2023-24 Season

[LS71]

^Travis Ford’s teams played harder and were always in better shape than their opponents!

[xlgman]

Can one of the old-timers on here (you know who you are) give me a brief synopsis of the roster and outlook for the season? Hope everyone is doing well and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

[69MG]

Can one of the old-timers on here (you know who you are) give me a brief synopsis of the roster and outlook for the season? Hope everyone is doing well and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

In brief, we have a pretty talented roster with a decided lack of depth in the front court. For me, it all hinges on the health of Cross and Cohen. If one of them goes down for an extended period, we have a problem. We can probably afford to lose just about anyone else due to injury and we have good players to take up the slack.

We are young, with 6 freshmen, 1 sophomore who played a lot as a freshman (Keon Thompson), 1 sophomore who barely played last year (Hankins-Sanford). 1 junior who has only played significant minutes 1 year (Diggins), and 2 experienced players (Cross, Cohen).

We will make mistakes, but this team so far has shown tremendous energy and hustle on the court and that negates most of the rookie mistakes. If the youngsters mature and get better as the season goes on and if Cross and Cohen stay healthy we might be looking at an 18 win season and top half of the A10. Those are big "IFs".

[eldonabe]

Can one of the old-timers on here (you know who you are) give me a brief synopsis of the roster and outlook for the season? Hope everyone is doing well and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

In brief, we have a pretty talented roster with a decided lack of depth in the front court. For me, it all hinges on the health of Cross and Cohen. If one of them goes down for an extended period, we have a problem. We can probably afford to lose just about anyone else due to injury and we have good players to take up the slack.

We are young, with 6 freshmen, 1 sophomore who played a lot as a freshman (Keon Thompson), 1 sophomore who barely played last year (Hankins-Sanford). 1 junior who has only played significant minutes 1 year (Diggins), and 2 experienced players (Cross, Cohen).

We will make mistakes, but this team so far has shown tremendous energy and hustle on the court and that negates most of the rookie mistakes. If the youngsters mature and get better as the season goes on and if Cross and Cohen stay healthy we might be looking at an 18 win season and top half of the A10. Those are big "IFs".

This team will live and die on 3 point area - shooting and defending against it. I suppose every team could say the same thing, but that arc will define their record more so that any other part of the game.

Everyone is focusing on the foul shooting costing them the Harvard game, but Umass was also woeful from the three in that game while Harvard torched us from there simultaneously. Harvard shot 45% from three and Umass shot 25% - they were not falling but Umass kept hoisting them up. Diggins was the only one to make more than one 3 pointer.

UMass was more than respectable from the 3 in their three wins and they held their opponents to mush worse percentage in all those games. Umass will probably struggle rebounding against most decent teams making that shooting percentage even more important.




I will say after 4 games I am pleasantly surprised by what I have seen. Harvard was frustrating as Umass was the better team IMO, but those games are going to happen from time to time and they are young, it is hard to pull out those games until you have experienced it a couple times. He seems to be subbing a little less than last year too, which drove me fucking crazy - last year was like watching Hockey with all the "line changes" he kept making. I think he still subs too much, but at least for now he needs to establish who his core 8 players.

They look somewhat competent on offense; on defense they are inconsistent but have the athletes to play solid defense once they all get on the same page. I still see a 14-16 win team regardless of them winning 8 or 9 Non-Conference games but I think they will be less frustrating to watch this year. Short of an absolute trainwreck this year, it will come down to the next off season and how many players he can retain for continuity - then he can build.

[69MG]

The 3 teams we have beaten (beaten handily) are pure garbage. We threw away the game against the one mediocre team we played. The next 4 games are a step up. Good teams, but not great. I think these 4 will give us a better handle on where we are this year.

3 out of 4 against USF, @Towson, Lowell and WV (Springfield) is what I'm hoping for. Lowell has played a tougher schedule that we have, with a win at Georgia Tech and a 2 point loss at Arizona State. They will not be a pushover.

[DrG]

No shit, Lowell beat us last year!

[Juice Stand]

The UMass Power Hour show is today at 12:30 streaming on the Varsity App. The lineup is Coach Martin, Ryan Bamford, and Ryan Ufko.
https://twitter.com/Burnham_Jay/status/ ... 8636963153

[mdogt12]

The UMass Power Hour show is today at 12:30 streaming on the Varsity App. The lineup is Coach Martin, Ryan Bamford, and Ryan Ufko.
https://twitter.com/Burnham_Jay/status/ ... 8636963153

https://thevarsitynetwork.com/audioappl ... chive-8594

[capezona]

The next four games should really let us know what this team is made of: Towson, Lowell, West Virginia, Ga Tech. Let's go get 'em guys. Beat 'em out of the box and don't let up.

[capezona]

One issue with having a sparse schedule at this time of year is that we've played only 5 games while some teams on our schedule have got 8 or more games under their belts. There's no experience like playing games.

[natwam2547]

Agreed. First game away from home and only our 2nd game in a 2 week span. Definitely a chance for a poor start. Hopefully it's just that and not a straight up no show. Tonight will say a lot about this team IMO.

[inthescoop]

Agreed. First game away from home and only our 2nd game in a 2 week span. Definitely a chance for a poor start. Hopefully it's just that and not a straight up no show. Tonight will say a lot about this team IMO.

Bamford just doing Bamford things.

[Floyd]

I don't see this team getting complacent. If anything I see them coming out ready to go and playing well after a couple lackluster games. Minutemen by 12

[Upstate10]

After getting exposed a bit tonight what are your guys' expectations now? I think I will be happy if we aren't playing pillow fight day in the A10. Pull a couple upsets, avoid getting embarrassed at home and BEAT LOWELL ON SATURDAY.

Keep this group together and think they can be special. But tonight showed that, while the ceiling is high, there is a long way to go.

[Sheck]

Well last year around this time the team was at the high point and it all came crashing down. So maybe this year we get the inverse of that and right now this is the low point and it's all uphill from here. The roster is too good to be this bad by the time we reach A10 play. Hopefully they're nice and pissed off going into the Lowell game on Saturday. Absolutely positively cannot lose to them again.