Big 4 Hoops Blogger

This is the first real opportunity for a lively home crowd since before COVID. Big-time opponent with something on the line on a night honoring the Bulls senior class. There’s no excuse for it not being a great atmosphere tonight. Kent State and Ohio were before students came back and we didn’t get to host Akron this year. Those all hurt the overall vibe at Alumni Arena but tonight should be different.

Im not expecting a sellout but it should be a solid crowd. 4,500-5,000 would be my minimum expectation.

As I posted in another thread, there appears to still be a scenario in which Buffalo can win the MAC and get the top seed. UB would need to: -Win out against Toledo/Kent State -Have Ohio lose one of final two games -Have Kent State win on Tuesday against NIU That would set up a situation in which UB is tied with Toledo. In that scenario, they would split the head-to-head. Next tiebreaker would be record against next highest ranked opponent. That’s where Kent State comes in. If Kent State is 3rd, UB would win that tiebreaker. If Ohio is 3rd, Toledo would win the tiebreaker. If wrong, please correct me but that’s what some of us concluded after looking into scenarios earlier. It’s unlikely but possible.

Ohio is weird. They’re vulnerable but they also just killed CMU by 26 after they almost upset Toledo and before they nearly took down Kent State. I still think any of the top five seeds are capable of winning the MAC Tournament this year.

You guys might want to check me on this but I believe this is correct.

The crazy part about Cleveland is that you can throw away the entire regular season. Your points are 100% correct but all it takes is one team to get hot and make a run. Playing in a NBA arena changes things for college athletes.

Ohio might be in trouble beyond tonight. Teams have figured out how to contain Mark Sears and they're struggling mightily against the top teams in the conference. (where have I heard that before?) They'll need to figure things out soon or they'll have a tough time making a run in Cleveland.

Bulls are dominating tonight! Hemphill having a strong night!

The issue for UB is that they’ll play one less game so they would need Toledo and Ohio to both lose two more games in addition to Buffalo winning out.

Not trying to start another fire but this is proof that the metrics do matter to head coaches. The way you win plays a role in your efficiency ratings which determines how opponents and analysts view your team. While I don’t think they’re something to obsess over, there’s validity that this goes beyond just seeding purposes for the NCAA Tournament.

It really comes down to can UB win out? If they can, the 3 will most likely be their seed. If they lose just ons game, they’ll most likely be the 4.

Appreciate you watching! Hoping they can remain hot heading into the MAC Tournament.

I think it’s clear at this point that Danny White was a visionary. It’s hard to find guys like that to lead an athletics department. He played a huge role in the rise of UB athletics. When you lack unlimited resources, you have to be creative. White was criticized for some of his ideas but wasn’t afraid to take risks. I don’t have a strong opinion of Mark Alnutt either way but it appears that he’s safer with how he runs the department. That can be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective.

Ohio has signed everyone in their class. Some of the recruiting sites are behind. As I posted in a recruiting thread, they’re bringing in: 1. AJ Brown, 4 star ESPN, 3 star 247 (180 overall) 2. Aidan Hadaway, 3 star Rivals (Once listed as Top 150), 3 star 247 (280 overall) 3. Elmore James, 3 star Rivals 4. AJ Sheldon, unranked

Brown is a big-time recruit for Ohio. He’s listed as 4-stars on ESPN. Several P5 offers including Alabama. 247 has him as 180th overall player, although he had been top 150 prior to committing to Ohio. Aidan Hadaway was also listed as a Rivals Top150 player before committing to Bobcats. He’s since been downgraded to 3-stars which seems to happen when top recruits sign with mid-majors. When it comes to recruiting, those are the type of guys UB needs to compete for at the top of the MAC. Last years class was strong on paper. Let’s hope it plays out once they get some significant time on the court together.

Guys, It's been a while since Kevin and myself (@Mike_Bundt) have done a show so we wanted to recap the last few weeks of UB basketball and preview the final stretch of the regular season heading into Cleveland. I know most of you see our posts on here but we like to engage with our Bullet Points twitter audience. We appreciate anyone who watches, follows us or engages with our posts and welcome all opinions. Hope you check it out!

Central Michigan just blew a golden opportunity to upset Toledo. Had the ball twice with under 7 seconds left with an opportunity to take the lead and couldn’t get a shot off either time…

Thoughts On The Game: Pretty poor first half. Looked like UB was sleepwalking but was never really concerned about the outcome being in jeopardy. Ohio had that same thing happen to them a few weeks ago at home against WMU and they took over the 2nd half and won by double-digits. UB completely dominated the final 20 minutes. Whatever Whitesell told them at halftime paid off because they jumped out to a 16-3 run. I felt once they increased their lead to 19, they got a little complacent and accepted trading buckets. They knew WMU wasn’t coming back but you don’t want to get into bad habits. Jeenathan, Rondo and Mballa all had strong performances. Mballa is starting to play the way we expected heading into the season. I don’t want to focus too much on Brewton but he’s a detriment when he’s on the court. You can see he has talent but it just hasn’t meshed on this team. He wants so badly to make an impact that he forces things. Overall, they won a game they were expected to. Now, onto the next one.