UMassHoops.com

That guy is an F-in joker. He must have been pals with Bru to write an extensive piece of garbage like that. Lappas may have looked bad because he went down in conference stature. But, to ridicule him and say "you heard it here first" that he was the wrong coach for the job before he set foot on campus, shows he has some anger towards the firing of Bru. I hope coach reads the articles like this to add wood to the fire and turn this thing around to prove all the doubters wrong. Go Umass!

That guy ripped Bruiser too. He's an equal opportunity asscrack.

But, you did hear it there first.

The guy from Eagle Tribune who ripped Lappas hiring is at this email address: [email protected]
Or he has a Talkback page at: http://www.eagletribune.com/framesets/talknewsroom.htm

Not sure if he has changed his view of Lappas or if he just hates everything Umass. Maybe he got "ponded" in Campus Pond when he visited the Pioneer Valley.

Here is another clip from Eagle Tribune:
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Wonder if UMass alums are going to blame ex-coach and scapegoat James "Bruiser" Flint for the less than successful 6-5 start (0-1 in the A-10) under new coach Steve Lappas.
Bruiser, folks, did not leave the cupboard bare, folks. Frosh point guard Anthony Anderson, out of Lynn, and Boston freshman Raheim Lamb both can play. Two big guys are back in Micah Brand and Kit Rhymer, while swingman Shannon Crooks is being asked to play the role of defensive stopper and scorer at the same time.
Losses to Holy Cross and Marshall weren't supposed to happen under Lappas, whose club was embarrassed at home by St. Joseph's Saturday, scoring 38 points after being shut out for the first 4:15 of the game.
Bouncing Bruiser for Lappas, a good thing? The jury is still out.
Hector Longo is an Eagle-Tribune writer. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

We need stability at this time. Lappas needs at least one more year. I supported a 4th year for Bru but was leary about a 5th1 If we don't see any improvement than we can talk!

All i know is that Lappas has to win this coming year or it will be search committee time. But I will agree on one thing...I don't know why we hired him in the first place.

And I really wish people would get off the Bruiser Flint thing...i mean its already been 2 years. Let it go people let it go.

Only thing that worries me is despite the talent (although that is up for argument) Lappas doesn't seem to encourage his guys to hit the weights DURING the season. I have that on good sources. Which explains a lot as to why they faded towards the end of the year.

Faded?

They actually started playing their better ball late in the year.

At Villanova Lap had a very good record in the month of Feb.

They played their best ball of the season in the Rider-Marshall-NC State stretch which were games 9, 10 and 11, all before the conference season even started. UMass went 5-12 after the NC State win. They lost their last 4 games of the season, starting with a 42 point drubbing to Temple and ending with a dispirited half-effort loss to a bad GW team in a gift home game in the first round of the A-10 tourney.

Although they did shut St. Bonaventure out.

MrMiagi wrote:Faded?

They actually started playing their better ball late in the year.

They were 5-6 after the NCST game on 1/2/03. After that they went 6-12!

I'm talking about more competitive efforts the last month. At RI, SJ at home, etc.

What were the etc.s? We lost our last four games. The last lost was a joke.

nevermind

obg - Nice gotcha!

I said "COMPETITIVE EFFORTS" not wins. The RI and St Joe's games could have gone either way after both teams had beaten them rather easy earlier in the year.

Like I said, nevermind.

Miagi, they lost there last 4. The Temple game was the worst exhibition of basketball that I have seen a Umass team play since the Ray Wilson era. They were behind by 30 in the first half. They had a big halftime lead against URI and played a miserable 2nd half the game was only close in the 2nd half because your whipping boy Micah played great. They lost at home to St. Josephs who played without Delonte West. Then they came out and lost at home to a George Washington team that they had beatan at GW earlier in the season.
Fine finish.