UMassHoops.com

The last time the Cage hosted the Western Mass. HS basketball tournament semifinals and finals, and the last time I set foot in there, was March of 2020. At that time, you didn't have to look too hard to see what kind of damage had been done by the use of the building for track & field practice. The bleachers were busted up in a number of places by shot puts, hammers, discus, etc., and that has to have deteriorated further over time. To say nothing of the overhead scoreboard, on which the electronics were pretty much toast, with many lamps out.

Now that Massachusetts has moved to a statewide postseason format for HS basketball, local ADs and administrators plan to carve out room at the end of the regular season for a revised Western Mass. tournament of sorts. It would possibly include three rounds in multiple divisions, spread out over about a week. They did the same for a bunch of the fall HS sports and it worked out well. But it's still unclear where this event would take place.

I found this the other evening and thought I would share with this crowd. Very interesting concept for the Cage renovations.
Note that it is best viewed on a desktop.
Link: https://www.civitects.com/project/umass ... enovation/

Well, it looks like days as a basketball venue are over for the Curry Starr Hicks Cage. There is an Athletic Department, “Key Project on the Horizon” according to the Athletic Department Annual Report that involves the change over of the Cage to a Track & Field/Cross Country Training Center with an $8 million price tag and a $2 million naming gift to be announced in 2022 - 2023. The images are in the previous post.
They don’t indicate a timetable for the project.
Almost made it to 100 years with basketball as it opened in 1931. Harken back to the days when every sport had their offices in Boyden….

philosopher wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:29 pm

LS71 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 4:04 pm ^ Still is the home for swimming and diving.

Good! Spent many hours trying to become competitive in the water. Alas.

The swimming and diving teams need a more modern facility. Not tryin' to hijack this thread, just sayin'...

When they built the REC center across from Mullins there was supposed to be an Olympic pool built along side of it. The area is still vacant and could be built st some future date.

Berkman wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 11:04 am When they built the REC center across from Mullins there was supposed to be an Olympic pool built along side of it. The area is still vacant and could be built st some future date.

John Lombardi nixed the pool, to use the $15M (?) for something else.

Looks like they have formally announced it:
https://umassathletics.com/news/2023/2/ ... nce-center

I'm a little disappointed it doesn't include a 200 meter track for competitions, but I suppose there isn't really space for that in the facility.
Also we hosted an indoor track meet at the new NB facility this year, so that probably made this decision easier.
Excited for the teams- while I have good memories of too many miles inside on snowy days, this will definitely be a plus for indoor track training.

^ Outstanding commitment by Jim & Ellen Hunt.

Jim is also behind the other NIL org that has not been active on social media sites yet.

GoMassNIL is spearheaded by UMass track and field alum James Hunt, and allows for NIL deals for student-athletes in all UMass sports. The Massachusetts Collective, headed by Five College Movers founder Pat MacWilliams, is specifically working to broker NIL deals for players on the women’s and men’s basketball teams.

I hope a plaque, or something lime that, is prominently placed that will let future students/visitors to the Cage know that this where Julius Erving played basketball.

Another $2 million for the renovation from a group of guys from the late 70's, including John Legere:

https://umassathletics.com/news/2023/3/ ... nce-center

Some corporate sponsorship for an added aspect to the renovation.

https://umassathletics.com/news/2023/4/ ... ery-center