UMass hoops 2013-14 - Tourney or Bust

[RedSoxFan]

Not sure about the recruiting class but Jabarie Hinds, a 5'11 guard transferred from West Virginia and will be eligible to play next year. Hoping with Gordon, Esho, Davis, and Lalanne we'll have a good nucleus back. Santee showed some promise in the few games that he played in as well. Dyson is also supposed to be pretty good. I expect UMass will be very competitive in the A10 next year.

 

[mabrowndog]

In case anyone missed it, Chris Gaspar had a nice piece in the Globe on Thursday.
 
As far as recruits go, they include:
 
C.J. Anderson, SF, 6'5", 175 (Memphis TN)
Rashaan Armstead-Holloway, C, 6'10", 280 (Elmer NJ)
 
Info on uncommitted players with reported offers from UMass can be found here, here and here.
 
I'm wondering what's up with Isaac "Izzy" Freeman, the 7-footer who was ruled academically ineligible mid-season (January 2013) and transferred to a community college in Missouri to get his grades in order. The latter link said he had hoped to transfer back to D-I after a year there, but I have no idea if that could mean a return to UMass. Oddly, he's in State Fair CC's team pic (back row in glasses wearing #1), but he's not on their roster nor can I find any mention of him playing since registering a double-double in November. So I assume that ship has sailed.
 
There's also Donte Clark, SG, 6'4", 180 (Charlotte NC), who signed last summer after failing to qualify academically as a VA Tech recruit. As such, he'll need to make the grade on APR and won't be eligible to play until 2014-15 at the earliest.

 

[Orel Miraculous]

Percentage of total scoring lost from 2013-14 to 2014-15:
 
St Louis - 74.7%
St Joe's - 59.7%
George Mason - 53.6%
La Salle - 53.5%
St. Bonaventure - 48.7%
UMass 45.2%
Davidson - 43.1%
GW - 40.2%
Dayton - 36.5%
VCU - 31.3%
Duquesne - 31.1%
Rhode Island - 25.6%
Fordham - 25.4%
Richmond - 23.3%
 
GW, VCU, and Dayton will be battling for first place, but UMass really isn't in bad shape, and they'll be right there in the upper tier of the conference along with Richmond and a URI team that has a chance to finally turn the program around.

 

[Grimace-HS]

Thanks for the information RedSoxFan, mabrowndog, and Orel Miraculous....I also did some searching and a site that usually has a lot of good information is umasshoops.com, but there wasn't much mention of anyone other than Anderson and Holloway.  
 
The Globe article was nice (thanks for that link), and it is nice to see that they are paying a bit more attention to UMass.  I'd noticed that most of the coverage throughout the season was through the AP sources, which was far from what I'd have hoped to see for the state's flagship school (and #13 at one point).  Hopefully the early exit won't hurt the coverage going into next season.
 
Overall, a good season and still a lot to be happy about going forward.  Hopefully the A-10 will be able to maintain its conference strength next season.

 

[WayBackVazquez]

Hold on. I'm gonna have to go ahead and make you show your work here on this statement. Let me make sure I have this right. You're saying that (1) A10 teams actually have an advantage over the power conferences in making the tournament; and (2) there are teams in the SEC that would have a shot at making the tournament if they played in the A10? What are you basing either of those assertions on? The second one is particularly perplexing and I can't think of any possible basis for that statement that's not ultimately some version of "Obviously the SEC is better than the A10. It's the SEC."
 
The A10 is 5-2 against the SEC this year. Here are those results (note that the A10 teams played a grand total of 2 home games in the seven match-ups):
 
Richmond 58 - Florida  67
Georgia 55 - GW 73
LSU 90- UMass 92
Dayton 83 - Ole Miss 80
SLU 57 - Vanderbilt 49
SJU 65 - LSU 82
UMass 62 - Clemson 56

How do we feel about the A10 and the SEC now?

 

[BoSoxFink]

How do we feel about the A10 and the SEC now?

the SEC has two teams in the elite 8, while the A-10 has one. It's not that big of a difference. Also we can add that one of those SEC teams almost assuredly should be here almost every year in Kentucky, seeing as Calipari brings in the top 3 kids in every recruiting class pretty much.

 

[WayBackVazquez]

the SEC has two teams in the elite 8, while the A-10 has one. It's not that big of a difference. Also we can add that one of those SEC teams almost assuredly should be here almost every year in Kentucky, seeing as Calipari brings in the top 3 kids in every recruiting class pretty much.

And the SEC had a third in the Sweet 16 and went to the final seconds with a shot at the E8. It was nonsensical to believe the A10 was the conference no human other than a fan of a team from the conference, and no computer system other than the Paleolithic RPI thought was among the best this year.

 

[BoSoxFink]

And the SEC had a third in the Sweet 16 and went to the final seconds with a shot at the E8. It was nonsensical to believe the A10 was the conference no human other than a fan of a team from the conference, and no computer system other than the Paleolithic RPI thought was among the best this year.

using that as an argument validates nothing though. A lot of what happens in the tourney is based on matchups. So by your argument, if Dayton beats Florida and Kentucky loses to your Wolverines, then the A-10 is better.

 

[WayBackVazquez]

using that as an argument validates nothing though. A lot of what happens in the tourney is based on matchups. So by your argument, if Dayton beats Florida and Kentucky loses to your Wolverines, then the A-10 is better.

Huh? I don't know what the other argument is. Even using RPI, the SEC is now better than the A10. It's not even close using any of the other metrics. The SEC is 9-1 in the tournament. What's the a10's record?

 

[BoSoxFink]

Huh? I don't know what the other argument is. Even using RPI, the SEC is now better than the A10. It's not even close using any of the other metrics. The SEC is 9-1 in the tournament. What's the a10's record?

I was referring to the fact of the argument that the SEC had more teams in the elite 8 then did the A-10, which I was saying is a dumb way for arguing this point.

For the record I don't think the SEC and the A-10 as a whole are that much different. The SEC is top heavy with Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee, but the A-10 had a better balance of good teams I think.

 

[WayBackVazquez]

I was referring to the fact of the argument that the SEC had more teams in the elite 8 then did the A-10, which I was saying is a dumb way for arguing this point.
For the record I don't think the SEC and the A-10 as a whole are that much different. The SEC is top heavy with Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee, but the A-10 had a better balance of good teams I think.

You think that, I'm sure. I disagree. As I've said before, if Missouri, Arkansas, et al got to play The a10 schedule, they'd be in the tournament, IMO.