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Watching Anderson Mirambeaux in this game - we were impressed by what a nice touch he had under the basket. But it impressed upon me how you can't just get any player for your roster. Mirambeaux would be useless on UB, which requires everyone to be able to run the floor. Mirambeaux could only play in spurts, and looked like he was going to have a stroke when he ran the court. He could back his way to the net but when he tried to dribble there at the end, it was like watching an out-of-control delivery truck. It's so imperative to get guys who can play the style you want to play. And thus why guys will transfer when there's a coaching change. I remember Will Regan, a very good player, had a tough time in Bobby Hurley's offense.

Correction part 2 - they didn't lose the first game in the tournament in 2013. They were the 8 seed, they won their first round game vs Central, then upset the 5 seed Ball State in Cleveland, and lost in the quarterfinals to Kent. That team had a few good players but no depth beyond the starters, and had to ride them all game.

What Jim Whitesell does compared to other MAC programs is applicable. What he does compared to other coaches at the same school is applicable. What a mid-major coach with a limited athletics budget does is not comparable to what a guy does at a power conference school with unlimited funds and school prestige (not necessarily for basketball there, but Alabama sports is a big deal). Good for Nate Oats - but what he's doing at Alabama has nothing to do with what Jim Whitesell is doing at UB.

Bluebird - some good points. It's interesting how good they were statistically in some categories, but overall, a .500 team that (mostly) beat the teams below them and lost to the teams above them. I'm saving my "big picture" "season ending" thoughts till it's all done (I think they can upset one of these teams, just not 3 in a row).

It's why I rarely ever read any of the in-game comments.

I didn't have many nice things to say at halftime, besides "at least they chopped the deficit down to 9." Neither team started sharp, but Miami hit a couple outside shots. The Bulls missed Curtis' outside threat. When Jack wasn't on the floor, Miami was able to work it inside. Whatever Whitesell changed up at halftime worked, because they rattled off a run and caught up quick. The defense tightened up and Miami's shooting went cold. A great response at halftime from the coaches and team. They rebounded well today and kept a lot of plays alive. Miami didn't want to let UB drive inside today but the Bulls were able to pass it in there. The Bulls kept their cool at the end, got the rebounds and hit their foul shots. Jack - he did a great job against Mirambeaux (#45). Played him physical, didn't give him anything easy, and it threw off a lot of his shots. Zid - had a couple fast breaks first half, several great steals Adams - was their only outside threat, besides a couple from... Blocker - stepped up with a couple three's in Jones's absence Hardnett - second half, he was doing well at moving inside and hitting hook shots/banking it in Caesar - he's alive! Hit a three in limited action Miami - Lairy didn't have his best game. Mirambeaux is a handful when he's backing towards the net, he has a good touch underneath. But Jack played him well, and he has no stamina. Most of his points came from when Jack was off the floor. Miami has been a team that they somehow usually lose to the last several years, so I'll take it. Crowd - came alive down the stretch when the team needed it. Especially on a couple defensive plays. A better turnout tonight than I expected, considering the weather. I had fun seeing them come back second half and take this tonight, and I hope you did too.

Good point there, I hadn't thought of that.

It didn't take long for this to feel like the Bulls were going to cruise to a win. Central only scored what, 2 points over the first 8 minutes or more? It got to the point that we were desperately hoping to see the Bulls keep them under double digits for the first half (almost!) Central's zone gave them some problems today but the Bulls hungrily kept a lot of possessions alive. They hit them hard in transition when they had the chance. UB was solid on defense, causing a lot of turnovers (17 steals!) and just mucking up the flow of Central's possessions. Frankly this game could've been a LOT more lopsided. UB had spells in the first half when they went cold from the floor (it opened up when they hit a couple on fast breaks) and in the second half when they started getting stupid with it and Whitesell called timeout. The Bulls only shot 37% tonight. I thought, a much better opponent would've beaten them....but then again, this opponent wasn't forcing them to be that good. They didn't need to be. It was a good game and a good win to have after the last couple. Curtis - shooting was off for a while, but he was active on the boards. Jack - 4-4 from the floor, a little fumbly with the ball though Zid - the Wild Card. You get it all from him. A tomahawk dunk or two; earns a charge and gets called for one (not today though); some sloppy, frantic passes; and oddly enough, he's usually really good from the line. He's one of the best guys I've seen in a while here at stealing the ball. Foster - is very ineffective outside, and they weren't giving him too many opportunities to drive to the net. Another guy who's good at stealing it - he had one where he literally just took it out of a Central player's hands as the guy was driving to the net. Adams - hit his three's, got his rebounds. Jonnivius - he still feels like he has a lot of potential. Like he could be a Hardnett-type if he stays long enough and puts on some muscle. Hardnett - like others, wasn't having an easy time of it going to the net. Central - the glorious return of Central Miss-again! Their entire demeanor most of this contest was "we don't care." From the coaches to the players, they didn't seem all that bothered that they were reaching towards historic depths of ineptitude tonight. My brother said, "that coach acts like he just got approved for tenure today." The Bulls have issues, and the Bulls have limitations - but they act and play like they care. This Chippewas team does not. How about that unforced (as in, the Bulls weren't playing a press) ten-second violation in the first half. 0-for from three point range for the entire game. Multiple air-balls. We seriously saw better and more spirited performances this season from the D-2 and D-3 teams that came in here. Crowd - I want to give credit to the half dozen folks in True Blue and the entirety of the band. You are at least trying to have some fun and make some noise. It's not your fault that the rest of the end zone can't be bothered to join in. At least they're there. DJ's - really? MC Hammer? Black Box? I wonder if we could get those actual artists to play here for less than what UB is paying these DJ's. At this point, this team is what it is - an around .500 team that's clearly a level below the top couple teams in the MAC but on any given night, if the three's are dropping, they can pull a shocker. I just don't think they can do that several nights in a row. But they look like a group, staff and players, who are still working on getting better and getting it right. We saw what it looks like on the opposite bench tonight when they're not, and that was pathetic. I had a lot of fun watching this one tonight, making noise on foul shots in the hope that they could keep it to single digits a little longer, and I hope you did too.

I'm entertained by going to UB games. Yeah I want to see them win. Winning is a lot of fun. But I have fun cheering for the team and going to games anyway. I'm not miserable when they don't. Well maybe if they lose to a Little Three team I am.

"Decent, but not good enough." I really liked how they came out of the gates on fire, hit some threes and took an early lead. Compared to some other games they started slow and had to dig out of a hole - it showed they were prepared, ready and raring to go. That crazy good shooting percentage first half (compared to Kent's) was always going to revert towards the mean eventually. I was perfectly fine with a 6 point lead at halftime against a very good opponent. The problem second half was, the turnovers continued and the shooting dried up. Yet again, an opponent decided "we'll concentrate on shutting off UB's looks from the perimeter, and we'll take our chances matching up inside when we need to." Adams hit a couple from 3 early; they watched Curtis like a hawk. Even when they gave room inside, they reacted fast. You could say that Kent is a bad matchup for the kind of team UB is - they're big, physical, and that showed in many ways - UB had to really work hard to get rebounds when they could. THE GAME FLIPPED WHEN: UB kept being up 3-6 points until Kent hit three 3's in a row, and took a 3 point lead. It flipped the script. UB HAD A CHANCE UNTIL: so many games come down to the last 5 minutes. Do you make your shots? Do you stop the opponent? The Bulls were down 6 with about a minute to go, Kent for some reason decided to force a pass and it was intercepted. Adams and then Zid bricked three's that could've made it a one possession game with 45 seconds to go, and Kent got the ball back. Ballgame. The CJ-Perkins-etc teams OWNED those last 5 minutes of games. Part of what made them so successful overall. The Mballa-Segu-Williams teams were usually horrible in that by comparison, a big reason why they fell short of that standard. These guys...too soon to tell, they've done ok some games (Colgate) and not others (today). Curtis - another game he was quiet and didn't hit too many shots. But it seemed like they were really keying on him. Adams - hit a couple outside shots early but didn't get looks later. Jonnivius - I asked a few games ago, his best game yet? Maybe it was today. He's getting more confident underneath. I see him becoming like Hardnett someday - when he's a senior, he'll be so much stronger and purposeful. Very good from the free throw line. Zid - the Wild Card. He'll draw at least one charge and get called for at least one charge every game. He'll make a really confident bucket straight to the net, and another couple ill-advised shots or badly timed turnovers. I kinda don't want him out there when the game is on the line at the end. Foster - not as good this game, he got the ball caught up in traffic a few times. But he remains a steadier presence than others. Jack - Kent is a good physical inside team, he's not ready to be effective over the whole game against that...yet. He will be though. Kent - they shot like crap in the first half. Both teams played very sloppy over the course of it. But they made the plays at the end to make the difference. Especially Carry - he came alive at the end, scoring several key buckets to seal the deal. It's how a good, veteran team takes care of business on the road when things haven't been going well. We know what that looks like ourselves. I was perfectly fine with fouling Kent because they missed half their foul shots. They had 13 more shot attempts than UB, which negated the fact that UB held them to 42.9% shooting. I don't tend to go after the refs, because when they're bad they're usually bad both ways. But I couldn't help but notice, Kent had 7 fouls in the second half with over 12 minutes to go. And didn't get called for their 8th foul until there was under a minute left. You mean to tell me that this game, which was pretty physical, and even just in a regular basketball flow, they were worth 7 fouls in under 8 minutes and those guys didn't see a single foul in TWELVE minutes after that??? Bull crap. Crowd - came alive at times when it was needed. Not anywhere NEAR what this fanbase is capable of, but better. To the posters who have said for some time this is a .500 team - you're right. But I will contend that they're an interesting, entertaining .500 team that works very hard out there and that's worth watching.

Good for Nate Oats. Now he has greater expectations to uphold there. I was about to comment on some other things...but I don't want to spend another second of my life talking about Danny White, or NYBI, or how they handled some coaching thing years ago. It's not just done, it's been beaten to death. And it's no fun whatsoever. I'd rather concentrate on now.

I'm near the top of the sideline (bench side) so I didn't hear/see a lot of that. If he thinks he was taking heat here yesterday, that was nothing. How about the Zieglers - father and son - losing it? That game was the start of the "Central Miss-again" chant. He was some high level recruit who thought he was the greatest, but he couldn't hit anything that day. The crowd was laughing at them at one point. People chanted "Daddy's prin-cess!" Or waaaay back in the day, Central Connecticut's 7'3" center Keith Closs (who went on to play in the NBA), flipping off the crowd as they chanted "We want the freak!" Bates had it easy yesterday. I'm beyond the point in my own life that I can be the one yelling things at college students and refs. I'll yell on defense and foul shots and cheer along on offense. No judgement on anyone else, that's for you to figure out. It's a job better suited for the younger hot-heads. (I reserve the right to come out of retirement if Dan Dakich ever leads a team into this building again.) True Blue - keep having fun, and looking like you're having fun. More people in the end zone will see that and want to have fun too.

Credit to the band for breaking out the B-Y-A-H...BYAH! chant for Harnett's key block down the stretch. That one has gotten lost too often over the years.

I said it last game, I'll say it again tonight: there are no easy games in the MAC this year. There are games when everything is dropping for the other team and there's not much you could do about it (see: Toledo and Akron games). Then there are times like today in the first half, when I felt like EMU was shooting well in large part because the Bulls weren't playing well on defense. I've defended the defense before - in the first half tonight, I couldn't. Too many easy layups. But they closed the deficit towards the half, tightened up on defense second half, and those stops helped turn this one around. They needed every one of those 102 points tonight. The three's started dropping second half. Hit their foul shots. Props to the team for coming out sharper second half. Hardnett - he has such better confidence and touch around the net than he used to. One time second half he took it right to the net at the defender and banked it in - 2 years ago he would've hesitated or dished it off. Curtis - it was not his night shooting, and some fouls kept him on the bench, but hit some key free throws at the end. Foster - he has really grown this year. 11 assists tonight to 2 turnovers. He runs the show. Has a couple nifty passes every game, and seems like he's on the same page with Jack. He wasn't able to burst to the net much tonight but he was careful with the ball. In hindsight, they really missed him against Akron. Zid - he's the "wild card". Just as likely to draw a charge as get called for one. For as beneficial as his confident play is, he'll overplay that sometimes (like a turnover at the end and almost another one). Isaac - getting tougher under the basket. This team really buys into offensive rebounds and keeping the ball alive. Adams - his shooting was on tonight, and he stayed with Bates all game. Jonnivius - 4 for 4 from the field, 4 for 4 from the line, 3 offensive rebounds - he may not have stuck out today, but that's a nice contribution off the bench. Imagine you're EMU - you just shot 57%. 36% from three. 17 for 19 from the free throw line. 97 points. AND YOU LOST! If that was UB, I wouldn't know what more I could ask for. We knew Bates would be big, but they got great games out of Farrakhan and Acuff. There were times that UB was so focused on Bates that it created openings for other guys. They didn't let UB drive to the net and create openings outside. Bates - offensively, he's worth the hype. Even on a day when I thought he was clumsy with the ball too many times, he still had 27 points. But that clumsiness in the second half gave UB the opening to flip the game around and take control. Defensively, he's nearly useless. He has zero interest in getting gritty in there, he's not willing to take any fouls. Has a great first step, with his long stature. But right now at this level on this team, he's the kind of guy who will score lots of points but you'll never win much with him. I imagine he'll try to transfer somewhere for next season. Crowd - actually came alive sometimes. I have ripped UB for not doing enough to market the games and get people in there, so I want to give them credit for the last couple. The students filled both end zones (even though I wish they would make some noise). True Blue was more active and got some noise going on defense. Progress. We know a lot about these Bulls by now. They cannot afford to get sloppy, or turn off mentally, or get out-worked. But they have some shooters who can come alive, and paired with some defensive stops, can turn a game around.

I get the impression so far that there are no easy games for anyone in the MAC this winter. I laughed when I saw an Akron fan last night with a sign that said, "What's a Flash?" HA, what's a Zip?

There are no easy games in this conference this season. Curtis is the outside shooting threat they've been missing for a couple years. He's good right now and I'm excited to see how much better he can get. (I'm not concerned about transfers. They are part of the reality now and you're just as likely to bring in someone good via transfer as you are to lose someone.) I seem to recall Hardnett was hurt a lot of last year (or was it covid? Or was it both?). Maybe we're seeing what he can do with this many years of experience and a healthy stretch.

Rebounds per game: #35 38.55 Assists per game: #44 15.3 Steals per game: #41 8.4 Fast-break points: #3 17.55

I don't think anyone in the MAC is rolling in cash right now. Especially post-covid. I recall hearing in the past couple years that Ohio U was looking at the amount they're spending to fund and subsidize sports. Akron cut 23% from their athletics budget in 2020 (which included 3 sports), as part of a "budget bloodbath" where the school made further overall cuts past previous ones, eliminating 178 positions. BG cut $2 million in 2020, which included their baseball team. Did anyone else notice the crowd at Ball State last week? It made the ones at Alumni over winter break/winter semester look good. I tend to think that the problems UB has with all this are problems that most of their contemporaries are dealing with too. I don't purchase concessions, so I can't speak to how good they are. But I will say I've been impressed how well the arena has been taken care of and updated. At least the concourses and lighting. I agree with the people who say they could use bigger bathrooms - which is interesting since the capacity used to be bigger.

Question 1: Is Foster actually that vital to the lineup? Question 2: Is this what Ball State felt like last week when they played UB? Question 3: Was there a gas leak in the locker room before this or something? Question 4: Did they really play an Indian dance/techno song in the second half? And was that possibly the best song those DJ's played? Not good enough tonight, right from the start. This team CAN be good, but when you shoot that terribly in the first half (and your opponent shoots that well), you dig too big a hole. They started getting some stops on defense but just too many missed shots and turnovers to turn those into points the other way. I hate to keep making it about shooting, but that number always sticks out. The Bulls beat them on the boards, the difference all in offensive rebounds too; they actually took one more shot than Akron did; both teams ended up with more turnovers than they'd like. Too many fumbled passes today. Right now this team is interesting, but falling short of truly competitive with the top 3-4 teams in the MAC. They have a good opportunity now to put some lessons-learned into play after this tough stretch. Yet again I think that teams have figured out the way to play UB is you tighten things up along the perimeter and dare them to go after your inside guys. Don't give Jones/Powell/Adams good looks outside. One of our group said that UB needed to move more on offense, maybe that dribble penetration would open up looks outside. A couple things that I DID like: for as frustrated as they were, the team did not quit. That drive shows they care. Whitesell keeps being willing to pull someone off the court if they did something wrong so they can correct it. I would rarely say this - but I liked his technical foul today. It was like a contrived fight in a hockey game - something to try to get the team to wake up. At that point why not. People complained in the past that he doesn't seem animated enough. Respect for Akron - as teeth-grindingly difficult as that is for me to say. Casteneda - I would like to see anyone who manages to shoot better than that here this season. The guy was perfect from the field until the very end. 6 for 7 from three. Even when he was defended well, he still nailed the shots. Freeman smoked our inside guys time and again. That was a good team that played very well today. Akron's defense was very, very good, they were aggressive on a day when the refs weren't calling much. They didn't let UB penetrate inside easily. I have ripped on them repeatedly, so I want to give credit when it's due - props to UB for marketing the game with the glow sticks, True Blue shirts, and beer tasting. This was a game to try all that, the students were back, the atmosphere was back, a rival in the house...too bad the team tripped out of the gate. True Blue - I'll give you a pass because it was tough to get fired up during this one. But you need to make more noise when the Bulls are on defense. Please DJ's, play some different stuff, this is the same playlist every week. Retire "Cotton Eyed Joe" and "Wobble". For the simple fact that it was enlivening to have the band and the atmosphere back tonight - I had some fun and I hope you found a way to as well.

Clark was an SEC-level player who was a step better than everyone at the MAC level. When UB played Kentucky, he was the only guy who could match up with them. Foster has a quick first step but that's as far as the comparison goes. And that's not a knock against Armoni - he's improved his game since the start of the season. Just that Clark was a level better than what we typically see here. It didn't take long to realize why he was at an SEC school to begin with. I've seen some interesting comments here and there - one, about how UB lacked the size inside the play a physical game against a team that can do so better, like Kent; two, that in road games like Miami and Kent, the opponent took away the outside shooting and it left UB overly dependent on driving to the net. For the first one, maybe that's one reason they try to play faster. Setting up against a bigger, more physical team may not work in their favor. Secondly, driving to the hoop can work if you hit your foul shots and get some offensive rebounds and putbacks (against Miami, they were not making their foul shots). It's a challenge the team has to figure out. Curtis Jones has become the kind of dangerous outside shooter they lacked the previous two years. Hopefully if the opponent has to adjust their defense to focus on that, UB can find a way to exploit what they're leaving space for then.

It was not. I made the silly mistake of viewing a thread without signing in, so I saw the posts from the people I put on the ignore list. And reminded myself why.

Shooting percentage. You can't shoot this badly and win. "This team plays no defense." Held a very good Kent team to 40% shooting (30-something percent a lot of the time before that). Rebounds about even. After that Toledo game I said to my brother, "so was this what the other teams felt like in 2018 and 2019? Hey we didn't play bad, just that the other team is really good." (I don't mean to say they played well today - Kent is a very good team, and very good teams take away what works and see what else you have). I have no time for the people who don't say a peep when the team blows out a good Ball State team by 26 on the road, but are the ones who think the entire program lacks direction after a 9-0 run in the first half of a game. The team is interesting. They're hungry, they're competitive. But they're a bit behind the top couple teams, that have more experience right now. It ebbs and flows. I maintain that I want to see progress and that they're playing their best basketball in March. Let's see what's next. Signed, The Glass Half-Full Fan

This was what the apex of Bobby Hurley/Nate Oats style basketball looks like - lot of shots, high paced, take risks (turnovers) but when the shots (especially the threes) are dropping, you absolutely BURY some unsuspecting team. Joe Mihalich's Purple Chickens teams with Tyrone Lewis aimed to do that too. As some other posters have asked - when those shots aren't dropping, when the opponent is taking away how you want to play, can you pivot to something else? Maybe that's where the "consistency" that people are looking for comes in - not doing the same thing every game (because let's be real, you're not going to shoot almost 60% every time), but being able to find another way. Is that a lot to ask of a new group of players a little over halfway into the season? Part of me thinks they're pretty far along because they can look THIS good when it comes together.

Armoni Foster has been a really interesting case. Here's a guy who was one of the best at the D2 level, but how does that translate where most of the players are bigger, faster, better? It says something about his character that he was looking to take on a challenge like this as a grad senior - what am I capable of? Can I raise my game? What worked at the D2 level that he had to get better at to play at this one? He's quick off the dribble to the net - not 'Wes Clark' quick (few if any at this level are), but he'll exploit a lane if it's there. Tougher underneath the basket than he looks. As this season has gone on, and maybe because he knows where people are and how they move with more games together, he sees and tries some interesting passes. (The win over Ohio, he assisted both UB baskets at the end) There are some hungry players in this group. You could write another thing like this about "what drives Zid?" I don't get the vibe from watching them that there's anyone playing like they've already "made it".

Work in progress! It's a whole new team this year and "consistency" isn't something you can count on yet. Some nights it's all going to click, and this was one of them. You're not going to shoot 60% every night (and 50% from three) but it's hard to lose when you do, no matter who you're playing. Leave the expectations behind and just see how this group grows as it goes. I'm really impressed by how, when Ball State got closer, this team kept at it and didn't lose control. As good as Toledo/Ball State/Kent are, and we assume they're the top three teams for sure, maybe there's a lot of parity on any given night in the MAC right now. I don't get how some people can't manage to have fun watching this group, because they're obviously having a good time out there and have progressed a ton since early November. It took years but Hardnett has put it together; Curtis always has a smile; Jack is getting tougher every game; Powell always looks like he's ready to run over 5 people in order to win.