The "Oh, What If" team

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LS71
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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by LS71 » Fri May 31, 2019 10:50 am

Although I think he only played at UMass for one season, when I saw the topic of this thread I thought of Ishmael Butler.

https://youtu.be/cM4kqL13jGM
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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by Floyd » Fri May 31, 2019 11:24 am

tom mclaughlin wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 8:41 am AJ Wynder is a great basketball player and an even better person. For those who aren’t familiar with AJ let me give you some background. AJ was a 6’1” ultra thin ultra quick guard out of Long Island. He played on the same team as Billy Donovan at St.Agnes and was coached by legendary coach Frank Morris. He was a better player then Billy Donovan. He came to UMass and had a great future ahead of him until one Sunday night at 10:2he was walking in Southwest with Daryl Carter and a kid from Boston who was jealous of him over a girl came up to him and stabbed him in the stomach. AJ was in shock and ran back towards his dorm (the worse thing you can do because you lose blood) . They called the police and an ambulance came and got him to Cooley Dickinson Hospital. I got a call and couldn’t believe this happened - rushed to the hospital and the doctors told me he was lucky to be alive - he had no pulse in the ambulance.
Called his parents and told them to get there ASAP and don’t worry we would take care of hotel and everything. His parents were the salt of the earth.Bottom line AJ never felt comfortable on campus after that attack - who would? He transferred to Fairfield to be closer to his family and who would blame him? He was a star there and ended up playing in the NBA for the Celtics and now is the coach @ Nassau Community College. Keep in touch with him and he is an outstanding young man.
Had a fight with people in the athletic department over this because I felt his parents should be taken care of with hotel and meals. The administration was upset but I didn’t care because AJ almost lost his life and his parents didn’t need any worries. I think I ended up paying. This incident was very serious and I always remember it because I had been entrusted with their son and he almost died. One of the reasons I got out of coaching and decided to concentrate on my own kids - life is precious and it’s tough enough worry about your own kids never mind someone else’s kids. Now that I look back and see my own kids and my grandkids it was more then worth it.
AJ was as close to death that night as you can get. Thank God he made it he’s one lucky kid and when the Celtics signed him I was thrilled knowing what he had gone thru to get there. He is one outstanding human being.
Coach , I remember that like it was last year. AJ was one of the quickest guards I've ever seen. That was a horrible event, but I was so happy to see him with the Celtics for that short time

Whatever happened with Daryl Carter? He was a pretty entertaining kid
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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by Floyd » Fri May 31, 2019 11:27 am

Cool_Hand wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 4:19 am We always overhype recruits just like weve been doing over the last two months. I dont these players would have amounted to much. Just some quick hits, Traynham apparently playes for Livingston College? Tiki wad arrested for dealing coke.. a where are they now thread might be more appropriate.
Yeah, I was hoping this would be more about what if things worked out here and the potential success
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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by tom mclaughlin » Fri May 31, 2019 1:42 pm

What if? UMass unknowingly was involved in one of the greatest NCAA upsets of all time. What if Lorenzo Charles the player responsible for the famous dunk on a Wittenberg miss never happened? Never told anyone this story except my wife Debbie. When I got the job I concentrated on NY, NJ and MA because I knew from playing under Jack Leaman that is how he built his teams. So I get Donald Russell and Horace and was off and running and then got AJ Wynder and now we needed a stud rebounder. Went to see Lorenzo play in an All-Star game in Brooklyn. Loved him and immediately went into the home for a visit. The visit went great and he came up that weekend for a visit - he loved it went home and on Tuesday he said “I made up my mind and I want to go to UMass. Told him “great I’ll come down Friday and we’ll sign the papers.” In the meantime Daryl Carter from LI Lutheran the brother of 5he great Reggie Carter also commits so I can go down to NY and sign them both.
On Thursday I get a call from Lorenzo. He has changed his mind he is going to NC State. I was shocked because they weren’t even recruiting him til that very day. He committed without even visiting. To this day I found the whole thing strange - something happened and NC State did something. Well as you know Lorenzo saved the day for NC State and God bless him and his family and make he Rest In Peace. He died tragically years ago driving a bus.
He came as close as you can to playing at UMass, but I guess God had bigger plans for him. NC State took him because they heard we were offering and figured he must have been OK because they never saw him play and he never visited NC State. They took him in one day.

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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by eldonabe » Fri May 31, 2019 3:10 pm

What if Cal stayed?


Discuss...........

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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Fri May 31, 2019 3:19 pm

We'd all be a bit happier and much more spoiled.
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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by Jackson96 » Fri May 31, 2019 3:57 pm

There would be 74 Coach Cal's Closets open throughout greater New England with one outpost in PIttsburgh.
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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by McKinney » Fri May 31, 2019 4:06 pm

We'd (at the least) be in the American.
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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by Floyd » Fri May 31, 2019 5:09 pm

eldonabe wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 3:10 pm What if Cal stayed?


Discuss...........
Season tix would cost a LOT more
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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by 69MG » Fri May 31, 2019 5:22 pm

eldonabe wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 3:10 pm What if Cal stayed?

Discuss...........
Traffic would be a nightmare, but I wouldn't complain at all.

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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by Old Cage » Fri May 31, 2019 6:21 pm

^ NASCAR Bob might still be our AD at age 82.
"Jack didn’t have any envy in him," Calipari said. "He was the greatest coach to ever coach here."

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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by harbo » Fri May 31, 2019 7:01 pm

Diverging a bit from the original intent of this thread, but I have often wondered what would have happened if Julius Erving had stayed for his senior year. Teaming up with Al Skinner would have been fantastic to watch.

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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by TruBluMaroon » Fri May 31, 2019 7:26 pm

harbo wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 7:01 pm Diverging a bit from the original intent of this thread, but I have often wondered what would have happened if Julius Erving had stayed for his senior year. Teaming up with Al Skinner would have been fantastic to watch.
Word was the SI had them in their preseason Top 10

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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by fenway617 » Fri May 31, 2019 7:39 pm

Melvin Swift! I remember him being a highly rated after prospect and I think he committed to UMass after he decomitted from Xavier. Also think Memphis offered him as well among others. He had some issues (academic I think) that held him back a year before he was going to attend college. Sadly he never got that chance, he was shot and killed after he was discovered in a neighbor's home armed with a knife in what was suspected as a burglary attempt.
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Re: The "Oh, What If" team

Post by tom mclaughlin » Fri May 31, 2019 7:53 pm

Always wondered what would have happened if Julius stayed for his Senior year. He would have been unstoppable and taken UMass to a top ranking and put UMass on the national stage. He would have done for UMass what Larry Bird did for Indiana State.
He probably would have ended up as a Boston Celtic. I knew Red Auerbach wanted him because he told Bob Woolf that the Celtics wanted Julius and couldn’t take him if he left early. Too bad would have been fun.

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