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On 1/13/2024 at 2:27 PM, Bluebird96 said:

WMU beat Ohio 81-79 to go to 4-0.

So maybe WMU isn’t as bad as everyone thought pre-season.  We’ll find out if they’re for real Tuesday 1/16 when they play @ Akron

As expected, Akron took care of WMU. But the Broncos kept it respectable, losing by an identical score as UB vs Toledo, 77-66.  At 4-1 I would say WMU has already exceeded expectations as they were picked to finish 10th in the preseason coach’s poll (UB 9th).

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11 minutes ago, Bluebird96 said:

CMU just knocked off Toledo to move to 4-2. Picked to finish 12th in the pre-season coaches poll.  The wild and crazy MAC

All that means is that predicted "bad" teams are getting wins while we haven't been. It only will leave us further behind in the end unfortunately, in the quest towards a top 8 slot.

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0-7 NIU (6-13 overall) leading 6-2 CMU on the road at the half, 34-26.  Based on NIU’s 6-6 OOC record I’d say they are miles ahead of UB and I think we’ll be lucky to get a 1-1 split with them.  

Edited by Bluebird96
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22 hours ago, Bluebird96 said:

0-7 NIU (6-13 overall) leading 6-2 CMU on the road at the half, 34-26.  Based on their 6-6 OOC record right now I’d say they are miles ahead of UB and I think we’ll be lucky to get a 1-1 split with them.  

Well, CMU came back to win in 2OT to go to 7-2.  Still don’t think they can be taken too seriously given that UB beat them 😂

Akron and Toledo at 8-1 seem to be the only 2 serious contenders for the MAC title this year.  BGSU sitting right behind CMU at 6-3  so maybe they can move into the top 3 at some point.  Long ways to go though…

Edited by Bluebird96
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13 hours ago, Bluebird96 said:

Well, CMU came back to win in 2OT to go to 7-2.  Still don’t think they can be taken too seriously given that UB beat them 😂

Akron and Toledo at 8-1 seem to be the only 2 serious contenders for the MAC title this year.  BGSU sitting right behind CMU at 6-3  so maybe they can move into the top 3 at some point.  Long ways to go though…

I have no doubts the MAC championship will be Akron v Toledo... but with Ohio and Kent taking a step back and CMU, BGSU, Miami OH to an extent, all taking steps forward? The tournament is gonna be very fun this year. And we'll all be able to keep our sanity by not having to worry about it...

😆😢

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9 hours ago, eyjee said:

I have no doubts the MAC championship will be Akron v Toledo... but with Ohio and Kent taking a step back and CMU, BGSU, Miami OH to an extent, all taking steps forward? The tournament is gonna be very fun this year. And we'll all be able to keep our sanity by not having to worry about it...

😆😢

Could this be Kowalczyk's year?  My money is on Akron.  I always go with the best 'D'

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NIU picked up their first MAC win today vs EMU so UB is now officially tied for DFL.

Meanwhile CMU (12th in the pre-season poll) is now tied for 2nd with Toledo at 8-2 as they won their 2nd straight 2OT game, this time over BGSU.  Seems like the Chips are for real after all.  Hey, if they end up winning the MAC at least we can say we beat them 😂

Edited by Bluebird96
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14 hours ago, Bluebird96 said:

NIU picked up their first MAC win today vs EMU so UB is now officially tied for DFL.

Meanwhile CMU (12th in the pre-season poll) is now tied for 2nd with Toledo at 8-2 as they won their 2nd straight 2OT game, this time over BGSU.  Seems like the Chips are for real after all.  Hey, if they end up winning the MAC at least we can say we beat them 😂

I was honestly thinking .500 in league, maybe slightly under, I was not prepared for this level of bad, I must admit.

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6 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

I was honestly thinking .500 in league, maybe slightly under, I was not prepared for this level of bad, I must admit.

I figured less that .500, but this isn't regression, this is the bottom (maybe beneath the bottom) and completely starting from scratch. Honestly, starting from scratch would be better, as this coach has now shown that he can lose big game in and game out. This roster was flawed from the start, but it's not a 1 win roster. A better managed team would have several (still not tons) more wins. I feel bad for 1 of the staff members for sure. I'd wager he didn't anticipate this when he came here. It's going to be a tough final month to stomach at the AA.

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10 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

I figured less that .500, but this isn't regression, this is the bottom (maybe beneath the bottom) and completely starting from scratch. Honestly, starting from scratch would be better, as this coach has now shown that he can lose big game in and game out. This roster was flawed from the start, but it's not a 1 win roster. A better managed team would have several (still not tons) more wins. I feel bad for 1 of the staff members for sure. I'd wager he didn't anticipate this when he came here. It's going to be a tough final month to stomach at the AA.

It's hard for me to feel bad for any of the staff members, to me they are all in this together and got promoted for some unknown reason within weeks of arrival. Reminds me of young guys at work that want to be promoted every few months, even though they don't know anything more than they did before the promotion. Calvin Cage I may have some empathy for.

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9 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

It's hard for me to feel bad for any of the staff members, to me they are all in this together and got promoted for some unknown reason within weeks of arrival. Reminds me of young guys at work that want to be promoted every few months, even though they don't know anything more than they did before the promotion. Calvin Cage I may have some empathy for.

Well, 1 member wasn't promoted.

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18 hours ago, DaBulls99 said:

You paying that 4.5 year buyout? Sit down. 

Halcovage is getting paid the next 4.5 years regardless. He is not required to lead the basketball program for 4.5 years. The relevant questions are:

1.) How much money does the department have in their couch cushions?
2.) Can we hire someone who will do better with that amount of money?
3.) Do we think Alnutt will actually manage to hire someone better?

My answers would be:
1.) I have no idea, but if it takes Alnutt running a lemonade stand in the Student Union himself then so be it.
2.) Yes, almost irrespective of the answer to #1. There are roughly 10 teams worse in the entire country. Given our recent success, and conference affiliation (the MAC isn't the Big 10 but it also isn't the SWAC or the MEAC*) almost anybody should be able to avoid putting a bottom 10 caliber product on the court. Nate Oats was a high school math teacher a handful of years before leading our top 25 team. There are qualified (albeit unknown) people out there who would coach this team for $75k. Even if it doesn't work out what's the worst thing that happens? We have another 2 win team?
3.) No, so where does that leave us? Do we wait 4.5 years for the top 25 year to be in the distant past as we try to dig out of a hole greater than what SUNY laughing stock Binghamton** has seen in their basketball program? Do we wait two more years? Do we give Halcovage extensions until Alnutt retires?

*UB is currently rated #349 in the country on KenPom. There has literally NEVER been a MAC team rated that low. KenPom goes back to 1999 when there were 315 D1 teams.
**Binghamton bottomed out at #344 3 years after a scandal forced out their coach and most of their roster. Their best player this season was Jimmy Gray, a Binghamton High School product who started his career at the school as a walk on. He would have been the best guard on the current UB roster

Edited by trueblue32
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NIU got their 2nd straight win, on the road over M-OH.  And EMU gave Toledo all they could handle before losing by 4.  Meanwhile UB proved beyond the shadow of a doubt they’re the weakest team in the MAC with yet another double digit L.  Hope for any sign of improvement is dim and getting dimmer 😩

Edited by Bluebird96
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MAC teams travel to SB this weekend.  It looks like the MAC team is the underdog in every single game.  Based on the ESPN odds - expectation is somewhere between 3 and 4 wins.  This follows up the 7-5 record playing at home back in early November.

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1 hour ago, DocCas86 said:

MAC teams travel to SB this weekend.  It looks like the MAC team is the underdog in every single game.  Based on the ESPN odds - expectation is somewhere between 3 and 4 wins.  This follows up the 7-5 record playing at home back in early November.

So their shitty teams are better than our shitty teams?😂

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On 2/6/2024 at 9:24 PM, Bluebird96 said:

NIU got their 2nd straight win, on the road over M-OH.  And EMU gave Toledo all they could handle before losing by 4.  Meanwhile UB proved beyond the shadow of a doubt they’re the weakest team in the MAC with yet another double digit L.  Hope for any sign of improvement is dim and getting dimmer 😩

Are Bolton Jr. and Graham still out with injuries? The team and bench just got weaker and any sign of improvement is gone.  I guess the big question is can we lose any game left by less than 20??

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On 2/9/2024 at 5:06 PM, DocCas86 said:

MAC teams travel to SB this weekend.  It looks like the MAC team is the underdog in every single game.  Based on the ESPN odds - expectation is somewhere between 3 and 4 wins.  This follows up the 7-5 record playing at home back in early November.

Not a good showing by the MAC, just 2-9 in  round 2 vs the SBC.  Ironic that UB got one of those wins, and the only other MAC team we’ve beaten got the other one.

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