WH

That's the thing I don't get about DK, 87. He knows the game. He was disciplined as a player. But he doesn't seem to have the knack of a great coach.

I saw Calipari his first two games at UMass. I KNEW we had something almost immediately, at a time when I knew so much less about basketball. I've gotten that same feeling over the years watching other terrific college coaches from afar as they started out.

I've never had that feeling about DK. He's done a bang-up job recruiting, but I still don't think he's anything more than a slightly above average coach.

WH

By the way, PC played excellent basketball. The Friars might be picked to finish low in the Big East, but if they get Council back and get a little healthier, no way PC will finish last. The team's top seven players are pretty darned good.

bprichard

With Depaul getting ravaged by Gardner-Webb, I think they still have a stranglehold on the basement. Poor Oliver Purnell. I love the guy, but this DePaul thing is not going well for him.

z8-Minutemen

Well... Huge sigh of relief. Between UMass' 2 buzzer beaters to start the season and Northeastern's 2 buzzer beaters to start the season, I'm not sure if I can take this anymore. But, a win's a win. I'm overjoyed. Huge win, because now we play #6 NC State. Win or lose, that's a game that we had to have the opportunity to play, as it is crucial to our SOS.

I'm much more pleased with this than the Harvard win. Providence played extremely well, and we still came away with the win. DK could've coached better, but the flack he is receiving from all of you is a little too much. I thought the refs called that game terribly in favor of Providence in the 2nd half. Players like Chaz and Cady got in foul trouble and they just kept calling tick-tack fouls that were simply tight, quality defense from UMass. The worst part is that these were all non-shooting fouls, but they just kept getting 2 shots. I'm not sure if they even made 3 field goals in the final 8 minutes, but they still had the lead almost the whole way. The game should not have been as close as it was, though we definitely could have played better.

Well, it's seems the magic is there with this team, and that's a great thing. If we play like we did the first half, we may just have a shot at upsetting NC State. If we play like we did in the 2nd half, it may turn out to be a "<<<<<<<" in our direction .

Z8's Record to Date: 23-6.

__________________
Dallas Cowboys- 5 super bowls and counting...

UMass Minutemen- 8 tournament appearances, 1 final four. Alumni: Julius 'Dr. J' Erving, Marcus Camby

Northeastern Huskies- 7 tournament appearances. Alumni: Reggie Lewis, Jose Juan 'JJ' Barea

Simms

A win is a win regardless of how ugly it looked. I still think that Kellogg reminds me a great deal of Everhart on steroids. He recruits much better than Ron ever did, but he also lacks the game day coaching experience. Still, one could technically argue that he can coach in close game situations since he has pulled off two close wins.

UMass87

I believe he has the chemistry part down as well - he can manage the personalities. At this point, it's an x and o thing. I met DK one when he was an undergraduate and I was a gradual student and, to be honest, he didn't wow me with his intellect. That said, the x's and o's aren't rocket science. He can learn that. He just needs to realize that he needs to. Frankly, I think Lou Roe can't get next to him soon enough.

Bill Russell

If/when UMass plays Northeastern, which team is called "we"?

__________________
www.bonaalumni.com

UMass87

That will be on Dec. 4

JHG722

Los Angeles Cowboys

__________________
Temple Owls football and basketball

BU Terriers hockey

RF1

UMass didn't exactly look good doing it but they won. It was their first win over PC since 1979. They now trail the Friars in the series 22-6.

SpiderDave19

Watched that game. Providence guard Cotton is a very good player, and the other Friars available are quality, including the big man Batts who would start on every Atlantic 10 team.

Umass just can't shoot very well right now. Coaches look quite a bit better when their players make a few shots.

Overall, I'd say there is a little too much hand-wringing going on here about Umass, typically picked between 5-8 in the A10 on here, beating a decent Big East team - depleted or not. Also, Dayton, typically picked between 6-11 in the A10 on here, losing a good game to an NCAA quality team in Colorado.

I know we all have great expectations for the conference this year, but keep it in perspective. No one (with a brain) expects Umass to win the A10. I'm happy they grabbed a BCS scalp and will now play two good teams. Helps everyone.

What SHOULD have everyone's attention is SLU....that was alarming.

And don't pay any attention to Richmond....nothing to see here, move along.....

Knobby

Immature.... WH summed it up nicely. I can see trying to put the hammer down whe you are up 8 or 10 and want to put them away, but they were firing up shots way to fast and from too far away. Granted, if they make 2 of the first 4, they probably run them out of the gym, but that didn't happen and they could have lost that one as easilly as they won it.


Not complaining - just observing.

Whatever heair that doesn't fall out will be very gray if the whole season plays out this way.

__________________
Well, we were smaller, but at least we were slower!

UMass87

For whatever reason we don't play PC much. There were only four games (UMass losses) between 1979 and last night.

SpiderInTheMixingBowl

Secrets were discovered in Apulia. Gird your loins A-10.

RF1

It is kind of weird that UMass hasn't played the New England Catholics all that much during its 100+ year history. Umass has only played Providence 28 games, Boston College 45 games, and Holy Cross 56 games all time. (as a converse example URI has played PC 124 games, BC 51 games, and HC 39 games).

The Minutemen however strangely do have long series (in an historic sense as they typically don't play them anymore) with other New England teams outside D1 such as Williams (47), Worcester Polytechnic Institute (45) Tufts (45), Amherst College (42), Springfield (41), AIC (35), and Wesleyan (28).