2024 Roster

[MaineBull]

As of today our roster looks as follows:

Guards:  Fulcher, Sabol, Boldin, Akot

Wings:  Wilson, Mcveigh, Michaels, Batchelor, Jackson

Bigs:  Oboh

That gives us the following class breakdown:

Freshman (4):             

Michaels

Oboh

Jackson

Akot

Sophmores (4): 

Sabol

Boldin

Wilson

Mcveigh

Juniors (2):

Fulcher

Batchelor

That leaves us 3 scholarships left.

Personally I would love to see two graduate transfers for a PG and Center who can be starters and contributors right away and one more freshman, preferably a big.  That would round out our roster nicely both from a position point of view as well as a class point of view.  A graduate PG can make room in 2025 for PG Cooper who has committed already to play at UB.  

Hard to predict today with 3 spots left to fill but here is my guess at starters for next season as of now:

PG: Grad transfer to come

SG: Sabol/Boldin

SF: Batchelor

PF:  Jackson/Michaels

Center:  Grad transfer to come

I remain confident in what this staff is trying to assemble.  I am hopeful that they can pull in a few graduate transfers under our current NIL situation.  I know it will be difficult to accomplish but I am hopeful they can find some upper level players that are not getting the playing time they feel they deserve and they are willing to come to Buffalo for a year and mentor our young players and contribute right away.  The more I look back on last season the more I am convinced the season was lost because of a lack of leadership from the older players.  Look at the NCAA tournament and how important it is to have older experienced players that are leaders on your team.  I am hopeful this staff can bring in a few senior leaders to both contribute and lead this team over the next year.  I am excited about next year and I am curious about your thoughts on the construction of this roster thus far.  Go Bulls! 

 

[DocCas86]

Lack of NIL will be a factor, but I would prefer that the third scholarship go toward a player who can help UB next season, which means a player who is either a junior or sophomore next year.

[TheCommish]

How do we bring back the entire staff?

[Blue03]

12 hours ago, TheCommish said:

How do we bring back the entire staff?

I believe the better question is why?

[HomeyG]

On 4/3/2024 at 10:57 PM, TheCommish said:

How do we bring back the entire staff?

Was that amazing show on the court coaching or players?

[UBinMD]

Is it possible that GH3 is trying to build something like UConn, except at a mid-major level? Interchangeable parts, constant movement, tough defense, motion that allows you to finish at the rim. It takes the right kind of players and the proper character and mentality. Most of the Alabama kids, for example, couldn't play in Hurley's system. Not that UConn doesn't have good players, but you can tell that they all are playing for the greater good, very unselfish and each player seems to have that same mentality. It was an impressive display to watch. Not sure if it is really achievable at this level, but I am wondering if that may be part of the cultural shift he is going for. Pure speculation and maybe I just want to have something to aspire to, but after seeing that display, you may not just need 5 superstars to win in college basketball, maybe getting back to actual basketball and focusing on fundamentals does have a place still.

[MuchMany]

2 hours ago, UBinMD said:

Is it possible that GH3 is trying to build something like UConn, except at a mid-major level? Interchangeable parts, constant movement, tough defense, motion that allows you to finish at the rim. It takes the right kind of players and the proper character and mentality. Most of the Alabama kids, for example, couldn't play in Hurley's system. Not that UConn doesn't have good players, but you can tell that they all are playing for the greater good, very unselfish and each player seems to have that same mentality. It was an impressive display to watch. Not sure if it is really achievable at this level, but I am wondering if that may be part of the cultural shift he is going for. Pure speculation and maybe I just want to have something to aspire to, but after seeing that display, you may not just need 5 superstars to win in college basketball, maybe getting back to actual basketball and focusing on fundamentals does have a place still.

Curious if you saw tough defense or constant movement on offense with last year's team? Felt like the exact opposite to me. UConn has a dominant center - we hardly have a center on the roster. Their roster is dripping with skill, all five starters will at least get a look in the NBA. Ours is...not.

Even adjusting for the different levels of competition and expectations between us and them, I don't see it. GH3 is trying to build Villanova because that's all he knows, but without Jay Wright that's not even working for Villanova anymore. UConn has genius level assistants like Luke Murray designing the most innovative offense in the country. Those assistants were not interested in our job.

I think it's wishful thinking unfortunately. I take your point that not all players fit all systems and I think last year's roster was a non-complementary mismatch of players. I'm interested to see what this next group looks like, but it's hard to really be optimistic.

[UBinMD]

39 minutes ago, MuchMany said:

Curious if you saw tough defense or constant movement on offense with last year's team? Felt like the exact opposite to me. UConn has a dominant center - we hardly have a center on the roster. Their roster is dripping with skill, all five starters will at least get a look in the NBA. Ours is...not.

Even adjusting for the different levels of competition and expectations between us and them, I don't see it. GH3 is trying to build Villanova because that's all he knows, but without Jay Wright that's not even working for Villanova anymore. UConn has genius level assistants like Luke Murray designing the most innovative offense in the country. Those assistants were not interested in our job.

I think it's wishful thinking unfortunately. I take your point that not all players fit all systems and I think last year's roster was a non-complementary mismatch of players. I'm interested to see what this next group looks like, but it's hard to really be optimistic.

Short answer, no, I did not see that. I also saw a team that was extraordinarily fragmented. I saw a lot of lazy veteran play. I saw a lot of young players that deferred to veterans most of the season and we consistently let down.

It is probably wishful thinking, but this year will be 100% GH3 recruits, so I will reserve judgement until after this season. I did listen to almost all of Dan Hurley's interview where he talks about player selection, his thoughts on building a team and I think he is 100% correct that it really only takes one bad apple and it really does change the dynamic of an entire team.

I only saw one game live and it was the Niagara game and the level of selfish play and laziness I observed was painful to see. That group was not a team at that point and never really got any better.

[DooleyBull06]

3 hours ago, UBinMD said:

Is it possible that GH3 is trying to build something like UConn, except at a mid-major level? Interchangeable parts, constant movement, tough defense, motion that allows you to finish at the rim. It takes the right kind of players and the proper character and mentality. Most of the Alabama kids, for example, couldn't play in Hurley's system. Not that UConn doesn't have good players, but you can tell that they all are playing for the greater good, very unselfish and each player seems to have that same mentality. It was an impressive display to watch. Not sure if it is really achievable at this level, but I am wondering if that may be part of the cultural shift he is going for. Pure speculation and maybe I just want to have something to aspire to, but after seeing that display, you may not just need 5 superstars to win in college basketball, maybe getting back to actual basketball and focusing on fundamentals does have a place still.

Who knows what he is building at this point. One thing I wanted to come out with from last season was an identity. I don’t think we have one. We hashtag all in grit but there were few times I saw a gritty effort. Being interchangeable is vital in today’s game I agree there. Tough defense sure but I don’t think we had good defenders last season. As for the attacking the rim, we shot way too many 3s for a team that shot horribly from 3. Maybe if we attacked the rim more and focused on quality 2 point shots we would’ve been more competitive.

[UBinMD]

28 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

Who knows what he is building at this point. One thing I wanted to come out with from last season was an identity. I don’t think we have one. We hashtag all in grit but there were few times I saw a gritty effort. Being interchangeable is vital in today’s game I agree there. Tough defense sure but I don’t think we had good defenders last season. As for the attacking the rim, we shot way too many 3s for a team that shot horribly from 3. Maybe if we attacked the rim more and focused on quality 2 point shots we would’ve been more competitive.

No disagreements there. Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but I need to cling to something or believe in something at this point. 😂

On a side note from my homer self, I do feel good about Coach Lembo, not sure if we have a QB, but I think our overall team is going to be greatly improved. 

[DooleyBull06]

13 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

No disagreements there. Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but I need to cling to something or believe in something at this point. 😂

On a side note from my homer self, I do feel good about Coach Lembo, not sure if we have a QB, but I think our overall team is going to be greatly improved. 

I can see your points. Maybe he wants to change on the fly. And it’s an easy thing to do when we sucked last season lol. If there’s one thing for sure is that UCONN and their style has won back to back. What makes UConn great is they defend but offensively they can bang inside and make 3s. Unlike Purdue who is too Eddy oriented and Bama who is live or die by the 3, UConn can do both within a game.  So why not copy that.

[UBinMD]

51 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

I can see your points. Maybe he wants to change on the fly. And it’s an easy thing to do when we sucked last season lol. If there’s one thing for sure is that UCONN and their style has won back to back. What makes UConn great is they defend but offensively they can bang inside and make 3s. Unlike Purdue who is too Eddy oriented and Bama who is live or die by the 3, UConn can do both within a game.  So why not copy that.

That's what I'm saying. You should be able to find guys that want to play like that. Time will tell.

[MaineBull]

You guys both bring up some great points.  I agree with UBinMD that I feel like this coach and staff are trying to build a roster around kids that are interchangeable on the floor defensively and offensively both from a size and athletic point of view.  These coaches are clearly looking for kids who are willing to play defense, are good athletes, and are unselfish hard workers.  I think you can describe all of the freshman from last year under those categories.  Those are clearly the type of kids this staff is after.  I think this is the formula started by Villanova and now used by many schools, like Uconn.  Obviously the talent level at these schools is above the level we are recruiting at but the type of kids are the same.  The kids this staff is after are willing to sacrifice their own accolades for the good of the team.  This describes, Sabol, Boldin, Wilson and Mcveigh all of this staffs recruits last year.  I agree with MuchMany who feels that the veteran leadership from last year never took on these characteristics and they were a non complimentary group of players left leading this team.  They were selfish players and were not willing to sacrifice for the good of the team.  All of the lazy play from last year falls squarely on the shoulders of Chatman and Adams.  That is why we won so little of our games.  These kids let us down by being selfish and lazy.  I think this staff will be the first to tell you there mistake was to allow Chatman and Adams and Smith the ability to return and their choice to continue to play them heavy minutes down the stretch of the season.  It was destined to fail when the only reason these kids stayed here at UB was because they did not want to have to sit out another year because it was all of their at least second transfer if they chose to move to another school.  These kids had no interest in playing for this coach, after all they came here to play for Whitesell.  They had no interest in buying into what this staff was selling.  That was the major issue last year.  I wish the coaching staff had just benched them.  It was a weird dynamic all year and I think this was the crux of it all.  I think this staff is trying to follow the mold of Villanova and Uconn but we did not get a chance to see it much last year.  I think they are trying to create an identity of interchangability, with athletes who work hard and are willing to sacrifice and play unselfish.  Personally I think this is the approach to take in our situation.  We go after the kids who are loyal and are willing to stay and play as a team.  I also think this a reason you see this staff recruiting these kids who dont have a ton of other offers.  They are under recruited and have a chip on their shoulder to prove themselves. 

I think next year we are going to see a vast improvement and I think it will be an entertaining brand of basketball.  Trust me, I was as frustrated as anyone this past season.  I drove 550 miles to see three games of Chatman and Adams being ball hogs and lazy on defense.  I was the one standing and clapping when Chatman was kicked out of his final game,  BYE!  I am not happy with the status of this program but after I have let my emotions settle and I have reviewed our situation, a plan emerged that I think this staff is aiming for. Will it result in wins next year like we all want, I doubt it, but I think it takes time to build a program.  I will support this approach and I hope you all will as well.  I look forward to next year.  I want to see a team identity based on interchangeability, athleticism and unselfish play where the players sacrifice for each other to allow for team success.  If we see this from the team it will be a fun season and we can all get behind that approach.  Go Bulls!

[Chet]

1 hour ago, MaineBull said:

You guys both bring up some great points.  I agree with UBinMD that I feel like this coach and staff are trying to build a roster around kids that are interchangeable on the floor defensively and offensively both from a size and athletic point of view.  These coaches are clearly looking for kids who are willing to play defense, are good athletes, and are unselfish hard workers.  I think you can describe all of the freshman from last year under those categories.  Those are clearly the type of kids this staff is after.  I think this is the formula started by Villanova and now used by many schools, like Uconn.  Obviously the talent level at these schools is above the level we are recruiting at but the type of kids are the same.  The kids this staff is after are willing to sacrifice their own accolades for the good of the team.  This describes, Sabol, Boldin, Wilson and Mcveigh all of this staffs recruits last year.  I agree with MuchMany who feels that the veteran leadership from last year never took on these characteristics and they were a non complimentary group of players left leading this team.  They were selfish players and were not willing to sacrifice for the good of the team.  All of the lazy play from last year falls squarely on the shoulders of Chatman and Adams.  That is why we won so little of our games.  These kids let us down by being selfish and lazy.  I think this staff will be the first to tell you there mistake was to allow Chatman and Adams and Smith the ability to return and their choice to continue to play them heavy minutes down the stretch of the season.  It was destined to fail when the only reason these kids stayed here at UB was because they did not want to have to sit out another year because it was all of their at least second transfer if they chose to move to another school.  These kids had no interest in playing for this coach, after all they came here to play for Whitesell.  They had no interest in buying into what this staff was selling.  That was the major issue last year.  I wish the coaching staff had just benched them.  It was a weird dynamic all year and I think this was the crux of it all.  I think this staff is trying to follow the mold of Villanova and Uconn but we did not get a chance to see it much last year.  I think they are trying to create an identity of interchangability, with athletes who work hard and are willing to sacrifice and play unselfish.  Personally I think this is the approach to take in our situation.  We go after the kids who are loyal and are willing to stay and play as a team.  I also think this a reason you see this staff recruiting these kids who dont have a ton of other offers.  They are under recruited and have a chip on their shoulder to prove themselves. 

I think next year we are going to see a vast improvement and I think it will be an entertaining brand of basketball.  Trust me, I was as frustrated as anyone this past season.  I drove 550 miles to see three games of Chatman and Adams being ball hogs and lazy on defense.  I was the one standing and clapping when Chatman was kicked out of his final game,  BYE!  I am not happy with the status of this program but after I have let my emotions settle and I have reviewed our situation, a plan emerged that I think this staff is aiming for. Will it result in wins next year like we all want, I doubt it, but I think it takes time to build a program.  I will support this approach and I hope you all will as well.  I look forward to next year.  I want to see a team identity based on interchangeability, athleticism and unselfish play where the players sacrifice for each other to allow for team success.  If we see this from the team it will be a fun season and we can all get behind that approach.  Go Bulls!

A vast improvement…..what are u thinking like six wins? Our recruiting has been BAD. Where is the scoring coming from? Rebounding? Defense? I don’t see it. It’s impossible to be any worse though.

[MuchMany]

6 hours ago, MaineBull said:

I agree with MuchMany who feels that the veteran leadership from last year never took on these characteristics and they were a non complimentary group of players left leading this team.  They were selfish players and were not willing to sacrifice for the good of the team.  All of the lazy play from last year falls squarely on the shoulders of Chatman and Adams.  That is why we won so little of our games. 

Just wanted to say that this isn't at all what my comments were about. It was only about the cobbled together roster construction. I don't think Adams and Chatman were models of effort and consistency, but I also don't agree with your harsh characterizations.

[trueblue32]

I would assume that the assertion that we would be better without Chatman and Adams implies that the rest of the team stepped up in their wins and put them over the top. The reality is that Adams/Chatman accounted for a greater percentage of the team's productivity in (D1) wins than losses. Here are their stats in games that they both played*


So Adams and Chatman played more minutes, scored a greater percentage of the team's points, grabbed a greater percentage of the team's rebounds, used a greater percentage of the team's possessions (aka being "selfish"), and took a greater percentage of the team's shots in wins than they did in losses. This is to say they had to do everything for the team all year and the wins were the result of extra Herculean efforts rather than the rest of the team.

I agree that it is obviously unlikely that the team next year gets worse than 3 wins, but based on the roster we currently have I think it is certainly within the range of outcomes. 

*Usage numbers are slightly higher than KenPom or wherever you look because I didn't analyze PbP data to see if shots were offensive rebounded which wouldn't count as a possession used.

Edited April 10 by trueblue32

[Tee4three]

Chatman and Adams had A LOT on their plates

I think a lot of their issues this season was because they had to do nearly everything. Take some off their plate and think they would have been good. They just needed help

Really the issue I think fans are saying when they say the team will be better without them is, UB will now have a team all playing the same style/same mind set. Last season you had guys trying to play play a more pro style and some playing a more college style

Lots of off season to go but as it currently stands my opinion is that we are looking at another three win team

Get another point guard and my thoughts will change but until we have more than one point guard UB is in for another long year in my opinion 

[DooleyBull06]

My two cents on the Adams/Chatman debate is this…yes they had a lot on their plate. And yes the team wasn’t good around them. The team couldn’t pick up the slack where Adams and Chatman lacked. I have no issues with Chatman. He was on the court for a year, was a volume scorer, maybe he bought it and maybe he didn’t…whatever. The season was lost a couple weeks into conference play. My issue with Adams was that he was here multiple seasons across multiple coaches and never truly developed. Never became the go to guy we thought he could be. I’m not calling them lazy just saying or realizing that at the end of the day we had a team of rotation/role players. 

Edited April 10 by DooleyBull06

[Chet]

Anyone care to chime in on what brand of basketball we will be playing next year? The net loss on paper is significant and we were already horrendous.

[Tee4three]

15 minutes ago, Chet said:

Anyone care to chime in on what brand of basketball we will be playing next year? The net loss on paper is significant and we were already horrendous.

Winning basketball!!!!!!!!!!!!

[UBinMD]

True to form, we have another Canadian! 

 

31 minutes/game, 15.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 6.4 assists/game, 2.11 assist/turnover ratio, 37.5% 3-points (30-80), 75% FT shooter.

Hopefully it can translate to UB and give us a veteran presence that looks like he can shoot and distribute. 5.8 rpg is really solid for a 6'3 guard as well, could be a gym rat.

Edited April 16 by UBinMD

[DocCas86]

13 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

True to form, we have another Canadian! 

 

31 minutes/game, 15.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 6.4 assists/game, 2.11 assist/turnover ratio, 37.5% 3-points (30-80), 75% FT shooter.

Hopefully it can translate to UB and give us a veteran presence that looks like he can shoot and distribute. 5.8 rpg is really solid for a 6'3 guard as well, could be a gym rat.

I guess the Bulls have their PG.  Very little to go on as to how his skills will translate to D1 in US.  The Western Mustangs were the best team in OUA West division and they lost in semifinals of OUA tournament.    I am really curious to see how this team plays in November.

[UBinMD]

8 minutes ago, DocCas86 said:

I guess the Bulls have their PG.  Very little to go on as to how his skills will translate to D1 in US.  The Western Mustangs were the best team in OUA West division and they lost in semifinals of OUA tournament.    I am really curious to see how this team plays in November.

Said he led all of Canada in assists too, that should help.

[MuchMany]

Dunn will have one year of eligibility as far as I can tell, so this is an Armoni Foster mercenary PG transfer. Foster took some time to adjust to the higher level coming from D2, and I imagine Dunn will too coming from Canadian college.

We've all been clamoring for a pass-first veteran PG and I'm happy to have one, but I'm still a bit miffed on the sources and presumed quality of these additions. Next year's team has a wide range of possible outcomes and I'm interested to see how it comes together, but the possibility exists that the team is worse than it was last year imo.

Two scholarships left.

Edited April 16 by MuchMany

[DocCas86]

38 minutes ago, MuchMany said:

Dunn will have one year of eligibility as far as I can tell, so this is an Armoni Foster mercenary PG transfer. Foster took some time to adjust to the higher level coming from D2, and I imagine Dunn will too coming from Canadian college.

We've all been clamoring for a pass-first veteran PG and I'm happy to have one, but I'm still a bit miffed on the sources and presumed quality of these additions. Next year's team has a wide range of possible outcomes and I'm interested to see how it comes together, but the possibility exists that the team is worse than it was last year imo.

 

Coming off such a poor season and not having a NIL collective (coming???) likely meant we had to go 'off the beaten path'.  UB was in contact with a couple of PGs that recently committed to Arkansas St (yeah that Ark St.) and Davidson (a D2 pickup from Bentley), but neither worked out for UB.  The staff could continue to chase the 'has heard from (list of 15 schools) guys' or try to dig a little deeper and find under the radar talent.

I am not sure how it will work out.  Personally I will wait and see who else they bring in and see what they look like in November, before I make up my mind.  I am an optomistic fan, but I get where you are coming from.

 

Edited April 16 by DocCas86