UMassHoops.com

First, let's get all of the excuses out of the way:

The hardest thing in the world to do is win a college basketball game on the road

St. Joe's was favored

Maxie was hurt

I was happy with the second half effort, but this is what happens when you play for about 15 minutes of the game. This team has so many problems to fix is is frightening

Great effort by Gordon tonight.

Why does Chaz wait until the end of games to do anything?

Would it be possible for Cady to be any softer or for Put to make any more dumb plays?

9-7 in the A10 and on the bubble for the dance heading into the A10 tourney.

TheInsider wrote:They shot 20 more fts. Refs blew.. but we need better starts.

We are stupid. We commit stupid fouls. Most of the fouls were legit. We missed at least 3 front ends of 1-and-1s. This team's early season play was fool's gold. If Maxie is out for any length of time we are in big trouble.

Their offensive execution either the last min of the half or game all season has been pathetic.

If Chaz makes the 2nd free throw or Put makes the layup we win. They were rattled and never would have scored if we got ahead.

It was tied when Chaz missed that FT. If Putney makes the layup they are up 2. Even though he missed it was a tie game. Fouling 90 feet away and giving St. Joes 2 shots to take the lead was just as bad.

It's a tough loss and not good, but at least after the second half I no longer want to jump off a bridge. If they get play like that from Gordon, and the rest of the team plays like they did in the 2nd without foul trouble, they can get back to playing at a really high level

TheInsider wrote:They shot 20 more fts. Refs blew.. but we need better starts.

The officiating was awful today on both sides.
StJ shot 20 more FTs and UMass was called for 7 more fouls but it's a reach to blame the officiating.

Only bright spot tonight was that Gordon played aggressive.

fenway617 wrote:Their offensive execution either the last min of the half or game all season has been pathetic.

I am still waiting for them to run a play. Everything is schoolyard, freelance shit.

Dump down to DG is a stupid call...that said, this team has some serious heart. Just wish they would play a full game. If DG can play even half as well as he did tonight in future games, we become a completely different team. Really hope Maxie is OK.

Going to come up a couple plays short here. Enough about the team not having enough fight or not caring though. That's clearly not the issue with this team, as we ought to know by now. We've got some problems with our halfcourt offense that are overdue to be looked at, and we've got some frustration from some of our players. When we don't score, we don't set up our press and get the tempo we want. Our halfcourt man-to-man defense is a seemingly neverending experiment in bad decisions. Too many bad fouls after bad gambles. The effort is there, it's just misplaced. One of these offseasons I hope DK puts more practice time into zone defense. I know it doesn't fit the maximum pressure philosophy, but I think we have more to gain by being more versatile and showing the opponent a variety of looks. Especially in the A10 where our opponents don't necessarily have two or three different ways to score.

But, main point, our issues are tactical, not emotional. There's got to be a better way to use Cady, and there's got to be a way to open up more space for our guards to drive. Other teams do it with fewer weapons. We've got to find that solution to the puzzle before tournament time.

UMassFan99 wrote:Dump down to DG is a stupid call...that said, this team has some serious heart. Just wish they would play a full game. If DG can play even half as well as he did tonight in future games, we become a completely different team. Really hope Maxie is OK.

Some players on the team have heart.

Turnovers are killing us, free throws are killing us, dumb plays are killing us, rebounding is killing us.........other than that we're awesome. The second half softens the blow a bit, but scary times for sure

Yeah, I'd agree. Wish Cady had more balls and didn't play like a puss on D.

Jackman wrote:Going to come up a couple plays short here. Enough about the team not having enough fight or not caring though. That's clearly not the issue with this team, as we ought to know by now. We've got some problems with our halfcourt offense that are overdue to be looked at, and we've got some frustration from some of our players. When we don't score, we don't set up our press and get the tempo we want. Our halfcourt man-to-man defense is a seemingly neverending experiment in bad decisions. Too many bad fouls after bad gambles. The effort is there, it's just misplaced. One of these offseasons I hope DK puts more practice time into zone defense. I know it doesn't fit the maximum pressure philosophy, but I think we have more to gain by being more versatile and showing the opponent a variety of looks. Especially in the A10 where our opponents don't necessarily have two or three different ways to score.

But, main point, our issues are tactical, not emotional. There's got to be a better way to use Cady, and there's got to be a way to open up more space for our guards to drive. Other teams do it with fewer weapons. We've got to find that solution to the puzzle before tournament time.

Regarding Cady. He needs to make an effort to establish position in the post. He NEVER does. He is going through the motions.