DooleyBull06

So this is point where we usually start collapse right? At the under 4 first half mark? Oops wrong thread

On 1/10/2024 at 10:49 AM, Bluebird96 said:

Granted,  WMU has beaten 3 of the weaker teams thus far, but still impressive start with 2 road wins for a team picked to finish in the bottom third of the MAC.

We had a soft 3 games to start conference play including two at home. I’d trade our 1-2 start for theirs. Essentially with 3 wins in the bag, they may only need 4-5 more to find their way into Cleveland.

Another soft landing to potentially start conference play 2-0. Gotta look to continue the positives from the CMU game. For what it’s worth we are about a 3 point favorite 

1 minute ago, DocCas86 said:

I am always right LOL.

https://www.covers.com/sport/basketball/ncaab/teams/main/central-michigan-chippewas/injuries

You are correct rebounding could be a factor...but it may be about who turns it over less.

Haha.

Agree about turnovers. If we want any chance of making it to Cleveland, these are the games we gotta win. Soft landing to start conference as opposed to seeing Ohio vs Toledo. 

5 minutes ago, eyjee said:

Not a huge sample size but so far this season CMU has shot well from three at McGuirk. 42% if my math is right. Could be a problem for us.

10-20 v Detroit Mercy
9-21 v Valparaiso
10-28 v UL Monroe

Go Bulls

If @DocCas86 is correct and they are without a good offensive big man then they could be jacking up lots of 3s tonight. Def something to watch. Defending the perimeter and rebounding will be key in that regard.

How about a just win. Just win a game. I don’t care how pretty. I don’t care how ugly. Just win.

4 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

The 2 (by far) best players on this current team were holdovers from last year's rostee. Jo, Kanye were serviceable players. That's 4 guys that could've been "rebuilding" blocks. This staff wasnt able to retain other players from last years team that were more than quality. They didnt fill slots for this current team. Theres only 10 guys on the team right now. This is nowhere near a "rebuild". The top players from this years team will be gone heading into next year. We will be a completely bare roster heading into next year. That's not "rebuild", that's disaster (still not quite 90s Chicago State, but getting perilously close).

I don’t think this staff ever thought it would be a rebuilding year. That’s an unfair expectation to place on a newbie head coach. I think the staff thought they could come in and build. Crawl before you walk, walk before you run. I don’t think anyone from top down to us thought it would be this bad. 

1 minute ago, MuchMany said:

I think firing Whitesell was the wrong move if it was done just for firing's sake, without properly considering the quality of realistic alternatives at the time. Because that's all it ever was - the sitting coach vs the best, most attainable alternative. A winless November and December without much promise for the future leaves plenty of doubt as to whether Alnutt chose the best path for us.

I gotta believe that he didn’t fire Whitesell just for the sake of firing. I think every AD has a short list of targets in the event of. Across all sports. If not, then that’s criminal and cause for the AD to be fired. I think he just thought UB was an upper echelon quality mid major and tried to sell it as such and struck out royally. Kinda over played his hand comparative to where we actually were as a program. I think he fired Whitesell, had potential targets in mind, struck out with them then scrambled to plans LMNOP, struck out again and ultimately settled on plan XYZ. Either way, with the current state of men’s basketball and the football team…Alnutt is on the hot seat.

2 hours ago, skrabukes said:

How is this a "rebuilding" year? What does that mean? I keep reading this on here.

Agree…what are we rebuilding? When you hire a coach, in most cases you are flat out building. And in some cases doing a complete tear down. We got very lucky going from Hurley to Oats. A rebuild usually implies repairing something that was good. We weren’t good before Halcovage. Whitesell was the one who the rebuild would’ve fallen under once he failed to capitalize on the Oats cupboard. Enter Halcovage who we had hoped would come in and build.

On 12/29/2023 at 9:25 PM, MuchMany said:

It absolutely makes firing Whitesell a bad move if this was the plan for what followed. The firing doesn't happen in a vacuum, it was a decision of Whitesell vs the feasible alternatives. They appear to have massively overestimated the quality of the feasible alternatives.

Jumping in on the convo you’re having with @BasketBull…wasn’t Halcovage something like our fifth option? After this coach and that coach used us or declined us? So while I don’t think firing Whitesell was the wrong move, I definitely think Alnutt overestimated UB basketball. He was selling the UB glory days of Hurley/Oats meanwhile it was clear we lost that luster and no one wanted the job. In saying all this I realize that Alnutt is not a good salesman. Which is a vital role of an AD.

What are the odds he honors his commitment?

16 hours ago, Blue03 said:

Yes but I believe this reinforces the “lost year, not lost program” narrative. 3 point percentage can be improved in an offseason/new recruits. What’s important is they’re looking better apart from that. Still have hope for the future. Go bulls

I disagree with the “lost year” pov. In today’s college sports landscape you cannot afford any lost years. Especially one in which you have a first time head coach taking over a program. Plus conference play hasn’t even begun yet. So the season is not lost. Really hasn’t even begun. The rest of your statement I completely agree with. We’ve seen small improvements, if you look close you can see some things beginning to take root. Again it’s gonna take time. Hopefully during conference play we can win some games and be as close as possible to a .500 conference record. The Niagara game is a good barometer.

10 hours ago, trueblue32 said:

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

Look man, I wasn’t coming at you. Just a simple disagreement. For the ncaa to burn a year of eligibility when a player played under a court ruling would be very wrong. But hey it’s the ncaa. But also as I said, the situation was fluid and has changed since this morning. So whatever. Whatever helps UB win

44 minutes ago, DaBulls99 said:

In case some of you missed it - the NCAA backtracked and said that if anyone plays during this 14 day window and the ban is re-instated after the 14 days, they would lose a season of eligibility. Doubt he plays now. 

Lol at the NCAA. Thanks for the update. We haven’t heard the final word on this yet. Still seeing tweets about how many programs are planning to play their two time transfers. Something is gonna give.

1 hour ago, trueblue32 said:

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?

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

5 minutes ago, MKBullsfan said:

Or is our head coach trying to buy himself another year to get to 2025 with a long range commit so if another bad year in 2024, he can say his recruits haven’t gotten here yet…

I mean, come on. We really aren’t gonna fire a coach after a handful of games. Gotta give him time. And with the start the ladies have had, AD is gonna be willing to give him that time. Anything can happen from now to 2025 and with how “commitment” mean nothing nowadays, until this young man steps on the floor wearing a UB jersey it doesn’t mean anything. If he takes off in his senior year of high school and big schools come sniffing around he could decommit. 

Class of 25 makes me wonder two things…1) is he gonna reclassify to 2024 or 2) will he decommit by the time 2025 rolls around. Hope we see him in uniform. 

3 hours ago, Ubbullsfan09 said:

I really appreciate people’s optimism on this forum, but I really don’t think anyone can get realistic hopes up for even another win this season. You can’t magically fix major issues of turnovers, defense and depth. 

I disagree. I’m not coming at you but you can fix turnovers and defense over time. Generally speaking, it’s about teaching. For example, without getting into the weeds, what’s our ball screen defensive philosophy? Do we switch on screens? Do we swarm on D? It’s all about having a philosophy and implementing it. Yes you have to get guys to commit and buy in but it’s coaching. Coaching in practice and communication on the floor are vital. As for turnovers, not having a true PG hurts no doubt, but there have been times so far where I’ve seen Smith or Chatman dribbling on the perimeter, PG or not, that’s not really what you want. Today Boldin had 7 TOs, that screams at me a freshman trying too hard and forcing the issue. Again some of the stuff I’ve see on tape is coachable. It will just take time. 

We suck right now. Maybe we didn’t think it would be this bad but I guess you gotta bottom out before building back. Gonna be a long likely losing season but let’s see if over time we can improve. 

1 hour ago, RapidsFan said:

Ok, but even if UB football won the MAC, went undefeated, and had a strong team with a player of Khalil Mack's caliber...they're still never getting invited into the college playoffs

So what's the point in having football exactly

Even if they did somehow host a college playoff game, the home teams have the option of playing at a neutral site of their choosing - no way UB doesn't opt to play at the Bills stadium in that situation

Bc football leads the way. Football is the driving force. Football pays the bills for most athletic departments. 

Is this game free to watch too? 

48 minutes ago, enrique14150 said:

Seriously, with whose money?

I still don't understand the idea that these ambitious people - Hurley, White, Oats - were going to stay here forever, in spite of offers of vastly more money at higher levels. They were compensated very well for the MAC level and for what UB could afford.  They were very successful here and that success naturally led to greater opportunities.  By taking those, it wasn't a snub to UB.  UB doesn't have blank checks - but Alabama does.

Bart: "Krusty, how could you?"
Krusty: "They drove a dump truck full of money up to my house! I'm not made of stone!"

Western really screwed up when they didn't keep PJ Fleck.  Miami REALLY screwed up when they didn't write a blank check to Bo Schembechler.

I was being comical. Or sarcastic. Or frustrated. Take your pick. I fully understand UB couldn’t write a blank check…hence the joke. 

57 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

Last 4 years:

70-49 - JW 

78-47 - Boals

One is talked about like a king on here, one was talked about like a chump at every turn.

He is no king but Boals won a MAC championships against us and he pulled a first round tournament upset. I don’t have to tell you how far that goes for a mid major program.

1 minute ago, Kevin said:

What did we do to deserve this?

Didn’t write a blank check for Nate.

1 hour ago, bullsbball said:

 

• And for those looking for a Dazzler update, how many outfits do they have? They changed yet again at halftime into all black pants, white shirt and a black zip-up top.

I want more dazzlers updates please and thank you. Not sarcasm, I’m genuinely enjoying the updates