Virgin Islands, August 2019, exhibition trip

[JoleonLescottsHair]

Part of this, if not all, seems to be aimed at me ...

No. Sent a PM.

[UMassfan_19]

FWIW, McCall and UMass MBB in total has been much more active on social media than his predecessor were. They've done a lot of marketing this Summer alone.

It doesn't matter. That reality goes against what some here appear to need. People 'deserve to know' and/or want their opinions of MM confirmed. That about covers it. This is perhaps the dumbest thread ever. Non issue turned into silly entitled rants.

Part of this, if not all, seems to be aimed at me so I will spell out why I think it does matter and the discussion isn’t dumb:

1. In his first 2 years, and possibly at his last stop, McCall has struggled with many different parts of being a HC. This past spring he was coerced into making changes to some things other than himself and with that came new players that he most likely(definitely with regards to Tre Mitchell)would not have gotten had things stayed the same. This spring and summer he had an opportunity to make changes to his approach...communicating, being a better leader, relationships with people in and outside the program...these are things that I have either personally seen or have been told by people with access that I trust. He has a little insecurity and/or paranoia. This game information blackout leads me to believe that he hasn’t made the changes in himself that needed to be addressed. There is no absolute that this is true but I can’t recall any other team doing this.

2. If I recall, you do not live locally but follow the team from a distance...last year for the first time since Lappas I did not have one person ask me for tickets...I had few people ask me about the team in any way at all except at the end when a few asked if the coach would be fired. With the changes that were made and the players that have been brought in, I have had people this summer asking me different things about UMass Basketball. Now this trip wasn’t going to sell season tickets or even register with the most casual of fan but it was an opportunity, as you can see by this thread, to reward the diehards and catch the attention of basketball fans that aren’t necessarily attending games the last few years. You can promote Tre Mitchell having 27 and 15. While Bamford said ‘let’s be honest, winning brings people’...he might’ve said, ‘let’s be honest, more people helps winning’ and we have some new players that you have got to see, along with one of the top returning scorers in the conference.

This board is about discussing UMass basketball which we all invest in to some degree...this topic is very relatable to the team. I think it goes without saying that if the team does well then in hindsight this will be trivial but if the team struggles this attitude could play a small part in that.


Having said all that, the character and chemistry of this years team is night and day and the culture has changed from everything I am being told.

Personally I don't need my coaches writing recaps and tweeting out box scores or splicing up highlights from film. Using the word black out is completely disgenous as any press is able to go and watch and get the Informatikn. Everyone knows they are a bit short handed on the Cominication front with Sinnet leaving. But from what I've heard talking to people on the marketing side the team has been a lot more open this year than any year in the past 4 as far as video and photos at practice and doing stuff for the marketing staff. every player has done Instagram q&a mccall has done a lot more interviews and video stuff. The trip goal is not to create hype it's to build the team however they are not barring access to reporters who wish the make the trip.

[Jackson96]

We should change this subject to a more benign topic. What do you folks think of Trump?

[78]

I agree it's absolutely not a blackout...if publications wanted to send reporters there they could have. It is true, however, that the program has decided to provide little to no information on the trip. In the long run it won't mean anything, but people who have followed this program closely for 30+ years and would like a few video clips and more info on the games don't necessarily want the coach fired.

[Floyd]

This thread is becoming increasingly more difficult to read, but somehow I still do it.

Have a couple beers and read on. It's even better

[Roadtrip]

Looking forward to my morning copy of The Virgin Islands Daily News with my coffee.

[Old Cage]

Maybe we should just put Walt Bell's daily offering on a monitor for several of our coaches to use. Today:

"We're close. It's time to get right. Time doesn't go backwards, you squeeze that toothpaste out of the tube, you can't put it back in. Really it was a message that we have to understand that every day is critical and the urgency of right now."

[harbo]

We should change this subject to a more benign topic. What do you folks think of Trump?

I've heard that Ivanka is better at X's and O's than Junior. I'd take either one over Hurley regardless.

[Jackson96]

They beat an All Star team by 69 according to Amin:

https://twitter.com/Amin_Touri/status/1 ... 02976?s=20

Not sure what planet the opponents are all stars on, but hey, a blowout is a blowout is something we can all agree on. I think.

[JoleonLescottsHair]

Looking forward to my morning copy of The Virgin Islands Daily News with my coffee.

By far the best post in this thread!

[69MG]

Everything you wanted to know about the BVI All-Stars.

POSTED BY:
DAVID EDOLE
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CHARLOTTE AMALIE, St Thomas, USVI- The Senior National Basketball Team of the [British] Virgin Islands is taking part in the Paradise Jam Tour in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands (USVI).
The tournament, which runs from August 7 to August 24, 2019 at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) Gymnasium, includes collegiate level Division One teams such as Northern Kentucky, Umass, University of Calgary, Youngstown State and Abilene Christian.

The US Virgin Islands is competing as the host team.

The Virgin Islands team has a mostly youthful and inexperience composition and includes Romain Minott, Eral Penn, Stephon Caul, Kimron Telemaque, Malachy Payne, Elroy Bollers, Vedal Penn, Riquan Fahie, Revaughn Sprauve and Steve E. Parillon.

The team is coached by Byron Brewley aka 'Bash'.

According to a press release from the BVI Basketball Federation (BVIBF), President Derrick R. Varlack said 'We intend to build character and chemistry at every opportunity afforded to us, as we prepare our National Teams. We are excited about our young team and we look forward to gaining much needed experience from this high level competition for the future.'

2 defeats for young VI team

Meanwhile, the young team has so far lost both of their games played in the tournament.

The VI went down 44-81 to Abilene Christian University on Wednesday, August 7, 2019 and 64-93 to Northern Kentucky on Thursday, August 8, 2019.

They play Abilene Christian University again today, from 5:00pm.

[Roadtrip]

UMass with 5 guys in double figures again. Jackson 28, Weeks 17, Chatman, T. Mitchell 16, Santos 15.

[TheInsider]

They obviously aren't a very good "all-star" team but that score is still impressive.

[NilesGold]

Maybe we should just put Walt Bell's daily offering on a monitor for several of our coaches to use. Today:

"We're close. It's time to get right. Time doesn't go backwards, you squeeze that toothpaste out of the tube, you can't put it back in. Really it was a message that we have to understand that every day is critical and the urgency of right now."

I'm unclear of your intent with this. Should I take this statement at face value?

[NilesGold]

So this little exchange on Twitter, involving Greg Carvel, helped me realize something.

https://twitter.com/CoachCarvelUM/statu ... 2068432896

Here you have Greg Carvel, a wildly successful, respected, and liked UMass athletics head coach, basically eschewing adopting something that Walt Bell (who without coaching a game seems to have energized a lot of UMass football fans) has been doing that fans seem to really get a kick out of.

Seeing this helped me to realize that it's extremely important for a head coach to be true to themselves. Having Greg Carvel say and do the things that Walt Bell is doing would likely look forced, and be counter-productive.

Head coaches don't all have to be gregarious. I think fans respond to a coach who's authentic. I don't know what he's like behind closed doors, but out in the public sphere sometimes I get the feeling that McCall is actually trying too hard to get people to like him, rather than trying to operate in a way that's more authentic and comfortable for himself.

I'm not sure exactly how this relates to the USVI trip, or the lack of coverage of it, but if McCall thinks this is the right thing for himself & the team, I'm fine with it.