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U of Mass Joining Mac in Basketball

1981 grad

By 1981 grad
in Akron Zips Basketball

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1981 grad Mentor

1981 grad

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I just read that U of Mass is leaving the A 10 and moving all their sports program including basketball to the MAC beginning in the 2025-2026 season.  I think this is great for MAC basketball as this year Mass has a win over West Virginia and is in the middle of the A 10.  I think they will be a perennial favorite in basketball.  

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Zippy87 Mentor

Zippy87

Posted
Posted

Akron, Toledo, Kent, Ohio, and UMass seem likely to be contenders in the MAC most years. The first four have been more good than bad over the last 20 years and I think UMass will join that group. For awhile I thought Buffalo would be there too, but they've really reverted back to a lower-caliber program.

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blueandgold Proficient

blueandgold

Posted
Posted (edited)
30 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

Akron, Toledo, Kent, Ohio, and UMass seem likely to be contenders in the MAC most years. The first four have been more good than bad over the last 20 years and I think UMass will join that group. For awhile I thought Buffalo would be there too, but they've really reverted back to a lower-caliber program.

 

Edited by blueandgold
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kreed5120 Veteran

kreed5120

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Posted
2 hours ago, Zippy87 said:

Akron, Toledo, Kent, Ohio, and UMass seem likely to be contenders in the MAC most years. The first four have been more good than bad over the last 20 years and I think UMass will join that group. For awhile I thought Buffalo would be there too, but they've really reverted back to a lower-caliber program.

Buffalo is down because they made a poor hire when replacing Oats. They have shown a commitment to spending and investing in their basketball program so I'd expect them to at least work their way back to respectability.

clarkwgriswold Grand Master

clarkwgriswold

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

Buffalo is down because they made a poor hire when replacing Oats. They have shown a commitment to spending and investing in their basketball program so I'd expect them to at least work their way back to respectability.

Couldn't agree more.  The new guy was hamstrung by what he walked into.  They'll be back in time.

mrelegazna Enthusiast

mrelegazna

Posted
Posted

This is great news IMO.  Besides UMass being a strong basketball program, I think (or at least hope) there are advantages to branching out into new media markets.

 

I've said before here that while I don't have any objections to the MAC taking on affiliate members in non-revenue generating sports, I don't think the MAC should take schools for football only.  I especially hated this with Temple. If you want refuge for your sorry football team, you have to give us your good basketball team.  Glad the MAC braintrust seems to have learned that lesson.

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ewbrooman1 Experienced

ewbrooman1

Posted
Posted (edited)

From what I see, UMASS hasn't been very good in basketball in almost 10 years. And epically bad in football. If you want to build a conference from the bottom up, this is the way.

Edited by ewbrooman1
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tpsjugglerdude Contributor

tpsjugglerdude

Posted
Posted
On 2/27/2024 at 12:50 PM, 1981 grad said:

I just read that U of Mass is leaving the A 10 and moving all their sports program including basketball to the MAC beginning in the 2025-2026 season.  I think this is great for MAC basketball as this year Mass has a win over West Virginia and is in the middle of the A 10.  I think they will be a perennial favorite in basketball.  

 

What makes you think that? They've been to The Dance once this century. They've only had 5 20+ win seasons the last 25 years, and 0 in the last 10 years. I know the A-10 is considered a stronger conference, but they haven't finished above .500 in their conference in 10 years. 

 

It will be interesting to see if their recruiting takes a hit after the move. Frank Martin has shown signs of improving their team, and they are headed in the right direction.  It will be interesting to see if he sticks around if he does find success. He will instantly be the highest paid coach at $1.66M in the MAC, well above Groce's $650k. It will be interesting to see if UMASS continues to spend that much in the MAC.  

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kreed5120 Veteran

kreed5120

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, tpsjugglerdude said:

 

What makes you think that? They've been to The Dance once this century. They've only had 5 20+ win seasons the last 25 years, and 0 in the last 10 years. I know the A-10 is considered a stronger conference, but they haven't finished above .500 in their conference in 10 years. 

 

It will be interesting to see if their recruiting takes a hit after the move. Frank Martin has shown signs of improving their team, and they are headed in the right direction.  It will be interesting to see if he sticks around if he does find success. He will instantly be the highest paid coach at $1.66M in the MAC, well above Groce's $650k. It will be interesting to see if UMASS continues to spend that much in the MAC.  

I wouldn't say they should be perennial favorites, but they should be perennial contenders. I'd place them in a similar category of an Akron or Toledo. 

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kreed5120 Veteran

kreed5120

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

This guy likes it for UMass basketball (not)-

 

https://www.masslive.com/umassfootball/2024/02/umass-move-to-mac-is-brutal-blow-to-its-mens-basketball-program-vautour.html

I could understand that argument if they were having similar success to a Dayton or VCU. Reality is for the last 15-20 years they've performed like an upper mid-tier MAC team. The guys talks about Kenpom, but if he took the time to go through it I'm guessing on average Akron, Toledo, and Buffalo have all outperformed UMass. Ohio and Kent are probably around the same ballpark.

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