Surprised they ate the cash as well but judging by the score differential down the stretch...looks like a player mutiny to me. They need to throw everything at Hodgson to bring him back. It should have been the hire from the get go when Oats left.

Disagree. Toledo a much better job. Ohio might even be a better job. Buffaloans care about 1.) Bills, 2.) Sabres, 3.) Beer/wings

The population of Buffalo, the fact that they're increasingly seen as the best state school in a large state, give Buffalo a lot of upside. They'll likely be the next MAC school to move into a bigger conference.

Believe me, I am aware of that. It clearly mattered to the people making those moves because they were often going over more successful departments. CLEARLY, the perception that it mattered to success was out there as I was saying. But if it mattered so much then why weren't they already more successful?

Populations of Buffalo and Toledo are about the same. Toledoans highly vested in UT. Not true of UB.

Yes, wins and losses were the primary thing I was speaking of. And, yes, it is obvious that if you play in a higher profile conference your attendance increases. And it is obvious that higher profile conferences consider marker in who they want to add to their conference. But what, to me, is not obvious is that being in a bigger market, among schools that are currently in approximately in the same profile of conference have over the past few decades been helped by their market in trying to field winners. Nor, and I have loosely paid attention to this when going though scores, that if two schools are in the same profile conference and are having fairly even teams, that the school in the larger market will likely draw more in attendance. I have not noticed that as a thing that happens.

Now, I would be the first to say that even though I have intentionally paid attention to this in the past that getting data to make decisions this way is a good way to study such issues. To know if that is true would take a much more rigorously designed study than one guy just perusing in his leisure time. I also can't speak hardly at all to TV ratings with schools and teams in similar circumstances.

Also, even if it doesn't help you win or draw well while in are in a lesser conference is the proof that a large market DOES relatively help once you are in a high profile conference. That could also be true. My instinct tells me that there isn't a lot of evidence that that is true either. If you want to tell me that there ARE rigorous studies that show that show that conferences have good evidence that taking big market schools will help them succeed once they move relative to a small market and that causality ISN'T the other way that larger markets are succeeding more lately simply because they are more likely to move up then I'll believe you because I don't know myself of rigorously accrued data on this.

Wait, what?

Gotcha. I look at UB Fan on occasion and they soured on him quickly.

Buffalo beat Arizona and Arizona State in NCAA tourney during Oats last two years.

The Rick Majerus led Ball State Cardinals went to the Sweet 16 in 1990. They lost by two points to eventual champion UNLV whose next closest win was by nine against Georgia Tech. UNLV “curb stomped” a name-laden Duke team in the championship game.

Half the problem is everything else has become so lousy. A10 and MVC only had 1 representative each this year (#12 VCU, #12 Drake). A10 has 15 teams to split the revenue and MVC has 12. Horizon League supplied a #16 with Northern Kentucky.

AAC has #1 Houston & #8 Memphis but Houston is leaving. To replace #9 Florida Atlantic is joining to keep it a 2 bid league for 14 teams. But the AAC is so expensive to compete in and doesn't compensate enough.

P5 is stupid now too with UCLA and Maryland in the same conference. BYU and West Virginia in the same conference. Too large and no path to win the conference unless a blueblood program. The ACC is relatively normal but Buffalo isn't going there with Syracuse in it.

MAC basketball is like splitting 1 bid four ways because its Kent, Akron, Buffalo and Ohio earning that bid every year. Toledo for all its competitiveness hasn't done it once. If I'm Buffalo do I see it as a situation where I can be in the mix every year for a bid as OU by having some advantages in the MAC? Ability to travel big to the conference tournament. I watched the that title game between Kent and Toledo and looked great on TV.