In reading this thread I was curious to see what is going on in Buffalo. I went over to read their message board and found this lengthy jab and parry. Kind of more than I thought I would find on a Bulls message board for some reason. At the end of the reply was a link to an article running down another MAC program. In the answer I see a problem. Everyone thinks they are the next Butler, Gonzaga or whomever else we hold to be the newly established model to follow. Why don't we just go win and establish the program. For those who have nothing better to do I cut and pasted the verbal parry
https://ubfan.com/bb/index.php?/topic/922-jim-whitesell/p... " On 3/24/2021 at 10:55 AM, skrabukes said:
Continuously knocking everyone isn't the way I work or how I'd ever want any colleague or staffer to work. I want nothing more than to see UB excel, which is why I've always donated and attended every game, even in the cellar dwelling days of old. I just simply can't see how you or anyone can sit there and just rarely have anything positive to say. Again, that's your choice, but I won't see it that way. You say it's because you "have high standards". If your standard is 90% MAC wins and a lock for winning in Cleveland, than you're delusional. If you're standard is 70% +/- MAC wins and in contention year in and year out in Cleveland, than I'm fully on board. Of course we want the first, but it hasn't ever happened in MAC history before.
RESPONSE
Hate to beat a dead horse, but I can't resist the debate. Plus I'm on vacation and my 2 year old is napping, so I'll unload my thoughts in stream of consciousness fashion while I have this window and beg forgiveness from the UB fandom for a long post.
You're right in the sense that this year wasn't a total loss. 2 seed, MAC finals, postseason birth in a meaningful tournament (NIT). Whitesell was brought on, seemingly, for a sense of continuity. He preserved what was left of the returning core from the Oats era- which, in the modern day (800+ names in the portal already this season, up from 430ish at this time last year) is an accomplishment in and of itself. Clearly he has better buy in from people more important to the success of this team (our student athletes) than from message board posters like me.
But there has to be room for criticism on a fan site. We had every advantage after Oats departure (returning core, name recognition allowing us to compete at our highest level ever for recruits, continuity in coaching) and did not capitalize as many of us had hoped. A lot of the frustration I sense on this board (and personally feel) is that we performed as less than the sum of our parts for the first part of the season. And the complaints were loudest this year at a point where we sat 4-4 in conference with several home losses. Many of those losses included complete no-show halves that put us in a near hopeless position to capture a W. When looking at our roster and realizing that we had a surging junior class complete with Williams (numbers similar to CJ), Mballa, and Segu and the return of an all conference player in Graves these results were a massive disappointment. When coupled with NCAA sanctions and two violent crimes committed by members of our roster at the open of fall semester, I think open complaints about the our coach and state of the program weren't just understandable but well earned. I guess where I'm going with this- as I made at least a few comments damning Whitesell- is that every comment the anti-Whitesell crowd is making isn't negative, and that this staff and team earned some of the condemnation thrown its way.
What's more, fair or not, once the level of expectations have been raised simple wins don't garner a similar level of compliments (which I believe you asked for in prior posts). My mother is a stern Scottish woman, and she was a teacher. When I brought home a 99, she replied: "What did you miss?." If I brought home a 93, she asked: "Oh, no. What went wrong?" And she describes the best meal of her life as: "not too bad." Around here, given our recent track record, racking up wins is expected- again, many of us feel our roster, given its intermittently oustanding play and pedigree, should be doing so regularly against MAC competition. Doing so isn't deserving of flowery praise- its the baseline expectation if we want to uplift this program to new heights. And even if we did steamroll, that would be our 99: What did we miss? What can we improve upon?
Can a season's success or failure can be captured in binary terms. Probably not. We surged. The staff and players deserve credit for turning our season around in the face of adversity. We ran out of gas against a rested and hot team in the MAC finals and lost a tightly contested NIT game against a team who was likely one win away from an at large berth. That said, I won't classify this as an unmitigated success, either. Our goal, year in and year out, is to win the MAC and make the NCAA tournament. I'm happy with 70% MAC wins and being in contention year in/year out. I remember the dark days, too. I'm not happy, anymore, if some of those seasons don't end with televised games on CBS/TNT/TBS in far flung cities. I think results, namely NCAA tournament appearances, matter, and should be how our coaches are measured moving forward. I don't want to be Kent St. I want to be Butler.
Is it fair to fire a man after a slightly above average season year 1 and improvement and MAC tournament final year 2? No. But if he keeps this core intact and can't bring us back next year, I don't see him doing it at UB. We have big holes to fill next year, and haven't had any semblance of consistent outside shooting as a team for two years, but with a few roster moves (PG, SG, perimeter defender to take on the likes of Jason Preston) should be right back at the table with a chance to dance. I think JW has earned the right to do so. I'll cheer for this team every step of the way. I hope he brings home a title. I've been wrong about our coaches plenty of times: I defended RW even after his dismissal (clean program, new heights I feared losing with change), dismissed Hurley just before our surge (big name and poor results when 6-6 mid way through season of first NCAA trip), questioned why we would follow Hurley with a high school coach (whoops?). I was wrong on every count. I hope I'm wrong on this one, too. Maybe I should argue more vehemently against him to ensure our success next year.
Also- side note- lets hope we never sink to this level:
https://www.thestarpress.com/story/sports/college/ball-st... "