skrabukes

He loves Buffalo and UB, he said it all the time.  

14-23 here. Anyone can replicate that...well maybe not, as shown by the basketball team.

53 minutes ago, verandaman said:

I received the email today saying that the auto-renewal program was being re-instated, and I'd get my notice on January 29th for the renewal.  Works for me.  I usually have a hassle getting the UB Account Manager to accept my Canadian address for payment.  Heck loonies and twonies are cash too!

Also notice that the renewal price is the same as 2023.  Based on what I paid to see last year, that seems at least fair 🙂

Maybe this will be the year that Mo gets it together.....(or maybe not!).   

Well, it won't be Mo

Love the timing of the email notice. 

It should be another game where I'm on the edge of my seat.

Just now, DooleyBull06 said:

So this is point where we usually start collapse right? At the under 4 first half mark?

Let's see what happens after halftime adjustments by Groce.

17 minutes ago, UB92 said:

I have moved some things around to be in Akron tonight as the best in the MAC take on the bottom-dwellers.  

I have seen the Bulls at several MAC venues, but a visit to Akron is always interesting.   The Zips get on runs and can get 13 points in 3 minutes to blow open a game.  
 

It would be easy to say the Zips will look past the Bulls, but UB have not been fast starters.  I think it starts bad, gets worse, then we get some garbage time run.  
 

I sort of think a 93-61 score here.  
 

I am keen to watch how the coach and players handle the situation and any signs of growth or development from either.  
 

I will still be rooting for my Bulls, even down 30 with 4 to play!   
 

Go Bulls. 

Your prediction seems accurate. Hopefully we're both way, way off as that's the only way we can get a W tonight.

23 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

Unfortunately the game has 4

Well, at least there's more than 3. Good battle back. Need a big finish!

46 minutes ago, NC_UBfan said:

I don't think you can script a better first quarter!!!! 

Unfortunately the game has 4

Coming out fighting. They want to beat that 🤡.  After last year, this is a "get up" game.

44 minutes ago, enrique14150 said:

And for Kanye Jones - I don't know any facts about what's going on with him right now, so it would be unfair and inaccurate of me to speculate.

While I have no idea as to what happened (or is happening), he's not here, along with others who were originally supposed to be on this roster. This team suited up 9 yesterday.  As was stated in an earlier post,  Wilson finally gets in down 20 and is pulled with a minute left. McVeigh,  who was finally playing decently is playing well, they pull him. It's crazy to watch what is happening here. We've gone from the penthouse to skid row way too fast. Yes, transfer portal eats us alive. Yes, NIL paying players doesn't happen for us. But this is dumb. There's no way JW and Co have UB with 1 win in the 2nd week of January, and without any hope for anything remotely close to a silver lining on the horizon. Whether you liked or disliked him, the team at least was watchable. Sadly, many times this season, this has not been, and has felt like JV basketball. Whether it's been a lack of on the floor awareness/IQ and/or effort, it's just so so sad to see. Yesterday was the quietest game I've seen in 25 years. A player on UB blocks an opponent out of bounds and there was literally not one clap heard from the crowd. That's how checked out everyone has gotten (much like the Mitchell Watt/Shannon Evans error).

50 minutes ago, enrique14150 said:

Great points about some of these guys - if they're able to carry more of the play themselves, if they need better players around them, and if they've improved.

I don't know if this year to last year is an appropriate 'apples to apples' comparison, but some of the roster did carry over.  The lost Jones and Jack but gained Chatman, lost Zid but gained Sabol, lost Caesar but gained Fulcher. They got a lot more production from Adams. They had a lot of the same problems inside, but this year they're missing Jack and Hardnett and didn't seem to replace them besides Chatman - is that the difference?  The talent level didn't seem great last year (especially compared to so many previous teams) but it seems a lot lower this year...is it really?  Did they actually get a lot more out of that group last year than others would've? Or are these guys getting much less or as much as expected out of this group? I agree with all that say there just isn't the talent there right now to compete (though I am optimistic about the progress of the freshmen Sabol, Boldin, and Fulcher).  But it made me think, was there all that much talent last year? Did that .500 team overachieve based on its actual talent, or is this one underachieving.  Statistically trueblue32 just showed that there are guys that have actually done better than they are this year.  There are some guys on this team where I shrug and think, they're probably not going to get any better, they are what they are.  At the MAC level you can get some really raw players as freshmen but with good, consistent coaching in a good culture, if they stay 4 years they can become really solid players.  Calvin Cage (who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn his freshman year), John Boyer (who became statistically one of the most efficient point guards in the country his senior year) come to mind.  I think the program hit on some guys talent-wise - Jones, Skogman, Jack - and in today's NCAA they take offers out of here.

The players who were here have regressed from last year to this year. Adams was good, now struggling. Jo is only good when the coach doesn't get in his head, pulling him immediately after a miss or turnover. Sy would've been a force last year, and is talented now, but is completely alone at times. They ran off Kanye. Curtis and Jack saw what this was going to be and left town early. Williamson didn't help before and still isn't.  Sabol, Fulcher and Bolden are solid role player additions, and have been afforded big time opportunities. They've played well at times,  but struggled in others. Overall, this team showed little heart on D yesterday and tends to get over run by the leader on the other side of half court. It's so hard to watch as this team is 1st year MAC bad right now. Sadly, I think this team has much more top end talent than that team, and a few solid ancillary players alongside them. But they are proving to be much, much worse right now. Best quote from yesterday...

"Where's your paper bag for covering your face?"

"This team isn't good enough to even deserve a paper bag".

Thats a sad, but poignant exchange from 2 long time ub supporters and fans.

On 1/9/2024 at 8:40 PM, UB92 said:

I am not sure MBB would be Ball State WBB at this point...

Maybe Becky will punch that 🤡  coach of theirs this time.

40 minutes ago, Tee4three said:

I haven't seen refs call so many offensive fouls all season

Yeah, 2 of the 3 are really bad, but we're not really better.  Such a lean bench...more staff than players.

46 minutes ago, MuchMany said:

With all the conference realignment going on, if the Pistons can throw together a football team they might get a look at the MAC. Great geographic fit.

PS. I feel very happy for the kids. That's going to be one fun ass bus ride home tonight! 

Edit: I guess they'd fly to this one? Idk

They're not on a bus.

Nice to watch a game and not want to put a paper bag over my face.

Keep playing your best players and you'll win (some) games. The top 5-6 guys are good enough to win some MAC games. Sy, Isaiah and Jo are men out there, ride them. If the 3 youngsters can hit a few shots and support, they can contend to make it to Cleveland. Do anything beyond that, and you'll see what you saw for the non-league games. Keep it simple!

Cmu is not good. Neither is Wmu. Must be 2-0 after Saturday. 

22 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

Agree…what are we rebuilding? When you hire a coach, in most cases you are flat out building. And in some cases doing a complete tear down. We got very lucky going from Hurley to Oats. A rebuild usually implies repairing something that was good. We weren’t good before Halcovage. Whitesell was the one who the rebuild would’ve fallen under once he failed to capitalize on the Oats cupboard. Enter Halcovage who we had hoped would come in and build.

The 2 (by far) best players on this current team were holdovers from last year's rostee. Jo, Kanye were serviceable players. That's 4 guys that could've been "rebuilding" blocks. This staff wasnt able to retain other players from last years team that were more than quality. They didnt fill slots for this current team. Theres only 10 guys on the team right now. This is nowhere near a "rebuild". The top players from this years team will be gone heading into next year. We will be a completely bare roster heading into next year. That's not "rebuild", that's disaster (still not quite 90s Chicago State, but getting perilously close).

28 minutes ago, Ubbullsfan09 said:

We are one of only 9 teams in the nation that remain without a win against a Division 1 opponent. To see this once proud program amongst the likes of Mississippi Valley State, Alcorn State, Grambling and Houston Christian is embarrassing. I really don’t care that it’s a rebuilding year, a program of UB’s pedigree should have managed to grab at least one win at this point in the season. 

How is this a "rebuilding" year? What does that mean? I keep reading this on here. Every year is a "rebuilding" year now that everyone transfers out after each year. It's not a "rebuilding" year, it's a winless year to date. It's not as if we can look at the freshman and think that they'll be all-mac 2-3 years from now. It's incredibly unlikely that any of them will be here 2-3 years from now, at least not in the current ncaa model. Even if they are here, this is a winless team right now. That is incredibly hard to stomach. The bench suited up 10 guys the other day, and 2 guys didn't get into the game, including one of their top 5 players. That's not a good sign for the remainder of the season.

2 hours ago, NC_UBfan said:

And just like that Ogden shoots herself out of the slump!!

It's like watching John Starks. Can't hit the broad side of a barn, then can't miss. Crazy

5 minutes ago, NC_UBfan said:

Not sure what is going on with Ogden 0-5 and Rana 0-6 in the first half. This is a blow out if either made half their shots. 

Most of those 11 misses haven't even been close

Watson with the hot hand early. 1000x better basketball than what was watched early on last night.

Just now, Chet said:

Good to see you back here. Always thoughtful with great perspective.

 

Sadly, not seeing you or MM at games any longer is disappointing.  2 staunch supporters driven out by completely unwatchable basketball.

4 minutes ago, Ubbulls84 said:

They aren’t that good you are right. We are just that bad right now. The question I have is are we going to win a game in the conference? Doesn’t look like it with product on the court now. 

There's zero chance they go winless in MAC. Even if they are 10% to win every game (and they'll be much higher than that in most games), they will win a few. Think back to our amazing team. We were miles better than NIU and yet we took an L to them. This team, as bad as they've shown, is not capable of going winless in league unless they completely quit. If that happens, oh boy, it will be ugly. 

No Jo, no Kanye, what was going on with that tonight? 

48 minutes ago, BasketBull said:

Don’t know that I’ve ever watched a D1 team this bad week after week. On the same level as the teams Chicago State fielded for many years.

There have been some great posts in this thread. I refuse to believe that we are late 90s Chicago state bad. That team literally looked like 6 guys pulled off from Delaware park. It's pretty embarrassing that we are compared to that, but sadly, it's not as far off as I'd like to think. 

7 minutes ago, RapidsFan said:

Starts with coaching

Halcovage is just occupying space on the sidelines

Paulus is commanding his troops

Most accurate post of 2023.

1 hour ago, skrabukes said:

Big crowd. Niagara is awful. We should win by 30

For a few minutes, I forgot that we were 350th ranked. My bad.

Big crowd. Niagara is awful. We should win by 30