2021-2022 Season

[UMassfan_19]

Not much "love'' here for us. They don't think much of the transfers, impact, or breakout players(Weeks & Buttrick) . . recruiting's gone south again.


https://collegehoopstoday.com/index.php ... eakdown-2/

Rothstein has Dibaji starting at center so should I put much stock in any of his opinions

[bobolink]

The only people qualified to make a prediction about us and the rest of league are the full-time a10 hoops junkies. Not even many of us here qualify. I would say, the only meaningful predictions will be those from the coaches. They are the only people who really know the league and the personnel of every team. And the coaches of every team. Maybe there's a couple of journalists who pay that much attention. Otherwise, no one really know what to expect, especially with all the transfers. According to a10talk.com the league had 69 players transfer out, which averages to something like 5 per team. Some teams have practically turned over their entire roster. Coaching god Mark Schmidt had 9 players transfer out. I really can't comprehend that. Here's the link with the info:
https://www.a10talk.com/2021-atlantic-1 ... sfer-list/

That said, having 8 returning players gives us a leg up on a lot of teams.

And, kudos to a10talk for this headline-- THIS JUST IN: The Ship Stuck in the Suez Canal Has Entered the Transfer Portal

so we have predictions from Jablonski (the Dayton writer) and Rothstein, and sure enough it would take a full-time A10 hoops junkie to be believable, and even then. OTOH, it's been a long time (since Coach Cal maybe?) when there was such an overwhelming favorite for #1. The Bonnies won the last regular season and tournament and return all 5 starters. They lost much of their bench, but got a couple promising transfers and should be ranked. Their only weakness could be backup C, but even if they lost Osunniyi for a few games they'd still be very tough.
Both predictors have 2. Richmond 3. VCU 4. St. Louis and while the exact order might not be just that, those are well-reasoned guesses. Both writers put Dayton fifth and Davidson sixth. To me Davidson seems slightly better than Dayton, but Dayton has a favorable schedule and losing Grady could prove worse for Davidson than I expect. I think Davidson's PG transfer (Foster Loyer from Michigan State) will be good enough given how McKillop rolls.

So the top of the conference seems predictable, and at the bottom 14. Fordham is even more certain, making half the conference solidly predictable. It's the other 7 where you need a first-rate crystal ball.

Rothstein and Jablonski both have URI 7th. They're going to miss Fatts and Harris, but they get the Mitchell twin back from injury and I can see why they get #7 pick. The remaining 5 teams have so many comings and goings that prediction seems impossible. Beyond the top teams, nobody has a coach with the proven record of A10 success that would drive high expectations--certainly not any in the unpredictable half of the conference.

Just about every team lost their best player: VCU, Dayton, Davidson, URI, UMass, St. Joe's, Mason, Fordham, Duquesne, La Salle, GW; probably Richmond and St. Louis. Many lost 2 or 3 of their best. Only the Bonnies kept all top stars.

The unpredictable half of the conference could be joined in the bottom half by 1-2 teams getting negative surprises (like injuries), leaving next season's order of finish depending on player development, coaching and the ever-present luck factor.

[69MG]

^ I saw that and can't figure out why he said this. Steadman will start at center. I think It's a 4 way battle for power forward, maybe decided by matchups. Walker, DD, Buttrick and Jones all can play the 4 and they all give us different skills with Walker and DD being the closest match.

Frankly, I thought Rothstein had a pretty good handle on the A10 so I have no idea where he got this thought.

[uz2b-len]

In the past, I got the impression that Rothstein got his info directly from the coaches. He would show up to watch practice and then tweet out about the starting lineup and stuff like that. So maybe they are going to use Dibaji at the 5 in some way. Butrick doesn't want to play the five on offense, maybe when he's on the floor he can play the 4 on offense and the Dibaji play the 5 on offense and they can switch roles on defense.

[UMassfan_19]

^ I saw that and can't figure out why he said this. Steadman will start at center. I think It's a 4 way battle for power forward, maybe decided by matchups. Walker, DD, Buttrick and Jones all can play the 4 and they all give us different skills with Walker and DD being the closest match.

Frankly, I thought Rothstein had a pretty good handle on the A10 so I have no idea where he got this thought.

Feel like Jones will see some time as an undersized 5 and buttrick will see time there as well

[natwam2547]

He seems very high on Buttrick. Has him listed as a starter and as an under the radar transfer. He also doesn't list Santos at all on the bench and offers 0 analysis on any of the teams, just rankings and players. So take it for what it's worth. I figured Steadman would be a lock to start, but what do I know?

[uz2b-len]

More than Rothstein, apparently.

[baseline47]

We're replacing Tre, one of the best big men in the A10, with Buttrick who avg. 3 and 3 at Penn State. It will be a long season, probably MM's last.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

^

The best big man.

[PreecherJenkins]

^

The best big man.

MAN YOU JUST LOVE TRE HOW DARE YOU!!!!!

[InnervisionsUMASS]

[DanaDingle3]

We're replacing Tre, one of the best big men in the A10, with Buttrick who avg. 3 and 3 at Penn State. It will be a long season, probably MM's last.

Oh, c'mon, baseline47. Everyone knows it's not always the best guys, but the right guys with the right system and coaching.

We have great guys in the program. This team has a chance to surprise and do very well.

I will say, though, if things don't pan out, I'm not sure Ryan B. should be the guy to hire a new coach.

[natwam2547]

^ There's been plenty of debate about this, but if Bamford gets any shred of credit for the hockey success by his superiors, he's not going anywhere after one more basketball season unless they go 2-27 or there is a major scandal.

[TheInsider]

The only credit Bamford should get for Hockey is that he was smart enough to let Carvel sell himself into the job. If BB stinks and FB still isn't great, there are plenty of other things to go along with those that have happened over the years to get Bamford canned.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

^ There's been plenty of debate about this, but if Bamford gets any shred of credit for the hockey success by his superiors, he's not going anywhere after one more basketball season unless they go 2-27 or there is a major scandal.

The big factor here is Football. If Football ends up being atrocious and THEN b-ball has a bad season, this might become a legit discussion.


With that said, I think Ryan's job is safe for a bit unless he chooses to leave.