Gorillas impress

Whew, OK – I’ll put the basketball nostalgia on hold for a bit. I hear there are other sports at UMass.

The UMass men’s lacrosse team took down St. John’s this weekend and continue to put together a decent season, all things considered. Even without a large portion of its team, the Minutemen still have a chance to finish with a winning record.

You’ve got to love that we have Coach Cannella roaming our sidelines.

From the Collegian:

“Toward the end of the season, the seniors begin to think about the end of their careers,” Cannella said. “There’s a great sense of urgency, and I think some of the younger guys feel that as well.”

… and then:

Balise leads the team in total offense with 26 points (21 goals and 5 assists). In fact, the six goals marked the largest individual performance since former Minuteman Jeff Zywicki tallied six in the team’s NCAA Tournament win over Syracuse in 2005.

“Tim [Balise] is very consistent with his work ethic, so you can expect that play,” Cannella said. “I think he expects it of himself as well.”

–

As you all probably already know, John Calipari and his Memphis Tigers are heading to the NCAA National Championship tonight.

The Philadelphia Daily News had an article:

“Do they screw up sometimes? Yeah,” Calipari said. “I’ve always been about access and opportunity. Whether I was at UMass or at Memphis, I was at two schools that were about access and opportunities. So every once in a while a kid will do something that’s just dumb, like my own children, and I deal with it. I don’t throw them under the bus at the first sign of trouble.”

Go get ‘em tonight John. I’ll be rooting for you.

–

The Associated Press named Bob Behler and his team the best in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

From UMassAthletics.com:

The UMass Sports Network’s basketball radio broadcasts were judged the best collegiate radio sports play-by-play in Massachusetts and Rhode Island by the Associated Press. The award was presented at a dinner in Marlboro on Friday. Bob Behler and Tim Kenney’s call of UMass’ 107-100 win over Syracuse in November was the winning broadcast. WMUA’s coverage of the UMass-Villanova football game won for the student division with Mike Walsh and Chris Marovelli announcing.

Good job Bob. Behler is definitely one of the good guys in the business, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to pick his brain now and again when I was an undergrad. UMass athletics is better with him as the voice.

Grinch gets swatted

Camby Claus is coming to town.

Marcus Camby — a standout big man for UMass and a current Denver Nugget — helped 15 kids have a merrier Christmas:

Camby shared the holiday spirit with 15 Denver kids. Each was given an autographed jersey, just for starters. After being picked up at the Cope Branch Boys and Girls Club, the kids were treated to a limo ride. Their destination was Cherry Creek Shopping Center.

…then

All the shopping was done at Macy’s and the kids who thought they were shopping only for someone else got a final surprise. They received gifts themselves courtesy of the store.

It’s always good to see a professional athlete making good in the community — especially if they’re a UMass alumni.

–

The Charleston Daily Mail is reporting that Marshall University has hired Jerry Azzinaro, a former defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator for UMass, as its defensive line coach.

His other coaching stops include serving as the defensive coordinator at the University of Massachusetts in 1994 and again from 1997-98, coaching the defensive line at Boston College (1995-96), coaching linebackers and serving as recruiting coordinator at UMass (1992-93), serving as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at American International (1987-91) and serving as head coach at Division III Western New England College in 1986.

–

I’ve seen this reported elsewhere, but it’s still important. UMass will be playing Kansas next year.

Via the Lawrence Journal:

KU, UMass to tangle: Look for KU to play Massachusetts Dec. 13 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. The contract has not yet arrived in the mail, but the two sides have agreed to play. UMass, coached by Travis Ford, is off to an 8-2 start this year.

Road less traveled

Tonight is the biggest game in the history of the UMass men’s soccer team, and it is appropriately getting its due from the national media.

The New York Times had an absolutely lights-out solid article about the potential disbanding of the soccer team in the early ‘90s. It also gives some good background on the school’s scholarship situation and how truly amazing this year’s run has been for the Maroon and White:

Men’s soccer at UMass is allotted only 2.2 of the 9.9 scholarships allowed by the N.C.A.A., and that money is spread among 26 players. In a preseason poll, the Minutemen were forecast to finish 10th among the Atlantic 10 Conference’s 14 teams. Only once before, in 2001, had UMass qualified for the N.C.A.A. tournament. And now it is two victories from a national championship.

From John McCutcheon:

“If all you did was submit budgets and photos of your facilities, you wouldn’t need to play the games,” John McCutcheon, UMass’s athletic director said. “But that’s what makes sports so exciting and unpredictable.”

… and a little bit of humor:

At the Atlantic 10 tournament in Dayton, Ohio, the Minutemen ate their meals at a sandwich shop inside a Wal-Mart.

“When Olive Garden discontinued the $8 Never Ending Pasta Bowl, Coach was visibly upset,” Brown, the defender, said with a laugh.

From ESPN.com, the outlook is a little less positive, but realistic nonetheless:

Alas, the nightcap between unseeded UMass and No. 5 seed Ohio State (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU) might not be as pretty to behold. The Minutemen’s run to Cary has been nothing short of miraculous, but there is no disputing the fact that they lack the top-end talent and pedigree of the three other squads. Thirteen of their 25 contests this season have been decided by a single goal, and they allowed more than one goal in a game just four times this season. So if coach Sam Koch’s charges are to upset the underrated Buckeyes, bunker ball (and another big game from keeper Zack Simmons, who was lights-out against Illinois-Chicago) is how UMass will punch its ticket to the final.

Don’t count on that happening.

Good luck tonight boys, you’ve already made any and all UMass athletics fans incredibly happy and proud, but then again:

“If we’re going,” Simmons, the goalkeeper said, “we might as well come back with some hardware.”

Frozen futbol

Hoodies, gloves, jackets and scarves are not the typical garb for a soccer game.

Then again, Massachusetts isn’t a typical soccer state.

As another New England winter slowly settled on the Pioneer Valley, soccer in Amherst kept going. The UMass men’s soccer team went to new heights, defeated old rivals and bit by bone-chilling bit made its way to the College Cup for the first time in school history.

UMass is very much an underdog and sticks out among the power from the South (Wake Forest and Virginia) and the always daunting persona that surrounds Ohio State.

The Minutemen have a nice facility, but Rudd doesn’t hold a candle to the major soccer complexes in the West and South. Coach Sam Koch has his office in the basement of Boyden, and you can smell the chlorine from the upstairs pool when you walk down the narrow concrete corridor.

Everything about the UMass program has soccer experts scratching their heads. There is a slight tradition of excellence within its region, but the Minutemen have seldom made any headlines outside the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Springfield Republican. UMass has had trouble making the Atlantic 10 tournament the past few years — the NCAAs were a pipedream.

The College Cup was simply a dream.

I don’t know where the credit goes with all of this. Obviously Koch put the team together and the team had to play the games, but how do you manufacture momentum? How does a team come together at the perfect time, with the perfect bracket and the ability to score at just the right time?

It almost seems like something is surrounding this team … like it doesn’t know the magnitude of what it’s doing or that it has already positioned itself within the conversation of the best UMass teams of all time.

The Minutemen snuck into this spot, but they did it with the cards they were dealt. UMass is the only school in the College Cup that was not ranked at the end of the season (Wake No. 1, OSU No. 14, Va. Tech No. 8), which further illustrates just how vital and unexpected this momentum is.

Koch has a week to prepare the team for Ohio State, and hopefully it can maintain its steady course toward the National Championship. Meanwhile Rudd Field will continue to freeze as the aluminum bleachers become dull under another layer of winter.

Perhaps this whole season was a flash in the pan, but who is going to complain? The soccer team is giving us something to watch and hope for while the other fall teams sit and wait for next year.

At some point Koch is going to walk down the dark, musky hallway that leads to his office and think about all of this. He will think about this season and what it means to his school and his already-illustrious career in Amherst. He and those that have paid attention will remember 2007.

It was the year the frozen New England basketball school made good and caught momentum’s tiger tail all the way to the history books.

Final exam stats

So, I was up until about 2 a.m. last night working on a final exam for this journalism class I’m taking.

Since I’m not fully enrolled in the program I was allowed to pick the topic of my choice – and yes I chose UMass football and its potential rise to Division IA (yea, yea, I know… FBS… sue me). While the basic assignment was to simply explain my research, I was able to glean some interesting statistics from the Office of Postsecondary Education’s Web site, which essentially breaks down athletic data for most universities.

I compared UMass to: Western Kentucky (making the move to I-A in 2009), Florida International, Florida Atlantic and Marshall. Essentially, from the data alone, UMass – as it is today – has a more well-rounded athletic department than these other schools.

Here’s what I put together:

• UMass has 608 athletes (both scholarship and nonscholarship), which is more than any of the four schools assessed. FAU is second with 452.
• UMass has the highest percentage of female athletes (46%) when compared to the entire athlete population (scholarship and nonscholarship). FIU is second with 44%.
• UMass has the lowest percent of football players compared to the entire athlete population (16%). Marshall has the highest (31%). NOTE: Marshall also had the least athletes – 374.
• UMass, Western Kentucky and Florida Atlantic all have 3% of their total student body playing varsity athletics. Marshall was the highest with 5% and FIU had the least with 1%. NOTE: Marshall is the smallest school (7,837) and FIU is the largest (30,049).

When you look at these statistics, it appears that UMass – by numbers alone, not financially – has better athletic footing than the other upstart D-IA programs. While I will leave my opinions on the potential move aside, I figured a few of you would be interested in these numbers.

I would also like to thank the folks at UMassHoops.com for their help with this assignment – especially Josh Duboff, who sent me some links he used in a similar paper. Once again, thanks a lot guys.

NOTE: Big thanks to Rocks, who found this site a few months ago and posted it on UMassHoops.

Orange eclipse

Every once in awhile, the planets align perfectly and leave us in a state of ecstatic bewilderment.

It happened last night — twice.

On the same evening that the UMass men’s soccer team beat Boston College to move on to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, the men’s basketball team added a signature win to its resume.

Beating Syracuse is different than the marquee wins of years past. When the Maroon and White beat UConn in 2004, it was a slower, Lappas-style game and the win ended up being nothing more than a line on Steve’s resume (and a wonderful college memory for me). Last year UMass needed to beat Louisville to prove that it was something more than a twin-tower-team beating up on the bottom-feeders of college basketball.

Last night, we were all given a firm affirmation that Travis Ford’s offense works, that his conditioning works and — most importantly — that his style can win when implemented. It actually worked so well that it broke a Carrier Dome record for points by an opposing team (107).

While the defense was lacking, UMass exhibited exactly what it’s going to bring to the table. It’s going to run to a point where its fans are uncomfortable, and yelling, and swearing — or maybe that was just me.

The win in the Carrier Dome confirmed that anything is possible for this team, that preseason stipulations are null and void, and that UMass may have reloaded when it lost Rashaun Freeman and Stephane Lasme … it didn’t just start over again.

But, then again, maybe the Minutemen did start over in some regards. UMass has a slew of new faces, a new system and a tempo I still can’t believe. Never did I ever expect a UMass team to put up 100 points.

Not even against the Jacksonville States of the world.

Beating Syracuse also made UMass relevant again. Some may argue last year’s NIT run helped, but even the announcers couldn’t remember who we beat (at one point Jarvis said UMass LOST to Alabama). The Minutemen went into the Carrier Dome and proved that they are one of the best teams in the Northeast, and 20,000 Syracuse fans and anyone watching Sportscenter learned that firsthand.

Perhaps the most fitting part about last night’s win was that it was on ESPN Classic. Nov. 28, 2007 may be a day UMass fans look back on with a knowing smirk. We were given a glimpse of potential and what happens when a fun, athletic style is brought to the Pioneer Valley.

The UMass proud got to see Gary Forbes step up, Dante Milligan play beyond his size and the continued progression of Ricky Harris, who, in my opinion, plays like a combination of Anthony Anderson and Shannon Crooks, which is nice… real nice.

Now it’s off to Indiana to play an IUPUI team that UMass should beat. But there lies the rub in all of this. Can Ford maintain momentum, keep on the press and put away the teams he should? Or is it possible that UMass is the same team we’ve grown to love and hate — the team that gives us rollercoaster seasons with unfortunate and unforgivable losses?

I can only hope, but that’s the best part of being a fan. That hope is what wakes the neighbors on random Wednesday evenings when all they can hear is solitary screams from the next-door basement.

It’s what adds an extra skip to your step as you stare at the sky and hope the planetary eclipse stays true just a little bit longer.

Like a basketball blocking out the Orange sun.

Orange crush

So here it is, the first real test of the season: the first big crowd, the first game UMass should lose and the first major conference opponent.

UMass is heading to the Carrier Dome.

There is no silver lining, no stats to crunch — nothing. Syracuse, on paper, is a better team in a bigger arena. For some reason the national lights shine a little bit brighter on northern New York.

The Minutemen have to be ready for balance. Syracuse doesn’t recruit to fill niche positions like Yale or NIU, it reloads with top-tier athletes that can run, shoot and rebound. Thus far, UMass has proved that it can do the first two.

‘Cuse has five players with double-digit scoring and one player — Paul Harris — that is averaging a double-double. He had 18 points and 14 rebounds in a 72-69 victory over Saint Joseph’s… the first A-10 opponent the Maroon and White will face this season (1/9).

Syracuse is and should be the model for the potential of Northeast basketball. Every… single… game it plays is televised, and it continues to pack the Carrier Dome with 20,000-plus per game. Just ask Fordham.

It probably doesn’t help that the Orangemen are coming of their first loss of the season (65-79 to Ohio State, before beating Washington). Syracuse is going to have the old proverbial chip on its shoulder.

Aside from the game at hand, it absolutely amazes me that ‘Cuse only leaves the state of New York ONCE from Nov. 4 to Jan. 9. That’s just another sign of how much respect our New York neighbors receive — you’ve got to come to their house to play their game.

Hopefully UMass can put up a good showing and learn a thing or two out in the freezing sprawl known as Syracuse. This is a game that can educate, so long as the team does not get embarrassed.

These lessons can be brought back to Amherst, and the boys can take it out east on Dec. 12 — the red mark on my schedule.

Of course learning a lesson through victory never hurt anyone… aside from my bar tab.

–

The Sports Network has a rundown on the I-AA bracket and obviously gives UMass some play:

Probably no team was more thrilled with its draw than UMass, which hosted a team from Fordham that had lost to lowly 3-8 Bucknell the week before. But the Minutemen were feeling glad to escape with a win after this one was over.

–

Also, Old Dominion continues to gear up for its 2009 entrance into the CAA. This quote has to be a bit disconcerting for the Monarch brass:

“I’ve never recruited, but I’ve witnessed a lot of recruiting,” said Cotton, who has produced 30 college players in five years. He was 10-2 at Hertford County High in North Carolina in 2003. “I’ve heard the good pitch, and I’ve heard the bad pitch.”

So have I, and I’m sitting in a cubicle editing business stories… not coaching a future D-I program.

Just kidding — didn’t you hear? It’s Sarcastic Wednesday!

–

Great article and profile piece in the UMass Magazine in regards to walk-ons.

“Swimming quite literally saved my life,” she explains. “I had some really dark days after my heart attack, but swimming gave me self-esteem and discipline. I loved going to the pool every day.”

Good stuff… nothing shows the heart of college athletics more than walk-ons. Just ask Matt Pennie, one of this year’s basketball captains.

When it rains…

UMass’ three-point game is garnering attention outside Amherst, which is to be expected when a team hits more than 50 in five games.

Scout.com had a bit of an A-10 rundown and had a little blurb mentioning UMass, Etienne’s amazing start and, well, the fact that the Maroon and White are living outside the arch:

Massachusetts tied a program record with 15 three-point field goals made on a school-record 32 attempts in its 93-78 win over Wisconsin-Green Bay on Nov. 17. The last time the Minutemen made 15 field goals from beyond the arc. was versus Temple in 1997. UMass has made 51 three-pointers through five games this season, with senior forward Etienne Brower shooting a blistering .625 (15-of-24) from three-point range

UMass is going to need something similar to this performance if it is going to have a chance in the Carrier Dome against a very balanced and athletic Syracuse team. With a win at ‘Cuse the Maroon and White have a decent chance to go 7-1 into Chestnutt Hill and could potentially squeeze its way into the top 25.

Not bad for a team with only two returning starters of note.

–

The Salem News had an article on Kyle Harrington and Chris Zardas, two members of the UMass football team.

Great quote from Zardas:

“There’s no time to dwell on (Saturday’s) victory because the way the playoffs are set up, you have to get ready for the next opponent right away. You lose once and you’re gone, so we have to be prepared and execute. Right now we don’t know much about Southern Illinois except they are ranked higher than us and have the home field advantage.”

I’ve been thinking about making the trip out East for the game. Anyone have any information on cheap plane tickets to Illinois?

–

A day old, but I hadn’t seen this mentioned anywhere.

Jeremy Rice, a reporter with the Collegian, had his hockey article picked up by the wire and USCHO.com. Pretty exciting for a young reporter.

Upstairs TV

I’m full, I’m happy, and I’m sorry.

For the past few days I’ve been home — Vero Beach, Fl. to be exact. I haven’t had the time or the means to update Between Mullins and McGuirk, and I hope my last post made that somewhat clear.

So much has been happening in the world of UMass athletics, and it would be hard to recap without stumbling over old news and items already posted on UMassHoops.com or the UMass Football Blog.

I’ve also been away from any kind of Internet radio, so I missed the soccer team beating Boston University in what sounds like dramatic fashion. I was able to get Gametracker for UMass/Fordham, but by now the ins and outs of that game have been discussed, analyzed and argued over.

It’s funny though… this whole UMass football thing. It has encompassed my life within my little cube at work, and my fandom is imminent when you step into my room (I may be the only person in the state of Colorado with a replica UMass mini football helmet). However, back home — back in the south — UMass and CS/I-AA/etc. football is basically nothing.

Since I don’t get ESPNU I was left with James Madison and Appalachian State, which was actually a pretty good game. My brother (sophomore at the University of Kentucky) and his friends (Tennessee, Florida, Auburn and Colby … yea, the last one stands out a bit) came into the living room and immediately said, “What the hell is this?”

I left and watched the game upstairs. I knew not to get in the way of SEC football, so big brother went and watched his “what-the-hell-is-this” football by himself.

While it doesn’t bother me that a group of Southern boys couldn’t appreciate a game of such magnitude, it did make me wonder why I care so much. Could it be the fact that I’m an alumni of a CAA school or that I worked for the student newspaper? Or is it that I was raised in the south, where football is king, and had to make my alma mater’s team bigger than it really is?

Probably all three.

I remember my brother’s reaction when he saw our stadium. It was pretty similar to the reaction he had to JMU/Appalachian State on the main television in our house. Of course he missed the writing on the wall — literally — which tells the tale of a program that has won, with consistency, within the realm of its size, ability and finances.

On Thanksgiving I sat with an old reporter’s notebook and jotted down things I was thankful for in UMass athletics: football team’s success, Travis Ford’s recruiting, Jack, Sam Koch, etc. I thought about publishing it, but I realized I forgot my login name for this site — at least I’m honest.

Of course everything I wrote was subjective and small scale in relation to the overall scheme of things in college athletics, but it’s my list and my school, and damnit I don’t need to be an objective journalist when it comes to that.

So, tomorrow I’ll start over again. I’ll continue to find news and add my opinions. Maybe it will get lost in the shuffle of college sports blogs, and I hope whoever reads this hasn’t been turned away due to my negligence the past week.

It doesn’t matter that it isn’t SEC or ACC because I’m all A-10 and CAA… even if I have to watch the game by myself.

UMass hangover

Wow, what a weekend. So good, I somehow vanished for an extra day.

The football team is heading back to the playoffs and once again has to face off against an always-dangerous Patriot League team (paging Colgate). The men’s soccer team is heading to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history. Hoops continues to play fast and somewhat effective. And hockey, well they tied and beat Boston College — and that’s better than birthday cake … especially since I saw a B.C. hockey fan at a Rocky Mountain Rage game on Saturday.

He now knows that no matter where he is, be it Commonwealth Ave. or a random hockey rink in Broomfield, CO., there will always be someone to vocalize how much “B.C. Sucks.”

Anyway, I tried to sit down and assemble this crazy, borderline emotional weekend of UMass sports and was simply baffled. If you couldn’t already tell, I have a soft spot for the soccer team and hope it can beat Boston U. at home. Coach Koch deserves this — he is by far one of the most unsung coaches and people at UMass.

Football continues to look eerily familiar to last year, just replace Lafayette with Fordham. I hope Brown isn’t looking past this Rams team. I can’t imagine he is.

I’m actually kind of excited to hear Larry Coker call this game.

As far as hoops and hockey are concerned, I can’t get a full read on these teams yet. Hockey has a different identity than years past, but it is upholding a constant progression toward the top of Hockey East, and that’s all any of us can ask for.

The basketball team has once again played absolutely nobody of merit, but this year that may be a good idea. Get the kids some confidence. Let them shoot and run against teams that are going to spend a lot of time catching up.

I wish I had more time for this, but there is just too much, and that’s a good thing. Between work and attempting to organize myself for my first trip home in almost three years, I’ve slipped a little bit on this blog, and I apologize.

UMass athletics has been incredibly special recently, and I can’t do it justice right now.

And, as weird as it sounds, I couldn’t be happier.