Posts Tagged ‘Coach ‘Spoon’

The Big Picture: Defensively-challenged University of Bulls allow very average Western Michigan side that was coming off a two-game losing streak to shoot 60% from the field on their way to a 85-70 rout of UB. The loss, Buffalo’s third in their last four games, has the Bulls back in the middle of [...]

Fear the Roo my ass!
Sunday’s rematch of the 2009 MAC tournament final represents the Buffalo Bulls first chance to gain a measure of redemption for their 65-53 loss to the Zips in Clevo. Put simply, this is THE statement game for Coach ‘Spoon’s squad in January.
Rodney Pierce and Co. are 5-1 in [...]

The Big Picture: Buffalo overcomes start of game siesta and countless ineffectual stretches on offense to overcome what seems to be a decent Army

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Jonas Jerebko, the 6-9 Swedish forward Detroit took with the 39th pick, was this close to hooping it up for my UB Bulls. He had actually signed a letter of intent to play for Buffalo, but backed out on after blowing up in some European hoops tournament the same summer he signed the letter. [...]

Have to admit I was pretty giddy about getting to see my Bulls play at Wichita State in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational tonight. A lot of the giddiness had to do with the fact the game was going to be shown on HDNet, which meant that not only would I [...]

After having a few days to reflect on my UB Bulls losing to a hot-shooting Akron side in the MAC championship game Saturday night, I’ve finally realized why this was, as I said in text to a buddy from Buffalo after the game, not that “bad a loss” and “maybe not in the top ten.”
See, [...]

The Big Picture: Bulls (11-5, 19-10) come from behind to knock off Miami (10-6, 17-12) in overtime 70-67 and claim a share of the MAC East regular season title and the all important MAC Tournament first round bye. Unfortunately and not surprisingly, Ohio (7-9, 14-16) did Buffalo no favors today, running for the [...]

The Big Picture: Wow! I still can’t believe this. Buffalo (10-4, 18-9) erases a 10-point deficit in the final three minutes of the game to beat Ohio (7-7, 14-14) 68-66 and remain in the hunt for the MAC East title and number one seed in the MAC. It was an epic [...]

A 9-0 burst by Rodney Pierce has helped the Bulls close the gap to five points, 30-25, at the half.
Given that Pierce was en fuego like a bowl of phaal the half came at a bad time for Buffalo. However, the fact is that Buffalo (probably) can’t win beat the Zips if Hot Rod [...]

The Big Picture: Bulls (17-8, 9-3) fall 78-70 to Vermont in Bracket Buster scrap played at Burlington. Buffalo got off to a hot start, taking a 13-point lead in the opening minutes before hitting a stretch so cold that Admiral Peary couldn’t have navigated it. While the late game comeback was nice, [...]

The Big Picture: Bewildered, befuddled, and undone by Bowling Green’s 2-3 zone defense, a frigid Buffalo Bulls (9-3, 17-7) squad loses it’s second MAC game in a row, falling to the Falcons (8-4, 15-10) 59-48. This being the fifth time in six games that UB was held to less than 60 points, I’d [...]

Buffalo’s nine-game winning streak ground to a halt in Muncie today, as Ball State held off the Bulls 53-51 in a low-scoring, MAC dogfight. This was just one of those games where the Bulls weren’t able to survive a rare off game from Rodney Pierce, nor overcome missed freebies and missed blockouts down the [...]

The Big Picture: Bulls improve to 9-1 in the MAC (17-5 overall) by putting the defensive clamps on Eastern Michigan (1-9, 3-21) to win 58-49 at Ypsilanti. While beating an Eagles squad that’s been pretty terrible all season wouldn’t normally be that big a deal, but with both Miami (7-3, 14-8) and Ohio [...]

So said Coach ‘Spoon in his post-game interview with WECK-1230 AM’s voice of the UB Bulls, Josh Wetzel. More on that later, though. Let’s get to the NFABJ breakdown.
The Big Picture: Bulls emerge triumphant in seesaw shootout with Western Michigan at The ‘Zoo, winning 74-71. Tonight’s win, a battle of teams [...]

Well, sort of.
The Bulls, in what can be called a “statement game” — and even a must-win if coach ‘Spoon’s squad is serious about contending for the MAC title this season — in the MAC are leading Kent State 28-23 at the half, which is good. What isn’t good is that Buffalo’s lead should [...]

The Big Picture: Bulls return from two week break proves to be successful, as UB beat UNC-Asheville, 71-52. While nobody’s going to mistake the Bulldogs for a college hoops power, Eddie Biedenbach’s squad has played a tough non-league slates — 26th toughest according to TeamRankings.Com — and they have a slew of guys [...]

It doesn’t get much better than the 50-point second half, which included a 14-0 spurt by the Bulls that helped them turn a 56-44 deficit into a 58-56 lead. Sparking that 50-point second stanza was Coach ‘Spoon’s decision to go with a four guard lineup that forced Temple into a decision: Go small to run with the Bulls or go big and try to push them around. Owls’ coach Fran Dunphy decided to go big, and the result was that UB, led by the tremendous all-around play of Calvin Betts (a career high 18 points and 7 boards) and Greg Gamble (15 points, 3 dimes, 7-of-10 freebies) was able to repeatedly breakdown Temple’s D to find (and make) open shots.

A lack of interior toughness may have done the Bulls in tonight, but the problems are deeper and more expansive than that. However, the frontcourt’s playing with more determination and intensity would be a welcome first step in getting ready for the always rugged, and always physical MAC. And getting ready for MAC play is really what the next nine games are all about.

So, yeah, three games into the 2008-09 college hoops season, I can honestly say that I don’t expect too much from this edition of my UB Bulls. But it’s only three games so there’s plenty of time for the Greg Gamble and Company to change my mind.

Things don’t look too good right now, but it’s only three games. It’s only three games. It’s only three games…

All in all, there isn’t too much to complain about in Buffalo’s season-opening 70-62 win at Youngstown State last night. (As an aside, not only did the Bulls cover like we said they would, but our prediction of a 68-61 UB win was just about spot on) Junior forward Calvin Betts was a beast on the boards, hauling down 13 boards, as the Bulls dominated the Penguins on the glass, out-rebounding them 50-39. Rodney Pierce (21 points) hit big shots in the second half to stave off a Youngstown State rally and secure the dubbya for the Bulls, and just about everybody who got burn contributed in some way to the win.

If one is to judge by men’s hoops website on UBAthletics.Com, expectations and enthusiasm are at just about the lowest point they’ve been in several seasons. How is it that the Buffalo Athletic Department hasn’t had anything to say about basketball since September 18, a month before Midnight Madness?!? What a fucking joke!
With [...]

here’s not much happening on UB Fan concerning Reggie Witherspoon’s job security right now. In fact, there’s not much of anything on UB Fan when it comes to hoops right now because the fan base, such as it was, has been demoralized by this team’s complete and utter collapse.

I have to think that Reggie’s job security can’t be good. For the third season in a row, Coach ‘Spoon’s squad has regressed and come undone in league play. The first time Kent State and Buffalo squared up this season, the Bulls played the Golden Flashes really tough before losing 68-63. Now this time, playing on their homecourt, the Bulls got run. Go fucking figure.

More so than any team I’ve seen this season, Billy Taylor’s squad plays like their scholarships are on the line every second of every game. I don’t know that any team competes as hard as Peyton Stovall, Anthony Newell & Company do. Ball State doesn’t back down and they compete for the full 40 minutes.

Just like that streak, which was built on the basis of some cooking at Alumni Arena and pretty poor opponents — two of the wins came against Canisius (4-20) and Evansville (7-16) — this modest two-game winning streak in MAC play can be directly traced to the Bulls playing MAC West sides Northern Illinois (5-17, 2-8) and Eastern Michigan (8-14, 4-6). That being said, in a season when victories have been as rare in MAC play for the Bulls as a sunny 80-degree February day in Buffalo, both wins are big but for different reasons.

Like sitting next to screaming, crying kids on a 20-hour flight, the end to the Bulls’ losing streak is nowhere in sight. Saturday’s disaster at Toledo (6-12, 3-3), a 76-63 loss in a game that was there for Buffalo (6-12, 0-6) to win it, makes it pretty clear that the Coach ‘Spoon’s side is the worst in the MAC.