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eldonabe wrote:University Of Massachusetts Minutemen Basketball - top 30 recruiting class IN THE COUNTRY:


Atlantic 10 - All Rookie team announced - NO REPRESENTATIVES FROM UMASS!!!!!!!!


While the announcement in and of itself is not a shocker postmortem.... the fact that it did actually happen speaks volumes.

Cut DK some slack...they were young!

InnervisionsUMASS wrote:^^

I don't disagree, as I stated. I want to see it, but I'm also not going to blindly make a statement like Buck did only to continue to be disappointed when it doesn't occur every single year.

Your examples are great, and do show that trends change, but none of them make the tournament every single year, as blanketly stated by Buck.

Ok, no argument in the literal sense. But I think "every year" is being used more aspirationally. Obviously there are going to be years where, for whatever reason, it just doesn't happen. Those should be just that, an off year.

MajBugman wrote:It's an insult to those kids for DK to use the "Freshman hit the wall" excuse. They won 4 conference games, what they hit the wall after 13 games?

How about the "once we hit the conference schedule I faced coaches that knew my game plan inside and out and could come up with one that could take us out of what we were trying to do and they knew I would have no answer" excuse?

I've been saying this to my friends since the Chaz days. It was probably true before then, but when our offense stalled even with Chaz I knew that the other coaches had DK's number.

JoleonLescottsHair wrote:
Ok, no argument in the literal sense. But I think "every year" is being used more aspirationally. Obviously there are going to be years where, for whatever reason, it just doesn't happen. Those should be just that, an off year.

Agreed overall. And it may be true that he was using it more aspirationally... I just didn't get that sense from reading his article, nor from his response to me on Twitter. But it could be true.

JoleonLescottsHair wrote:

InnervisionsUMASS wrote: There is no historical basis for either team that would suggest that the teams should be making it every single year, as Buck suggests.

History helps us learn and understand, but no program needs to be a slave to its history. Prior to 1994, Gonzaga had no historical basis for its run. VCU had a 5 year stretch in the early 80s then went silent for two decades before Capel arrived. Winthrop's first NCAA was in 1999 and they have been to 9 since. Like UMass, Butler appeared in the 1962 tournament and not again until 1997. They have been back a dozen times since. Southern Illinois was D2 until 1968 and made their first NCAA appearance in 1977. They wouldn't make it back until 1993 and now they have enjoyed 9 more. By definition program building starts somewhere and history is but one aspect. Within our own program, Jack Leaman would have made the Dance more often in a field of 64 and Calipari busted any restrictive historical frame and made it each of his last 5 years. Conditions change. Trends come and go. Resources change. Commitments change. Saying there is no historical basis obscures the fact that people make history. Like good old Karl Marx said, "philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Same goes for good coaches and athletic directors.

This is exactly how I feel. For one it has already been proven by Calipari that sustained excellence can happen at UMass, and he did it with inferior facilities. He inherited nothing and built a champion. We don't even need to speculate "if" it is possible.

We should aspire to be in contention for the NCAA every year. Clearly we won't make it every year but being NCAA every other year and in the NIT the down year isn't dreaming too big.

If we find the right combination of coaches and staff and finally do ascend the mountaintop again, then the question turns to can we sustain it. We do risk losing coaches like we did Calipari and dropping precipitously soon after. But one step at a time.. let's get back to excellence first.

MajBugman wrote:It's an insult to those kids for DK to use the "Freshman hit the wall" excuse. They won 4 conference games, what they hit the wall after 13 games?

How about the "once we hit the conference schedule I faced coaches that knew my game plan inside and out and could come up with one that could take us out of what we were trying to do and they knew I would have no answer" excuse?

Ummm anyone who saw Umass play for 10 minutes could figure out their "game plan" and after 20 minutes they would have known it inside and out.....

I really want to see one of DK's comprehensive end of season analysis of his team, including its strengths/weaknesses, the areas that need improvement, and proposals including game strategies for addressing each weakness. It also have should include an analysis of each returning player's strengths/weaknesses, and a comprehensive training regimen for each player to follow in order to prepare themselves for the next season.

Lots of coaching changes being announced today.

LSU's Johnny Jones will be fired after the SEC tournament.

baseline47 wrote:I really want to see one of DK's comprehensive end of season analysis of his team, including its strengths/weaknesses, the areas that need improvement, and proposals including game strategies for addressing each weakness. It also have should include an analysis of each returning player's strengths/weaknesses, and a comprehensive training regimen for each player to follow in order to prepare themselves for the next season.

Really? I can do this for you right now - give me a second.


- Strengths: Shooting - definitely shooting. The guys did a much better job taking open shots compared to last year when they were forcing it against contesting defenses. Inbounds plays - not sure if you remember that one we connected on against Richmond - that one play was sweet and something to build on for sure!
- Weaknesses: Youth and inexperience. Lots of Freshmen mistakes - that should get much better next year as these will become sophomore mistakes which is a little different. The bigmen (Hines and Holloway) will make the jumpo from underclassment mistakes to upperclassmen mistakes, those are a lot different that the sophomore ones, and the seniors - Oh Boy - they only make Senior mistakes so that will definitely improve too. The best thing is that there will be no Freshmen so NO FRESHMEN MISTAKE NEXT SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!
- Improvement: This should be the easiest thing to address - the guys have to play harder. Now that they realize how much more difficult and a grind the regular conference season is, it is a simple game plan: Play really hard before the conference season starts, then play really really hard once we get to January.
- Off Season preparation: They guys should spend as much time together as possible so they get to know each other even better. That kind of team unity should really help them run around the court without a plan better and allow them to better guess where each other are going on offense - that should lower the team turnovers by at least 1 or 2 per game next year.

Player by Player:

- Pipkins: He needs to work on those rushed 3 pointers - if he is going to keep hoisting those up like he has, he has got to hit rim. I will be setting up a 5 second shot clock drill so he can dribble from the inbounds, get over half court and jack up a shot before the clock expires
- Deeky: Love his game, the year of experience should get him more respect driving to the basket so his shot doesn't get blocked as much, now he can really stretch his strides to be even less predictable driving into the lane
- Flowers: He has to learn consistency - especially since I still plan on giving him 3 minutes one night and 18 the next - HE HAS TO LEARN HOW TO DEAL WITH THAT!
- Baldwin: He needs to woirk on guarding 6'5" power forwards better. If he can't learn how to play down to the size of his assignment, I cannot use all that height advantage properly
- Holloway: I think he lost too much weight this year, he really looked spent near the end of the season, I think he needs to put about 20lbs back on so he has some left in the tank next March
- Clark: He really needs to work on his dribbling more if he is going to keep killing the ball movement by not passing too much. He also took way less 25 footers this season, He was settling for the 22 footers too much, he needs to reestablish his range again.
- Lewis: The kid has to not worry about 37 point games and just go back to the basics of over-thinking and deferring to others.
- CJ: Love his game - he shouldn't change a thing. I think he needs to know he will start every game - it really boosts his confidence. There was a huge statistical improvement in when he started versus not: his MPG was about the same but he literally DOUBLED his production when he started. 1.2 PPG not starting versus 2.4 PPG starting, just hair under 1 RPG not starting versus 2.01 RPG starting, and the big one was 0.4 assists PG not starting versus 1.6 APG starting ( a 400% increase!!!!). That kid is nails when he starts!
- Hines: He needs to learn how to do more with less. Other than that one time, he never really seemed ready to play more than 6-8 minutes per game. He has to understand that 6-8 minutes will be the norm, but I will (from time to time) give him 28 minutes with no warning or explanation - he HAS to learn that!
- Gresham: I noticed his production went waaaay down as the season moved along, I know I cut his minutes by about 75% but to see his production per game numbers drop by 82% was a real surprise to me!!
- Berger: I love him in the starting role overall. He needs to figure out how to make the most of the 4 MPG I give him from that spot sometimes he is ineffective for 2 of the 4 minutes.....

- Mclean: He is a wild card I have no clue why I even gave him a scholly. Since I expect all my guys to return next year, nothing opens up to give him time. I did let him practice a little bit, but I don't think he figured out what to work on to get better, it is not like he came to me to ask so I never talked to him pretty much all season - I don't know what he has been doing for the last 4 months??? He is a smart kind, so I am sure he will figure out something to work on - maybe dunking?

^ Eldon you are one sick puppy. But I enjoyed that post, so kudos.

^^ +1

Eldon, thanks for taking the time to write all that. I enjoyed reading it.

I gotta add that Unique looks really unhappy out there not playing. I hope we find a way to get him minutes next year and see what he has to offer.

Should have plenty of to for him after all the transfers

DoctorJ wrote:Eldon, thanks for taking the time to write all that. I enjoyed reading it.

I gotta add that Unique looks really unhappy out there not playing. I hope we find a way to get him minutes next year and see what he has to offer.

Hope Unique can shoot 35+ from 3.

Eldon that was hysterical had me laughing out loud.

"Pipkins: He needs to work on those rushed 3 pointers - if he is going to keep hoisting those up like he has, he has got to hit rim"

I'd add the team needs to be more prepared to rebound on those misses, especially with the longer bounces after hitting rim.