enrique14150

No ultimate winners, but competitive for years. Crowds definitely used to be louder. But I think close games get people into it, these haven't been. Again, it's like going to a Sabres game where no one does anything unless prompted to by the Jumbotron in order to get free stuff. I am appreciative that more people are showing up.

Bull Trojan - totally agree. You mean to tell me no one from True Blue is local? I should add - UB is not alone in struggling to get fans, and students, to come to games. Every school needs more butts in seats and is trying to figure out how to do so. Even these guys. We're not unique. https://deadspin.com/nick-saban-is-very-angry-at-alabama-fans-for-not-attend-1829512214

At halftime we thought, "wow the Bulls played badly (for them) and they're still up double digits." The word we used to describe the offense in the first half was "convoluted", until it morphed into just plain "sloppy." Driving to the hoop worked really well against Dartmouth, but less so today. That said, the defense was good, and held them to only 20 points in the first half. Teams like Marist are going to have a chance in a game like this if they're hitting their three's, and UB didn't give them many good looks out there. Great job by various guys drawing offensive fouls. Whether that's getting in a good position, or selling it, or both. CJ - I wish we could say that the team is deep enough right now that they can win fine without him, but he was the spark today. Harris - hit some, missed some others, still doesn't seem as sharp as he can be. Perkins - didn't have his usual touch around the net Graves - as we keep saying, another good all-around performance. Has the look of an intense competitor. Dontay and Davonta - were a little out of control sometimes going to the net. I wonder if Marist was looking to guard against this. Segu - has some nice fakes that he uses to get separation from a defender or while driving to the net. Already shows some ability to hit from outside too. Fagan - got some minutes today by playing some tough defense Crowd - livelier than on Wednesday, but these weren't games that were going to get the blood boiling and keep people excited. But a good turnout overall. One thing that concerns me is, how well will they match up against a team with a big strong inside player? They're not going to want to have Perkins play them tough inside all game so he didn't get in foul trouble, so they're going to need McRae and Bertram for that. Tough, physical minutes on defense. If UB can run the floor and hit from outside like they want to, it may not be an issue. And they seemed to do fine against Ayton last year.

Most if not all the students who go to games seem to be the ones who live on campus. I can understand if you commute from a place not next to campus that you're not going to drive home then come back, BUT I agree with some others here, there are a lot of times that it's there and they're not coming. Gone is the excuse that "the team isn't good." Without the students and the band, the crowd is as lively as a Sabres crowd. Today (Marist) was a bit better than on Wednesday. To be fair, these weren't close games that got people into it.

I will start with: winning never gets old. No matter who, no matter how. A team like Dartmouth, much like St. Francis, is going to have a chance in a matchup like this if they're hitting their outside shots. They didn't early, and fell in a hole; hit some for a while and caught up; UB clamped down the defense in the second half (as they are often able to) and pulled away. I really like how they're willing and able to keep up the intensity over the course of a game like this. I also liked that the shooting was better, and that they took the ball to the hoop often. The team has so much depth that we're rolling 4-star recruits in garbage time. Graves - more impressive play at both ends of the floor from #3. He brings the intensity at all times. Dontay - finishes more of his shots this year than before. Segu and Williams - confident, athletic players with a long reach around the basket Jordan - was so smooth going to the hoop tonight. Dartmouth had no answer for this. Dartmouth had two crazy three pointers, one banked in from near the sideline and another that popped up off the top of the backboard. They used up that luck early. They actually seemed to have a good size matchup against the Bulls, but UB was just a lot quicker and more talented. I was happy with the size of the crowd tonight - Buffalo likes to complain about how this town doesn't often see winning teams, well here's one, they're ranked, now's as good a time as ever to show up. No students or band, which I kinda understand except how much of the student body is local. I tend to think that most of the end zone is made up of people on-campus, but still, you have a ranked team to see. It made for an entertained but not all that lively crowd tonight. Seen in the men's room along the track between the end zone and the sideline: the piled up banners of all the other MAC teams that used to hang up on the wall. Why they were on the men's room floor? Maybe because it was the closest place to where they were? Still, it seemed an odd place to find these.

I used the word "pathetic" to death while watching this game. Again and again. Try and tell me this team looked prepared in any phase to compete. Focus, execution, you name it, it was missing. Looking at the schedule, it seems like the best teams they've beaten (in a down year for Toledo) are...Eastern, and Temple. They were picked apart by teams who could run the ball and use motion (Army and Miami, and eventually Ohio). I don't want to hear any more whispers about Top 25. They're a good MAC team at this point, that's it. And I say this as appreciative of the positive steps the program has taken in competitiveness the past couple years. But they haven't proven themselves to be any more than that right now.

If the athletic program had more money I'd rather re-instate the sports that got cut last year before adding seats to an arena that isn't usually full.

A couple general comments since I was on the road this weekend and didn't have a chance to comment after the West Virginia game. There's a whole other thread for this - but that's three games in a row where the shooting was bad. And they still won them all. First half at WVU, it was something like 26%. Yesterday, 30-something percent. At some point that will catch up to you - however, what are they going to look like when the shots start dropping? Like CJ in the second half on Friday. Look out below. I've found that any time they've played a top tier team (except Arizona), the game felt ragged. They weren't doing things as smoothly as we're used to, and I suppose that's natural. Faster, bigger opponents, that means passes that usually get there don't, shots that usually go up get blocked. But they persevered and got some stops and prevailed. And one of the shooters started hitting shots. "Press Virginia", what a joke, the Bulls blew the press up by running up tempo past it. After a while they just stopped bothering to do it anymore. I found myself really angry on Friday at halftime. No sense of "hey, we're hanging with a ranked team, that's alright". Without thinking about it I expected them to not only run with a team like that but beat them. Confident in the Bulls' ability and expected them to play with anyone. At the end it wasn't "wow we upset them", more like "the Bulls were the better team, this doesn't surprise me." (I know this comment kinda contradicts the last one, but they can win in these games, it just doesn't look the same as when they run past one of the regular opponents). I was totally prepared last night to just enjoy the #25 ranking for a few hours until they dropped a game on the road to what's usually a tough team...so props to the guys for not letting that be too big of a deal and answered the next challenge. It's way too early to get too high or low about anything.

Last year Daemen took this to overtime by shooting well from outside. That didn't happen today. Mike MacDonald is a good coach at the DII/DIII level and his teams have come in well prepared. But they were just physically overmatched today. Perkins, CJ, Harris - nothing to say, we're not going to learn anything about them from this that we don't already know. Caruthers - seemed a little stronger, smoother going to the hoop, which meant he was more accurate with his shots. That seems like a good maturation to his game. Williams - willing to shoot from the outside; athletic, long arms; needs some more strength, but it will be interesting to see how he steps up with the increased intensity of the college game. Segu - good vision and dribbling skill, willing to try some things and take some risks. His playing time is going to be decided by how much he's able to pick up things on the defensive end. But he has all the makings of a really dynamic, fun player to watch. Graves - has the strength and all around ability on both ends to really make a big step forward this year. Bertram - looked a little slimmer, hopefully he can play some solid minutes this year, be a good matchup against certain teams and players, get some rebounds and put-backs. Whenever I watch him I'm constantly saying, get tough, play big, own that space under there. Fagan - didn't see much but he's another guy that will earn time based on getting dug in on defense. To think that their guard depth this year is Caruthers, Graves, CJ, Segu...and we forgot about Davonta Jordan. That's crazy. I always love the game or two when the full band from the football season is there. The pep band always does a great job all winter - but the added volume from this game or two at the start of the season is really noticeable. I've said it before, I'll say it again - schedule games on Friday nights, and you get a good student crowd. It was a preseason game against a DII team and you got a better student crowd than you get for a lot of the regular season games. Lastly - major props to the UB program for the giveaway today - mini replica MAC trophies. I didn't even care that some of the decals looked a little crooked. This was an awesome giveaway, something people are likely to hold on to. A big thank you to you guys for doing this. And for doing it at the preseason game, which was more likely to be attended mostly by the season ticket holders, ensuring that these got to some of the most dedicated supporters. We complain when things aren't done well, so here's to when you do things good. Winning things and raising banners NEVER gets old. May we start every season like this.

This is the second time I can recall we've had a huge opportunity to grab more fans and attention into this program and threw up a dud. The first being the 2013 game at the Ralph against BGSU where the winner would go to the MAC title game. And today. 4-0 team, quality opponent, pretty full stadium, beautiful day. And it started so well - a quick TD drive, then a turnover. Credit to Army - they are a good, solid team that does what they do very well. The Bulls seemed to lack focus and sharpness today. I can really tell how they were missing Johnson out there because his presence forces the defense to shift around. The defense simply could not get stops on third down to get them the ball back. Can someone enlighten me, who calls the plays - Leipold or Kotelnicki? Because yet again, there were some baffling ones. For instance, their penchant for whenever they get the ball inside their 20 to start, or especially with a penalty, he runs the ball a couple times and punts. Which today, writing off a series against a team who can control possession, when you have a QB with a cannon of an arm and plenty of weapons, was a disastrous maneuver. Oh and some of those doozies in the red zone. Leipold - why are you calling timeout down the stretch, then when you get the ball, you're just handing it off. Either put in the backups, or freaking go for it. I still can't shake the feeling at least a couple times a game that they're winning (not today) in spite of him. Thank you to so much of the UB and Buffalo community for coming out to the game today, it was disappointing that the team didn't put its best foot forward.

Yes, my god thank you. We've finally moved on from a divisive time and there are still some who want to bring it up again, who want to have the same freaking arguments all over again. It wasn't fun or productive then, it's massively less so now.