2024-25 Season

[Camby4Life]

Does anyone know why Jayden was in the dog house to start the season? He's doing exactly what he did last year now that he is playing a ton again. The situation is baffling.

Frank wanted to go big and start Rivera at 3, but that strategy didn’t work. I’m a fan of Jayden’s game but it definitely worked better with more scorers in the lineup last year. Hopefully he can improve his shooting this year.

[minutefanjsf]

Does anyone know why Jayden was in the dog house to start the season? He's doing exactly what he did last year now that he is playing a ton again. The situation is baffling.

Frank wanted to go big and start Rivera at 3, but that strategy didn’t work. I’m a fan of Jayden’s game but it definitely worked better with more scorers in the lineup last year. Hopefully he can improve his shooting this year.

He was sneakily a good shooter. Just not high volume. He shot 46% from the field last year. He only shoots about 5 shots a game though. His interior passing is phenomenal, IMO. Our current bigs have to figure how to receive those passes. It looks like they are surprised when the ball appears on their hands.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Does anyone know why Jayden was in the dog house to start the season? He's doing exactly what he did last year now that he is playing a ton again. The situation is baffling.

Frank wanted to go big and start Rivera at 3, but that strategy didn’t work. I’m a fan of Jayden’s game but it definitely worked better with more scorers in the lineup last year. Hopefully he can improve his shooting this year.

Jayden was very solid last year and has proven thus far he is fine even without shooters around him. Not going with him from Day 1 this year proved to be a mistake.

[tdmass]

Totally agree and Frank admitted he's getting Nothing out of his centers is why he's gone small!

[inthescoop]

^Meanwhile during March madness last year, he was tweeting and preaching, how all the best teams are run by big men who are able to move swiftly, play in the back court, and pass and transition at a next level (a la Nikola Jokic) and then he goes out and does not recruit any type of those players? Classic

[Juice Stand]

Those kinds of players don't exactly grow on trees. I don't see much from Malek, but I like Shahid, he's just inexperienced. DHS is obviously a talented big man, but he's hurt. I'd like to see what Amadou can bring to the table. He's big and strong and looks like a good athlete, but also lacks experience.

[Floyd]

Jayden was very solid last year and has proven thus far he is fine even without shooters around him. Not going with him from Day 1 this year proved to be a mistake.

Yup. And remember, he's only a sophomore. By all accounts he's a super hard worker and I'm sure is working on his shot every day.

[minutefanjsf]

^Meanwhile during March madness last year, he was tweeting and preaching, how all the best teams are run by big men who are able to move swiftly, play in the back court, and pass and transition at a next level (a la Nikola Jokic) and then he goes out and does not recruit any type of those players? Classic

My guess is Frank thought the centers he was bringing in would be able to do what he wanted. I don't know why they aren’t doing want he wants. By his reaction (yanking them out when they don’t do “right”) he believes they can do more. I don’t think he is expecting Jokic like talent, either. Cohen and Cross are more talented than the guys we have now, for sure, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be better than their current levels.

[NilesGold]

Those kinds of players don't exactly grow on trees. I don't see much from Malek, but I like Shahid, he's just inexperienced. DHS is obviously a talented big man, but he's hurt. I'd like to see what Amadou can bring to the table. He's big and strong and looks like a good athlete, but also lacks experience.

I don't understand why UMass coaches continue to fall into this trap year after year. Unless you're Dayton or maybe VCU, A10 teams (and lower) cannot consistently attract and retain centers of any significant quality. You need to embrace and employ lineups and strategies that do not rely on a high-caliber center.

[Juice Stand]

Hey guys, with yesterday's embarrassing loss to UMass Lowell, we've now tumbled all the way down the NET rankings from 252 to 276! sub-300 here we come! The only A10 team lower than us is Duquesne at 285, but don't worry, we can dethrone the Dukes. Go U!

[MakeMullinsGreatAgain]

Haven't really seen it talked about or mentioned much - why isn't Lewis Walker playing? He warms up, participates in all the pre-game stretches/warmups but doesn't even wear his uniform? Is he injured and I just missed it? If he is injured seems weird he'd go through all the pregame warmups - usually injured players are in sweats and they just hang out around top of key while others do pregame routine. Only other thing I can think is maybe he's ineligible this semester? Just not sure if you could be around team if he was indeed ineligible?

[NilesGold]

Haven't really seen it talked about or mentioned much - why isn't Lewis Walker playing? He warms up, participates in all the pre-game stretches/warmups but doesn't even wear his uniform? Is he injured and I just missed it? If he is injured seems weird he'd go through all the pregame warmups - usually injured players are in sweats and they just hang out around top of key while others do pregame routine. Only other thing I can think is maybe he's ineligible this semester? Just not sure if you could be around team if he was indeed ineligible?

Seems he is red-shirting this season. I don't know why or when it was decided.

[Juice Stand]

Hey guys, with yesterday's embarrassing loss to UMass Lowell, we've now tumbled all the way down the NET rankings from 252 to 276! sub-300 here we come! The only A10 team lower than us is Duquesne at 285, but don't worry, we can dethrone the Dukes. Go U!

I just saw this from Atlantic10Stats on Twitter. He put together a composite ranking using KenPom, Net, Torvik and WAB (not sure what that one is). We came in dead last behind the Dukes.
https://twitter.com/A10Stats/status/1865789812030001358

[LS71]

Anybody else the least bit nervous about UMass-Boston?

[Floyd]

^ shit, I'd be nervous about UMass Medical School