Best/Favorite single play in UMass History

DrG · Post by **DrG** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:17 am

The best NIT was the first one in 1970. We played Marquette, which was ranked fifth nationally, but Al McGuire snubbed the NCAA when they wanted to send him to a regional that was too far away. UMass was the last team selected and McGuire thought they were pairing him up with a first-round cupcake in return for his going to the NIT. But the game was back-and-forth until the last minute. There were 5,000 UMass students there rocking MSG. Marquette double-teamed Julius and he kept getting it to other guys for open shots. Marquette wound up winning by five, but it remains one of my favorites of all time, ranking below only the Syracuse game in '92, the Georgetown game in '96, the Temple "I'll-kill-you" game, and the Siena game in Albany. (Those are just games that I was at. Games I didn't attend that I could put on the list include the Mike Williams buzzer-beater at Temple and the comeback game at West Virginia.)

DiLo '94 · Post by **DiLo '94** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:21 pm

You guys touched on so many memorable ones already .... so expanding beyond single plays, here are some I hadn't seen

1) Jim McCoy hits 9 in a row at home vs. Penn State in 90-91
2) Rafer 3 at buzzer sinks Rhodey at the Cage, 90-91
3) Jeff Meyer shuts down Yinka Dare
4) We come back and beat WVa on the road to maintain #1 rank
5) Donta scores 28 at Oklahoma in his 1st season

and some forgettables
1) Last seconds, Rafer misses 1 of 2 FTs, and we lose to GW in OT at the Palestra (A-10s)
2) Marathon Oil guard scorches UMass for like 45 points on something like 22-23 shooting. John Tate will know the kid's name.
3) First ESPN game, midnight vs. BU at the Cage ..... turnout so large I can't get in with my student ID and they start forcing us to get tickets for each game

Kosty · Post by **Kosty** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:35 pm

One that I rarely see mentioned whenever we talk about favorite plays.....how about Harper coming off the bench against Temple in the Cage, with a broken hand and going up and jamming it home early in the game? The place went batshit!!!

And I'll always love Marcus giving the kid from Stanford a little sniff of his crotch as he dunked on his mug in Albany in the NCAAs.

Used to be VOR · Post by **Used to be VOR** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:42 pm

Kosty wrote:And I'll always love Marcus giving the kid from Stanford a little sniff of his crotch as he dunked on his mug in Albany in the NCAAs.

I am pretty sure you are thinking about Maryland in Witchita.

Kosty · Post by **Kosty** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:10 pm

Used to be VOR wrote:
Kosty wrote:And I'll always love Marcus giving the kid from Stanford a little sniff of his crotch as he dunked on his mug in Albany in the NCAAs.
I am pretty sure you are thinking about Maryland in Witchita.

VOR....I will bet large sums of money that it was Stanford in Albany as I was about 4 rows behind the Stanford bench thanks to tickets my step father got me.

PintOGuinness · Post by **PintOGuinness** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:14 pm

I think Kosty is right. I remember seeing that dunk, it appeared Camby took off from the half court line. Amazing dunk!

Kosty · Post by **Kosty** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:24 pm

I have a picture of it on my hard drive. I know one of the regulars around here had sent it to me either on this board or through email....if they still have it, please post it here.[/img]

Post by jj » Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:29 pm

Kosty is right- I don't have the pic, but the image is burned into my brain. That was Stanford, and it definitely happened in smAlbany.

Used to be VOR · Post by **Used to be VOR** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:34 pm

I trust you guys are right..... I just know did something very similar (have the video tape) against Maryland his Freshman season in the NCAA loss to the Terps where they shot like 75% from the field in the second-half. I believe Marcus had like 32 that game. Shades of what was to come.

m626t · Post by **m626t** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:26 pm

favorite- any sky hook by Peter "Couger" Gayeska, our first "fan favorite" that I can recall. he was the 9th round pick of Atlanta in the 1969 NBA draft.

viennafan · Post by **viennafan** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:34 pm

How about the play of Gerald Padilla coming off the bench when we played Kentucky in the final four semi in 1996.His spark when he had almost never gotten to play in regular season and him teaming with his brother Edgar<There was almost no one left to use as a guard and Gerard gave the team ab huge lift and almost closer to tying the Wildcats.It wasexciting as he made some good plays coming off the bench so unexpectedly.Anyone remember that?
-And harpers Thee against the Cuse.And the Mike Williams shots.
_How was Padillas first name spelled?

UMass87 · Post by **UMass87** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:40 pm

Giddel

eldonabe · Post by **eldonabe** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:02 am

The best play is so hard - there were a lot of them.

I think the best play was Harpers three to be Syracuse. That was the shot that really got Umass on the national bandwagon.

My favorite play is a tie however:

1.) Mike Williams hitting the three against UNC in the Pre-Season NIT game on Thanksgiving-eve.

2.) The other is Lou Roe's entire game as they beat the living piss out of the preseason NPOY and defending national champs Arkansas on national TV. That was an absolutely dominant performance - right there with Doctor J's 30-30 game.

whiterhino42 · Post by **whiterhino42** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 3:06 pm

I'm going with Camby's dunk, I was in awe!

Gidell coming off the bench though, was definately inspiring, who couldn't root for him!

krkess · Post by **krkess** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 3:12 pm

DiLo '94 wrote:and some forgettables
1) Last seconds, Rafer misses 1 of 2 FTs, and we lose to GW in OT at the Palestra (A-10s)

But just before that he had hit a three but was only credited with two, I spoke to him about that after and of course, he agreed with me. That was a tough loss to swallow after riding in a disgusting bus round trip in one day.