2018-2019 Schedule and beyond

[Big Chief]

Matty V with some info about the 2018-2019 schedule.

http://www.gazettenet.com/Schedule-Note ... l-16758633

Highlights include:

-Home games with Harvard (including talk about playing each other every year), Holy Cross, Quinnipiac and your Lowell State-U
-Road games at Temple, Providence and Georgia
-Holiday tournament in Vegas with tv games on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday (will include two on-campus home games as well)
-Return home games with Rutgers and South Carolina have been pushed to 2019
-UMass will be involved in the 2019 Hall of Fame Tip-off at the Mohegan Sun

[mlaconte459]

I like that SC & Rutgers were pushed to 19-20. The team this year will be much improved but with 4-7 new players depending on transfers it may take some time to gel. However 19-20 seems to be the year that the NCAA tourney is what measures the success of the team. Getting games that will hopefully help the resume that year is very important

[LS71]

Last season UMass played 31 regular season games.

UMass has eighteen conference games and OOC so far:
Harvard
Holy Cross
Quinnipiac
UMass-Lowell
Vegas event-two teams TBD
@Vegas-two of Nevada, Tulsa and Southern Illinois
@Temple
@Providence
@Georgia

That's 29 games. Tournaments like the Las Vegas event confuse me in terms of how many games count on the schedule. There will actually be four games played; two at the Bill and two in Vegas. How are those games counted? How many additional games will be added to the OOC schedule?

[mlaconte459]

^ article stated would be looking for two more buy games from teams from a lower conference. I believe that would total 31 which is what we had last year

[NilesGold]

^ Ooooh. I was confused, I thought the part about two more buy games from lower conference teams was in reference to the Vegas event. But reading it again I think you're right. Two more buy games will get them to 31. That will make for a disappointing home slate.

[LS71]

^ I misread the article too.

So I guess the 4 games associated with the Vegas tourney count as four games.

I thought I'd read...maybe here...that games in some of the early season tournaments don't count 1-1. That the events count as 1 game even though multiple games are played.

Is that right or did I miss something?

[Marty Peretz]

Think if we're to have a shot at the tourney in 19 we absolutely have to steal at least 2 and probably 3 of the PC/Temple/UGA/2 vegas games. And if we get Nevada in Vegas that's basically a road game. That's four very tough games (and Harvard at home is a tough game too). UGA will have a new coach and loses its clear top player as well as their third leading scorer so that presents a wonderful opportunity to steal one.Temple returns two really good players, but they're not unbeatable by any stretch. PC will be very good and has two absolute stud freshman coming in. Only hope there is for us to play them in the opening week or two and have Pip's experience take over. I wish we had a marquee opponent coming to Mullins but all in all I'm OK with this slate, especially given the number of newcomers we have coming in. Temple and Georgia are good challenges but hardly world beaters and non conference play in the SEC outside of UF or Kentucky is rarely hostile as far as road environments are concerned. Hope we get Temple on a quiet weeknight as well when Liacouras will be fairly dead.

[MJatUM]

^ I misread the article too.

So I guess the 4 games associated with the Vegas tourney count as four games.

I thought I'd read...maybe here...that games in some of the early season tournaments don't count 1-1. That the events count as 1 game even though multiple games are played.

Is that right or did I miss something?

According to my very quick search, it looks like the max games you can play without an in-season tournament is 29. If you play in a tournament that max is increased to 31.

[McKinney]

Last season UMass played 31 regular season games.

UMass has eighteen conference games and OOC so far:
Harvard
Holy Cross
Quinnipiac
UMass-Lowell
Vegas event-two teams TBD
@Vegas-two of Nevada, Tulsa and Southern Illinois
@Temple
@Providence
@Georgia

That's 29 games. Tournaments like the Las Vegas event confuse me in terms of how many games count on the schedule. There will actually be four games played; two at the Bill and two in Vegas. How are those games counted? How many additional games will be added to the OOC schedule?

Teams can play either 29 regular season games or 27 regular season games plus no more than four games in one multi-team tournament for a maximum of 31 games. Conference and other postseason tournaments do not count against the limit.

Edit: whoops just saw MJatUM posted the same thing

[McKinney]

Think if we're to have a shot at the tourney in 19 we absolutely have to steal at least 2 and probably 3 of the PC/Temple/UGA/2 vegas games. And if we get Nevada in Vegas that's basically a road game.

Nevada will have the home court advantage for sure, but it might not be that bad. There's only 4,675 UNR alumni in Las Vegas and it's a 7 hour drive from their alumni base in Reno to Las Vegas (14 hours roundtrip), or a $250 flight ($500 roundtrip). Although of course their sweet sixteen run this year will draw a lot of casual fans.

[natwam2547]

I have 0 problems with that schedule. Sure if the 2 Las Vegas games and the 2 buy games are Delaware State, Houston Baptist, Alcorn State and Maryland Eastern Shore then I'll change my mind. But Niagara was a tournament home game so I'd like to think we'd get something along those lines for Vegas.

[Berkman]

We were in Vegas the last time UMass played out there at MGM. For anyone tht might go out there for the games I have this suggestion. MGM celebrates NO SHAVE NOVEMBER. So anyone that has a mustache or beard gets free admission to the games.

[bobolink]

This season (2017-18) had limited travel, which was good. Next season still won't rack up that many frequent flyer miles, but trips to Vegas, Georgia and St. Louis add some miles. Those all sound like really tough games. Winning a couple of those road games should result in a great overall record. Next season's team should dominate at home; on paper it looks like a team that can handle lesser teams coming to the Bill. Who knows. Beating Georgia and Providence last year while losing to Quinnipiac and getting blown out by Fordham brings to mind the word "unpredictable", but also points to how results can depend a lot on road vs. home.

[capezona]

Alright! Las Vegas - a mere 5 hours away. I will definitely be there.

[capezona]

Dang! Just saw that it's during Thanksgiving. I'll be in Hawaii then. Let's see, Hawaii or Las Vegas? Aloha!