seems willing to play. People are really underselling what a mess of a situation Halcovage has made. I repeat that none of this is going to get easier next year with at a minimum Chatman gone and maybe a 5 win record to recruit with.

To expound on my previous point, for all of our players who have D1 experience (with some small sample caveats):


Everybody's offensive rating has gone down compared to their previous D1 season, except for Zaakir Williamson, who is notably the only player who hasn't had an increase in usage. Sy Chatman is the only player whose percentage of makes assisted has increased (I suspect this mostly to be due to a decrease in his offensive rebounding rate, which eliminates some unassisted putbacks). This is an indictment on the general talent level, notably at the PG position, as well as Halcovage not making up for it in anyway schematically.

1 hour ago, DocCas86 said:

I wonder what is going on with Adams, his stats are well below what he contributed last year (last year MAC - 52.3% eFG%, 36.7% from 3, 12.8 ppg).  Is he still not 100% physically, are other teams defending him tighter or is he not playing with confidence.  Hopefully he returns to last year's level, and produces at the level commensurate with his ability.  This team needs him scoring more efficiently to be competitive.

I think the fact of the matter is that he's just a better ancillary piece than he is a lead player. Too much is being asked of most players on this team due to the low talent level and the fact that we're not scheming our way out of talent deficits. Last year 62.8% of Adams' baskets (not shots) were assisted, down to 45.2% this year. I'm sure if there was a way to calculate "potential assists" on shots rather than makes the decrease would be greater than that. Please go rewatch the ATO with 33 seconds left in the first half and tell me what Halcovage drew up there. The highlight of the game for me was my brother's comment "UB thought they were getting Jay Wright, but they got Jay Wrong"

Graham isn’t dressed. 9 players dressed, approximately 9 fans in the stands

With the caveat that I started at UB (and started closely following) the year after McCrea graduated, I think the #1 scorer and #3 rebounder in program history needs to be on the wall.

CJ being (imo) the best player in program history also gets him on the wall.

Perkins being another 4 year stud and the #2 option in the greatest era of UB history, and playing in the most games in UB history gets him on the wall.

Jeenathan's case is a little fuzzy to me, his UB career alone frankly probably doesn't deserve to be on the wall, based on how few players have been honored, but him making to the NBA is certainly an important feather in the program's cap and worthy of honoring in my opinion.

I loved Segu in his time at UB, but in my opinion his career is not particularly close to being worth "honoring" his number. He had one MAC second team honor in his career, and never led a MAC championship team, we'd need a huge wall if that is the bar.

Good news: we’re gonna win

Bad news: I’m not sure that effort beats anyone else in the MAC other than CMU when they shoot 5% from 3

3 hours ago, DooleyBull06 said:

It would be coaching malpractice to not play him. Literally every head coach across the country is playing or planning to play their two time transfers. So why hold out a player who could impact things? If the NCAA closes the 14 day window then I’m sure playing 1 game won’t count towards burning his eligibility. Right now, take advantage. It’s a free for all. You play the kid. Worry about the rest later

DooleyBull06 is sure that playing 1 game won’t count towards burning his eligibility (it literally does, barring an injury that would require a medical waiver) so we will burn a year of free college, living paid for, and development towards a professional basketball career. Not my life so who cares right

18 hours ago, John said:

I think he should play this year and let the chips fall wherever. We need to field a more competitive team this year so we don’t lose more fans and especially more season ticket holders who are leaving and not showing up for games as evidenced by many empty seats. 

Giving a few less minutes to Adams, Chatman, and Smith to get Graham on the court is not improving this team in any meaningful way. The only outcome that it possibly flips is the 6 point home loss in the opener to FDU. This team is getting killed and Graham isn't going to save fans' attention. If we're truly "rebuilding" this year then burning a year of Graham's eligibility would be coaching malpractice and frankly would be unfair to him. Is there any guarantee that he'd even be eligible beyond the 14 day window of the TRO? We want to burn his year of eligibility for a single away game where we'll be 20 point underdogs?

13 minutes ago, rma said:

Do we see Graham for the Richmond game now?

Honestly let him redshirt and hopefully he’s a piece of a competitive team next year. Chatman will be gone and Adams will eligible to grad transfer (presumably). Wing/Forward isn’t even the weak spot on this team so he’d probably just dilute minutes for our few experienced players

2 hours ago, dutchcountry7 said:

Year one of a rebuild...  Let's see how this team looks in February.  Lets see what players coming in over the summer.

The sky isn't always falling.

People keep saying this, but this isn't pro sports where we need to tank for a high draft pick. There is literally no reason that this team should be the worst in UB history by a wide margin. Is the idea that the recruiting gets easier after the mystery of what could be is gone and Halcovage is just a coach leading a team coming off of (what we can hope is) a 5 win season? Spoiler alert: even without a coaching change there is no guarantee that any of these players are here next year. We are not rebuilding anything currently. Next year Halcovage will be rebuilding from the depths that he has plummeted the program to. If he thinks rebuilding is recruiting off a 15 win season then he is about to find out what rebuilding is.

You’re underselling Curtis Jones who is the 6th man on the #20 rated KenPom team. ISU’s starting PG is going to be in all-American consideration

Maybe I’m just sour on Halcovage but I’d love if he spent less time whining to the refs in games that we’re down 20

A UB classic the past few years: a sports center top 10 dunk at home down double digits

FWIW WKU is 305th in minutes continuity with a first year coach and UB is 314th. Would’ve liked if our “rebuild” looked like theirs lol

21 minutes ago, 121Merrimac said:

Whenever Adams does come back, where will his minutes come from - any concern with team cohesion?

He’s the best player on the team, the pieces will fall around him. McVeigh, Zaakir and Bryson Wilson are probably out of the rotation if we make a push to be competitive in MAC play

An account trying to promote a local semi-pro basketball league is attempting to alienate the UB basketball fanbase


 

1 minute ago, Bluebird96 said:

Finished with the same 2 fouls he picked up in the first few minutes of the game.  Hindsight now, but an extra 8-10 minutes of game time from Chatman might have helped the Bulls keep this closer in the end.

Yep. "Foul trouble" is always self inflicted. The refs don't get involved until 5.

4 minutes ago, Bullsboys said:

You guys know it’s this close bc butler decided not to prepare for this game right? 

Worse teams than “unprepared” Butler have slapped a basic 1-2-2 on and beat the brakes off this team so it’s progress

Chatman is good! Imagine if he had 4 fouls to give!

Sabol is still knockdown with his feet set. He’s being asked to do too much at this point in his career

8 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

Maybe we can have someone foul out in the first half, that will be way better. When you get in that foul mode and the refs know your number, getting the 3rd within a couple minutes is very common. It’s a good strategy actually. If you don’t have a player or two on the bench that can offer a spark, that’s a bigger problem. Borrowing some items from a national championship coach isn’t a bad thing.

It’s bad coaching. Not getting your best players on the floor is not good coaching. Possessions count the same no matter when they occur. If you don’t foul out and you sat because of “foul trouble” then you wasted some X possessions on the bench. The other major difference you might notice is that Villanova had talent in spades and UB has 2 D1 frontcourt players.

If a player is fouling due to fatigue, frustration or something that can be coached it makes sense to briefly pull them. “Foul mode” is not a thing that requires sitting a half.

Let’s pretend UB was playing in the MAC Championship against Ohio and the MAC decided they wanted an Ohio school to win. The MAC decides that UB’s players foul out of the first half with two fouls but Ohio’s do not. You think that’s fine? That’s what our coach’s official strategy is in a game that he is a 24 point underdog in

3 minutes ago, Bluebird96 said:

Yes and yes.  Team shooting just 28% on the season and 0/12 tonight 

I think there are better shooters than their numbers but you can’t tell because the offense generates no looks for spot up shooters. Every 3 we get is off a dribble or just shooting over the top

5 minutes ago, Tee4three said:

Most games I would agree, but his replacements for the first time all year were playing well (Williamson and mcviegh) and getting them some confidence will go a long way 

Yeah and that’s fine for today but it’s a definite trend now. As a younger coach I would’ve hoped that was something of Jay Wright’s that he’d abandon but I guess we’re stuck with it