bullsbball

Question. I saw a game earlier where at the end of the half/game after a made basket, the clock would stop until the inbounder got the ball. In contrast, in the Alabama game (and probably all the UB games I've watched), the clock would just keep running at the end of the half. What is the official rule on when the clock should be stopped after a made basket at the end of the game/half?

A few dates and random comments: Bowling Green fired their coach on March 5th and hired his replacement on March 15th (10 days). Jack announced she was leaving on March 26th and Burke was hired on April 6th (11 days). Oats announced he was leaving UB on March 27th and Whitesell was hired on April 6th (10 days). Whitesell was fired on March 11th and so based on this pattern, I wouldn't expect his replacement to be named until March 21-23 (i.e. next week). Burke was hired on April 6th and her first recruits were announced on April 18th (Perkins and Watson). Last year, Whitesell's first recruits were announced on April 13th (K. Jones and Powell). At this point, roughly a third of the usual transfers have been "announced" but only a handful have actually committed to new schools. Currently, UB has only 4 players enter the transfer portal. Central Michigan (6), Bowling Green (6), and Toledo (5) have more.

What does "has heard from" mean? How is the Buffalo weather? You still available? You willing to go to our school? Send me your recruiting video? You want to have an interview with us? I'm sure these types of posts are designed to stir up other schools to be more prompt in contacting them? I have a hard time understanding why so many schools would be contacting Mading.

During Segu and Williams Freshman year (2018-2019), UB's scoring margin was +13.6 on average over their opponent. This year, UB's scoring margin was -0.2. Easy to play freshman when you're up by that many points.

What's upsetting to me is that without a coach, we aren't putting "our" names on any of these transfer players' lists.

Upsetting!!

Article from the Buffalo News. Since it's behind a paywall, I've posted it here. UB men's basketball: Where it went wrong for the Bulls in the last four seasons, and what should be next Rachel Lenzi Mar 14, 2023 Jim Whitesell’s promotion to head coach of the University at Buffalo men’s basketball team nearly four years ago was a move that was made to assure consistency in a program that had quickly become one of the nation’s most accomplished mid-majors. Whitesell was Nate Oats’ associate head coach at UB for four seasons, and after Oats left to for Alabama, Whitesell and his staff had an expectation: Maintain UB’s ways as winners, a standard that Oats and former UB coach Bobby Hurley set in the previous six seasons Instead, the Bulls regressed in four seasons under Whitesell, quickly falling from among the Mid-American Conference’s top teams. The Bulls made the MAC final once, in 2021; there was no tournament in 2020. Without winning the conference tournament, it is highly unlikely a MAC team can get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The MAC hasn't had a team receive an at-large bid since 1999. As their competitive level dropped, the Bulls became just another mid-major team that couldn’t score enough, and couldn’t win enough to keep the program viable as a potential NCAA Tournament team. As a result, UB’s athletic department fired Whitesell on Saturday, two days after a 101-77 rout by Akron in a MAC Tournament quarterfinal in Cleveland. At first glance, the firing seemed like a knee-jerk reaction, as Whitesell was 70-49 in four seasons, with only one losing season: this season, as the Bulls finished 15-17, its first losing season since 2012-13. But there was a culmination of events that led to UB's dismissal of Whitesell. Q: Was this a slow burnout, or something that happened suddenly? A: It is a surprise to see a coach with a winning record get fired, but this wasn’t just about one losing season. This was a change that was long in the making. Alarms should have sounded three years ago, when the Bulls, the No. 5 seed in the MAC Tournament – which then included all 12 teams in the conference – were knocked out in the first round by No. 12 Miami (Ohio) at Alumni Arena. While it seemed shocking, by numerical standards, it wasn’t for a program that was in transition and struggled to create consistency under a new head coach. But that struggle continued through the next three seasons. Statistically, UB’s offense per game plummeted from the 2018-19 – Oats’ final season – to this season. In 2018-19, the Bulls averaged 84.4 points per game, while allowing opponents 70.8 points per game – the Bulls won the MAC Tournament and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament that season. Three years later, the Bulls averaged 79.9 points and allowed opponents 72.3 points. This season, scoring dropped to 77.5 points per game – about what the Bulls scored against Akron. But then there was that defense, or lack thereof, against the Zips, the second time UB had allowed more than 100 points in a game in the final two weeks. A few more stats to chew on from this season: UB’s offense (77.5 points per game) was 50th in the nation and third in the MAC, but its defense (77.7 points per game) was 331st in the nation and 10th in the MAC. Additionally, the Bulls tied for 53rd in the nation and were second in the MAC with 7.9 steals per game, but were tied for 312th in the nation and third in the MAC in turnovers per game (14.1). Instead of building off defense, which became a hallmark of Oats’ tenure, UB survived on its defense and worked – sometimes labored – to create offense. Q: Was it just the wins and losses and lack of consistency that plagued the program? A: UB’s issues weren’t just on the court during the last four years. There were questions about the culture of the program, and two specific incidents brought those questions to light. In April 2020, the NCAA penalized UB for violating ethical conduct legislation, which stemmed from former UB assistant Hunter Jenkins forging a written statement in support of the transfer residence waiver request of former UB forward Josh Mballa. The NCAA's 10-page report stated Jenkins “knowingly” forged a written statement, in order to get a waiver from the NCAA that would allow Mballa to play immediately after transferring from Texas Tech prior to the 2019-20 season. UB agreed to one year’s probation from April 2020 to April 2021 and recruiting restrictions, and paid a $5,000 fine. Then, in September 2020, former UB basketball player Malik Zachery was arrested after stabbing former Canisius College player Scott Hitchon in the leg when a fight broke out during a pickup basketball game in North Tonawanda between players from the two schools. Zachery was initially charged with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Zachery pled guilty in May 2021 to a lesser charge, a Class A misdemeanor charge of assault in the third degree. Zachery was suspended for the entirety of the 2020-21 season, and was dismissed from the basketball program following the plea agreement. Q. Did recruiting and retention factor into the last few seasons? A: In the last three seasons, UB brought in small recruiting classes, and there were few four-year players. That wasn’t just a byproduct of the transfer portal, either. There were disciplinary issues, and players who found that UB wasn’t the right fit, or vice versa. Only one four-year player was on the roster by the end of Whitesell’s four seasons at UB: forward LaQuill Hardnett, who joined the Bulls as a transfer from Cincinnati when Whitesell and his staff were rebuilding UB’s roster for their first season. As of Tuesday morning, four players from this year’s roster have already entered the transfer portal: Zid Powell, a junior-college transfer whose only season at UB was this year; Kuluel Mading, a 2021 signee who enters after two seasons; Kidtrell Blocker, who signed out of prep school in the spring of 2021; and Devin Ceaser, who signed out of high school in November 2021. The Bulls did not have any players sign for the incoming 2023 class during the early signing period in November. That gave the impression that recruiting was not a priority, and it begged a few questions: Would UB use the transfer portal to assemble next season’s roster? Prioritize junior-college transfers? Focus on high school recruiting during the offseason? Was there any personnel plan for the 2023-24 season? Now, a new coach and staff will not only have to re-recruit players who are on the current roster, but also bring in new players, whether it’s from the portal, or from the juco and high school ranks. Q: What else happened that may have changed things for the Bulls? A: The landscape of college basketball and college athletics changed, particularly with the transfer-portal waiver that allowed players a one-time transfer without penalty. This impacted the Bulls both ways, particularly after last season – they had five players join the program prior to this season as transfers from Division I programs, including Isaiah Adams, a forward from UCF who averaged 11.6 points and five rebounds. But the Bulls lost players such as Mballa and David Skogman, who transferred to Ole Miss and to Davidson, respectively, which created a gaping hole in the middle on a team that was already guard-heavy, and had to heavily rely inside on Isaac Jack (a true freshman) and Jonnivius Smith (whose forte was defense). The extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic also played into the ongoing transition, in that players with an extra year of eligibility – including Jeenathan Williams and Ronaldo Segu – decided not to use it and turned pro after the 2021-22 season. It’s hard to say if Williams and Segu, in particular, would have made a continuing impact this season, but the sentiment was that they’d outgrown the college game. Williams is now playing for Salt Lake City of the G-League and Segu is playing professionally in Greece. Q: What’s the impact of all this on the program, besides the coaching change? And what’s next for a new coach and a new staff? A: All of this has cost UB’s athletic program – on top of a payout of $500,000 to Whitesell, according to the terms of his contract extension from June 2021. Attendance has plummeted in the last four seasons at Alumni Arena, a building that quickly became one of the more raucous mid-major atmospheres during Hurley and Oats’ combined six seasons. UB averaged 5,290 fans a game in 2018-19, Oats’ last season, and averaged only 2,858 this season. Clusters of empty seats were the norm, and UB’s ticket revenue dropped nearly $100,000 from the 2018-19 fiscal year ($234,800) to the 2021-22 fiscal year ($139,460). UB played plenty of big games, but had few, if any, marquee wins in the last four seasons and wasn’t ever considered a serious contender for another NCAA Tournament berth. The new coach will be facing a reclamation project. Find new players, from the transfer portal, from the junior-college ranks and from the high school ranks. Install a new system. Reinvigorate a disinterested and disappointed fan base. Then, the wins will start coming again.

Name Class Pos Height Reggie Bass Freshman SG 6'4" Amani Drummond Freshman PG 6'0" Caleb Hodgson (RS) Sophomore PF 6'10" Kevin Miller Sophomore PG 6'0" Nicolas Pavrette Sophomore C 6'11" Jesse Zarzuela (RS) Sophomore PG 6'3" 6 Players from Central Michigan already in the transfer portal. Name Class Pos Height Ubong Abasi Etim (RS) Freshman PF 6'9" Rashaun Agee (RS) Sophomore PF 6'8" Kaden Metheny Sophomore PG 5'11" Chandler Turner Junior SF 6'7" Jackson Watson Sophomore PG 6'1" And 5 from Bowling Green

Anybody can coach by watching YouTube videos. Not sure I totally agree with this. 'Bama is 195 in the country for 3-point shots. UB was 274. Those longer 3s, probably open up the paint to get them the points.

If Whitesell had said that this was a development year, this forum (and other places) would have exploded and wanted his head. With only 2 players "graduating", it clearly was a development year even for his upper classmen. Freshman and Sophomores develop during practice and if good enough, make it into the game. All coaches need to "win now" or they lose their jobs. Look at the women's team. Only 7 real players on the team and still only player with 6 and leave the Freshman Ellis sitting on the bench. What good is developing players anyway. If they're good enough, they want to transfer anyway. If they don't play enough, they transfer anyway. No win in this age of the transfer portal.

Look at what happened to the women's program this year when that happened.

If a player has issues with the coach, the coach has been fired, so that should no longer be an excuse to transfer. This should all be as expected with the new NCAA transfer rules. Players always think the grass is greener elsewhere. They can only hope. Everybody wants a pro career and will blames others if that doesn't happen. About Mading leaving, I was surprised he didn't get much playing time this year but assumed he was fine with that. I didn't see much in him. Too thin for the inside game and not a good enough shooter from the outside.

128 minutes for a Freshman isn't bad. Typically Freshman don't get much playing time. Outside of the Canton game, he really didn't play much or shoot well but he did seem to have the energy. He definitely had potential.

Here is an update on the 2021 transfers.. (Former) UB Men Malik Zachery (South Plains College): Last year 24 games. 13.9 minutes per game. 7.9 points per game. 3.7 rebounds per game. Transferred to UTEP where he has 2.6 points in 15 games (10.8 min/game). 15 of 33 from the field (45.5%). Savion Gallion (South Plains College): Last year 32 games. 14.6 minutes per game. 9.9 points per game. 2.8 rebounds per game. Transferred to ULM where he has 6.8 points per game in 20 games (19.2 min/game). 46 of 120 from the field (38.3%). Chanse Robinson (Grambling State): Last year 9 games. 9.9 minutes per game. 3.4 points per game. 0.7 rebounds per game. No longer on team (Faces kidnapping and assault charges) (Former) UB Women Keowa Walters (VCU): Last year 19 games. Averaged 18.7 minutes, 6.9 points per game, 46.3% from the field. This year 22 games. Averaged 15.0 minutes, 4.0 points per game, 44.7% from the field. Jessika Schiffer (Rider): Last year 30 games. Averaged 31.1 minutes, 9.6 points per game, 35.4% from the field, 36.9% from 3PT. 2.9 assists per game. This year, 31 games, Averaged 32.2 minutes, 8.3 points per game, 35.1% from the field, 33.1% from 3PT. 1.5 assists per game. No great loss on this list. Schiffer is getting a lot of playing time but not having great shooting percentages.

I should also add to the "UB Women's List", Ramatoulaye Keita was AWOL at the start of the season. Not sure what happened to her. Looks like she disappeared off the UB roster in October. And Lexi McNabb was an incoming Freshman that committed to UB but instead went to Syracuse. Played in only 8 games for a total of 37 minutes. Only 6 total points.

Time for an update on last year's transfers: (Former) UB Men Tra'Von Fagan (UMBC): 31 games. 57.6 FG%, 39.5 3PT%, 77.3 FT. Average 18.3 minutes, 8.3 points, and 6.3 rebounds per game. David Skogman (Davidson): 32 games, 22.5 minutes, 46.2 FG%, 36.8 3PT%. Averaged 7.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Tied for the most blocks on the team. Ty Perry (New Haven): 29 games averaging 29.3 minutes. Leading scorer on team with 15.8 points per game (48.8 FG%, 38.1 3PT%) 23 steals, 36 Assists. 3.8 Rebounds per game. (Alexandre) Lucas Saleh (Belmont Abbey): Played in 9 games from 11/11-12/10. Averaged 9.8 minutes, 2.4 points. Appears to have left the team. Joined Beirut Club in early January but not played so far. Josh Mballa (Ole Miss): 16 games averaging 9.4 minutes, 54 points (3.4 points per game) and 37 rebounds. Not played since January 28th. Last 6 games, only played 29 minutes. (Former) UB Women Dyaisha Fair (Syracuse): 30 games, 35.8 minutes, 19.7 points, 4.6 assists per game. 39.3 FG% 37.0 3PT% Georgia Woolley (Syracuse): 26 games, 29.9 minutes, 12.0 points, 2.1 assists per game. 38.8 FG% 30.6 3PT% Saniaa Wilson (Syracuse): 27 games, 12.1 minutes, 4.0 points, 0.2 assists per game. 57.7 FG% Cheyenne McEvans (Syracuse): 17 games, 12.5 minutes, 2.8 points, 0.9 assist per game. 39.0 FG% 16.7 3PT% Dominique Camp (Akron): 29 games, 30.4 minutes, 10.6 points per game. 44.5 FG% 21.4 3PT% Adebola Adeyeye (Kentucky): 31 games, 17 minutes, 4.6 points per game. 54 FG% Loren Christie (USF): 28 games, 13.9 minutes, 4.8 points, 3.4 rebounds per game. 36.1 FG% 20.7 3PT% Nia Jordan (Bethune-Cookman): 29 games, 22.4 minutes, 7.7 points per game (3rd highest on team). 34.5 FG% Casey Valenti Paea (Long Beach State): No games. Kaelonn Wilson (Binghamton): 26 games, 3.7 minutes, 0.8 points per game. 58.8 FG% To summarize, on the men's side... Nice performance by Fagan. Skogman had a slow start but did well at the end. Perry is having a spectacular season with New Haven. Didn't see that coming from his time here. Saleh and Mballa are going nowhere fast. On the women's side, no surprise on Fair and Woolley but the 4 UB transfers still left Syracuse with a mediocre season. Camp did well at Akron but faded a little at the end of the season. Not real great scoring numbers for Adeyeye (better known for her defense) but she does get the rebounds (5.0 per game). Jordan seems to be doing well at Bethune-Cookman. I'll also add Elea Gaba to the women's transfer list as well. Others have posted here that she's playing professionally in Germany, but I see no records of that. I see her playing in German prior to UB but not after.

Skogman didn't really do all that bad (after a rough start) at Davidson. Always came off the bench. Averaged 22.5 minutes in 32 games. 46.2% from the field (36.8 from Three). Averaged 7.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Tied for the most blocks on the team. Josh Mballa might be a better example. Didn't play since the end of January. I assume he was injured. Only averaged 3.4 points in 16 games.

Average age around my section is probably around 60. There are a few families but not many people in the 20-50 age group. Most of the UB Alumni I went to school with were foreigners or from NYC and left town after graduation. There is a nearly endless supply of students that should be attending (they are already paying for it in their fees). I took about 5 different people with me to the games. Some never went to a game before. Several asked if they could go with me again. I'm doing my part.

Even after the WMU basket, it still took the refs a few seconds before stopping play. I'm not totally sure the refs knew Young was laying under the other basket.

He sure had a spin on the ball when he shot. Some spun in the basket only to spin out. In the first 11 minutes of the second half, he was 0-6. He was 3-4 after that. Would have been a much different story if any of those shots actually stayed in. He had a good touch on the ball for a "big guy".

That was after UB gave up 7 quick points in less than a minute. In the past, I objected to this yelling. In this case, it might have been appropriate. She appeared to mostly be yelling at Stone. WMU shot up 38 3-point shots and only made 13. CMU only made 1 shot (attempted 6) inside the arc that wasn't a layup. 6 of the 9 UB players are graduating. Lonely on the bench with just Ellis, Mashaire, and Ogden during the ceremonies. Since Johnson wasn't honored, does that mean she'll be back for her 6th season? Hard to win any series of games in Cleveland without any depth.

And Eastern Michigan, Miami and Akron all start an hour earlier than UB. So, UB should know by halftime how those games turned out.

By my calculation if UB wins on Saturday over Western Michigan, we would be tied with them at 7-11. First tie breaker is head-to-head which would also be tied. Next comes division record and I'm showing UB with 4 division wins and Western Michigan has only 3. So, by this calculation, if UB wins, they are in if they are solely tied with Western Michigan. But it gets more complicated if there is a tie between 3 or more schools. Up to 5 teams could be tied at 7-11 after Saturday with only 3 making it to Cleveland.

Well, I'm eating crow. UB came out shooting great but then had troubles getting penetration on the 2-3 zone. In the first half Mashaire was throwing up underhanded ducks when she was trying to drive to the basket. Threw up several airballs. Winfield also had a lot of turnovers (7). Ogden was (finally) spectacular at rebounds. A lot of palming, traveling and double dribbles on UB. By now, you'd think they would have figure this out. The officials kept their whistles in their pockets. UB was only called for 6 fouls and Akron with 14. I thought Akron could have been called for more fouls especially when UB was driving the basket. Finally, 2 entertaining games in a row.

UB Spectrum: Kiara Johnson Profile