2024 NCAA Tournament Discussion

[Steve81]

Anytime a UConn team loses is a good day. Anytime a UConn basketball team loses is a great day!

[harbo]

I have never heard a color analyst go silent for several minutes until tonight. UCant ladies went through about a four minute scoreless stretch and there was not a single word uttered by the lady analyst (who overall did a decent job). Maybe she had to visit the ladies room?
Now we need the sled dog guys to complete the losing daily double.

[DanaDingle3]

Feels weird to be rooting for UConn, but I have to see that minor league sports conglomerate on the other side, along with their gofer Greg Sankey, go down.

Let's go Huskies!

[LS71]

I have never heard a color analyst go silent for several minutes until tonight. UCant ladies went through about a four minute scoreless stretch and there was not a single word uttered by the lady analyst (who overall did a decent job). Maybe she had to visit the ladies room?
Now we need the sled dog guys to complete the losing daily double.

You mean Hall of Famer, UConn alumna and western Mass’ own Rebecca Lobo had nothing to say about the scoring drought?

That was a quite a call during UConn’s final possession, but Marshall definitely committed the foul.

[inthescoop]

Frank is in Arizona right now for the Final Four

After all, he is part of the Final Four coaches club

[TruBluMaroon]

Frank is in Arizona right now for the Final Four

After all, he is part of the Final Four coaches club

The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) has their Annual Convention aligned with the Final Four. Lectures and the ability for full time coaches to purchase tickets are a major draw. Socializing and establishing connections are the life line of the coaching “business”.

[Quann]

It's like a recurring nightmare for us UMass fans, UConn can't be stopped. Outside of BC, there isn't another program winning like this over and over that could depress me more in college hoops. They are an absolute wagon.

[Mike0473]

It's like a recurring nightmare for us UMass fans, UConn can't be stopped. Outside of BC, there isn't another program winning like this over and over that could depress me more in college hoops. They are an absolute wagon.

And really no end in sight. They built a remarkable program down there.

[RagingCager]

Now that our neighbors have completed another outstanding season in both Men’s and Women’s Basketball, how can long suffering UMass fans not wonder…. What do they have that we don’t have? What are they doing that we’re not doing? What does the $$ situation over there look like as compared to here? How can UMass have such a disappointing post season history dating back many years ( this certainly applies to one of the other major front porch sports at the university not played on ice), as well.
Sure, some will say we saw some signs of encouragement this past season, although the performance ( or lack there of) in the A 10 tournament was embarrassing, again. The University of Mass is a highly regarded flagship university that can hold its own in comparison to others throughout the country in so many other areas…. not to mention the outstanding # 1 dining service, which begs the question…. why have we struggled to this extent athletically for, what seems like, a decade or more???

[stevemaz]

Now that our neighbors have completed another outstanding season in both Men’s and Women’s Basketball, how can long suffering UMass fans not wonder…. What do they have that we don’t have? What are they doing that we’re not doing? What does the $$ situation over there look like as compared to here? How can UMass have such a disappointing post season history dating back many years ( this certainly applies to one of the other major front porch sports at the university not played on ice), as well.
Sure, some will say we saw some signs of encouragement this past season, although the performance ( or lack there of) in the A 10 tournament was embarrassing, again. The University of Mass is a highly regarded flagship university that can hold its own in comparison to others throughout the country in so many other areas…. not to mention the outstanding # 1 dining service, which begs the question…. why have we struggled to this extent athletically for, what seems like, a decade or more???

blame the dummies who put the flagship in Amherst instead of Framingham/Natick.

[Uminuteman]

They've been in the Big East for 35 years...we haven't.

[rt63]

Now that our neighbors have completed another outstanding season in both Men’s and Women’s Basketball, how can long suffering UMass fans not wonder…. What do they have that we don’t have? What are they doing that we’re not doing? What does the $$ situation over there look like as compared to here? How can UMass have such a disappointing post season history dating back many years ( this certainly applies to one of the other major front porch sports at the university not played on ice), as well.
Sure, some will say we saw some signs of encouragement this past season, although the performance ( or lack there of) in the A 10 tournament was embarrassing, again. The University of Mass is a highly regarded flagship university that can hold its own in comparison to others throughout the country in so many other areas…. not to mention the outstanding # 1 dining service, which begs the question…. why have we struggled to this extent athletically for, what seems like, a decade or more???

blame the dummies who put the flagship in Amherst instead of Framingham/Natick.

I’ll take the pioneer valley over Storrs - Willimantic anytime!

[LS71]

The whole state of Connecticut rallies around UConn. It’s the state’s sports franchise. There are no major league franchises and outside of a few D1 schools, like Yale, CCSU and FaIrfield there’s no real competition within the state.

Massachusetts has major league franchises all major sports and they’ve all been successful. In addition there are more D1schools in Boston than there are in all of Connecticut. Despite the fact that UMass is a couple hours away from Boston the state’s fans have supported UMass when it’s been successful.

All of that said, and I too would take pioneer valley over Storrs-Willimantic anytime, the answer to RaginCagers question, IMO, is in the make-up of the state legislature. My guess is that there are more UConn alums in Hartford than there are UMass alums in Boston.

[Mike0473]

The whole state of Connecticut rallies around UConn. It’s the state’s sports franchise. There are no major league franchises and outside of a few D1 schools, like Yale, CCSU and FaIrfield there’s no real competition within the state.

Massachusetts has major league franchises all major sports and they’ve all been successful. In addition there are more D1schools in Boston than there are in all of Connecticut. Despite the fact that UMass is a couple hours away from Boston the state’s fans have supported UMass when it’s been successful.

All of that said, and I too would take pioneer valley over Storrs-Willimantic anytime, the answer to RaginCagers question, IMO, is in the make-up of the state legislature. My guess is that there are more UConn alums in Hartford than there are UMass alums in Boston.

Not only that, the stability in coaching for such a long time helped really build a strong foundation. Umass won the lottery when Cal came here. But, to keep that kind of success long term requires a huge commitment to winning and is pretty rare when you think about it.

[LS71]

^Can’t help but wonder how long Cal might have stayed if the Wesley Spears controversy hadn’t erupted after the FF.