MBB vs St Bonaventure. Sat Dec 2 @2:00pm

[enrique14150]

I didn't like this (I never like losing to Little Three teams) but I don't hate it as much as I expected to.  They lost but weren't humiliated.  The bar is that low right now.

Early on we said, "all Bona needs to do is feed it inside to #32, UB has no one to match up with him." It took a little while but they did, and he had a game.  Interestingly they started Zakir and Jo Smith came off the bench.  Hit some three's, and this game is closer.  As another poster noted, they had a chance second half to make it a game but Fulcher missed both free throws and then they turned it over. I thought they played better second half, they did better on defense (it would've been harder to do worse than they looked a couple weeks ago), rebounds were pretty even despite Bona having a big size advantage inside (UB was doing better today at getting position).  Funny thing was, nothing was going from outside (a team like UB HAS to hit outside shots, they're not built to play half-court basketball and work it inside), but they were getting most of their baskets inside today.  They had some fight in them and they play hard to the end.  Some signs of progress I guess.

Chatman - he's trying to be a go-to guy.  Finished off some dunks second half.  I like when he plays with some confidence.
Smith - had a nice stretch of play but then he couldn't keep going with that shoulder.  I say time and again, he doesn't act big. When he does, good things happen for him. He tries really hard. Drained a couple long jumpers first half when UB needed something to happen.
Sabol - he's a freshman, consistent performances are not in the cards yet.  Nothing was dropping for him.
Fulcher - just does some dumb things, which negates his speed.

Bona - #32 isn't actually that good, it's just that UB has no one to match up with players like that.  They're going to get steamrolled this season by those kind of guys.  I thought they got sloppy in the second half and it let UB kinda sorta not really hang around.  

Crowd - are the kids on break already?  Or is it just a Saturday afternoon, it's raining, the team stinks and everyone's still hungover from last night?  The Bona fans were quiet.  Except I got to my seat (usually all the people around us are fellow season ticket holders), and two Bona guys were in front of me.  One immediately told me how lame this was, and the other told me how pathetic our athletic program is.  The first guy then spent the whole game picking his nose.  (I don't have anything complimentary to say about Bonaventure but I also wouldn't say it to a Bona person's face in their arena and expect them to somehow agree with it, that seems...rude.)  Typical for Bona fans - but way better than the guy years ago behind me who kept yelling homophobic slurs at UB, the fans, and players.  I still don't know what a "Bonnie" is.

Let me get this straight, they didn't get rid of the awful DJ's, they decided to make one of them the emcee out there?  Congrats, you figured out a way to somehow make it worse.

I know this is a complete tear-down rebuilding year - but please salvage some pride and beat Niagara.

Edited December 2, 2023 by enrique14150

[Tee4three]

First time all season in my opinion they actually made a couple runs, where they drove play and not because the other team was missing shots/making unnecessary mistakes

I'll make the prediction now, they beat western Kentucky next Saturday 

Also in regards to less students today - it's Santa con in buffalo today imagine many students participated in that today in downtown 

Edited December 2, 2023 by Tee4three

[rma]

29 minutes ago, enrique14150 said:

Except I got to my seat (usually all the people around us are fellow season ticket holders), and two Bona guys were in front of me. 

Some Bonnies fans sat in the seats next to me where the STHs that normally sit there have had those seats for a decade. STHs got there a little late and shooed the Bonnies off to the 300's where they belong.

Lack of students there sucked, especially for a student tee shirt giveaway day. Some aspects of in arena production seems to have gone downhill. Mics off, media timeouts completely mishandled. I do appreciate the ability to use a credit card at the concession stands and see replays on our video board.

[Buffalobonnie]

Hi guys. Didn't want you to think I had forgotten you. Not much to say, I will come back if/when you are competitive again. No need to pile on. 

[DocCas86]

2 hours ago, rma said:

Yes, injured.

Has anyone heard of any ETA for Adams to return to the lineup?

[DaBulls99]

9 minutes ago, DocCas86 said:

Has anyone heard of any ETA for Adams to return to the lineup?

On the postgame radio show they said Adams was on the court at the time without any limitations or visible limping so sounds like he’s close

[UBinMD]

1 hour ago, Buffalobonnie said:

Hi guys. Didn't want you to think I had forgotten you. Not much to say, I will come back if/when you are competitive again. No need to pile on. 

So you’re an asshole, got it.

[DocCas86]

15 minutes ago, DaBulls99 said:

On the postgame radio show they said Adams was on the court at the time without any limitations or visible limping so sounds like he’s close

It will be good if he can get into a few games prior to MAC play.

[DocCas86]

5 hours ago, DocCas86 said:

Here is box plus / minus by player and minutes / starting lineup.

It is worth noting that nearly 58% of the minutes played in past couple of games were by players who have a total of 66 minutes of experience playing at a D1 level prior to this season.   

Imagine if you will that you had a team where you had Segu and Graves as freshman and Caruthers first year, all playing 30 plus minutes, much in the way Fulcher, Sabol and Boldin are for this team.  If you look at the stats for the first three they would average six turnovers a game playing 30 minutes (note that this does not adjust for fact that Segu and Graves minutes were limited and likely not against starters.)  This is similar to numbers for the latter 3.  So I would submit, that theoretical team would be struggling to win as well.

Now my point is not that Fulcher, Sabol and Boldin will go on to match stats of these previous players.  It is merely to point out that the youth and inexperience of these players is a big contributing factor to their performance so far.  Also, I think it is hard to judge Halcovage as a coach under these circumstances especially  in just eight games.

Halcovage's inability to (decision not to?) land one or two transfers is a miss in my opinion.  However, if he had added say Panzo and Gordon, and the team was ranked in low 200s, we may feel better as fans, but would that definitively mean years 2 and 3 would be better.  I don't know.

So as the say, patience is a virtue.

Edited December 3, 2023 by DocCas86

[MuchMany]

16 hours ago, Buffalobonnie said:

Hi guys. Didn't want you to think I had forgotten you. Not much to say, I will come back if/when you are competitive again. No need to pile on. 

🤡

Edited December 3, 2023 by MuchMany

[Blue03]

Love how the Bonnies fans act like this was a huge win. We’re in a complete program rebuild with nothing to play for, and they almost let us back in the game several times. I wouldn’t be celebrating this like the biggest rival win ever, it’s a year of hiatus. Fans are way too rabid and obsessive for a team in the Atlantic 10. Come back and talk when your school gets a football team and doesn’t suck at academics

[rma]

7 minutes ago, Blue03 said:

I wouldn’t be celebrating this like the biggest rival win ever

A lot of their fans don't consider UB as a rival. They consider Niagara and Canisius as rivals because they've had longer history with those schools. Unfortunately for them, they're 0-3 this year against those two schools in basketball this year, with a men's basketball game against Niagara their only chance to avoid the sweep. To be fair their women's basketball team is in a complete rebuild as well, and lost one of their important freshman commitments to UB.

I appreciate their dedication to men's basketball though. Mark Schmidt is being paid somewhere around $1.8 million per year now, and their next highest paid coach (as of 2021, latest data available) is their now-fired women's basketball coach who made ~$182k. Schmidt makes 6x what their (2021 interim) university president did (UB comparison: $800k Tripathi, $675k Linguist, $425k GH3, $250k Burke). Pretty much all of their school's athletic resources go to men's basketball and yet they've had similar recent (i.e. post 1970's) success as UB in terms of making the NCAA tournament and winning conference championships. Head to head in the non-men's basketball sports that both schools compete in, you'd find the "rivalry" is pretty lopsided, especially in recent years.

I applaud the Bonnies in their win. They've invested so much into that program that it's good to see their money hasn't been completely wasted.

[John]

14 hours ago, DocCas86 said:

It will be good if he can get into a few games prior to MAC play.

Adams was out on the court after the game shooting. Did not seem to be laboring but not really jumping out of his socks when shooting. So maybe a good sign but before the injury his shooting was terrible. Another body in the rotation can help I hope.

[yussi1870]

6 hours ago, rma said:

Mark Schmidt is being paid somewhere around $1.8 million per year now

Imagine making 1.8M in Olean? Man must live like a king there

[yussi1870]

On 12/2/2023 at 6:01 PM, enrique14150 said:

Chatman - he's trying to be a go-to guy.  Finished off some dunks second half.  I like when he plays with some confidence.

Sabol - he's a freshman, consistent performances are not in the cards yet.  Nothing was dropping for him.

Chatman:  He has a ton of potential but doesn’t work hard enough. He has his moments but I also see him holding back for some reason. And he needs to stop playing with his damn mouth guard.

Sabol:  this kid works hard all game. Ton of motivation. I think he has the skills but is young and I get the sense he’ll work hard round the clock to get there 

[clodney]

I'd rather suck at basketball than have a degree from St Bonaventure.

[Blue03]

10 hours ago, clodney said:

I'd rather suck at basketball than have a degree from St Bonaventure.

My favorite part is the bona students that wear basketball uniforms to games that are 10 sizes too big like it’s an nba team.