UB MBB vs South Alabama 11/11 2:00pm

[Chet]

It felt to me m like they quit mid way through the 2nd half. 

[Tee4three]

Just now, Chet said:

It felt to me m like they quit mid way through the 2nd half. 

I fast forwarded a lot of the second half but came away with the same impression, wonder if it continues we will see different rotations or a very freshman rotation sooner than later 

[UBinMD]

2 minutes ago, Tee4three said:

Are sabol and bolding actually promising freshman or is it just that the rest of the team is that bad

I can't tell

I think they are raw, talented and aggressive. Could turn out well for us.

[Tee4three]

Just now, UBinMD said:

I think they are raw, talented and aggressive. Could turn out well for us.

Sabol can definitely shoot the ball and is it a bad idea to see boldin handle the ball more and be aggressive on offense more often (feel like he has been deferring, every now and then gives a look in his eyes ike it's easier for him to do it himself)

[Chet]

11 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

I think they are raw, talented and aggressive. Could turn out well for us.

That's the half glass full approach I need. 

[UBinMD]

29 minutes ago, Chet said:

That's the half glass full approach I need. 

Try on my rose colored glasses. The view is great from here!

[MuchMany]

I was happy to see all of the freshmen get minutes today. I like Bryson Wilson and Sabol looked much more comfortable.

The offense is SO stagnant, kind of crazy. Not having a PG might have something to do with that.

Gonna be a tough year for fans who can't find silver linings.

(I almost made a seated shot from courtside with a loose ball during a timeout. Ref was not happy with me, but I had to make my own fun at a game like that.)

[Ubbullsfan09]

Is anyone else shocked at how poor roster construction was this year? There’s a laughable lack of depth on this team (although it doesn’t help that Graham is ineligible. Hopefully Halcovage can workout the kinks next recruiting cycle in the off-season and hopefully he doesn’t lose the faith of the players this year and they transfer out 

Edited November 11, 2023 by Ubbullsfan09

[Tee4three]

With the the next game being Roberts Wesleyan UB has a chance to re start the season

First couple games get an idea of game play, this next one use the guys you plan to use, then attack the games following as if it's a new season 

[UB Horns Up]

I will tell it like it is. George Halcovage has a young team. Mark Schmidt lost to Canisius today who are much improved because Reggie Witherspoon is on the last year of his contract. There are no Canisius University contracts for Reggie Witherspoon if he doesn’t win. Anyway  back to Mark Schmidt he did an interview with Andy Katz of ESPN for the Barclays Center classic in Brooklyn. He said quote you can’t win today in college basketball with transfer portal without older players and NIL. He said quote at St Bonaventure Bonnies we have some NIL we do our best with our 30,000 St Bonaventure alums. 

Put aside today St Bonaventure has a very good basketball team made up of older players and NIL money. Now UB Bulls basketball why do you UB alums/fans think George Halcovage went all young players when you need older players to win in college basketball now? I am not blaming George Halcovage he had no choice because UB went cheap on a head coach hence why he is here and UB high end donors in the position of influence for the most part the money alums at UB feel facilities will get the recruits without NIL. Again is that George Halcovage fault? No it’s fundamentally UB alums with influence that have power inside UB athletics needs to reevaluate their stance on NIL.

You can see UB football and UB basketball is slowly year by year losing actual ticket buying season tickets fans. Some of it can’t be helped my case my health after 30 plus years of UB football and UB basketball season tickets. I am no longer able to attend games because my health. So there is that then there is some Buffalo fans that don’t believe in what UB athletics is delivering because UB athletics oversold big time athletics. Buffalo fans think Power 4 athletics not Group of 5 athletics. UB is paying for damage of over selling and not fixing UB stadium removing the track upgrading the video board, sound system and not matching coaches salaries. The Buffalo fans see Bobby Hurley, Nate Oats and Lance Leipold successful nationally and think that should be UB Bulls head coaches. UB isn’t serious about big time athletics. If UB was honest from day one UB is a MAC level athletics program. Instead of this New York Public Power House crap over reaching with big time athletics maybe there wouldn’t be a trust issue with UB and athletics. Try telling and selling the truth it could go a long way winning Western New York fans over overtime. UB tickets for the stadium experience are way over priced for single game tickets. Having one day for flash back tickets prices isn’t going to get it done. UB tickets should be $5 everywhere single game tickets to build up a UB fan base in Western New York for all the football and basketball games. Major reevaluations are needed with UB athletics before I blame George Halcovage transfer portal and NIL is the way it is now in my opinion. UB Horns Up! Go Bulls! Let’s Go Buffalo 

[yussi1870]

1 hour ago, Ubbullsfan09 said:

Is anyone else shocked at how poor roster construction was this year? There’s a laughable lack of depth on this team (although it doesn’t help that Graham is ineligible. Hopefully Halcovage can workout the kinks next recruiting cycle in the off-season and hopefully he doesn’t lose the faith of the players this year and they transfer out 

I got the sense coach had no intention playing today’s game to win. He purposefully kept his highest scorer from the last game out almost the entire first half. He’s experimenting with the team, getting to know them for conference play. Watch for a completely different approach to Wednesday’s game too.

[MKBullsfan]

This season will basically be a glorified scrimmage. Year 2 will be the year that we can be a bit more critical. That’s my take. 

Edited November 12, 2023 by MKBullsfan

[skrabukes]

17 minutes ago, yussi1870 said:

I got the sense coach had no intention playing today’s game to win. He purposefully kept his highest scorer from the last game out almost the entire first half. He’s experimenting with the team, getting to know them for conference play. Watch for a completely different approach to Wednesday’s game too.

Adams had 2 early fouls. To think that a coach would not be trying to win is ridiculous at best. While the game sucked, in pretty much every way, there's no way they weren't trying to win.

Sadly, after Monday's extremely entertaining game, I got my hopes up for another one, but was unfortunately put back in my place while watching this snoozer. The 2nd half felt like the late 90s/early 2000s UB teams where they had already lost the game, down a ton and then ran wild all over the place and tightened the game a little, making it look at least slightly respectable. I dread the thought of being back to those days, but unfortunately here we are. This South Alabama team was not a strong one, but we made them look good with some very sloppy play and a few of our top players really having an off day. It was nice to see some of the younger guys get in the game, but they have a long way to go before being ready to compete with the middle and up MAC teams in a month or so. Sadly, once they develop, who knows if they'll still be here, or go the same route as Skogman, Jones, Jack and others.

The women's team didn't fare any better in their game today. UB went 0-2 in this conference challenge. We are way, way closer to the 25 years ago teams on both sides, than the last 10 year's versions. I wish Calvin Cage could suit up. He has the fire on the bench and surely could still knock those 3's down.

Back to the arena in a couple of days. We'll see what happens.

[DocCas86]

Personally, I am trying to remain optimistic that players develop so that we have a core to build upon for next year. 

First, I have seen glimpses from the freshmen...and players who have played little prior to this year.  If a few develop to be more consistent secondary contributors as year goes on, it will make things a bit easier for Chatman and Adams, possibly allowing them to be more consistent.

Turnovers were to be expected, so hoping this stat improves as year goes on.

Lastly, the team needs to find a way to play better defense.

Still focusing on the long game.

[Ubbulls84]

Going to be a long year. The biggest problem to me is the defense. They were slow on switches and just soft with physicality, it’s going to be a big problem, especially when it comes to Mac play. They really don’t have a legit rim protector either, Smith did not play any factor yesterday. They showed some promising signs the last 5 minutes of game but was too late at that point. Also can’t afford Isiah Adams to be a no show like he was yesterday. I like Sabol, kid can shoot the rock, just has to work to get tougher on defensive side of ball otherwise teams will try and isolate him. 

[Chet]

14 hours ago, skrabukes said:

Adams had 2 early fouls. To think that a coach would not be trying to win is ridiculous at best. While the game sucked, in pretty much every way, there's no way they weren't trying to win.

Sadly, after Monday's extremely entertaining game, I got my hopes up for another one, but was unfortunately put back in my place while watching this snoozer. The 2nd half felt like the late 90s/early 2000s UB teams where they had already lost the game, down a ton and then ran wild all over the place and tightened the game a little, making it look at least slightly respectable. I dread the thought of being back to those days, but unfortunately here we are. This South Alabama team was not a strong one, but we made them look good with some very sloppy play and a few of our top players really having an off day. It was nice to see some of the younger guys get in the game, but they have a long way to go before being ready to compete with the middle and up MAC teams in a month or so. Sadly, once they develop, who knows if they'll still be here, or go the same route as Skogman, Jones, Jack and others.

The women's team didn't fare any better in their game today. UB went 0-2 in this conference challenge. We are way, way closer to the 25 years ago teams on both sides, than the last 10 year's versions. I wish Calvin Cage could suit up. He has the fire on the bench and surely could still knock those 3's down.

Back to the arena in a couple of days. We'll see what happens.

Spot on per usual.

[ChubbyHubby]

I like that GH3 went to a deeper bench.  I don't claim to know if that was out of need, or if it was to get a look at what players looked like in actual game situations.  To me, it seems like we tend toward playground ball on offense, rather than team ball.  We started to make up some ground late in the second half when we started to press.  By then it was too little, too late.  It's too early for me to draw any conclusions on the team at this point, but it's sure an ominous start to the season.  Hopefully things will gel before MAC play.

[UBinMD]

This may have been one of the worst weeks in UB Division 1 athletic history.

Football loses at home to Ohio

MBB loses 2 (FDU and South Alabama)

WBB loses to ODU (credit for beating Canisius)

Wrestling loses both dual meets at the Journeyman

Volleyball gets swept at Bowling Green

Swimming gets destroyed by Miami (OH)

Edited November 13, 2023 by UBinMD

[UB92]

On 11/11/2023 at 8:20 PM, yussi1870 said:

I got the sense coach had no intention playing today’s game to win. He purposefully kept his highest scorer from the last game out almost the entire first half. He’s experimenting with the team, getting to know them for conference play. Watch for a completely different approach to Wednesday’s game too.

This is an interesting take.

You have to figure that he has had many conversations with Jay Wright.   Wright was the slow-and-steady type in his first head gig (at Hofstra).  I don't know enough about Wright's style to have any insights -- maybe someone can dig up something on that.   But I think the message of "figure out what you have" in the OOC schedule is probably good advice...at the potential detriment of some losses.  

 

Massey is more optomistic than I would have thought...and has UB winning 7 of their next 11 games. https://masseyratings.com/cb2024/979

[Bluebird96]

3 hours ago, UB92 said:

Massey is more optomistic than I would have thought...and has UB winning 7 of their next 11 games. https://masseyratings.com/cb2024/979

In these next 11 games, Massey has UB losing by just 5-10 pts on the road vs three Top 100 teams (JMU, Butler, Richmond) and winning by 1 at home vs St Bona (178) and WKU (147).  I think we’d all be satisfied with those outcomes and a 7-6 record heading into MAC play, but it does seem a bit overly optimistic based on what we’ve seen so far.  

[DocCas86]

11 hours ago, Bluebird96 said:

In these next 11 games, Massey has UB losing by just 5-10 pts on the road vs three Top 100 teams (JMU, Butler, Richmond) and winning by 1 at home vs St Bona (178) and WKU (147).  I think we’d all be satisfied with those outcomes and a 7-6 record heading into MAC play, but it does seem a bit overly optimistic based on what we’ve seen so far.  

Seems like something is off.  Barttorvik makes a little more sense

Although MOH will have Mirambeaux back so that one may be in jeopardy.

Edited November 14, 2023 by DocCas86

[bullsbball]

On 11/11/2023 at 8:48 PM, skrabukes said:

Adams had 2 early fouls. To think that a coach would not be trying to win is ridiculous at best. While the game sucked, in pretty much every way, there's no way they weren't trying to win.

Adams just wasn't on his game early.  

He actually had two early turnovers. Then had his first foul at the 4.5 minute mark. Then sat out 3 minutes. Played only 45 seconds and then got his second foul at 8.5 minute mark when he was subbed out until 3 minute mark in the first half.

Hard to get in a rhythm when you're only playing a few minutes at a time.

Nice to see the deeper bench. Also nice to see an actual point guard carry the ball up the court.

[Bluebird96]

58 minutes ago, DocCas86 said:

Seems like something is off.  Barttorvik makes a little more sense

Although MOH will have Mirambeax back so that one may be in jeopardy.

Yes, this seems a bit more realistic for the OOC games (3-7 including the 2 games already played), then a 3-0 MAC start which might be a stretch.

My expectations for this season remain low with the hope being that the team shows steady improvement and they overachieve 

[DocCas86]

9 hours ago, Bluebird96 said:

Yes, this seems a bit more realistic for the OOC games (3-7 including the 2 games already played), then a 3-0 MAC start which might be a stretch.

My expectations for this season remain low with the hope being that the team shows steady improvement and they overachieve 

My expectations heading into the season were not high, but were a little more optimistic than most, 8 wins in MAC and a trip to Cleveland.  

That said, I agree with you, the focus is how the team develops throughout the year.

UB will likely have Adams, Smith and Graham next season. If 2 or 3 of the other players develop to where they are solid contributors, and they add a couple of transfers, you could have a competitive team next year.  Of course this is easier said than done.

[clodney]

On 11/11/2023 at 5:22 PM, enrique14150 said:

The price of winning in the MAC is starting over.  If it was easy to keep replacing coaches and stay good, everyone would do it.  We're paying the piper right now.

Agreed. The price of winning or losing in the MAC is starting over with a new coach. Why don't the same rules apply to the Athletic Director?