The UB Bulls didn’t back down against West Virginia, they just didn’t play well enough to pull out a win. Buffalo has nothing to be embarrassed about, they battled back from double digit deficits in both half’s, but too many turnovers and missed baskets inside made it an uphill struggle the entire game.
Bobby Hurley cautioned before the game that his team may have a few more turnovers than usual because of WV’s style of defense and they did. UB had 17 for the game, six more than their season average and several were unforced and had nothing to do with the Mountaineer’s vaunted press.
Whether it was the pressure of playing in the NCAA tournament or the physical style of West Virginia, but too many time UB’s guards played out of control. The turnovers allowed WV to maintain their lead despite not shooting the ball well the final ten minutes.
However, give credit to Bobby Hurley’s team as they tied the score up at 62 with just under 3 minutes to go and gave themselves a chance to live up to all the hype about a 12 seed upsetting a five seed. Unfortunately, UB never scored another bucket and dropped the 68-62 contest.
The loss quickly took the wind out of the sails of UB fans who had experienced the thrill of the NCAA tourney for the very first time. Such is the nature of this tournament as every team but one goes home disappointed, but winning one game would have sent the Amherst campus into a tizzy.
Now the question is how long will Bobby Hurley remain as the head coach of the UB Bulls? As expected, the buzz created by UB playing in the NCAA basketball tournament was due to Bobby’s return. The announcers doing the game and back at the studio constantly referred to the tenacious personality of Hurley as a player and how he carries that over to his team. His stock is on the rise.
Personally I expect Bobby Hurley to remain at UB for just one more season. He may even leave this Spring if the offer warrants it. Such is the nature of big time college sports, just ask John Beilein.
When Hurley leaves Danny White will need to replace him with someone who can hit the ground running so the program doesn’t take a step back. I hate White’s marketing plan of making New York more prominent than Buffalo on the uniforms and court, but he appears to have done a good job of bringing in coaches who take the institution to the next level.
Hopefully this season was just the beginning of the University at Buffalo playing on the big stage and allowing fans in the region to once again experience the joy of big time basketball.
Filed under: Local Headlines
Tagged with: Bobby Hurley, UB basketball, University at Buffalo, West Virginia
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