Dk to bc???

EBox · Post by **EBox** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:52 pm

Equally as exciting as the NCAA tournaments are these coaching dominos that go on around this time once the teams get knocked out. Wake and Marquette have openings, Shaka goes...VCU looks to name new coach, etc. DK will need to get to the NCAAs next year and then he will be named in conversations.

InnervisionsUMASS · Post by **InnervisionsUMASS** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:10 pm

InnervisionsUMASS wrote:
Not Trigger wrote:I expect UMass to be an upper-tier Atlantic 10 team team. Perennially contend for an A10 title, make the tournament a third to a half the time and once in the tournament occasionally make some noise.

Isn't that precisely what we are turning our program into??????

After 3 years of struggles under a 1st time head coach, we've now had 3 straight 20+ win season, finished in the upper-tier of the A-10 in either the regular season, tournament or both, have gone to three straight post-seasons with the most recent being the NCAA. I could be wrong, but it looks to me like we are trending exactly the way you want us to.

I'm still waiting on some sort of a response to this.

vanmeter · Post by **vanmeter** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:19 pm

I would be shocked to see Shaka take the Marquetts job after turning down other offers the past few years.

Buzz Williams left Marquette because the new Big East is downward spiraling league. Where is the excitement/strength in that league.

TruBluMaroon · Post by **TruBluMaroon** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 8:12 pm

Perhaps WF is a better fit, but Wisconsin is home. As the #3 state school in Virginia, his earning ceiling at VCU is not as high as at Marquette or WF.

chdavis295 · Post by **chdavis295** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 8:14 pm

Where is the whole "Big East is spiraling downward" coming from? Yeah they had a bad year but thats what it was, just a bad year. Marquette had 5 out of conference losses, all of which we to NCAA tournament teams. The conference was balanced for the most part. Butler was in their first season with new coach, Georgetown had guys in trouble and dismissed them, St. Johns was a bubble team with one bad stretch in which some guys missed games, so on and so forth.

chuff · Post by **chuff** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 8:25 pm

^The biggest problem the Big East faced this year was moving to Fox Sports 1 from the ESPN, which lobbied for them for years. Granted the near monopoly ESPN had on college hoops for years in is now broken up by CBS, NBC and FOX, and even had the BE stayed with ESPN, they wouldn't have the same kind of television partner they used to have. All the sudden there isn't one voice telling us all who is great and who isn't.

Not Trigger · Post by **Not Trigger** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:25 am

Innervisions, in DK's six years UMass has finished 10th, 11th, tied for 8th, in a four way tie for 5th, tied for fifth and tied for fifth. We have never contended for an A10 regular season championship and only one year have we gone to the post-season championship game. That hardly constitutes being a perennially contender for A10 titles.

Also one out of six NCAA tournament bids is a far cry from receiving bids between 1/3 and 1/2 of the time. And getting our asses kicked in our only appearance hardly inspires confidence.

I'm also struggling with the logic that somehow we'll be better next year. If the freshmen we are counting on next year to be key contributors are as good as some believe it makes no sense that they were given virtually no playing time this year.

Somebody speculated that DG will pick up the scoring slack next year. I love the way DG plays and it's my belief that he will replace Chaz as the team leader but he's hardly someone I would expect to be a big time scorer. Unless you're a higher profile team, the rest of college basketball teams have their ebbs and flows. This year was to be a peak year with a great point guard and a veteran team. Given that expectation coupled with the great start to the season, just getting into the tournament and losing badly to a lower seeded team is not for me a successful season.

Old Cage · Post by **Old Cage** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:29 am

^ This. Well said.

JoleonLescottsHair · Post by **JoleonLescottsHair** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:57 am

^ What he said and what he said before that.

kdogg8173 · Post by **kdogg8173** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:13 am

Walter McCarty is a candidate according to the Herald. Guess they are leaving no stone unturned.

MajBugman · Post by **MajBugman** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:16 am

I find myself undecided on what my expectations of UMass basketball are.

Having attended UMass during the Calipari years, I often side with those that feel UMass should be able to come close to that level of achievement again, and we should hold to coaches and administration to that expectation. Then the cold hand of reality smacks me in the face and I realize it's UMass, not Kansas. The program doesn't have the support of the legislature, alums, the eastern half of the state etc. We should be happy with 20+ wins a year, trips to the NIT and an occasional NCAA bid.

Remove the Calipari/Bruiser (Cal's coat tails) era and UMass has a total of 2 trips to the NCAA's. (1962 and 2014). On top of that UMass has been to the NIT, which started in 1938 only 13 times. And, it wasn't because they were going to the NCAAs instead.

If you look at it that way, we should build DK a monument.

UMass1927 · Post by **UMass1927** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:43 am

MajBugman wrote:I find myself undecided on what my expectations of UMass basketball are.

Having attended UMass during the Calipari years, I often side with those that feel UMass should be able to come close to that level of achievement again, and we should hold to coaches and administration to that expectation. Then the cold hand of reality smacks me in the face and I realize it's UMass, not Kansas. The program doesn't have the support of the legislature, alums, the eastern half of the state etc. We should be happy with 20+ wins a year, trips to the NIT and an occasional NCAA bid.

Remove the Calipari/Bruiser (Cal's coat tails) era and UMass has a total of 2 trips to the NCAA's. (1962 and 2014). On top of that UMass has been to the NIT, which started in 1938 only 13 times. And, it wasn't because they were going to the NCAAs instead.

If you look at it that way, we should build DK a monument.

Overall I'm very happy with the past 3 years and I think it's laid a good foundation for the program. Not only that, the experience gained by DK during these 3 years, especially this year, will be invaluable. I think at times people forget that DK is on his 1st Head Coaching job. It is going to take time and he is very much a work in progress- which is what we signed up for when we first hired him.

I think after the last 3 years, recruits will at least look at this UMass team and say, "thats a team thats going to win 20 games, has a chance to make the tournament, plays in front of a full house or a sizable crowd nearly every home game, and i have the chance to take it to the next level"

I think that exists. We're not at the Calipari level of expectations- very few schools are- but I think our trajectory is good. Next year is critical to show we aren't just a product of Chaz Williams but that we actually have a sustained successful program in the making.

Let's see.

Chris20 · Post by **Chris20** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:56 am

Confidence/happiness with Kellogg requires a mulligan for the first few years. When Not Trigger and the others lay out the numbers for the entirety of DK's tenure, it isn't pretty. But if you look at the last three years, the trajectory is clear, and I don't buy that it's all about Chaz. You could argue that our three best players over the last 6 weeks or so of this season are all returning.

Some are willing and able to look at the more recent history and make a judgement based on that. Others insist on looking at results from 2009-2010 as though they have any bearing, whatsoever, on our prospects going forward. They don't.

DK needs to do better in some areas, there is no question. But he is making progress, and staying the course is unquestionably better than rolling the dice on a new hire right now.

Pierce9999 · Post by **Pierce9999** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:12 am

MajBugman wrote:I find myself undecided on what my expectations of UMass basketball are.

Having attended UMass during the Calipari years, I often side with those that feel UMass should be able to come close to that level of achievement again, and we should hold to coaches and administration to that expectation. Then the cold hand of reality smacks me in the face and I realize it's UMass, not Kansas. The program doesn't have the support of the legislature, alums, the eastern half of the state etc. We should be happy with 20+ wins a year, trips to the NIT and an occasional NCAA bid.

Remove the Calipari/Bruiser (Cal's coat tails) era and UMass has a total of 2 trips to the NCAA's. (1962 and 2014). On top of that UMass has been to the NIT, which started in 1938 only 13 times. And, it wasn't because they were going to the NCAAs instead.

if you look at it that way, we should build DK a monument.

I think you are right, we should be happy. this was a great season. Yes we lost to a lower seed in the NCAA. One that is hot now, and had too much size for us, and who had beaten us the year before. The Cal years for our program would more than likely be called an "outlier", not something typical that we should expect all the time. Our guys looked very nervous in the NCAA game, and once we fell behind we couldnt catch up, TN broke our press repeatedly and had numbers breaks. I don't blame them for playing nervous, they had never been in that environment. And we never really had a knock-down shooter this year, besides some hot streaks from Chaz and Trey. I think the numbers speak for themselves, as far as the wins, and the quality competition that we did beat this year. I expect with DK that we will be competitive and approach 20 wins each and every season. It makes them fun to watch again.

albaby · Post by **albaby** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:21 am

Come on people, UMass is a tough school to get quality players. Amherst vs Philadelphia, Washington DC, Richmond, St Louis, New York, Pittsburgh and even Dayton. Orlean and Rhody being exceptions. Those are only in conference schools. Can't even get Boston area players to attend.