I never thought I would say this, but Buffalo is good at a major college sport.
It was easy to write off Buffalo early in the men's basketball season and especially in preseason predictions for the Mid-American Conference. Buffalo has no seniors, and though it returned its top five scorers from last season, only one of those had reached double digits - and even that did not keep the Bulls from a dismal 5-23 (2-16 MAC) record.
No one ever equates Buffalo with winning. But teams that overlooked the Bulls this season found out the hard way that a program that almost annually finishes in the basement of the conference is no longer lying down as an easy win for its opponents.
Buffalo (15-11 overall, 10-7 MAC) is not at the very top of the conference, but it has produced some quality wins in the last month, giving the Bulls new life and putting them in contention for a run to the tournament championship.
Just last week, with an 82-66 win against East Division leader Kent State, Buffalo shocked everyone that still had doubts about a team that began MAC play with five straight losses before turning around to drop just two contests since that streak ended Jan. 25. Then Buffalo went on to an 87-73 victory at Miami.
The Bulls still trail both teams in the MAC East Division standings, thanks to a slow start to the season, but with a six-game win streak, Buffalo secured its first non-losing season since joining the MAC and a home game for the first round of the tournament.
So is Buffalo really that good or are the other East Division teams just that bad?
Could be the latter - Marshall, Ohio and Akron seem to have been fighting for the bottom spot in the division for much of the season, allowing Buffalo to sneak in among the top three. But more than likely, Buffalo is a new force to be reckoned with.
Kent State was not a fluke. It couldn't have been - not with such a commanding edge. Yeah, the game was on Buffalo's home court, but the Bulls beat a team that going into the contest had only one conference loss, also ending a 10-game win streak for the Golden Flashes. Miami was no different, and it was a big road win.
With the recent success of the Bulls, attendance at Alumni Arena has averaged almost a thousand more fans than last season. Buffalo finally has something to be proud of, and whether it fares well in the tournament or not, the underdog gets my vote.
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Laurel Scheffel
