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Whitesell is walking the line with having an offense that allows players to play with freedom (what most players want and likely come to UB for) and structure. Caruthers is a great example. He had a lot of talent and embraced his role as a lockdown defender. He could have scored more. The question is whether this was the result of the coaching staff or the player. 

 

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I agree with what @Chet and @Tee4three just said. And that all comes back to coaching. Whitesell does run an appealing style but that doesn’t mean that everyone on the floor should have the freedom to iso. Example is Mballa last season. How many times was he allowed to iso from the 3 line, dribble drive then get stripped. It’s about giving the right player the freedom. To Tee’s point about Graves…when he had Clark or Jordan creating for him, he was lights out. But put the ball in his hands iso and no good. Whitesell needs to give PGs freedom to create for others. Space the floor and get shooters looks. Which is why last season Skogman worked better than Mballa. Bc Skogman could play in and out. And Mballa was just flat out used wrong. Much like Graves the year before. In retrospect, Mballa probably would have been better served being the 6th man. Perkins role. But of course, would he have bought into that role? I do think the NBA process screwed with Mballa more so than Graves. 

Edited by DooleyBull06
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23 minutes ago, MuchMany said:

Looks like we'll get to see how Josh's size and motor hang in the SEC after all. Good luck to him.

Going to a 13-19 (4-14 SEC), so they obviously need lots of help. At least he can say he played in the SEC. I guess we will see if he has the “want to” in Mississippi.

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So my guess is these players going to schools that are a step up in conference like the SEC aren’t necessarily going for the best school or winning program, it’s probably the school with the best opportunity to play the most minutes. (Or the most NIL cash) The game has sure changed.

Mid major programs are taking hits now every year and why hasn’t anyone made a big deal about it?

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7 minutes ago, MKBullsfan said:

So my guess is these players going to schools that are a step up in conference like the SEC aren’t necessarily going for the best school or winning program, it’s probably the school with the best opportunity to play the most minutes. (Or the most NIL cash) The game has sure changed.

Mid major programs are taking hits now every year and why hasn’t anyone made a big deal about it?

Because the mid-majors don’t have boosters that care enough, so no pressure to change anything. Even mid-low level SEC schools and ACC schools have big, vocal fans and boosters plus get national attention. Just not there for the mid majors currently

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15 hours ago, MKBullsfan said:

So my guess is these players going to schools that are a step up in conference like the SEC aren’t necessarily going for the best school or winning program, it’s probably the school with the best opportunity to play the most minutes. (Or the most NIL cash) The game has sure changed.

Mid major programs are taking hits now every year and why hasn’t anyone made a big deal about it?

Also because mid majors are also getting transfers from power conference schools

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The quote "water finds its level" is how college sports appears to me now. The players start at a power 5 or a mid major and the best mid majors will go to the power 5s and we'll get guys who couldn't get minutes at the big schools. By year 3 or 4 the guys are usually at the level they should be. 

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I always assumed Mbala was done with UB, but I find it interesting that a guy who can now 100% be the face of this team and have everything run through him rather start over in a brand new system against much better teams after such a disappointing year. Seems like he is taking on a lot, when he really should be trying to focus in a place he knows. I guess he really is looking for that change in scenery which again may say more about our coaching then anything else. Going to the SEC is great to boost your career, but I’d like to think that makes more sense when your coming off a good year and you are trying to elevate. Not when you are underwhelming and getting progressively worse. Gotta bank on the change of scenery theory I suppose.

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I mean, the guy achieved pretty much everything he set out to achieve at UB aside from an NCAAT berth, and realistically probably sees the state of the program as one that's unlikely to make waves this season in what is his last eligibility year.

If you've got one last ride, do you want to be the face of a mid-major that's not likely to have extreme success this year, or be a roleplayer/top-bench type guy in the SEC on a team that should challenge for the tournament, increase your television exposure for professional leagues, and maybe a little NIL cash as well?  Can't really say I blame him, I wish him and all of our transfers the best.

Edited by UBlearns
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7 minutes ago, UBlearns said:

I mean, the guy achieved pretty much everything he set out to achieve at UB aside from an NCAAT berth, and realistically probably sees the state of the program as one that's unlikely to make waves this season in what is his last eligibility year.

If you've got one last ride, do you want to be the face of a mid-major that's not likely to have extreme success this year, or be a roleplayer/top-bench type guy in the SEC on a team that should challenge for the tournament, increase your television exposure for professional leagues, and maybe a little NIL cash as well?  Can't really say I blame him, I wish him and all of our transfers the best.

I don't see Ole Miss challenging for the tournament, but who knows. These big conference get 7-8 berths, so if they finish .500 in the league they will probably get in.

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2 hours ago, UBinMD said:

I don't see Ole Miss challenging for the tournament, but who knows. These big conference get 7-8 berths, so if they finish .500 in the league they will probably get in.

FWIW - Barttorvik.com has Ole Miss at #41 for upcoming year, a big jump from around #100 last year.  They did retain four players who averaged 9+ ppg.  They added Mballa, a 6'11" center from Louisiana and a 6'10" (4Star FR).  Mballa currently projected to score 7.5 ppg and 6.1 RBG and play ~24 minuters per game.   Very early read, if things go well, Ole Miss could be competing for bid in the tourney.

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1 hour ago, DocCas86 said:

FWIW - Barttorvik.com has Ole Miss at #41 for upcoming year, a big jump from around #100 last year.  They did retain four players who averaged 9+ ppg.  They added Mballa, a 6'11" center from Louisiana and a 6'10" (4Star FR).  Mballa currently projected to score 7.5 ppg and 6.1 RBG and play ~24 minuters per game.   Very early read, if things go well, Ole Miss could be competing for bid in the tourney.

I stand corrected, maybe he fell into a good situation 

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2 hours ago, clodney said:

Any situation is better than what we're facing this upcoming year with an entire team of question marks.

Who doesn't have question marks? 1700 players in the portal plus graduating players equals over a 50% average new roster turnover. 

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2 hours ago, UBinMD said:

I stand corrected, maybe he fell into a good situation 

My post was not to correct...could easily be the case that Ole Miss ends up similar to past year and not a tourney team.  I guess I see the value to Mballa is an opportunity to show what he has against SEC competition, and maybe some NIL benefits.  If he shows well in the SEC will help him more as he tries to go pro somewhere.  

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26 minutes ago, DocCas86 said:

My post was not to correct...could easily be the case that Ole Miss ends up similar to past year and not a tourney team.  I guess I see the value to Mballa is an opportunity to show what he has against SEC competition, and maybe some NIL benefits.  If he shows well in the SEC will help him more as he tries to go pro somewhere.  

I agree with that assessment. More upside than downside for Mballa, IMO. I also like that we are starting clean. It could be good, it could be catastrophic, who knows. I do think we have brought in good talent, the question is will the roster gel into a cohesive unit and can the coaching adapt to allow for a fun, free flowing offense, but perhaps put up a few more guardrails since our team is a bit younger and could benefit from some structure.

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20 minutes ago, DocCas86 said:

 

I didn't know his nickname was Boogie!  Anyway returning to Ball St.

Seriously, how dumb has this system gotten? Guys leave, go elsewhere, then return. How many guys are in their 3rd+ school in 3-4 years? It's become pick up ball at the park. I can almost get behind a transfer for a variety of reasons. But this is just dumb at this point. I mean, I see it in local high school players too. Stan Weir was at 4 schools in 4 years (many years ago), Bradberry was at 4-5 schools in his career. When people are being taught that they should move around constantly, how are they being prepared to get a job and stay there for a period of time, or are they just going to work for a year and then leave then too? 

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2 hours ago, skrabukes said:

Seriously, how dumb has this system gotten? Guys leave, go elsewhere, then return. How many guys are in their 3rd+ school in 3-4 years? It's become pick up ball at the park. I can almost get behind a transfer for a variety of reasons. But this is just dumb at this point. I mean, I see it in local high school players too. Stan Weir was at 4 schools in 4 years (many years ago), Bradberry was at 4-5 schools in his career. When people are being taught that they should move around constantly, how are they being prepared to get a job and stay there for a period of time, or are they just going to work for a year and then leave then too? 

And what about going to school?

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6 hours ago, BrooklynBull said:

And what about going to school?

You go to college in order to get prepared for getting a job. That was part of my point. I still don't understand how changing schools year after year allows for "students" to accrue credits, as certainly some classes don't transfer, especially after yearly school changes.

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