enrique14150

Has anyone heard anything if they're going to do another flash sale this year for football tickets? I always take advantage of that to get a couple games.

There's no way to dance around the fact that it looks really bad when 5 of your incoming recruits decide to decommit. Not one or two of the recruits - most of them.

Because Isaac Jack can actually run and move. Big Brock couldn't. Jack plays 'big'. Bertram played timid and small.

We'll see how it goes. I learned after the football team got Jeff Quinn, who seemed to check all the right boxes when he was hired, not to judge a hiring too soon. I'm glad they got someone who wants to be here.

Gerry McNamara - sure, that sounds intriguing Greg Paulus - no. Maybe someday if he starts winning there. His records in 4 seasons are: 12-20, 9-10 (covid year), 14-16, 16-15. He hasn't done enough to warrant a step up the ladder yet. Unless UB is that desperate.

At least a dozen more pages of speculation by those of us with no actual knowledge of what's really going on.

Reading all these pages from the past few days, what I gather is, the feeling that "the team is underachieving, let's move on from the coach and bring in some new energy. It's a prime job that should attract an ambitious, up-and-coming coach." And we've been smacked with a sharp dose of reality.

I have no clue what the other MAC schools are doing for NIL. So I don't know what the level is that we're trying to meet (at least) and surpass (hopefully). And I don't want to criticize them in that case for what I don't know.

These guys who are D2 coaches or assistants in D1 would rather sit where they are than step up a level, do the work and make something better of themselves? Fine, pass. This level is a challenge. If they're not up for it, we'll find someone who is. NIL - I'm not disputing what you all have had to say about the changing times in college athletics. What I am curious about is what do the other programs like UB's have in terms of NIL resources going around? Other MAC schools for instance. I would have a problem if UB is falling behind them. But if the rest are all in the same boat, I can understand. I keep reminding myself, there isn't this huge pot of money to throw around here. Especially post-covid, when all athletic departments are probably hurting for cash. They're basically using a lot of the buyout money from Alabama for Oats for buying out Whitesell's remaining years, correct?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall hearing a lot recently on here about what a prime job this was. Either people don't want to work for Alnutt (it didn't seem to faze Linguist), or we need to re-think our perspective here. I want someone like Linguist, who wants to be here and doesn't have to be convinced of it. The MAC is the "cradle of coaches" over the years for a reason - a good place to get started at this level and show what you can do.

HAHAHA my dad used to keep a running count of how many times Bazzani used to get up and pace to the other end of the bench. That team was in over its head when it started in D1, with D3 players and a D3 coach.

All these cases we're talking about - murder, kidnapping, stabbing - this is way beyond the normal dumb things that all college kids do. (And if you're reading this and saying to yourself, "I didn't do anything dumb in college" - WOW you must've done some REALLY dumb stuff because you don't even remember it!) I find it admirable when a coach and a program is willing to give someone who has made some mistakes a chance to move on and show they have improved. Yet I can understand why a coach and a program wouldn't want to even take the chance on that, whether it's about winning or just about a second chance in life, when it's your career that gets burned if things go wrong. That said - bad stuff is going to happen. People are going to make some bad choices. What's the reaction though? I don't think the Bama program (nor any) could hold these kids' hands 24/7 but their reaction to all this has been questionable to most.

As for this situation at Alabama - Rachel Lenzi of the Buffalo News recently questioned the culture at UB, considering a few problems like Chanse Robinson (was he ever actually here?), Malik Zachary, and the recruiting of Mballa. One of the replies to my thoughts on that said "As for culture, whether it’s fair or not, the staff is always accountable for the actions of their players" and this was "proof that Whitesell had no control." I don't assume this is everyone's opinion, and personally I wonder how much control you can have 24/7 over these people. But I wonder if the same applies to Oats and Alabama. I appreciated that poster's point - that even if it's not under your direct purview as coach, this stuff does affect the program. Are they lacking control in the same way down in Tuscaloosa? Technically correct or not, I don't get the impression that the Alabama staff is acting accountable for their players and program.

This part particularly struck me - "Do you overlook the reality that the former point guard and coach’s son wouldn’t recognize X’s and O’s if they were at the end of a love letter? Or the fact that his squads can never seem to shoot? Or the risk that the guy gets so intense at times it looks like he’s going to have an aneurysm screaming about a foul call with 12 minutes to go in the first half of a non-conference game against East Middle North Central State University in November? Do you bank on the fact that Hurley can attract high-level recruits to Desert Financial Arena? Even if he has no apparent system to put them in? Even if they’re hometown guys who end up leaving the team after a Twitter rant?" I appreciate what Hurley did here, which was light a fire under things and get more attention on the program. But eventually the act gets old, and you just look like a lunatic screaming all the time. I always suspected that Hurley was getting by largely on his name and that Oats was the x's and o's behind the curtain.

Totally agree. We should be playing a game in NYC area every year, to connect with so many alums down there. We should also be playing a football or basketball game in Florida every year. To connect with not just UB alums but all the Buffalo expats. I fully understand why big teams won't come here. It's all risk, little reward for them. Heck, Boeheim didn't even want to play UB at the Carrier Dome anymore for that matter. My point was simply, it's no surprise that it's hard to move the needle in the local sports market when you don't have any marquee games like that to get attention. When there are top professional league games going on by comparison. You're basically selling minor league sports in competition for time, money, and attention with major league sports. And I'm with you 100% that the games against the old Little Three teams are always big. I want UB to absolutely obliterate them every time.

Good point - I forgot about Chanse Robinson, that was messed up. Did he even ever get here? He was supposed to, then covid hit, then he decommitted, I don't remember the full story. I do feel that starting with Hurley, and continuing with Oats, they took chances on some guys that Reggie and others wouldn't have touched. Justin Moss, Raheem Johnson come to mind. I heard once that Boise State's football team was built around taking guys from California that the programs down there wouldn't take on. I suppose at this level, some are willing to take risks on guys who are talented but there's a reason the bigger programs didn't take them. I would love to be able to balance this out with a story or two of a guy who had problems, but came here and grew up and became a better person because of this. Not one that continued and fell through the cracks.

One of the toughest things for us as fans, in terms of evaluating how the players are doing, is we only see the games. I suppose there are some insiders that might see practice, or know how guys practice, I don't know - I'm not one of them. We see someone doing badly in a game and wonder why so and so isn't playing instead- maybe they look worse in practice. I don't know who's a problem and who is coachable. I don't know what they're working on and who practices hard and who's picking things up and improving. I've come to try to appreciate what I can't and don't know.

Okay. I'm not aware of his injuries/personal issues, so I can understand if those got in the way of contributing more. He had a good reach and an interesting touch that showed he could do something someday.

I agree with you on that. There were games where I thought the same, maybe they should've made more time at the end for those guys. I kept coming back to, the rest of the team is so new together that they need all the minutes and reps they can get. They could put Williams and Segu in because you could assume CJ, Perkins, Dontay etc had it down. This group didn't yet.

Regarding Rachel Lenzi's article - I agree with some of it. I agree with a lot of her statistical breakdown. They were interestingly/curiously/frustratingly very good in some ratings (scoring, assists, steals) but very bad in others (points allowed per game, turnovers). It all leads to where they ended up in the end. The questions about the culture - it was entirely fair to criticize them for cutting a corner in recruiting Mballa. If we're going to continue to laugh at a certain place about a forged welding certificate, this is fair game too. But I don't want to put the Malik Zachary thing on anyone but Malik Zachary and anyone else who was there. I don't recall him bringing in a previous character issue; it wasn't an official team event; there are reasons that got out of hand and it was dealt with appropriately. I don't see how that reflects badly on the program or the coach, I'm not sure what else they could've done. It was bad, it was unfortunate, the people involved were dealt with, they moved on. If there are further issues about the culture of the team, I plead ignorance but I'm all ears. Recruiting - criticism of the recruiting for incoming players next year is absolutely warranted. That had to be a big red flag, okay this was a transition season but where was this going? They had a small senior class this year because they had a huge one last year. Without knowing some specifics as to why some guys left (besides leveraging this for a better opportunity elsewhere like Skogman did), how often are guys transferring and it's about what they want to do, not the program? She kinda painted a picture of a team where people didn't want to play...but from my seat way up in 113 I saw a team that fought pretty hard every game. The latest example being that Miami game, down 9 at half, in a game they didn't really need, and they turned it around and won. The games they lost were largely a matter of a difference in talent, not effort. To me that's where the recruiting has to get better, and that criticism felt valid. Changes over the years - I dispute the idea that it was "raucous" in the previous years. There were a lot more people there, but most of them didn't do anything. Today's students sit on their hands or glare at their phones, they don't see it as much of a participatory endeavor as before. As some other people have noted - this is a Bills town first and foremost. Even with a more attractive product this year, the Sabres have a lot of empty seats. UB at best comes in third place. A lot of people showed up because they were really good - the shine was always going to wear off that, and you were always going to see who were the folks just showing up to check it out and be along for the ride, and who were the ones who love going to games and are with it no matter what. Yes, UB has played some big teams but they never get to play them here. I struggle to call Bona "big" (they're not) but those games had a lot more energy in the building, so do Friday night MAC games against Kent or Akron. The program didn't do much until MAC play to market the games; they still have ZERO idea how to bring any collegiate atmosphere to the one-third of a season in there without the band or students; for that lack of effort, what do you expect? No one good will play them here - which means there are no marquee games to get the notice of the community and alums, the ones who only showed up when they were top 25, made no noise, because it was the cool place to be. I'm old enough to have been there for the Sea of Blue games, I've been there for UConn and Pitt and BC getting a tough game at Alumni (unfortunately I missed the UNC game, I was away at school), so I know full well what the potential is and the crowd hasn't come close to that in a long time.

I understood. Caesar couldn't play defense (yet). Williamson looked sluggish and wasn't physical enough (yet). Mading wasn't good enough (yet) to get meaningful playing time in games that mattered. I think a big thing in terms of "big picture" this year was the immediate need to find a starting five, the next couple off the bench, and some semblance of cohesion as a unit. It was essentially a totally new team. I thought guys got a lot of chances early to show what they could do, and the team largely settled into starting and sub roles by Christmas. It was hard to give guys minutes to see what they could be in a year or two when you needed to get guys minutes so they could play as a team in 2 months.

I really don't care where the next coach comes from. UNLESS the draw of coming home means they can get a better coach than one who would've otherwise come here. My concerns are, can they teach basketball, can they manage personalities, can they recruit. Oats and Gill did just fine here and they had no local connection.

ButlerAlumDad - I have heard something similar, that he was the behind-the-scenes glue amongst the team. I was actually impressed how much he took a more active approach during games this year, to take timeouts right away to fix something. Rather than let it play out. I think that was a matter of coaching a new team. Again, I don't know who does what in practices and game planning. So I'm hesitant to criticize anyone specifically in any direction there. I don't think anything is ever 'all lost'. Especially at this level where there's so much turnover. You're likely to lose good coaches (and now, players) because they'll get a better opportunity. But that's an opportunity for new, hungry coaches and players. I never forget that some of the qualities that made Massinburg, Perkins, Carruthers, McCrea, etc. so successful was that chip on their shoulder, that drive to prove themselves. So it is very possible to turn anything around pretty quickly - "quickly" depends on who you get. I like what you had to say about direction - what kind of team/program are they trying to be? What is the priority, the selling point? Beyond just "best basketball players, apply here." What kind of people? They have a game style, it's left over from Hurley and Oats. And they've largely recruited players to play that style. As I said last week, that Mirambeaux guy on Miami was interesting for them but would've been useless in UB's style. At this level, especially with all the transferring now, can you afford to be picky? I thought Reggie was VERY picky about who he brought in. Hurley and Oats started cutting corners in order to win (Justin Moss, Raheem Johnson).

I don't want my take to come across as, I'm letting the coaches off the hook. It's a results-based business. (But at some universities, HOW you go about it matters too). I try to realize what I know and what I don't, what I possibly can know and what I can't. While I've been a long-time season ticket holder, and I can observe some things about basketball, I don't know a lot about the structure of plays and the details behind the movement and the defense. I can't possibly know what's going on in practices or what the game plan is - so I can't tell if they're not being instructed well, or if they are and the players aren't executing the instructions. I notice effort, I notice stats, I notice things like rebounding position and if people are actually open for shots. I notice overall style and overall progression. I responded to a comment on facebook this season, to someone calling for Whitesell's job, with "explain to me what's going wrong? If you know more about basketball. What plays are they running wrong, what plays should they be running, how are they mis-using talent?" I want to be better informed, by someone who knows more than me. That guy threw it back that it wasn't his job to explain that (to me it was, if you're going to criticize something/someone, back it up). The program isn't getting the results we have grown to expect. We expect to compete in the top 4 of the MAC. I can't explain in detail what the coaches are or aren't doing and what they should've done. From the results and the looks of things, the team was not as talented as the teams above them. Ultimately at some point that's going to fall on the coaches. For some of these guys, I don't know if they have more to improve from here, no matter who's coaching them. Going forward, without knowing what's being instructed and what's being said, it feels to me like a recruiting challenge, to increase the talent level on the team. Transfers are nice, but even with the guys they brought in during Hurley and Oats, most of those guys were as-is - they didn't get much better during their time. For the freshmen it's a matter of, what's their potential? And without seeing or knowing what goes into it behind the scenes, all we can judge is by the progress on the court. Those first two years in college are incredibly important from a development standpoint. Can they bring in guys this offseason who are better than who they have? Can they bring in freshmen recruits with the potential to be better than who they have in 3 years time? That's essentially my "Future of the Bulls" comment

Future/overall thoughts on this season: They were okay. Not bad, but when they played the top teams, clearly a level behind. We have grown to expect more. This season was always going to be a challenge, with so much of the roster turning over from last year. What I liked about this team was their effort was rarely lacking. This was a hungry, motivated group, albeit one that just wasn't good enough in the end. Props to the coaches and players for visibly improving from November to the start of MAC play; however, I feel like the team kinda plateaued over the course of the league games. The top teams were just more talented, played with fewer mistakes, and no amount of scheming was going to get around that. Like today - Akron was a more talented team. Freeman is a better inside player than Hardnett or Smith. Castenedas is a better guard than Jones or Powell. My favorite parts: like I said, the fact that (as opposed to some times with the previous group), these guys fought hard. Beating Bona and Canisius by double digits. Lighting up the scoreboard at Ball State in front of a couple hundred people (I guess there were more entertaining things to do in downtown Muncie on a weeknight - "come see our multiple laundromats!"). They could put up a lot of points sometimes, they could really move the ball around creatively at times. They could clamp down on defense...sometimes. My least favorite parts: How comprehensively they were beaten most times by the top 4 teams. There were clear divides in the MAC this season. The top four-five plus either Ohio or Ball State; then the .500 teams UB and Northern; then a lot of crap. UB was a level better than the teams below them, but a level worse than the ones above. I have nothing wrong with some convoluted games early on, they were part of the process of them becoming a team. The transfer rules allowed them to quickly fill in the gaping holes left in the roster after last year. But I wonder what the ceiling is for some of these guys. In the long run, would it have been better to get a lot of freshmen this year, take our lumps, but have a greater potential 2 years ahead? That's assuming they turned down freshmen and took transfers instead, which I do not know. Lots of potential: Isaac Jack - he improved a lot over the year. He showed some good inside moves early, but it was his defense that got a lot better by the end of the season. To the point that he was their best defender against Mirambeaux on Miami. Curtis Jones - he was on fire by holiday time, but cooled off as league play wore on. I don't know why. I do think, since he's only a sophomore, he can get significantly better from here and truly be the go-to guy. With Hardnett gone, he has to take the lead and make this his team. Blocker - he grew in confidence with the ball. He's primed to start playing some serious minutes. Kinda/not sure: Caesar - he might be something, we don't know yet. He has to get better at defense. Jonnivius - he's working hard but he needs to put on some pounds, till then he's not effective enough on defense. I think they are what they are: Adams Powell I would rather say "they need to get some players who are just better than who they have" than "they need this or that certain position." Just an overall upgrade in the talent base. I think they went as far as they could this year with who they had. Like Foster was okay, and they missed him when he wasn't there, but against the good teams you could tell he wasn't as good as his opponent. To me it's more of a recruiting challenge than a coaching thing. I have remained positive all year because I like going to games, rooting for the team, and these guys were fun to root for. I don't feel like they under- or over-achieved in the end, they were right where they were. (Someone said a couple months ago they were a .500 team - at the time I thought they still had the potential to be better, but in the end, they were right). I had fun and I hope you did too.