Who's Talking Bull? 11/10/2010

Basketball Preview Time!

The Men:

MAC Basketball Season Preview: Buffalo Bulls - Hustle Belt Oh my. When plotting the football team (x) against the basketball team (y), Buffalo might take the trophy in plotted point closest to the origin. They graduated six seniors. (!!!) While unremarkable in the fact that a six-senior team couldn't make much headway in the MAC last year, graduating six seniors is basically a rockin' academic accomplishment.

Chemistry Binds Young Team Together - The Spectrum - Sports - As the final seconds ticked off the clock and the realization of defeat crept into the heads of six graduating seniors, it became clear that the Bulls let another opportunity slip through their collective fingers in last year's Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament.

Five Fresh Faces Look to Fill Void - The Spectrum - Sports - The Bulls will replace these six seniors with possibly the best recruiting class since the 2001 group that came within seconds of winning the Mid-American Conference Championship.

Saying "Wats Up" to a New Leader - The Spectrum - Sports - "Being a freshman last year was good for me because I was able to learn a lot," Watson said. "I was able to be picked on in practice and I got better, so this year I'm able to step up and play like more of a junior or senior than a sophomore."

Mulkey’s Time to Shine - The Spectrum - Sports - It's been a long time coming, but Mulkey will once again be a productive member of the basketball team. He is now the team's leader.

The Buffalo News - Clifford out until December - UB sophomore forward Mike Clifford is academically ineligible for the first semester of this season, but should return to the lineup when the Bulls play against BYU on Dec. 30.

And the Women:

Bulls Open Season With 86-48 Exhibition Win - Buffalo Athletics - BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team got its season started on Monday night, defeating Daemen 86-48 in an exhibition game. UB begins its regular season this Friday at home against Howard.

Guards key to improvement at UB - UB Women's Basketball - The Buffalo News - There's no easy way to spin it -- life has been difficult around Buffalo women's basketball. But the Bulls were rarely blown out of games last season. They were outscored on average by only five points per game, often the result of a lack of focus which led to easy points and breakaway runs for opponents. Consider that Buffalo averaged nearly 21 turnovers a game and it's easy to see how talent and good basketball skills lost out to lapses in concentration.

Big 4 women's college basketball preview - Colleges - The Buffalo News - The University at Buffalo has struggled with consistency and injury. Adversity has been the Achilles' heel of the Bulls -- get them into trouble and the players won't know how to handle the change of momentum.

Buffalo Football News:

Bulls' receivers have been hit with a case of the drops - UB Football - The Buffalo News - During last week's 34-17 loss at Ohio University, the Bulls (2-7, 1-4 Mid-American Conference) dropped three potential touchdowns while a fourth drop would have been negated by a penalty. UB coach Jeff Quinn hopes to see improvement when the Bulls host the Cardinals.

Injuries mounting on Ball State's roster - The Ball State Daily News - With a trip to Buffalo looming Friday, Ball State was back in practice Monday afternoon. Coach Stan Parrish knows that after 10 games, his team is worn out.

Other UB Sports:

Bulls Rowing shows consistency in Syracuse - The Spectrum - Sports All Buffalo rowing teams that competed in Saturday's regatta at the Syracuse University Invitational finished within the top 10 of their various classes.

Around The MAC: NIU lays a beat down on Toledo

Huskies Take West Division Lead - MAC-Sports.com—Official Web Site of the Mid-American Conference - Northern Illinois won its seventh straight game and put itself in position to make its first trip to the Mid-American Conference Championship game with a 65-30 victory over Toledo Tuesday on Senior Night at Huskie Stadium. NIU won its ninth straight game at home stretching back to last season.

Northern Illinois 65, Toledo 30: Excessive Decimation - Hustle Belt - You gotta rank the Huskies now, right? This was a dismantling, and even though they gave up 30 points, they all came when the game was well in hand. They've now won seven straight and they don't appear to lose until maybe their bowl game, contingent on the opponent.