BEST MALE ATHLETE
Without a doubt, the most dominating UB athlete this year was Kyle Cerminara of the Bulls' wrestling team. The 197-pound junior had a landmark season for the UB athletics program, marking many firsts and setting new records along the way.
Cerminara won a school record 41 matches, while losing just six, en route to becoming Buffalo's first male Division I All-American ever. He also won the Mid-American Conference title at 197 pounds and led UB to a school best 33rd place finish at the Nationals. Cerminara also tied the UB mark with 64 dual meet takedowns in a season and led the Bulls with 16 dual meet wins and 10 points of riding time in dual meets.
A strong case could have also been made for Turner Battle, a junior point guard for the Bulls' basketball team, as he helped lead the Bulls turnaround this season. Battle finished the season on the second team All-MAC squad and led the Bulls with 14.5 ppg, 4.1 apg and 1.8 spg.
Other finalists were second team All-MAC safety Mark Graham of the football team and Yassin Idbihi, who led UB in rebounding and was second on the basketball team in scoring.
TOP NEWCOMER
While a number of freshmen made significant contributions at UB this year, none had as big an impact as center Yassin Idbihi of the basketball team. After starting the season on the bench, Idbihi worked his way into the lineup and gave the Bulls a real threat down low.
Idbihi led UB with 5.8 boards per game and finished second on the squad with 10.3 ppg. Defensively, Idbihi finished second to Mark Bortz with 21 blocks and his 6'10" frame alone altered the way teams attacked the Bulls defense.
Wrestlers Mark McKnight and Ed Pawlak were the runners up in this category. McKnight was third on the Bulls with 34 wins, took first place at the MAC Championships and went all the way to the All-American round at the Nationals in his first season sporting the blue and white. Pawlak, a senior transfer from Lock Haven went 39-9 for the Bulls and like McKnight, was just one win shy of earning All-American status.
QUOTE OF THE YEAR
One of the leading candidates came from women's basketball coach Cheryl Dozier, who ripped Kim Kilpela in a post-game.
"Kim needs to show up," said Dozier. "She needs to do something. She needs to care about the kids in that locker room rather than just about herself. That's really what it's all about."
UB football coach Jim Hofher also made a strong run at the title. Hofher started the season off pounding the line "We just need to play good football" into anyone who would listen's head. We here at the Spectrum heard that line so much that it was the subject of a number of jokes, and more than likely, a few nightmares as well.
But as much as Hofher was lobbying for it, "good football" isn't quote of the year material. Hofher's other foray into the realm of excellent quotes came pretty close to taking the honors. Prior to the annual Blue and White Game, Hofher likened his squad's progress to a fat man trying to lose weight. While it was pretty comical, it too isn't good enough to win.
But really, the winner has to be Rob Suglia, student relations coordinator for the Athletics department.
When asked if the basketball team's record indicated their actual talent level, Suglia answered with the most irrelevant response ever.
"We're better than what the record shows, and on Wednesday, with over 1,000 students there, we'll be much better as they all wear blue, get in for free and get bags of prizes at the door. They're hardcore, you can't stop the students from showing up, and you can only hope to contain them."
Mind blowing.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!
'Nuff said.
BEST FEMALE ATHLETE
While Lindsay Matikosh, Breanne Nasti, Jessica Kochendorfer and Emily Russell all performed masterfully this year, this award has to go to the monster that is the softball team's Stacey Evans.
Evans has been just plain nasty this season for the Bulls, as she actually gives UB a chance to win when she is on the mound. UB's offense has been anemic this season, but luckily Evans is tops in the MAC's opposing batting average category, only allowing a hit 17 and a half percent of the time.
BEST NAME
Here at the Spectry's, we're quite willing to award parents for their everlasting contributions to UB Athletics.
The wrestling team provided the most bang for our buck, bringing several nod-worthy names to the party. From the simple rhyming splendor of sophomore Harold Sherrell to the "made-for-action-movie" hijinx of sophomore Jake Blowers to the ever-loving political wonder that is freshman Dana Gingerich, the grapplers brought heat in a way that Captain Monterrey Jack wouldn't even need hair dryers to keep heated.
Nothing could defeat our two finalists though: men's basketball junior point guard Turner Battle and football sophomore offensive lineman Zachary Love.
While Battle's last name provided for easy access to clich?(c) for any sportswriter and his first name was just as simple in terms of teams "turning" things around, you just can't compete with a man with the same last name as Uncle Jesse's Beach Boy bandmate, Mike Love. In fact, we'll spare you the bad "Dr. Love" line, just take some advice that is guaranteed to bring minutes of sheer joy to your life, hit up www.mikelovefanclub.com.
Our favorite is the "photos" section. Man, that guy can dress!
BEST HAIR
Both the basketball team's Andrew Atman and the tennis team's Mike Rockman were disqualified for chopping their oh-so-sweet 'fros, leaving the door wide open for Mario Jordan to steal the show.
Jordan sported the swirly cornrows most of the year, and even rocked out the 'fro for a game at home.
The afro is something we thoroughly enjoy here at the Spectry's, and we'd be willing to pay good money to see the entire men's basketball team bust them out for the start of next season.
And yes, that includes you too, Mark Bortz and Reggie Witherspoon.
BEST ROAD PARTY SCENE
We judged this one in terms of how well we remembered it, and while Cleveland and Marshall were quite memorable, Iowa was a blur of hicks, cornfields and karaoke.
If you ever get the chance to visit Iowa, don't. That is, of course, unless you're armed for heavy drinking with your ATM card and a driver's license.
