First reaction: UMass to the MAC

[Floyd]

If Ryan Bamford's father wasn't who he was, Ryan would be working at Wendy's right now. Dude is a bonehead and has never improved at his job.

That made me laugh. Not the point of it, just the way you said it.

If Frank stays here long term, I'm not worried about him getting players. And as long as we have a coach who knows what he's doing, we'll be OK as long as the resources for the program aren't cut. It's not like we go to the MAC and suddenly it's 1980 again and we're 2-24. Keep winning, stay on TV, make the tourney, and kids will come

[Camby4Life]

The A10 and Mac are pretty close when it comes to NBA players over the years. Looked back at players from mid 80’s to mid 2000’s. Here’s what I got for rosters for a throwback game.

A10 starters

Marcus Camby
David West
Lamar Odom
Eddie Jones
Jameer Nelson

Bench
James Posey
Cutinno Mobley
Aaron McKie
Delonte West

MAC starters

Chris Kaman
Wally Szczerbiak
Dan Marjele
Ron Harper
Bonzi Wells

Bench
Gary Trent
Grant Long
Antonio Daniels
Earl Boykins

[umiejoe]

I don't know what to think about this. Too many moving parts. But I do know ths: not only did the Cuyahoga river burn, but the Mayor of Cleveland, Dennis Kucinich, accidentally set his own hair on fire during an appearance on the steps of City Hall. That about says it all re Cleveland.

[Floyd]

The A10 and Mac are pretty close when it comes to NBA players over the years. Looked back at players from mid 80’s to mid 2000’s. Here’s what I got for rosters for a throwback game.

A10 starters

Marcus Camby
David West
Lamar Odom
Eddie Jones
Jameer Nelson

Bench
James Posey
Cutinno Mobley
Aaron McKie
Delonte West

MAC starters

Chris Kaman
Wally Szczerbiak
Dan Marjele
Ron Harper
Bonzi Wells

Bench
Gary Trent
Grant Long
Antonio Daniels
Earl Boykins

Imagine that game? HOLY SHIT!

[inthescoop]

Matty V: "A Brutal Blow"

https://www.masslive.com/umassfootball/ ... utour.html

I think Matt V hit the nail on the head. VERY disappointed as a LONGTIME STH!

All driven by the ridiculous football program which I could care less about. I have not attended a game since football was in the Yankee Conference and I was a student in the late 60’s. Way to much money has been blown on this program chasing a foolish dream..that money could be put to much better use !

What "rivalries"??? the dude is delusional. The A-10 is a one bid league now. It's not 1996. It's a just a step above the MAAC or something. The schools were good generations ago.

You seem more and more confident about how awful the A10 is with every post. Let's make a deal.. If the A10 gets more than 1 team in the NCAA tournament this year, will you film yourself drinking a beer out of your shoe?

[bmc24]

This is a horrible decision for Umass sports. The MAC sucks, the travel sucks, the teams suck. There literally is nothing to get excited about here.

UMass football is not good, it never will be good at D1. If I had known that joining the MAC was being seriously considered when all of these Town-hall style meetings were occurring, I would’ve called my state rep to formally look into the matter. But seriously, this is actually derelict IMO by the university administration.

The Atlantic 10 is a far superior conference in all other sports, it provides regional rivals, it makes it easier for fans to travel to away games, especially those of us that live in the mid Atlantic area. And it has history. Who the heck is going to go to Toledo, or Akron or Bowling Green, or Saginaw? Nobody!

A10 is not regularly a 1-bid league league either. That claim is flat out false.

I have followed umass all over this country as a fan since I was a kid, I will not attend a game in a Mac hosted stadium, court or field. This will be a disaster, and will be the final straw that breaks the back of the artist, formally known as UMass basketball.

Basketball is our tradition, football is a 1AA program at best. what was the matter with that? We did fine there and are actually well equipped to compete at that level.

Now, the most exciting moment for UMass athletics is going to be a 6-6 UMass football team, playing in the Reese’s peanut butter cup Mobile bowl! Again, I think the ministration has its head squarely up its ass by doing this.

A million additional in the pocket next year ain’t worth the value lost over time and reputation hit by joining the mid America conference - a New England school at that.

[LS71]

Matty V: "A Brutal Blow"

https://www.masslive.com/umassfootball/ ... utour.html

I read that this morning and it is spot on.

100% agree! UMass should be striving for excellence, not mediocrity.

UMass’ record vs. MAC-since 2012 is 8-35, as a conference member, 7-25; as an independent 1-10. Not good….

I made reference to the fact that at least hockey will continue to play at the highest level in my post Tuesday.

Has UMass accepted the invite officially?

[Bob1975]

As they say, follow the money, in College Athletics today, the money is in football unless you're a basketball-only school and can get in the Big East. This move obviously hurts basketball, but the only other choice was to drop back down to FCS and stay in the A10, I would have been ok with that, but it is not as good financially as the MAC, and it's all about money. USC, Washington, and Oregon make no sense in the Big 10, and Stanford and Cal make no sense in the ACC, but you have to follow the money these days.

So if we can be relevant in the MAC, and duplicate what Vermont has done in America East, that's as good as it's going to get

[Merlin Samuels]

I guess I don’t understand why who we play matters. I’m not going to say “oh UMass is playing Ball State and not LaSalle, I’m not going.”

I don’t go to games to watch Loyola or Davidson or even URI, I go to watch UMass.

I’ve been to two away games in recent memory: Toledo and Dayton lol

[InnervisionsUMASS]

The A10 and Mac are pretty close when it comes to NBA players over the years. Looked back at players from mid 80’s to mid 2000’s. Here’s what I got for rosters for a throwback game.

A10 starters

Marcus Camby
David West
Lamar Odom
Eddie Jones
Jameer Nelson

Bench
James Posey
Cutinno Mobley
Aaron McKie
Delonte West

MAC starters

Chris Kaman
Wally Szczerbiak
Dan Marjele
Ron Harper
Bonzi Wells

Bench
Gary Trent
Grant Long
Antonio Daniels
Earl Boykins

Mark Macon is missing from the list.. may not have been an NBA stud, but he sure was a college stud for Temple and certainly would start over Eddie Jones (who would bump off McKie, just to keep it simple with Temple players)

[LS71]

I checked the UMass athletics website - nothing there that says UMass is joining the MAC...at least not yet, so maybe there's a chancer that they won't pull the trigger.

Interesting that 5 of next season's first 6 games are against MAC teams.

[MakeMullinsGreatAgain]

I checked the UMass athletics website - nothing there that says UMass is joining the MAC...at least not yet, so maybe there's a chancer that they won't pull the trigger.

Interesting that 5 of next season's first 6 games are against MAC teams.

I kinda said the same thing yesterday - I think I said that the tweet said they were invited and were LIKELY to accept. I thought to myself were they just throwing this out there to see what the reaction was - I mean I'm sure its a pipedream to think they could change now but who knows. I bet Pat Kelsey thought it was too late but we all know how that turned out.

[Camby4Life]

The A10 and Mac are pretty close when it comes to NBA players over the years. Looked back at players from mid 80’s to mid 2000’s. Here’s what I got for rosters for a throwback game.

A10 starters

Marcus Camby
David West
Lamar Odom
Eddie Jones
Jameer Nelson

Bench
James Posey
Cutinno Mobley
Aaron McKie
Delonte West

MAC starters

Chris Kaman
Wally Szczerbiak
Dan Marjele
Ron Harper
Bonzi Wells

Bench
Gary Trent
Grant Long
Antonio Daniels
Earl Boykins

Mark Macon is missing from the list.. may not have been an NBA stud, but he sure was a college stud for Temple and certainly would start over Eddie Jones (who would bump off McKie, just to keep it simple with Temple players)

Macon was the next guy on my list along with Mike James for the last bench spot. Agree that Macon was legit at Temple but I was basing the lineups on NBA production and both Jones and McKie had better careers.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Macon was the next guy on my list along with Mike James for the last bench spot. Agree that Macon was legit at Temple but I was basing the lineups on NBA production and both Jones and McKie had better careers.

I had assumed that's what you were going by but I had to chime in anyways. Good lists in general!

[TheInsider]

Matty V: "A Brutal Blow"

https://www.masslive.com/umassfootball/ ... utour.html

I read that this morning and it is spot on.

100% agree! UMass should be striving for excellence, not mediocrity.

UMass’ record vs. MAC-since 2012 is 8-35, as a conference member, 7-25; as an independent 1-10. Not good….

I made reference to the fact that at least hockey will continue to play at the highest level in my post Tuesday.

Has UMass accepted the invite officially?

A brutal blow to what??? Our regular 10th place finish in the A10?? It's like he forgot the last 25 years. Basketball is having one of its better seasons in a while and we are on track to finish 6th... 6th. If the admin approaches this correctly for Basketball and does what is needed to dominate in a lesser conference then you will see higher attendance because we will be playing for league championships and not getting all giddy because if everything breaks right we might just might get a double bye. Basketball had its chance to lead us into a better league than the MAC... if failed.