Buffalo/WMU - 2/19

[DocCas86]

2 minutes ago, Erie County said:

Kenpom Lowered UB to 112 from 110 after that performance. For the unbiased crowd 

Not really a change - basically the overall performance was in line with expectations. It was also consistent with Ohio / Kent.  Personally, I am not sweating a 2 position drop.

[Jeseph]

I’m still really confused how some people aren’t understanding POVs on here.

We won again, and won by 10+. Assists were up and TOs down. Am I happy about that? Hell yea! Go Bulls!
 

Does the first half terrify me going into March and show that there is SIGNIFICANT room for improvement (despite being late in the season with an experienced roster? Hell yea… 

Is it really hard for people to see that these are not mutually exclusive?

is the discussion more fun if we all pretend that this game was exactly what we wanted?

[DooleyBull06]

Miami and NIU locked in a nail biter. Those are our next 3 games. Two pesky teams. Not gonna be an easy road trip. NIU is always a house of horror too.

[UBinMD]

22 minutes ago, Erie County said:

Dont think at this. Who sticks out like a sore thumb. He has a -3 with a 25% usage, eeeeeshhhh

Mballa +27, impressive game 

[skrabukes]

32 minutes ago, Erie County said:

Kenpom Lowered UB to 112 from 110 after that performance. For the unbiased crowd 

Oh no, not a -2 in kenpom. Who cares? Whether they are 70 or 270 in kenpom, they won today and need to win 3 in cleveland to make ncaas. The team won 6 straight with 5 by double digits, and you're too busy finding some meaningless fault. Give it a rest.

The team had a bad quarter (yep, very bad). Basketball is a game of runs. While that was a very poor run, the team did what they were supposed to do, regrouped, dug deep, and got back to the game plan. Low and behold, it worked. Went +30 or so over the final 26 minutes. Athletes don't hang their head and quit, they battle, and these guys showed it through adversity today. Good for them, and the coaches as well.

I enjoyed my 6 hours at the AA today, that much I know. 2 double digit wins, both of which the teams needed to grind it out at times. That will only help down the stretch. 

On to the rematch with our recent nemesis Miami. Time to keep the train rolling. 

[yussi1870]

Mballa should have gotten player of the game. He’s the only one who showed up in the first half and he kept it up throughout.

[skrabukes]

3 minutes ago, yussi1870 said:

Mballa should have gotten player of the game. He’s the only one who showed up in the first half and he kept it up throughout.

His going out of the game 2 minutes in with 2 fouls was a good portion of the early funk. He's been very tough in the last couple of games. We need more of that down the stretch. He's a bad matchup for teams to contend with on both ends when he's on.

[DocCas86]

1 minute ago, yussi1870 said:

Mballa should have gotten player of the game. He’s the only one who showed up in the first half and he kept it up throughout.

The apparrent return to form of Mballa, double digits points last five, is definite positive in terms of our prospects in Cleveland.   The entire starting five seem to be clicking, start of this game notwithstanding.  

[skrabukes]

1 minute ago, Erie County said:

And you are notorious for minimizing other posters.

If all that matters is Cleveland, the Kenpom matters. If they are 270, they are playing in a game If they are 70, they are an 11 seed. For someone to watch every game to say that doesn't matter is weird. They have dropped another since speaking, to 113 (15 seed range). The point of this isn't to say how big of a deal it is, its to say that their metrics got worse. They didnt play very well. Is it better than a loss? Sure.

It matters. Sorry that you want to minimize another the lowers the value of your donation or season ticket purchase. 

15 seed range? If they continue winning, and then win 3 games against the 1, 2, 3-6 seeds, I'd wager their "metrics" will improve. 

The team has 6 straight wins. Only one other team in the league has anything close to that right now. You (nor I) were in those practices, meetings, locker room, etc when players were going out "sick" over that month long period earlier in the year. The team looks like what we expected of late. I'm sorry that I can't complain about that fact. 

My donation and season ticket purchase has been enjoyed all season, less the 2 "lost" home games due to the sniffles of some teams.  Thanks for your concern however.

[enrique14150]

In the end, everything was okay.  This team has been playing well - again, like last year, getting better and playing well at the right time of the season - but I don't feel like they're good enough to overlook anyone.  Case in point, the first 10 minutes or more today.  Western made this a game when they were draining three's, which they did early and for a short spell down the stretch.  Once these Bulls decide to get serious on defense, they play winning basketball.  I can't/don't know what was said in the locker room at halftime, but after clawing back some of that deficit, they really came out strong in the second half.  So credit to whoever was responsible for that.  And credit to the team for hitting their free throws today.

Mballa - THAT was the kind of game we've seen him play before and have been desperately wanting most of this season.  He's been back into form for a couple games now.  
Skogman - he missed a couple shots early, and as the coaches said in the postgame, it kinda threw off his mindset, but he played strong second half.  Hit a couple threes, played better defense, and continues to do really well at timing his leaps for rebounds.  Defenders have clearly watched film and are ready for his spin move along the baseline, but he's working around that.
Brewton - I will say something nice - he had a really good rebound off a missed shot by Mballa second half and drew the foul.  Nice hustle play.
Hardnett - doesn't think ahead with confidence but seems to be healthy again and giving us some good defensive minutes. A couple put-backs tonight.
Jack - does things that I think it's tough for a lot of us to appreciate.  I like how they matched him up defensively out high against their point guard, he's a better defender than Rondo.  He's been surprisingly effective a few times a game underneath the basket, and at some rebounds on defense.
Williams - once his shots started dropping he had another smooth game

Western - like I said, they were in it when their three's were dropping.  Yet again our Bulls had a tough time defensively against a physical guard who's willing to drive to the net.  But they just couldn't play like that for a whole game.

Crowd - a nice crowd for a Saturday afternoon.  The band was in good form.  True Blue - you have to do more.  The handful of you standing are the leaders, and you had a whole end zone behind you waiting to get into it.  There are too many times you're not doing...anything.  Don't just wait for the team or the game flow - get going yourselves when the team is lagging to spur them on!  If you're jumping, if you're loud, if you're having fun, others will join in.

All in all, a nice win in the end, even though it took a while to get going.  That's two home games in a row where this team faced a challenging situation and overcame it.  

Edited February 20, 2022 by enrique14150

[trueblue32]

16 minutes ago, Erie County said:

If they are 70, they are an 11 seed. For someone to watch every game to say that doesn't matter is weird. They have dropped another since posting, to 113 (15 seed range).

Last year's 11 seeds averaged 51.3 pre-tourney

Last year's 15 seeds averaged 148 pre-tourney

[enrique14150]

I'm not giving a second of thought right now to NCAA's, or power rankings, or whatever.  The MAC is a one-seed conference.  It doesn't matter what your ranking is right now, just whether you win or lose these games down the stretch and in Cleveland.  My thoughts right now are solely on two teams next week that have been habitual thorns in our side lately.

[UBinMD]

1 minute ago, enrique14150 said:

I'm not giving a second of thought right now to NCAA's, or power rankings, or whatever.  The MAC is a one-seed conference.  It doesn't matter what your ranking is right now, just whether you win or lose these games down the stretch and in Cleveland.  My thoughts right now are solely on two teams next week that have been habitual thorns in our side lately.

You and me both. I have enjoyed the last 12 games +/-. Ended up being a decent season and I think we have a legit shot in Cleveland. Take care of Miami next.

[DooleyBull06]

Unless Ohio and Toledo run the table the rest of the regular season and meet in the finals the MAC is looking at a 13 seed or lower.

[skrabukes]

5 minutes ago, Erie County said:

You are obtuse though, that's the point here. Also, minimizing COVID-19, so thats par for the course from you. No reason for the quotations around sick. 

They beat the 333rd team in the country, in which they were down 16 in the first half at home. Their metrics declined. You are then saying "well their metrics will increase when they win 14 straight and beat the 1, 2, 3-6 seeds". What are you using to surmise that after their metrics declined, they will now get better? The reason for metrics is to tell you how well the team is playing or not playing.  They are currently 1-4 against the top 5,  you have them finishing 5-0 against those same teams with no evidence, which is bold.

If they beat Michigan, Bonnas, SFA, Toledo, Ohio, Akron, Miami, Canisius, and Miami, they'd be top 15. 

Wow, if they all of their games, they'd be top 15. Impressive thoughts. I hadn't considered that. Unfortunately,  after today's double digit win, they would've dropped though, so I guess we'd have heard further negativity from you. 

Like most at the games today, I enjoyed my time in the arena after 2 wins by double digits. I'm sorry that you didn't.  Hopefully the players and coaches will do better to please you next time.

Last point on today's game...I feel bad for Freeman. His team is near the bottom, while UB will be playing in Cleveland again. Surely his scholarship has gone to a better place. Much like Navigato who did the old MAC team switcheroo after signing with UB, it wasn't for the best, at least basketball-wise. Couldn't believe he was talking smack to Jeenathan after the 1st bucket of the game.  I think #11 got the better of that matchup by game's end.

[DocCas86]

11 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

Unless Ohio and Toledo run the table the rest of the regular season and meet in the finals the MAC is looking at a 13 seed or lower.

Last year Ohio ended regular season at 110, when they won the MAC tournament raised them to 87, which gave them a 13 seed.  I think the 13 seed is probably what Buffalo would be looking at if they are successful in Cleveland.  

That said, focus on the next game - get the win.

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

2 hours ago, Erie County said:

This site needs new ownership and servers i think. Who is taking it over? @961819@Jeseph@Big 4 Hoops Blogger

I think this site would go downhill quickly if I took over!

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

2 hours ago, Erie County said:

 

This was my highlight of the afternoon! Maniac is a cool dude but I was giving him crap after that performance lol

[skrabukes]

1 minute ago, DocCas86 said:

Last year Ohio ended regular season at 110, when they won the MAC tournament raised them to 87, which gave them a 13 seed.  I think the 13 seed is probably what Buffalo would be looking at if they are successful in Cleveland.  

That said, focus on the next game - get the win.

I'd gladly take 13 seed ( and anyone here who wouldn't is crazy). I believe we were 13 when we beat Arizona. It's not often that the MAC gets much higher than that. Other than the super team from a few years back, I'd guess that the MAC has been 12-14 nearly every year, at least in recent history anyway.

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

Thoughts On The Game:

Pretty poor first half. Looked like UB was sleepwalking but was never really concerned about the outcome being in jeopardy.

Ohio had that same thing happen to them a few weeks ago at home against WMU and they took over the 2nd half and won by double-digits.

UB completely dominated the final 20 minutes. Whatever Whitesell told them at halftime paid off because they jumped out to a 16-3 run.

I felt once they increased their lead to 19, they got a little complacent and accepted trading buckets. They knew WMU wasn’t coming back but you don’t want to get into bad habits.

Jeenathan, Rondo and Mballa all had strong performances. Mballa is starting to play the way we expected heading into the season.

I don’t want to focus too much on Brewton but he’s a detriment when he’s on the court. You can see he has talent but it just hasn’t meshed on this team. He wants so badly to make an impact that he forces things.

Overall, they won a game they were expected to. Now, onto the next one.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Big 4 Hoops Blogger

[UBinMD]

CMU is up 2 on Toledo at halftime 

[DocCas86]

7 minutes ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

Thoughts On The Game:

Pretty poor first half. Looked like UB was sleepwalking but was never really concerned about the outcome being in jeopardy.

Ohio had that same thing happen to them a few weeks ago at home against WMU and they took over the 2nd half and won by double-digits.

UB completely dominated the final 20 minutes. Whatever Whitesell told them at halftime paid off because they jumped out to a 16-3 run.

I felt once they increased their lead to 19, they got a little complacent and accepted trading buckets. They knew WMU wasn’t coming back but you don’t want to get into bad habits.

Jeenathan, Rondo and Mballa all had strong performances. Mballa is starting to play the way we expected heading into the season.

I don’t want to focus too much on Brewton but he’s a detriment when he’s on the court. You can see he has talent but it just hasn’t meshed on this team. He wants so badly to make an impact that he forces things.

Overall, they won a game they were expected to. Now, onto the next one.

This is a fair assessment of the game.  I give the team credit - they didn't panic after the bad start and were able to get the game close by half and then put the game away in the second half.  It seemed to me that they started trying to milk the clock and got out of their rhythm, which allow the lead to drop to 14.  

[DocCas86]

4 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

CMU is up 2 on Toledo at halftime 

Proves you have to come to play - day in / day out in the MAC.

[skrabukes]

5 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

CMU is up 2 on Toledo at halftime 

Probably should fire their coach. I can only imagine what their rating will be by the end of the night!

In all seriousness, they'll probably pull it out in the 2nd half, but it'd surely be great if they didn't. Any team can win on a given night in this league, regardless of rating/spread. Even UB's super team lost to NIU (on that God awful court) when they shouldn't have. It's nice to have 6 solid wins in a row in UB's pocket. Hopefully 5+3 more (at least the final "+3" anyway please)!

[DocCas86]

9 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

CMU is up 2 on Toledo at halftime 

Still a one point game with 11 minutes left.  This will move Toledo's net ranking more than 2.  Upsets / bad days happen.  Toledo will likely win, but shows no team is invincible.