By Budd Bailey
One by one, the home seasons of the men’s college basketball seasons of Buffalo-area teams have come to an end in the past few days.
One by one, the endings have matched the rest of the season – disappointing.
The latest was Tuesday night, as the University at Buffalo finished up the home schedule with a 84-69 loss to Miami. The Bulls put up a fight against a better team, but just didn’t have the ammunition to come away with a win. They fell to 9-21 for the season.
In this case, the big problem was the way the Redhawks shot three-pointers. They were 8 of 10 from long distance in the first half, when Miami rolled up 47 points on its way to a 12-point lead.
“We gave them too many easy looks from three,” Bulls coach George Halcovage said. “We were there, but we didn’t put enough pressure on the ball. They were able to raise up and knock them down.”
From there, UB started the second half by giving up a pair of three-point plays, and the margin was 18 before almost anyone knew it. The Bulls edged to within 12 a few times during the second half, but the RedHawks always seemed to have an answer when it mattered.
And that was that. Sometimes college teams have “Senior Day” at the end of the schedule to salute departing players. These days, of course, we don’t know if seniors are staying, going somewhere else, or moving on to the rest of their lives. Buffalo’s one senior, Tyson Dunn, apparently passed up the chance to take a bow on Tuesday. No matter what happens there, Halcovage made sure that Dunn’s work in a difficult season was appreciated.
“He’s been so great at responding to adversity,” Halcovage said. “We’ve had some unfortunate outcomes where we played really well but fell a couple of possessions in games that would have put us in a different spot in games that might have put us in the postseason. Going into these last few games, he stayed the course and played the right way. (That) shows the character of him, and he’s been an example to everyone else.”
Dunn finished the game with a team-leading 16 points, while Anquan Boldin Jr. had 14. Five players were in double figures for Miami, as the RedHawks moved to 22-8 for the season.
The Bulls still have a chance to reach double figures in wins, as they play at Akron on Friday. That’s a decent improvement on last season’s 4-27 ledger, even if it left hardly anyone satisfied.
“We talk a lot about it,” Halcovage said. “College basketball has changed drastically in the past three years. … It’s ever-evolving right now. We’re trying to build this program the right way, to be able to compete year-in and year-our for MAC championships. I think we’re going in the right direction. The win-loss column may not indicate that, but if you look at the fight this team has had … we know that if we fix one of two things keep growing and building, we’re going to be on the other side.”
Those looking for silver linings will be happy to know that this group seemed to get along with each other. Considering the way rosters change from year to year these days, that’s helpful.
“I love these guys,” Halcovage said. “We have one game left in a tough environment at Akron. This team goes through some moments when they are younger and have to go through some moments to get where you want to go. It’s not easy. … These guys are going to grow from this. I can’t say enough about the character of this crew.”
That all may be true - but if you want to be pessimistic about the immediate future of local college basketball, you have some justification. Niagara is 10-19 with two road games left, good for 12th place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Canisius is a step below that at No. 13 and last at 3-26 and 3-15 respectively entering the final weekend. The Eagles closed their season with a 15-point loss, while the Griffins lost by twice as big a margin as that. None of those three schools qualified for the conference tournament, which is the bare minimum of a team’s hopes entering a season.
If you want to include St. Bonaventure in the local discussion, the Bonnies have a pulled off a good year so far at 19-10, but are still only 7-9 in Atlantic 10 play. Coach Mark Schmidt, who certainly ranks with the all-time great coaches in this area, has shown an ability to field competitive teams even when the nucleus is only around for a season. Still, it’s a stretch to consider them strong contenders to reach the NCAA Tournament this month.
The common denominator of the teams, of course, is money. Good players at the mid-major level often have the chance to play at a higher level and pick up some extra Name/Image/Likeness dollars along the way. The big spenders usually wind up near the top of the standings in their respective conferences, while the others do the best they can. Come to think of it, there’s another common denominator: empty seats. It’s tough to sell tickets when hope is hard to find.
Teams like Buffalo, Niagara and Canisius are fighting a tough battle under the current rules. Maybe they’ll recruit a couple of sleepers who unexpectedly develop. Maybe they’ll have a coach who has a knack with figuring out a way to win.
But under the current situation, disappointing endings are going to be the rule and not the exception for the local teams. Do that for enough years, and administrators are going to have to ask some very tough questions about their programs. And those that still care might not like the answers.
(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)
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