2016-17 Season

Anything and everything that is UMass Minutemen Basketball.
69MG
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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by 69MG » Sat Dec 24, 2016 1:19 pm

UMass87 wrote:I think UMass is absolutely capable of becoming the fourth best A10 team. The A10 is pretty weak this year and none of the top three (URI,Dayton, VCU) is anything close to dominant.
Did someone hack your account a few days ago? :D Actually, I get it. We're all hoping that we're a better team in February than we are now.
Postby UMass87 » Wed Dec 21, 2016 5:25 pm
Nah, right now the team pretty much sucks.

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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by NilesGold » Sat Dec 24, 2016 1:31 pm

69MG wrote:Not sure top three are as far ahead of the rest of the pack as we once thought. However, we could still finish anywhere from 4-10. Depends on injuries, maturity of the frosh and more consistent play from Rashaan and Donte. The upside is huge and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it comes together.
I think you're mostly right, the only thing I'd change is that this UMass team could absolutely finish 1st in the A10. It's not at all likely and they'd need to play significantly better than they have been, but I think they might just be capable of that sort of leap and I think there's less separation between the top and middle of the league than in almost any previous year.

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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by uz2b-len » Sat Dec 24, 2016 2:09 pm

I think we win the tournament
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69MG
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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by 69MG » Sat Dec 24, 2016 2:35 pm

^ The NCAA Tournament? :roll:

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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by uz2b-len » Sat Dec 24, 2016 4:33 pm

No, not that one
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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by NilesGold » Sat Dec 24, 2016 10:14 pm

I've become a fan of using Kenpom stats. It still has flaws/weaknesses, but it can help give you an idea of where the team stands better than just a W/L record.

Currently, UMass sits at 126 overall (240 offense, 54 defense). Compare that to prior years under DK (for the full season).

2017: 126 (240 O, 54 D)
2016: 167 (204 O, 139 D)
2015: 125 (128 O, 130 D)
2014: 50 (91 O, 43 D)
2013: 86 (85 O, 114 D)
2012: 74 (112 O, 53 D)
2011: 180 (271 O, 83 D)
2010: 167 (178 O, 164 D)
2009: 136(128 O, 171 D)

Clearly the offense has been the team's Achilles heel this season. The offense has so much room for improvement, if it can achieve even just some of that, combined with how good the defense is, this team could be very good by the end of the season.

As a side note, in 2014 when UMass played Tennessee in the NCAA tournament, Tennessee and Iowa played the play-in game first. Iowa finished the season ranked #22 by Kenpom and Tennessee was #10.

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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by chdavis295 » Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:05 pm

And there you have it, a 10-3 OOC record.

What I find so promising is not the 10 wins, but it's that the three losses were all very competitive games where we had a legitimate shot to win. I know, some people are still going to bitch and moan because the OOC schedule was weak, but when you really look at it, it's a very well put together schedule.

Temple could very well finish top 4 in the American.
Harvard could very well win the Ivy
Georgia St will be top 2 in the Sun Belt most likely

I know we "should have" beaten Ole Miss, but even that game, combined with Providence shows that we can compete right now.

I'll even say that I feel the coaching this year has been excellent. Perhaps one lapse with the Ole Miss game, but otherwise, it has been tremendous.

Very, very promising start and I for one am excited to see where it goes.

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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:09 pm

As we slowly move forward with the season, RPI slowly starts to mean a bit more. With that win, we jumped up to 64 in the RPI per RPI Forecast. It will probably level out to being in the low 90s once more games are played tonight and tomorrow, but it's nice to see right now. For reference, we were 98 going into today.
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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by mlaconte459 » Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:19 pm

12-6 with 1-2 wins in the a-10 tourney is the magic # in my opinion.. will be difficult but not too much of a stretch.. so that and we are a bubble team
GO... GO U... GO UMASSS..... GO UMASSS

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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by MikeEsq » Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:24 pm

mlaconte459 wrote:12-6 with 1-2 wins in the a-10 tourney is the magic # in my opinion.. will be difficult but not too much of a stretch.. so that and we are a bubble team
Depends who they beat for their 12 wins. They haven't beaten any top 50 teams yet. I think we're looking at next year for a realistic NCAA Tourney shot, but would love to be proven wrong.

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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by Jackson96 » Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:30 pm

I was a little worried about Rashaan earlier in the year where he that 4-game stretch where didn't do much, but man he has been great as of late -- in 18 MPG over the last 5 he's put up almost 14 points per game. If we can figure out how to keep him on the court and maintain that effectiveness, it just makes things so much easier on offense.
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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by 69MG » Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:33 pm

^ Let's not get carried away. I would be shocked if we went 12-6 (extremely happy, but shocked). The top oi the league isn't as good as in past years, but 4-10 are all tough. If we can go 10-8 and at least 1 tourney win, we get to 21. Probably not NCAA, but the NIT is a good starting spot for this year.

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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by mlaconte459 » Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:43 pm

Yea not saying it would be enough.. but I wouldn't mind for the team to get into the bubble discussion, be disappointed about not making it and then take it out on the NIT & off season preparations
GO... GO U... GO UMASSS..... GO UMASSS

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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by NilesGold » Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:51 pm

69MG wrote:^ Let's not get carried away. I would be shocked if we went 12-6 (extremely happy, but shocked). The top oi the league isn't as good as in past years, but 4-10 are all tough. If we can go 10-8 and at least 1 tourney win, we get to 21. Probably not NCAA, but the NIT is a good starting spot for this year.
Last year four teams in the A10 finished conference play with less than 6 losses. Likely, no, but 12-6 or better is absolutely a possibility for UMass this year.

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Re: 2016-17 Season

Post by Chris20 » Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:54 pm

I don't think we're dancing this year without an epic run to the A10 tournament championship.

But....we were 77th in the Rpi going into today I believe, not 90s. And Temple sits at 25. GA State fell to 85 with the loss today.

All pretty meaningless....but one thing is in stone, we have done our job for the league. We schedule properly and took care of business.

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