DooleyBull06

51 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

Another Alabama guy in the Portal, 6'10 Freshman Sam Walters. Even a Final 4 appearance doesn't guarantee consistency year-to-year. College basketball is a wacky world.

There’s definitely layers. Some tampering going on and/or Nate probably thinking it’s easier/cost efficient to bring in a new player than retain a rostered player. I can see agents/reps or other coaches telling a player, transfer and you’ll be a starter or roll player here.

Akron winning the offseason. Preseason favs?

Even after a final 4 run Oats faces the same problems most coaches do. Griffen played very well all tournament and wants to bounce. Perhaps someone got in his ear and said he can make more money elsewhere. Today’s state of the game folks.

1 hour ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

I was at the Jim Christian press conference today and spoke with him afterwards.

I'm going to increase my college basketball coverage next season. With me being back with Trainwreck Sports, I will be credentialed with UB, Canisius and Niagara so I look forward to providing additional content in the future.

 

Speaking of Canisius…

3 hours ago, UBinMD said:

Everyone looking for the next Mark Sears

I live less than an hour from The Mount. Maybe I will go at lunch time decked out in UB gear and try to find the basketball team to make a sales pitch. That shouldn’t violate any rules, right?

There’s still rules?

My two cents on the Adams/Chatman debate is this…yes they had a lot on their plate. And yes the team wasn’t good around them. The team couldn’t pick up the slack where Adams and Chatman lacked. I have no issues with Chatman. He was on the court for a year, was a volume scorer, maybe he bought it and maybe he didn’t…whatever. The season was lost a couple weeks into conference play. My issue with Adams was that he was here multiple seasons across multiple coaches and never truly developed. Never became the go to guy we thought he could be. I’m not calling them lazy just saying or realizing that at the end of the day we had a team of rotation/role players. 

13 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

No disagreements there. Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but I need to cling to something or believe in something at this point. 😂

On a side note from my homer self, I do feel good about Coach Lembo, not sure if we have a QB, but I think our overall team is going to be greatly improved. 

I can see your points. Maybe he wants to change on the fly. And it’s an easy thing to do when we sucked last season lol. If there’s one thing for sure is that UCONN and their style has won back to back. What makes UConn great is they defend but offensively they can bang inside and make 3s. Unlike Purdue who is too Eddy oriented and Bama who is live or die by the 3, UConn can do both within a game.  So why not copy that.

3 hours ago, UBinMD said:

Is it possible that GH3 is trying to build something like UConn, except at a mid-major level? Interchangeable parts, constant movement, tough defense, motion that allows you to finish at the rim. It takes the right kind of players and the proper character and mentality. Most of the Alabama kids, for example, couldn't play in Hurley's system. Not that UConn doesn't have good players, but you can tell that they all are playing for the greater good, very unselfish and each player seems to have that same mentality. It was an impressive display to watch. Not sure if it is really achievable at this level, but I am wondering if that may be part of the cultural shift he is going for. Pure speculation and maybe I just want to have something to aspire to, but after seeing that display, you may not just need 5 superstars to win in college basketball, maybe getting back to actual basketball and focusing on fundamentals does have a place still.

Who knows what he is building at this point. One thing I wanted to come out with from last season was an identity. I don’t think we have one. We hashtag all in grit but there were few times I saw a gritty effort. Being interchangeable is vital in today’s game I agree there. Tough defense sure but I don’t think we had good defenders last season. As for the attacking the rim, we shot way too many 3s for a team that shot horribly from 3. Maybe if we attacked the rim more and focused on quality 2 point shots we would’ve been more competitive.

For some perspective on recruiting locally and NIL budgeting…not saying we are Arkansas but saying that the philosophy of NIL and recruiting NYS is important 

9 hours ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

If Kentucky is willing to pay his MASSIVE buyout

18 million dollar buyout. We will see how badly Kentucky wants him. 

Question is: Does Nate want Kentucky and all the baggage of expectations that come with it?

1 hour ago, Ubbullsfan09 said:

I mentioned in a recruiting thread how the Bulls should start to build a local recruiting pipeline. Hodgson just grabbed the All Time Western New York scoring leader Jaiden Harrison from Bishop Timon as a preferred walk-on

So let me get this straight…he passed up scholarship offers to go play for Arkansas St as a preferred walk on? Either he is getting some nice NIL money or he will transfer after next season when he realizes he’s been riding the bench all season. This seems like a fishy way to circumvent roster restrictions.

But I agree with the premise that we should be recruiting locally, especially if that player is the wny all time scorer.

35 minutes ago, Bluebird96 said:

On ESPN pre game show they were saying Bama needs to make at least 16 three’s to have a chance.  I think they’ll have trouble if they shoot 30% or less, unless they put up like 60 and make 18 of them 😂

It’ll be tough to match the drama and excitement of the Iowa-UCONN women’s game last night.  Just hoping for a good competitive game.  And to hear UB mentioned at least once 🤘

I’ll take the over on UB mentions. At least 2 I say

9 minutes ago, MuchMany said:

I was just coming to post the opposite lol. Don't think Bama has anywhere near the structure or talent to keep up with the machine that is UConn. They'll need to shoot out of their minds to keep it close. No idea how they plan to deal with Clingan either. 15+ point win.

Deal with Clingan by doing what we did to Ayton when Oats was here. They will likely make Clingan defend in space. Maybe he gets lazy and commits an early foul or two. I’m sure Oats has a plan. Just a matter of execution. But to me spread wise with the way they shoot 3s, I don’t see the blowout. 

1 hour ago, Bluebird96 said:

Alabama +11.5 vs UCONN tonight.

Will be interesting to see how much they play up Nate’s connection to the Hurley Bros.  It would be cool to re-live some of his moments at UB as they tell the tale of Nate’s rise from HS math teacher to the Final 4 in the span of a decade.  Storybook stuff! 

Big test for him and the Tide, would be a huge upset if they could pull it off. 

I actually think this spread is too high and Vegas is trying to trick people by capitalizing off of UCONN’s dominance. The 3 ball is a neutralizer and we know Bama can shoot it. I may be wrong but I don’t think Bama gets blown out in this one.

While it’s surprising that this player enter the portal or that player…Coach Burke has seemingly become a pro at navigating the portal. She has made over the roster what 3 times in the two years she’s been here? How she can navigate the portal is something that will make her an attractive candidate for a bigger school.

16 minutes ago, DocCas86 said:

I wouldn't be surprised to see McCollum moving up again in 3-5 years.

 

Same with Hodgson. 

He was one of the candidates that I liked a lot last cycle. We passed on BH and he had success. The dude from Youngstown St played us or whatever and just took a job at Utah St. And now McCollum goes to a very good mid major program. Will be interesting to look back in 5 years and see where all 4 coaches are.  

He’s going to be so good he’s got two threads going.

He is the Mark Few of the MAC except he never wins lol.

To echo some of the comments above, Nate might be the best one game scenario coach right now.  He is great at finding and exploiting mismatches. Like poor mans Chet Holgrem last night. Jeremy Harris vs Arizona for us. He’s got one thing left to do and that’s win it all.  Basically what we are seeing at Bama is what we were beginning to see at UB. Tempo. Threes. Multiple ball handling guards in the lineup at the same time. Wings who are lengthy and can switch on defense. Everything. Bama is what we would’ve been had we been able to keep him. 
 

Forgot one thing…Nate loves his lefty players too. Purposely recruits them. Tactical. 

6 hours ago, MuchMany said:

Good thread dealing with some similar stuff.

 

 

An idea like this will also cut down on player tampering that we know occurs behind the scenes 

7 minutes ago, ntsfinest said:

Gonna be a NBA coach in a few years if he keeps this up.

I’ve always thought that was his trajectory but honestly Bama has deep pockets and he is a genius at the college level. I don’t know if night in and night out pros wanna play his style. He’s perfect where he’s at. The only logical move is to a true blue blood. Otherwise he can be the next Saban at Bama.

I haven’t listened yet but I plan to. Without having listened, it’s only a matter of time before those giving money wisen up and realize that they aren’t getting enough in return for their investment. Now we don’t know what the players do off the court when they receive NIL deals (what obligations they have and fulfill) but I can’t imagine boosters being happy pumping millions into a program that doesn’t win. Therefore I can see the funders essentially saying to a player, you want this money…you need to stay at this school for X amount of years. And the only way you can leave is graduation, coaching change or pro entry. Essentially NIL deals will become contracts and you will have full fledge minor league ball. 

One win away from a final 4. 

Pulling in recruits on the down low lol. What’s the buzz on him?