Some interesting recent off the court news involving the WMU and Buffalo Basketball Programs. If you remember, WMU Guard Michael Flowers put his name into the transfer portal after long time coach Steve Hawkins was fired after the season ended in March. Flowers ultimately transferred to South Alabama where he petitioned the NCAA for immediate eligibility. The NCAA just announced it has denied Flowers petition and he will have to sit out the upcoming season. That did not sit well with Flowers who last week posted a tweet accusing Western Michigan’s athletic department of “inconsistent” and “unprofessional “ communication during his transfer process and that his former school ultimately caused his immediate eligibility waiver to be denied by the NCAA. The WMU Athletic Department immediately denied the accusations but this is not a good look for first year Head Coach Clayton Bates who is trying to rebuild a struggling program.

Also at Buffalo, Bulls Basketball player Malik Zachery was charged last Friday with assault and weapons possession after allegedly stabbing a Canisius basketball player during an off-campus pickup scrimmage last week. Zachery, a JUCO transfer who signed with the Bulls out of Florida's Chipola College earlier this year, is accused of stabbing the Canisius player in the leg during a pick up game between Buffalo and Canisius Basketball players at a Buffalo area church. To no one’s surprise, Zachary has been suspended indefinitely by Buffalo.

yeah, read those things too. new meaning to pass and cut. zachery was a big recruit for them, had a lot of offers and was expected to share the pg role w segu. upstate NY kid. it just makes me wonder where was the knife. was it in his shoe? does he carry a blade in his gum bag for quick access? razor blade under the tongue? it's not like it's easy to stab a basketball player in his leg. there had to be some element of surprise.

as for flowers and WMU, glanced at their board and no one was feeling sorry for flowers. he had a kinda clumsy transfer out but WMU has lost a lot of top players to transfers in recent years and never got in their way out the door, so it doesn't fit the profile. as far as the new coach bates. he was sort of a backup candidate who largely got the job on a short 2 year contract due to covid outbreak. however, he has had an excellent start to recruiting. signed several good players late for 2020 season and recently signed nice looking sf recruit owen lobsinger who had come down to WMU and UT. i think bates will be ok. situation reminds me a bit of Hawai'i and benjy taylor who was an asst coach (previously been a HC at that terrible chicago st program) who got promoted after ncaa investigation forced out the HC and much of the staff, and took a program in turmoil to the conf final and just missed the tourney w 22 wins. sometimes, those unexpected hires with few expectations do well.