State of the Progam

[Steve81]

Under the current climate Umass will not be invited to any P5.

Give me a new Stadium then maybe we can talk........ Until then, the best they could get is the AAC and by the time that comes around, that conference will have been pillaged to the point that it will be an undesirable destination anyways....

Says who, you. The AAC will always be as strong if not stronger than the A10. Football wise it will mainain being a top G5 conference. There are many scenarios but only one has UConn leaving. The AAC would still have have a strong East Coast presence. How is this undesirable. Do you really consider St. Joes, LaSalle etc as our peers?

When the next big alignment change happens and the aac gets pillaged it will be no more than conference USA 2.0.

Umass’s dreams are pinned to a stadium. Until that is a reality, the P5 is a fantasy, and the AAC is only a faint possibility.

Conference USA at a time was on par with the A10 and doesn't take an ounce of what I said. The A10 has peaked, time to look around and you favor sacrificing Football so UMass can stay in a weaken A10. Basketball wise there where only 5, count them FIVE at large bids outside the P5 and Big East. The A10, AAC, and WCC. How did the A10 and WCC respond, crickets. What did the AAC do, they added Wichita State.

Your afraid to admit the truth, the A10 is NOT better than the American, nor will it be in the future.

Took this from the A10 board, the A10 average top teams ranking is not close it's double+ the American.



From BigE

Looking to gauge conference strength in #CollegeHoops?
Here is a look at the average ranking of the top-5 teams per conference this morning at
http://Haslametrics.com .

[eldonabe]

With all due respect Steve - you missed my point.

First I am not advocating for staying in the A-10 if the AAC comes a knockin'. It is a better conference than the A-10 today at least.

Second - The problem is that by the time Umass is worthy of an invite the AAC, it could be a shell of itself. Unless there is something that none of us here are aware of in terms of a stadium plan, the AAC (or better) are not going to sniff us. We have bad facilities and NO TV. That is a really bad combination in the money grubbing world that NCAA sports has become.


So lets say they keep that concrete pile of shit as their home - then the B12 finally implodes - the final Power Conference Shakeup will ensue. If UConn is going in that will be the time, and they will not go without Cincy and Houston most likely. That leaves the AAC looking like a slightly more spread out version of the MAC as far as something the fans would give a shit about.

Umass needs to get the ball moving on a stadium if they are truly serious about "big boy football". I am not against this, I think they have an outside chance to wiggle their way into the money pot, but there are a lot of schools around them (current athletic football peers) spending shitloads of money on infrastructure and Umass falls farther behind more every day while they don't do that. It is going to become an insurmountable hole at some point.

I would jump on the AAC in a heartbeat if/when they ask.

[Steve81]

eldonabe, you are jumping to conclusions. There are many scenarios other than the two for the B12 changing. Specifically the B12 going into Florida. Yes we have work to do but the B12 is not going to expand overnight. We have time and the first solid sign was when the 0-6 team did not cave but started winning. Learning to win is a Big thing and a critical milestones. The win over App State was fantastic. This should help in bring in the casual fans. The next step is the IPF and then hopefully we can finally have real hope with a McGuirk upgrade.

We have the time and the American will always be more spread out than the A10, but the divisions should help. Regardless, who leaves the American, it will still be a better Football and BB conference that we have now. Also to note about raids is sh-t goes down hill. The Big East has already raided Xavier and Butler. If we still had those two we'd still be competitive with them. Guess what, the B12 and the Big East media contracts expire around the same time and the A10 could be raided again.

Agree standing still is falling behind, but as noted in the first paragraph, we are starting to hit milestones that gives me and hopefully you and UMass Nation hope.

The State of the Program is finally looking up!!

[eldonabe]

eldonabe, you are jumping to conclusions. There are many scenarios other than the two for the B12 changing. Specifically the B12 going into Florida. Yes we have work to do but the B12 is not going to expand overnight. We have time and the first solid sign was when the 0-6 team did not cave but started winning. Learning to win is a Big thing and a critical milestones. The win over App State was fantastic. This should help in bring in the casual fans. The next step is the IPF and then hopefully we can finally have real hope with a McGuirk upgrade.

We have the time and the American will always be more spread out than the A10, but the divisions should help. Regardless, who leaves the American, it will still be a better Football and BB conference that we have now. Also to note about raids is sh-t goes down hill. The Big East has already raided Xavier and Butler. If we still had those two we'd still be competitive with them. Guess what, the B12 and the Big East media contracts expire around the same time and the A10 could be raided again.

Agree standing still is falling behind, but as noted in the first paragraph, we are starting to hit milestones that gives me and hopefully you and UMass Nation hope.

The State of the Program is finally looking up!!

I think you and I are basically on the same page!

My only real concern in the short term is that if the wrong domino falls before it should, this whole thing could roll over quickly and Umass is just not prepared for that in form or substance.

[dennisdent]

Finished #100 in the rankings after being picked as the worst team in some pre-season polls. Never thought I would see UMass ranked ahead of Nebraska in football!!!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 017457001/

[Jack]

Thanks for posting DD - I don't put much stock in rankings per se but it sure is nice to see some indicia of improvement after the roller coaster we have been on. Onwards and Upwards in 2018 !!!

[eldonabe]

Finished #100 in the rankings after being picked as the worst team in some pre-season polls. Never thought I would see UMass ranked ahead of Nebraska in football!!!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 017457001/

And 16 spots ahead of the Fighting Insurance Salesmen too!

[m626t]

/\



Harftord may be looking for a new moniker as a lot of Hartford's insurance jobs have gone the way of rotary telephones.

[DearOleUMass]

Finished #100 in the rankings after being picked as the worst team in some pre-season polls. Never thought I would see UMass ranked ahead of Nebraska in football!!!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 017457001/

And 16 spots ahead of the Fighting Insurance Salesmen too!

South Alabama?

[Old Cage]

Bryton Barr announced that he will be back for his final season. That's terrific. It will be his seventh college year. That places him on an elevated level with our own IV and Zonker Harris.

[eldonabe]

Finished #100 in the rankings after being picked as the worst team in some pre-season polls. Never thought I would see UMass ranked ahead of Nebraska in football!!!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 017457001/

And 16 spots ahead of the Fighting Insurance Salesmen too!

South Alabama?

Ha!!!!!!!! 13 spots.....!

[njumass08]

Bryton Barr announced that he will be back for his final season. That's terrific. It will be his seventh college year. That places him on an elevated level with our own IV and Zonker Harris.

Definitely great news for our defense. We need his help with so many other guys graduating. Now we need to get a couple day 1 starters at DL from a JUCO.

[inthescoop]

Finished #100 in the rankings after being picked as the worst team in some pre-season polls. Never thought I would see UMass ranked ahead of Nebraska in football!!!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 017457001/

I'll take that all day and I'll be sending it to all my buds who went to Rutgers . Next year's goal is definitely a bowl game!

[Steve81]

Finished in the top 100 on ESPN #99
http://www.espn.com/college-football/st ... eamratings

[McKinney]

Finished in the top 100 on ESPN #99
http://www.espn.com/college-football/st ... eamratings

Surrounded on either side by teams that went to bowl games and won.
#98 Middle Tennessee (7-6) - Camellia Bowl (W)
#100 New Mexico State (7-6) - Arizona Bowl (W)