Coaching in yale game

[carrierustothepromiseland]

Let's stand up and salute because UMass beat Yale.

You can insult me as much as you like (or as much as I like, being a masochist), but I am not going to get happy because the bar has been lowered this far that we're going into rhapsodies because UMass has beaten BSC and Yale.

Yale had no business being in the game at all against a lineup like UMass'.

I have higher hopes for this program than "Hey, we would have lost this game last year."

Fire away, VoxPapillon! Let me have it, HumptyDump. Launch all missiles, CarrierGeorge! Whoopee!!!

Dude, your a clown! I honestly think that deep inside you are going to be rip shit if LAPPAS leads this team to the NCAAs! Get over yourself.

Why can't everyone on here stop bitching about Lappas? I AM NOT A LAPPAS FAN? But I'm so sick of the criticism. Find something else to do with your life or something else to talk about! Lappas has this year to prove he can win, if he doesn't he's FIRED! What is there to bitch about? If he wins, he stays! If he loses, he goes! Hmmmm seems pretty simple to me.

The problem is that people like our buddy CRR here, hate Lappas so much for something he apparently did to this "storied" program, that if they win this year it will be bittersweet for him and the other Lappas haters because that means Lappas will probably get an extension. Lappas hasn't gotten the job done in his first three years but this is HIS team that he recruited and why don't we sit back and see what he can do with this group! That's an idea, huh?

Stop your bitchin and start cheering! Go UMass! Go Lap, 2-0!

[GOODY]

Iam happy we are 2-0 but I am returning to the board to side with the captain. The bar has been lowered and we need to continue to raise it! CRR is a true fan with his own opinions, some of which i agree! We ahve seen the program weaken since 1996. We are all a bit antsy!

[Used to be VOR]

I guess I don't just see how we can say that by being happy by beating the two opponents on this years schedule we are "lowering the bar".

I am very realistic about the last three years of this program, and am approaching this year with a cautious optimism. Why can't we all just grow up, evaluate each game as it comes and leave the rest of the garbage at the door.

Be a fan for gods sakes!

[vanmeter]

The question I have is what is winning. Being able to win and compete against teams like Uconn Gonzaga BC etc is winning. Winning 17 or 18 games beating the junk is not 'winning'.

[carrierustothepromiseland]

Yes, the "bar" has been lowered, but it's not like it has been higher more than lower. There is a distinct group of people on this board who are stuck in 1996 where camby is throwing down dunks and calipari, with his greasy hair, is prowling the sidelines. The program has been in steady decline since cal left, deny it all you want, but the wins decreased every year of Bruiser's tenure. It hit rock bottom last year, but it looks like there is a possibility to BUILD it back up this year.

People's expectations aren't getting lower, they are finally coming back to the reality that we were to college basketball what Guns and Roses was to rock music, a few kick ass years that no one will ever forget but now we are just trying to make a come back and touch a little piece of those days. No one cared before we arrived and no one outside Mass was sad, or even noticed, when we left. WE ARE A MID-MAJOR in a conference full of mid-majors! This year I feel, like some other optimistic souls on this board, that we can get back on to the national college bball scene. But bitching about Lappas, or the strength of schedule, or reminiscing about the ONE TIME that we beat UNC back in the day isn't going to help or hurt anything! It's all just useless nonsense!

This could be the year, when UMass finally moves out of the shadow of Marcus Camby and John Calipari, and back into the national spotlight!

GO UMASS! 2-0!

[lane one]

"calipari, with his greasy hair"

I wouldn't even compare the hair under this coaching regime.

[kdogg8173]

Anybody who is upset that we are winning against low level talent is retarded.

[LS71]

LS71. I have not heard alot of these games being quality wins. I am just happy they are wins. In the past few years we may have lost these games this year we haven't. So far so good.

nale, no, the word 'quality' wasn't used. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're wins too. I'm happy for how far this team seems to have come, but I can't help but think of how much farther there is to go. I just don't want to get my hopes up. It's not like they blew either of these teams out!

I have to agree with Goody...I'm antsy!

...Calipari with his greasy hair...

Way to talk about one of this year's inductees in the UMass Hall of Fame!

[VoxPop]

I'm hoping it is okay to say nice win and hopefully we improve for the next one. We are starting off looking good and I think the contribution of Deli has been a nice surprise since some here predicted he'd be a "project". Good Win, lets keep it going!

[carrierustothepromiseland]

LS71. I have not heard alot of these games being quality wins. I am just happy they are wins. In the past few years we may have lost these games this year we haven't. So far so good.

nale, no, the word 'quality' wasn't used. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're wins too. I'm happy for how far this team seems to have come, but I can't help but think of how much farther there is to go. I just don't want to get my hopes up. It's not like they blew either of these teams out!

I have to agree with Goody...I'm antsy!

...Calipari with his greasy hair...

Way to talk about one of this year's inductees in the UMass Hall of Fame!

Sorry, I was trying to imply that more than his hair was greasy, like his recruiting style, weak attempt I admit. I could care less if he is getting inducted into the UMass hall of fame. SI campus edition had Memphis, because of Cal, the "Least Rootable" team in DI.

My next question though is how come Camby's jersey hasn't been retired yet if Cal is making the hall?

Go UMass!

[Almontis]

I'm satisfied with the wins but not happy. We should beat those teams. When we start beating teams that are favored against us (Uconn, BC in particular) I'll be happy.

I hope the fanbase will not settle for "mid-major status." The A-10 is not a mid-major conference. In a typical year the A-10 sends 3 and sometimes 4 teams to the tournament. Umass should regularly be in contention for one of those spots.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

I think the reason that I feel fairly good about these first two wins is that (and this has been touched upon a few times already) in the past three years these types of games are games that we have lost. While I know that the quality of the opponents is low at this moment, I feel good knowing that maybe, just maybe, we have gotten past the point where we lose to lesser quality opponents.

[UMass87]

I'm happy with the wins. UMass under Steve Lappas has proven quite capable of losing games like those. This is an improvement. I'm happy to see improvement after three years of steady and unambiguous decline.

[chrisL04]

Wins are wins and trying to knock them by dumping on the quality of the opponenents is a result of Calipari-itis that the Amherst area has been suffering from ever since good ole John jumped ship leaving us with a program in fear of sanctions and a crappy computer room in the basement of the library.

What Calipari did at Umass was a basketball miracle. He orchastrated arguabley one of the most amazing revivals in the history of college sports. He started with a team that had a long history of sucking(aside from a few exceptions). He started with a team that won 8 games the season before he arrived. He started with a team where basketball was simply a not an issue and in under a decade turned it into a national powerhouse. He not only built a team, but he built an entire athletic program. He basically made it okay for us NOW to even talk about making it to the tourney, beause without him, that would be absolute lunacy.

We are not UNC. We are not Kentucky. We are not Duke. We are a recent addition to the national scene who hit it big and has been sliding ever since. We are a program that is going to take a lot of time and hard work to get back to where we, very breifly, once were. Bitching about a 2-0 start not being good enough is pointless. Bitching about how Umass SHOULD be a stronger program is pointless. If you showed someone at the end of the 80's our record through the past 15 years and said this is how it was going to go down, I think they would have be pretty damned pleased.

I like the Umass-Guns and Roses anology except for one thing. Umass is not going to make some lame come back on the MTV Video Awards. We are not going to come back fat, and out of breath with some weirdo wearing a KFC bucket on his head playing guitar. I think we are poised to have a more "John Travolta" like come back. He hit big in the 70's with Saturday Night Fever and Welcome Back Cotter... He then disappeared for a bit only able to muster about a dozen Look Whose Talking movies. This season is Umass' Pulp Fiction baby. We're coming back in a big way Vincent Vega style. And while we might not be able to capture the magic of the BeeGees and that stunning white suit, we are going to show everyone that we're not finshed yet.

2-0, Go Umass!!!

[MassMan06]

Very well put.