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This might be BGs year

Concord's?

UMASS opens their first conference game with a 10 point loss to Kent State. OU down by 15 mid-way through the 2nd to BG. Have to think this might be Boals’ last season with the program if it keeps trending this way.

Yet another one developed by Coach JRod who had few to no offers coming out of high school, now heading out the door to get paid. What really stings about losing Morris is his ability to adequately play anywhere on the OL when needed.

Dang. Looks like we’ll be moving forward with a completely new starting 5..

It looks like there are several teams in the MAC with decent post players: Akron, Buffalo, EMU, Kent, Toledo, Miami and maybe one more I'm missing. At some point all of them will have a game where the whistle finds them early and they are sent to the bench. It will be interesting to see how the whistle blows against all these guys as the season wears on. Lyles-Gillespie should be a classic. Frankly, I hope the officials let those two guys officiate themselves. It should be a classic.

Thats a grown man game. Have to give Pinkie credit in one area - he tends to always have a flat out baller on his team.

The Zips get a 10 days Christmas break before Concord comes to the JAR on December 29th. Concord currently stands at 6-3, playing a bunch of teams that belong on Captain’s list of teams he’s never heard of, including Frostburg State. In the confusing geography department, they’ve also played California of Indiana and Indiana of Pennsylvania. Kraig Gilbert, a 6’8” sophomore forward leads the Grapes in scoring at 19.2 ppg. 6’8” junior forward Boubacar Djigo averages a whopping 14.2 rpg to go along with 14.2 ppg. He played for Lutheran West in high school.

Still a lot of MAC games to go. Based on MAC history, if UMass is indeed a top tier MAC team, a road win there will carry some weight in the standings down the stretch. Don't think Zips have to worry about that, and Kent already has come out of Amherst standing, but until the likes of Miami, Toledo, Buffalo or any other MAC contender walks out of there standing I'll take UMass at home most nights. As for Boals and TK ... still too early to write either of them off. Expect both to be above .500 on the season, albeit barely. The hot seat turns up next season, when their roster management/adjustment will be exposed as they try to improve. Also. If BG builds up a head of steam, they could be a darkhorse in this race by the end of January. Just my opinion.

Player autographs are available postgame

Bump for updates and a few notes. - EMU signed the largest class in the first signing period, with many of the signees being freshmen. - Toledo has lost nearly half their freshmen signees due to the coaching change. I don’t think that matters much anymore with the portal having become the more relevant recruiting source, but I thought it was worth mentioning anyway. - Supposedly, UMASS has used their NIL funds towards retention of 15 players, and 13 of them have indicated they will stay at UMASS. - I’ll continue to update this thread as I see more activity.

Its so interesting, this team has been so consistently good (at least on offense), people hardly ever talk about Tavari who could be MAC POY. The players that get the most posts are probably Barre and Halligan. We know what to expect from these established guys and they perform every night, its great

Watching Halligan last night and he reminds me a lot of Brian Walsh. Similar game and almost identical size. I like what his size brings to our rotations.

I was listening to the game while driving which can be distracting enough. Reading and responding to Zips Nation wasn’t prudent. But I don’t know what everyone else’s excuse is, shame!! Ha!! Great effort and response to the defensive challenge. Keep it going. Go Zips!!

It's better than Gunsmoke reruns.