Of course we would love to be the "Gonzaga of the east", but that isn't as realistic now that Oates left. Realistically, being good in conference/winning the MAC would be a great start to building up Buffalo as a basketball school, as opposed to being good because of our current coaching staff.
I think we have a pretty good lineup with the returning players, transfers now eligible to play, and a few incoming recruits (Skogman was big for us). I think we need another big to grab rebounds and play by the basket but we are in pretty good shape.
It is unrealistic for us to play at last years level when we lost our head coach, had like 5 contributors graduate, and lost our incoming class when the head coach left. If we are competitive this year we will have sustained success that should help put Buffalo on the map.