2022-23 MAC Men’s Basketball Preview: Buffalo Bulls

The Buffalo Bulls will experience a lot of turnover and be tested from a chemistry standpoint, but the expectations will still be the same, as a combination of promising pieces and transfer portal newcomers hoping to once again make a run at the NCAA Tournament in 2022-23.

The Bulls’ highest returning scorer comes in at 2.7 points per, but that is not counting a train load of transfers. Isaiah Adams out of UCF is an interesting prospect. At 6’6, he wore number 3 and showed some range. He took a bit of a step back after a promising freshman season, but I won’t pretend to know anything about UCF basketball and their inner workings. I am guessing a change of scenery might just be what the doctor ordered.

There are others that could be instant contributors, as well. Armoni Foster comes over from Divison II. That’s a big jump, but I have seen it done well before. Sy Chatman is a 6’8 transfer out of Illinois State that had some big games against MAC teams, including Buffalo.

The roster only has one guy under 6’4, while rostering seven players listed at 6’6 and higher, signifying a team which hopes to be big and physical at the point of attack.

As Jim Whitesell enters his 4th year as head coach at Buffalo, there is a good chance his impressive 66 percent winning percentage is going to take a hit. Then again, there is a lot of height on the team and some rough tests in the non-conference that could have this team gelling come conference tournament time.

My hope is quite a few of these players took the positive momentum of the program from the last 10 or so years, and realized they have a chance to play some serious minutes at a school like Buffalo. The potential is there.

However, since I have no actual idea how this team is going to turn out, I am going to use a random number generator to predict where this team will finish. 11th. The good old RNG just might be right.