The Future of UB Basketball

The Bulls are entering the last MAC Tournament that Javon McCrea will ever play. It will also be the last go around for Jarod Oldham, Corey Raley-Ross, Auraum Nuiriankh, and Joshua Freelove. So this begs the question, who is going to replace all of these guys?

For the most part it will be Will Regan, Justin Moss, Shannon Evans, and other players already on the roster. After that however there is a big opening for the next big 6th man for Buffalo to come off the bench and make a difference.

This season it was MAC All Freshman player Shannon Evans next year perhaps Bobby Hurley has another all conference freshman lined up.

Lamonte Bearden, Mory Diane, Bobby Frasco, Ikenna Smart, and JUCO transfer Raheem Johnson will all be new faces for the Bulls next season. Of all the names perhaps Bearden stands out the most.

Back when Hurley took over the Bulls, the four star recruit out of Germantown, WI was high up on his radar. At the time he committed back in September, Bearden was sitting on offers from Milwaukee, Green Bay, North Dakota State, Oregon State and South Dakota State. He was also getting interest from San Francisco and St. Louis.

The star point guard saw Hurley, and his experience, as too good to pass up. "That was one of the reason I committed," Bearden said. "He was a good point guard. I think he can help me develop into a better point guard.".

Scout ranks Bearden as the number 22 overall point guard in the 2014 class and Yahoo called the acquisition of Beardon a coup for Bobby Hurley.

In addition to being a dynamic player Beardon is a clutch shooter. Recently he calmly drained two throws with 2.7 seconds left in a tie game to give Germantown the lead during the state playoffs. capping off his team's fourth straight unbeaten run through the North Shore Conference with a 58-56 win.

The Bulls could use that kind of composure late in games, let's see if Beardon can bring that at the college level.