Running with the Bulls (or not)....a preview

 The MAC season rolls along, as the Buffalo Bulls make the long drive west to play a weeknight game in Anderson Arena.

This is a pretty important game for the Falcons, I think.  Coach always talks about us being a resilient team, and after a rough night in Akron (which Coach contends looked rougher than it was) resilience is needed.  Buffalo is a good team, but on our home floor we need to be able to show that we can compete with them.

Last year, BG had good luck with the Bulls, beating them twice.  However, they are a good basketball team, and have to be the favorites on paper.

Buffalo is 8-4 so far this year.  They are 4-1 on the road, including nice wins against Niagara and UW-Green Bay.  One of their wins is against Buffalo State, but one of their losses is to Purdue.  They did lose by 10 to Jacksonville State, which can't have been a good feeling.

In common-opponent land, they beat Towson, as BG did, but lost to Canisius at home, a team BG did beat on the road.

In MAC-land, they scorched the always mysterious RedHawks (who then went on to beat Kent Tuesday.  Go figure).

So, this is a solid team that has not shown themselves to be bullet proof.  They are an excellent test for our team, and if we can bring the kind of game we brought against St. Louis, I think we can make it a very interesting game.

If you look on the surface, you will see that the Bulls lead the MAC in scoring and are near the bottom in scoring defense.  The key--and this will be a key for the game--is that they are playing more of an up-tempo game, especially for the MAC.  Their 72 possessions per game, is, in fact, the most in the MAC.

So, from a tempo-free perspective, they are 2nd in offensive efficiency and 4th in defensive efficiency.

That's a key question, because the question of who will control the tempo is a pretty important one for this game.  How will that happen?  Well, if the Falcons get force misses and control the boards, then they are in a much better position to control the tempo.  On our end, it goes without saying that not missing shots and turning the ball over (with live turnovers) will force Buffalo more into our style of play.

And those happen to be all the things we need to do to win most of our games, but when you play a team with a different style, it seems like those issues become more important.  For the record, for defensive efficiency to date, Buffalo is actually ahead of Bowling Green, and they lead on the key factors.

College Basketball

I am looking forward to the game.  BG played well below what it is capable of in Akron, and I'd really like to see us play the grinding, hard to beat style that is our specialty, and get some shooting from our guys on the other end.  After a game like that, I do like our chances to bring a really good effort, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if we won.

For a preview from the Bull perspective, check out the great Bull Run blog from Buffalo.