2026-27 Season

[MikeUMA]

UMass Harborside is now a "rivalry" are you shitting me??? Mark my words: Marty Meehan and Bamford want UMass amherst to be D2 or lower.

Dude, stop, that's laughable. Meehan and Reyes basically give Bamford blank checks to piss away on FBS. If they wanted us to drop down, even back to D-I FCS, that would have happened years ago. And if that does happen, Bamford would effectively be reducing his own salary. Can't justify a fat paycheck like his if we're not FBS.

my son is going to Wisconsin and wisc is playing Notre Dame Sept 6th at Lambeau.

What does high level FBS have to do with our men's hoop schedule? I'm missing the connection.

[eldonabe]

UMass Harborside is now a "rivalry" are you shitting me??? Mark my words: Marty Meehan and Bamford want UMass amherst to be D2 or lower.

Dude, stop, that's laughable. Meehan and Reyes basically give Bamford blank checks to piss away on FBS. If they wanted us to drop down, even back to D-I FCS, that would have happened years ago. And if that does happen, Bamford would effectively be reducing his own salary. Can't justify a fat paycheck like his if we're not FBS.

my son is going to Wisconsin and wisc is playing Notre Dame Sept 6th at Lambeau.

What does high level FBS have to do with our men's hoop schedule? I'm missing the connection.

Yea there is no concerted effort by anyone to relegate back to FCS.... Way too much money flying around regardless of where it is being spent.

This is really about as simple as it gets.


The administration doesn't prioritize Athletics - and the person in charge of Athletics is incompetent, but has an ability to kiss the administrations ass like nobody else can. If he could only persuade sponsors like that.

[MikeUMA]

The administration doesn't prioritize Athletics - and the person in charge of Athletics is incompetent, but has an ability to kiss the administrations ass like nobody else can. If he could only persuade sponsors like that.

That's where the realities of state universities versus businesses and corporations come into play. State U, although constrained with budgets of their own, aren't on the same plane as companies. The pressure on return on investment is an entirely different beast.

Bamford seems to have no pressure to demonstrate a return on investment. His ineptitude in that regard wouldn't last long in the private sector.

[bobolink]

Not sure URI would offer UMass the deal they gave Buffalo. Or that UMass is/was looking for that. Used to think it would be like Harvard in the past with alternating home games each year; or maybe try that once. Buffalo is a 1-time buy for URI. From X:
"Alex Rosinski@WiscyBusiness
Schedule News: Buffalo will play guarantee games at Pittsburgh on Thursday November 5th ($90,000) and at Rhode Island on Tuesday December 22nd ($70,000)"

[Juice Stand]

It's unfortunate that we didn't get URI on the schedule considering how much we've heard about that possibility, but I understand the difficulty in it. Losing the Harvard series is the one that is really disappointing to me. Seemed like a win for both sides, a lot of fan interest (remember the gym takeover at Harvard? Awesome), and has generally been good games. We went from having a 13-game OOC schedule to one with only 9 division 1 opponents. There is a surplus of D1 men's basketball programs in the northeast. Just another whiff in a long line of whiffs from Bamford.

[Floyd]

I think ZooMass should make a comedy DVD about his UMass & state legislator hypothesis and see who can guess which of the 20 schools his son is going to. LOL. You kill me Zoo

[PreecherJenkins]

A terrible OOC. UMass will make a ton on money at $262 per ticket for the BC game. Not because of UMass/BC but because UConn Michigan would sell out on their own. Not having URI and Harvard on the schedule but UMass Boston and Stonehil/Maine on the schedule is just plain putting cupcakes on to garnish wins against terrible opponents.

While the OOC schedule leaves a lot to be desired, playing BC at the Garden and being part of a heavyweight doubleheader is a step in the right direction, even if we're the undercard. Hopefully it's the first of many opportunities like it. At the end of the day, get to the Garden and support UMass. Period.

Only took a generation but we went from being the headliner selling out the Garden to being the undercard that there might be 1500 people in the building at tip.

Our other apperance in Boston is at Northeasterns 1800 seat gym the night before thanksgiving.

I say this every year but this is the worst non conference schedule i've seen in my 27 years of supporting this program...

[minutefanjsf]

A terrible OOC. UMass will make a ton on money at $262 per ticket for the BC game. Not because of UMass/BC but because UConn Michigan would sell out on their own. Not having URI and Harvard on the schedule but UMass Boston and Stonehil/Maine on the schedule is just plain putting cupcakes on to garnish wins against terrible opponents.

While the OOC schedule leaves a lot to be desired, playing BC at the Garden and being part of a heavyweight doubleheader is a step in the right direction, even if we're the undercard. Hopefully it's the first of many opportunities like it. At the end of the day, get to the Garden and support UMass. Period.

Only took a generation but we went from being the headliner selling out the Garden to being the undercard that there might be 1500 people in the building at tip.

Our other apperance in Boston is at Northeasterns 1800 seat gym the night before thanksgiving.

I say this every year but this is the worst non conference schedule i've seen in my 27 years of supporting this program...

This is a bad OOC. It is better than last year, not by much. The only reason I saw that is because it is all within New England, aside from Troy. If one wanted to see all the games they could. It is set up like we are a P4. A couple of big games and then nothing to write home about.

[Juice Stand]

I wish there was something to talk about other than how terrible our AD is or how it's one of the worst OOC's we've seen. It's all bad news these days. Players have been on campus for a while. Any intel or news on how these guys look? I haven't seen a summer session podcast from Burnham and Frank yet. What a depressing offseason.

[eldonabe]

It is really hard to tell anything at this point even if you see practices ..... We are not recruiting at the same level anymore (not that we recruited at a higher level any better anyways) so seeing tape and drawing opinions ("Oooh, that kid can play") is mostly meaningless until they strap it on against another teams.

I almost don't want to know anything about these guys in the preseason outside of making sure they can at least walk and chew gum simultaneously. I am being a little facetious, but we really will not know anything relevant until 4 or 5 games into the season.

[Berkman]

This years UMass team is not one that I can really follow. This in not the normal/usual team just a bunch of foreigners brought in to play for UMass. Very disappointing for me who has followed the team since 1969. There should not be more than 2 foreign players on the team at any time.

[Juice Stand]

It is really hard to tell anything at this point even if you see practices ..... We are not recruiting at the same level anymore (not that we recruited at a higher level any better anyways) so seeing tape and drawing opinions ("Oooh, that kid can play") is mostly meaningless until they strap it on against another teams.

I almost don't want to know anything about these guys in the preseason outside of making sure they can at least walk and chew gum simultaneously. I am being a little facetious, but we really will not know anything relevant until 4 or 5 games into the season.

I hear ya, and probably agree, but at this point in the offseason I just want good vibes and we're not even getting that. Tell me that Wimbley looks like he's leveled up, or Clerc has swapped body fat for lean muscle and looks more athletic, or this freshman is going to surprise people or that transfer looks like an all-league player. I want them to give me something to be hopeful about, even if it ends up being more of the same.

[JoleonLescottsHair]

This years UMass team is not one that I can really follow. This in not the normal/usual team just a bunch of foreigners brought in to play for UMass. Very disappointing for me who has followed the team since 1969. There should not be more than 2 foreign players on the team at any time.

This years UMass team is not one that I can really follow. This in not the normal/usual team just a bunch of (transfers) brought in to play for UMass. Very disappointing for me who has followed the team since 1969. There should not be more than 2 (portal/transfer) players on the team at any time.

I was with you until the hook. Made a slight tweak. Too many foreigners? C’mon, dude. I have followed this program a long time, too, and have steadily lost interest to the point where I doubt I will follow much anyone. That is a BIG deal in my life. It’s pretty crushing to see how badly we’ve fallen. But it is not the foreigners that have made this less interesting. It is the shitty conference, the turnover, the poor coaching, the inept AD, the NIL disaster, the awful scheduling, and the utter lack of imagination and vision. I guess blaming the foreigners is what we do these days. I’ll take 10 Stephan Lasme’s over most any of these bland and uncommitted dudes we’ve had these last several years.

[eldonabe]

This years UMass team is not one that I can really follow. This in not the normal/usual team just a bunch of foreigners brought in to play for UMass. Very disappointing for me who has followed the team since 1969. There should not be more than 2 foreign players on the team at any time.

This years UMass team is not one that I can really follow. This in not the normal/usual team just a bunch of (transfers) brought in to play for UMass. Very disappointing for me who has followed the team since 1969. There should not be more than 2 (portal/transfer) players on the team at any time.

I was with you until the hook. Made a slight tweak. Too many foreigners? C’mon, dude. I have followed this program a long time, too, and have steadily lost interest to the point where I doubt I will follow much anyone. That is a BIG deal in my life. It’s pretty crushing to see how badly we’ve fallen. But it is not the foreigners that have made this less interesting. It is the shitty conference, the turnover, the poor coaching, the inept AD, the NIL disaster, the awful scheduling, and the utter lack of imagination and vision. I guess blaming the foreigners is what we do these days. I’ll take 10 Stephan Lasme’s over most any of these bland and uncommitted dudes we’ve had these last several years.

A Portal/Transfer number of not more than 2 is impossible in today's game. No kid in a mid major school is gonna stay if they can move up in weight class (and pay grade). You are guaranteed to lose at least 5 or 6 guys every year to transfer and you cannot just keep rolling in that many Freshmen Recruits to take their place. If Frank continues to act like he has, he is probably gonna lose 7 or 8 every year - he is an abusive asshole and with unlimited transfer ability, no kid with any chance of getting picked up by another school is gonna want to endure that for more than 1 year if they don't have to.

I am all for the tough love thing, but that is not what Frank does to these kids and his coaches...

[JoleonLescottsHair]

^ my comment is less about a specific number and more about the sentiment.