Buffalo @ WVU

[enrique14150]

I'm fine with performances like this.  The team is being challenged and it's good experience.  Shooting percentage was good.  As others said, they gave up too many free throws, but for this team that's often a matter of playing very aggressive.  Jack has a ton of potential and when he gets to next year, it's all going to start coming together consistently.

[DocCas86]

1 hour ago, Bluebird96 said:

Adams starting to resemble vintage Jeremy Harris a little bit

By far his best shooting performance, including 44% from three.  Still would like him to cut down on turnovers, but mostly nice game from him.

[Chet]

I think the team is very much trying to put it together. I was frustrated with one play where Bulls were getting the ball after a timeout. Play clock was at 10 to restart the possession. Players and coaches appeared clueless of this fact. Someone took a 30 foot three and missed badly. 

[Bluebird96]

Decent game for Hardnett tonight too, giving the Bulls 35 minutes with so many guys in foul trouble. Miraculously he had no fouls called against him in all those minutes.  Would like to see fewer (or zero) 3-Pt attempts and better FT% from him, but good to see some aggressiveness in getting to the line 8 times. 

[MKBullsfan]

The refs were horrible. Seems like they had a game plan to get our best player in foul trouble early on with both Jones and Powell. That killed our focus and momentum. Hope UB got paid well from WVU for scheduling this game. 

[BullBoy]

Agree with everyone else.. A good performance on the road against a Big 12 opponent.  Right there for 30 mins of action and then things just fell off a bit.

Now it's time to just beat up on SUNY Canton and then I'll be interested to see how things go against Michigan St. to close out non-conference.

Definitely can't say this young group hasn't been battle tested.  Hope it translates well in the MAC!

[DocCas86]

7 minutes ago, BullBoy said:

Agree with everyone else.. A good performance on the road against a Big 12 opponent.  Right there for 30 mins of action and then things just fell off a bit.

Now it's time to just beat up on SUNY Canton and then I'll be interested to see how things go against Michigan St. to close out non-conference.

Definitely can't say this young group hasn't been battle tested.  Hope it translates well in the MAC!

Definitely looking forward to Jan 3rd!

[UB92]

5 hours ago, BullBoy said:

Agree with everyone else.. A good performance on the road against a Big 12 opponent.  Right there for 30 mins of action and then things just fell off a bit.

Now it's time to just beat up on SUNY Canton and then I'll be interested to see how things go against Michigan St. to close out non-conference.

Definitely can't say this young group hasn't been battle tested.  Hope it translates well in the MAC!

I thought what Oats said the other night after Alabama lost to Gonzaga is applicable to UB as well.  You play good teams to figure out the areas where you need to work on.   If you don't play good teams, you don't learn where you need to work on (until it is too late).

Let's hope that some of the things we have seen come up against the tougher teams are addressed by the time conference action starts (and, of course, emphasize the good things).  After all, all teams have strengths and weaknesses.  You have to spend most of the time doing things you do well..and less of it doing the things where you struggle.

[enrique14150]

In other news - UConn is ranked #2 in the country right now.  Losing by 20 on the road to them doesn't seem so bad.

I like that comment about testing yourself to find out what you need to work on.

[UBinMD]

9 minutes ago, enrique14150 said:

In other news - UConn is ranked #2 in the country right now.  Losing by 20 on the road to them doesn't seem so bad.

I like that comment about testing yourself to find out what you need to work on.

I agree, I think our MAC fortunes could be in good shape if we can translate these lessons into league play.

Has anyone else noticed that JW is a little more fiery on the sidelines? Also, he is being more directly vocal to the players directly this year when he is trying to make a correction. He climbed in Ceasar's ass a bit yesterday on that one bonehead possession. I like it!

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

We opened our show this week discussing the UB/WVU game. I was really encouraged by UB overall. The first 30 minutes provided a lot of positives. Obviously not the outcome we all wanted but hopefully a step in the right direction outside of the final 10 minutes.

[clodney]

4 hours ago, UBinMD said:

I agree, I think our MAC fortunes could be in good shape if we can translate these lessons into league play.

Has anyone else noticed that JW is a little more fiery on the sidelines? Also, he is being more directly vocal to the players directly this year when he is trying to make a correction. He climbed in Ceasar's ass a bit yesterday on that one bonehead possession. I like it!

Maybe he should direct some of that "fire" at the refs as well. Nate or Bobby would've thrown a friggin' chair yesterday.

[UBinMD]

1 hour ago, clodney said:

Maybe he should direct some of that "fire" at the refs as well. Nate or Bobby would've thrown a friggin' chair yesterday.

Could have gotten a T for sure, why not, they were handing them out like Tic Tacs

[BullBoy]

I would love to see Whitesell get a T at some point. It needs to be the right situation where it doesn't impact the game negatively, but sometimes it really gets a team and a fan base going just knowing the coach is doing everything they can to help the team win.

[UB Horns Up]

On 12/18/2022 at 7:31 PM, DocCas86 said:

The scoreboard won't show it, but the team played hard throughout.   The foul trouble  ultimately did them in.

I think they play this way in MAC, they are going to be quite competitive.

Playing hard should be a given for UB Bulls basketball not the bar for some great accomplishment for UB Bulls basketball in my opinion. UB Horns Up! Go Bulls! Let’s Go Buffalo 

[DocCas86]

29 minutes ago, UB Horns Up said:

Playing hard should be a given for UB Bulls basketball not the bar for some great accomplishment for UB Bulls basketball in my opinion. UB Horns Up! Go Bulls! Let’s Go Buffalo 

The team should play hard game in and game out - no arguments there.  I do not view the good effort in that game as some great accomplishment, nor did I state that. 

However, based on UB playing a very good WVU team to a virtual tie for 30 minutes,   I took away some optimism for the MAC regular season.  If Adams can build upon this game, the Bulls will have three legitimate scoring threats in Jones, Adams and Powell.  Add to that potential for a Hardnett, Jack, Smith, Foster, Blocker or Ceaser could have a good night, could make the them a very good (and more consistently so) offensive team.  Being consistently good on offense plus playing hard on defense will give the Bulls a good shot with any of the teams in the MAC.   I will continue to be a glass half full person - but not handing out ribbons for a nice effort.

 

[DocCas86]

 

3 minutes ago, DocCas86 said:

The team should play hard game in and game out - no arguments there.  I do not view the good effort in that game as some great accomplishment, nor did I state that. 

However, based on UB playing a very good WVU team to a virtual tie for 30 minutes,   I took away some optimism for the MAC regular season.  If Adams can build upon this game, the Bulls will have three legitimate scoring threats in Jones, Adams and Powell.  Add to that potential for a Hardnett, Jack, Smith, Foster, Blocker or Ceaser could have a good night, could make the them a very good (and more consistently so) offensive team.  Being consistently good on offense plus playing hard on defense will give the Bulls a good shot with any of the teams in the MAC.   I will continue to be a glass half full person - but not handing out ribbons for a nice effort.

 

The team should play hard game in and game out - no arguments there.  I do not view the good effort in that game as some great accomplishment, nor did I state that. 

However, based on UB playing a very good WVU team to a virtual tie for 30 minutes,   I took away some optimism for the MAC regular season.  If Adams can build upon this game, the Bulls will have three legitimate scoring threats in Jones, Adams and Powell.  Add to that potential for a Hardnett, Jack, Smith, Foster, Blocker or Ceaser could have a good night, could make the them a very good (and more consistently so) offensive team.  Being consistently good on offense plus playing hard on defense will give the Bulls a good shot with any of the teams in the MAC.   I will continue to be a glass half full person - but not handing out ribbons for a nice effort.

[clodney]

It was one of our best shooting nights of the whole year. We hit 3's, we hit jumpers, we looked pretty good in all areas. There's just no chance you can win a game when the refs are that terribly one-sided. Jack, Zid, and Foster were all in foul trouble not 10 minutes into the game. Bell got to the line every single friggin' time. He shot as many free throws as our entire team and the guys defending him, Smith and Jack, both fouled out before he even had 1 foul called against him. The whole thing was a crock of $hit since it could've been a GREAT game. 

We have the talent to keep up with these guys. We just need consistent shooting and Division 1 reffing.

[UBinMD]

28 minutes ago, clodney said:

It was one of our best shooting nights of the whole year. We hit 3's, we hit jumpers, we looked pretty good in all areas. There's just no chance you can win a game when the refs are that terribly one-sided. Jack, Zid, and Foster were all in foul trouble not 10 minutes into the game. Bell got to the line every single friggin' time. He shot as many free throws as our entire team and the guys defending him, Smith and Jack, both fouled out before he even had 1 foul called against him. The whole thing was a crock of $hit since it could've been a GREAT game. 

We have the talent to keep up with these guys. We just need consistent shooting and Division 1 reffing.

I'm very intrigued by the Michigan St. game. If it's officiated somewhat balanced, can we scare those guys. I think we can, the guys are starting to flow together, very similar to how the ladies are starting to gel. You can see the individual talent, but now they are playing more together and trusting each other a bit more. I'm excited for the MAC slate.

[DocCas86]

27 minutes ago, clodney said:

It was one of our best shooting nights of the whole year. We hit 3's, we hit jumpers, we looked pretty good in all areas. There's just no chance you can win a game when the refs are that terribly one-sided. Jack, Zid, and Foster were all in foul trouble not 10 minutes into the game. Bell got to the line every single friggin' time. He shot as many free throws as our entire team and the guys defending him, Smith and Jack, both fouled out before he even had 1 foul called against him. The whole thing was a crock of $hit since it could've been a GREAT game. 

We have the talent to keep up with these guys. We just need consistent shooting and Division 1 reffing.

I don't usually complain about the refs, however I do agree with your comments.  I initially refrained from posting any comment on the officiating, but it seemed like the refs were saying 'and 1' after almost every WVU shot.

[UBinMD]

3 minutes ago, DocCas86 said:

I don't usually complain about the refs, however I do agree with your comments.  I initially refrained from posting any comment on the officiating, but it seemed like the refs were saying 'and 1' after almost every WVU shot.

I try not to either, but unfortunately they were a significant part of why we lost that game and why the margin looked the way it did.

Edited December 21, 2022 by UBinMD