The Wiz

These spreads are from a basketball handicapping program (called "The Wizard") that I have used for a number of years. It is usually pretty close on the point spread. What it indicates about the Iowa game is that it will be very close. Overall, it is about 83% correct. It gets more accurate as the year progresses and it gathers more data.

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Lou Callen VP @ a major financial firm. Long time Bills fan. Season ticket holder and B-Club since 1990. Sec 117 The Wiz refers to a basketball handicapping program I use called The Wizard. It is generally pretty accurate. (89% Bills--83% overall) Point spreads are usually fairly close. Enjoy reading the posts when I have time. BTW, The Wiz is predicting an upset Thur. BILLS BY 1.

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Still favors UW-M but it is a winable game for the Bills. A win by the Bills would defintely be an upset.

This game will be tougher than the SIU game. The good news is that the Bills beat SIU and still could have played better. This game can be won by the Bills but they will have to turn it up a notch.

This is definitely a game the Bills can win but they must bring their A game. A loss here could start a 2004 repeat season where we get off to a poor start and never quite recover. (Although, I think our overall record will be better because the A-10 is a little bit softer than last year's CUSA) A key game where the lead should change a number of times. Hopefully, we will prevail.

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Not much of a test here. EIU is just a little better than UMSL. Real test will be the 3 games following, starting with Hawaii and finishing with SIU and UW-M These games will be tough and set the tone for the rest of the season. An 0-3 mark will probably mean a 500 season. 1-2 = NIT 2-1 Bubble 3-0 Dancin'

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SIU (23-6) is only at 3/4 of its 10000 capacity. They have had only 1 sellout in 15 yrs (although Sat. against Wich St is a possible sellout. You would think this program would be able to do better than 3/4. Even at 3/4 it is still loud and high energy because of the venue.

UNCC arena size---9105

That was my point earlier. Why not shoot 2, rather than step back and allow yourself to be rushed and blocked. As for wasted timeouts, my point was that when you go into the corner repeatedly, hold the ball and don't have someone to come help you, you are going to have "waste" timeouts. The timeouts taken were necessary but why put yourself in a position where you have to "waste" them.

I was afraid that was going to be the answer. Too many wasted timeouts. Welcome to the Mike Martz School of Clock Management.

A couple of ?'s about the final seconds of the game. Why with 7 seconds left, didn't the Bills call a timeout to setup a final shot. Also, didn't it seem as though Meyer took a step back trying to get to the 3 range. That extra second or two seemed to allow time for UAB to defend and block and caused Meyer to rush the shot. Why not take 2 there and go for OT especially since we were cold from 3.

Word is, realistically, we are 2-3 years away from groundbreaking. Add 20 months to build and you have the new arena ready to go in 4 years.

After the missed traveling call on Myles, Brad kept jawing at the ref. Nothing flagrant, just constant. I've seen worse this year by opposing coaches during Bills games. Once the ref called the technical, Bead went ballistic---to the point that he had to be escorted by a cop---"to make sure he left peacefully. After the game a very emotional(almost breaking down) Brad apolegized for his behavior...saying he let the team down and his behavior was uncalled for. He didn't want to discuss the specifics for fear of league reprisals. I thought we outplayed them in the 1st half. Even after the double technical we didn't lose our cool. At halftime, Pitino said he made adjustments to handle our defense plus it looked like we started to tire in the 2nd half. Once we tired things fell apart. Missed shots, turnovers, open shots for them. Considering they were 24 point favories, I thought we did a pretty good job. Lville came off the court at halftime kind of stunned Incidentally, there was a nice showing of Bills fans there.

I think part of the problem has been the schedule. Of the 10 "tough losses" 7 have been against winning teams. These teams all have at least 13 wins and a combined record of 104-37. In addition, 10 teams we play during the season may go to the "Big Dance". Even lowly East Carolina has the 14th toughest schedule making them look weaker than the are. Next year when we move to the A-10 things will be better. The A-10 is a step down from CUSA. It is an easier conference. Even if we play at the same level as this year we will win more games and it will seem as though Brad is turning things around or that he is a "genius" again. I think we will be better next year. Our current players will have another year under their belt. Other factors such as new players (known and unknown), better shooting (particularly within 5 feet) and another year for Brad to work his system can only lead to an improved record. Throw in the "softer" schedule and things are not all gloom and doom. I think the A-10 move is the right conference at the right time. There was a lot of discussion earlier on about what conference to move to. A move to the Big East would have prolonged our agony in that they will be even tougher than CUSA. I think the style of play in the A-10 will be more of a match for us. I think there will be additional pain this year (except for the Fort Wayne game) and things will improve next year.

We have no "touch". 15 missed shots from less than 5 ft. (layups, putbacks, dunks, etc.) Looking at the boxscore, one would assume this was an exciting game when in reality it was extremely painful to watch between the strategy mistakes, missed easy shots and the turnovers. It will be very hard to fix things the rest of the season if we can't shoot from inside of 5 ft. Even the fan shooting baskets for the Chevy's promotion made those shots.

And Oakland beat Bowling Green