TML1000

Nice to see a few more non-conference home games, as we had just three last season. Seems like a nicely balanced non-conf schedule with the one great opponent in Stanford, a handful of solid teams that should be similar to our level (Dayton, Drexel, American) and others against weaker teams that should give us some confidence boosting wins(CCSU, SJSU and the Ivy's). I would also hope all three Big 4 games would be wins but you never know...I think Canisius is headed in the right direction under Hemmer but probably still a year or two away from being decent. The MAC should be a bit more open this year with CMU losing Sue and their top two players...Ohio probably will be the favorite in the polls but have yet to prove they can win in March.

Personally, I would not read too much into this game. It looked more like a preseason NFL game with UB just giving vanilla looks on offense, knowing they were better in every area. Yes, we will be run heavy this season but the ratio will not be 47:10 in other games. I take away that we did not have to put anything on film in terms of the offensive playbook outside of some basic run plays...hopefully this gives us a bit of an edge down the road in competitive games. The one thing I did not like is giving up two first half TD's...the secondary is still the question mark of the defense IMO. Offensively I do believe we are in good shape. The ability to throw 5 running backs out there should prove to be a big positive during the MAC season. As long as Nunn comes back healthy, we should have three solid receiving options in him, Lefebvre and Johnson. Outside of the Penn State game, I believe we will be able to put up points on anyone and the difference between 5-6 wins and 7-8 will be if we can get stops against teams like Ohio and Miami.

Very solid night from Perk and great efficiency on the offensive end. The fouls in summer league are usually tightly called, especially on big men, as the officials are working things out as well. Perkins' NBA role would be one of bench scoring and effort and a player who will use his fouls in the minutes he sees. For what his role will be, I feel like he has made a good account of himself thus far. A guy like Cacock is always going to "look" better in the eyes of most due to his style and skill set. Cacock is a leaper, finisher, rim protector...Perk is none of those at the NBA level but can score in a much wider variety of ways...two totally different roles. I don't think anyone can predict what the Lakers will do or are really looking for from this summer league roster but Perkins at least has a shot at a 2-way contract, either with LAL or another team.

I was including only section VI/MMA players. Section V, III, etc tend to have greater D1 depth on a yearly basis, even if it is just slightly more. Another section V player is slated as an incoming freshman next season. Hopefully that trend of drawing some of the top local talent can continue no matter whom is coaching the team...even if the local depth isn't present.

Yes, I have watched all of these players and many others dozens of times. My point is that there is not the depth where you can count on one or a few locals to come to UB every year, or even every few years. DeBerry is obviously a once in a generation type player who will likely play at a national power. The others you mentioned that are un-committed, one is a senior, one a junior(or 8th grade depending on which one you were referring) and one a sophomore. There are maybe 1 or 2 others per class with possible D1 potential. Also, with the emergence of Daemen as a full-fledged D2 now, some locals who could have possibly provided depth to local D1's will now likely choose to still play on scholarship but get more time right away.

I follow the local girls/womens basketball scene closely and there just is not the depth of D-1 in this area on a year-in, year-out basis to be able to provide a backbone of team depth or crowd support. Over the past decade, there have been about 2-3 D-1 players per graduating class in the WNY area, with the vast majority playing at low to mid-majors. Summer has arguably had the second most successful local D-1 career over the past 8-10 years, with Healy at Bonaventure being the first. As for coaches, there are some promising locals in the area but making the jump from D3, etc with only a few years experience to D1, especially a team that has had recent success, would seem quite the undertaking.

Orlando Antigua

FLJ is just so good.

837k annual....225k of which will come from gifts. Haven't seen anything re: buyout yet.

A win tomorrow would almost assuredly put UB in...if we lose, we want to root for Miami to beat Ohio and then CMU over Miami in the final.

They may come close to matching their full game output from Saturday in the first half today.

I did not see it...just following the stats. Did EMU try to foul or let it play out?

EMU fouls CMU up 3 on two straight possessions to avoid a possible game tying three...both teams hit their free throws but with 5 seconds left EMU does not foul and CMU hits a game-tying three at the buzzer. Why did they not foul at the end???

Tomorrow's game is definitely a must-win for an at-large. If they could beat CMU then that would basically guarantee them a berth. A loss to CMU and then CMU winning in the final as well would make things interesting. The one thing going in UB's favor right now is that most of the other teams on the bubble have already lost in their conference tournaments and none besides Arkansas made a really deep run. Butler losing early in the Big East 3 v 6 game and St Mary's falling just short of upsetting Gonzaga yesterday could prove to be big helpers for UB's cause. We should definitely be rooting for Gonzaga to beat BYU today in the WCC final to avoid BYU stealing a bid. Beyond that game, not much else will today will directly affect UB's chances as both SD St and SD in the Summit and Marquette and DePaul in the Big East finals should all be already in.

I agree that freshmen should not get off without any criticism but here are the stat lines for Graves last season v Segu/Williams this year. Is it the case that Graves was indeed further along so he got more minutes or that he received more minutes and thus put up better numbers? Probably a bit of both but interesting comparison in my opinion. If either Segu or Williams played 7 more minutes per game, their numbers would likely look more like Graves'. Graves - 16.3 minutes per game; 5.1 ppg; 2.3 rpg; 1.0 apg Segu - 9.6 minutes per game; 2.4 ppg; 0.9 rpg; 1.1 apg Williams - 9.1 minutes per game; 3.4 ppg; 1.6 rpg; 0.2 apg That said, Graves has taken a huge step forward this season and I would expect both Segu and Williams to do the same next season.

Ohio's non-conference slate was awful...their only notable opponent was Purdue who is currently 17-13 and 9th in the Big Ten. Their wins over UB and CMU are by far their best of the season.

The attendance at the CMU game was strong, over 3k, but unfortunately that number is still an outlier. Here's hoping the fans will come out to the last two home games, and last two chances to see CD at Alumni. She is up there with the best athletes ever in UB history...other than Mack and Jonathan Jones I can not think of any better.

Currently the MAC is 8th in terms of conference RPI...but have been flip-flopping with the WCC for 7th/8th recently as the margins are razor thin. Only the big 6 are above with the Big East at 6 being propped up close to the Big 10 and SEC largely by Marquette's tremendous season.

Heading into last night, our RPI was 43 and Ohio was 32. Miami was 42 heading into last night but their loss to Kent will drop them some but if we can win Saturday, back to back wins over top 50 teams would be very helpful.

Agreed, and the way things seems to shaping up with CMU and Miami now tied for first overall, a semifinal win over CMU may be just enough to push them onto the bubble, assuming no more regular season losses.

CMU is a obviously very good but I think many of you are overrating them a touch here...this isn't Baylor, Oregon or Uconn we are talking about. This is a team who built a huge lead on us in large part due to our defensive negligence and proceeded to nearly throw all of that big lead away late. This is a team with two dynamic players (similar to UB) and the remainder of the lineup that tends to go hot and cold (similar to UB). The non-conference resumes of CMU and UB are nearly identical and both are superior to both Miami and Ohio's. Obviously the loss to BG is the big factor in UB being on the outside of the bubble....take that away are we are likely right on the cusp instead of the 5th team out right now, although we are still ahead of Ohio in most projections. Winning out in the regular season, including wins over Ohio and Miami, would likely put us back in the last 4 in entering the MAC tourney. A split with them and we likely have to make the final with a win over CMU in the semis to have a shot at an at large.

But it will be a bad 16-2...😂

Morrison was big late in the game...even with missing a few chippies, she converted some huge baskets. When Hemphill was on the floor in the 2nd half, UB was the far superior team. When she had to sit with foul trouble, it got tight again. Great decision by coach to bring Hemphill back in with 4 fouls with about 6 or so minutes remaining(not that there was much choice but even another minute could have changed the game). This was a big result in terms of at-large possibilities...going into the week UB was the 3rd last team in according to the ESPN bracketology. A 15-3 regular season and reaching the MAC final would essentially give UB a lock for an at-large. 14-4 and a final loss or even 15-3 and a loss in the semis to CMU/Ohio and I feel we would still have a strong chance. If UB, CMU and Ohio all end up with no more than 4 MAC losses and assuming no huge upsets in the tourney, there is a very realistic chance of all three getting bids.

Segu and Williams played a combined 17 minutes against BG with essentially no stats. Harris and Jordan played a combined 55 minutes and went 5 of 20 from the field for 10 points. Not sure what the answer is but all need to be better. Maybe the answer has to do with CJ taking more than 12.7 shots per game in conference play. I would like to see that number up to around 15 or 16 per game given the way he is shooting. Harris is shooting 12.2 times per game in conference play yet his shooting % is about 10% worse than CJ.

The Segu and Williams issue is an interesting one. I have read a good deal of posters on this board state they are not ready for this level but what is that really based upon? Is it based purely at looking at the stats or what they have actually done when on the floor? I would argue that we may be better served to let these guys, particularly Segu, figure some things out playing additional minutes than they have been. I think the case for that grows in games where guys like Harris and Jordan struggle as was the case Friday. Yes, Segu may be a defensive liability but so was the rest of the team in the 2nd half.