Big 4 Hoops Blogger

When opposing fanbases in your conference begin to look at your team with apathy, that's normally a sign that your program is regressing and should consider making a change.

From BobcatAttack (Ohio forum) regarding Jim Whitsell:

I appreciate the optimism of some of the posters above but I just don't see it. UB is likely to be a 6-8 seed which means they'll battle either Kent/Akron/Toledo in the first round. As Erie County stated, Buffalo is 0-5 against those teams. If they want any chance, they'll likely need to finish as the 5 seed and tip-off with Ball State in the first round. The metrics are pretty revealing. UB is squarely in the middle of the pack in the MAC. There's five competitive teams at the top. There's five awful schools at the bottom. And then there's UB & NIU battling in the middle to likely see who will have the edge for the 6 seed.

Some of that is Xavier Castaneda playing lights out but UB really needs to improve defensively.

UB doesn't have a traditional basketball rival in the MAC. Bulls fans probably dislike Ohio the most but that's not a mutual feeling. Many also hate Akron and Kent as well. The problem when looking at MAC rivalries from a Buffalo perspective is that most of the schools already had someone they disliked long before UB joined the conference. Ohio has Miami. Akron has Kent. Bowling Green has Toledo. There's times when other schools will be heated with UB when there's something on the line but that's about it for now. What also makes it difficult is that outside of Akron, Kent, Ohio and recently Toledo, there really hasn't been many consistently decent programs in the conference which makes it difficult to have those intense moments that can create rivalries. For now, I'd say Canisius and St. Bonaventure are Buffalo's true rivalry games even if they don't have the same level of significance as the Bulls conference opponents.

Hey guys, sorry for the few week hiatus! John's wife recently gave birth to their second child so we had to skip a few shows. There was plenty to discuss on the show this week. Some encouraging and discouraging reactions from the Kent State loss. The Bulls played hard and can compete with anyone in the conference. That said, the sloppy play and poor defensive rebounding was tough to watch. Ohio will be a tough game on Tuesday that can go either way. Fast-forward to the 21:00 mark for some UB talk. We also take a look at UB's roster construction in comparison to some other teams in the MAC. Hope you check it out!

Great start for UB jumping out to a quick 12-3 lead at first media timeout!

I think we're at the point where the results speak for themselves. Akron is good but they're not talented to the point where they should be handling UB on the road.

NIU is about to pull off the upset. That school always gives the best MAC teams problems despite never being good themselves lol

Incredible performance tonight! Curtis Jones and Armoni Foster were fantastic. This was a pivotal game to see how UB stacked up against the 2nd tier of the MAC. They now have wins over Ball State and Ohio which is encouraging heading into Kent State later this week.

This week on the show, we discussed if we believe UB can contend in the MAC this year. John believes anything is on the table. We also got into UB's upcoming MAC slate which features the top teams in the conference. Please fast-forward to the 45:00 mark. Appreciate any comments and opinions!

Is this sarcasm? 2018 UB football went 10-4, UB mens basketball went 32-4. UB women's basketball went 23-9 and made it to the second round. This isn't even close to the best fall in UB athletics history. I'm actually really excited for the football program moving forward but lets not talk up MBB and WBB when they're clearly going through rebuilding seasons. It's okay to be critical without being on life support. The criticisms of the men's program are completely valid. I still think the program has a bunch of potential. That's why I want them to make a change in the first place. It's the same reason I was fine with them firing Reggie Witherspoon back in the day. It's not that I don't love the program, I'm hoping for them to better themselves.

This team is completely different at home than on the road. That's the case for most squads but their W/L splits are wild. 8-1 at home, 1-8 on the road/neutral sites They now start their toughest stretch of conference play (TOL, @Ball St, @Kent St, Akron). How they do their next four games will go a far way in determining what we think about this squad moving forward.

I'm not sure if Hodgson would make a good head coach or not because we've never seen him running his own team. He does offer an elite skillset as a recruiter. When it comes to mid-major coaches, you're looking for someone that offers high end potential. There's no doubt he brings that to the table. That said, I don't think UB will ever approach him in the future. As far as Blue Collar U, he was supposed to be their head coach when they first organized the team and stepped down when it became obvious it would be a schedule conflict. The players would confirm that. I was at their first practice when they started their TBT team. As to why he hasn't taken lower level head coaching jobs... Why would he when he has a comfortable living as a high paid assistant at one of the best programs in the country? He can enjoy that lifestyle as long as he wants with Nate Oats or until an opportunity presents itself. Of course, if he really wants to be a head coach, he can take a lower level job but I don't see that happening. All of this just to say, things have worked out well for him. I'm sure Hodgson has no regrets about how it all played out. Everyone wishes things would've worked out better for Whitesell. There's still time this year to turn things around but if they don't, I hope UB does a national search and brings in young blood that can bring some energy into the program once again.

That’s part of what makes this difficult. I do believe Jim Whitesell is a great person and I’ve been hoping he could turn things around. I’m not sure what direction UB will go. I could even see the program holding onto him for another year or two. I’m a fan of Bryan Hodgson but I don’t believe he’ll ever be the head coach at UB. That said, I do hope Buffalo targets a young coach with strong recruiting ties when they eventually do make a change down the line.

We opened the show discussing Buffalo's past two losses and dove deeper into Jim Whitesell's future in the program. I've always been a firm believer in hiring young, up & coming assistant with solid recruiting ties to lead mid-major programs. Feel free to comment.

I addressed my thoughts regarding Jim Whitesell and his future at UB in our latest episode of 'Talkin Big Four Hoops' Please fast-forward to the 17:21 mark.

UB entered today ranked 202 in KenPom. The regression over the past four years is pretty apparent now. Buffalo hasn't finished with a Sub-200 KenPom ranking since 2003.

Bump... How are we feeling about Whitesell now? Has losses to Howard (274), Miami (287) and Central Michigan (288) with UB sitting in the 200+ KenPom group. We all knew this would be a rebuilding season but this is another disappointing setback after a pair of decent games against Ohio and NIU.

Congrats on the win! As you guys know, I'm always conflicted when UB and Ohio battle it out. I thought Buffalo did a great job defending the Bobcats tonight. Nothing came easy for them, especially down low in the first half. Bulls athleticism was on display. AJ Clayton was consistently getting burned defensively. Buffalo was absolutely deadly with 20 offensive rebounds. If UB can play like they did tonight, they'll be a tough game most nights in the MAC. The biggest concerns, some poor shot selection and shot making ability. It felt like UB was dominating this game and still let Ohio have a chance to tie it up at the end. Need to clean that up. Otherwise, not much to complain about. Should grab another win over NIU.

This week, we opened our show discussing the UB/WVU game. A lot of positives for the Bulls. Hope you check out the show!

We opened our show this week discussing the UB/WVU game. I was really encouraged by UB overall. The first 30 minutes provided a lot of positives. Obviously not the outcome we all wanted but hopefully a step in the right direction outside of the final 10 minutes.

We discussed Buffalo's loss against Tulane starting at the 32:00 mark. We also talked about how it's a down year for the Big 4 and the importance of UB finding their identity.

This is my general takeaway as well. It's going to be a roller coaster type season. In the end, I hope there's more highs than lows and that they get hot heading into Cleveland. Much different mentality than past years for me personally.