2024-25 Season

[NilesGold]

Not sure you can compare pre NIL coaching to post NIL.

All the more reason to pay the coach less and use some of that money to pay players.

[PreecherJenkins]

It’s not about coaches pay but understanding you need to hire a player personal guy like they have in the nba who acquires players and works w frank to mold the team.

[Juice Stand]

...It's not like the freshman showed a lot of promise or guys are growing into their roles and showing improvement as the season goes on.

From a roster standpoint, this has been the biggest disappointment for me. I hate to say negative anything about the youngest players on the team, but the supposed #1 ranked freshman recruiting class in the A10 has been an abject failure. Nate G plays sparingly and I honestly can't remember the last time he hit a field goal. He came with a lot of hype and I was expecting much more from him. Big Jelly is redshirting, and Amadou and Damjanac don't really play. I hope they stick around, improve, and become quality players, but this recruiting class hasn't contributed anything to the team this year.

I will say, however, that I disagree that guys haven't grown into their roles and shown improvement. Daniel Rivera was so bad early in the year, but he grew into a role and has been extremely productive and effective until recently. DHS has emerged from the role player he was last year to a consistent force in the paint, and has good chemistry with Curry. Curry was a reserve PG last year, more interested in getting his own shot. We disagree on him overall, but I think he has grown into a much better PG, limits his turnovers and has had games where he's the best player on the floor. Same goes for Worthy, he has shown some growth and confidence.

[JoleonLescottsHair]

Per Juice Stand’s request, I am moving some observations to a new thread. I’m pretty certain none of us “miserable fucks” were questioning the effort of sick players yesterday, but I agree that broader critiques of the roster or coaching belong in a different thread.

This is not the game to complain about coaching or roster makeup or bad performances or whatever. Open the Davidson thread and put your comments there where they belong. They were a skeleton crew out there. As others have mentioned, no Curry, and Ndjigue was so sick he wasn't even on the bench. The Gazette reports that only 6 players were available for practice, none of them starters. Worthy has been bed-ridden all week, and he noted that several players vomited during the game.

They never stood a chance. You can get mad at the lack of effort, but when a player leaves his pregame meal in the courtside trash can during a media timeout, I hope people can understand why effort may have been lacking.

https://gazettenet.com/UMass-basketball ... s-59457924

Things don't get any easier as they travel to VCU for what is likely a complete ass whooping. Then they have to regroup and find some wins in their final four games against GW, URI, St Bona, and Loyola.

[moved from SBU game thread]

I continue to believe losing Keon was the biggest blow to this team. Had he stayed we would have had a floor general, defensive toughness and considerably less dumb ass plays because he would have had the ball in his hands. Instead, he hasn’t been replaced by what Curry brings, Diggins experiment at the point, or by a new player. As a result, we have next to no backcourt depth as Worthy and Nate (after showing early promise) have not shown much. And then there was Frank starting the season with Ndjigue on the bench, which was just plain stupid and contributed to the early funk we’ve never really recovered from. Losing Cross and Cohen was bad but only made worse by their replacements, Rivera and Abdelgowad.

Where does the leave us? DHS is a stud, Curry and Diggins are both talented but aren’t quarterbacks, Ndjigue is steady, and Muhammed seems to go in and out of Frank’s doghouse, but is wildly underutilized in my view. That’s 5. Maybe there is something with Foster who we’ve barely seen or Doumbia? Maybe Nate settles in? Otherwise, bring in another rebounder like Rivera, but not one who literally throws the ball at the basket and makes terrible decision after decision (today (game 26) he actually played under control and looked for teammates, so there’s that), another ball handler, and a shooter not an “athlete” (one can dream). Maybe that and, most importantly, some actual in-game coaching gets us somewhere better. Right now they are completely rudderless.

[tdmass]

Has anybody noticed how poor not just Men's BB, but Hockey and Women's BB have performed at Home this year? Of 38 games played by all 3 teams, we've won 19 or 50%. This doesn't help the fan base or make a statement for any kind of momentum down the stretch!

[vanmeter]

Conversely men’s hockey 8-4-1 on the road and women’s basketball 7-5 on the road

[minutefanjsf]

Conversely men’s hockey 8-4-1 on the road and women’s basketball 7-5 on the road

Mullins and game day production need an overhaul. The “luxury suites” are anything but luxury or sweet. I was at the BC hockey game. Granted BC took a lot of wind out of the sails, but that place was quiet for the majority of the game. Even the student chants seemed “corporate” and canned, except the FU Leonard stuff. The commonwealth club is a joke, IMO. As the premium place to be, it is haphazardly constructed and a horrible view of the game which only allows one row of fans to actually see the ice. It was great when it opened and can be great when filled, even though it wasn’t this weekend. I had seats in section T right on the blue line 23 rows back. My view of the ice was disrupted by the railing on the stairs. These seats were not marked as obstructed or limited view. The response to the PA or calls for noise were non existent. About a dozen students sang along with the fight song. At the away games especially hockey the UMass fans are louder than they are in Amherst.

[bunkerhill87]

If Umass can get away from the Mullins being an all encompassing venue i would completely alter one side of the upper tier. add real boxes and above that have a club level of tables overlooking the floor/ ice w/ waitress service. We do not need a venue that holds 9400 for basketball especially heading to the MAC or at least something g along those lines. imagine a 6000 capacity which would be way easier to fill. give the kids court and rink side. Our arena is dated

[Floyd]

Who wants to sit in the upper tier?
Win, win, win is the answer. The better you are, the better your OOC games can be, drawing more people. You can have the best facility in America, but unless you consistently win, crowds will be sporadic. It's all about the W.

[minutefanjsf]

Who wants to sit in the upper tier?
Win, win, win is the answer. The better you are, the better your OOC games can be, drawing more people. You can have the best facility in America, but unless you consistently win, crowds will be sporadic. It's all about the W.

We win in hockey. It’s not just the crowd. The atmosphere is stale/sterile and the arena has wonky site lines with the stairwell banisters and no suites. I am not an architect. The multiuse beyond athletics is what makes it hard, IMO. If it was just an ice rink and hoops court the end zones could be better, a la BCs Conte Forum.

[Floyd]

I'm just commenting on getting people in there. People will come if the teams win. What the GameDay experience is, is totally on the school I agree.

Watching the 30 for 30 John Calipari episode now on TV. Getting me nostalgic

[MikeUMA]

I wonder if we're gonna see Curry do a Noah Fernandes and not return to action this season.

[Berkman]

I would not be surprised. I think he has more than a sprained wrist.

[minutefanjsf]

I wonder if we're gonna see Curry do a Noah Fernandes and not return to action this season.

Possible. I think he has been much more of a public supporter of Frank though. Wrist injury for a point guard is real tough. Hope it’s healed soon, and he is back on the court soon.

[NilesGold]

I wonder if we're gonna see Curry do a Noah Fernandes and not return to action this season.

Anything can happen obviously. I'd say 60/40 he doesn't play again this season, 90/10 he doesn't play for UMass again after this season.