skrabukes

Sounds like a heck of a hire. Maybe he'll be here longer than the previous several coordinators.

On 12/14/2023 at 7:26 AM, BrooklynBull said:

Because this is what matters!
https://ubbulls.com/news/2023/12/11/athlete-academic-affairs-ub-athletics-posts-highest-graduation-rate-in-program-history.aspx

According to the article, this data is for students who entered in 2016. It's 2023. I would hope that they would have graduated by now. That's 7.5 years. I know we're in bizarro land now where student-athletes play for 7-8 years now (and at 3-4 different schools), but when you go to college, you are supposed to be on a track to graduate in 4 or 5 years depending on your program. Considering all of the wonderful supports that athletes get from their advisors/tutors/etc. while involved in sports at UB, I would greatly hope they'd be at 100%.

28 minutes ago, BrooklynBull said:

Yes.  Why else would you go to a game but to see the game?

Weather permitting I will be in Buffalo in January and February/March.  There are games on both Saturdays.  I will be there to watch basketball.

Ub should cancel the band, cheerleaders, dancers, music, mascots, etc. Also, take down the video board. Basketball only. We can listen to the loud (Hopefully G rated language for the kids sitting nearby) huddles during timeouts in peace. 

4 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

Devin Grant to Syracuse is pretty underwhelming. I guess he figures he will start there. Hopefully he doesn’t end up like McDuffie 

Close to home

12 minutes ago, Bill said:

Devin grant has entered the portal 

Shocking

14 hours ago, UBinMD said:

Sobering numbers from Day 1:

 

4.000+ unhappy students on the first day. WOW.

The whole system is so dumb now. 

4 hours ago, BrooklynBull said:

I assume Oakland was an autocorrect for Ojala.  If you think she is not capable of bang with others in the MAC, I suggest you look at the career of Kourntey Brown.  They have very similar builds.  Brown was a two time MAC defensive player of the year and the conference player of the year as well as an honorable mention All-American.

C'mon BB. That's laughable to compare the caliber of player Kourtney Brown was to Ojala. Just because someone shares a similar build doesn't mean they share the same skill set.  I wish they did, as Brown was one of the best. Brown started a good number of games her freshman year, while Ojala barely has seen the floor thus far. I surely hope she can develop into a player even remotely close to Brown, but when comparing 1st years with the Bulls, Brown has a huge head start.

Watson with a huge 3rd quarter has turned this game into a blowout.

"NIL" is simply another word for buying players. These guys/gals are simply pros now. The idea of "amateur" is long gone within college athletics. Those with the most $$ will win over time. They'll become the Yankees, dodgers,  etc, while we'll not even be the Pirates, but will be closer to the Bisons, sadly. Since there is no salary cap, it's nothing less than a free for all at the schools with the deepest pockets of donors.

3 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

I have to be honest. I don't care about the metrics. Do the following, please:

Play defense, hard and as a team

Crash the boards

Stop turning the freaking ball over

Do those 3 and it will be a bearable and watchable experience.  Even if they shot 15% a game, I could at least watch that team and not be embarrassed. 

5 turnovers in the first 2:30 of the 2nd half. Seriously? That's grammar school stuff. I don't know how that can be explained.  They have countless turnovers in the backcourt today. That's inexcusable for a d1 team. Thank goodness I have to get back to work and I can stop watching this!

Happy Thanksgiving all.

5 minutes ago, UBlearns said:

I mean yeah, I think we're looking at computer metrics in the 340 range by the time the season is done.  They're already 320 on Kenpom and 300 on Torvik.  Worst in the MAC by quite a bit on Kenpom, and slightly ahead of only CMU on Torvik.  CMU already has 2 D-1 wins this year and appears to be trending slightly upward, so it won't be long.

I have to be honest. I don't care about the metrics. Do the following, please:

Play defense, hard and as a team

Crash the boards

Stop turning the freaking ball over

Do those 3 and it will be a bearable and watchable experience.  Even if they shot 15% a game, I could at least watch that team and not be embarrassed. 

7 minutes ago, Tee4three said:

This is what I don't get, I can handle the ok development and miss reads and other breakdowns that come with freshman and an entire new team

This team has zero structure. Zero. No offensive structure and no defensive structure. Looks like a bad intermural game at the triple gym 

We went from a team that had talent/athletes with no structure to a team that looks devoid of both 

Spot on. No D. Turnovers city. Just running around. No fire. Nothing. I've never seen d1 teams give up such easy baskets possession after possession.  A missed switch, not moving your feet happens, but literally not every possession.  These guys are wide open, both under the basket and outside. It's crazy. Is it possible to have the worst D and highest turnover % in D1 on the same team? This is absolutely trending towards it. I'm just shaking my head here as I watch this. It's like watching a very, very bad high school team that is coached by the social studies teacher in their last year of teaching versus the top team in the region. I said "over 3.5" Mac wins the other day. Boy was I wrong.

4 minutes ago, clodney said:

You're asking "Was Whitesell better than Halcovage?" when you should be asking "Were Whitesell and Halcovage both bad choices?". Whitesell teams regressed every year and halted any national recognition that we had built, while Halcovage appears to be driving the nail in the coffin. Either way, these were both Alnutt hires so imo your complaint is misdirected.

Overall, I still think it's wayyyyyy too early to go crazy about Halcovage. We don't know what we have yet. You can't be cheerleading to keep Whitesell after his 4th year of failing but jumping down Halcovage's throat after 4 games.

Last 4 years:

70-49 - JW 

78-47 - Boals

One is talked about like a king on here, one was talked about like a chump at every turn. Again, while nowhere near Nate (neither are close), the team was respectable every year. If last year's team played the soft schedule of this year's team, they'd have been close to 20 wins. Instead, they played Colgate, JMU, Uconn, Drake, Tulane, WVU, Michigan State.  

We can compare things in all sorts of ways, but the days of top 25 are looking to be long gone, never to return. Previously, we were at least able to watch the game without desiring putting on a brown paper bag over our faces. Sadly, football is looking that way too, 14-22 in the last 3 years. 

I love the announcers calling for Louisiana to have the big break out game out of the losers from today's game. Who's their opponent? Seems like a reasonable guess based on the last 2 games I've witnessed!

3 minutes ago, xDerekRx said:

I agree. Easy to knee jerk on this game but there's enough talent to win some in the MAC

It's not a knee jerk game. Last game was worse than this one, but there still is some talent there. It's still not far from the late 90s/early 00s teams however. Man for man, this team is better than 1999 (Cohane's last full season, 3 MAC wins), 2000 (Reggie's 1st), 2 MAC wins, but not nearly as good as 2001 (the big 4 recruiting class year, 7 MAC wins).

That 2001 team versus 2000 versus now:

Darcel Williams, Lou Campbell, Rob Brown, Battle, Clem Smith, Bortz, Davis Lawrence, Gilbert, Bird, Cagwin, (Big) Swoffer, Joe Veal

2000:

Rob Brown, Lou Campbell, Jason Robinson, Damien Foster, Lawrence, Cagwin, Smith, Swoffer, Libomi, Alston, Rainey, Duane Williams (from the football team), Walcott, Adam Johnson (also from the football team)

2023:

Adams, Chatman, Fulcher, Smith, Sabol, Boldin, Jones, Williamson, McVeigh, Wilson

At least we haven't raided the football team (yet) for players. The bench is pretty short though.

1 minute ago, Kevin said:

What did we do to deserve this?

I believe you were one of the loudest yelling for JW's head (along with Erie County who has disappeared now). His teams were respectable, while nowhere near Nate's teams, and never were going to be anywhere near Nate's teams. While far from perfect, it was a solid team every year, pushing for double digit MAC wins each year. This is a far, far cry from that.

1 minute ago, Tee4three said:

Which teams do they beat? Directional Michigans? 

I honestly don't know who they can be at 

There is some talent there. There's no way they get 3 or less wins in the MAC, unless the veteran players completely check out/leave mid-season.

1 minute ago, Tee4three said:

This team won't win 4 games even counting the d2 games wins 

I'd bet the over on this. Even as ugly as watching this is. I still contend that last game was worse. 28 turnovers against a bad D2 team, including 3 - 30 second violations, including the first possession off the tip. Think back to a few years ago. I'd bet my house that Montell McRae would've had a back door screen alley-oop dunk for possession one against that team. This year's version takes a 30 second violation. That was the end of that game for me.

1 minute ago, RapidsFan said:

98-99 - 5-24 (Cochane)

99-00 - 5-23 (Cochane/Witherspoon)

00-01 - 4-24 (Witherspoon)

02-03 - 5-23 (Witherspoon)

All other teams got at least 10 wins

As I look at this message, I can still hear a member of this board yelling "Fire Cohane" frequently at the games.

1 minute ago, RapidsFan said:

Just checked the record book - UB's never allowed more than 125

I think we have a shot

 

They won't get anywhere near 125, but we won't be anywhere near their final score tonight.

2 minutes ago, Ubbulls84 said:

This has to be the worst Buffalo team since entering D1 right?

I'm not sure I'd go that far. It's pre-Battle/Bortz/Gilbert/Bird days for sure.

Good thing everyone is happy JW is gone.

These guys are having fun at our expense. 

17 minutes ago, yussi1870 said:

I got the sense coach had no intention playing today’s game to win. He purposefully kept his highest scorer from the last game out almost the entire first half. He’s experimenting with the team, getting to know them for conference play. Watch for a completely different approach to Wednesday’s game too.

Adams had 2 early fouls. To think that a coach would not be trying to win is ridiculous at best. While the game sucked, in pretty much every way, there's no way they weren't trying to win.

Sadly, after Monday's extremely entertaining game, I got my hopes up for another one, but was unfortunately put back in my place while watching this snoozer. The 2nd half felt like the late 90s/early 2000s UB teams where they had already lost the game, down a ton and then ran wild all over the place and tightened the game a little, making it look at least slightly respectable. I dread the thought of being back to those days, but unfortunately here we are. This South Alabama team was not a strong one, but we made them look good with some very sloppy play and a few of our top players really having an off day. It was nice to see some of the younger guys get in the game, but they have a long way to go before being ready to compete with the middle and up MAC teams in a month or so. Sadly, once they develop, who knows if they'll still be here, or go the same route as Skogman, Jones, Jack and others.

The women's team didn't fare any better in their game today. UB went 0-2 in this conference challenge. We are way, way closer to the 25 years ago teams on both sides, than the last 10 year's versions. I wish Calvin Cage could suit up. He has the fire on the bench and surely could still knock those 3's down.

Back to the arena in a couple of days. We'll see what happens.

My thoughts on tonight's men's game:

FDU is way, way better than #309

No UB band/dance team for the home opener under a new coaching staff is ridiculous

UB played MILES better in this game than the Daemen game

This game was extremely entertaining, win or lose

The 3 top returners from last year's team (Adams, Jo, Sy) were very good tonight

The crowd actually was decent, but light on students, especially for an opener

If every game is like as fun to watch as this one, I'll enjoy watching them all, even if the team takes L's

Nice comeback win by the women. They are lean, much like the men with their depth. They look a lot like last year's team, 2 strong players, very light bench. Winning game #1 is always a plus. Canisius is no powerhouse though. Lots of work to do, but a win is a win.

1 - I hope that it will be better, but our non-league schedule seems very lean, so I'm not sure that it will be, unless our league record is better than I anticipate. They could realistically win 5 games in November and I'm not sure it'd move the needle of the ranking too much based on the schedule strength (I think). December is surely much more daunting. For now, I'll say worse.

2 - Worse

(Only those top 2 matter in my eyes, but I'll try my best on the rest).

3 - Worse

4 - Worse

5 - Better (for our top 3 scorers, not necessarily the 3 named players)

6 - Better (I hope)

(Complete guesswork now...)

7 - Worse

8 - Better

9 - Better

10 - Worse

I hope to be very, very wrong on #1 & 2, especially #2. I really don't want to be in the 9-12 seed come March.

We'll see what happens from the men and women starting on Monday. It sure would be nice to come away with 2 wins and have a nice crowd. I'm not sure I'd bet on either, but I will surely be there in 2 days supporting the squads. Go Bulls.

1 hour ago, Chet said:

Danny White came to mind immediately after Lance Leipold's big win today as Kansas upset undefeated Oklahoma. White hired Leipold, Oats, Hurley and Jack. ADMA's hires can't compare. I am uncertain what his vision is for the program. 

He certainly went 4 for 4 with those hires, and not even really singles, but multiple home runs!