It should surprise no one that UB isn't considered a national powerhouse when it comes to sports.
That may sound disappointing, but it's the truth, and it doesn't always have to be that way.
In fact, I think UB is already on the way to becoming a solid athletics program, and the proof is just what I've seen and experienced over my four years here.
Admittedly, I knew little about Buffalo's athletic programs coming into school, which says a lot from someone who follows sports religiously. I stepped on campus in April of 2007 for a tour, and was wowed when the tour guide pointed out that it was a school with Division-1 athletics.
I thought it was pretty cool, but still I could not name one single player from Buffalo sports history at the time.
The teams were here, but the legacy wasn't.
I think that has changed in the last four years.
Maybe it's because I go here and am closer to it, but even at games and around campus there seems to be talk of our own athletes rather than those that go to Syracuse or other major programs.
In the last four years, UB has won a conference championship in football by beating a team ranked in the top 15. It also went to its first bowl game and now has a bunch of players in the NFL, one of which was the starting running back in a Super Bowl.
The basketball team won more games in the last four years than any four-year span in school history, and this year's squad had Alumni Arena rocking like I've never seen it before.
To cap it off, Mitchell Watt won Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, and is projected to be drafted in the mid-second round of the NBA draft by some analysts.
I'm not native to Buffalo, but I can't remember any Buffalo athletes making this kind of impact at the national level prior to these guys.
Even better, the fans are starting to notice.
I can't tell you how many times I bemoaned about lack of fan support over the last four years, and this year's crop of fans was the best of that four years. The showing in the stretch run of the basketball season was incredible, especially in Cleveland at the MAC Tournament.
Sure, it's not LSU football or Syracuse basketball crowds, but it's a start.
Programs aren't built overnight, and Buffalo will take time to get there, but I think it's coming.
Almost a decade ago, the school was conducting studies as to whether or not keeping a sports program would be viable. The state of the 2012 Buffalo Bulls is miles from where it was then, in every sport.
In 2012, people on tours might not know much about UB sports either when they start. But passing the banners in Alumni that weren't there in '07 and seeing James Starks on Monday Night Football is certainly a start.
Email: tyler.cady@ubspectrum.com
