2019-20 season

[Slapthefloor93]

Boston Sports News
‏@BostonSportsNe2
Follow Follow @BostonSportsNe2
More
If it hasn’t been reported yet I will rn... UMass incoming freshman John Buggs seems to have really messed his knee up... I know he just got surgery on something the other day idk if it was his knee or not but I can confirm via his social media that Buggs knee is messed up

Can anybody confirm this? I feel for Buggs. Everything I have seen about him has been positive regarding his enthusiasm and attitude. Maybe he will be forced to take a redshirt this year, rehab and be ready to go next year.

Haven’t seen a minute of his live play but he’s already my favorite player because of his attitude. He seems like a real leader.

[Floyd]

Yeah, I agree. Kid has been ultra positive about everything UMass. Hope that if true, the injury isn't serious and he's back quickly. Get well soon John Buggs, looking forward to seeing you with the new edition of UMass basketball

[Juice Stand]

Here's a quick interview with Tony Bergeron. If you had any doubt that he's a Springfield guy, you only need to listen to him talk for about 3 seconds and you can just tell. This guy is all Springfeld. Love it. https://twitter.com/UMassBasketball/sta ... 1502917632

[inthescoop]

Looks like a guy who can't relate to players or isn't social enough at gatherings.
#newenglandbullshit

Keeping it real 101.

[69MG]

Well, I got invited to watch the guys practice today. What I saw was a modern day version of "MASH". Here's the injury list as best as I can remember it.

KTM - recovering from microfracture surgery on his knee. I may not have this exactly right, but he may not play this year.
Djery - got hit in the head at an earlier practice today. He's in the concussion protocol and won't play on the trip. He may not even be cleared to fly.
Buggs - had a "minor" procedure on his knee. MM says he should be back in a month.
Weeks - got a hip flexor early in practice and sat out the rest. Not sure how serious this was but he may not play on the trip.
Samba - I think he sat out just as a precaution due to his past injury issues. Also, that gave them 8 players so they played 4 on 4.

That leaves probably 8, maybe 9 guys to play on the trip. Samba and/or Weeks might play, but another player has some type of travel document issue and may not make the trip.

For the above reasons, it was tough to glean much from the practice. Santos is very athletic and his shot looked good. Hard to determine much from Tre since he had nobody of any size to defend him, but he does have good vision and can pass out of the post. Sy looked good. He is much more comfortable at the 4 than the 5. Djery better get healthy soon. Nothing else stood out much except that these guys seem to have good chemistry. They hung around after practice to get some food and I noticed that at various tables of 4 or 5 there were generally 2 or 3 vets and 2 or 3 freshmen and they were all laughing and kidding each other.

If anyone else was there, please fill in anything I missed or got wrong. I didn't take notes so it's all from memory.

[78]

^^^
Microfracture knee surgery is extremely serious. If that's what KTM had, it's going to be a long recovery. Glad to hear the Buggs thing isn't serious. Concerned with Samba being rested. The past problems with his knee have me concerned about his durability. As for the truck pull, I'm more interested in seeing the coach relate to players in practices and games.

[inthescoop]

Any hotel/ticket packages for the Mohegan Sun tournament? I'm trying to go.

[mlaconte459]

^ I haven’t seen any packages announced.. however some of the off site local hotels can easily be half the price depending and have shuttles to and from. Worth checking out as well

[vanmeter]

I was at the practice and had difficulty, initially, figuring who was who. I am not too concerned about the injuries in that all (with the possible exception of KTM should be fine when practice begins in October - although some may not be able to play on trip.

The group seemed to co-exist pretty well and may well improve the 'culture'.

That said, McCall's response, when McCall was asked about what kind of expectations we should have, was that all he was concerned about was establishing a culture. That is pure coachspeek - something that he excels in.

[uz2b-len]

Don't know if I would dismiss it as coach speak considering it appears to be exactly what he is doing.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

The UMass Basketball Facebook page (and probably their Twitter and IG accounts too) posted photos from yesterday. Good to see some familiar faces there to see the team practice.

[bobolink]

A recent article about six "talented prospects" incoming to the A-10 includes (not surprisingly) Tre Mitchell.
Sentence that struck me: "With Rashaan Holloway out of the picture and Khalea Turner-Morris likely out until midseason, Mitchell is someone that Coach McCall can rely on to step in and immediately take some attention off of scoring guards like Carl Pierre, Samba Diallo, and Keon Clergeot."
not for what it says about Tre, but that KTM is likely out until midseason and those 3 are "scoring guards".

full article: https://bustingbrackets.com/2019/08/19/ ... g-class/2/

[69MG]

^ They got the KTM part right but the shooting guards (other than Carl) from what I have seen (very limited) will be TJ and Santos. They might play the 2 or 3, but both can shoot. Keon has worked a lot on his shooting, but moreso on his ballhandling and PG skills. MM has him pegged as the PG to start the season.

[69MG]

Another installment of "Meet the Players" from MM. Today's subject is Djery.

https://twitter.com/UMassBasketball/sta ... 8770406400

[eldonabe]

Another installment of "Meet the Players" from MM. Today's subject is Djery.

https://twitter.com/UMassBasketball/sta ... 8770406400

This just can't be. MM Sucks at marketing the players and team......