If you're graduating this spring, allow me to extend to you my deepest sympathies. The men's basketball team will never win the Mid-American Conference championship while you're attending UB.
But brace yourself for a wild ride if you're coming back next year.
The Bulls' main contingency will return next season, minus two seniors: guard Byron Mulkey and forward Jawaan Alston.
Some wonder if the Bulls will be able to win without Mulkey, Buffalo's all-time steals leader. We've all fallen in love with the thief this year. How could we resist? Mulkey is a local kid who sat out his fourth year of college to help the team and then came back this year as the squad's unchallenged leader. He was the player dancing with the student section after every home win this year.
His last hurrah has been impressive, but Mulkey wasn't on the active roster last year, as he waited behind John Boyer. Mulkey seemed to come out of nowhere.
Someone else is waiting to emerge, but his progression shouldn't be a shock to anyone.
Freshman guard Jarod Oldham averaged less than two points a game this season, but as the season winded down, Oldham was as consistent as any guard. In the past three games, Oldham has averaged 22 minutes, five points, and 5.3 rebounds per game as head coach Reggie Witherspoon has gained trust in the young guard. He is known as a defensive stopper, but his offensive game is developing over time.
It may take Oldham a while to transition into the role of starting point guard next year, but the other four starters should be as good as any four on any team in the MAC.
At shooting guard, the team's leading scorer will be back. Junior guard Zach Filzen (15.4 points per game) just finished a record-breaking season in which he made the second-most threes in the NCAA, shattering UB's all-time single-season record for 3-pointers.
Junior forward Dave Barnett emerged as a solid contributor for the Bulls this year. Barnett takes the challenge of guarding the other team's best player every game, and he also provides consistent 3-point shooting and rebounding. Barnett is one of the team's best athletes.
Junior forward Titus Robinson started at power forward this year, but anybody who heard about freshman forward Javon McCrea's MAC tournament performance knows that McCrea is expected to be the starter when he comes back as a sophomore. One of Akron's assistant coaches sat next to me at the MAC Tournament. The coach said there is no doubt in his mind that McCrea will be the best player in the MAC by his junior year. McCrea put up 28 points and 13 rebounds in that game.
Am I forgetting anyone? Does the name Swatt ring a bell? Junior center Mitchell Watt will be sending opposing shots into the rows of Alumni Arena and throwing down thunderous dunks yet again next year.
Robinson, sophomore guard Tony Watson, and freshman guard Auraum Nuiriankh should provide solid depth off the bench.
I'm not saying the team isn't going to miss Byron Mulkey, but I am saying the team can win without him.
It's easy to sit and complain about everything that went wrong this season and call for the firing of Witherspoon. And that's just what many fans are doing.
But when it comes down to it, Witherspoon brought in the highest-touted recruit UB has ever landed in McCrea. Those two men will be back next year, and so will the team's plethora of other young talent.
The vast majority of the Bulls team that looked poised to win the MAC this year appears to have an even better shot at it next season.
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