I feel really bad for the team.

[Knights 1212]

I attended practice for the 7th time this season yesterday. The guys were working so hard. I see how much it means to them. We played well on offense today but we gave up too many threes and lost today. Sometimes things just don't go your way. it will be hard to dig out of the rut we are in. No doubt about that but I hope somehow we can defeat Clemson on Tuesday. If we play as well on offense again on Tuesday I think we have a good shot. The season has not been what most of us expected but hopefully we can rebound from these difficult losses. I will always root for our guys. I cannot stand seeing all of the constant negativity.

 

[superfan01]

Yawn. Every team works hard. Pike didn't recruit well enough and develop

 

[DHajekRC84]

.I will always root for our guys. I cannot standing see all of the constant negativity.

Then tell your boy to fracking fix the issues and start coaching. He's doing a terrible job with a team close to a sweet 16 finish last year with his recruits and the players he (and they) wanted to come back. He's the cheerleader who keeps clapping while Rome burns.

 

[jordkap]

I attended practice for the 7th time this season yesterday. The guys were working so hard. I see how much it means to them. We played well on offense today but we gave up too many threes and lost today. Sometimes things just don't go your way. it will be hard to dig out of the rut we are in. No doubt about that but I hope somehow we can defeat Clemson on Tuesday. If we play as well on offense again on Tuesday I think we have a good shot. The season has not been what most of us expected but hopefully we can rebound from these difficult losses. I will always root for our guys. I cannot standing see all of the constant negativity.

The season’s goal was to make the tournament and that goal is basically dashed before December. Do you really expect serious positivity? Would it make you feel better for everyone to say, sure we lost but we played hard and that’s all that matters!

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Tbh this season has been what most rational fans expected sans Lafayette. Its a bad team and a program headed down the ditch

 

[Salvi's Headband]

I feel for them too. They're just kids. Three absolute gut punch losses in a row, especially the last two.

 

[jerzeyguy]

I can understand feeling sorry for them. They were put in a losing situation. A bunch of recruits who can't play, brought together on one team. They never stood a chance

 

[bac2therac]

Tbh this season has been what most rational fans expected sans Lafayette. Its a bad team and a program headed down the ditch

its a bad team but a well coached team would have had them at 6-0. Our losses not by much. Dont mistake me, I am not saying they could have done things and made the ncaa, they are what they are, they deserve to be 3-3 but well coached would have them at 6-0, the schedule has been cupcake city, Umass will be a 2nd tier A10 as will De Paul in the BE and none of the others will do much i their leagues.

 

[wisr01]

 

[Rac'nRoll]

I attended practice for the 7th time this season yesterday. The guys were working so hard. I see how much it means to them. We played well on offense today but we gave up too many threes and lost today. Sometimes things just don't go your way. it will be hard to dig out of the rut we are in. No doubt about that but I hope somehow we can defeat Clemson on Tuesday. If we play as well on offense again on Tuesday I think we have a good shot. The season has not been what most of us expected but hopefully we can rebound from these difficult losses. I will always root for our guys. I cannot standing see all of the constant negativity.

Great Post. Serious Thanks

 

[ScarletLongIsland_rivals]

its a bad team but a well coached team would have had them at 6-0. Our losses not by much. Dont mistake me, I am not saying they could have done things and made the ncaa, they are what they are, they deserve to be 3-3 but well coached would have them at 6-0, the schedule has been cupcake city, Umass will be a 2nd tier A10 as will De Paul in the BE and none of the others will do much i their leagues.

This 10000%. Despite it’s shortcomings, this team could easily be 6-0 with proper lineups and decent coaching. The unwavering loyalty to PM and CM is sickening. Play Jones dammit and let him play through his mistakes. At least the ball goes in the basket in the meantime.

 

[RUJMM78]

its a bad team but a well coached team would have had them at 6-0. Our losses not by much. Dont mistake me, I am not saying they could have done things and made the ncaa, they are what they are, they deserve to be 3-3 but well coached would have them at 6-0, the schedule has been cupcake city, Umass will be a 2nd tier A10 as will De Paul in the BE and none of the others will do much i their leagues.

You are what your record says you are and 3-3 against mediocre competition is deeply disappointing .The talent is over rated and the coaching staff has failed to teach mental toughness at crunch time.All three games were given away because opponents hit 3 pointers or they lived on the foul line .

 

[rucoe89]

UMass talent and coaching was better. They won. We continue to digress. But it is Pikiell's best team on the Banks.

 

[DHajekRC84]

Maybe he can coach the women and let someone else coach the guys?

 

[goru7]

UMass talent and coaching was better. They won. We continue to digress. But it is Pikiell's best team on the Banks.

Both their talent and coaching sucked badly as they were losing by 10-15points most of the night and his guys somehow hit 16-32 from 3 and got fouled 2 more times for a 54-9 advantage from 3 and 4-5 of them just inside half court. Any reasonable defensive effort and UMASS loses by 25. The last 5 minutes we didn’t attack the zone like we did earlier in the night. Only difference

 

[richthedentist]

I attended practice for the 7th time this season yesterday. The guys were working so hard. I see how much it means to them. We played well on offense today but we gave up too many threes and lost today. Sometimes things just don't go your way. it will be hard to dig out of the rut we are in. No doubt about that but I hope somehow we can defeat Clemson on Tuesday. If we play as well on offense again on Tuesday I think we have a good shot. The season has not been what most of us expected but hopefully we can rebound from these difficult losses. I will always root for our guys. I cannot standing see all of the constant negativity.

No one says we are not rooting for the team we all are and I will be there as I have been for almost 50 years and will continue to do so and like all the posters on the board there is nothing we want more than our teams to do well but as a fan for that many years we are also ingrained unfortunately for many years of losing and hence very hard to remain positive when we see what’s happening at the start of this season
I would like to see how many consecutive seasons many of you have had b-ball tickets as I have sat through the good and the bad

 

[Knights 1212]

I have sat through the good & bad as well. I have attended games for 50 years and have only missed about 4 home games since the RAC opened in 1977. I attended 13 games when we were 31-0 in 1976. I have had season tickets for well over 30 years and also attend many away games.

 

[Joey Bags]

Tbh this season has been what most rational fans expected sans Lafayette. Its a bad team and a program headed down the ditch

I had us going 16-15 with a win in the conference tourney this year so I didn't have rosy eyes like some.

That said I had us winning all three of these losses in my preseason prediction which is mind-numbing. We realistically could be an 8 or 9 win team this year and go 0 fer in conference play.

 

[rucoe89]

Both their talent and coaching sucked badly as they were losing by 10-15points most of the night and his guys somehow hit 16-32 from 3 and got fouled 2 more times for a 54-9 advantage from 3 and 4-5 of them just inside half court. Any reasonable defensive effort and UMASS loses by 25. The last 5 minutes we didn’t attack the zone like we did earlier in the night. Only difference

The results speak for themselves. The better players and coaches did what they needed to in order to win. That was UMass.

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

I had us going 16-15 with a win in the conference tourney this year so I didn't have rosy eyes like some.

That said I had us winning all three of these losses in my preseason prediction which is mind-numbing. We realistically could be an 8 or 9 win team this year and go 0 fer in conference play.

Its reallllllly hard to go 0fer in conference. That wont happen

 

[wngarbarini]

Beat Clemson? What planet are you on?

 

[goru7]

The results speak for themselves. The better players and coaches did what they needed to in order to win. That was UMass.

Wrong. They were not the better team and not the better coached team. That game should have been a blowout except their incredibly mostly lucky 3 point shooting. Do me a favor and watch that team the rest of the year, and let me know when they come close to 16-32 from 3 point range. Might never ever happen in their history. Now we should have done something to make the percentage much worse but there were no great coaching schemes to make them shoot that well.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Ron Harper is playing at 50% right now

Let’s not assume what we are now is what we will be in a month

 

[rucoe89]

Wrong. They were not the better team and not the better coached team. That game should have been a blowout except their incredibly mostly lucky 3 point shooting. Do me a favor and watch that team the rest of the year, and let me know when they come close to 16-32 from 3 point range. Might never ever happen in their history. Now we should have done something to make the percentage much worse but there were no great coaching schemes to make them shoot that well.

Wrong. I watched the game closely and UMass coach figured out how to stop Rutgers in second half. Simple formula of zone and collapse the middle if Rutgers tried to feed inside. UMass knew Rutgers has no outside shooting threats. They are barely a one dimensional team. Rutgers was bewildered as to what to do as shot clock routinely when to under 7 seconds with no offense answer. Give UMass coaching and players the props they deserve for planning and execution = better team.

 

[Freddy Stubbs]

Ron Harper is playing at 50% right now

Let’s not assume what we are now is what we will be in a month

I agree with this statement. The problem is we might not win more than 2 games in that month. In that case, the season is over.

 

[goru7]

Wrong. I watched the game closely and UMass coach figured out how to stop Rutgers in second half. Simple formula of zone and collapse the middle if Rutgers tried to feed inside. UMass knew Rutgers has no outside shooting threats. They are barely a one dimensional team. Rutgers was bewildered as to what to do as shot clock routinely when to under 7 seconds with no offense answer. Give UMass coaching and players the props they deserve for planning and execution = better team.

If you watched the game then you would have noticed UMASS played a lot of zone in the first half but we carved it up going inside. Ralph Agee was unstoppable. Think about that for a minute. We had the most paint points we have had all year and we’re shooting at a high efficiency rate.,That was the worst defensive team we will see all year. Unfortunately , either because Ron was hurt or not , the last 4-5 minutes we did not attack the zone like we did all game by going inside and imposing our will. No I give their coach little props as we played some of the worst defense against the 3 ever and his players got a little lucky and hit about 3-4 from 30 feet ( almost half court it appeared) . Do you think against an average defense UMASS ever shoots 16/32 again? Almost impossible like it was yesterday.

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

What’s scary is that half of the UMass starters would start for us. Good grief…instead of playing Palmquist and Reiber, he needs to hide them on the bench more not to expose them or himself any more than he has to. What the hell was Pike thinking. They should be walk-ons.

 

[Joey Bacala]

I feel really bad for us fans.

 

[SantaFeScarlet]

Ron Harper is playing at 50% right now

Let’s not assume what we are now is what we will be in a month

Then RHJ should be replaced, that's bad coaching allowing him to play at 50%

 

[SantaFeScarlet]

What’s scary is that half of the UMass starters would start for us. Good grief…instead of playing Palmquist and Reiber, he needs to hide them on the bench more not to expose them or himself any more than he has to. What the hell was Pike thinking. They should be walk-ons.

Pike has no one on the bench that is better than a hurt RHJ... pathetic

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

Pike has no one on the bench that is better than a hurt RHJ... pathetic

I’m not convinced Hyatt isn’t better than Palmquist and Reiber. Why did Pike even go after him again? It seems lately everyone just turns to crap when they get here. Interesting trend.

 

[bac2therac]

I’m not convinced Hyatt isn’t better than Palmquist and Reiber. Why did Pike even go after him again? It seems lately everyone just turns to crap when they get here. Interesting trend.

Ive seen enough good things from Hyatt to say he is way better than those guys....he has struggled a bit last two games, honestly im going to lay blame at the coach on this

 

[RUTrack94]

If you watched the game then you would have noticed UMASS played a lot of zone in the first half but we carved it up going inside. Ralph Agee was unstoppable. Think about that for a minute. We had the most paint points we have had all year and we’re shooting at a high efficiency rate.,That was the worst defensive team we will see all year. Unfortunately , either because Ron was hurt or not , the last 4-5 minutes we did not attack the zone like we did all game by going inside and imposing our will. No I give their coach little props as we played some of the worst defense against the 3 ever and his players got a little lucky and hit about 3-4 from 30 feet ( almost half court it appeared) . Do you think against an average defense UMASS ever shoots 16/32 again? Almost impossible like it was yesterday.

Also RU got tentative and was trying to protect the lead … you need to work for open looks … I’d prefer a good shot with 10-12 seconds on the shot click compared to a desperation brick.