MuchMany

That's a good regional game. We'll get trounced, but it's strong scheduling.

3 hours ago, UBinMD said:

I thought this was a nice article and love that GH3 was complimentary of Calvin and he’s leaving on a positive note and can be closer to family. Hopefully the new guy can bring something to the table:

https://ubbulls.com/news/2024/5/2/mens-basketball-mens-basketball-announces-coaching-addition-and-changes.aspx

Nice to finally get something official on Cage leaving and I'm glad it seems amicable. Just a nitpick, but I can't stand GH3's quotes having exclamation points throughout. It reeks of rah rah amateurism for me.

32 minutes ago, trueblue32 said:

It appears that the Cage replacement is... another former Villanova walk-on with no coaching experience:

Tim Saunders was the DOBO last year, so I assume he slides into Cage's #3 seat. This feels like a sketchy hire to complete what has to be one of the most inexperienced staffs in the country. Although not sure who we expected to be interested in a mid-bench job at a four-win program.

9 minutes ago, trueblue32 said:

Even if you throw away the rest, James Graham played at the mid-major level last year (in his 4th college season) and was significantly worse than Williamson. You invoked the Sabol comparison: Sabol was worse, on a worse team, in a worse conference.

Halcovage hasn't won a recruiting battle to date and Williamson has shown more at the D1 level than anyone that Halcovage has (successfully) recruited to date.

Ok...Graham was bad and is not with us anymore. Sometimes players don't work out. 

Yeah, Sabol and Williamson had very comparable seasons (0.6 vs 0.8 PRPG!) so I compared them. They were both on bad teams, with UB being worse (the fact that Sabol kept his head above water in our mess of a season is impressive).

Again, no one thinks our recruiting is impressive right now, but this kid just doesn't matter. I just don't know why anyone would be hand-wringing over a low level transfer to Niagara in our transfer thread. But I'll be right there with y'all on Niagara Scenic Parkway for the parade.

6 minutes ago, trueblue32 said:

I definitely didn't say that he was a superstar. Just that the bar is on the floor when compared against UB's recruiting and he clears it. If you want to counter that assertion rather than be hyperbolic I will listen.

Showing that he has more counting stats than our transfers who were role/bench players at P5 schools is meaningless. Yours and Chet's posts deserved hyperbole in response. I don't think anyone around here is overly optimistic about this team, but the snarky doomsday shit in April is just kinda tiresome, that's all. 🥂

9 minutes ago, trueblue32 said:

TBF Williamson scored more points in one season at Valparaiso (238), than all of Halcovage's D1 transfers (Graham, Batchelor, Mighty) have in 7 seasons prior to UB (207). You can even add in Graham's 29 points at UB and they lose in 8 seasons. I understand the discrepancy in levels the transfers came from, but there's something to be said for getting ANYONE with any level of proven production in D1 basketball in two seasons

Williamson also bests Sabol in usage adjusted offensive efficiency as well some secondary categories (rebounds, steals, turnovers). Williamson is also rated better as a defender by a fairly wide margin.

Wow. In that case, all hail Jahari Williamson! King of WNY College Hoops!?

Just now, skrabukes said:

Unless it's Bryce Drew, Valpo isn't churning out superstars. Not that we were last year either.

Yeah just trying to put things in perspective since it seemed like an "even NIAGARA is getting incredible players in the portal and we can't" type of post.

1 hour ago, Chet said:

it appears that Niagara is bringing in some talented D1 players from the portal. 

Valparaiso...I guess? We have a 6'2" freshman guard who scored 8.1 PPG last year named Ryan Sabol.

3 hours ago, clodney said:

And apparently their UB Alum piggy bank. 

March was the bag, Hodgson was the bag man, and Oats was the man. I hate to share that even our success at a relatively humble level of CBB was not as innocent as it appeared.

7 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

No way he returns.

Dang!

Honestly I wouldn't mind if Jo returned from the portal at this point. Not sure how things are going on his end, but he's a serviceable 4 with good leadership and experience and would keep the smallest semblance of continuity.

Open to any mobile big though.

Good news imo. Someone shared a graphic from Evan Miya that had Fulcher as the worst D1 player in the country last season. Could you repost please?

Would like to see a power forward brought in with this last spot now.

19 minutes ago, DocCas86 said:

Personally I was hoping for some size that could help this year rather than a potential red shirt.  I guess that Oboh is likely to get roughly 15 minutes. Hope he can produce on par with Jack.  Hard to gauge how he will fare until we see action in November.

I like the Bradford pickup, but agree that we will be undermanned inside still. Michaels is the only "power forward" we have and he's more of a shooter than a banger. Center should be fine with Mighty and Oboh, but PF feels weak and I imagine McVeigh and Wilson will be tasked with covering some.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crg1YbWgyYx/?igsh=cWtqbHdyMzhvb2N1

Lefty 

9 minutes ago, Tee4three said:

Wonder how the class from last season feel with cage leaving, believe most were the DC area guys. So assume cage was the main contact 

Yeah, it's an interesting point to keep an eye on. Although they all seem pretty engaged and bought in from social media interactions re: the new recruits.

1 minute ago, UBinMD said:

Let's all hope for some pleasant surprises.

I think we're all hoping for that. Just trying to think through what we should actually be expecting. The roster is definitely in a healthier place overall than last year.

The year after, we just officially lost Cage's DC recruit, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Not a surprise with the Cage news.

3 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

I think AJ and Sabol will take a step forward it shooting. I think we may have a better inside game than previously and if we have better PG play, that should help as well. I do think Batchelor will be an upgrade. As for the 3 you mentioned, I agree and don't think they will be a shooting threat, but should help on the boards both offensively and defensively. Would be nice to get back to having a few guys that get those garbage points around the rim again. I also think McVeigh can bring a spark if he has the confidence to play like he did towards the end with pure hustle. We will see. 

Those are fair points. I'm just not seeing, especially for bringing in five new guards/wings, notably improved shooting talent compared to last year.

17 hours ago, MaineBull said:

With the commitment from Mighty our roster looks as follows:

Guards:  Dunn, Fulcher, Sabol, Boldin, Akot

Wings:  Wilson, Mcveigh, Michaels, Batchelor, Jackson

Bigs:  Mighty, Oboh

That gives us the following class breakdown:

Freshman (4):             

Michaels

Oboh

Jackson

Akot

Sophmores (4): 

Sabol

Boldin

Wilson

Mcveigh

Juniors (2):

Fulcher

Batchelor

Seniors (2)

Dunn

Mighty

That leaves us 1 scholarship left.

Hard to predict today with 1 spot left to fill but here is my guess at starters for next season as of now:

PG: Dunn

SG: Sabol

SF: Boldin

PF:  Batchelor

Center:  Mighty

I would like to see staff fill the last roster spot with a grad transfer who can start immediately and provide some veteran leadership and some scoring ability especially off the dribble.   I really like the direction this team is headed and I am looking forward to next season.  I think this team is much improved from last year and I think this team will be filled with the type of players this coaching staff covets and we will see a clear identity to this team next year.  You heard it here first, their identity will be the ability to shoot the open shot, their effort on the defensive end and their willingness to share the ball.  After last years team this will be a much welcome.  This team is going to surprise some people, especially with their ability to shoot and in my opinion they will be scrappy on the defensive end.  Lets hope the staff can bring in one more solid piece to build on what they have started.  Go Bulls!

Mighty will be a junior, not senior, for the record. He's a nice, much-needed pickup.

I'm curious where you see this improved shooting coming from. Batchelor replacing Adams could be a slight upgrade, but only because Adams struggled for whatever reason last year. But he had a better pedigree than Batchelor does coming in. Dunn should be an improvement over Fulcher in the minutes he takes. However, the set of wings in Jackson, Akot, and Michaels aren't known as shooters at all. I might go as far as to call them non-shooters to varying degrees.

Long story short, I think shooting and floor spacing is going to be a major challenge again this year.

2 hours ago, UB92 said:

How about an alumnus who was on the team and wants to get his start in coaching?  Or is at a low tier program?

Anyone for that bill?  

How about...Calvin Cage 😮‍💨

Wonder if he got the scoop from this board. Funny timing.

Just now, trueblue32 said:

I don't follow Long either. Cage had posted it but now it appears to be gone (maybe it wasn't supposed to be public yet?)

Long is committed there though:

 

Gotcha. Any jist of what it said? If true, we'll be losing our commitment from Quintin Cooper who was personally recruited out of DC by Cage.

This is not ideal. Cage isn't necessarily a superstar coach, but he was the most passionate guy on the bench and his UB connection meant something. But there were times that myself and others noticed him looking frustrated with GH3 and everything. I'd understand him bailing on what may be a dead man walking staff and taking the opportunity to move closer to home.

Wonder when they'd get around to making this public?

18 minutes ago, trueblue32 said:

I had heard this about a week back, but I saw the first public acknowledgment of it in an Instagram story with Canisius transfer Xzavier Long committing to Hampton and mentioning Cage.

Screenshot? He's private.

Would be our first pickup in a while to have actually been ranked somewhere. 126 at On3 for 2022. 7'3 wingspan. This seems like the type of transfer that would actually move the needle a bit. He's the type of big we were missing on the roster last year.

https://www.on3.com/db/armani-mighty-147807/

1 hour ago, Tee4three said:

That last line made me laugh more than it should have 

"He can guard all five positions"

That one made me laugh more tbh.

He'll do well there for sure. Should benefit from not having to be the alpha, which he decidedly is not.