State of the program

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MJatUM
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Re: State of the program

Post by MJatUM » Wed Feb 27, 2019 12:19 pm

Man those last few posts were depressing.

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MikeUMA
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Re: State of the program

Post by MikeUMA » Wed Feb 27, 2019 4:27 pm

Tweet from Keon just now...
Keon D. Clergeot
@Keonhumble
Some people don’t have heart , they don’t have that toughness in them like me or other people I play hard that’s what I do and you can’t tell me I don’t you just can’t
4:16 PM - 27 Feb 2019 from North Amherst, MA
https://twitter.com/Keonhumble/status/1 ... 9639442435

I don't know what he's exactly referring to, but it's less than 24 hours after McCall's post-game speech about some on the team not caring.

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InnervisionsUMASS
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Re: State of the program

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Wed Feb 27, 2019 4:29 pm

Image
Stop waiting for UMass to do something big and help UMass do something big. - Shades

5150
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Re: State of the program

Post by 5150 » Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:55 pm

When Carvel took over the hockey program, if I recall correctly, he kept most of the players for the first year but then pulled the plug on a number of scholarships. Some of the players who lost their scholarship ended playing at D-3 schools not able to get a D-1 ride.

My question is: does McCall do the same thing can clean house? It seems like an extreme move but a necessary one.

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Jackson96
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Re: State of the program

Post by Jackson96 » Wed Feb 27, 2019 9:07 pm

If I had to guess I would expect 5-6 new players next year.
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Re: State of the program

Post by minutefanjsf » Wed Feb 27, 2019 9:22 pm

5150 wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:55 pm When Carvel took over the hockey program, if I recall correctly, he kept most of the players for the first year but then pulled the plug on a number of scholarships. Some of the players who lost their scholarship ended playing at D-3 schools not able to get a D-1 ride.

My question is: does McCall do the same thing can clean house? It seems like an extreme move but a necessary one.
Based on his recruiting tweets and info about th encumber if offers out there, it seems like some of these kids already know they are gone. I wonder if the discussions for who was leaving and when were screwed up and that is adding to the chemistry issues.

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Re: State of the program

Post by massprof » Wed Feb 27, 2019 10:27 pm

Yesterday, Joe Sullivan posted a column in the Boston Globe that covered a bunch of topics related to college hoops. One of the topics was the state of UMass men's basketball. Sullivan apparently interviewed Coach McCall shortly after the St. Joe's game ... he went pretty easy on McCall considering our record and the state of the program (amazing, I know, given that it's the frickin Globe). The focus of the discussion was that year 2 in a program rebuild can be difficult (boy, are we a great example of that!). But what I found interesting was the following quote from McCall: “Sometimes you have to go through some things to know what exactly needs to be done. And sometimes when you have a plan and you go through a season and you go through a lot of adversity, the plan that you come in with may not be the best plan for UMass. Maybe it was a good plan for Chattanooga, maybe it was a good plan for Florida. Maybe that’s not the best plan for UMass.” We can only speculate what he meant by that and what kinds of changes he envisions for next year.

69MG
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Re: State of the program

Post by 69MG » Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:53 pm

^ At least he realizes that something has to change. Whether he can figure out a new plan that will work and be able to implement it is another story.

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LS71
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Re: State of the program

Post by LS71 » Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:45 am

^ At this point, I'm confident that's exactly what he's doing.

I expect to see the guys who replace the guys who leave are on board with his plan.

We'll see....
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Swampy
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Re: State of the program

Post by Swampy » Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:56 am

Current state of the program... In the crapper!!!
McCall is a YOUNG coach who only has two actual head coaching experiences in his bank for guidance. What he SAW at Florida and what he DID at Chatty. Now he has to figure out what he needs to do at UMass. He's gaining experience and learning some tough lessons as he gains that experience. Unfortunately for UMass fans we have to once again go through the growing pains.

What Calipari did as a young first timer will more than likely NEVER be repeated by anyone at any place at any time. The problem is that we actually got to experience what he did first hand and that reference point remains in the back of all of our gourds. For myself and other UMass fans I can only hope that McCall learns quickly enough and can put together a program of decent success so that it can repeat itself if/when he leaves.
GO UMASS!

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LS71
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Re: State of the program

Post by LS71 » Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:47 am

^ Calipari was fortunate to have Coach Leaman as a mentor. I know Cal appreciated that. I say that based the way he talked about him when he'd be on the radio with Mike Francesa....and the fact that he made sure to be there the night Jack Leaman court was dedicated.

McCall may have mentors call on, but unfortunately no one like coach Leaman on campus...at least not to my knowledge.
"Win without boasting, lose without crying." -- Julius Erving

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Re: State of the program

Post by eldonabe » Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:32 pm

I see lots of changes coming soon. While I understand the need when he got here to fill in the gaps with the transfers; in hindsight that was too many bodies. He probably should have done 2 or 3 and had more true freshmen or even a 5th year transfer added this year (to start the year).

Whatever.... reset button engaged.

I know I am in a rapidly shrinking camp, but he has not proven that he is not the guy for the job here yet. I have heard things (external things) that do not thrill me, but I still think he can have us on the right path by the end of next season. Not good enough for most here, but that is my story and I am sticking to it.

If I was willing to give DK the benefit of the doubt after Wahlberg got canned, I will give MM the same consideration assuming he is cleaning house on this roster.

I am giving him 2 more years....

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Re: State of the program

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:37 pm

massprof wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 10:27 pm Yesterday, Joe Sullivan posted a column in the Boston Globe that covered a bunch of topics related to college hoops. One of the topics was the state of UMass men's basketball. Sullivan apparently interviewed Coach McCall shortly after the St. Joe's game ... he went pretty easy on McCall considering our record and the state of the program (amazing, I know, given that it's the frickin Globe). The focus of the discussion was that year 2 in a program rebuild can be difficult (boy, are we a great example of that!). But what I found interesting was the following quote from McCall: “Sometimes you have to go through some things to know what exactly needs to be done. And sometimes when you have a plan and you go through a season and you go through a lot of adversity, the plan that you come in with may not be the best plan for UMass. Maybe it was a good plan for Chattanooga, maybe it was a good plan for Florida. Maybe that’s not the best plan for UMass.” We can only speculate what he meant by that and what kinds of changes he envisions for next year.

The parallels here to DK as it relates to this are astonishing. DK did the same thing, forcing the DDM and having Vance lead that charge. It didn't work and he realized the mistake (I don't recall him publicly stating as such, something McCall is doing here) and made a change. Now obviously DK's coaching didn't get much better, but things did improve for a short period of time, resulting in 2 NITs and 1 NCAA. Hopefully that occurs here, but much more sustained and with continued coaching improvement.


It certainly would be helpful if McCall had a mentor locally who knew UMass the way Cal did with Jack.
Stop waiting for UMass to do something big and help UMass do something big. - Shades

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Re: State of the program

Post by NilesGold » Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:03 pm

eldonabe wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:32 pm I see lots of changes coming soon. While I understand the need when he got here to fill in the gaps with the transfers; in hindsight that was too many bodies. He probably should have done 2 or 3 and had more true freshmen or even a 5th year transfer added this year (to start the year).

Whatever.... reset button engaged.

I know I am in a rapidly shrinking camp, but he has not proven that he is not the guy for the job here yet. I have heard things (external things) that do not thrill me, but I still think he can have us on the right path by the end of next season. Not good enough for most here, but that is my story and I am sticking to it.

If I was willing to give DK the benefit of the doubt after Wahlberg got canned, I will give MM the same consideration assuming he is cleaning house on this roster.

I am giving him 2 more years....
Hard to tell if he was grasping at straws that first off-season, or if he truly thought the players he added would be better. I don't think the issue was too many bodies, or too many transfers and not enough freshmen, but rather that the group as a whole seems to be lacking in terms of attitude and ability.

As shocking as it may seem, aside from that minor difference (and I'm not sure what external things you're talking about), I agree with everything else you said here. I'm not at all thrilled with what's happened and where we're at, and while I'm not 100% sure McCall will be able to fix it, I'm still cautiously optimistic that he can get things back on track next season.

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Jackson96
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Re: State of the program

Post by Jackson96 » Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:08 pm

Next year is going to be another rough one record-wise I think. How we get to that record is the key for me. If it's like this year, no thanks on a fourth year of McCall ball. If there's improvement though and the team competes consistently, then I would definitely be comfortable with McCall as the coach.

Before we get to next season though, it's gonna be a busy offseason.
"I wrote a column and it went national"

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