MAC Sports topics that include Hoops

[eldonabe]

It's been 11 years since UMass made their last tournament appearance, and it was 16 years before that. We haven't been remotely close to at-large consideration since that last appearance. Last season was our best in a decade and it wasn't even good enough to get looked at by the NIT. If the choice is between winning 20+ games every year and being in contention for a conference title, or remaining a 15-15 team every year, I'll take the wins. I'm not saying we're going to go in and dominate the MAC, but we should be in contention immediately.

I just do not agree with you Juice. Is it possible that we contend from day 1 - sure, I suppose it is. I just do not think you can say that with any degree of assurance at this point.

The current landscape of no-waiting transfer rules could put Umass behind the 8-ball real quickly. i will say that if the Money they are promising is real, then maybe we can retain and build, but the one thing we cannot promise is March Madness inclusion and and decent player is gonna want the best odds they can get for that. Money will still be important, but an NCAA team is a much easier sell when the money is close.

Frank is gonna have to pull a rabbit out of his hat real quick if he thinks he can attract players good enough. If Umass goes to MAC and throws up a .500 record next year, Hoops is dead and so is Frank.

[Quann]

It's been 11 years since UMass made their last tournament appearance, and it was 16 years before that. We haven't been remotely close to at-large consideration since that last appearance. Last season was our best in a decade and it wasn't even good enough to get looked at by the NIT. If the choice is between winning 20+ games every year and being in contention for a conference title, or remaining a 15-15 team every year, I'll take the wins. I'm not saying we're going to go in and dominate the MAC, but we should be in contention immediately.

I just do not agree with you Juice. Is it possible that we contend from day 1 - sure, I suppose it is. I just do not think you can say that with any degree of assurance at this point.

The current landscape of no-waiting transfer rules could put Umass behind the 8-ball real quickly. i will say that if the Money they are promising is real, then maybe we can retain and build, but the one thing we cannot promise is March Madness inclusion and and decent player is gonna want the best odds they can get for that. Money will still be important, but an NCAA team is a much easier sell when the money is close.

Frank is gonna have to pull a rabbit out of his hat real quick if he thinks he can attract players good enough. If Umass goes to MAC and throws up a .500 record next year, Hoops is dead and so is Frank.

Juice is right. Be nice if fans on here got their priorities straight again. NCAA tourney bids are all that matter in college basketball. Will I miss the quality of ball in the A-10 and all of our built in rivalries that go back a long way? Of course I will but here's to hoping we can contend for the MAC conference title year in and year out. I want to play NCAA tourney games again. Eldon, whether you realize or not UMass has been irrelevant for the last 20 years (give or take 1 or 2 years in there) on the college basketball landscape.

[JoleonLescottsHair]

Eldon, whether you realize or not UMass has been irrelevant for the last 20 years (give or take 1 or 2 years in there) on the college basketball landscape.

And FBS has been an absolute train wreck for 14 years. Yet, as our path to “relevancy” we’ve essentially decided to roll the dice on winning three games one weekend in Cleveland while pursuing the dream of bowl eligibility every few years. That is some grim shit. It’s also grim and amusing that the FBS crowd wants Bamford fired even though he’s given them what they wanted (FBS double down, joining the MAC, hiring then firing Brown, paying higher salary for new coach, and making the “investments” in facilities). He’s done everything but dump a huge chunk of change into building a new stadium that can sit empty. If there is a case to be made for sacking him, however, it is precisely for the all-sports MAC move in the service of the country’s worst D1A football program. So, yeah, hoops may have been “irrelevant” for 20 years (or at least the last 11 years given that an NCAA bid seems to be the standard), but the MAC move does nothing to change that and in all likelihood only makes irrelevancy a permanent feature.

[Juice Stand]

All fair points, and I'm not trying to convince anyone. This is just my opinion and how I feel about the move to the MAC.

...i will say that if the Money they are promising is real, then maybe we can retain and build...

This is key. If this really is the highest financially resourced team in the MAC on day one, and our basketball collective is tops in the conference, then yes, I believe we can contend on day one. Keep in mind that contend is different than dominate. I don't expect to waltz right in there and own the league, but we should be right there with the top 2 or 3 teams.

As a longtime UMass fan though, I can see why it is hard for many to believe it. The proof is in the pudding with this athletic department. I'm excited to find out.

[eldonabe]

Juice is right. Be nice if fans on here got their priorities straight again. NCAA tourney bids are all that matter in college basketball. Will I miss the quality of ball in the A-10 and all of our built in rivalries that go back a long way? Of course I will but here's to hoping we can contend for the MAC conference title year in and year out. I want to play NCAA tourney games again. Eldon, whether you realize or not UMass has been irrelevant for the last 20 years (give or take 1 or 2 years in there) on the college basketball landscape.

Whether I realize it or not? Have you read anything I have been posting in the last 20 years? Umass has all but sucked in Basketball over that time. And YES include Kellogg's smoke and mirrors run. Relevancy is the least of this fucking programs problems - competency comes to mind first and foremost.

Fucking Bamford had 10 years to make "his athletic program" attractive to some FBS conference other than the worst one of all 10 and he couldn't. So after wasting all of those years in football purgatory he had to all but beg MAC to take us back. Fucking beautiful.... Now Umass is in conference purgatory.


Moving DOWN 8-12 spots in conference affiliation and to a conference where Umass is a complete geographic outlier just screams relevancy - WTF is the matter of you? This move just made it twice as hard to become relevant, not make it easier. If Umass has a decent team next year (any year), their best players will transfer up. If Frank finds a diamond in the rough, they are gone the next year as well.

What kid would want to stay in the MAC if the Big East or ACC is asking about them and they don't have to sit out a year to move out?



Calapari ruined this for all of us. We all have delusional expectations still, today, because we had a taste 30 years ago. And we are suffering today for the exact same reason that run was allowed to end 30 years ago - Incompetent administration.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

People can argue about the MAC being the final destination as being the right move all they want.

But the fact remains: Moving out of the A10 and into an "all-sports" conference was overdue, inevitable, and the right move.

[tdmass]

^^ I totally agree especially the last sentence: We've been paying for those 8 years of glory (92-98) for almost 30 years now mainly because of poor administrative decisions and maybe just some bad luck!

[Worcester_To_Amherst]

I’ll miss the A-10, but everything wrong with the MAC (no at large bid, basketball irrelevance, best players transfer up) has been UMass’ A-10 reality for a generation now. We can’t even keep guys that seemingly like the school and coach (Cross and RJ).

The floor and ceiling are both lower for us in the MAC, but as the best resourced program they should be a regular tourney team. Could UMass screw it up, underachieve for 2 years, and fully kill the fan base? Yes. I believe they need instant success in the MAC to keep basketball relevant, but I believe they can do it. Frank’s UMass legacy will be defined by how he transitions the program into the MAC, which is kinda sad. But that’s the landscape right now. The only programs giving the A-10 relevance will jump as soon as they get a chance.

Might be a pipe dream, but would be great if URI can join us.

[Juice Stand]

Calapari ruined this for all of us. We all have delusional expectations still, today, because we had a taste 30 years ago. And we are suffering today for the exact same reason that run was allowed to end 30 years ago - Incompetent administration.

Maybe for you and some others, but not for me. I look at those years fondly and know that they were a complete outlier. My goal since I was a student at UMass and now is just to win games, enjoy a competitive basketball season, and get the opportunity to occasionally compete in postseason tournaments. I don't think that's too lofty a goal, and I have no aspirations of being a #1 program and national contender ever again. I know you're being a little tongue in cheek here, but Calipari and Co haven't ruined anything for me.

Next season is going to feel a lot different as we work through the MAC conference schedule and play all those unfamiliar programs and travel to unfamiliar rust belt cities. But if, and that's a big if, but if we can make it to the MAC championship game and have a chance to punch our NCAA ticket, I'm going to absolutely love it and I think the fan base will be pretty damn excited.

[Juice Stand]

The A10 has already changed drastically from what it once was, and it's going to be gutted at some point soon. Here's Pitino talking about expanding the Big East. https://nypost.com/2025/02/07/sports/ri ... expansion/

Pitino has also suggested adding schools like Dayton and Saint Louis of the Atlantic 10 and Memphis of the AAC.

Who thinks that Dayton, Saint Louis, and VCU are ride-or-die with this 1-2 bid league? UMass needs to position themselves at the top of a conference, any conference, on a consistent basis for the next round of realignment. They haven't done that in the A10, so I'm all for giving the MAC a shot.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

The vast majority of the original membership bailed on the A10 long before UMass had the gall to do the same. And one could argue that the A10 abandoned UMass first with dropping the 1-AA football conference.

[69MG]

I know this is a very important topic for a lot of us fans, but it's done and it's time to move on. We can't reverse it so let's just hope it works out. And as somebody, maybe a lot of somebodys have said, we might be in a different conference in 2 or 3 years.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

^ Bingo.

[eldonabe]

Calapari ruined this for all of us. We all have delusional expectations still, today, because we had a taste 30 years ago. And we are suffering today for the exact same reason that run was allowed to end 30 years ago - Incompetent administration.

Maybe for you and some others, but not for me. I look at those years fondly and know that they were a complete outlier. My goal since I was a student at UMass and now is just to win games, enjoy a competitive basketball season, and get the opportunity to occasionally compete in postseason tournaments. I don't think that's too lofty a goal, and I have no aspirations of being a #1 program and national contender ever again. I know you're being a little tongue in cheek here, but Calipari and Co haven't ruined anything for me.

Next season is going to feel a lot different as we work through the MAC conference schedule and play all those unfamiliar programs and travel to unfamiliar rust belt cities. But if, and that's a big if, but if we can make it to the MAC championship game and have a chance to punch our NCAA ticket, I'm going to absolutely love it and I think the fan base will be pretty damn excited.

I absolutely agree that Umass needed to get out of the A-10 - that has nothing to do with my consternation over all of this. You are putting some amount of faith in Umass just showing up and being good enough in year 1 to win that conference.

As for the Cal comment.... of course we all look back on those days fondly. I was involved in some memory making road trips to places like Atlanta and MSG etc.... to party and watch one of the best teams in the country play hoops. Cal should be in the HOF just for doing that despite the ineptitude of the administration that he had to work with and for.

What ruins it today is that nobody else has been able to crack the code because the administration has been that bad. The phrase "A Day Late and a Dollar Short" just washes all over this athletic program. Until they flush the the inhabitants of the Athletic Department this school will continue to flounder no matter how much money they spend because Bamford sucks.... period. No degree of coach can overcome with his ineptitude.


Remember that as Umass starts MAC 2.0 - and from a much worse place entirely than Umass was when MAC 1.0 began.


I know, I know, I am an asshole and a downer but I am also a realist. We are all different people, and I cannot speak for anyone else here, but I will ask a simple question... How many times do you get punched in the face, as a Umass fan, before you start asking the questions I am asking and lose faith in the people who are supposed to fix this fucking mess? Bamford has been here for 10 fucking years and this program is in far worse shape than it was when he got here..... 10 years of ineptitude, floundering, and falling farther behind every other fucking school we supposedly aspire to be like (athletically speaking of course). Who many chances does this guy get when he should have been long gone at least 4 or 5 years ago?

In relation to the field of competition, IDGAF what the schools academic ranking is... I am proud of that ranking, but it means NOTHING in the W/L totals of their sports - and Bamford has NOTHING to do with that Academic ranking yet he wears that like it is his and we are better athletically if it wasn't for that.


Year 1 of MAC is not going to be puppies and kittens in almost any of their sports including and especially Football and Basketball and that is going to set the table for a complete collapse or that final drop to rock bottom that this fucking administration needs to bring in competent leadership.

This time it's different, so was the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that - except the results have not been any different any of those times.

[Plano Minuteman]

that was a good read, Eldon.

Hopefully the commitment to basketball stays high. I'm pleased that Martin has gotten us to the upper half of the A-10 for a couple years in a row, that's a good sign. It'll be interesting to see what the fan interest will be with no natural rivals in the league. Maybe Buffalo can replace the Bonnies as a rival of some sort?

We're looking at a potential move to Knoxville this year, so games at Ball State, Miami-OH, and Ohio should definitely be doable for me now. It's been a long time since I've been to a UMass game in person. Would love to connect with other people who might be able to attend some of these MAC games.