2025-26 Season

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InnervisionsUMASS
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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Tue Oct 21, 2025 12:38 pm

eldonabe wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 9:37 am
TheInsider wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 9:32 am People will lose their shit if we finish 5th..
Some will lose their shit if they "only" come in 3rd.

I fully concur with Insider and eldon... everyone will lose their minds if we end up 5th or worse. Some will still lose their minds with a 3rd place finish.

1st in the MAC regular season means almost nothing if they don't win the tournament. 3rd or even 5th in the MAC regular season will mean nothing if they go onto win the MAC tourny and dance.

Lets see how this plays out.
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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by Juice Stand » Tue Oct 21, 2025 12:47 pm

eldonabe wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 11:24 am I think we are all making the exact same mistake that Frank made in his first year here.... Taking the new conference for granted.
If someone says 5th place would be a disappointment, or that they would like to see us finish top 3 and the team fails to do that, it's not a mistake on our part. It's good to have expectations. It would be a failure by the coach and the team, and it would be a mistake by the AD by publicly stating that we will be the highest resourced program in the conference and we should "expect to win" and our goal should be to win championships.

I am not taking the MAC lightly. I've said many times that the top half of the conference seems like pretty darn good basketball. I also think that Frank took last year like a gut punch and a wake up call to him. Like you said, he probably underestimated the A10 the first time around. I do not expect him to make that mistake again. And to reiterate, if he does take the MAC lightly, that's his mistake, not mine.

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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by Juice Stand » Tue Oct 21, 2025 12:50 pm

InnervisionsUMASS wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 12:38 pm I fully concur with Insider and eldon... everyone will lose their minds if we end up 5th or worse. Some will still lose their minds with a 3rd place finish.

1st in the MAC regular season means almost nothing if they don't win the tournament. 3rd or even 5th in the MAC regular season will mean nothing if they go onto win the MAC tourny and dance.

Lets see how this plays out.
Somewhat agree with you IV. Coming in 1st, or even 3rd without winning the tournament won't mean nothing. Those are the types of teams that get invited to the NIT, which I would be pleased with. Like I said in my previous post, I'm going to have expectations for the program, but making the tournament in year 1 is definitely not one of them. Making it more often than once in 25 years? Yes, absolutely yes. But I'd be totally satisfied with 3rd place and an NIT invite.

69MG
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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by 69MG » Tue Oct 21, 2025 2:23 pm

Agree with Juice. Let's be realistic. Top 3 and an NIT bid is a good start. It helps recruiting and maybe retention if you play in the post-season. Move forward from there.

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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by MikeUMA » Tue Oct 21, 2025 3:20 pm

WMUA's MBB show hit Spotify today, but was recorded on Friday, before the exhibition game. They do their best to preview the non-conference schedule.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sye3V ... 7a5d124bd1

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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by NilesGold » Tue Oct 21, 2025 6:08 pm

69MG wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 2:23 pm Agree with Juice. Let's be realistic. Top 3 and an NIT bid is a good start. It helps recruiting and maybe retention if you play in the post-season. Move forward from there.
As far as I'm concerned, an NCAAT or NIT appearance will make me happy and feel like we're probably on the right track, if we don't get either of those but finish top 3 in the conference I will be ok but unsure if we're on the right track. Anything else and I'll be asking for Martin and/or Bamford's head.

Doesn't matter if those are realistic expectations based on the team that Frank has assembled, it's realistic based on having a very highly paid & veteran HC entering year 4 here and having resources that as far as we've been told surpass all other MAC teams.

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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by doubledribble » Tue Oct 21, 2025 10:14 pm

Bring back the A10!
I can not relate to ANY team in the MAC!

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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by MikeUMA » Tue Oct 21, 2025 10:53 pm

College hoop media guy Rocco Miller compiled a Top 60 Non-Power list:
https://x.com/RoccoMiller8/status/1977754610656805335

On it, we will face...
10 - Yale - maybe, on Day 2 of the Paradise Jam
12 - Charleston, on Day 1 of the Paradise Jam (11/21)
17 - Miami OH - home and home
21 - Akron - visiting in Feb, and maybe we get them on Day 3 of the Paradise Jam
31 - Ohio - home and home
34 - Kent State - our MAC opener on 12/20
36 - Harvard - at home on 12/3

His list jives with the MAC pre-season poll. The top 4 in the poll are all on his list, and we're #5.

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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by 69MG » Tue Oct 21, 2025 11:17 pm

^ He must think we're still in the A10. There are no A10 teams on the list, so he doesn't consider the A10 a non-power conference. If Kent State is 34 out of 60 and we're 1 spot behind them in the MAC poll, we should be in the top 60. BULLETIN BOARD MATERIAL

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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by Juice Stand » Wed Oct 22, 2025 5:37 am

NilesGold wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 6:08 pm As far as I'm concerned, an NCAAT or NIT appearance will make me happy and feel like we're probably on the right track, if we don't get either of those but finish top 3 in the conference I will be ok but unsure if we're on the right track. Anything else and I'll be asking for Martin and/or Bamford's head.

Doesn't matter if those are realistic expectations based on the team that Frank has assembled, it's realistic based on having a very highly paid & veteran HC entering year 4 here and having resources that as far as we've been told surpass all other MAC teams.
Right on, Niles. That's exactly where I'm at.

stevemaz
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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by stevemaz » Wed Oct 22, 2025 7:25 am

The key to the season will be if Banks can put himself in the running for player of the year in the MAC, which obviously is a possibility.

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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by Floyd » Wed Oct 22, 2025 8:03 am

InnervisionsUMASS wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 12:38 pm
eldonabe wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 9:37 am
TheInsider wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 9:32 am People will lose their shit if we finish 5th..
Some will lose their shit if they "only" come in 3rd.

I fully concur with Insider and eldon... everyone will lose their minds if we end up 5th or worse. Some will still lose their minds with a 3rd place finish.

1st in the MAC regular season means almost nothing if they don't win the tournament. 3rd or even 5th in the MAC regular season will mean nothing if they go onto win the MAC tourny and dance.

Lets see how this plays out.
I'm waiting to read the comments from MAC fans the first time they experience in person an episode of the wrath of Frank :lol:
Time to Win

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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by Floyd » Wed Oct 22, 2025 8:07 am

Juice Stand wrote: Wed Oct 22, 2025 5:37 am
NilesGold wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 6:08 pm As far as I'm concerned, an NCAAT or NIT appearance will make me happy and feel like we're probably on the right track, if we don't get either of those but finish top 3 in the conference I will be ok but unsure if we're on the right track. Anything else and I'll be asking for Martin and/or Bamford's head.

Doesn't matter if those are realistic expectations based on the team that Frank has assembled, it's realistic based on having a very highly paid & veteran HC entering year 4 here and having resources that as far as we've been told surpass all other MAC teams.
Right on, Niles. That's exactly where I'm at.
Yup, we need a very solid season to get fans back on board
Time to Win

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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by eldonabe » Wed Oct 22, 2025 9:40 am

Juice Stand wrote: Wed Oct 22, 2025 5:37 am
NilesGold wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2025 6:08 pm As far as I'm concerned, an NCAAT or NIT appearance will make me happy and feel like we're probably on the right track, if we don't get either of those but finish top 3 in the conference I will be ok but unsure if we're on the right track. Anything else and I'll be asking for Martin and/or Bamford's head.

Doesn't matter if those are realistic expectations based on the team that Frank has assembled, it's realistic based on having a very highly paid & veteran HC entering year 4 here and having resources that as far as we've been told surpass all other MAC teams.
Right on, Niles. That's exactly where I'm at.
I can get on board with that as well.

inthescoop
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Re: 2025-26 Season

Post by inthescoop » Wed Oct 22, 2025 2:21 pm

I wonder if it’s possible to find out which coach voted UMass to win the conference tournament

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