John

4 hours ago, Chet said:

We need to at least be a threat from three. Otherwise, teams pack it in and take away the lane. It's my #1 need for next year. This team needs shooters so badly. 

Any win especially on the road is a good win. Good games by Hardnett and Jack especially on the boards. Agree Jones is really our key player especially if he can make some 3’s. Powell reallly seems to be in a funk as he can’t make a 3 pointer and teams are just packing it in to stop his drives and just leaving him alone on the outside. Really need to win the game on Tuesday against EMU because Friday game against Kent State will be tough to even compete against them. Go Bulls!!!

3 hours ago, 1975 said:

Spot on comments. This game was even worse than what the score, and even the lopsided stats, would suggest. The UB offense is the opposite of dynamic - I suppose “plodding” is the correct description. Worse still, there were some situations where it appeared some players gave up on even trying to rebound or hustle after a loose ball. As I asked a few days ago - what’s the point? 

Agree. Just tough situation with so few players and no real bench players that can come in for a few minutes to give our starters a little blow. After watching all the games the trend is there where they go a period of time especially in the 2nd halves where thy become very stagnant and have no ball movement. With a frontline or strong post players they get consistently out rebounded and what we have seen in most games when we put up a shot our frontline players are not under the boards and are already running back down the floor on defense. Don’t know if that is be design or Coach Burke knows we have no chance and when your best rebounder is your shooting guard in Winfield  our chances become less and less to bat any team. If all the players that were on the roster at the start of the year it would of been interesting to see if the results would of been different. Go Bulls!!!

5 hours ago, promotherobot said:

The Michigan job opened right after he took on 'Bama. I wonder if that's the job he'd want above any other?

Unless something crazy happens with his recruiting class not panning out or players transferring he should be set at Alabama. 4 to 5 million a year should do the trick. Besides after signing the extension he said he loves Alabama, loves the community, loves the area!!! Let’s see isn’t that what all coaches say when they sign extensions?? I think that’s what he said about Buffalo!!!!!

4 hours ago, skrabukes said:

Well deserved, happy for him. He gave this school a great run of teams in his time here. As was said in the Shawshank Redemption "some birds aren't meant to be caged, their feathers are just too bright.". We were lucky to have had him here. What an amazing rise though. From teacher/HS coach, to assistant at a middle of the road mid-major, to head coach at the same mid-major (bringing the team up to top of the line mid-major), to a top-end league middling program and now getting that team to becoming one of the blue bloods. All in like a dozen years. Job well done!

I wonder does this mean raises for the assistant coaches as well?? Agree he has a a memorable rise and gave us some great and exciting years that will last a lifetime. I won the basketball at the MAC championship signed by Nate Oats and Coach Jack. Wonder what it could be worth someday?? I recently seen the Tom Brady rookie card with a $775.00 price and a signed Josh Allen jersey for $550.00 price!! One can only wonder and dream!! Go Bulls!!

33 minutes ago, clodney said:

Glass half empty guy here. If we had we shot our season averages of 47%/33%/68% (2pt, 3pt, FT) then it would have been a 4pt game against Ball State. I'm not saying it wasn't impressive but it will be very hard to replicate and is likely an outlier. Prove me wrong tonight, boys, and go take down the Flashes. If they win this one I will be much more optimistic about our chances in Cleveland.

It will be interesting to see how Kent State plays when they lost their last game at NIU. 

3 hours ago, bullsbball said:

No	Name	Year	Schools	Position	Minutes	Points
1	Latrice Perkins	5th	2	Guard	276	58
2	Zakiyah Winfield	5th	2	Guard	587	238
3	Jazmine Young	5th	2	Guard	566	226
22	Kiara Johnson	5th	3	Forward	120	41
20	Re'Shawna Stone	Gr.	2	Guard	577	237
11	Briyanna Baron	Sr.	1	Guard	5	3
30	Olivia DeBortoli	Sr.	1	Forward	1	0
35	Chellia Watson	R-Jr.	3	Guard	0	0
10	Ronni Nwora	R-So.	3	Forward	0	0
13	Emerita Mashaire	So.	2	Guard/Forward	469	66
23	Kayla Salmons	So.	2	Forward	266	75
4	Caelan Ellis	Fr.	1	Guard	156	28
33	Hattie Ogden	Fr.	1	Guard/Forward	177	30

Showing the roster tells it all. The depth and frontline problems were intensified when Watson was not given her transfer release and Nwora has not played or I don’t believe she is even on the bench because the last I heard she is out due to personal reasons.That is a big blow for our frontline depth.

4 hours ago, bullsbball said:

I always feel bad when bench players get little to no playing time (especially if they transferred into the program).  I guess that's why I'm not a coach.

I understand the need for wins, but in this day of the "Transfer Portal", how much playing time does a bench player need to get before they decide the "grass is greener" elsewhere?

Why wasn't Perkins dressed?

I believe Perkins has some kind of injury. I understand the question about not playing time for other player on the UB team but that happens with every basketball team both women and men. In some spaces some teams do have deeper teams and play sometimes 7/8 players. Every  coach is going to play their best players  with the intent of winning the game. With UB’s reserves most of them are young and first year players and the little playing time they have had they have not shown any improvement to merit more playing time. The last UB game Coach Burke started Ogden instead of Salmons and she was totally lost on the defensive end getting beaten in the low post and she did make one 3 pointer but missed badly on her other attempts. Just a tough situation when Burke not only does not have a deep bench but the players she has have not become productive. With no frontcourt and down low presence the MAC teams continue to double our three best players and pack their defense inside to stop any drives to the basket. Game after game I have seen this play out in the 4th quarters where our games have been lost. The positives are this team never gives up and fights to the very end. Will continue to support this team and hope we can see some larger crowds in the future. Go Bulls!!!

8 minutes ago, dj_paige said:

I like the positivity here

 

12 hours ago, DaBulls99 said:

Hell of an effort tonight by the ladies. 3 pt loss. 

Agree. A great effort tonight and a very entertaining game against one of the better MAC teams. With no post presence and very little frontline scoring it is what it is for this year. Too bad Stone, Winfield and Young does not have another year with a potential good recruiting class coming in next year. Go Bulls!!!

8 hours ago, UBinMD said:

How about this stat for Armoni Foster, he is really starting to find his way. This was published by Josh Whetzel:

"Armoni is first Bull in at least ten years to be perfect from the floor with at least eight shot attempts. He’s first in country this season to go at least 8 for 8 from field while also dishing out at least seven assists."

Do agree. Foster seems like he is becoming more comfortable in his play. It is a wonderful thing when we can have great stats in several categories. I did not see the game but was there better overall ball movement where the guys were getting open shots?? But of course better ball movement and open shots mean success when we can make them. Wonder if this is what we will see the rest of the year or can they become a more consistent team on the positive side? Go Bulls!

13 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

Wooley and Fair were far better shooters, so there were fewer lulls in scoring than our current group. Fair was also a volume shooter and needed to get 20+ shots to get close to 20 on most days. She was a solid distributor too. Hemphill was a very good inside presence, Salmons has moments and Kiara would have been a force. Also, BB was hoping Watson was going to be eligible, but unfortunately that is not in the cards this year. By the sounds, she would have put us at another level if she were able to play with Winfield, Stone and Young. Gotta roll with what you have and hope for the best. They play hard, every game, beginning to end. I can't really ask for more than that.

I understand what the comments are regarding the minutes Fair and Woolley played but that UB team seemed to have other players that contributed than this group and just observations this UB team has been having more offensive woes in the 4th quarter and I understand a lot of factors contribute to that. Do agree this is a totally different team with the younger players trying to find their way. Not a knock on any of the players and Coach Burke and staff are doing a good job with a limited roster. Just staying positive and hope to get some wins. Go Bulls!!

2 hours ago, UBinMD said:

For whatever reason, Ogden and Ellis don't get a lot of PT. Not sure if BB doesn't have faith in them yet, she doesn't think their defense is up to par yet or what. Salmons is very productive in stretches, but then ends up on the bench never to be seen again. It's an odd dynamic. Perkins looked lost in early action and has gotten better throughout, hopefully that can continue. Coming in off the bench for 5 minutes and being expected to consistently hit 3's as a freshman is unrealistic. It's not like they are Paxton or BJ Armstrong from the Bulls runs. I would have liked to see a 7-8 person rotation, but the coaching staff doesn't seem to have faith in 4-8 really. It could bite us in the ass eventually. Boeheim had that philosophy for years, rarely went 7 deep and in the tournament it was always exposed. You have to develop players and that has to happen on the court sometimes, even if it's 10-15 minutes a game.

I do agree. The bottom line is when the Ogden’s and Ellis’s come off the bench the way to get more playing time is hit some shots and neither has been close at all. They seem to be rushed and just throw shots up. As is the case with many first year players the game has not slowed down for them. Making some shots on a consistent basis from one game to the next is what results in some confidence. Do agree the BG game will be very tough as they have an experienced team with both an inside and outside presence. With our non existent bench not sure if we will have enough energy in the 4th quarter which has been the case in the last few games. Go Bulls!!!

2 hours ago, dj_paige said:

It does look like the large number of minutes played by most regulars seems to have a negative impact in the last two games ... but I don't know what choice HCBB has at this time. I note that playing huge number of minutes didn't really seem to bother Dyaisha Fair or Georgia Woolley last year.

Playing such a short (in height) lineup also has the negative effect that opposing teams interior players have an easy time in the paint, and Buffalo gets out-rebounded badly. Makes me continue to wonder why Kayla Salmons doesn't get more playing time — is there an injury we don't know about, or is she somehow in the coach's dog-house? Salmons didn't make an appearance in this game. Her replacement in the lineup, Latrice Perkins, had her best game of the season against Ball State, but against WMU Perkins was unproductive and had just 2 points and 3 rebounds in 31 minutes before fouling out

It looks like the season depends on how well Winfield, Stone and Young play, as it doesn't look like we will be getting a lot of contribution from anyone else.

Not sure what happened to Salmons injury or doghouse?? Just like the men in some regards both teams have some very good players but neither team looks like they can stack up against the better teams like Kent State, Akron and Toledo just to name a few. Those teams seem to have better players. And have more experience and deeper teams. If both teams can stay around 500 that might be all we will see this year. Again hope we will see some competitive games and both teams get some more fan support.

A tough loss for UB. The second game in a row where it looks like we ran out of gas in the 4th quarter. We made only one shot in the quarter that probably will result in a loss in most games. With such a short bench and no backups that can come in and make a difference it looks like it will be a struggle the rest of the year. The effort by the entire team and coaches is to be commended. With really no 3 point threat and making on average 3 per game all these MAC teams know now to front/double team our three main players and challenge them when driving to the basket. It will be interesting to see if any adjustments can be made and is still exciting to watch Stone, Winfield and Young who do have very good athletic ability. Will see how they fare against Bowling Green on Wednesday. Go Bulls!!!

12 hours ago, markchicago said:

Enrique- good assessment  This was a good game- entertaining and most competitive. Toledo is a good team. We will continue to improve Lets enjoy the journey 

 

Go Bulls 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree, Even though we lost it was a very entertaining and competitive game. Toledo is a very good team and never seemed to get rattled at all, It was a combination at times of us not playing very good defense and when we did Toledo still came up with shots that went in. It probably did hurt with Powell in constant foul trouble and Smith in early foul trouble that hurt our depth. Right now we look like a middle of the pack team and it could change if we can just win some road games.The marketing and the true blue support are very poor and this administration neither looks like they want to spend money or even earn their paychecks by working their tails off to market this team. There should be promotions for every home game to get more fans at games. Our great years with Hurley, Oats and Jack with so much success and national exposure those teams sold and marketed themselves and the administration almost hardly had to do anything. That is not the case anymore . When the students come back will they support this team will be the question?? Go Bulls!!!

53 minutes ago, bullsbball said:

I couldn't agree more. Whatever Sallee said to the officials about the intentional foul, he did it "nicely" and "quietly". Coach Burke probably felt they were "only" listening to him. And he seemed to win his case.  Probably an immature reaction on her part. I'm sure she said something to him (unprofessionally) in the handshake line that cause him to go back at her. Coach Burke probably could have handled that better.

Hurley, on the other hand, was usually very vocal towards the officials. Saw a month ago, Hurley was tossed with a double technical in one game.

As I've said before, from where I was sitting, I didn't see anything related to the Intentional Foul. Not saying it didn't happen. I just didn't see it. I assume the officials saw something since they went to the video replay. They wouldn't have just made it up. It would have been nice to see a replay in the Arena for the fans to judge.

 

Hopefully Coach Burke will learn from this game when coming up against coaches like Sallee and not only taking the pulse of the team but learning how to handle and talk to the officials and not let another coach dictate how a game is officiated. After going up against one of the better teams in the MAC Coach Burke will come up with some different offensive schemes hopefully but with a limited roster.

3 hours ago, dj_paige said:

Yes, had the bad calls in the fourth quarter been spread out throughout the game, much less would be made of it. Certainly the intentional foul was surrounded by several bad calls, all against Buffalo, I agree with that.

As far as Sallee goes, once your up by 20 late in the fourth quarter, I think all coaches pretty much shut up at that point in time. Not really anything unusual there. And as far as equating Hurley and Sallee, I can't really agree ... I don't know what Sallee said to the officials, and I don't know what Hurley said to the officials, but sitting in the stands, I felt that Hurley's gestures, body language and facial expressions were often nasty and insulting towards the officials, whereas I don't see that from most coaches (including Sallee, including FLJ, including BB, including Oats, including Reggie, including Whitesell, including Linda Hill-McDonald). Hurley was an outlier.

I do agree that Hurley was an entirely different situation and do agree Sallee is usually more controlled but the difference I have seen is Sallee just stays on the officials and doesn’t let up. It is up to the officials to say enough is enough and walk away from him.  Do agree after a coach has the game in hand there is no advantage to continuallly badger the officials and it was more frustration on my part.  Sallee is not the only one and will not be the last to do anything as a coach to get an advantage for his team. As a player and a coach many years ago I don’t agree with that philosophy. 

6 hours ago, ChubbyHubby said:

It was good meeting you the other night, MuchMany.  Good to put a face to a screen name.   Loved pretty much everything about this game.  Zid was unstoppable.  The best part...?  They shot 75% on free throws.  If they had done that in every game, we'd have at least 2 more W's, and maybe more.  That should be the minimum for a D-1 team.  Hoping for a good crowd tomorrow night.  Also hoping the the in house announcer stops calling K. Jones, Curtiss.  🙂  Just busting chops there.  He does a really good job.

Agree he does a nice job but we can’t fault him as K.Jones has barely got off the bench the entire year. If Hardnett, Caesar and Mading not available Friday maybe we will see more of K. Jones.

3 hours ago, bullsbball said:

We all remember Bobby Hurley when he was here.  The King of complaining to the officials. He was a little more vociferous. I was always interested in the over-under on how many Technicals he'd get in a game.

I remember that was the talk among many of us in games. Good case in point was during the season he was T’d up several times and had warnings. We remember during the first MAC game in Cleveland not sure what year the beginning of a game he said something to an official at the start of a game and he was immediately T’d up. Funny when a coach like Sallee has a similar reputation and nothing happens. Such is life in the official paternity. 

2 hours ago, dj_paige said:

The intentional foul on Perkins is a textbook example of what an intentional foul is. Perkins wasn't playing defense and she wasn't playing the ball. She reached out with her right arm and grabbed a BSU player who was ahead of her, and who was running full speed towards the basket. This grab caused the BSU player to slow down and lose her balance. Good call by the refs. If you want to see it, it is at 6:37 and 6:36 left in the 4Q.

I don’t have video of the play so I will have to take your call on it. There were many calls in the quarter that were questionable but again the bottom line is we did not have many good possessions and Ball State got hot to close the game. Amazing though after Ball State went on their run Sallee shut his mouth to the officials and after the game was out of reach the officials made several calls against Ball State. 

1 hour ago, bullsbball said:

I stand corrected. Looks like Sallee went after Burke but Burke might have said something off camera:
Burke Sallee Video

Thanks for the video. I can only wonder if Coach Burke said something to the effect that Sallee is a whining baby because she had a front row seat on how he acts on the sideline. All the years of seeing him and the Ball State parent I talked too said that is who he is. I would think only the officials could curtain this be not listening to him or warn him about it. 

2 hours ago, bullsbball said:

There used to be "press row" in the first row of the South sections but many years ago now they moved that row to the top of the South sections. When I look there during halftime, now, I rarely see anybody sitting there. There used to be signs on the seats with who sits there.  Buffalo News, Spectrum, AP, MAC official. Not any more.

I'm sure everybody now watches the video feed (live or taped). 

I believe I've also seen the Video Replay person give something (a copy of the game?) to the officials after the game. Haven't seen this recently, however.

Also, I've been going to UB games for 20 years. EVERY year (on this board), is complaints about the officials and lack of attendance while students are on break.

About the officiating, I've just given up trying to understand the calls. Give 3 guys (or women) a whistle and everybody wants to blow them to get attention.

Do agree. I go on this tangent just once a year and my brothers tell me there is nothing we can do about it and we should not let it ruin our enjoyment of seeing our team play basketball. We have to try and think we are blessed to be able to see basketball that we love. 

5 minutes ago, John said:

Not sure that is true. The officiating hasn’t changed for years for the better but I guess there is always hope.

A question?? Is there still someone at the game that critiques the officials during the game. Do they see tapes of the games and shown their bad and good calls so they can maybe learn anything. 

26 minutes ago, bullsbball said:

How do we know what Allnutt has done or hasn't? We aren't in his office or have a wire-tap on his phone.

When I was leaving through the east exit (towards the refs and visiting locker rooms), I was told Allnut was behind us. When I looked back, he was gone. Not sure where he was going and/if he changed his mind. Probably not a good idea to have a hallway "conversation".

Not sure that is true. The officiating hasn’t changed for years for the better but I guess there is always hope.

4 hours ago, UBinMD said:

Whatever that sequence was with the missed trip on Stone, the phantom foul on Perkins that mushroomed into an inexplicable intentional foul along with a Salmons phantom foul and the ladies just got out of sorts and it was like a switch going off on the Ball St players knowing they could not lose and just drained everything. You can tell the Ball St coach is a typical douche and I’m sure he said something snarky. Wyatt jumped in after something he heard and one of the Bulls not in uniform had to be pulled away by Perkins. Not a great end and I feel back for the team as they were definitely playing 5 on 8 the last 8 minutes. Up until then Ball St wanted no part of our Bulls.

UB played with a lot of energy and held their own until the 4th quarter against one of the better and experienced teams in the MAC despite the antics of their coach. This is typical of a coach who until the 4th quarter was not his typical self with the officials. Once the 4th quarter started he was in the ears of the refs during play and especially timeouts. The sad part of all this this is his style and it is a sad commentary on the MAC and their officials. Whatever happened for the officials walking away from a coach like they did when Coach Burke tried talking to the refs. I talked to one of the Ball State father’s of one of the players and he just shook his head and this is typical of Sallee and until the MAC stops all his bickering and badgering of refs nothing will change. Another case of Alnutt not doing his job and doing something about the MAC officiating.  Looking forward to the game Friday and also seeing how the women respond on the road Saturday. Go Bulls!!!