Segu and Williams

[Chet]

Both players have played to their potential this year. Their start to their senior years have been strong. Buts it's a long season. If we are going to improve, we will need another player to step up. I thought Mballa would be a double double machine this year and he's played well in spurts, but I'm sure he'd be the first to tell you he'd want that game back vs Bona. Sometimes it feels like Mballa is pressing too much with the jump shot or three point shot. If he can get his game back on track we will be better. If Jack and or Skogman can loosen the lane up with their three point shot, our offensive flow should improve. Teams can just pack it and be successful against our very athletic roster unless we can begin to shoot the three at a higher percentage. Good penetration and passing the ball to an open wing is only a good play if we can more consistently make threes. 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Chet

[promotherobot]

Too bad Mballa vanished.

[John]

13 hours ago, promotherobot said:

Too bad Mballa vanished.

Really sort of a mystery what happened to Mballa’s mental state. Without Mballa returning to some sort of play like last year I can’t see us winning the MAC. Skogman has not shown anything other than wanting to shoot 3’s and Brewton also has shown no consistency shooting 3’s. Hardnett has not shown he can be a full time player in the middle. Really putting all the onus on Williams, Segu and Jack and not sure they can do that night in and night out. Will continue to support both our teams and hope to go to Cleveland again. Go Bulls!!!

[Jeseph]

 

[UBinMD]

18 minutes ago, Jeseph said:

 

Really nice article, goes to show that maybe JW was the right hire at that time. We certainly could have gone a different direction and had the team gutted and rebuilt, but I like this team and am glad that Segu and Williams stuck it out. Hopefully they can get the MACC and NCAA birth this year to cement their legacy at UB.

[Tee4three]

The article mentions that whitesell thinks segu should get into coaching after he is done playing

The article makes it seem segu isn't too interested in coaching but segu carries himself like a coach and I could see him be a very successful one 

[UBinMD]

13 minutes ago, Tee4three said:

The article mentions that whitesell thinks segu should get into coaching after he is done playing

The article makes it seem segu isn't too interested in coaching but segu carries himself like a coach and I could see him be a very successful one 

It's hard for the young guys to think about that next step sometimes because they want to play. He will end up overseas somewhere, no doubt. He does seem like a good coaching candidate down the road.

[DooleyBull06]

I’ll say two things…

First and foremost love Rondo. Love the chip on his shoulder that he plays with. You can see from day one when as a frosh he would stay after games and shoot around with J. I don’t wanna say more bc I don’t wanna think about this being his last season. 

On Whitesell. We all knew a big reason he was hired was bc he could keep the team together. In some ways it’s his gift and his burden. Keeping that core together placed an expectation on his tenure. Had the core gone their separate ways and Whitesell faced a rebuild year 1 who knows where we’d be as a program now. Tale of two paths. 

Only one thing left to do for both Whitesell and Rondo…cement their UB legacies this season. Let’s get it done. Go Bulls!

[ChubbyHubby]

Whoa, that last line painted a picture for me.  Whitesell and Rondo "dancing" together.   Would we call it the hair dance?

[BullBoy]

On 12/16/2021 at 11:33 AM, DooleyBull06 said:

On Whitesell. We all knew a big reason he was hired was bc he could keep the team together. In some ways it’s his gift and his burden. Keeping that core together placed an expectation on his tenure. Had the core gone their separate ways and Whitesell faced a rebuild year 1 who knows where we’d be as a program now. Tale of two paths. 

This might be the most perfect explanation of the way every single person feels about Whitesell.

[UB92]

26 minutes ago, BullBoy said:

This might be the most perfect explanation of the way every single person feels about Whitesell.

Not necessarily.  I think this is part of it, though.  There is a chunk that hated the actual process by which Whitesell was hired.  It seemed to catch the AD unaware and we went through a process that, ultimately, ended up at Whitesell after a search (since, it seems, he was the one that could keep the core....and not necessarily that he was the best, long term).   As Whitesell was not "the guy" at the beginning, it seemed like the AD was looking more long term and then settled at the short term.  We have no idea whether or not the long term guy would have been able to keep the core (though it seems less likely).  At any rate, the expectation for this season is real for the reasons others have mentioned.

I wonder if there was a way to keep Whitesell as the Asst. HC, keep the team intact and hire a different HC (when Oats left)?   Perhaps that solution didn't exist. 

[DooleyBull06]

21 minutes ago, UB92 said:

Not necessarily.  I think this is part of it, though.  There is a chunk that hated the actual process by which Whitesell was hired.  It seemed to catch the AD unaware and we went through a process that, ultimately, ended up at Whitesell after a search (since, it seems, he was the one that could keep the core....and not necessarily that he was the best, long term).   As Whitesell was not "the guy" at the beginning, it seemed like the AD was looking more long term and then settled at the short term.  We have no idea whether or not the long term guy would have been able to keep the core (though it seems less likely).  At any rate, the expectation for this season is real for the reasons others have mentioned.

The only counter I’ll say to this is that when you’re a mid major program, for the most part, you’re always thinking short term. In terms of a coach. Because the reality is if the coach wins he will get plucked away. So I agree Whitesell was a short term play but let’s say we hired someone else. And that coach retained some of the players and won within the window. We might be facing a coaching search yet again. So in some ways Whitesell was a short term play but also long term play bc I don’t think he’s getting plucked if he wins. 

I do also agree the coaching search process was disjointed and sucked. I said this at the time when Oats was here…the AD should’ve had a list in his pocket of coaches he’d want in the event that Oats left. As you said, he seemed to be caught off guard.