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26 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

I kinda disagree. Right now if the season ended our path would be Ball St then Kent state. Given we beat ball state and lost somewhat close games to Kent I rather that path then Toledo right off the bat. Idk, you’re right in the sense that confidence regardless who we play is low. But playing Ball to open gives a glimmer of hope. 

Right now if the season ended today our path is optimal in my opinion 

Ball state first - beat them already and they don't play a style that will physically wear your team down in a tournament

Kent st next - slow pace but very physical - which to me is a better round 2 game than a Toledo team that will run up and down the court tiring out the legs or an Akron team that seems to wipe the floor with UB this season 

On the other side you have Toledo/Akron/Ohio - playing Toledo late in a tournament is better than early, and maybe Ohio upsets Akron 

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Overnight ESPN’s matchup predictor for UB @ Toledo reduced our chances of winning from 14% to 8%. I guess they weren’t impressed with UB’s domination over CMU, or more likely they were very impressed with Toledo’s performance vs Akron. All we can do is hope for the same effort as the first matchup and maybe a little luck 

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5 minutes ago, Bluebird96 said:

Overnight ESPN’s matchup predictor for UB @ Toledo reduced our chances of winning from 14% to 8%. I guess they weren’t impressed with UB’s domination over CMU, or more likely they were very impressed with Toledo’s performance vs Akron. All we can do is hope for the same effort as the first matchup and maybe a little luck 

I think JW hit the nail on the head in his post game interview and I really hope the staff can really get these guys to understand it and buy into it. Doing well on Defense, feeds the Offense. That could be fast break points, that could be confidence by playing solid on the one end to carry to the other end (see Isaiah Adams last night, I believe his good O was a result of his solid D). If you can get stops it takes the pressure off to make crazy offensive plays possession after possession. You can really do a lot to help yourself just by playing solid defense and making the other team work. If they have to work on Offense, most teams tend to get lazy on Defense over the duration of a game.

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27 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

I think JW hit the nail on the head in his post game interview and I really hope the staff can really get these guys to understand it and buy into it. Doing well on Defense, feeds the Offense. That could be fast break points, that could be confidence by playing solid on the one end to carry to the other end (see Isaiah Adams last night, I believe his good O was a result of his solid D). If you can get stops it takes the pressure off to make crazy offensive plays possession after possession. You can really do a lot to help yourself just by playing solid defense and making the other team work. If they have to work on Offense, most teams tend to get lazy on Defense over the duration of a game.

Agree, hopefully the defensive mentality will start to sink in. But Toledo is such a force offensively that it’ll be tough for UB not to get caught up in their usual mindset of pushing the tempo which often leads to a lot of sloppy turnovers with this year’s squad especially vs top notch opponents.

Also need a little more luck with our shooting than recently, and get guys like Powell and Jones to the line as much as possible. Though that doesn’t seem to be a strength of Curtis’ game….when he gets to the line he’s a decent (77%) shooter but doesn’t get there often enough (only 65 attempts vs 114 for Zid, 100 for Foster and 85 for Hardnett)

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Not many intriguing matchups in the MAC today with a lot of double digit point spreads including UB @ TOL (-11.5).  Would be nice if UB could pull off the upset or at least stay in the 6 spot with an NIU loss @ CMU.

Bulls can clinch a spot in Cleveland if BG, EMU and M-OH lose. Consolation prize for this up and down season.  If UB can hang onto the 6, they would be exactly where MAC coaches picked them to finish in the pre-season poll. 


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1 hour ago, Bluebird96 said:

Not many intriguing matchups in the MAC today with a lot of double digit point spreads including UB @ TOL (-11.5).  Would be nice if UB could pull off the upset or at least stay in the 6 spot with an NIU loss @ CMU.

Bulls can clinch a spot in Cleveland if BG, EMU and M-OH lose. Consolation prize for this up and down season.  If UB can hang onto the 6, they would be exactly where MAC coaches picked them to finish in the pre-season poll. 


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I was thinking 10-8 at the beginning of the year.  It is looking like 9-9 is more realistic.  So from that perspective they fell a little short of my expectations. 

In addition to the record, I was looking for the Bulls showing they could compete in Cleveland.  The game today in Toledo gives them one more shot at showing progress toward that, a win would give them a record of 3-6 against top 5 teams.  While a loss today is probably not critical from seeding perspective, from a confidence perspective, it is critical.

 

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M-OH crushed Ohio and NIU running away from CMU. So UB looks to be headed back to the 7 slot with a 2-game edge over MOH currently in 9th. The way the Bulls have looked today, would it surprise anyone if we go 0-3 down the stretch and miss out on Cleveland entirely?

Would be great to have the men surprise us once in a while like the women did today in knocking down BGSU who was in a 3-way tie atop the MAC at 13-2 coming into today, on their home court no less.

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Curious what tie breakers are for 8 seed864762669_Screenshot_20230228-2217132.thumb.png.dee09e2ad9eeaea6f9dd43afad458c4e.png

If Bulls beat MOH, BGSU(@Ohio), EMU (@NIU) or CMU (@WMU) all could have a chance to get to a tie with MOH at 6-12.  I wonder if EMU could still sneak in there and cause havoc in Cleveland.  I am not curious enough to research though.

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On 3/1/2023 at 1:29 PM, DocCas86 said:

My predicted seedings are 

  1. Toledo
  2. Kent
  3. Akron
  4. Ball St
  5. Ohio
  6. Buffalo
  7. NIU
  8. CMU

I think Akron is our Thanos this year, sorry to say, but maybe @UBinMD has it right - it was all a ploy!  Thanos was defeated in the end, right?

giphy.gif.72c4732a9b53b7570710edc6611beede.gif

 

I’m thinking:

1. Kent St

2. Toledo

3. Akron 

4. Ball St

5. Ohio 

6. Buffalo

7. N Illinois 

8. Miami OH

 

Semis 

Ohio v Kent St

Akron v Toledo 

 

Championship 

Akron v Kent St 
 

Champion 

Akron 


It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out. I’m never right! Haha

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54 minutes ago, C1ubP1fanaticM7 said:

I’m thinking:

1. Kent St

2. Toledo

3. Akron 

4. Ball St

5. Ohio 

6. Buffalo

7. N Illinois 

8. Miami OH

 

Semis 

Ohio v Kent St

Akron v Toledo 

 

Championship 

Akron v Kent St 
 

Champion 

Akron 


It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out. I’m never right! Haha

I like this, but I’ll take Toledo in the semis. Kent vs Toledo final, and I think Toledo will get it done. 

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NIU knocked EMU out of the Cleveland picture, 85-66. Bates shot just 3/14 with 6 pts. See how much those kinds of performances on a losing team have hurt his draft stock.  Shot under 30% from the field in 8 of 18 MAC games. Not exactly awe-inspiring results vs middle of the road competition.

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2 hours ago, Bluebird96 said:

NIU knocked EMU out of the Cleveland picture, 85-66. Bates shot just 3/14 with 6 pts. See how much those kinds of performances on a losing team have hurt his draft stock.  Shot under 30% from the field in 8 of 18 MAC games. Not exactly awe-inspiring results vs middle of the road competition.

So we will either be a 6 or 7 seed. Akron currently losing to Kent. Which would lock Akron into the 3 seed.

Interesting that the top 4 teams are playing each other right now. Semi final preview dare I say?

Edited by DooleyBull06
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9 minutes ago, Chet said:

Would have much preferred the other side of the MAC tournament bracket. The 5 seed Ohio certainly have a path through Ball State and Toledo who always chokes in Cleveland.

Yeah, just 1 more win and we might be in Ohio’s shoes. Given how low the expectations are for UB right now, maybe the best way to approach Akron is to just play aggressive and let the chips fall where they may.  Maybe we get hot and hope that Castaneda stays as cold as he was tonight vs Kent. 

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