‘23-‘24 Roster

[DocCas86]

15 minutes ago, MuchMany said:

I'd take him playing this year and next. While it's a rebuilding year, we still need to be competitive to buoy the brand and legitimize GH3. Can't afford to fall off a cliff with recruiting, fan interest, etc hanging in the balance.

Unfortunately there isn't a draft lottery to look forward to as a rebuilding college team, just the mire and muck of mid-major mediocrity (alliteration bonus unlocked 😂).

I am trying too hard to find a silver lining if he was not granted a waiver, but I do concede it is better to have him this year.  Fan interest does seem luke warm at this moment, need to get that going.

And kudos for the alliteration.

[Ubbullsfan09]

UB was ranked 253rd out of 362 teams in KenPom preseason rankings, which is 3rd worst in the MAC in front of EMU and WMU. Can’t say I’m surprised, it will certainly be a rebuilding year with a lot of freshman and we don’t have any ball handlers or a solid point guard. 

[DocCas86]

55 minutes ago, Ubbullsfan09 said:

UB was ranked 253rd out of 362 teams in KenPom preseason rankings, which is 3rd worst in the MAC in front of EMU and WMU. Can’t say I’m surprised, it will certainly be a rebuilding year with a lot of freshman and we don’t have any ball handlers or a solid point guard. 

Not that it changes much, but CMU  is also below us.  I do feel UB makes the top 8, but it won't be easy for them, for the reasons you state.  I expect the offense to struggle, so it will be up to how much the team buys into the 'All in Grit' to outperform this preseason projection.

The top of the MAC seems low in the initial kenpom as each of the top 3 preseason ranks are roughly 20 spots below top 3 last year.  

[DocCas86]

This chart is based on three preseason rankings, barttorvik, evan miya and kenpom.

How I interpret what these sites are saying

Kent, Ohio, Akron and Toledo (?) are the top four teams.  Toledo appears to be a notch below the other three - this seems reasonable to me.

The Michigan schools are expected to be among the weakest in D1.  Again no real arguments on that. 

Then there is the rest of the MAC.   I think  NIU is the strongest of the rest.  NIU returned most of team from last year - if Keshawn Williams recovers fully from ACL injury, they will improve on their 9-9 last year.  BG has a new head coach Simon who brought in a number of transfers including a player from his SUU team.  If they can gel, they would be  six seed.  MOH has added a couple of D2 transfer and an intra-MAC transfer in Hunter (from NIU).  Ball St is in a similar situation to UB, in that they will have to rely on freshman, after a number of transfer portal losses.   The eighth seed will probably go to either UB or Ball St depending on contributions from FR.

I am looking forward to getting the first glimpse at what we have in one week.  I know that we will mostly just get a sense of rotation and little else from that game.

[DocCas86]

I just checked out the MAC schedule for the middle of the pack.

Unfortunately not particularly good news there.  Both UB and NIU play the top 4 teams twice.  Ball State has the easiest schedule with only five games against the top four (three at home).

[Bluebird96]

3 hours ago, DocCas86 said:

I just checked out the MAC schedule for the middle of the pack.

Unfortunately not particularly good news there.  Both UB and NIU play the top 4 teams twice.  Ball State has the easiest schedule with only five games against the top four (three at home).

Realistically, I think the best UB can hope for is 1-7 vs the top 4; 3-2 vs middle 5; and 4-1 vs bottom 3, for a best-case record of 8-10 in MAC games. Admittedly, I’m setting the bar really low and hopefully the Bulls can exceed my expectations.

Mainly want to see tougher defense than the past couple of seasons, and for the coaching staff to get the most they can out of this team and give the younger players reason to buy into the program and stick around for a few years to help build it back up. 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Bluebird96

[UB Horns Up]

On 10/16/2023 at 4:29 PM, Bluebird96 said:

Realistically, I think the best UB can hope for is 1-7 vs the top 4; 3-2 vs middle 5; and 4-1 vs bottom 3, for a best-case record of 8-10 in MAC games. Admittedly, I’m setting the bar really low and hopefully the Bulls can exceed my expectations.

Mainly want to see tougher defense than the past couple of seasons, and for the coaching staff to get the most they can out of this team and give the younger players reason to buy into the program and stick around for a few years to help build it back up. 

I hope you are wrong because if UB Bulls basketball sinks that low attendance is going to be scary bad. It didn’t need to be this way with transfer portals today UB and coach George Halcovage choose this rebuilding route over NIL. Which didn’t have to happen and why until UB athletics changes with there general attitude with basketball towards paying coaches like paying Nate Oats and NIL. UB Bulls basketball will never be sustainable for very long which is sad as a UB Bulls basketball fan. Thankfully I am a fan of three other local Buffalo college basketball teams until UB Bulls decide to get there act together again. Go Bonnies basketball they are loaded again. Mark Schmidt is a genius UB use to have a genius once Nate Oats he runs good ship down there at St Bonaventure picked for third in the Atlantic 10 and knocked out of the park with recruiting if Mark Schmidt can get the Bonnies to play defense they are going to be scary good hopefully they can get back to the NCAA tournament this season in my opinion. UB Horns Up! Go Bulls! Let’s Go Buffalo 

[DocCas86]

9 minutes ago, UB Horns Up said:

I hope you are wrong because if UB Bulls basketball sinks that low attendance is going to be scary bad. It didn’t need to be this way with transfer portals today UB and coach George Halcovage choose this rebuilding route over NIL. Which didn’t have to happen and why until UB athletics changes with there general attitude with basketball towards paying coaches like paying Nate Oats and NIL. UB Bulls basketball will never be sustainable for very long which is sad as a UB Bulls basketball fan. Thankfully I am a fan of three other local Buffalo college basketball teams until UB Bulls decide to get there act together again. Go Bonnies basketball they are loaded again. Mark Schmidt is a genius UB use to have a genius once Nate Oats he runs good ship down there at St Bonaventure picked for third in the Atlantic 10 and knocked out of the park with recruiting if Mark Schmidt can get the Bonnies to play defense they are going to be scary good hopefully they can get back to the NCAA tournament this season in my opinion. UB Horns Up! Go Bulls! Let’s Go Buffalo 

Unfortunately I see things the same way as Bluebird, UB is probably looking at 7-9 wins.  I personally would have liked one more transfer to use the last scholarship to get another PG, but that is water under the bridge.  For now, I will put my trust / rooting behind Halcovage and the team.  First glimpse of the team on Monday.  We can get an idea about the rotation; did Graham get a waiver;  will they play tough defense (may not be a good read), who will spell Fulcher (and is Fulcher able to be the guy at D1 level).   I am looking forward to next phase - hoping that it proves to be successful in the long run - despite this year likely being a step back.

[Tee4three]

Point guard is the biggest question mark in my opinion

I'm fairly confident that we have 5 or so players that are good mid major players. So we will compete 

Really interested in seeing a more structured team than past seasons and if that's a good thing or bad thing or both 

[MuchMany]

5 hours ago, DocCas86 said:

Unfortunately I see things the same way as Bluebird, UB is probably looking at 7-9 wins.  I personally would have liked one more transfer to use the last scholarship to get another PG, but that is water under the bridge.  For now, I will put my trust / rooting behind Halcovage and the team.  First glimpse of the team on Monday.  We can get an idea about the rotation; did Graham get a waiver;  will they play tough defense (may not be a good read), who will spell Fulcher (and is Fulcher able to be the guy at D1 level).   I am looking forward to next phase - hoping that it proves to be successful in the long run - despite this year likely being a step back.

I know we'll see next week like you said, but I still find it sad/bizarre that there hasn't been any reporting on Graham's eligibility. Hard to imagine this being the case at a major program obviously.

[DocCas86]

1 hour ago, MuchMany said:

I know we'll see next week like you said, but I still find it sad/bizarre that there hasn't been any reporting on Graham's eligibility. Hard to imagine this being the case at a major program obviously.

I think it means that he did not get a waiver.  You would think if they got good news, it would be made public. A good way to get some positive buzz for the upcoming season.  Or is there some ncaa or suny rule that prevents communicating this info. 

[Chet]

Good coaching matters. It will be interesting to see how this team evolves under this new coaching staff. Almost as interesting as following the Red Wolves under Coaches Hodgson and Quarles as well as the Great Danes with Coach Whitesell. 

[UBinMD]

11 hours ago, DocCas86 said:

I think it means that he did not get a waiver.  You would think if they got good news, it would be made public. A good way to get some positive buzz for the upcoming season.  Or is there some ncaa or suny rule that prevents communicating this info. 

The kid for UNC football was a very last minute decision, which has since been changed and he is now eligible. The NCAA has no regard for timelines, they just work at their own pace. This is one reason I think they really don’t have players best interests at heart.

[UBinMD]

17 hours ago, Tee4three said:

Point guard is the biggest question mark in my opinion

I'm fairly confident that we have 5 or so players that are good mid major players. So we will compete 

Really interested in seeing a more structured team than past seasons and if that's a good thing or bad thing or both 

I think we will be competitive in most games. I feel defense will be a staple, but our offense may be a struggle. If these guys buy in to a team first approach, I think it could exceed expectations. I am looking forward to Monday night, just to see a glimpse of what may lie ahead. 

[UBinMD]

11 hours ago, Chet said:

Good coaching matters. It will be interesting to see how this team evolves under this new coaching staff. Almost as interesting as following the Red Wolves under Coaches Hodgson and Quarles as well as the Great Danes with Coach Whitesell. 

I’m also going to keep an eye on Zid at UTEP, Jack at Dayton and CuJo at Iowa St to see what they end up doing.

[DocCas86]

I pulled in some comps from recent teams with first year coach (Ohio / Boals, Akron / Groce, and Oats/UB) with a number of freshman.  Each team had two freshman who contributed in a meaningful way.  Here is the summary:

At the moment - BT projects our top freshman in terms of points is Lloyd McVeigh at 2.6 and 11 mpg.  Do we have one or two on the team who can contribute 5+ ppg and do so efficiently?  If so, this team will be entertaining this year, especially if they play tough defense.

I for one, am excited to begin next chapter for this team.

[Ubbullsfan09]

Update on Graham’s eligibility through the scrimmage broadcast. His eligibility is still up in the air for this season. Interesting that it hasn’t been solved it yet, but maybe with this much deliberation he will be able to get a waiver to play?