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vanmeter wrote: Mon Nov 24, 2025 11:24 am I heard, from a very reliable source, that DHS got $500,000 and a car from NIL to Return.

He's gotta pick it up this year, but he earned it. We should be able to pay all starters at least that much. The problem is that, given the results, Frank is making too much.

MakeMullinsGreatAgain wrote: Mon Nov 24, 2025 11:45 am

vanmeter wrote: Mon Nov 24, 2025 11:24 am I heard, from a very reliable source, that DHS got $500,000 and a car from NIL to Return.

would be shocked if that is true - no way anyone would have been offering DHS that much money. I could see $50,000 and a car, but even that would be on the high side IMO

500k is actually very much in line with what I expected based on UMass’ NIL budget and DHS being the cornerstone of the team.

I continue to believe that UMass has had the necessary resources in place that would have generated much better results if they had been deployed effectively.

^ Yup.

NilesGold wrote: Mon Nov 24, 2025 2:01 pm

MakeMullinsGreatAgain wrote: Mon Nov 24, 2025 11:45 am

vanmeter wrote: Mon Nov 24, 2025 11:24 am I heard, from a very reliable source, that DHS got $500,000 and a car from NIL to Return.

would be shocked if that is true - no way anyone would have been offering DHS that much money. I could see $50,000 and a car, but even that would be on the high side IMO

500k is actually very much in line with what I expected based on UMass’ NIL budget and DHS being the cornerstone of the team.

I continue to believe that UMass has had the necessary resources in place that would have generated much better results if they had been deployed effectively.

See Bamford, Ryan, Inept

Yale beat Akron to take the Paradise Jam title. Yale shot 21-21 from the line , which proved critical in the 3-point win.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... yale-akron

UMass at Akron in February.

^ I watched some of that game, both teams were very impressive.

Our "great shooting" team is at .314 from three. I have a suggestion - tell DHS, Jayden and Wimbley to stop shooting threes. They are 3/30 between them and they have taken 10, 11 and 9 respectively, so it's not 1 guy dragging the numbers down. If you take their numbers out, we are at .365 as a team, which is pretty respectable. Anyone volunteer to tell Frank?

DHS and Jayden contribute in many other ways so there is no need for them to chuck up threes. Figure out what Wimbley does well and have him stick to that. And yes, I do think he has parts to his game that can help us.

69, I'd say that we have two reliable 3pt shooters right now: Banks at 35.5%, and Parker at 43.3%. Placide has shown that he can get hot but sometimes forces up ill-advised shots, and Brown (2-5 from three) hasn't been able to crack the rotation. Throw in Luka who has made a couple and Danny at 3-9, and I think this team has already shown that they have much better shooters than last year (28.1% for the team and our highest individual was Curry at 34.6%).

So while they haven't shot at quite the clip we may have been told to expect, it's a significant improvement over last year with room to grow. And I agree overall that there should be stronger messaging to the guys you mentioned to be smarter with their shot selection, however, Frank says that if they work on it in practice, he gives them the green light in games. I'm with you on Wimbley too. He's clearly not ready yet, but he'll get there.

Initial NET rankings are out, and while they're still unreliable due to small sample size, it's probably pretty representative of where we are and how we've performed. We're currently sitting at 8th in the MAC. If that's how things play out for the rest of the year (and obviously there will be plenty more movement, it's early), it's just barely good enough to make the MAC tournament and should get Frank fired.

MAC NET rankings:
42: Akron
87: Buffalo
108: Miami
111: Bowling Green
150: Toledo
157: Kent St
170: EMU
208: UMass
257: NIU
285: CMU
287: Ohio
292: WMU
340: Ball St

Remaining non-con opponents:
197: Harvard
326: Lowell, looks like a rebuilding year
166: BC
82: Florida St

Bowling Green (111 NET, 108 KenPom) just blew out Kansas St (55 NET, 74 KP) in Manhattan Kansas last night 82-66.

When was the last big upset win UMass has had?

Good question. Beating Dayton last year might qualify, but our last big win over a power conference school? Maybe Penn St or Rutgers when McCall was the coach?

But really, it was probably the win over Kansas in Kansas City, or the BYU game in Springfield when DK was coaching.

Juice Stand wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 8:07 am Good question. Beating Dayton last year might qualify, but our last big win over a power conference school? Maybe Penn St or Rutgers when McCall was the coach?

But really, it was probably the win over Kansas in Kansas City, or the BYU game in Springfield when DK was coaching.

McCall had a win over Georgia if I’m remembering correctly as well

and a couple over Providence as well. It's amazing how he could get those big wins but couldn't find a way to put anything consistent together.

Floyd wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 8:00 am When was the last big upset win UMass has had?

1994 Umass 104 Arkansas 80 Tip-off Classic Springfield Civic Center. Just kidding.