Follow the leader

Graduation is a cruel side-effect of college basketball.

With each year's commencement, different players depart their respective institutions and leave holes in lineups, rotations and locker rooms. Seniors provide leadership, a guiding light in the midst of a 30-game schedule that seems unrelenting.

Perhaps no one in Buffalo is more aware of this than senior forward Yassin Idbihi.

Having played with then-seniors Turner Battle and Mark Bortz and last year's class of Calvin Cage, Mario Jordan and Roderick Middleton, Idbihi had the opportunity to learn leadership skills from the men who have helped lead Buffalo to a school-record 59 wins in the past three seasons.

Stepping into their place, Idbihi took what he learned and is concentrating on his new role.

"Now, I've got to look to be the leader," Idbihi said. "We have the youngest team I've ever played on. If I have a bad day in practice, I can't just have a bad day. I've got to try to will myself through because people look at me, look at the way I play and then try to follow me. That's very different."

In years past, Idbihi has had the benefit of being a piece of the puzzle, and took direction from then-seniors Battle, Middleton, Cage and Bortz.

The 6-foot 10-inch import from Tangier, Morocco is now the team's only four-year starter and the leading returning scorer and rebounder. More importantly though, Idbihi is being counted on to provide a veteran presence on a team filled with younger, less experienced players.

"It's exciting," Idbihi said. "Now I've got to follow their footsteps. Rod, Turner, Calvin are gone. I've got to follow them, me and Parnell (Smith). It's exciting. This is, for me, going to be the most exciting season."

While some prefer to inspire their teammates with fiery, motivational speeches, Idbihi is more concerned with his work on the court.

"I talk to them sometimes but I don't talk that much," Idbihi said. "That's just not me. I try to lead by example. Hopefully, I'll be successful."

Last year, Idbihi enjoyed the best statistical season of his four-year career. He averaged 14 points a game and 6.9 rebounds, as well as totaling 52 assists and 24 blocks.

With three of top four scorers having departed in the spring, Idbihi will have to continue the evolution of his game. Voted onto the Preseason All-Mid-American Conference team for now the third year in a row, Idbihi has yet to end the season on anything higher than the All-MAC Honorable Mention team.

In preparation for the hard work ahead, Idbihi stayed in Buffalo this past summer with many of his younger teammates.

"Most of us worked together all summer," Idbihi said. "We stayed here together. We worked in a group. Me, Vadim (Fedotov), Christian (Schmidt), Andy (Robinson), Greg (Gamble), it was a pretty big group working out together."

Unfortunately, an ankle injury slowed Idbihi in fall workouts and rendered him unable to practice with the team early on.

"It was tough, you know, you get nervous," Idbihi said. "You're like, 'What am I going to do? What If I'm not fit? What if I play injured and then I won't be able to produce like I'm supposed to? Will we be successful?' You keep asking yourself all these questions and I just realized I'm happy. I'm happy I'm back now and I just got to make the best out of the situation."

Idbihi has managed to bounce back though, as he has started both of Buffalo's first two games of the season against Canisius and South Florida.

As for the end of the season, when Idbihi is forced to graduate and vacate his role as senior leader, Idbihi is hopeful that playing in the National Basketball Association awaits him.

"My goal is to have a good, have a successful season, as a team and as an individual, and that way maybe get some NBA scouts to look at me," Idbihi said. "If that doesn't work then I'm going to play professional basketball somewhere."