skrabukes

Just expressing my sadness at the lowering of our ranking following the tough road win.

Gritty win. Team went to their best play and player in the final possession out of the Time out. Good move. Too bad our kenpom probably lowers due to only winning by 2 though. On to the ugly floor at Northern!

Brutal, allowing the comeback

Mballa for 3 no no no no, yes! Ok, no more of those tonight.

Good start. More of that please!

They must have their reasons. D, strength? They see the players way more than us. Our limited bench points seem to be because they all play together at once and then out. It seems to be by design, as the rotation is fairly consistent each game. If they were scattered in 2 vs 4, they'd have vets drawing tougher D, as opposed to 6-9 playing vs the opponent's starters/partial starters.

Up 5 at half. I'll take it. Miami is scrappy, we need to just play our game and not theirs and it will be a W. Mballa can dominate down low and Williams too tough also. No more zero pass possessions and no more Mballa jumpers from deep!

They looked tired at 12 min, got subbed out, but lost all the swagger they had from the early segment of the game. Gotta get it back. Mballa down low please!

Basketball is a game of runs. 40 minutes, but definitely agree with that statement over the 5-6 minute stretch.

Nowhere did I call Williams a miss, but keep searching for flaws. It's hard to know which of the current freshmen are hits or not, way too early to tell. That's undebateable. Alabama has misses on their current roster too. Difference is they can have 5 star guys that are there also, so you don't even notice them, they just sit back.or disappear.

The old 4 reserve flat line.

Pass the ball, run an offense, no more zero pass jump shots! Work it in to the bigs, dominate! Kick out if doubled. Work jeenathan through to his left. Seems easy enough to say from here anyway.

UB is +9 in the 1st 5 minutes. They just look so much better than Miami. Mballa can score every possession it seems, as long as it's not via an outside shot! Precious out with 2 early fouls is a big plus too considering their limited inside depth. Keep it up boys

Ha! Good point. That loss brought the critics out in force. Yes, bad loss at the most important point in the season. A win there would've left UB as reigning champ, leading into last year's finals loss and this campaign's current 10-4 record. No ifs though, it was a loss on the resume. Just need to keep the win streak alive tonight.

Tampering!!! Call the police. Naughty naughty.

Hopefully the first. This way our Kenpom improves. I'd take any win however and then move on to the disgusting NIU floor which always gives us trouble.

Alabama getting 5 star guys is a non issue when compared to UB. They have unlimited resources, UB's are very finite. You're quick to point out "misses" yet never give credit for hits or development. Yep, the old regime was a great group of recruiters, but they missed too. Brewton is the new Grant on this board. Zachary is the new Quate. Hardnett is the new Brock. Everyone has hits and misses. When you're at Alabama and have like a dozen or more coaches, analysts, development people on the bench at all times, it's a bit easier to be ranked. Again, Nate and Bryan were great and I (very much) wish both were still here, but don't compare their ranked/recruiting success to the current UB squad. Heck, UB was ranked higher under Oats than is the 3rd year Alabama team, and that was without a sniff of 5 star guys. This staff isn't nearly as bad as you portray them or want them to be. They're not Calipari either, but considering the resources UB gives and facilities that it has, this team and staff is pretty good and there's plenty of schools that are envious of UB's situation.

While I agree with the point about recruiting freshmen, and the list that you posted, "the best recruiting team in mid major basketball" could be disputed. That group (while freaking awesome, don't get me wrong) was bring in the following: Andre Allen, James Rojas, Noah WIlliams, Durey Cadwell, Raymond Hawkins Is this group so much better than what we currently have here now, or have brought in recently? Crushing on the current staff's recruits consistently and speaking of "bare cupboards" seems a bit heavy handed considering the group that would've come in really hasn't panned out all that well. Granted, could they have arrived at UB and gelled/developed into a group of stars? Maybe, we'll never know. But their development at their chosen location(s) hasn't been all that spectacular. In place of that group of 5, we added Skogman and Mballa, both of whom have been strong hits. I'm not sure that there are 2 names that in combination out of the 5 listed are better than those two. We all were pumped for that group of 5 (I know I was anyway) and felt that the team wouldn't drop off significantly, but they really haven't been all that great. If they were here, maybe our cupboard would be just as "bare" or even worse, who knows. Skogman, Jones, Blocker, Mading, Williamson, incoming Caeser, Hardnett, Perry + wild card additions is not "bare cupboard". It may not be to the level that you or others wish, but it's far from bad. Nearly all of these guys were "big" recruits when they came in and pretty much everyone was happy when they signed here. They'll be given bigger roles and opportunities, in addition to an off-season of coming together as a unit and developing. Will they be top 25 or even preseason MAC #1? Quite unlikely, but could they be a contender by season's end next year? It's possible, especially considering all of the vacant slots that still remain to be filled. Regardless, the next 5 games + (hopefully) 3 more are the important ones. Hopefully the squad can take care of business much like the past 6 games!

3rd? Fair, Woolley and Summer are definitely the big 3. Christie, Camp, Ade with the combination of Gaba/Wilson makes this team a very tough out. Christie isn't built to bang with the Toledo (really) bigs. Gaba and Wilson are better matchups if/when that game comes to pass. Christie is long and more skilled, but her lean-ness didn't stand a chance the first time against their 2 bigs. Hopefully the 3 of them can run them ragged. She has played better of late. Her and Mballa coming around at the right time down low!

Respectfully, it doesn't matter a hill of beans. If/when Iona wins, they'll get whatever seed they deserve based on their resume, not based on Canisius or Niagara's ranking. If Canisius wins, somehow, some way (0.00001% chance) they'll get a 15-16 seed, regardless of the fact that their conference is now "higher" than the MAC. Same goes for the MAC. if UB, Toledo, Ohio, Kent win, they'll get around a 13. If somehow BG wins 3 out of nowhere, the ranking of the conference won't matter, only their middling at best record. Regardless, one ranking point up or down, based on some sort of stats means very little in the grand scheme of things. Most of the leagues get 1 bid and they'll fill in the 12-16 lines, as they always do.

Surely the starters are pretty clearly the best options, but with the condensed schedule, playing relatively every other day, maybe he's trying to save them for the final run. I mean, I know they're 20 and in crazy good shape, but the grind of 32-35 minutes every other day could pose issues for Cleveland. I can't say that I disagree with your statement, because sometimes I think we all scratch our heads as to why he or FLJ make a certain substitution/lineup, but that might be their rationale. Surely they see things in practice or matchups in the gameplan/video prep that we don't also. In the end, hopefully another win on Tuesday, no matter who goes out there!

This team is 10-4. You make them sound as if they're .500 with the way you present them. 10-4 in some years in the past would've been top 2. It's not as though they're so far off from #1 at this point. Yes, they've lost games earlier in the season to top teams. Let's see what happens over this final stretch. The team is playing very well right now. Secondly, the talk of bad recruiting by you is flawed. Their class from last year was huge on paper. Skogman, Mballa were also "big" recruits. Stop pretending these guys don't bring guys in. Rondo and Jeenathan were mediocre as 1st year players. Jones has already improved, Skogman has also. We have little idea what williamson, mading can add in another year. My glass is half full while yours tends to be just drops. As Aaron rodgers would say, "relax".

My surprise was more with the other teams having a higher % of starters minutes/points than ours. 2018-19 bench could've started for most teams in the MAC.

Usually come playoff time, doesn't the rotation generally shrink a bit anyway? Fagan and Jones seem to bring a good deal of positives when on the floor. Hardnett finally looks to be relatively healthy again. I know most dislike Brewton here, but he can bring some flash, although a little too much "green light" for me many times. Brock is Brock, giving his best efforts and dives, along with getting big down low. A problem with the bench seems that 3-4 of them play at the same time, causing the "flat line". Is this by design, rest your starters, take a little hit, then bang the fresh full group? Maybe. It has worked for the last 6 games anyway.

Surprising stat distribution. I hadn't looked deeply into the other teams' stats, but frequently posts on here read as though UB has little to no bench. While points aren't the only statistic, it's surprising to see that 3/4 of the teams near UB have "less production" (at least in terms of scoring) from the bench. Thanks for the post/info! Other point of note, disappointing that UB has so many fewer minutes as compared with others.