The boys are back in town

Twenty-three wins in a season. First postseason appearance and win. Best season record in school history. Mid-American Conference Player and Sixth Man of the Year.

All great things for men's basketball, but those accomplishments are in the past with last year's team, and Friday opens the Bulls' 2005-2006 season.

"It's day-to-day, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute, second-to-second," said head coach Reggie Witherspoon, "We're not really trying to think about last year."

UB is heading onto the court with six teammates from the previous squad not returning, including graduated playmakers Turner Battle, Mark Bortz, Daniel Gilbert and Jason Bird. However, the Bulls have added five new athletes en route to a 14-man roster.

"We lost a lot of leadership but we're bringing in talent this year, hard workers," said senior guard and team captain Roderick Middleton. "I know the new guys are going to come in and give everything they've got. As long as they do that and with the people we have returning, we should be able to maintain what we had last year."

UB's new talent includes freshman guards Sean Smiley, Eric Moore and Andy Robinson, along with freshman forwards Greg Gamble and Vadim Fedotov.

UB's fans may also have trouble recognizing another new addition to the basketball staff this year: assistant coach Kevin Heck. Heck has been a coach for over 10 years including stints at both Eastern Michigan and Kent State, two of UB's MAC rivals.

"I think everybody is adjusting real well," Cage said. "We all love coach Heck. He's a great replacement for (Michael) Mennenga."

Under the leadership of Witherspoon and his team of coaches, the men in blue and white will start their season off on the floorboards of Alumni Arena against cross-town rival Canisius. \\

"Everybody we have is playing a new role," Witherspoon said. "We have five guys that are back from last year but none of them have ever played a college basketball game without Mark, Danny, Jason and Turner. It's all new for them as well."

With the exit of last year's seniors, Witherspoon will look to this year's senior class to assist in pointing the underclassmen in the right direction.

"They provided some leadership last year but now they're talking to guys who really don't have much experience at all, for the most part, playing college basketball," Witherspoon said about this year's senior class. "It's a burden that they're having to shoulder and we've got to get better at it every day."

Five-foot-10-inch guard Calvin Cage, 6-foot-6-inch forward Mario Jordan and 6-foot-3-inch Middleton begin their final season as Bulls.

"I have no doubt that I am going to be able to step in and continue what Turner, Danny, Mark and Jason started here," Middleton said. "Even last year, I spoke up and I was leading but now with them gone, I am ready to step in and take over full-time along with Rio (Jordan) and Calvin."

Cage, Middleton and Jordan have experienced the world of collegiate basketball in their previous seasons with UB and so have forwards Parnell Smith and Yassin Idbihi.

Idbihi, a 6-foot-10-inch, 275-pound junior from Tangier, Morocco, accumulated his first awards of the season well before Friday's tip-off. The post-player can find his name on the preseason All-MAC team and he also holds a spot on the Mid-Major All-America team.

While the five veterans have the experience and talent to get the job done, a large portion of the team has little-to-no experience when it comes to Division I-A basketball.

"We have seven guys that have played a combined three minutes of college basketball-that's their experience," Witherspoon said. "At this stage last year we were completely different, like night and day."

Witherspoon's squad narrowly snuck out of the Kessler Center, Canisius' home, with a win last season but the head coach is unsure as to whether his squad is up for the challenge at home Friday.

"I don't think we're ready right now but we have to use Friday as an opportunity to try and get ready," Witherspoon said. "It's very early and it's a long season. Friday is a day that we have to try and get better for January."

Witherspoon may be thinking ahead and preparing for the conference games that begin after New Year's Day, but his athletes are focused on the task at hand.

Idbihi said Canisius is the most important game of the season, if only because it is the next game.

"We have to take it from game-to-game," he said. "We can't think far ahead."

The Bulls' schedule is different this year as they face a variety of teams at different levels of play. UB opens against Canisius on Friday, hosts Division III Buffalo State on Sunday and then heads to 11th-ranked Boston College on Tuesday.

"For us, we're focusing on the things that we have to get better at," Witherspoon said. "Certainly we are going to prepare for our opponent but we've got to use all of these as opportunities for us to get better at the things that we need to do. There's a dichotomy of changes involving our opponents but we still have to every day get better on those things that we need to improve on."

UB will face its first opponent on Friday with tip-off set for 8 p.m.