Game 4, 2025-26: Central CT (11/16)

[Camby4Life]

Excellent points on this thread. Terrible win !!! How dare anybody support Coach Frank !!! How Dare Coach Frank instruct players to move b/c "there's an art to moving w/o the ball". It was great when bruiser did the same exact thing however....

That is actually pretty funny Jack.... It is more about Frank's style that seems to touch people off here. He is a Barker for sure.

I knew when they hired him his courtside manner might not well with a lot of people here. The guy has a reputation as a lunatic. Like Belichik, you can get away with shit like that when you are winning.... not so much when your team is not.

Eldon you should know that Amherst would say Frank yelling equals bad.

This is some pretty hilarious analysis of Frank. I never thought a couch yelling Move to his players would lead to such strong takes by fans.

[inthescoop]

It's windy today.

[m626t]

You can't just scream "MOVE", there is an art to moving without the ball in basketball, especially as a team. Movement off the ball should be practiced with no plays and practiced with set plays. If the coach screams Move and no one knows what to do, then there's your answer. Running around with no strategic plan will just bring in all the defenders together. Movement and spacing is extremely important. Our basketball court always looks small, we lack spacing and movement, and instead of screaming, practice, adjust, try something new.
Frank reminds me of my high school basketball coach, who ran the same exact plays, every single year. Soon, every player and coach in our league knew all our plays. Why? He never changed the name of the plays, and they were always the same thing. His argument was, if you do it right, it'll always work - not even considering that the other coach and team may ADJUST, and we never practiced these situations. The best coaches always know how to naturally adjust to an ad-hoc game plan, and UMass basketball have always had issues with mid-game adjustments.

^
This is bizarre. My daughter's varsity high school coach made the exact same substitutions, the same girls into the game, the same girls out, at the 8 minute mark every game, every period. He also used the same plays after misses and made baskets for years. We used to call the plays from the stands before he did.

[inthescoop]

Excellent points on this thread. Terrible win !!! How dare anybody support Coach Frank !!! How Dare Coach Frank instruct players to move b/c "there's an art to moving w/o the ball". It was great when bruiser did the same exact thing however....

That is actually pretty funny Jack.... It is more about Frank's style that seems to touch people off here. He is a Barker for sure.

I knew when they hired him his courtside manner might not well with a lot of people here. The guy has a reputation as a lunatic. Like Belichik, you can get away with shit like that when you are winning.... not so much when your team is not.

Eldon you should know that Amherst would say Frank yelling equals bad.

This is some pretty hilarious analysis of Frank. I never thought a couch yelling Move to his players would lead to such strong takes by fans.

For me it's not the yelling, it's the coaching.

If he yells Move and then all players tactically know what to do, I'm completely fine with it. On the other hand, if the coach yells Move, and everyone runs towards the same place, and they're lost... That's the issue.

These players now grew up in a world of iso ball in AAU basketball. You get the ball, you beat the guy 1on1 or you start a fast break after the rebound, and you don't need to worry about set plays and movement without the ball. Then the other issue is that some college coaches may feel that they don't need to go over the basics and fundamentals anymore, these players made it to D1 for a reason and know all these things. It's a different era, team ball and off the ball movement needs to be refreshed in the world of iso ball. That's why we're seeing random Europeans come into NCAA basketball, and in their freshmen year they are leading the pack. Why? Because there are so many opportunities in basketball where you can make a difference besides when you have the ball in your hands. They still teach that in Europe, not here in AAU ball.

[DanaDingle3]

Excellent points on this thread. Terrible win !!! How dare anybody support Coach Frank !!! How Dare Coach Frank instruct players to move b/c "there's an art to moving w/o the ball". It was great when bruiser did the same exact thing however....

Agree. Can't believe Frank wants his guys more active within the structure he coaches, and worse, that he actually vocalizes it.

Terrible win !!!

[69MG]

Really??? Does anybody here actually think that Frank does not run these plays in practice? I've only been to a couple of practices, but he has spots on the court where he wants players to go to in different situations (depends on who has the ball and where that player is). He also has some rules that he goes by, such as "don't get trapped on the sideline". If I have a complaint, it's that his system is very complicated on both offense and defense. Maybe it's more than current players can absorb.

[inthescoop]

Excellent points on this thread. Terrible win !!! How dare anybody support Coach Frank !!! How Dare Coach Frank instruct players to move b/c "there's an art to moving w/o the ball". It was great when bruiser did the same exact thing however....

Agree. Can't believe Frank wants his guys more active within the structure he coaches, and worse, that he actually vocalizes it.

Terrible win !!!

I'm confused - no one is questioning Frank telling his players to move, we're questioning the execution.

Really??? Does anybody here actually think that Frank does not run these plays in practice? I've only been to a couple of practices, but he has spots on the court where he wants players to go to in different situations (depends on who has the ball and where that player is). He also has some rules that he goes by, such as "don't get trapped on the sideline". If I have a complaint, it's that his system is very complicated on both offense and defense. Maybe it's more than current players can absorb.

Things like don't get trapped on the sideline and don't pick up your dribble is basketball 101. You hear that in elementary school.



We got outscored by 16 in the 2nd half.. but sure, great win! Our non-conference strength of schedule is 356 out of 365!! We're not playing good teams.. plain and simple. Only decent team we played so far this season beat us

[eldonabe]

Excellent points on this thread. Terrible win !!! How dare anybody support Coach Frank !!! How Dare Coach Frank instruct players to move b/c "there's an art to moving w/o the ball". It was great when bruiser did the same exact thing however....

That is actually pretty funny Jack.... It is more about Frank's style that seems to touch people off here. He is a Barker for sure.

I knew when they hired him his courtside manner might not well with a lot of people here. The guy has a reputation as a lunatic. Like Belichik, you can get away with shit like that when you are winning.... not so much when your team is not.

Eldon you should know that Amherst would say Frank yelling equals bad.

This is some pretty hilarious analysis of Frank. I never thought a couch yelling Move to his players would lead to such strong takes by fans.

And you C4L know that I am right.... The community of Am-herst is above all the seedy things that are college sports. Pinky in the air sipping tea and all..... They want the success but they want it clean.

I am old school and played for a lunatic coach back in the day so this stuff doesn't bother me that much, but the guy is a lunatic. That stuff doesn't work with this audience when you are not winning.

[Camby4Life]

Umass took care of business with the soft 3 game schedule. They won by an average of 14 and outscored them in 5 of 6 halves, yet everyone wants to focus on the shitty 2nd half. They put up 51 in 1st and still won by 7. Roster appears to have some potential. Let’s see how they matchup in St Thomas with a bunch of average teams.

[inthescoop]

That is actually pretty funny Jack.... It is more about Frank's style that seems to touch people off here. He is a Barker for sure.

I knew when they hired him his courtside manner might not well with a lot of people here. The guy has a reputation as a lunatic. Like Belichik, you can get away with shit like that when you are winning.... not so much when your team is not.

Eldon you should know that Amherst would say Frank yelling equals bad.

This is some pretty hilarious analysis of Frank. I never thought a couch yelling Move to his players would lead to such strong takes by fans.

And you C4L know that I am right.... The community of Am-herst is above all the seedy things that are college sports. Pinky in the air sipping tea and all..... They want the success but they want it clean.

I am old school and played for a lunatic coach back in the day so this stuff doesn't bother me that much, but the guy is a lunatic. That stuff doesn't work with this audience when you are not winning.

Is there anything that would actually work with this audience if you are not winning?

[umasscollective]

Umass took care of business with the soft 3 game schedule. They won by an average of 14 and outscored them in 5 of 6 halves, yet everyone wants to focus on the shitty 2nd half. They put up 51 in 1st and still won by 7. Roster appears to have some potential. Let’s see how they matchup in St Thomas with a bunch of average teams.

[NilesGold]

And you C4L know that I am right.... The community of Am-herst is above all the seedy things that are college sports. Pinky in the air sipping tea and all..... They want the success but they want it clean.

I am old school and played for a lunatic coach back in the day so this stuff doesn't bother me that much, but the guy is a lunatic. That stuff doesn't work with this audience when you are not winning.

This is the same bs you've been spouting for years. There's maybe a maximum 5% of fans who are so turned off by Frank's style that no amount of winning would make up for it. The vast majority of folks want him to win and are ok with the yelling as long as it's productive and doesn't get into abusive behavior.

I refuse to be lectured about how I should shut up and be happy that we beat CCSU by 7pts. That 2nd half was a pathetic display.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

And you C4L know that I am right.... The community of Am-herst is above all the seedy things that are college sports. Pinky in the air sipping tea and all..... They want the success but they want it clean.

Still true to this day.

[69MG]

Things like don't get trapped on the sideline and don't pick up your dribble is basketball 101. You hear that in elementary school.

Since Frank drills this in practice, what does it tell you about the players? Or perhaps it's just 1 player who doesn't get it. I can't remember who it was. It may have been Parker and maybe that's one of the reasons Frank pulled him.

[eldonabe]

And you C4L know that I am right.... The community of Am-herst is above all the seedy things that are college sports. Pinky in the air sipping tea and all..... They want the success but they want it clean.

I am old school and played for a lunatic coach back in the day so this stuff doesn't bother me that much, but the guy is a lunatic. That stuff doesn't work with this audience when you are not winning.

This is the same bs you've been spouting for years. There's maybe a maximum 5% of fans who are so turned off by Frank's style that no amount of winning would make up for it. The vast majority of folks want him to win and are ok with the yelling as long as it's productive and doesn't get into abusive behavior.

I refuse to be lectured about how I should shut up and be happy that we beat CCSU by 7pts. That 2nd half was a pathetic display.

RANT ALERT:

Niles I am not lecturing anyone. I am born and raised in this area. Am-herst has always been like this. Sorry I am speaking to it and probably offending some here, but it is what it is.

There are two kinds of snooty - Financial and Educational. Amherst is the latter (Longmeadow would be the former). I am not talking about Umass Campus.... it is a great experience, great party school and the students get it... I am talking about the residents of Amherst (and Hamp to a degree). I am blanking on the asshole's name (Max page???), but the professor who was very vocal anti-sport years ago was quintessential Am-herst.... As "educators", they know everything and are simply better than you because of their tremendous intellect....

The point was/is that college athletics is a dirty business and in order to have success you have to get dirty, but Amherstians (not all but most) wanted to stay above that and while Calapari was successful they kept their heads in the sand about how the guy was able to get Umass to that point. Amherst still carries that mantle in too many ways today....

A guy like Frank turns a lot of people off because he looks like an asshole and it embarrasses some. Few Umass people seemed to know this before Frank got here, and were shocked when they saw it.... Everyone who pays any attention to College basketball knew Frank was crazy - there was even an article circa-his finals run titled... Frank Martin is a Lunatic..... in the land of public opinion - When he is winning, he's a character; but when he is losing, he's an asshole (there is a Bull Durham reference in there somewhere).

College Academics and College sports stopped playing in the same sandbox years ago.... Amherst has still not come to that realization.