Lost one

Looks like UMass lost a hoops recruit.

… to Kent State.

The Record Courier is reporting that Greg Avila has opted to head to KSU in lieu of UMass and some other impressive suitors.

Avila, who will play junior-college ball at Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, Pa., this season. He was being recruited by Providence, Seton Hall, George Mason, South Florida and several Atlantic 10 schools when he chose Kent State. West Virginia, Villanova, St. Johns and UMass had also shown recent interest.

At least UMass wasn’t the most impressive name on the list, but it always hurts to lose a recruit to a smaller, less-accomplished program. Oh well – UMass should still be on the market for big men and swing guards. I have confidence that Kellogg will assemble a few good classes.

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Katherine “KJ” Kelley, a superstar softball player for UMass, has been named an assistant softball coach for the University of Vermont.

You talkin’ to us?

Travis Ford made a comment about the fans at Oklahoma State and how they rank up against other schools.

One has to wonder about whether he was talking about UMass.

It has really been impressive to me how much people love this university when I went and spoke at those places, because that’s not true everywhere. It’s really not. There are a lot of places where they may like basketball only if they are winning and things like that or maybe there are fans who are just fans because they are sports fans. … It has been really neat for me to learn about that true love from the people who are there and are with the university one way or another.

He did not specifically say UMass here, but what other schools could he be talking about? I know it’s not Kentucky, and I find it hard to believe that he would reference Eastern Kentucky in this capacity.

This seems like a shot at UMass and its fans. The reason being – the sentiment is mostly true.

UMass fans don’t come out when the basketball team is playing .500 ball, they don’t come out when a below-average Atlantic 10 team comes to town. UMass fans come when games are on television, when the opponent is recognizable, and, most of all, UMass fans come when it’s convenient.

Of course this is not all UMass fans. There are those that live for the Maroon and White. There are those that go to every game, have StatTracker on when they are unable to, and they root for every team on campus simply because those teams represent their university and – in some capacity – themselves.

Those are the true UMass fans, and maybe there are just too few of us out there these days.

Then again, maybe Ford wasn’t talking about us. Maybe he was just talking out of his ass to appeal to his new fans, to make it seem like they are the best fans in the world.

That’s what he said to us – and we all know how honest he can be.

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The Day had a couple of stories pertaining to UMass recruits today.

Sara Plourde will play softball for UMass next year.

Anthony Schiavone chose to play football for Temple over UMass, Buffalo, UConn, Delaware and Boston College.

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Two UMass baseball players helped win the Tri-County League title in Holyoke.

“Yeah, I’ve been pretty successful,” he said, “mainly because I’ve been blessed with good players. Like this season, we had Ryan Franczek (of Chicopee and UMass), who won the MVP, and Aaron Smith (of Holyoke and UMass), who won the Wes Carr, which is our league’s version of the Cy Young.”

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ESPN had an Atlantic 10 basketball preview yesterday.

Mo’ on Lo

Papa Lo’s decision to transfer to Bryant got a little more press today.

The Republican is reporting that Lo’s roster spot will be taken by Tyrell Lynch – a forward that opted to come to UMass after not enrolling at Auburn. By all accounts Lynch is a more talented player – at least offensively – and should help the Minutemen transition out of the Ford era next year.

With the roster changes, the official number of UMass players on scholarship remains at 10. That number will rise when freshman guard David Gibbs enters school in September.

UMass is also anticipating that Travon Wilcher, a forward from Springfield who played for Central High, will become academically eligible. Wilcher attended classes at UMass, last year, but did not play.

That would bring the scholarship total to 12, one below the NCAA limit. More player movement looks likely before classes begin in September.

My guess is that Lynch and Tony Gaffney will start in the post, but that is assuming that Kellogg continues to run a fast-paced offense in some capacity. It is also assuming that Luke Bonner continues to be a seven-foot totem pole in the post.

The roster changes have been pretty neutral for the Minutemen thus far. I can’t say that any of the post-Ford moves have been detrimental to the team yet.

I bet I just jinxed us all.

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Whitney Mollica, who will be a senior on the UMass softball team, has a chance to play against the USA National Team.

Mollica’s summer team, the Stratford Brakettes, will play Team USA on July 20 in an exhibition.

The Eagle-Tribune had the story:

“That’s going to be awesome, probably the best moment of my career,” she said. “I’ve played against some of them (Olympians) and it’s going to be great to see how we do. It’s going to be an honor.”

More softball awards

Four UMass softball players received awards from the ECAC.

Brandice Balschmiter won Pitcher of the Year and is a first-team all star. Lindsay Maroney won Rookie of the Year and is a second-team all star. Whitney Mollica was a first-team all star, and Carly Normandin was a second-team all star.

Here is the ECAC’s release.

Yes, at first, it seemed odd that Lisa Sweeney – a pitcher – won Player of the Year when she wasn’t even a first-team selection and wasn’t named pitcher of the year.

After a little research I found out that she is also Lehigh’s best hitter – by far.

The award was well deserved.

 

More softball awards

Four UMass softball players received awards from the ECAC.

Brandice Balschmiter won Pitcher of the Year and is a first-team all star. Lindsay Maroney won Rookie of the Year and is a second-team all star. Whitney Mollica was a first-team all star, and Carly Normandin was a second-team all star.

Here is the ECAC’s release.

Yes, at first, it seemed odd that Lisa Sweeney – a pitcher – won Player of the Year when she wasn’t even a first-team selection and wasn’t named pitcher of the year.

After a little research I found out that she is also Lehigh’s best hitter – by far.

The award was well deserved.

 

UMass lands Wiggins

Doug Wiggins is transferring to UMass.

Wiggins will play point guard for the Minutemen after a bit of a dramatic career at UConn.

From the Hartford Courant:

Wiggins had a tumultuous two seasons in Storrs, twice scoring 20 points in a Big East game but falling out of favor with coach Jim Calhoun for his behavior. Wiggins failed two drug tests in his time at UConn and was suspended for two games last season after he and teammate Jerome Dyson were involved in a police incident.

Hopefully he can clean himself up a bit in Amherst.

I imagine this decreases the likelihood that UMass scores Corey Lowe from Boston University.

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The UMass softball team had yet another great season, but it fell short to a Stanford team that had more experience against better opponents.

The Atlantic 10 just does not cut it for UMass and the level of play it exhibits every year.

Alas, those are the cards we are dealt, and the Minutewomen have to pay for it in the postseason.

Either way – great season ladies.

From The Republican:

“In the second game, we mentally folded a bit when they scored early,” UMass coach Elaine Sortino said. “I thought we started to press, and we went back to what we did yesterday which was trying to do too much.”

Regional setting

The times have been set for today’ softball regionals.

UMass plays Princeton at 3:30, right after the Lehigh/Stanford game.

Check out Gametracker and continuous updates at UMassAthletics.

Go get ‘em ladies.

Smart softball

Two UMass softball players made the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American team.

Via CSTV:

Four players, seniors Brianna Bricker of St. Bonaventure (District 1), Lauren Proctor of Massachusetts (District 1) and Dayton’s Laura Matthews (District 4) along with junior May Beth Puccio of Fordham (District 1), earned first-team honors and are now eligible for the national ballot.

Sophomore Bailey Sanders of Massachusetts earned second-team honors in District 1 while Dayton senior Erin LaFayette was named a third-team honoree for District 4.

Lawrence to the Bears

Bits and pieces of news floating around … unfortunately I have been so busy the past two days that I’ve missed some pretty big stuff.

Let’s go with the most recent.

Matt Lawrence, a former UMass running back, has signed with the Chicago Bears.

From the Hartford Courant:

Lawrence, 6 feet 1, 210 pounds, appeared in 13 games for UConn in the 2003 and ‘04 seasons before transferring to UMass. As a senior he rushed for 1,585 yards and 16 touchdowns for the Minutemen, who finished the season 10-3 after losing to Southern Illinois in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. … The Bears released veteran strong safety Adam Archuleta.

ESPN has a photo of Matt at Bears camp.

Yes, this is the last stretching photo that I will run on this blog.

I hope.

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The Worcester Telegram is giving some press to Carly Normandin, a sophomore outfielder for the UMass softball team:

Continuing to assert herself as one of the A-10’s top players is sophomore outfielder Carly Normandin of Gardner. For the second time this season, Normandin was named A-10 Player of the Week, going 6 for 9 with two doubles, four RBIs and an .889 slugging percentage in three games. She leads the Minutewomen in RBIs (36), triples (three) and slugging (.616). Yesterday, she was named to the all-conference first team.

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Sporting News gave grades on new college coaching hires.

UMass got a B:

Massachusetts: Derek Kellogg will bring the dribble drive motion offense to a UMass program that’s already familiar with an uptempo style, so the transition should be smooth. Kellogg has a solid assistant coaching pedigree and great passion for his alma mater. Grade: B

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I know I’m way too late on this, but Kellogg named his assistants.

Here’s the link on UMassAthletics.

A-10 perfection

The UMass softball team has been invincible in the Atlantic 10 this year.

St. Bonaventure almost found a chink in the armor, but once again the Maroon and White prevailed and further exhibited how it is the best team in the conference.

From the Collegian:

With two outs and UMass trailing, 1-0, Normandin hit a double to left field, scoring two runs and giving UMass its first lead of the game. Normandin went 2-for-3 in Game 2 after going 3-for-3 in Game 1. Sophomore pitcher Bailey Sanders finished off the Bonnies in order in the bottom of the seventh to complete the comeback in Game 2. It was the first time all season that UMass trailed against an A-10 opponent.

That makes it 26 in a row for the Minutewomen, who now head south to Charlotte for the A-10 tournament. St. Bonaventure is second in the conference with a 11-7 record, which pales in comparison the UMass’ 20-0 mark.

Pretty impressive.

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The Herald-Leader had a little tid-bit about Travis Ford:

Ex-UK player Travis Ford hit the ground running as the new Oklahoma State coach. Less than a week on the job, he slapped an indefinite suspension on senior-to-be Terrel Harris for violating team rules.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma State’s deep-pocketed booster, T. Boone Pickens, saluted Ford as a historically good hire.

“It will go down in history that Burns Hargis and Travis Ford will be the two best hires we’ve made in the last 50 years,” Pickens said in reference to the new school president and basketball coach

We’ll see about that T. Boone … especially if Ok. State finds success. That Kentucky job would and will be hard to turn down if Ford has the opportunity.

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There was a little spring write-up on the UNH football team in the Nashua Telegraph:

Quarterback. New starter Toman isn’t a complete unknown. He was instrumental in last year’s 35-30 win over eventual Division I-AA runner-up Delaware, hitting on 5-of-9 passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns in 2-1/2 quarters.

He was efficient in piloting a 49-21 win over Iona a week later.

“It’s huge,” he said of last year’s taste. “To be able to play at this level and get acquainted with the speed and what really goes on and what it takes to run an offense, that really helps. It’s a learning process more than anything else.”

He may be good, but I’m doubting he’s the second coming of Santos. It’s going to be nice to not have to deal with that kid again.