DDSCB 23: All Gas No Brakes

[CoachPrm15]

Assistant Coach Brendan Foley


March 20, 2025

NCAA Tournament First Round

East Region

(6) Buffalo Bulls 26-6 (15) vs. (11) St. Mary's Gaels 23-10

"On film St. Mary's is the most well coached team we have seen all season. On offensive they really execute their system well. They feature a solid center who they surround with skilled jump shooters. St. Mary's on offense really spaces the floor, our players will have to be on high alert because their players make excellent cuts without the basketball. They are top 10 in the nation in terms of not turning the ball over. We will definitely challenge them in that regard as a team we get over 8 steals a game and force 16 turnovers per game. St. Mary's came out in a 1-3-1 zone which we had not seen much of when watching film on them. Our players were out of rhythm early, we missed our first 7 threes of the game. If it wasn't for Lamont Fisher inside who scored 10 of our first 12 players, we would have been in a huge hole. Despite his efforts St. Mary's had a 30-23 lead at the halfway point of the first half. James Finley finally hit our first 3 at the 8-minute mark, that ignited us as we went on an 11-0 run to take a 37-35 lead. Both teams traded the lead back and forth, but it was St. Mary's who took a 48-47 lead into the half.

In the locker a look at the numbers show St. Mary's were picking us apart, they one turned the ball over three times so our press was not having its desired impact. Coach Tyler decided to switch to a full court man to man press. He felt the St. Mary's players had too much air space and we needed to get right in their faces. Offensively we felt good about the tempo the game was being played at because the game was being played at the pace we like. In addition, we play 10 players while St. Mary's tends to only play 7 player which we feel will lead to fatigue one their end if the game continues at this pace. The second half continued to be played at a lightning like pace, neither team was giving an inch. The entirety of the second have was played within a 4-point radius, anytime a team got a lead it couldn't be extended. St. Mary's took an 84-82 lead at the 2:30 minute mark, Matt immediately rushed the ball back up the court and found a cutting Irv for a dunk. St. Mary's once again took the lead only for us to respond quick with Lamont scoring off a good hook shot. A timeout was called, Coach Tyler told the players the team that can make the next stop will win this game. St. Mary's ran a great inbounds play to take an 88-86 lead with 59 seconds left. James rose up for a 3 which went off the rim, Irv out jumped two St. Mary's players to grab the rebound and put it back to tie the score at 88 with 37 seconds left. Coach Tyler called a timeout, in the huddle he drew up the play we would run when we got the ball back. With the amount of time left we knew regardless of St. Mary's if scored or not we would get one more possession. They ran the clock down as much as they could before settling on a play that had been quite successful for them, Matt read it and made the play of the game drawing a charge with 10 seconds left. We were going to have James curl off a double screen to take a shot with about 3-4 seconds left to allow for an offensive rebound if he missed. Matt found James off the double screen, James rose up and hit nothing but net to put us up 90-88 with 3 seconds left. St. Mary's got the ball to halfcourt and launched a desperation 3 that hit off the backboard securing our passage to the next round.

[CoachPrm15]

Sophomore Guard James Finley


March 22, 2025

NCAA Tournament Second Round

East Region

(6) Buffalo Bulls 27-6 (15) vs. (3) Washington Huskies 27-8 (10)

"Since my March Madness moment of hitting the game winning shot against St. Mary's my social media followers have quadrupled, I've been getting texts and phone calls from everyone who has my number and from some people who I didn't know had my number. Some of the former players Coach Tyler has coached who are now NBA players faced timed the team after our win. My favorite call came from my dad, he's the one who taught me the game at an early age and told me how proud he was of all of the positives that had come from the work I've put in. When I decided to transfer, I wasn't 100% certain about leaving Clemson, it was dad who told me to find a coach who believes in you like I do. That is exactly what I have found in Coach Tyler. He didn't hesitate to draw up the final play for me against St. Mary's, that kind of faith inspires me every time I've put the Buffalo jersey on.

Facing Washington, we knew we were going to be in for a dog fight, no pun intended. After a shaky early start Washington caught fire midseason and have not looked back since. They rolled through the PAC 12 Tournament and were a trendy pick to advance to the Final Four when the brackets were announced. Washington is a very experienced team led by a trio of outstanding Seniors. Small Forward Matt Amaya is the team's leading scorer at 16.6 points per game, he is a bit of a throwback player as he excels in the midrange game. Power Forward George Lilly is the Huskies best inside player averaging 15.8 points per game to go along with 8.9 rebounds per game. Finally, the player I will be matched up against is Shooting Guard Reggie Jolly who averages 15.3 points per game. Jolly has great range and a quick release; the coaches have told me to play him tight not giving him any space to shoot. Adding on to the difficulty of the game is the fact the game is being played in Seattle, so we know it's going to be a pro Huskies crowd.

As I'm walking onto the court, I made sure to make eye contact with my mom and dad, I've done that for every game that they are in attendance for. On our opening possession Matt dumped the ball into Lamont, he was double teamed and swung the ball to Irv who found me at the top of the key. Without hesitation I rose up and nailed a 3 pointer. I put my finger to my mouth towards the crowd to let them know we were ready. One thing about our team we will not be intimidated by any team or situation. We embrace being in a hostile environment, and our execution early showed how comfortable we truly were. Offensively we were picking the Huskies defense apart, getting any shot we wanted as we raced out to a 25-10 lead. Washington made an expected run to cut our lead to 4 points. We weren't phased as we closed the half on a 15-4 run to take a 48-33 lead into the half. We knew that Washington could strike quickly so we didn't let our guard down. In the second half we kept the foot on the pedal, anytime Washington got close to making it a game we would respond with a flurry. Washington never got closer than 11 points as we advanced to the Sweet 16 winning 91-71. I found my parents after the game and gave them a big embrace; I led the team with 24 points but everyone who played made a major contribution to our victory.

[CoachPrm15]

Freshman Guard Bryan Sanders


March 27, 2025

NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

East Region

(6) Buffalo Bulls 28-6 (15) vs. (7) Memphis Tigers 24-10 (24)

"Having played our first two games of the tournament in Seattle it felt good to be closer to home. With the game at the Prudential Center in North Jersey it meant we'd have a lot more fans in attendance than we did in Seattle. On the top end of the bracket, it has been chalk with 1 seed Kansas to face 4 seed Auburn in the second half of the East Region sweet 16 games. On the bottom end it was a bit more chaotic with the 2 and 3 seeds getting knocked out in the second round. Most people did not expect this particular matchup in the Sweet 16 when the brackets came out. In prepping for Memphis, it is a bit eerie how similar they are as a team to use. On offense neither team has a quote on quote go-to guy, we have four players who average between 11 to 13 points per game while Memphis has four players who average between 12 to 14 points per game. We play 10-11 players per game; Memphis goes 10 players deep. We like playing fast and pressing, Memphis likes to play fast and press.

Being the only Freshman starter and the only starter who didn't average double figures scoring at times I've felt like the forgotten member of the starters. My teammates and the coaching staff have constantly told me about the impact I've had on games. With the upperclassmen we have I had to make adjustments to how I play in order to get the playing time I've got this season. In high school I was a scorer, I had the ball in my hands a lot and took a lot of shots. This season I've developed into a defensive player first, and a spot up shooter on offense. As the season has progressed, I've gotten the assignment of guarding the opposing team's best perimeter player. I'm fairly sure I was fairly low on the Memphis scouting report, so they had to be stunned when I scored 9 of our first 13 points. Even though I haven't been asked to score in college, one thing about being a scorer is you don't forget how to get buckets. Memphis has taller guards and they tried to post us up a lot in the first half, despite the height difference we held our own against the Memphis guards which put them in an early hole.

One of our biggest attributes as a team, when we get a team down we don't let them back into the game. With the crowd behind us we looked to put the hammer down on Memphis early in the second half. We had a 61-50 lead when we made our push. Lamont made a hook shot, we forced a turnover and Matt found James for a corner 3. Lamont grabbed a Memphis miss and rocketed the outlet pass to Matt, he drove the lane and kicked it to me for another corner 3. Another Memphis miss led to an Irv dunk in transition, finally I stole a pass and found James for another 3. Within a 2-minute period we blitzed Memphis with a 13-0 run. As the final seconds were ticking down our student section started chanting, "We want Kansas." That brought a laugh from us starters on the bench. We played our most complete game of the season beating a really good Memphis team 98-77."

[CoachPrm15]

Assistant Coach Angres Thorpe


March 29, 2025

NCAA Tournament Elite 8

East Region

(6) Buffalo Bulls 29-6 (15) vs. (1) Kansas Jayhawks 33-5 (1)

"One game stood between us and a historic trip to the Final Four. "The Final Boss" was the term Coach Tyler used while watching Kansas on film. Not only were they the top seed in the region but they were the number 1 overall team in the nation. Kansas are led by an outstanding pair of Sophomores, Center Drew Hunter averages 16.7 points per game and 9.2 rebounds per game. Power Forward Scott Ellis averages 15.3 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per game. The staple of their offense is the high-low action they run with Hunter and Ellis. In addition to being talented scorers both of their starting bigs are good passers of the basketball. Senior Shooting Guard Kirk Collins leads their perimeter players averaging 16 points per game, he is an outstanding shooter who allows Kansas to space the floor well for their big men. By far this will be the best team we've played during Coach Tyler's time as Head Coach. We knew we had to get off to a quick start, as playing catch up against this Kansas team is a recipe for disaster.

On their opening play, they ran their high-lo with Ellis feeding Hunter for an easy layup. After we missed Kansas got another layup off their high-lo action. With their third possession we tried to blitz their high-lo, Ellis dumped the ball into Hunter who found Collins for a three pointer. We found both stopping Kansas, and then scoring against them very difficult early in the game. Nothing we did seemed to be working, it was the worst start we've had during Coach Tyler's tenure, remarkably Kansas scored the first 14 points of the game before Matt scored off an 18-foot jump shot. Coach decided to go with our double center lineup to better combat the Kansas big men, we slowly started to gain some traction until Lamont picked up his second foul of the half with 13:32 remaining. We had chipped away to cut the deficit to 21-13, once Lamont got in foul trouble Kansas started to pick us apart in the paint. By the time Coach Tyler called another timeout Kansas was ahead 43-24 with 5:11 left in the half. Bryan hit a pair or threes and James followed up with another to cut the deficit to 51-39 at the 2-minute mark. Our momentum was quickly halted as Kansas closed the half on a 9-3 run to take a 60-42 lead into the second half.

In the locker room Coach Tyler was fairly calm, I think he knew the juggernaut we were going against. His message to the players was to play the game in 4-minute increments, try to win each of those increments to cut the lead and eventually close the gap. Defensively we played much better in the second half, the players really upped their intensity on that end of the court. All season long when we needed it, we were able to string 5, 6, 7 consecutive baskets in a row together. We were never able to establish that offensive rhythm against Kansas. Every time we cut their lead to a point where the next basket would spark a run, we never could get the vital basket. With the game reaching its conclusion the Kansas fans began with their famous "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, KU" chant. The looks on the faces of our players said it all, they were devastated. As a staff we did our best to console them, but this loss hurt. We had given our all but simply lost to a better team. Kansas ended our magical season with an 87-74 win."

[CoachPrm15]

Sophomore Guard James Finley


April 10, 2025

"The talk outside of the program for the past 6 weeks has been will Coach Tyler be our coach next season? Rumors have been running rampant, we were asked numerous times during our run to the Elite 8 about the situation. We really had nothing to say because we do not know what is going to happen. Coach Tyler hasn't addressed it with us, anytime he was asked about it during the tournament he did not comment. We do know Coach Tyler is currently in Missouri interviewing for the job at the University of Missouri. He's called a team meeting in a few days so I guess that is when we will find out. I can speak for the team; we all want Coach Tyler to stay as we love playing for him. He's built something really good, and I personally feel if he comes back, we can make it to the Final Four next season."

[CoachPrm15]

Fatima Amine - Coach Tyler's Fiancée


April 13, 2025

"After Ricky got back from his interview with Missouri, we had a long conversation about the pros and cons of heading to Missouri. One thing I do want to bring to light is Ricky has really enjoyed coaching Buffalo, he has enjoyed the support of the fans and the Buffalo community as a whole. The main reason he is exploring the option to leave Buffalo is a lack of support and vision from the university.

In three seasons as the Buffalo Head Coach Ricky's record is 85-23, he's won two regular season MAC titles and two MAC Conference Tournament Championships. The team has won at least one NCAA Tournament game every season which culminated in reaching the Elite 8 this season. With all of the success and positive attention brought to the program you'd think Buffalo would invest in the program but that has not been the case. Ricky's demands to improve facilities and the budget have been very reasonable, yet his requests have been turned down every season. The improvements in facilities would help increase the level of players who want to come to Buffalo, the budget increases are more so for his assistant coaches who Ricky feel are woefully underpaid. Ricky hasn't publicly criticized the university for their lack of ambition but privately we have had that conversation on numerous occasions.

So when the University of Missouri contacted Ricky about an interview for their Head Coach job it sparked his interest. Missouri is a basketball school; they play in a major conference and were willing to meet Ricky's demands about improvements. Plus, they have a very good history regarding their program, the job definitely represents a good step up that Ricky is looking for. Ricky was very impressed by the university, and they were impressed enough with him to have offered him the job. In terms of the contract offered, Ricky would become one of the top 15 highest paid coaches in college basketball.

Ricky arrived home and we had a lengthy discussion about their offer. From a basketball perspective the decision is a no-brainer for Ricky, he should take the job for basketball reasons. After a few days of weighing everything up Ricky decided to remain at Buffalo. His main reason for staying is the fact I am due to give birth to our first child within a few weeks. With a new child Ricky did not want to uproot us so far away from our support system. His secondary reason, he really believes he can get Buffalo to the Final Four. He really likes what he has built and wanted to stay and finish the job. We invited the players and coaches to our home to inform them of Ricky's decision. To say they were all ecstatic would be an understatement."

[CoachPrm15]

Head Coach Ricky Tyler


April 15, 2025

Player Stats

PPG: Fisher 13.4 Finley 13.0 Tebbs 12.1 Green 11.0

RPG: Fisher 8.6 McDyess 7.3

APG: Tebbs 6.6 Underwood 3.2

SPG: Finley 1.9 Fisher 1.4 Sanders 1.4 Tebbs 1.2

BPG: Fisher 2.3 Mcdyess 1.6


Team Stats

PPG: 88.2 (1)

OPPG: 72.3

APG: 21.2 (1)

RPG: 35.8

3PM: 8.9

3P%: 39.7 (4)


Awards

MAC COY: Ricky Tyler

MAC 1st Team All-Conference: Lamont Fisher

[PointGuard]

Oh come now, it's obvious you decided to stay in Buffalo because you like snow.

[CoachPrm15]

Oh come now, it's obvious you decided to stay in Buffalo because you like snow.

Of course, the snow was the ultimate deciding factor who doesn't enjoy shoveling out after a blizzard.

[CoachPrm15]

Head Coach Ricky Tyler


June 22, 2024

"Brandon Clark did not play much for us during his freshman season so I was not surprised he decided to transfer, I think he could have turned into a solid bench player, but he wanted to go somewhere and start, and he was not going to get that at Buffalo. Arlon Walker was another one who really didn't play as a freshman and decided to transfer. Arlon has all the physical gifts in the world but he seemed to just want to get by on his athletic ability, hopefully for his next team he will realize he needs to add work rate to his skills. The shocking transfer was that of Bryan Sanders who started every game for us as a freshman, we were expecting him to have a much bigger role this season. Bryan decided he wanted to be a number one scoring option at another school. As much as I wanted him to stay I wasn't going to stand in the way of what he wanted to do.

Before the outgoing players we knew we would have to replace two starters, though we already have our replacement in house for Matt Tibbs in the form of John Underwood. With Bryan's surprising departure it added another starter that we would have to replace. Our success have definitely increased the pulling power we have in terms of players wanting to come to Buffalo. Three new players were brought in from the transfer portal, and all three of them come from power conference schools.

Greedy Collins is a 6'8 250 sophomore center, he will be joining us from Ohio State. In 13 minutes, a game, Greedy averaged a respectable 5.8 points per game to go along with 4.2 rebounds per game. Greedy has a unique skill set, he can initiate offense from 16 feet and in and has good passing ability for a center. Sophomore point guard Parker Noble arrives from LSU. A 6'0 170 guard Parker is more a scoring point guard; he has outstanding shooting ability. At LSU he shot 38.7% from three and 83% from the foul line. In 19 minutes per game Parker averaged 8.8 points per game. Finally, Maurice Gooden arrives from Nebraska where he averaged 13.1 points per game. Maurice is a 6'7 203 sharpshooter who will space the floor for us. Part of the reason I came back to Buffalo was I really feel this team came make the Final Four. The three transfers will give us incredible depth and lineup options."