State of the program

Anything and everything that is UMass Minutemen Basketball.
69MG
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Re: State of the program

Post by 69MG » Tue May 07, 2019 8:33 am

^ The last thing I needed was an article that made me even sadder about the state of the program. :( :( :(

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Re: State of the program

Post by UMassHoops » Tue May 07, 2019 9:10 am

Not very sobering honestly. The last decade has been plenty sobering. I disagree with the experts though. I think a great and consistent winning program can be built to last at UMass. We have a beautiful campus, great facilities, top-notch education. We just need to find the right coach (if we haven't already) that will become the Mark Few of UMass. It can happen, screw the ESPN crew that thinks our ceiling is that low.

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InnervisionsUMASS
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Re: State of the program

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Tue May 07, 2019 9:15 am

^

God bless ya!
Stop waiting for UMass to do something big and help UMass do something big. - Shades

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uz2b-len
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Re: State of the program

Post by uz2b-len » Tue May 07, 2019 9:48 am

I don't know if any Atlantic 10 team outside of VCU -- and perhaps Bob McKillop's Davidson -- is going to be an every-year NCAA tournament contender, but UMass shouldn't be this far behind the next tier.
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Re: State of the program

Post by MajBugman » Tue May 07, 2019 12:13 pm

The most significant factor, and this wasn't mentioned in the article because it was written by folks that don't know anything about UMass other than what they read in the box scores, was having administrations to whom athletics was an afterthought. They were too busy modeling UMass after UVM. Before Calipari got it rolling, if anyone asked me about UMass athletics, i'd say, "we are really good at sports no one cares about". If we got a Chancellor that was big on sports, it seems they moved on quickly. Lack of consistency led to student and community apathy. If the school doesn't care about sports why should I.

Hopefully this is fixed now. Amherst is a great college town despite itself sometimes and UMass has good facilities. There is no reason they can't be a very solid program.
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LS71
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Re: State of the program

Post by LS71 » Tue May 07, 2019 12:38 pm

Maybe I don't read enough articles on college hoops written by national correspondents, but I can't say that I'm familiar with either Myron Medcalf or John Gasaway.

Gasaway's references to the Erving era are completely out of context. UMass was in the Yankee Conference then and the tournament had what, 25 teams in it? TV and press coverage was nothing like it is today, so Julius was unknown nationally until he appeared in the NIT which was still relatively prestigious then; so much so that Al McGuire, peeved that his top ranked (at least I think they were before the NCAAs started) Marquette team was sent to the mid-west instead of the mid-east, declined to participate and went to the NIT instead...and won it beating UMass with Julius and LSU with Pistol Pete in the process.

Also miffed that Bruiser was placed behind DK on their Calipari chaser list.

UMass...the east coast Gonzaga? :shock:
Last edited by LS71 on Tue May 07, 2019 9:51 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Old Cage
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Re: State of the program

Post by Old Cage » Tue May 07, 2019 12:57 pm

LS71 wrote: Tue May 07, 2019 12:38 pmAlso miffed that Bruiser was placed behind DK on their Calipari chaser list.
LS - You got BINGO!
"Jack didn’t have any envy in him," Calipari said. "He was the greatest coach to ever coach here."

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Re: State of the program

Post by MJatUM » Tue May 07, 2019 12:59 pm

The Boston Globe wrote a column once a month about the outrage that was paying $1M to Derek Kellogg to coach the men's basketball team - could you imagine if any coach came in here and made the almost $2M that Few (allegedly) makes?! Atheltics???? At the State-U???? WHAT A WASTE OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS!!!!

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Re: State of the program

Post by harbo » Tue May 07, 2019 3:27 pm

To back up LS71, Jack Leaman's eight first-place finishes would have been automatic qualifiers for the NCAAs in today's world. We were rather competitive against solid programs in the NIT.

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Re: State of the program

Post by eldonabe » Wed May 08, 2019 2:35 pm

Borzello wasn't totally down. He thinks (to paraphrase) that we will be in better shape at last in the conference by the end of this coming season.

I happen to agree. The purge was absolutely needed and they have an infusion of solid talent coming in. But for inexperience/youth they would be sniffing 20 winds this year. I would not be at all surprised if they end up around .500 and finish with a surprising win or two near the end of the year. Then push near the 20 win plateau the following year.

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Re: State of the program

Post by Marty Peretz » Wed May 08, 2019 4:20 pm

The state of the program is better than it was two months ago. For me to feel much better about the state of the program, we'll need to sign a point guard who can immediately step into the starting lineup. We're a very solid PG away from being a legitimately exciting basketball team. Without that, next year could be another difficult one, though I fully expect the morale around the team to be a whole lot better.

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Re: State of the program

Post by 69MG » Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:41 am

EDGE10
‏@EDGE10Sports
60m60 minutes ago
More
@UMass @UMassAthletics is hiring a Director of Sports Psychology! Apply by June 21 to ensure priority consideration
Will his/her services be available to board members when we go off the rails? :lol:

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Re: State of the program

Post by Floyd » Wed Jun 19, 2019 10:00 am

Screw that 69, thats why we have OC here, to keep us all grounded with reason and sensible facts.
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Re: State of the program

Post by inthescoop » Wed Jun 19, 2019 2:28 pm

Director of Sports Psychology... I think that's an excellent idea. It's very important that our student-athletes have the right state of mind to continue performing at the highest level that they can. If your head is not in it, you consistency will decrease and you won't perform at a top level.

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InnervisionsUMASS
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Re: State of the program

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Wed Jun 19, 2019 2:45 pm

Didn't DK bring in someone like that on a one-off basis a few times? A guest speaker, if you will, but focused on the same area...? Did other previous coaches do anything similar?
Stop waiting for UMass to do something big and help UMass do something big. - Shades

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