Bull94

Buffalo is a good basketball program. Unlike USF, Buffalo did come close contending for a NCAA bid just 18 months ago. Actually, Buffalo came within 0.5 seconds of earning a NCAA Bid in 2005...as they lost the MAC Championship Game by 1 pt on a tip-in with 0.5 secs left. They did earn though a NIT bid...and won their first round game in 2005 as well. The attraction for the USF/Buffalo game should of been could USF pull off the upset? Answer was Yes. Fans might of missed a good game. When you're in a conference with UConn, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Pitt, Marquette, St. Johns and more, and your goal is an upset of Buffalo, you're not going to draw many fans because it means you suck. Most people I know don't enjoy watching bad basketball. I understand the concept of baby steps, but how many baby steps does it take before McCullum's team starts ******* walking? In his three seasons, they've gone 7-20 (1-15), 14-16 (5-11) and 7-22 (1-15). Sure they went to the C-USA semis a couple of years ago (despite a losing record), but they're in a much tougher league now. The school basically cut the basketball program at the knees with the Big East move for the sake of the football program (a good move, I'd say), and now I think McCullum is out of his league. If they go 1-15 in-conference again this year, I think it's time for them to cut their losses and find a guy who can help the team get up to speed. Funny. I think that storied St John's you talk about went 6-21 (1 conference win), 9-18 (3 conference wins), and 12-15 ( 5 conference wins) in the last 3 years. Maybe you were thinking of the mid 80's? I'm sure their fans rallied around the team with losses to Niagara, St Francis, Illinois State, Marist, Hofstra, Fairfield, etc all within the last three years. Not bad for a school with a much larger athletic budget than us and no football program to fund.

Good points Bull94.  I know everyone was very high on Howard at PG so if he can come back from an acl at full steam maybe we will have some hope.  The OCC doesn't look to tough but that can also come back to bite you come selection time.  If you are right we shouldn't have any of those losses like last year to Bethune Cookem or Texas "you can't find this city on a map" university.  Trust me, I am really hoping that the coaches pre-season picks and myself are "way" wrong. Howard is what  concerns me too. I stated that. This season could hinge on how well he comes back. I don't think we have 20 turnovers a game with a true PG in there. We'll have much better scoring options as well. Texas CC had 20 wins last year and lost to Missouri by 1. I guess by that logic we should always look at the worst losses the season before and project them out. Why not look at the Georgetown win and do the same?? Sorry I'm being optimistic about the coming year. Many on here have already given up and we have only played one game. and we won.for some reason they don't think it is realistic for this team to shoot for the NIT. again I wonder why floridasportsfan ridicules the fact that I think we could go to the NIT but when someone believes we can make the conference tourney nobody says anything? I believe every team that made our conference tourney last year was in the NIT or NCAA.

It took 6 wins to make MSG last year so saying we could win 7 is not much more then saying we'll make the conference tourney. Our OOC is pretty weak. I believe anyone who made the conference tourney last year made at least the NIT??? The BE is rebuilding this year. WVU is replacing 5 starters. Rutgers lost a guy that scored 26 a game. New coaches for 3 teams. 18 of top 20 scorers are gone. I think we have improved ourselves dramatically from last year if we get a true PG in place. We should see a much better offense this year with Jesus, Buck, Gransberry, Bozeman and the others. No more going 10+ minutes without scoring. I know we'll miss SoJo. Remember when most on here including beastie, flsportsfan ,etc didn't think he was BE material anyway? He couldn't carry our team offensively. Holmes will easily be replaced by Jesus. Anybody that can play at Arizona as a true freshman can score better then Holmes (no offense to the kid). Gransberry will fill in for SoJo. LSU must have seen something in him. floridasportsfan and beastie must be bitter lonely guys. They never seems to have anything positive to say.

no offense but maybe it's just him. does he realize we have a basketball team? does he know it's college basketball season? If he had any interest he would get one of those handy pocket schedules they distribute at every game. He would put it in his wallet and look at it periodically. maybe read a newspaper or the oracle? Check out the schedule online? Maybe they should mail out personal invitations to all our students for every game?

I'm not basing my expectations on this one game. We have some talented guys that will be with us soon. One played as a true freshman at Arizona and another was on scholarship at LSU. We definitely need a true PG. Without one we will continue to turn the ball over and won't be able to hang in the BE. By the way I bet we lost 50% of our scoring too. It happens to all teams every year. We need three legit scorers. Buckley, Jesus , and one other. A ball handler (Howard hopefully) and some big guys for a little rebounding and D (Williams, Richardson, and Gransberry). If everything comes together, I don't think it's unrealistic to set a goal of a NIT bid. Our schedule sets up pretty good.

So you expect us to go 8-6, 9-5 in our non-conference schedule? yes. not impossible. our ooc schedule is pretty soft. we get 2 top guys back after game 7. I think the NIT is a realistic goal for this team. there will be ups and downs (especially the first 4 conference games) but overall our schedule sets up nice. look for this team to play with a chip on it's shoulder and look for them to suprise some people if things fall into place.

They also have 11 guys back from last year. I think a NIT bid is not an unrealstic goal for this team. Will it happen? I don't know but I believe it is more than possible. Wait until the reinforcements arrive. It would be nice to have a legit PG again. Another scoring threat and a big body to bolster the front line. Mattis would be our 6th man. That guy is instant energy off the bench. of course if we don't get Howard back or somebody doesn't step up to handle the point then all bets are off. turnovers will kill us without a legit pg.

Look for us to win 7 conference games this year and get a NIT bid. Can't wait until the others join the team. I think Jesus and Gransberry will be eligible after game 7. Schedule sets up nice for us this year.

especially after today. florida proved they don't deserve it (again). auburn lost and so did cal. I wonder if the tool corso will argue that a 2 loss SEC team deserves it over an unbeaten BE team? after all a 1 loss SEC team lost to a 4 loss SEC team that must mean the conference is good. right? maybe it's just mediocre! florida better drop like a stone after the stellar showing today.

By getting blown out like Illinois and Ball state did last week, right.  You're not giving BE football enough credit.  Like Kirk Herbstreit said, all the naysayers can now back OFF.  BE teams can hang with anyone in the country.  WVU will probably win against RU at home, but if RU can go into Morgantown and get a win, don't count them out for NC game.  Not saying it will happen, but don't count it out yet.  First they have to get by Cincy which will be no cupcake. Yes because there is no game to look ahead to in the NC game like both squads did last weekend.  That phyiscal Michigan defense would have ripped UL apart, and if Rugters could pass effectivley how you think troy smith, Ginn Jr, and Gonzalez would do?  That same physical Michigan Defense that held the 3-7 Ball State Cardinals to 334 total yards and 26 points??

ding ding ding... this will be apparent especially after WVU knocks off Rutgers in a few weeks.  ding, ding, ding... just like the mediocre SEC where UF barely beats Vandy, UT squeaks out a 1 point win at home vs the almighty air force and the best team in the conference got waxed by a rookie qb in his first start ever by 36 at home. what's funny is the media hypes the SEC so much and everybody buys into it. Maybe the defenses aren't that good in the SEC. maybe it's just their offenses are absolutely putrid. I believe 4-4 air force scored more on UT then any SEC team other than Georgia. In fact that has been the most air force has scored this season until this past week against army.

They looked great against the Ichabods the other night. They went to triple overtime to beat Washburn University by 4. The wildcats were outrebounded and outshot by a Div 2 team that was 10-16 overall and 4-12 in the MIAA conference last year. that's called results. Well that's very interesting and informative. Afterall, we know that a coach's first exhibition game with a brand new team is predictive of future results.  : Maybe it's a reach; but I'm going to forecast that those 5 star recruits next year will help KSU. He has two future NBA players inked to play for him...And to think this happened before he almost lost to the Div II Ichabods.  KSU will be dancing next March. I wish we had to worry about our recruits jumping to the NBA after their freshman year. Walker will be eligible later this year. He had to take classes to graduate because he was ruled ineligible to play his senior year in high school. maybe that was becasue he enrolled as an eigth grader in ohio after playing his freshman year in high school the year before in kentucky. He'll be lucky to be around after the first semester. Of course he dominated in high school. He was a 19 year old junior. he'll be gone before the next guy gets there. If he ever gets there. Apparently you've never heard of a coach bringing in marginal student athletes to make a recruiting class look better than it is. Just ask Leavitt how that works. I think Huggins coaching prowess will translate as well as Bobby Knights did. Yeah it worked in Cincy, a traditional power, but it won't work for long in manhattan just like Knights in Texas.

They looked great against the Ichabods the other night. They went to triple overtime to beat Washburn University by 4. The wildcats were outrebounded and outshot by a Div 2 team that was 10-16 overall and 4-12 in the MIAA conference last year. that's called results.

Joe, I'm not saying that the SEC isn't the best conference this year only that your statement that they shouldn't have to play anybody outside the conference because their conference is so tough is completely false. How do you know if their conference is superior every year if they don't play anybody OOC? Unless every team goes 4-4 in conference, simple math says that there will be 4 top teams in every conference. Bell curve. We automatically assume that the 4 best in the SEC are far superior to every other conference. Why? There are 5 (0,1,2 loss) teams in the ACC too. Yet we assume that conference is terrible. Rankings are completely subjective. Just because Georgia was ranked in the top ten early in the year with one loss doesn't mean they are better than Wake who is barely ranked in the top 20 with one loss this late in the season(fluke loss at that, they should have won that game). The thing is there is such a bias towards the SEC that they get way too much respect when they might not deserve it.And Wake gets no respect because they are a traditional weakling. My buddy and I had this arguement last year concerning basketball. He thought the BE was overrated. In the end he was probably right. The SEC had 2 teams in the final game. The problem is that if they played the NC game based on rankings UF or LSU would not have been anywhere near it. The BE might have been the toughest overall confernece but the top of the SEC was clearly better. Why is a 2 loss LSU ranked 7 spots higher than a 1 loss Wake? They both have 1 win over a top 25 BCS team (LSU barely won that game) and Wake's only loss was a fluke against a team that was in the top 10 at the time(they should have won). In fact I believe LSU was ranked higher before they even had a win vs a top 25 team. Look at their wins before they beat UT. Not very impressive either yet they get all the respect. All of the wins came at home and they were against Lou-Laf Ariz Tulane Miss State Kentucky Fresno State Not one quality win there but they were still in the top 20. It's because of the SEC bias. Unfortunately it can't be settled on the field until they have a playoff.

No doubt the SEC is a good conference Joe but I was just pointing out that they really have to play and win some tough OOC games in order to prove it.you said they have enough tough inter conference games but how do we know if they are really that tough? was georgia tough this year? they were ranked in the top 10 at the begining of the year. in fact they were ranked in the top 10 with one loss before they played ut. hell wake barely cracks the top 20 now with one loss and they should be undefeated. all i'm saying is that the sec will always have 4 top conference teams just by virtue of the math. it doesn't mean they are necessarily heads and shoulders above everybody else in the country. especially if they feel they don't have to play them and prove it.

The problem with the SECs quality wins are that they are all in conference. They schedule cupcakes OOC every year and then the top teams wax the lower half of the conference and then lose an occasional game to each other. Arkansas has played nobody this year. USC waxed them and they beat Auburn(only win vs. ranked team). Look at the rest of their schedule. By the way their new QB is going to be benched he is playing so well. LSU finally beat a ranked team last week and that was UT who is barely ranked anymore. I'll give you Florida and Auburn because they have beaten 2 ranked teams at least. (they might not be ranked by the end of the year though) UT has beaten Cal and that's it. I guess they'll have another win vs a ranked opponent this week when they wax the way overrated ARK team. The SEC is way over rated as a conference year in and year out. Why do you think it took so long to expose how bad UGA is this year? Same with Auburn the year they came out #2 and didn't finish in the top 25. same with UT last year. UGA was still in the top 25 with 3 losses. That team is terrible. the only reason they were still ranked was by reputation (conference and team)

Tough to lose those guys no doubt but it happens to every college team every year.  Jesus will more then make up for James' scoring. remember he actually played for Arizona as a true freshman. He's been here for quite awhile so I see no problem with him gelling right away and we'll have his services for the next 3 years. I remember last year when all the detractors said Mac couldn't recruit BE talent. That no one on our roster would play for any other team in the BE. Now they all say how tough it is that we lost a 2nd round guy to the NBA. Funny how things turn around. I like how Mac develops his big men. Gransberry was on scholarship at LSU. They wanted him back. They must have seen something in his play. I believe they went to the title game last year. I think Williams could work well in the middle defensively. It would be great if Howard makes it back. We are dying for a good PG. No offense to Capko but it would work wonders for this team. Once we get settled into BE play this team will be just fine. I see us winning 7 conference games easily if we get our PG back. Look for a NIT bid this year. Here is my starting 5 at the end of the year if all stay healthy. Howard PG Jesus   2G Buckley SF Gransberry PF Williams C I'm a buy low kind of guy so if there is anyone out there giving up on this program and you have lower level tickets let me know.

USF 66-50 SL final you can get live stats at gousfbulls.com

totally not needed. luckily it didn't hurt us in the end. I could do with a few less QB draws. He's gonna get Grothe killed. The kid weighs like a buck 85. other than that he called a good game.

I'm all about taking risks but calculated ones. What did we have to gain by faking the punt? A first down at our 30 yard line. What did we have to lose? Obviously an easy score to basically ice the game for them. Not enough reward for the risk taken. I am so tired of this "we're to young" excuse. This is Leavitt propaganda. He's been quoted in the papers several times about how our kids are too young. Now our fans believe it. I bet our players read papers and believe it too. This is nothing more than a reason to fail. Why doesn't he just tell them we're too slow or we're too small. Do you think Tiger Woods dad told him that he was too young to beat 16 year olds when he was 10? Hell no. How about Mack at texas? Do you think he reminds his true freshman QB that he is too young to compete at this level? I bet not. What about Nutt over at Arkansas? Does he fire Mustain up by telling him he is too young to beat #2 Auburn on the road? By saying this stuff in the papers, Leavitt has his team and fans believing that we shouldn't expect to win because we are too young. We go into games expecting to lose. What's going to be the excuse next year? inexperienced linebackers? Last I checked every team in the country plays with 18-22 year olds. I would much rather be in Rutgers position. They are 7-0 and still in the hunt for a conference title as well as BCS birth . Who cares about next year. This year isn't over yet. Looking forward to next year is for teams that are losing. I bet the NFL lions are looking forward to next year while the bears are kicking ass this year. "There's always next year" is lame. I agree with Sheriff. I think Plancher being named #1 was because Leavitt knew Ponton would be suspended. I think Leavitt still has something against Ponton and he better get over it quick. The kid more than paid his dues. Look at Miami's guys. or even the Gators D tackle. They were punished far less for far worse (equal in the case of gators guy) offenses.

It may be time to take that risk. Look how it has worked in UFs case. Leavitt reminds me a lot of Zook. They both get flustered and panic at inopportune times. They do have their moments when they get the team up for big home games but they always choke against a team they should handle easily. Their game management is atrocious. Year after Year CJL and company have called plays, timeouts, set starters, recruited QB talent, etc. that have made me think they were lost. How in the world can you call a fake punt at your own 25 with 15 minutes left to play and down by 9?? They gave the game away right there. High risk: low reward. Kick it away and rely on your D for a 3 and out. Did anybody notice Williams ( a walk-on 5'7" RB) split out wide against Kansas with the game on the line? Did you notice all of the stud scholarship receivers standing on the sideline?? Why make personel decsions like that? inexplicable. Why would PJ start ahead of Grothe ever?? He should have started as a true freshman. Hall and Grothe in the backfield would have been a thing of beauty.  It works for Tex and Ark. Why would you call voodoo 5 on 4th and 1 at the opponents 25 yard line (UNC)? luckily it worked but an absolutely terrible call. way too risky a call in that situation. not the first time either. This stuff is basic coaching strategy that these guys don't get. I wish they were half as poised as our QB. I think this program has passed them by and it's time to find a staff that can handle the pressure of major college football. We're not mid major anymore and our talent won't be able to bail them out of all of these terrible decisions anymore.

Dont you think the coaching staff may have knew all along that Grothe was gonna be the man and that they may have planned this system with HIM in mind, rather than C. Hill? Sure, they tell us that C. Hill was moved to WR last year "as a way to get him on the field", but dont you think they may have saw something that we didnt? I'm just sayin... grothe had to be the best qb on roster last year let alone this spring.hill may be more athletic but grothe is a real qb.not even close. smazza that's what makes me nervous. How could they have him #3 behind Julmiste and Hill when he is clearly the best QB of the three? Are they that poor at evaluating talent? He should have started last year. Hasn't hurt Ark or Tex to have a true freshman start. Imagine if we had Grothe back there with Hall last year. What a potent backfield that would have been. Play action bootlegs all day long.

I don't have the answers. That's why we have an AD. I just don't see their coaching skills translating into consistent wins against tougher competition. They get too flustered in big games and make way to many mental errors. Maybe he's too hopped up on Pepsi?? Leavitt looked like a deer in the headlights for his halftime interview at the UCONN game last year. I knew then we wouldn't win. Players feed off of the coaches confidence and he showed absolutely none. They came out flat against cincy. It's the coaches responsibility to get the players ready physically and mentally for the games. Maybe we just need a strategist (some NFL teams use these now) and a motivational speaker? When they do get these guys playing, we can steamroll some teams though. I definitely think we have the talent.

so, and they're just about as talented against us.  We lost to a team that's equally as talented as us, or slightly better.  Logical since our series is knotted at 2 games a piece, but why do people presume we're better then them?  Logic aside it confounds me how some people on this board thought we're so much better than CInci and we should just walk-up there and win by 30.  We're not Miami, some how there must have been a mix-up on this site and some UM fans were inadvertently directed to this site instead of miami rivals.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news but our talent level has been comparable to Cinci, and they've got a good coaching staff too.  They've been recruiting at the 1-A level a lot longer than us, but yet last year we beat them bad, bouncing back after they throttled us up in Cinci the year before.  Cinci's facilities put ours to shame, and they've been recruiting well enough the past few years to keep up.  These teams play the game too.  I will get concerned after this year if we lose to non-BCS opponents but if everytime we lose to any BCS opponent, or conference foe this place goes on meltdown mode and smazza blindly calls for firing then we'll have an unbearable board. Uconn is just about as talented as us too....and they've got worlds better facilities and attendance then we do.  This blind belief we're some super star program is confusing, we're still trying to recruit BCS. As for the game decisions, Ponton had more carries then Williams 9 to William's 5 so I don't think we under used Ponton.  They're trying to use Williams, the goalline safety is BS, we can all 2nd guess that call but like someone put it Barry Sanders couldn't have escaped that onslaught.  Their DL blew up our OL, pure and simple our OL got their asses kicked on that play and the call was on the players there not the coaches, Ponton wouldn't have made a bit of difference.  Also, Ponton is not big enough right now to be a 25-30 carry a guy, 15-20, so you're going to need a change of pace to give Ricky breathers, that's just the way it is.  Remember if it wasn't for a freak ACL tear the change of pace would be Plancher and we wouldn't be having this discussion, again you can't blame the staff for an ACL tear. The timeout against Kansas?  That's pushing it a bit since there was like 6 seconds left before the half.  Not a huge mistake, good way to think of things after the fact. After the fact? I was screaming at him to call a timeout at the game. He must not realize that the rule has changed this year. Not a huge mistake  but I bet a lot of top coaches would have made them run a play. How about his timeout against Cincy? They were obviously going to punt the ball when Leavitt called a timeout because he had no one back to catch the punt. The result was Cincy decided to go for it. Didn't hurt us in the end but it will in the future. He called a timeout against someone  before the end of the half. They kicked a field goal. Time would have run out. These are not isolated incidences. Happens all the time. Army homecoming game- we are at their 35 witha 4th and 1. Try to draw them off. Calls a timeout and punts. why not take the 5 yard penalty? Time runs out at the end of the game with us driving for the winning score. No timeouts left. You don't think we under used Ponton?? He is our #1 guy and he carried the ball 9 times!!!  He didn't need a breather. Williams carried it 6. We ran the ball like 95% of the first 20 plays and yet our #1 recruited RB touches it like 3 times. Our lines played awful and the safety probably would have happened if Ponton were in there but that doesn't excuse the fact that these guys logic is flawed. Ponton still should be the one in there. I know you find absolutely no fault in what they do but I don't think these guys can take us to the next level if they can't beat teams like Cincy and UCONN in these situations. There is no way those teams have better talent than we do. Why do you think they recruit Florida so heavily? I bet Tiger Woods never used that "I'm too young to win" excuse.

Nothing against you Bien but we did get beat by a team with CDOA talent not BE talent. I believe Cincy is new to the BE as well. My problem with this staff is that their logic confounds me. They call timeouts to let other teams set up for field goals when time otherwise expire, let them contemplate going for it on 4th downs, etc. They don't use the top recruit RB talent we have to try and establish the run against a tough D. They go to the walk-on talent instead. I don't get their line of thinking sometimes. At the end of the first half against Kansas, when Kansas intercepted the ball on their own 1/2 yard line, why didn't we call a timeout with 1 second left? Make them run a play. We took a timeout to the locker room. It's these little things that make me believe these coaches won't be able to get everything out of this program. Nothing against CJL and company but as you get closer to the top levels of competition, there is less room for error. You can't lose games against UCONN and Cincy when the BE is on the line. UCONN joined the BE in 2004. They have been 1-a for as long as we have and they beat Florida talent with Conneticut talent. Cincy has the same CDOA talent we have. No excuse.