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Watching the recent games, his shots were all contested and he wasn't getting open because the defense was keyed in on him. Just a couple minutes into the Kent St game and I knew he was going to have a hard time getting open all day. The recent poor performances are related to poor scheme in my ...

I wouldn't put any stock into Keon's on-court demeanor. I met him at an open practice and he's just one of those guys that doesn't show emotion easily. I've also watched a few of his SFA games and he has a similar demeanor. That's just his personality.

The offensive scheme to try to get Banks open looks is woefully bad. The kid is a sniper and the staff should be doing everything they can to get him clean shots. He was bottled up against Kent St, and his poor % in that game isn't a reflection that he was playing poorly, it was that the coaches did ...

^ yeah. I saw some calling EMU a must-win. We lost that so this is a really must-win. Mike is telling us that BG has a very good defense, and while I think we have talented offensive players, I don't like our offensive scheme at all. I've said many times that I believe in this roster, but I am not ...

^ Totally. If Bamford fires Frank, then guess who gets to make the next hire. Bamford needs to go.

Call me greedy, I want 4 wins.

It's not greedy. Fellow MAC'er Kent St had 1 win in 2023, 0 wins in 2024, and then went 5-7 this past season (4-4 MAC). The big leap this past year was with an interim coach after they fired Kenni Burns in April. That is a genuinely shitty and unwinnable situation ...

Analytics predictions update:

Warren Nolan has us going 20-9 and 12-6 in the MAC (I would absolutely take that at this point), while Bart Torvik has us going 18-12, 9-9 in the MAC.

https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2026/team-predict-schedule?team=UMass
https://barttorvik.com/team.php?team ...

and at the end of the day whatever DK did couldn't have been that bad if they let him come back to be an assistant for Frank. Heck - I wouldn't be pissed if he took over for Frank. I think Derek is arguably just as good a recruiter and the kids would actually enjoy playing for him.

Wonder if ...

“We commit the worst fouls in the history of mankind,” Martin said. “They’re not physical fouls, they’re all bad"
https://dailycollegian.com/2025/12/umass-disappoints-in-second-straight-mac-loss/

Yeah ok, that might be true, but the messaging from this guy is so ineffective. Coach it, teach it ...

What was the incident at the end with Banks? He was really heated. Someone on their team say something to him?

Dont want to see this group get rattled and start to fragment. We've got some nice players who play hard and seem to care. I agree with Roadtrip's previous comment about Frank's approach ...

I wasn't that upset after the Kent St loss. That was a quality team that could compete in the A10 with a couple of star players. This loss, however, putrid.

I know that Bettiol and Clerc were in foul trouble, but how in the world do you let Damjanac stay out there for so long? He didn't do anything ...

^ good post, but I think this group has a chance to win in spite of Frank's stubbornness. In fairness, he assembled the roster, so it can't be entirely the players, but he wants to play tough at the rim, defend the paint, etc. The truth is that this is a guard oriented team with finesse players ...

I'll be really interested to see how Marcus Banks plays tonight. Kent St bottled him up, and he also didn't get free against UMass Boston, so that's two games in a row where he's struggled to get open shots. The staff needs to put their thinking caps on and find ways to create space for him.

^ Definitely, but not anymore, Floyd. From here on out, we're playing basketball. Let's start off on the right foot with a W and get this thing rolling. It'll be a challenge as our first true road game of the year.

Ass whooping: check
Bench players got some experience: check
Nobody appeared to get injured: check

I've made my opinion on this game and the scheduling choice very clear. I'm going to enjoy a heaping helping of Christmas and then it's on to Eastern Michigan.