Game 9, 2022-23: UMass Lowell (12/8)

[Juice Stand]

They shot the 3 at a high percentage because there were a lot of wide open rhythm threes. Swiss cheese and open threes is a poor recipe for success.

Right on Acer, Noah makes this team go. He may not be a vocal leader, but he is the unquestioned leader with his play. In those moments when we got it back to one possession, I felt like if Noah was in he would have taken over. We've seen it so many times. He's quiet through 20-30 minutes, happy being the facilitator, and then when it comes to crunch time he puts on his cape and is unstoppable.

[Juice Stand]

"Today we took our medicine, and we keep taking our medicine, then we'll heal and we'll get back to who we need to be"
https://twitter.com/MLBergman_/status/1 ... 9044310016

I love this guy. His public persona is yelling and screaming and disappointment, but he has such great perspective. He's going to get these guys pointed in the right direction, and doing the right things on a daily basis that lead to long term success.

[Floyd]

Anyone know if he's the same in practice?
I think about if guys will get tired of being blasted constantly and decide to leave. Then you're starting again. It can wear on you if you constantly hear what you do wrong.
As good as Lowell played, and as bad as we played, we still could have taken it, it was there.

[tdmass]

What Wildens says about Frank, says it ALL! Trust him

South Carolina transfer Wildens Leveque understands. He played for Martin for three years and followed him to Amherst.

“I get it. He just demands you to get better every single day. That’s who he is as a guy, and that’s what he’s always coached,” Leveque said. “It’s coming from a place of love. When you look back 10 years later from now, you’re gonna be thankful for a person like Frank Martin in your life that pushed you and demanded you be better every single day.”

[stevemaz]

The loss of Fernandes is a tough break and my fear is this is something more than a 2-3 week situation. UML pt guard, who was averaging 8.6 pts, won that game for them. The sequence that killled us was the missed Thompson FT where we had 3 put back chances. Diggins clearly not a good pt guard so Frank is going to have to go with Thompson 30+. I didnt think Thompson was quite ready to play important minutes, but now there is no choice. I think Keon played well down the stretch.

This can go two ways. Either we continue to play iffy defense and lose the next two or we buckle down and see what happens. Fernandes was the one guy we could not afford to lose, but it does create a situation for other guys to step up.

[bmc24]

People need to back off FM and his style. Trust the man. His process works.

Some coaches yell, some don’t say shit. Just lay off the man and let him build a program.

Side note, it’s a joke more students don’t go to games. Never seizes to amaze me how a school this big can draw such minimal interest from the student body. What do they have to do … pay them… boxed lunch ? Every other incentive has not worked.

[LS71]

Seems to me that both UMass losses were to good, experienced teams.

Last last night UML always seemed to have an answer to UMass’ attempted come backs.

Gotta suck it up and learn from the loss.

Say what you will about FM’s style, but it seems clear to me that he has his guys’ backs.

[stevemaz]

One thing i hate more than anything is the pussification of American youth that has been going for the past 20 years creating a generation of candy asses.

IN FRANK I TRUST

[Juice Stand]

Side note, it’s a joke more students don’t go to games. Never seizes to amaze me how a school this big can draw such minimal interest from the student body. What do they have to do … pay them… boxed lunch ? Every other incentive has not worked.

I was really impressed with the student turnout last night. They were all over the place. When there are available seats at mid court, why would you stay in that crummy student section behind the hoop?

[thecaptain]

Side note, it’s a joke more students don’t go to games. Never seizes to amaze me how a school this big can draw such minimal interest from the student body. What do they have to do … pay them… boxed lunch ? Every other incentive has not worked.

they need to win - simple as that. it takes a long time to regain interest after years of losing. having the right coach in place is great for the diehards, but its not moving the needle with students. you gotta win. alot. ad losing to UML completely disregards the previous wins in the eyes of casual fans debating whether or not to come out to a game.

[Juice Stand]

Seems to me that both UMass losses were to good, experienced teams.

Last last night UML always seemed to have an answer to UMass’ attempted come backs.

Gotta suck it up and learn from the loss.

Say what you will about FM’s style, but it seems clear to me that he has his guys’ backs.

Agreed. They're not "big name" programs, but Towson is a very good mid-major, and Lowell looks like they're building a good program. I know the rankings are not great this early, but Towson is 97 Kenpom, 93 Net, and Lowell is 113 Kenpom, 37 net (not sure how they're that high, but whatever). These aren't terrible losses. Learn, grow, and build on this.

[inthescoop]

^Absolutely. You learn from your failures and mistakes.

Some reactions here are so silly, "omg we lost we have hit the bottom... we are awful, how will we ever win again?!?!?!?"

Come on guys. How about UML played a hell of a game? Our team is young and our best player, leader, and point guard was out. With Noah, we win that game, but he did not play, so the young guys got a good lesson there and we will move on and learn from it.

Despite the loss, I do not believe we have set back at all, I am seeing improvement from different players every game.

[Juice Stand]

I think some of the reaction (over reaction?) to the loss is two fold:

1. Attendance. Fans are so hungry for a full or nearly full arena that another home loss to a small program sets us back in terms of getting fans and students in the seats.
2. March Madness. Since the ultimate goal of a college basketball team is to dance in March, we're constantly looking at resume and SOS and net rankings, etc. If this was a professional sports team, you just look at it as a bump in the road but we can still improve and reach our goals. In college, you wear this loss around your neck for the whole season. It's part of your "resume".

[69MG]

Another way to look at it - Lowell has a lot of good players. They have 5 guys who can shoot. Those 5 were hitting threes at 39% or higher before last night's game. If you give them open looks you will get burned.

[Jeff90]

Lowell shot 52.4% from 3. Last night. That is hard to beat.