Daemen @ UB - 10/23 - 7 PM / Start of the GH III Era

[enrique14150]

I don't want to draw too many conclusions yet, and certainly not from an exhibition game against a D2 school.

That said, credit as always to Daemen.  They are always a well coached, well organized team.  I thought they brought some good size and confidence with the ball and that caused UB problems, especially when they started shooting better.  They had some good drives to the hoop that caught some UB defenders a step slow.  After the first half I was like, get #33 a transfer right now.

I was impressed with Fulcher, he's quick and can shoot from outside. Adams is what he was - a polished outside shooter, good at blocking shots, but doesn't get as tough as you'd like sometimes under the net.  Boldin gave some good minutes.  Chatman looks like a confident guy that I would like to see a little more intensity from.  He really stepped it up at the end, and the team needs a go-to guy in those situations.  Jo Smith is like last year - he's trying to play tougher but he needs more body mass.  Sobel has a lot of potential but may be a year away.  Kanye was sloppy, he didn't look any better from last year.

First impressions? I hope Graham can come in and be a double digit scorer and a go-to guy.  This team looks like it lacks inside presence, which is no surprise. If Daemen's players gave them trouble and out-rebounded them, Mirambeaux and Freeman are going to run over them.  

[DaBulls99]

6 minutes ago, enrique14150 said:

I don't want to draw too many conclusions yet, and certainly not from an exhibition game against a D2 school.

That said, credit as always to Daemen.  They are always a well coached, well organized team.  I thought they brought some good size and confidence with the ball and that caused UB problems, especially when they started shooting better.  They had some good drives to the hoop that caught some UB defenders a step slow.  After the first half I was like, get #33 a transfer right now.

I was impressed with Fulcher, he's quick and can shoot from outside. Adams is what he was - a polished outside shooter, good at blocking shots, but doesn't get as tough as you'd like sometimes under the net.  Boldin gave some good minutes.  Chatman looks like a confident guy that I would like to see a little more intensity from.  He really stepped it up at the end, and the team needs a go-to guy in those situations.  Jo Smith is like last year - he's trying to play tougher but he needs more body mass.  Sobel has a lot of potential but may be a year away.  Kanye was sloppy, he didn't look any better from last year.

First impressions? I hope Graham can come in and be a double digit scorer and a go-to guy.  This team looks like it lacks inside presence, which is no surprise. If Daemen's players gave them trouble and out-rebounded them, Mirambeaux and Freeman are going to run over them.  

Why does Daemen always seemingly have a guy who goes off on us that we can’t get to transfer up?

[DocCas86]

I have enjoyed seeing folks commenting and engaged with the team.  Overall I thought the team performance was about what I expected.  There are some positives and areas for improvement.  My main focus from here is continuous improvement throughout the season.

[SGBull]

1 hour ago, DocCas86 said:

I have enjoyed seeing folks commenting and engaged with the team.  Overall I thought the team performance was about what I expected.  There are some positives and areas for improvement.  My main focus from here is continuous improvement throughout the season.

Basketball always seems to get more engagement than football. I wonder if it is because there is no NBA team in Buffalo. But yes I agree, I love the activity. 

[UBinMD]

20 minutes ago, SGBull said:

Basketball always seems to get more engagement than football. I wonder if it is because there is no NBA team in Buffalo. But yes I agree, I love the activity. 

I think it's partly the fact there are just more games and you can move from one to the next and not have to wait a week (or more). We have also had more success and I think a lot of us have more of a connection with specific players. Football is hard to engage with a specific player like in basketball. I could be wrong, but I know that goes a lot into my engagement. I am also excited about a new chapter. A lot of the issues from the game are correctable if they guys want to get better. Effort and rebounding need to improve and that will be obvious on tape. We also need to know who the guy will be to stop the payer with the hot hand on the opposing team, we did not solve that. Depth at PG and size on the inside could pose a problem in some games this year as well. What is Plan B if Fulcher has an off night, gets into foul trouble, etc.? I'm encouraged overall and think we have some nice pieces, just not sure we have enough pieces.

[mikescherrer8]

Going to be a long long long long season. 

[Tee4three]

4 hours ago, SGBull said:

Basketball always seems to get more engagement than football. I wonder if it is because there is no NBA team in Buffalo. But yes I agree, I love the activity. 

Buffalo is actually a huge basketball city. Always seem to be high in ratings during NBA playoffs 

[BrooklynBull]

6 hours ago, SGBull said:

Basketball always seems to get more engagement than football. I wonder if it is because there is no NBA team in Buffalo. But yes I agree, I love the activity. 

 

[BrooklynBull]

6 hours ago, SGBull said:

Basketball always seems to get more engagement than football. I wonder if it is because there is no NBA team in Buffalo. But yes I agree, I love the activity. 

What the Braves left Buffalo?  When did that happen?

[DooleyBull06]

17 hours ago, bullsbball said:

 

• There were 2 guys dancing with the Dazzlers.

LOL. I laugh for many reasons. But why is this even included lol

[MuchMany]

18 hours ago, DooleyBull06 said:

LOL. I laugh for many reasons. But why is this even included lol

Because it's a new and exciting addition we never knew we needed to the staid gameday experience of course. 

[bullsbball]

On 10/24/2023 at 3:24 PM, BrooklynBull said:

What the Braves left Buffalo?  When did that happen?

Moved to Atlanta and now play baseball. Bob McAdoo is batting cleanup. 

Edited October 25, 2023 by bullsbball

[dj_paige]

I wasn't impressed by the team against Daemen; its kind of hard to even know what to expect from the newcomers, but the returning players, both Smith and Adams, seemed absent for large parts of the game. We know they can play against MAC opponents. Adams picked it up in the 2nd half. Fulcher had a good first half, not much in the second half.

The two male Dazzlers were an interesting and unexpected change, but also jarring; the cheerleaders have had a handful of males on the squad over the last 5-10 years.

Edited October 25, 2023 by dj_paige

[DooleyBull06]

I can believe we are talking about male cheerleaders. Lol. This has already gotten more time than it needs lol. 
 

@dj_paige Adams to me is gonna be depended on to be a leader, as an upperclassman. Smith is what he is, junkyard scrap player. Play defense, get boards and put backs. Can’t really depend on him for consistent scoring. What you got last night is what you could hope for. Maybe a few more boards. I’m surprised by Zaakir. At some point we need to see what he’s about. He’s been here for 3 years. I need to see something, anything, from him. 

[DocCas86]

16 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

I can believe we are talking about male cheerleaders. Lol. This has already gotten more time than it needs lol. 
 

@dj_paige Adams to me is gonna be depended on to be a leader, as an upperclassman. Smith is what he is, junkyard scrap player. Play defense, get boards and put backs. Can’t really depend on him for consistent scoring. What you got last night is what you could hope for. Maybe a few more boards. I’m surprised by Zaakir. At some point we need to see what he’s about. He’s been here for 3 years. I need to see something, anything, from him. 

They were saying good things about Zaakir in pregame.  Hoping he shows some of that in the next few games.  The Bulls could use the depth up front.

[dj_paige]

14 hours ago, DooleyBull06 said:

I can believe we are talking about male cheerleaders. Lol. This has already gotten more time than it needs lol. 

Male Dazzlers, not male Cheerleaders. There is a difference (Cheerleaders do acrobatics and pyramids and tumbling, while Dazzlers just dance, not that this is relevant to the person's gender)

Edited October 26, 2023 by dj_paige

[dj_paige]

14 hours ago, DooleyBull06 said:

@dj_paige Adams to me is gonna be depended on to be a leader, as an upperclassman. Smith is what he is, junkyard scrap player. Play defense, get boards and put backs. Can’t really depend on him for consistent scoring. What you got last night is what you could hope for. Maybe a few more boards. I’m surprised by Zaakir. At some point we need to see what he’s about. He’s been here for 3 years. I need to see something, anything, from him. 

I agree with this part, certainly some of the returning players need to have good years, and a few of them had good spurts, but not good games.

[ubbulls98]

For what it's worth, there's a good bit of thread action just for an exhibition game.  It's nice to see basketball excitement again...

[John]

On 10/24/2023 at 7:03 AM, DocCas86 said:

I have enjoyed seeing folks commenting and engaged with the team.  Overall I thought the team performance was about what I expected.  There are some positives and areas for improvement.  My main focus from here is continuous improvement throughout the season.

Do agree. Patience is a virtue and looking forward to see how this team and coaching staff can evolve. Agree with many of the observations from the game and will add Daemen overall was quicker and had better ball movement but did not shoot the ball well. Concerned about our rebounding as I did not see players crashing the boards especially on the offensive end. Still hope for progress from game to game. One other question is I believe the women are playing Daemen at 2 pm on Saturday. Is this a freebie as we don’t have tickets in our season tickets? Go Bulls!!

[DocCas86]

You can't read much into any exhibition game, but margin with Syracuse was 15, so Daemen certainly not a pushover for a D2 program.

[Dabulls]

6 hours ago, DocCas86 said:

You can't read much into any exhibition game, but margin with Syracuse was 15, so Daemen certainly not a pushover for a D2 program.

BG just lost to a D2 team so I’m not too worried. Daemen is also very senior laden with a ton of experience. They played Cuse very well for a while. Also Cuse lost to lemoyne in an exhibition the year they went to the final four. Exhibition games are times to try new lineups, plays and get freshman some time. 
 

I’ll save the majority of my thoughts until the regular season. I don’t expect much from this team other than to improve as time goes on. They have talent so if they can stick together for the next couple years we may have a pretty scary team to come

[bullsbball]

Why no replays on the big board yet they have a replay sponsor?

Edited October 29, 2023 by bullsbball

[UB92]

Pace, a D2 school, beat St. Johns by 4 in an exhibition.  Daemen was ranked 8th in D2 last year (East), while Pace was 5th.

Considering UB won and St. Johns lost, and the competition level being the same, I am confident that UB will be among the favorites in the MAC (and the Mid-Majors, in general).

---

I am joking...I just wanted to get here before someone else posted this...but was more serious!

[UB Horns Up]

On 10/24/2023 at 1:15 PM, Tee4three said:

Buffalo is actually a huge basketball city. Always seem to be high in ratings during NBA playoffs 

Yes but the problem is Buffalo isn’t going to spend money on a coach learning on the job. If George Halcovage is the real deal then Buffalo fans will come out. The problem with that is that is usually when the UB coach has one foot out the door for a better paying job. Buffalo fans are never just going to go to UB games no matter what like a Nebraska Cornhuskers where that is all they have. Buffalo has a lot of other basketball options and other sports options. If you are a local basketball fan you are watching the St Bonaventure Bonnies this season because they are loaded again because Mark Schmidt never leaves the Bonnies. Because the school made it a priority to match whatever Mark Schmidt gets from other outside suitors. Unfortunately UB the university refuses to do that or can’t for whatever reasons it doesn’t matter. Until UB changes that course of action this is the way it is UB Bulls basketball will always be second rate to St Bonaventure Bonnies basketball. There is really no excuse for that UB should have kept both Nate Oats and Lance Leipold. Just matching both UB basketball and UB football coaches offers. UB would be top 25 today and further along in development than we are now currently resetting the coaching salaries it’s flawed logic by UB the school in my opinion. UB Horns Up! Go Bulls! Let’s Go Buffalo 

 

[Blue03]

2 hours ago, UB Horns Up said:

Yes but the problem is Buffalo isn’t going to spend money on a coach learning on the job. If George Halcovage is the real deal then Buffalo fans will come out. The problem with that is that is usually when the UB coach has one foot out the door for a better paying job. Buffalo fans are never just going to go to UB games no matter what like a Nebraska Cornhuskers where that is all they have. Buffalo has a lot of other basketball options and other sports options. If you are a local basketball fan you are watching the St Bonaventure Bonnies this season because they are loaded again because Mark Schmidt never leaves the Bonnies. Because the school made it a priority to match whatever Mark Schmidt gets from other outside suitors. Unfortunately UB the university refuses to do that or can’t for whatever reasons it doesn’t matter. Until UB changes that course of action this is the way it is UB Bulls basketball will always be second rate to St Bonaventure Bonnies basketball. There is really no excuse for that UB should have kept both Nate Oats and Lance Leipold. Just matching both UB basketball and UB football coaches offers. UB would be top 25 today and further along in development than we are now currently resetting the coaching salaries it’s flawed logic by UB the school in my opinion. UB Horns Up! Go Bulls! Let’s Go Buffalo 

 

Yeah that’s the big problem. UB doesn’t push for the community or student involvement, leading to a rather dull game day atmosphere. The only way to keep our coaches and get star players is to (obviously) invest in the program. With proper outreach, UB can pack Alumni every game, should always be 5000+. It’s not unreasonable, football always does more than that, but they need to get people to care. When you bring up attendance and game revenue, you can pay coaches more and make them happy to stay (who doesn’t want to stay at a full stadium). St Bonaventure, even with losing records, always packs their arena, because their community and students care. If we mimic them, then with the funding and passion increase UB could finally grow and maybe break out of the MAC