Not unlike their football cohorts, the UB men's basketball team was dubbed the "Baby Bulls" in the 2002-03 season. And once again, not unlike the football Bulls, the basketball team also struggled through an extremely rough season.
Buffalo's record for the year was 5-23, while only collecting a measly two wins in the conference and dropping 16 of those MAC contests.
Head coach Reggie Witherspoon had his Bulls competing every night, but things always found a way to unravel for UB at the end of the games. When Buffalo battled Kent State, who reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 2002, they led the game by two with a few seconds remaining. But in thrilling fashion, the Golden Flashes scored on a 3-point prayer as time expired, dashing the hopes of a UB upset.
That's just the way things went for the Bulls last season.
To make matters worse, Buffalo's best player, junior point guard Turner Battle, went down with a broken finger in practice and was shelved for the rest of the season with eight games to go.
UB will look to the return of Battle, and the emergence of sophomore forward BJ Walker, to try and resurrect the youthful team in 2003-04.
Players like Danny Gilbert and Jason Bird will also have to step it up if the program has any chance of competing this season.
Buffalo is hoping that with a tough season of experiences under their belts, things will be a little different next time around.
