Orel Miraculous said:
Hard fought game so far.
What UMass has done up to this point has been outstanding, but the A10 is a beast this year and it wouldn't shock me if they end up with just 9 or 10 conference wins. The A10 is a better conference than the SEC, AAC, and maybe the new Big East too. It might produce 5 bids and every road game is going to be a battle.
This season gets more interesting with each game. I envy those of you up there in the UMass tv market, as you are all really getting treated to some fun basketball. I bolded your statement because I had started to realize this building up over the past few years. When I was in the 4th-6th grade "park and rec" league in the mid-80s, I remember going to a game at the Cage with our basketball team. I had asked our coach if he ever thought UMass would ever make it to national tv and be a big time program. Not surprising, his answer was an unequivocal "no". But then Calipari and crew came along, the Mullins got built (although I have since periodically wavered over whether they'd have been better off just renovating and expanding the Cage for that unbeatable home court advantage...that place was electric; saw Reggie Lewis play there with Northeastern...but I digress....).
The main point is that the general feel for many of us that followed UMass sports since at least the 80s (and I know many go back even further) was that they were always perpetually in a lower tier. Even with the '95-96 run, there was that feeling that we were on borrowed time unless we could really get on the map with a major conference. But with Gonzaga's success followed by Butler, the push to get into those major power conferences I think has gotten less. And the A-10 has become a seriously good basketball conference. Looking at UMass' early season difficult schedule, there was a relieving feel to the victories, but I still had this feeling as if the A-10 games would be very tough....and I can't say that the in-conference schedule had that feeling all that long ago (the thought of getting past Big 10, ACC, SEC, and Big East teams never would have been considered the lighter part of the schedule). In fact, I'm not sure there really is a light stretch in this schedule...they've really earned the record to date.
I'm just excited about what is going on up there.....and I agree that there could really be 4-5 bids this year. Not too long ago, I'd suggest to get to the games and support the team. It is nice to finally have that changed around to "I hope there are tickets available"... The season still has a lot left, but this really is officially fun again
Can't wait for the next game...