2023-24 Season

[R&G]

I think there should be one goal for next season (and every season): Win the A10. The team should be built for it and both the offensive and defensive schemes should be developed to best accomplish it. The OOC portion of the schedule should be considered nothing more than preparation for the A10 schedule. If they take care of business, the postseason will take care of itself.
It seems like winning the A10 was a much more important goal in the 90's than it is now. It's funny because there is often chatter on this board regarding which teams should be shown the door to make the A10 a better conference. Based on the last 20 years, I would imagine that other teams' fans probably believe that UMass should be booted to strengthen the conference.

[Juice Stand]

I've come down a little bit after that embarrassment. It was over so quickly that it's almost like it never happened.

Positives heading into next year (positives only, I've had enough negativity for one day):
- Frank Martin's second season. The year-one excuses are over. Frank's had a full season in the A10 and now has scouted and played all the teams at least once. I posted the link a couple times before, but he said in an interview with Michael Bergman that he wasn't very familiar with the A10 and especially how good the guard play is. I am confident that he will learn from this and be better prepared next season.

- The "returning" players. I say returning in quotes, because obviously we don't know who's back, but I'll make some guesses. Cross, Diggins and Gianni. All would have to sit out if they transfer. I think Cross is outstanding, an all-conference type guy if healthy. Diggins showed improvement as the season wore on and I think he'll be good next year. I expect Dyondre back. Sure, he could leave, but he seems like he took to Frank's style and can thrive. The rookies: RJ, Tafara, and Keon. RJ and Keon seem like "Frank" players. RJ is a star and Keon stepped up and played admirably. Tafara regressed but has star level talent. If he stays, I love these 3 freshmen.

- The hot start to this past season. These guys looked outstanding to start, and then things fell apart after Christmas. I attribute that to injuries, lack of familiarity with the A10 and each other, and an eventual snowball of lost momentum and confidence. If we can get off to a good start next year, I wouldn't expect the wheels to fall off like they did this season.

- Frank Martin the coach. We've all said our opinions about him and what this season looked like, but the fact remains that he has a long track record of success, and isn't afraid of digging in and getting to work. I expect the roster and playing time to be managed better next year (no further comment), I expect him to be better prepared for the A10, and I expect the players (hopefully we retain 6 or 7 of these guys) to mesh quicker.

- That injury bug hit us HARD this year. It's not often that you lose your star PG, your beast-mode warrior, star freshman, backup PG, and center for periods of time. It's hard to have expectations about injuries, but I can't see us getting hit that hard two years in a row. No team stays healthy all year top to bottom, but we should be in better shape ... right?

Thus concludes my list of positives for next year (at least what I can think of at the moment). Feel free to shred it. Today was a bad day, but it's just basketball, moving on.

[Acer71]

^Good synopsis of the season and for a much better 23/24.

[econalum]

As year 1 is over, what I hope for is some stability. The problem is that the transfer portal creates a lack of stability for most teams, especially as NIL means the better players are more and more about building their brand, versus the team.

Dickie V, and others this weekend, mentioned that the Transfer portal is allowing the BIG 5 conferences to restock, and the mid-majors, like us, are losing out.

I blame the whole AAU system for much of what we see in basketball. Me, over the team.

As to the coach, he is 'old school' in yelling. Gen Z might just tune out or leave. Think about how much the Bruins improved with Montgomery, the gentler coach.

[Upstate10]

RJ and Cross would be a GREAT duo to build a roster around. Fingers crossed we don’t see any portal tweets for either of them

[69MG]

^ I agree. It will be interesting to see who returns. I mentioned this in another thread, those that choose to return will be those willing to do it "My Way", as sung by the other "Frank".

[MakeMullinsGreatAgain]

I was encouraged by wat Frank had to say in his presser - talked about how the core guys were in it for the long haul - I guess we'll find out

[CapeCodBruiser]

We have had the use of the Champions Center for 8 seasons now. Even Cal said it was one of the best basketball facilities in the nation that should attract top talent. The bottom line is that it has not resulted an NCAAT victory yet. (The Ladies team does have an NCAAT appearance). We have had 3 regimes in those 8 years with DK, McCall and Frankie Martin. Today we got a beating only surpassed by the one Apollo Creed got against Ivan Drago. I graduated 39 years ago....time is running out to see the Minutemen rise back to an NCAA Tournament level. I will not live as long as Sister Jean! All we can do now is drink cocktails, take long walks to soul search and send money to UMass Athletics to help them find answers. See you at Garber!



Rocky: Champ, look this fight's over. I gotta stop it.
Apollo: No, no.
Rocky: Look, you can't do no more out there!
Apollo: I'm here to fight.
Rocky: He's killing ya. I gotta stop this thing.
Apollo: I'm here to fight, promise me you're not gonna stop this fight.

[Floyd]

RJ and Cross would be a GREAT duo to build a roster around. Fingers crossed we don’t see any portal tweets for either of them

Noah would be great to have back as well. 3 very solid A10 players. I would love Wildens back, as well as Keon

[Upstate10]

RJ and Cross would be a GREAT duo to build a roster around. Fingers crossed we don’t see any portal tweets for either of them

Noah would be great to have back as well. 3 very solid A10 players. I would love Wildens back, as well as Keon

I’m assuming Noah is gone so the heartbreak isn’t as bad if that’s what he decides to do. Haha

[MakeMullinsGreatAgain]

RJ and Cross would be a GREAT duo to build a roster around. Fingers crossed we don’t see any portal tweets for either of them

Noah would be great to have back as well. 3 very solid A10 players. I would love Wildens back, as well as Keon

I’m assuming Noah is gone so the heartbreak isn’t as bad if that’s what he decides to do. Haha

listening to Wildens in the press conference I'm not convinced he's done. He talked about how "we" are going to learn from this and "we'll" get better next year - I know I always refer to we when I talk about UMass - as if I'm part of the team but if he wasn't coming back I would think he would be saying "they" will get better or "they" will learn - we could sure use his presence next year - right now I think he is more important than Noah

[wmmmfan]

I don’t know what to think about next season, college basketball isn’t college basketball anymore. I’m honestly watching to see if Frank adds a GM/Scout type roll who manages the transfer portal, scouts possible portal entries from year to year looking to shore up weaknesses. I’m not complaining, I’m just curious on how schools (specifically UMass) will move forward in this new environment.

From a team standpoint, I liked our freshmen class this year. Louis looks like a star, Gapare oozes potential and as K. Thompson develops he will be a tough guard in this league. Diggins was basically a freshmen since he scarcely played at UConn, he was better at the end of the year than the beginning. I think he will be a solid contributor for the next two years. Cross is a warrior, he needs to become a team leader next year. I hope DD continues his improvement from this year, he could have a major impact if he continues his improvement. I would love to see G.Thompson be next years DD, the talent is there.

The incoming freshmen all had strong senior seasons and give us hope for the future that better times are ahead. I would like to see us add a big, another wing who can shoot and a point guard from the portal if Wildens, TJ and Noah aren’t coming back ( basing this off Senior Day).

[vanmeter]

If Cross, RJ, DD, and Wildens come back I’ll be satisfied. Noah is gone, TJ plays the same position as RJ and I think RJ should be a 30 minute player. I think we need an upgrade from Keon and Diggins at point guard. Gaspare regressed as season went in Gianni did not see much action and Kanye and Brandon graduate.

[NilesGold]

From a team standpoint, I liked our freshmen class this year. Louis looks like a star, Gapare oozes potential and as K. Thompson develops he will be a tough guard in this league. Diggins was basically a freshmen since he scarcely played at UConn, he was better at the end of the year than the beginning. I think he will be a solid contributor for the next two years.

UMass went 12 minutes today without either PG on the court, so I'm not sure Frank is as confident for next season in our two PGs as you are.

[bobolink]

PG, assuming Noah is gone as expected, needs improvement, and Rahsool might be the guy. I missed a couple minutes near the end of Saturday's game vs Bona and just watched it. 3 minutes left, UMass up 3, and Rahsool makes a fabulous crosscourt pass to TJ who's alone in the corner and hits the 3. Next play, Rahsool drives, gets double-teamed and responds with a beautiful wrap-around feed to Kante for open layup. He then makes 5 FTs on the next 3 possessions and the game was over. From 3 minutes left until 45 seconds left, he was responsible for 10 straight points as UMass outscored Bona 10-4 for the win. That win at least gave the team a winning 8-6 record at home, and injuries cost at least 2 more home wins.
Anyway, a lot of work to do to make 23-24 successful, especially the need for a quality big. Many good A10 bigs are transfers: Okoro (SLU), Johns (VCU), Quinn (Richmond), Venning (Bona); it can and should happen here.