UMass transfer portal news - 2024

[69MG]

^ Ya got me! OOOPS. DK did not offer him, McCall did.

[Quann]

This came out on Monday....

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/sto ... eport-says

That's depressing. Thanks for nothing once again to that squish Charlie Baker.

I'm not sure what you expect Baker to do. The NCAA is enjoined from enforcing its transfer rules.

Take a stand to benefit college sports but I won't hold my breath. He hardly ever took a principled stand for anything in his political career.

[NilesGold]

That's depressing. Thanks for nothing once again to that squish Charlie Baker.

I'm not sure what you expect Baker to do. The NCAA is enjoined from enforcing its transfer rules.

Take a stand to benefit college sports but I won't hold my breath. He hardly ever took a principled stand for anything in his political career.

Regardless of your opinion of Baker, in this instance he serves at the whims of the colleges that make up the NCAA, he's mostly a figure-head, and he doesn't have power over U.S. law.

[stevemaz]

I'm not sure what you expect Baker to do. The NCAA is enjoined from enforcing its transfer rules.

Take a stand to benefit college sports but I won't hold my breath. He hardly ever took a principled stand for anything in his political career.

Regardless of your opinion of Baker, in this instance he serves at the whims of the colleges that make up the NCAA, he's mostly a figure-head, and he doesn't have power over U.S. law.

plus the NCAA fears the big boys leaving them for their own thing, which is going to happen anyway.

[WillHerndonFan]

I would hope so. Blowing all of the NIL money on Cross, Diggins, Ndjigue, DHS, and Curry would be a huge error in my opinion.

Those 5 would need to show meaningful improvement in 2024-24 vs 2023-24, otherwise I fear the team would take a step back.

Last year NIL money was allocated to 2 1st Team A10 Players and an All Rookie Team Player.

This year, so far, we have allocated NIL money to the A10 Most Improved Player, an All Rookie Team Member, a Freshman who started ALL games for UMass last year and a player who showed flashes of brillance while not having a full offseason last year due to injuries.

I think we have a pretty good handle on it.


We do review and discuss openly our strategy and position in our member meetings. Feel free to join them, if you are a member.

And we could ALWAYS use more $ www.TheMassCollective.com/join

No disrespect was intended towards what the collective is doing. I attended a recent member meeting, but wasn't able to stay for the entire thing... the impression I got (and understandably so) is that much of the strategy is guided by the coaches. This makes sense to me, as they know better than anyone what players they want, and how important each one is.

I think the efforts of the collective were vital to the success of MBB in the 2023-24 season. That being said, if all of the resources available to us for 2024-25 are used to retain the 5 players I mentioned, that would be of concern to me. I love Cross and Ndjigue, and Diggins, Curry, and DHS have shown themselves to be solid players. But there's no clear replacement for Cohen, and perhaps our biggest weakness last year (guard play) needs to be improved. NIL money could be used to address those two areas of concern, but not if it's all used to retain those 5... which leaves me with my original statement that the group of 5 would need to make significant improvements vs last year if all of the NIL money is allocated to them, and the other areas of concern can't be aided by NIL resources.

I think Frank & the collective knows what they're doing, certainly better than I. My assumption is that all of the resources are NOT being used on those 5... but if they are, I suspect they must feel very strongly about the ability of those 5 to improve vs their play last season.

I really think the signing of diggins, curry, Hankins and ndjigue are good use of nil as this group will really take off this year as they won’t be overshadowed by Cohen and maybe cross. Hankins is more talented than cohen as he showed in short minutes what he could do on both end. He will be a double double player this year. Diggins will be the best guard in the A10 this year and his sidekick Curry will average 12+ per game this year. If ndjigue improves his shooting then he will also be a force. Yes, we need more talent, but we have better starting 4 at this point than we did last year by far! I am assuming Cross won’t be back.

[Mykl_18]

Last year NIL money was allocated to 2 1st Team A10 Players and an All Rookie Team Player.

This year, so far, we have allocated NIL money to the A10 Most Improved Player, an All Rookie Team Member, a Freshman who started ALL games for UMass last year and a player who showed flashes of brillance while not having a full offseason last year due to injuries.

I think we have a pretty good handle on it.


We do review and discuss openly our strategy and position in our member meetings. Feel free to join them, if you are a member.

And we could ALWAYS use more $ www.TheMassCollective.com/join

No disrespect was intended towards what the collective is doing. I attended a recent member meeting, but wasn't able to stay for the entire thing... the impression I got (and understandably so) is that much of the strategy is guided by the coaches. This makes sense to me, as they know better than anyone what players they want, and how important each one is.

I think the efforts of the collective were vital to the success of MBB in the 2023-24 season. That being said, if all of the resources available to us for 2024-25 are used to retain the 5 players I mentioned, that would be of concern to me. I love Cross and Ndjigue, and Diggins, Curry, and DHS have shown themselves to be solid players. But there's no clear replacement for Cohen, and perhaps our biggest weakness last year (guard play) needs to be improved. NIL money could be used to address those two areas of concern, but not if it's all used to retain those 5... which leaves me with my original statement that the group of 5 would need to make significant improvements vs last year if all of the NIL money is allocated to them, and the other areas of concern can't be aided by NIL resources.

I think Frank & the collective knows what they're doing, certainly better than I. My assumption is that all of the resources are NOT being used on those 5... but if they are, I suspect they must feel very strongly about the ability of those 5 to improve vs their play last season.

I really think the signing of diggins, curry, Hankins and ndjigue are good use of nil as this group will really take off this year as they won’t be overshadowed by Cohen and maybe cross. Hankins is more talented than cohen as he showed in short minutes what he could do on both end. He will be a double double player this year. Diggins will be the best guard in the A10 this year and his sidekick Curry will average 12+ per game this year. If ndjigue improves his shooting then he will also be a force. Yes, we need more talent, but we have better starting 4 at this point than we did last year by far! I am assuming Cross won’t be back.

Wow!

[Jackson96]

This place turns in some really weird takes all year, but during the offseason it’s like those takes get some of Tiger’s HGH and really go into overdrive.

[inthescoop]

Chad Venning to Boston College

Things have been too quiet on the UMass front

[69MG]

^ That sucks, with a capital S. I was hoping we could get him.

[DoctorJ]

^ That sucks, with a capital S. I was hoping we could get him.

We still have some good bigs on the list of contacted portal players, like Ajogbor (spelling?).

Venning, I believe, has two years less. He'll come here after BCC

[NilesGold]

Venning, I believe, has two years less. He'll come here after BCC

He's already played 3 seasons plus the free covid year, so only 1 left.

[kdogg8173]

BC got crushed by the portal. I think they’ve lost their top 4 guards

[DanaDingle3]

I like what we have returning. Add in Matt Cross, and we'll be in great shape. Obviously, though, we don't have a proven guy over 6'8''.

I'm really pleased with our lack of activity in the portal, shows the staff has very strong relationships with our guys (though would really like to know more about the Keon situation), and shows a disciplined, patient approach to recruiting. We've seen Frank is able to bring in talent.

That said, I am dying to know who will start at center next year. No idea when we'll know, but I take the lack of activity to be a good thing.

[massprof]

I don’t know why you think the lack of activity is a GOOD thing. Could be good OR bad, but either way we won’t know until the dust settles and we find out who we’ve recruited.

[WillHerndonFan]

I like what we have returning. Add in Matt Cross, and we'll be in great shape. Obviously, though, we don't have a proven guy over 6'8''.

I'm really pleased with our lack of activity in the portal, shows the staff has very strong relationships with our guys (though would really like to know more about the Keon situation), and shows a disciplined, patient approach to recruiting. We've seen Frank is able to bring in talent.

That said, I am dying to know who will start at center next year. No idea when we'll know, but I take the lack of activity to be a good thing.

Some people on this board are dismissive of the notion that keeping most of your core talent is less important than what you bring in the portal. Look at Duquesne who kept grant and Clark together and it paid dividends and I think the diggin and curry could be one the best backcourts in the A10 and surround them with productive players like njdigue and Hankins etc then we will be competing for the a10 title. With Thompson gone, Curry will become the most improved player in the A10 this year.