TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

You all came to Buffalo as part of Coach Reggie Witherspoon's second recruiting class in the fall of 2001 while the University was on NCAA probation. What made you decide that UB was the place to be?
DG: After my visit, I knew that the coaches had a vision. They knew that the four players that they were bringing in that we could make history. They really believed that and after meeting the other guys, we all had the same mindset. We knew what we wanted to do and what we wanted to get out of our four years here.

MB: Opportunity. The opportunity to play. The opportunity to really build a program from the ground up and the opportunity to go to a really great academic institution. Those things right there solidified my decision.

TB: This is where I felt most comfortable, pretty much. I wanted to go to a place that I felt was a home away from home. When I came on my visit, this was a home away from home and I just felt comfortable. I told my dad after my visit that the coaches were the type of coaches that were dedicated to their players. They really cared about their players and I wanted to go somewhere where that happened. They were honest with me, too, so it all just tied in together with me committing here.

JB: The opportunity to turn the program around. We knew, the four of us, we had a chance to take the program from pretty much ground zero as high as we took it. It was on our shoulders, as high as we could go. That was a great opportunity. I felt like the coaching staff cared about me outside of basketball. Those are probably the two biggest reasons.

Two Questions for Daniel Gilbert

During the season, the UB crowd has chanted "Danny Hustle" after many of your defensive plays. Did you ever think when you came here that you would hear 5,000 people chant your name?
Not at all. I knew there was an opportunity for something like that to happen, for us to be that big on campus, but honestly, I didn't think it would happen as early as last year. I thought it was going to be around this time right now that maybe I'd get a chant or something like that. I guess we stepped up a little earlier than I expected.

In the past four years, you've seen Mark Bortz flourish as a post player. Do you think he is the Mid-American Conference's best sixth man?
Without a question, definitely. As far as just a person, on and off the court, I think he's one of the nicest guys I've met. He's done a lot for me, honestly, especially off the court that a lot of people don't see. On the court, I think his game is speaking for itself.

Two Questions for Mark Bortz

You've made two plays this year that, in a sense, have really defined the season. During the season opener, you had a dunk with one second remaining to cap a seven-point, 31-second outburst that tied the game against Fairleigh Dickinson and sent it to overtime, where you won, 87-84. Against Ball State, you had another dunk that tied the game with 10 minutes remaining before UB took over to win in front of the national ESPN2 audience. What can you say about those two plays?
Those two plays kind of define what I bring to the team and that's energy. Against Fairleigh Dickinson, we only had a couple seconds left and I came in and brought an energy play. That carried over into overtime and I think allowed us to win the game. It was the same thing against Ball State. It was kind of a sluggish game. That dunk tied it up and it really got the crowd into it. That's what I try to bring to the team.

Jason Bird got off to a slow start this year, but scored 20 points against Eastern Michigan in a big conference road win. What does Jason bring to the floor to add to your team?
What he's really bringing right now is aggressiveness and leadership. He's more of a quiet leader. He leads by example and he really brings energy and hard work on the court. He brings a lot of the things that don't show up on the stat sheet necessarily. That's the type of people you need on your team to win championships and that's what he does for us, the little things.

Two Questions for Jason Bird

You've nearly tripled your production in the last eight games after averaging 3.2 points in the first 17 games. What had helped you start to find the scorer's touch again?
I try to bring the same thing every game. I was more concentrated on and challenged more on the defensive end of the floor earlier in the season. I just tried to make a concentrated effort to pick that end up and box out and rebound. I think when our team's at full throttle, I'm more aggressive offensively and that's needed. I'm trying to do that more. I've been sick the past couple games, but I can breathe now so we'll see if I can pick it up.

Turner Battle has scored more than 1,000 points in his collegiate career. He's hit four game-winning buckets this year in the waning seconds of a game. What has he meant to UB basketball as a leader and a teammate?
When you think of UB basketball, you know, his name is kind of synonymous with UB basketball. He's a good teammate, a good friend of mine. He does mean a lot. He's been stability for us for four years, ever since he came in. He's a leader on our team. We look to him to make tough plays for us sometimes and he handles it real well. I'm proud of him and I just hope he's as successful as he can be. I think of all these guys as my brothers.

Two Questions for Turner Battle

At the beginning of the year, ESPN.com's college basketball front page had a big picture of you and Coach Witherspoon at practice. Did you ever think that Buffalo basketball would become a program that garnered national attention four years ago when you came here from Kernersville, North Carolina?
It was something that we dreamed of. I mean, I never thought it would come true, but I guess all the hard work that all the seniors and all the juniors have done has paid off.

Daniel Gilbert has not played in only two Buffalo basketball games in the last four years. What has his ability to play defense and hustle meant to this program in getting it to its current place?
You don't see all the things that he does. He does the intangibles such as getting loose balls, getting steals or causing his man to have a bad shooting night. He does a lot of rebounding. He does a lot of small stuff that doesn't get picked up. He exemplifies the kind of team we are, which is a blue-collar, hard-nosed defensive team.

What have been your favorite moments as student-athletes at the University at Buffalo?
DG: I would say going to Cleveland last year (for the MAC Quarterfinals), even though it was a tough game and we lost (to Toledo, 97-85). Just the whole atmosphere that was on campus, we had the Mighty Maniacs come down there. I think we had the largest crowd down there. That was our first time going to Cleveland. It was a good experience for us.

MB: My favorite moment was probably when we won our (2004 MAC first round) playoff game against Northern Illinois and all the students rushed the court. It was really kind of representative of how far our program had come. We went from last in the league and winning five games (in 2002-03) to having a home playoff game and a sell-out crowd, the biggest in UB history, rush the court. That was probably my most memorable moment.

TB: Right now, I could probably say the Northern Illinois game last year and the ESPN2 game this year. Northern Illinois last year, there will never be as many people in Alumni Arena ever again because they took out seats. The fans storming the court was something that you dreamed of your whole life. You see it on TV, other colleges do it and when you experience it, you're on cloud nine. This year, ESPN2 (when Buffalo beat Ball State, 67-58, on Feb. 12) was just a game that showed that we got a little respect and they wanted to show us nationally. It just was very exciting. I'd never been on ESPN2 before.

JB: My favorite moment was probably when the fans rushed the court (after wins against MAC East leader Kent State and in the first round against Northern Illinois) last year. That was a great experience. You grow up watching stuff like that on TV and then to see it happen in this arena. When we first came here it was empty and they didn't even bring out the side bleachers. To see it jam-packed in here and rocking like one of the best arenas in the country is a phenomenal feeling.