UBigbobby

Harris has been absolutely garbage tonight.

Absolutely shitting the bed in the 2nd half. This is not looking good at all.

No idea. Really thought he would take the next step and be dominant this year. You can argue he's been worse offensively this season, or at least far more inconsistent.

Looks like UB decided to take a nap at the half. Oof

Not a fan of the important minutes for Jeenathan who still looks like a flailing baby giraffe out there. Still, good half.

Haha, it means Too Long, Didn't Read. You can use it after someone posts or links to a long article or spiel and then summarize it for folks that don't want to read the whole thing.

Given the Big 12s expanding footprint, that's a possibility. Though I would expect them to be more likely to pluck a school like UCF or Houston as you mentioned from the AAC. This would work out well for UB, however, as that would potentially leave a spot or two open in the AAC that you would have to think Ub would be a top choice to fill.

TLDR

Buffalo's problem in terms of becoming a Big Ten school IMO isn't just athletics investment, it's also regional loyalty and appeal. This is what Danny White was trying to address with the NY Bulls initiative that people were trying to run him out of town for. Big Ten school's are all the flagship institutions in their state. In all but a couple cases, their official name is State University at/of/, etc. However they simply go by the state name due to their size and prominence. The University of Michigan isn't actually called just the University of Michigan. it's The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Wisconsin is The University of Wisconsin, Madison. Minnesota is the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, etc. Hell, even Penn State. The Penn State we know is Penn State, University Park. There are like 20 Penn States (I work with them). Penn State, Erie Behrend College. Penn State Greater Allegheny, Penn State Beaver, etc. Of course we're the State University of New York at Buffalo. Same deal, however due to history and the Buffalo inferiority complex, we insist on going by Buffalo, rather than New York. For UB there is, IMO a limiting factor on the University's branding reach due to the local population being so hostile to transitioning to UB becoming the Minnesota, Twin Cities of NY State. This damn Buffalo inferiority complex is getting in the way. By branding themselves as New York, more than Buffalo, just as Wisconsin brands themselves more as Wisconsin than as Madison, and then combine that with actual athletics success, you can start to build towards becoming the state university that EVERYONE in NY gets behind, like in those Big Ten states. Without that, I fear that UB will never have the marketing appeal or support beyond WNY. People in Poughkeepsie, or Hampstead, or NYC would likely get behind the University of New York, but I'll be damned if they're going to buy in to rooting for Buffalo, for example. As a result, I don't think UB will ever join to Big Ten because of issues like this. Honestly, I think we shot ourselves in the foot by putting up so much resistance to Danny White's plan. This is also why I think UB maxes out as an AAC school and despite being a peer institution to the Big Ten...UB just doesn't, and likely never will have the statewide marketing reach needed.

My thoughts on the game. I took a lot of flack from some people for questioning the defensive effort, focus and tenacity vs NIU and Kent. Please, objectively look at those games and compare them to last night and tell me they were on the same level. They just weren't. Vs. NIU and Kent they were slow, and fairly weak on the ball. Last night was a return to that UB punch them in the mouth mentality and play that Oats preaches. Their defense was on another level. I was reading the BSU board and their fans were complaining how on offense they would have to work and work and work against UB for 28 seconds just to then have to put up a CONTESTED shot, because UB's D was just to good. That simply was NOT happening the NIU and Kent game. That tenacity returned on D last night. When you're playing such tight, high energy, tough defense, a team with the talent of UB can have a bad shooting night and still blow teams out. As an example, Harris was OFF last night off offense. He was throwing up bricks. However, he had 8...EIGHT rebounds in the first half alone. UB dominated the glass, especially the offensive glass. If UB can continue to keep the heat turned up on defense as they did last night, they will be able to weather bad shooting nights and if they combine that with a good shooting night, they'll run teams out of the goddamn gym.

Ball State is like the 5th or 6th best program in terms of name recognition and historical performance in the state of Indiana. With programs like Purdue, Indiana, Indiana State, Notre Dame, Butler...who the hell is going to support and pay attention to Ball State? At least in Ohio you have only 1 or 2 big programs, and the rest are all about the same mid-major MAC level. In Indiana they're stuck at the bottom of the barrel with Valpo and IUPUI. Announcers said like night that pretty much the entire team other than like 2 guys are from Indiana. So they're fighting for the scraps in the state. Add to that, while they are a large institution, they're not a particularly good one. Ball State is so academically poor that in the 2019 WSJ rankings they don't even get an actual ranking number. They just get thrown into the pot of 501-600. In contrast, UB is #120 in the nation. In terms of best public universities, UB is #28. For contrast, #25 is Penn State, #26 is Virginia Tech, and #27 is Minnesota. Ball State isn't in the top 100. The only similarity between UB and Ball State is that they are both public and both in the MAC. It ends there. Buffalo is a Big Ten school playing in the MAC. Ball State is a bad MAC school playing in the MAC.

No. I don't think that's realistic. The Big East 10 years ago before the split with the AAC? Sure. Today's Big East are mostly small to medium privates and I highly, highly doubt they would consider adding a large public unless it was a big name. While you're right, they don't have a footprint in upstate NY since Cuse left, a footprint in upstate NY is also not particularly attractive either. They already have a presence in NYC, so it's not like getting Buffalo would help them there. Out of all the big conferences the Big East is probably the worst fit for UB all around. From an institutional perspective the Big Ten is the best fit, but UB is pretty far behind athletically still. It would be a big jump. Second best fit would be the AAC. I think UB could jump into the AAC and compete from close to day 1.

I would counter that, though, by saying the modern players they're up against are fairly clearly better. Young and Martinho were the best players on some very bleh-bad Mid-Con teams. Mitchell Watt was a MAC player of the year and an honorable mention All-American and played in the Reese's College All Star Game. While I'm sure you have fond memories of guys like Young but it's tough to argue that he was better than Watt.

...I feel like I am missing something...

So maybe the loss came at a good time afterall

All I know is that a significantly worse UB team with no WVU, Cuse, or USF wins was the last team out of the NCAA after losing to Ohio at the buzzer. That team was 23-10 and 11-7 in the MAC. This team has been ranked for 11 straight weeks and has a road win over a likely tournament team in Cuse that beat #1 DUke, a neutral court win over a possible at-large, San Fran, and handed WVU their first home opening loss in like 30+ years. They've been ranked as high as #14 twice and have been projected as a #4-#6 seed much of the year by the pundits. Provided they only lose 1 or 2 more times in the MAC but keep it close, there is almost no way they're not an at large if they slip up in the conference tournament. Their NET and KenPom are just far too strong. If they only lose 1 or 2 more games they would be going into tourney time 28-3 or 27-4. They will be playing in the NCAA tournament.

Certainly. Nothing you can do about that. Losing your man, being slow to react, and letting Kent drive the lane uncontested at will, however, you can do a lot about, and that happened too much tonight IMO. It was similar vs. NIU. These were things that UB simply didn't allow teams better than Kent do earlier in the season.

I still think it's 50/50 if they're still in. MAC teams generally aren't going to get the benefit of the doubt like more established power conference programs will, unfortunately. Running up the margin at the end vs. Kent might help them because most voters likely did not watch the game tonight.

If they play like they were earlier this season? Sure. If they play like the last few games, they probably get bounced in the first round. Single elimination tournaments and playoffs are not about finding the BEST teams. The final four is rarely made of the 4 best teams in the country. Was Loyola Chicago one of the 4 best teams last season? Of course not. They were, however, one of the four best over 4 games in March last year, and that's all it takes.

I thought the defensive effort was slow, poor and unfocused for most of the game. You can disagree, that's fine. Neither of us know, because we're not them.

Yes sure...however you have to admit the last couple games they simple haven't played up to par. Admitting that doesn't make you a bad fan.

Good gutsy win, but some major issues again like the NIU game that will continue to haunt them in the MAC if they don't figure it out. For very long stretches the offense was languid with no ball movement, and every player just wanting to take on all of Kent. Lack of imagination and slow. Very un-UB. On defense they looked slow and not at all sharp until near the end. Like they're a step behind. Let Kent drive the lane repeatedly with little resistance. It's frustrating because we all know we're better than this. I take a lot of flack for holding them to a higher standard, but whatever. This team has some issues right now that will bite them in the ass if they don't figure them out. Still, good win, and hopefully they are able to reset and show everyone they made it through their funk against BGSU

There are no women in Kent, Ohio. Only lonely men and cows. That must be one or the other.

You too? Fist bump.

Nope. They're locking it down more now.