trueblue32

Halcovage’s 2 foul auto-bench is so bad

I think it's fair to be critical of the hire already. We need to stop pretending that this was just the hand that Halcovage was dealt as if it was entirely out of his hands whether or not we retained any players on the roster. The only player he retained that wasn't forced to be here due to transfer rules is Zaakir Williamson who is not a D1 caliber player. Even if we pretend that having experienced players was out of Halcovage's hands, here's a list of teams with equal or lesser minutes continuity and D1 experience, and a first year coach.

180.) Notre Dame
274.) Southern
287.) Texas A&M Corpus Christi
298.) Green Bay
318.) Valparaiso
322.) Manhattan
338.) Buffalo
341.) Northwestern St.
342.) Idaho
360.) Coppin St.
361.) North Carolina A&T

Even within this specific set of parameters Halcovage is not doing a good job early compared to teams that are universally less resourced aside from Notre Dame and (maybe) Valparaiso. Alnutt hired a coach who hasn't led a program and only worked in a program that's success was predicated on 4 year guys and few incoming transfers. Is that a recipe we expect to succeed in the current basketball landscape as a mid-major?

The bigger issue is where are we getting money to buy out Alnutt and hire a replacement? Then where are we getting the money to buy out these coaches and let a new hire replace them? It's not happening, Alnutt has positioned us here and we're stuck here.

At some point people need to accept that UB's Top 25 seasons were flukes that we've now cut all connection to. We're not a special school that's destined for greatness, waiting for the right guy. We're UB before Oats and Leipold. We don't need guys who are doing their best in the tough circumstances of being a mid-major. We need coaches and administrators with plans to succeed in spite of that.

Sabol has grown a lot even in a month so far. I hope we keep him for 4 years lol

FWIW 3P% defense is one of the least sticky defensive metrics (i.e. over a large sample 3P% allowed is more a measure of the caliber of shooters you played than your ability to defend). UB is currently 358/362 allowing opponents to shoot 43.4% from 3. The worst team in the country allowed 41% percent last year, and shooting generally improves significantly as the season goes on. I think they're due for significant positive regression which will make the defense numbers look a bit better. That said, that would be a lot more encouraging if we were losing by 5 instead of 20.

Just now, Tee4three said:

Glad I'm not watching

On a side note how bad is Louisiana to have only beaten UB by 8 

They were missing their starting PG so we matched up well against them because we also don’t have a PG

Adewale, Panzo, and Gordon were all recruits UB was involved with. They’ve scored 15 points, UB has 9 at the under 8

7 minutes ago, clodney said:

Are you watching it?? How are you able to see it? Anyone want to put up the link?

I paid the $30 troll’s toll for a month of FloHoops. It’s ridiculous but I’ll take a week of work day hoops

I feel like I skew optimistic compared to most of the board but it ain’t happening this year. Every team presses us because we have like half a ball handler. We occasionally exploit the press to get a layup and they smoke it. A couple of the freshman look promising but they get no support from the vets. Kanye again is dressed and not playing (yet). What a mess

26 minutes ago, DocCas86 said:

I notice no Jones at all today - anyone hear any news on that front?

Jay Wright was on the broadcast in the second half yesterday and referred to Halcovage having to deal with needing to sit 3 starters (Jones, Adams, Smith). I think the implication is that it was disciplinary (I assume not major since they all played in the first half). My guess is Jones sitting was related to that but I don’t think anything has been stated. He was dressed and on the bench today

This year has been brutal so far but Boldin has been such a bright spot. I think he and Sabol both look like they could be contributors on good teams in future years. Hopefully the pieces we find in this rebuilding year are still in a Buffalo uniform next year

It would be nice if Kowalcyzk is out of the MAC

11 hours ago, rma said:

Steven Stryker. His dad is Jon Stryker.

WMU's medical school is named after his great grandfather. I was wrong, it was actually Jon Stryker's sister who provided the $100 million gift to name the med school. But Jon has donated at least $5 million (combined) to WMU, a school he didn't attend.

There's also a $550 million anonymous donation to WMU that is rumored to be from the Stryker family.

I have it on pretty good authority that back when we had a men's soccer team the Strykers had committed to build a soccer specific stadium next to/behind the football stadium. The rumor was that Allen Greene was pushing too hard on it and the Strykers backed off. Soon after the soccer team got axed. That season IIRC the men's team was at one point the top team receiving votes in the soccer poll (essentially #26 nationally) and we had built a pretty good student following for the team. What could've been

Eh being a high school kid leading a wide open recruitment in May self selects for under the radar types. I think the idea is that likely not all of them will be a part of the next great UB team, they’ll transfer down after next year, then the scholarships are available for next recruiting cycle. If a multi-year D1 transfer doesn’t pan out they’re likely eating a scholarship until they graduate. If a couple look good next year and are part of a competitive team with the returners (and a couple transfers still to come hopefully), I’d consider the incoming group of underclassmen a success. I think finding > 0 long term pieces is significantly more valuable than a group of band aids. I’m not going to jump to the conclusion that the staff can’t evaluate and develop talent until they show us that.

2 hours ago, MuchMany said:

A third-team, D2 JUCO All-American. Nice honor. Top 50 JUCO freshman is solid but he doesn't appear on the top 100 JUCO recruits heading to D1.

The top 100 list is kids graduating from JUCO. Presumably he’s a qualifier (didn’t go to JUCO because of bad grades) and will be joining us this year with 3 years of eligibility because he doesn’t need to graduate to be eligible at the D1 level. Most kids on the top 50 freshmen list will be on the top 100 list next year

Some highlights from him at Wofford:

Looks like he can handle the ball pretty well for his size. I think Halcovage has a vision for him in a Jermaine Samuels type of role in that he guards and rebounds like a big but is versatile on offense. He has to improve a lot to reach even a MAC level of that but I see the vision for him. I hope we land him. His highs scoring-wise were 11 points against Drake and Furman on good efficiency in 15 and 17 minutes respectively. Two of the best teams Wofford played last year, both top 100 tournament teams. That's really promising IMO

Didn't recognize the name but it appears he was going by Amarri Tice at the time we were originally recruiting him:

His ORtg was bad last year (79.5), but his 22% DR% would've put him top-150 among qualifiers last year (he didn't qualify). He took more 3s than 2s last year, maybe that will change given the bad results, but he is an interesting archetype in that he seems to be perimeter focused on offense but rebounds the hell out of the ball on defense. He may need some development but the fit makes sense to me if we are looking for Villanova lite types.

25 minutes ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

What about roster retention? Ohio just kept their entire team in place and added two solid guards into the mix. They’re also likely to add another big man soon. Boals has mentioned that a big part of the job now is re-recruiting your own players at the end of every season due to the transfer portal. You better believe that NIL is just as important in that regard as it is to adding new talent.

Sure, they retained one all-MAC player who like all of our remaining players can't transfer without having to sit out. AJ Brown is a good freshman they retained, I'll give them that. I'm not sure who else on their roster was worth throwing NIL money at
 

29 minutes ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

Cornish in high school would’ve gone down as the highest ranked recruit in UB history. Just because it didn’t work out at Maryland doesn’t mean he’s not a solid transfer for a MAC program. We would be hyping him up a ton if he was coming to Buffalo.

Sure he might turn out well. He also sat at Maryland behind Patrick Emilien (among others) who didn't have a future at Maryland and two years ago averaged 5.2 PPG on a 5 win WMU team.

I guess my point is $100,000 is a lot of money to be throwing at a roster that looks like the 3rd best roster on paper in the MAC, and they're not the only ones still looking to add.

1 hour ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

I didn’t want to post this because it’s unconfirmed but there was a rumor that Ohio’s collective has raised $100,000 for basketball. That’s not nothing if true…

Good for them if that's the case, but really this just says to me that NIL isn't even really worth worrying about that much if a mid-major scrounges up $100,000 and all it nets them is Shereef Mitchell and Ike Cornish.

12 hours ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

I read somewhere that it was rumored Ohio had a decent chunk of change in their collective for basketball. They recently added a former 4-star Maryland transfer and 3-star Creighton transfer.

Eh they beat out Bonaventure, Grand Canyon, and George Mason for Cornish. They beat out Bradley, Nebraska Omaha, and North Texas for Mitchell. That's fine, Ohio is a good mid-major program, that doesn't scream spending big bucks to me. High major benchwarmers have to go somewhere if they're being squeezed out by mid-major up transfers. Unless they've announced NIL deals since committing I don't think this is what the differentiating factor is. Boals has been pretty open about being an old man yelling at a cloud since the NCAA tournament.

1 hour ago, UBinMD said:

I'm thinking there was no offer or he didn't show up. Seems like we may be looking for the next option.

He has pictures on his Instagram of the visit..

6'7" Forward who had 8/2/1 in our game against JMU this year. Had a reduced role this season averaging 4.9 PPG and 3.6 PPG. Averaged 9.4 PPG and 5.2 RPG across his freshman and sophomore years. #87 available transfer (#288 overall) per evanmiya.com

Can't believe Jerrod Calhoun turned that down for $300k at Youngstown State and Hodgson preferred $385k in Arkansas /s

Jokes aside, this does point to Alnutt telling the truth. We probably got turned down by Cohen for whatever reason and then Halcovage was the second choice. Any other "candidates" "turning us down" were just trying to pump their own stock

21 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

That's quite a list. Heard from and offers are different, but looks like we are looking at similar talent to others at our level.

Yeah definitely, I'm just throwing out anyone we're connected to because some of them will likely turn into players on the roster next year. We've mostly seen offers out to under the radar high school kids but I think we're due to add some transfers while the young guys develop. Yeah looks like mostly mid-majors, but he's from California and was previously committed to Loyola Marymount in California so I'm not sure we'll be a top option for him.