2025-26 Season

[InnervisionsUMASS]

As far as developing players. I'm not sure Luka and Clerc have all that much upside. We need a quick fix at the 5.

Clerc was developing right before our eyes before he mysteriously disappeared to the bench. I'm not suggesting he is or will be a world beater, but from what we did see of him through the 12/30/25 Eastern Michigan game was certainly positive progress. 5 DNPs, and games with 2, 1, 3, 7, 8, 5, and less than 1 minutes played since that EMU game. Ohio is the outlier, 14 minutes played in early January.

It is clear Luca isn't it, and I concur they need to find someone to step in at the 5, but this Clerc thing will remain a mystery.

[minutefanjsf]

As far as developing players. I'm not sure Luka and Clerc have all that much upside. We need a quick fix at the 5.

Clerc was developing right before our eyes before he mysteriously disappeared to the bench. I'm not suggesting he is or will be a world beater, but from what we did see of him through the 12/30/25 Eastern Michigan game was certainly positive progress. 5 DNPs, and games with 2, 1, 3, 7, 8, 5, and less than 1 minutes played since that EMU game. Ohio is the outlier, 14 minutes played in early January.

It is clear Luca isn't it, and I concur they need to find someone to step in at the 5, but this Clerc thing will remain a mystery.

There has to be more to the Clerc situation, I agree. The timing indicated grades or paperwork issues as the semester had just ended. But, the January game makes those seem like the wrong interpretation. Don't know if we will ever know.

[vanmeter]

Must be something up with Clerc. He clearly is better than Luka. Cannot be grades as he played several minutes on Tuesday

With regards to DHS I was told by a former players father that he is getting $500,000 plus a car.

[doubledribble]

Quite the upset Creighton over UConn 91-84
Creighton was fantastic from the freethrow line 27- 32 84% !
If we could come anywhere close to that we would win several more games.

[minutefanjsf]

Must be something up with Clerc. He clearly is better than Luka. Cannot be grades as he played several minutes on Tuesday

With regards to DHS I was told by a former players father that he is getting $500,000 plus a car.

The only thing I can think of is he is a liability on offense. He is kind of one dimensional and might turn it over too much on the perimeter? Luka is definitely a liability on defense against most.

[Plano Minuteman]

Quite the upset Creighton over UConn 91-84
Creighton was fantastic from the freethrow line 27- 32 84% !
If we could come anywhere close to that we would win several more games.

What kind of name is Solo Ball? One testicle?

Admittedly, I am scared to death about UConn winning the whole thing again.

[minutefanjsf]

If we can pull off four in a row and get to 10 wins, it is very possible we will be the 4 seed. Ohio has four games left with. Miami, Toledo, us, and NIU. They could easily go 1-3 in that stretch. We only need to tie Toledo in the standings to get the tiebreaker. More likely if we win four is the 5. It is there for the taking.

[ZooMass84]

Quite the upset Creighton over UConn 91-84
Creighton was fantastic from the freethrow line 27- 32 84% !
If we could come anywhere close to that we would win several more games.

What kind of name is Solo Ball? One testicle?

Admittedly, I am scared to death about UConn winning the whole thing again.

they are not winning the national championship. maybe in women's hoops, not the men's. It's not 1985 Big East; those days are long gone.

[Juice Stand]

Back to DHS, I hate to say it because I'm such a huge fan of his (dirty word alert)... potential and athleticism, and also a huge fan of the person. I think that he has actually regressed a little bit from last year. I don't know if the numbers back that up, this is merely the eye test. He used to have a reliable mid range jumper that doesn't exist, and he just doesn't to seem to be as impactful as he was last year. I wonder if it's the weight of that NIL contract, or being named a preseason all-conference player. It's a shame and I hope he figures something out here as we finish out the season. I'll be there Saturday to celebrate him.

As for the Clerc/Luka discussion, I don't know what it is, but Frank plays favorites. It's clear as day that he does. As IV said, Clerc starts developing over a string of games and then gets benched for weeks. The same thing happened with Placide. He had a string of good games, seemed like a logical sub over Wimbley, and then disappeared. If I had to throw out a wildly irresponsible theory, it's that he has a connection with Luka's coach, Mike Mannix at Wilbraham Monson, and he has a connection with the Wimbley family that he doesn't have with Clerc and Placide. I don't think it's about "guys that prepare the right way" or whatever coach speak he wants to throw out. He says time and again that these guys all work hard and are about the right things. I think he plays favorites with guys he has a personal connection to.

[69MG]

^ After Frank's comments about Luka's play in the Miami game, he may never be heard from again. Frank really reamed him out for his defense. I've seldom seen a coach throw a player under the bus like that.

After Isaiah Placide tied the game at 68 with a three, Martin recited the next three possessions from memory and detailed defensive breakdowns involving Luka Damjanac, Bettiol’s replacement.

“Luka is defending their center who does not shoot the basketball and he goes up there and crowds him flat-footed,” Martin said. “Their center, when he does drive, he goes right, drives him, hip checks him, foul.

“Next play, Luka comes down and he’s defending #11, #11 does not drive the ball. All he does is shoot threes. Luka’s five feet off and gives him a three. Then on the third possession, comes down, Luka gets caught on a cross screen, gets posted up and three-point play. That’s the next three possessions from 68-68.

“At that moment of the game, you cannot be that vulnerable on those kinds of plays. Those are three bad consecutive plays.”

[minutefanjsf]

^ After Frank's comments about Luka's play in the Miami game, he may never be heard from again. Frank really reamed him out for his defense. I've seldom seen a coach throw a player under the bus like that.

After Isaiah Placide tied the game at 68 with a three, Martin recited the next three possessions from memory and detailed defensive breakdowns involving Luka Damjanac, Bettiol’s replacement.

“Luka is defending their center who does not shoot the basketball and he goes up there and crowds him flat-footed,” Martin said. “Their center, when he does drive, he goes right, drives him, hip checks him, foul.

“Next play, Luka comes down and he’s defending #11, #11 does not drive the ball. All he does is shoot threes. Luka’s five feet off and gives him a three. Then on the third possession, comes down, Luka gets caught on a cross screen, gets posted up and three-point play. That’s the next three possessions from 68-68.

“At that moment of the game, you cannot be that vulnerable on those kinds of plays. Those are three bad consecutive plays.”

When he came off the court, Frank covered his face to avoid lip reading. He then yelled directly at Luka that he couldn't even give the team 1 minute [without Leo].

[Floyd]

They must have known the matchups in preparation for this game. Wonder if they addressed these things.
Anyone see anybody on the staff have a conversation with Luka after he came off the floor or was it just the verbal assault?