Game 18, 2024-25: at Fordham (1/15)

[tom mclaughlin]

It’s a sad day for UMass basketball to be playing their last time in the Rose Hill Gym. A lot of great memories in the old building. I can remember growing up and my 3 older brothers having practice in that gym and me tagging along and climbing in those stands. All the great teams coming down from New England Providence, UConn, BC and UMass to take on the Rams.
Also all the great high school players from NYC like Abdul Jabbar, Dean Meminger and Charlie Yelverton playing there as well as John Roche and Tom Owens as well as Kevin Joyce and all the other Molloy greats. It was the hay day of high school basketball in NYC. That gym holds so many memories of great coaches on the sidelines Lou Carnescca, Jack Donohue, Bill Rafferty, Dee Rowe, Jack Curran, Tom Penders, Jack Leaman, Bobby Knight. It was part of growing up in the Bronx.
We not only lose the memories of playing at Rose Hill Gym but the Cage is now an indoor track training facility and the memories of that place are unbelievable and in it’s prime with Julius Erving, Al Skinner, Jack Leaman, Johnny Orr and John Calipari was as intimate a venue one could ever ask for. The mere fact that BC, Providence, Syracuse and UConn were afraid to play there says it all. At one time UMass was the number 1 rated team
In NE for years speaks to the Cage being a difficult place to play and the students made it the best place to play in all of NE
Both Rose Hill and the Cage have a place in UMass basketball history. A lot of great memories and both places are where UMass basketball got a chance to shine and be known as something special especially with a young star like Julius Erving.

[MikeUMA]

It’s a sad day for UMass basketball to be playing their last time in the Rose Hill Gym. A lot of great memories in the old building...

Thank you, Tom. As much as we (myself included) gripe about Fordham sometimes, it is a shame that we won't be visiting Rose Hill again. It's a great throwback venue for college hoop.

[JoleonLescottsHair]

What is similarly sad is listening to the FBS crowd dismiss guys like Coach Tom as “living in the past” when they invoke the importance of history. All other issues of the MAC move aside, the profound damage that the FBS/MAC push has had on the collective memory of UMass cannot be overstated. And, that matters. It matters a great deal with respect to institutional culture and program success.

[tom mclaughlin]

The fact that we are leaving the A10 and taking Fordham off the schedule is discouraging and to lose the history of how UMass built the program up by playing in the Yankee Conference and challenging UConn and URI and then battling Providence, Holy Cross and BC in New England. It was a 20 year battle that guys like Jack Leaman and then John Calipari waged against great coaches like Jim Calhoun and Dave Gavitt. It was a fun time to be a UMass fan. Oh they hated it when we finally beat them and beat them we did. Seeing their faces as they left the Cage was priceless. Remember when our fans got around the BC team bus and started shaking it. Oh BC didn’t like that and would only play us in Springfield after that. UMass Basketball was so big Father Quigley would start his weekly sermon with a basketball shoutout and he being a Fordham grad would enjoy us beating rival Jesuit schools.
UMass basketball was built on the backs of dedicated fans who showed up hours before in rain or snow.
it took years to be built and hopefully the younger kids will know the history when it meant something to be part of UMass basketball. You got to witness up close Jack Leaman, Julius Erving, Ray Ellerbrook, Al Skinner, John Murphy and an array of blue collar hard nosed players. It was an honor to wear a UMass uniform and stick it to those snobs in Storrs, Newton and Providence who believed they were always a little bit better. Well for years we stuck it them. Go UMass and please never forget a proud history. We were tough and we all hung together and won a lot of great games. Imagine out recruiting UConn and ending up with Marcus Camby playing for us. Coach Cal stuck it to Jim Calhoun on that one.

[TheInsider]

Tom's memories have always been great and important to the history of UMass basketball.... but "profound damage"?? My fondest UMass basketball memories were all the games against Temple and then the A10 playoff and championship games against teams like Penn Sate, West Virginia, and Xavier.. yes.. it will be sad not to play in some.of the places we are used to. But are we really doing damage to our annual finish of 9th in the league??

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Tom's memories have always been great and important to the history of UMass basketball.... but "profound damage"?? My fondest UMass basketball memories were all the games against Temple and then the A10 playoff and championship games against teams like Penn Sate, West Virginia, and Xavier.. yes.. it will be sad not to play in some.of the places we are used to. But are we really doing damage to our annual finish of 9th in the league??

The amount of schools that have bailed on UMass and the A10 is astonishing... and we're here complaining about finally moving on from the A10... it's nuts.

Grow with the times or get left behind. We've been left behind far too many times, this change is long overdue.

[MikeUMA]

We're in a point of transition for sure. Sometimes you choose the change, sometimes the change chooses you.

The Yankee Conference was good for us in its day, in both basketball and football, but that had to change as the game grew bigger and beyond the small regional conferences.

The Atlantic 10 was good for us, but as the A10 gave up on football and the UMass athletics power brokers thought we should be moderately relevant at the FBS level, a change was necessary. (I don't agree with all of it, but that's another story.)

Regardless, the history remains the history and should be celebrated for what it was. Fordham's Rose Hill, and venues like it (Palestra, Hagan Arena, Butler's Hinkle) have it both ways: some moderate improvements but still on the bones that built it.

We can't even see those bones anymore. The Cage is pretty much off limits to anyone but the Track & Field program members. I poked in a couple years ago and was about a minute away from being asked to leave.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

We can't even see those bones anymore. The Cage is pretty much off limits to anyone but the Track & Field program members. I poked in a couple years ago and was about a minute away from being asked to leave.

I'm glad the Cage is still in use, just hate the use they picked for it. With that said, no shock to hear that you almost got kicked out... UMass does a good job of that type of stuff. Regular John and Jane's can't even easily see the UMass Athletics Hall of Fame on an event night at the Mullins, nevermind on any given weekday or weekend.

[MikeUMA]

Speaking of Rose Hill…
https://nypost.com/2025/01/15/sports/ro ... e-with-it/

Paywalled though.

[Floyd]

With all that said, I think the boys go out and get the W tonite. Good guys by 11

[minutefanjsf]

Tom's memories have always been great and important to the history of UMass basketball.... but "profound damage"?? My fondest UMass basketball memories were all the games against Temple and then the A10 playoff and championship games against teams like Penn Sate, West Virginia, and Xavier.. yes.. it will be sad not to play in some.of the places we are used to. But are we really doing damage to our annual finish of 9th in the league??

The amount of schools that have bailed on UMass and the A10 is astonishing... and we're here complaining about finally moving on from the A10... it's nuts.

Grow with the times or get left behind. We've been left behind far too many times, this change is long overdue.

Yup. Rose Hill is great and all. Fordham joined the A10 in 1995. It’s not like they are a founding member, etc. we should have jumped ship a long time ago.

[debache]

We went to Fordham for the 1991(?) NIT game, it was awesome. We took a bus from a UMASS and celebrated the win. Anybody else on that bus? Those were the days

[Floyd]

The tv camera angle is horrible.

[minutefanjsf]

The tv camera angle is horrible.

Always is. Dayton also has a horrible angle, usually too high.

[econalum]

WOW - a battle of the bottom 2 in the A10. UMass rushes too many shots, IMO.