enrique14150

I was on the road this weekend, so all I could do was monitor the score. What a delightful win! When I saw the final, I laughed like Sideshow Bob when he was elected mayor. I still think this team has a lot of work to do. They're capable of good performances like this, and still capable of some duds. Still a work in progress - but clearly, progress is being made. Curtis said in the Buffalo News that he's been just trying to be more consistent and let the confidence flow. I feel like they're getting better at the defensive end and that's going to bode well when it's time for MAC games. Jonnivius Smith said in the News that he worked a lot on his defense lately, that with his stature, he needs to bring the intensity. I agree with the posters who've said that Powell is a wild card - but he hits his foul shots. I think Caesar at this point, as a true freshman, is a spark off the bench but he has a lot to work on defensively. And that's okay, because he's 9 games into his first season, I'm not expecting the finished article yet.

BrooklynBull - heck yeah, dude.

If you're just coming to watch basketball, you can do that at home on TV. It has to be a FUN time going somewhere to do something. And I think that comes down to creating that college basketball atmosphere that you see at places on TV and want to be part of. The DJ's they have aren't helping - they play generic arena or party music. They have filled the end zone at times this season with students, but most of them don't do anything. That's where True Blue needs to step up. Not just get them there, but get people to get active during the game. Either people don't know what to do, or don't care. But if they're there, that's half the problem solved. Once they're there, that's the chance to have people have a great time and want to come back. If it was lame, they won't. Don't ever play "Cotton Eye Joe" ever again. The atmosphere has gotten stale, and it's usually up to the kids to set the tone. The athletic department needs to figure out how to keep that college basketball atmosphere on life support during the ridiculously long winter break (due to that winter session). That's going to come down to marketing and outreach. Scheduling is crucial too. When I was in undergrad I didn't get up on a Saturday (it was my one day to sleep in) till noon. I was the first one up of the four of us. My roommate (who was probably out till almost dawn) didn't get up till like 4 pm. So Saturday afternoon games might be a tough sell for a lot of students. Having it on consistent times helps for everyone (Tuesday evenings, Saturday afternoons). But whenever they have a Friday night game, man you get into the arena and you can feel the buzz. It feels like a big game. The students really show up for the Friday night games. And yet, I assume almost everyone on here is not a current UB student. What do we know? Maybe they need to talk to some of them and see what works. I do not know what (if any) initiatives the athletic department and True Blue are taking/have taken to do anything about this. I think the arena is in good shape, the main concourse looks great with the trophy cases, blue accents, hall of fame, and photos.

UB - same situation. Most of the team either graduated or transferred. So it's a totally new group. No interest in dropping football. And certainly not for the A-10. The A-10 isn't what it used to be.

Hopefully people saw some good signs of progress today. A really good all-around win for the Bulls. Statistically, they were better at a lot of the things they need to do: rebounding was about even; shooting percentage was in the high 40's; hit their foul shots. As one of our group pointed out, they were intense on defense but were reading things a little better, which meant fewer fouls. The Bulls went to a zone defense for a lot of the second half, which was interesting and ended up being effective. This was a close game first half until the Bulls opened up a double-digit lead off some defensive stops. They started finding more passes underneath like they want to in the second half. Curtis - had some great steals off high pressure and was hitting from three. Possibly his best all-around game as a Bull. Powell - went hard to the net like he tends to. Dunks with authority. Smith - he's big but he seems to have no strength. Which means he has to get better at positioning. Today he played with more forceful confidence, went hard to the net a few times and battled better underneath for rebounds in the second half. Hardnett - it's taken years but he finally has enough touch and strength to be effective at his position. Caesar - the sparkplug off the bench. Had a couple baskets early when they needed them. Adams - FOUR travels in the first half! But had a couple nice buckets and rebounds in the second half. Glad to see him focus and get better. Blocker - lived up to his name with a HUGE block at the end of the second half. (I'm guessing that Isaac Jack was hurt?) Canisius - they made 8 of 36 from three. I felt like some good old-fashioned Reggie ball (grinding half-court offense, suffocating defense) would've given UB a problem, but they kept jacking up three's. The turnovers must've been driving Reggie nuts. Their nearly-deceased fanbase, what's left of it, didn't look happy at halftime. Lots of crossed arms, wondering "we used to be a big deal 60 years ago, what gives?" Beating those Little Three teams never gets old. Bona will be a lot tougher than this. But UB is starting to look like a team out there. Crowd - about what you expect during break, on a rainy day, when there's football on TV. The program really needs to figure out how to engage the significant portion of the student body that commutes from within the area. It can't just be the people on campus. I hope more people start to notice that this is an interesting team that, while they're still figuring it out, plays very hard. Also, please don't schedule an event at the Center for the Arts letting out at the same time as a basketball game - it's a mess getting out of there.

Way to step up today, Bulls. I say this every time so far, but it's a work in progress. And they're going to have to find their way these first couple months. You may see different guys having good games each time. The stats looked better - 50% shooting; 30% from three; even on rebounds; forced 16 turnovers. Get better at shooting and rebounding and it will turn into results. Keep it up.

Agreed - I love that the POTENTIAL is there. And that we've already seen a taste of it. It's going to be a matter of putting things together consistently. Which will be a process.

He's added to his game this year - rebounding, mid range jump shot, floater near the net. He's been more consistent than all the new guys, which makes sense since he's one of the few with a year here already.

Curtis has been one of the smoothest performers so far, so that surprises me. Though he is a sophomore, and probably not the finished article yet.

20 point loss on the road to the #25 team in the country is nothing I'm going to complain about. Work in progress - and they will be for a while. Wow, that score from the Dome - Boeheim has to scratch off another upstate NY team he'll never play again.

It was all layups and 3's in the Oats years (which Whitesell continued) but those guys shot the ball better. The point was to just take more shots than the other team. Even if a lot of them were ugly. It was the opposite of Reggie's work the ball around till you find THE best shot. You're right when you wonder where the passing is - when they're playing well and winning, they're getting assists. Too often (and this goes back a couple coaches), it's just "chuck up a three" or "take turns going to the net on your own."

It doesn't matter if you're a senior-laden squad like last year, or a brand new roster like this year: if you shoot 20-something percent, you're going to lose. I don't even think JMU was that great - they turned it over as much as the Bulls did. These Bulls still need to work on rebounding and working underneath the net. Boxing out. Curtis Jones of all people is probably the best at it right now. You are not going to win many games getting out-rebounded and shooting that bad. No matter how many times the plays get you into good shooting spots. Defensively they were getting beat to the basket too easily at times. The dribble penetration and kick it back outside for a three only works...if you're actually hitting some of them. On the plus side: free throw shooting was way better today. The defensive intensity is a double-edged sword - they're creating turnovers, but it also results in a lot of fouls. Powell - kinda what we saw the last two games, some good shots and some bad passes, and couldn't hit anything from 3 (but few could today) Blocker - more minutes today, and hit a couple shots Smith - he has the height, but if he's not going to be the type to physically own that territory, he has to do better at being in the right position. And more intentional with the ball. He was hesitant and passive today. Gets beat to the basket too easily. Jack - in a year or so it's going to start coming together. Right now he looks like exactly what he is, a freshman in his second regular season game. Purposeful movement off the ball on offense. Foster - I'm going to expect a little more from a grad transfer. Like Powell and others, just too sloppy today. Curtis - he's starting to act like a leader. He's the one who's flying back down the court if they lose the ball - forced two missed layups second half that way. Caesar - a guy in our group remarked that he doesn't hustle back on defense in transition. If he wants more time, has to get better at that. Adams - the shots weren't dropping, but that goes for about everyone. Got nailed on a couple travels along the sideline JMU - a quality opponent that was just less sloppy than the Bulls were today. 26 turnovers isn't something to be happy about. Got to the line FORTY-ONE times. Molson looks like he's about 30 years old, and didn't look any better or worse than when he was at Canisius. Every minute this team plays right now is useful. It's all real-time experience they desperately need. Foul shooting was better, let's see them get better at interior defense and rebounding. Crowd - okay for a Saturday afternoon. Student section was mostly full but did absolutely nothing. DJ's - be better. They can get anyone with an iPhone to play "Cotton Eye Joe" or "Wobble", come on.

I don't want to get too high or too low about anything yet with this team. We do not know enough about them yet, and THEY don't know enough about them yet for that matter. They're going to be a work-in-progress for some time and I'm prepared for that. They just need to play a lot of games. I liked a lot of what I saw on Monday, and saw some things they really need to get better at. The whole thing is very intriguing.

I lost count of how many times I kept saying at the TV, "play-action pass!" I agree with the poster on a different thread who said the execution of the RPO's wasn't working, it didn't freeze anyone. Offensive execution, tackling, blocking, all fell apart second half. And the coaches looked like deer in headlights - like the whole thing was falling apart around them and they had no way to mitigate it. I've liked what Snyder has done most of the year but the past two games he's been too erratic. When CMU started shutting down the run, we needed to be able to pass, and couldn't.

That was epic, in a pathetic disgusting way. First half, they knocked that defense off the line, opened holes, and controlled the line of scrimmage. Second half, they didn't. Second half, plain and simple, CMU was playing harder. That call to go for it on 4th, at your own 38 yard line with 13 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, was so idiotic it's beyond comprehension. Cole was terrible today. They stopped playing intense, and got out worked and out played second half.

I agree with you two - that defensive intensity was impressive. And yeah they need to get better inside. If you're not the biggest or most physical guy, you need to be in the best position, and they weren't often owning that space and boxing out. But really positive things overall from the first regular season game. It'll be a work in progress.

There are plenty of good days, and plenty of good reasons, to be critical at UB but yesterday wasn't one of them. The crowds usually depend on what night it is, and how good the team is. With so much turnover, I imagine a lot of people weren't too motivated to buy tickets for this season. Admittedly, my enthusiasm was not too high before this. The lack of continuity in the roster, in the new NCAA where guys are pretty much free agents every year, I wondered if I could get behind a team like that. Would the players give a crap about the school and the team? I had a lot of fun last night. The players were really fired up afterwards and saluted the fans in the end zone for their support. It answered a lot of questions for me. After hitting a ceiling the past two seasons, this feels like a breath of fresh air, no expectations, let's see how they do. The students showed up last night, the band sounded great. UB is hardly the only school that wishes they could get more butts in seats, most are facing this problem. Akron had 2100 last night against a perennially good South Dakota State team. BG had 1300. Ohio had 2000. It was a Monday night. Put the game on a Friday night and you'll get a lot more people. Canisius? Good for Canisius. HA! They have EMT's on standby outside their gym not for any player injuries but for their scowling old-fart fanbase. Ready and willing to remind you of how relevant they were 60 years ago. Also: Dave Skogman had 12 points in 21 minutes for Davidson last night.

Hey that was a lot of fun tonight! A good crowd, and a team that grew into the game as it went on. I really, REALLY liked how they stepped up down the stretch on both ends of the floor, the focus and the competitiveness. This group is going to be a work-in-progress most of this season, which means some bad turnovers and missed defensive assignments. What needs work: defense and rebounding. Colgate moved really well off the ball, especially off picks and screens, and the Bulls need to do better at boxing out. But they did so enough times at the end to take this one. The stats on this one were wacky - for a long time, UB had way more fouls, Colgate way more foul shots. UB way more steals, Colgate way more turnovers. UB had more shot attempts. All of these things added up to an even game. Guys are much more willing this year to fake someone out and take the jump shot. Powell - like last time, some really nice confident plays and finishes, and a couple lapses. But stepped up in the second half. Curtis Jones - he's got several things working for him, adding to last year. A good floater shot in the lane; getting better at rebounding; willing to take charges (that one he got when Colgate was on a 3 on 1 was awesome); and hitting some from outside. Adams - hit a couple from outside and was it him with a big block towards the end or was that Smith? Jo Smith - needs to get tougher and own that position underneath Jack - found out that he needs to work on his defense a little more, but had a nice drive and layup in the first half. Hardnett - great to have him back, he made a couple nice defensive plays and that basket underneath on a nice look from Foster at the end Foster - some nice drives but sometimes down the stretch it seemed like he was trying to do a little too much. Blocker, Kanye Jones - didn't feature much but they will in other games. I like that depth right now. Caesar - so fast! A cool weapon off the bench Colgate - a slick team that moved off the ball really well This was a great game to have at this stage, to see how they could compete and who could step up when the game was on the line. Against a smart team that has been in the NCAA's a few times recently. Bulls need to get better on defense but today was a good step forward.

First impressions, against a D2 team (albeit a good, well coached one) - so keep that it mind. I don't want to say I have low expectations - just no preconceived ones. This is essentially a completely new team. It feels like the year after Hurley left, but even more so - so many new faces, you go in with no expectations and see how it goes. They might be good! It's going to take time to figure it all out, and the more games they play the better. The Bulls are playing the same style as in previous seasons. What they need to figure out is: what is their starting 5, plus next couple guys off the bench; do we have a lock-down defender that we can match up against star guards (like Dontay was); do we have anyone on this team who is a dead-eye outside shooter (that was missing the past couple years); do we have any clutch player(s) you can count on when the game is on the line. Curtis Jones - he looks like the one guy who has a year of working knowledge of the plays and the system. He showed good composure inside today to hit some little floaters and jump shots. Blocker - has a good quick first step past defenders. Foster - he's a smooth, polished player, as he should be at this age. Jo Smith - the site says he's 6'9" but he looked taller. He seemed a head taller than anyone on Daemen. He's spindly but will be effective if he has good touch and positioning underneath. Adams - showed glimpses of being the kind of guy who's physical on D and hard to the basket. Willing to shoot from outside Caesar - the dude is FAST. Literally zoomed past everyone all the way down the court when he chose to. That's an interesting quality to have in the lineup. Powell - good and bad. Hit some shots, finished some layups, and for a while was the guy they had bringing the ball up the court (I had assumed they'd have Curtis doing that). But got called for traveling twice in the first half and had a giveaway on defense right under the basket. Jack - that guy looks interesting. Decent footwork already, works hard, really physical. Not quite totally confident with the ball yet but he's a freshman. When he gets purposeful with his movement (think, Nick Perkins) going to the hoop, and develops that hook shot, he'll be good One of the main problems last year (and probably the year before) was poor shooting percentage. The coaches can draw up whatever play and get someone open, but that doesn't matter at all if they can't hit the shot. Daemen made it a game in the first half because they were hitting 3's and UB wasn't. Whatever they said at halftime corrected that (until the very end) because the Bulls roared out of the gate, shut down the outside shots, and made their trips count, opening up a lead that was never threatened again. After today, considering we haven't seen Chatman yet (and who knows Hardnett's status, he was hurt a lot last year), I would say my starting five would be: Curtis Jones, Foster, Jo Smith, Adams, and I don't know, Blocker. Caesar coming off the bench for Jones; Powell for Foster; Jack for Smith. But as I said to start - very early first impressions, with a small sample size.

That's why you play the whole game! I never thought that Toledo was playing that great, just that the Bulls' offense was garbage for 3 quarters. The sideline fade patterns were not working, and Cole kept throwing fastballs too high to guys. Once the motion got better, and he settled for some shorter gains, they started moving the chains. Giving up 27 points doesn't make it look like it, but that UB defense did the job. They looked well prepared a lot of times for what Toledo's QB wanted to do and made him pay for some bad throws. Big credit to the defensive players and coaches for that. Open-field tackling was very good. Today was a big test, to see how 'for real' this team was, and in the end they passed. Toledo - that QB was a slippery runner like Miami's was, but just like Miami's, he wasn't that good at throwing it. Crowd - I would've liked to have seen a better turnout on a 70 degree day, between two first place teams, on a weekend when the Bills have a bye. I don't know what more you need to sell it. That 0-3 start was always probably going to be 1-2 based on who they were playing. Credit to this team for getting better as it's gone on, and stepping up today when it was looking dead and gone.

The defense was better in that they didn't give up 30+ points. I'm mindful of the fact that Linguist has a defensive coaching background at higher levels - the guy was a position coach in the NFL. So I will take for granted he knows what he's doing with a defense, and at the same time expect better. Saturday's performance was a classic UB "bend but don't break" defense that made some stops (helped by some penalties) in key situations and picked off a deflection. It was great to see the coaches and the team huddle up on the field during that last drive - I can't hear from the upper deck but I imagine it was something like "the game is on the line, go execute the plays and take it!" I thought they got too conservative at the end just playing for a tie, but then found the right matchup and throw for the winning TD. There are a lot of guys that stepped up Saturday to make the difference. Props to the team for not taking so many penalties as they did last time I saw them, though that roughing the passer at the end wasn't wise. Better blocking from the o-line would unlock this offense's potential. Snyder could look downfield more, and they could run between the tackles, two things that are lacking right now. Snyder has that 7-10 yard out pattern down though, they nail that almost every time. OH that move he used on that 4th and goal TD run! Miami - their QB and RB were very quick and slippery. But that QB had no touch on his throws. Even that one long pass he had in the second half, the two UB defenders overshot it because he underthrew it. They killed themselves with some penalties and a huge loss on a tackle by Patterson, by which they settled for some field goals. In typical "MAC Refs" fashion, they threw a flag for an illegal forward pass (QB stepped past the line of scrimmage), and the Miami coach went crazy, enough to get a 15 yard penalty. Upon review...their call was overturned, he was right. But the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty stood. I'm impressed how the team has responded to the 0-3 start. To be fair - I don't know how much we should've expected anything from the Maryland (who's 4-1 and just beat Michigan State) and Coastal Carolina games. I'd rather be 2-0 in the MAC and getting better than trading either of those wins for one of those non conference games. What I would love to see is this team week-by-week getting better and playing their best football when it matters at the end. Fans - students, we're really glad you're there, making noise and having fun. But be better football fans - pay attention to the game, make noise on defense, NOT while the offense is setting up.

What I see so far is an offense that can put up points and a defense that needs to get better. Great to see them get win #1 on the board and hopefully that gets things rolling in the right direction. They played sloppy football against Holy Cross and were punished for it; but other than that, at Maryland and at Coastal Carolina (who has been good the past several years), starting 1-2 wouldn't have been unreasonable to think of. The team has visibly upgraded at QB and WR this year.

First of all - credit to our opponents. Holy Cross has won their conference 3 years in a row and is ranked in FCS. They were a well-prepared, well-coached, well-drilled team (except for that third down pass call with 2:30 to go). There are always some quality teams down there and I'm not going to be one to disparage them. The good: Cole Snyder looked like the real deal. He was something like 11 for 12 in the first half for 2 TD's. The first of which he hit Quian right in stride; the next long play to Marshall, it was underthrown but it gave Marshall a chance to adjust. The most impressive throws to me were the ones where he rolled out to his left, and as a righty, threw across his body accurately and with enough pace to the receiver. Several times. Those are serious throws at this level. We have a tight end, and one that the QB will use! We have some receivers that can get separation! What an improvement on last year. McNulty - it's like George Costanza, "you're spotting dimes, eating onions, I don't know what to think!" You miss relatively easy ones in other games, but nail a clutch 52 yarder today. He trots out there and I have no idea what to expect. Way to hit that when it mattered a lot. The bad: where do we start. The run game had a hard time running between the tackles. If you can't do that, the defense can start taking other things away from you. The defense - hang your heads. They can't stop the run, and then in the second half they had breakdowns in coverage. They missed too many tackles, especially for how many guys who should be experienced enough. It had me wondering, "I know some transfers work out, but in some cases, maybe that guy wasn't playing because he wasn't that good." They looked like a team with a lot of new players that haven't played together much yet. But we can't afford to spend 2/3 of a season figuring that out every year. Penalties - not only were there too many, but they came at horrible times, wiping out good plays otherwise. Bottom line: you can't win football games playing like this. You couldn't run; you couldn't stop the run; you took way too many penalties. That's a recipe for disaster every week. Oh and what was with that punt from the Holy Cross 39 yard line?! I'm not one of those "never punt" people, but come on, that was a Doug Marrone call there. Especially since the ensuing punt went about 12 yards. I would say "well they're a work in progress"...but how many of these guys are grad transfers. There simply isn't time for them to be "works in progress" - they need to get it down, now, or you might as well ignore them in the future. Fans: GREAT turnout by the students! They usually do for the first home game, but I want to commend them even more so today. Even with the expected halftime exodus, not as many left as I thought. A word to the athletic program, anyone who's reading this: you have this first home game every year where you get a ton of students to show up. That's your golden opportunity to put on the best, funnest time ever, so that as many of them as possible may get hooked and keep coming back. Because by November there's only one section left. This is your chance every year, make the most of it! Today was a day when I thought, "this is the kind of college football atmosphere everyone hopes to create..." That said, I'm really disappointed by the turnout by the rest of the stadium (alums and the community). The Bills aren't playing tomorrow, it was 80 degrees and sunny out, what more do you want. The next two home games are on weekends the Bills aren't playing here - promote the heck out of them, make the most of it. Carpe diem. As far as I'm concerned, unless you're in some crazy Big 12 game where no one plays defense, scoring 30+ points should be enough to win a football game. If you don't, it means some other stuff has gone seriously wrong. The offense wasn't perfect today but they didn't turn it over and that should've been enough points to get a result.

I hope UB promotes the heck out of the first three home games. One is during a Bills bye week, the other two the Bills are on the road. It's a great opportunity to engage the community, alumni base, and football fans in general. They'll have few better years to put some butts in seats.

Awesome, thanks guys