Published: November 01, 2008 12:00 am      

MEN'S BASKETBALL: UB's Gamble at the point

AMHERST — Reggie Witherspoon needed somebody to run point. Naturally, his first choice was Turner Battle.

“He got tired too quick,” Witherspoon said of Battle, the 2005 Mid-American Conference player of the year who was hired last year to be one of the Buffalo Bulls assistant coaches.

With John Boyer recovering from injury, and Rodney Pierce transforming into a 2-guard, UB had only Niagara-Wheatfield graduate Byron Mulkey to run the offense during the summer. With a preseason exhibition tour of Canada coming up, the Bulls needed someone else to play point opposite of Mulkey in practice.

That’s when Battle shared his secret. “I guess Turner felt, ‘I better let him know now, or otherwise I have to get in shape for those practices prior to Labor Day,’ ” Witherspoon joked.

At the very end of the Bulls nine-win campaign last season, Greg Gamble approached Battle, and shared his ambition to move to point guard for his senior season.

It wasn’t a new idea. When Gamble arrived at UB out of Niagara Falls High School in the fall of 2005 — months after Battle led the Bulls to the brink of their first NCAA tournament appearance — the glue guy of the Niagara Falls Wolverines’ recent state championship team told Witherspoon he wanted to play all three perimeter spots.

“Let’s nail down just one spot,” the coach said.

Gamble started 20 games on the wing as a freshman, averaging 16 minutes. Though he didn’t provide much offense, Gamble showed the ability to be a lockdown perimeter defender, which is one reason why he’s been the Bulls’ leading swingman over the past two seasons.

Last season, Gamble was the only Bull to start every game. He also led the team in minutes, averaging 28 per outing. All this from the small forward position, while Mulkey, Pierce and Boyer handled the point guard duties.

When the Bulls convened in August for 10 days of practice leading up to their summer games, Gamble found out he’d gotten his wish.

“I was a little shocked that he would try that,” Gamble said this week. “But I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Witherspoon maintains that Gamble is competing with Mulkey and Boyer — both juniors who walked-on two years ago. But it’s written all over his face — and in his comments — that Gamble is likely to be at the top of the key calling plays when the Bulls open their season Nov. 15 at Youngstown State.

“He’s got really good leadership skills,” Witherspoon said. “He works really hard, and his teammates respect that he’s serious about leadership. They respect his honesty. When he says something to them, he’s being very honest.”

Gamble shouldn’t have any trouble defending opposing point guards. He’s drawn that assignment in year’s past. “And guarding Byron Mulkey every day isn’t easy,” he said. Former teammate Rob Garrison, now at Niagara, has also told Gamble that he’s quick enough to play the position.

“He defends that position very well,” Witherspoon said. “He’s got long arms, and he’ll be a rebounder at that spot.”

“I bring some more intensity on the defensive end at the point,” Gamble said. “That’s something we’ve been lacking.”

There are legitimate questions about Gamble’s offensive game. He’s had a tendency to pass up open shots before, and even though he led the Bulls last year with 75 assists, he also had the most turnovers, with 71. In fact, his assist-turnover ratio for his career is 165-172.

Still, Gamble is confident he can be a reliable scorer. “You can leave me open if you want,” he said at the end of the summer, “but you won’t want to.”

“We’ve found out that he is actually pretty good at playing the point offensively,” Witherspoon said.

Said Gamble, “I’m known as a defensive player, but this year, with me playing the point, it will allow me to apply myself in the offense and be more aggressive. I think it makes me a more versatile player, and it makes our team more versatile.”

Witherspoon said the biggest thing Gamble needs to work on is “getting used to being in that spot and being responsible for the mindset, in good times and bad, for everyone else on the floor.”

It’s likely that topic came up Thursday, when Gamble made the six-hour round trip drive with Witherspoon to Cleveland for the MAC’s preseason media day. There, it was announced that the Bulls — who will be one of the most-experience teams in the conference this season — have been picked to finish second to last in the MAC East division.

“We’re tired of being disrespected,” Gamble said before the trip. “We’re tired of being looked down upon. We just want to compete. We’ll let the wins take care of the rest.”