My Umass Fandom

Hey guys, I wanted to get this thing  started with a bang, so I decided to go back and find an article that gives a general overview of how I am about sports. this was a post I made on the Umasshoops.com message board almost 10 months ago when I had made a few realizations about being a fan.  Now that things are getting kicked off I will be writing game reviews of every Umass game from here on out. Also, me and JP will be giving you some of the best info you can find on the web about basketball. 

should be a lot of fun and I'm ready to get things kicked off!

I am so utterly shocked guys. I realize starting a new thread would sometimes be considered self righteous or egotistical, but I have a lot to write and it doesn't fit any other thread. 

I have followed Umass basketball since the late 90s(age 8 ). I became a basketball fan and Umass basketball fan right after all the Marcus Camby/Jon Calipari shenanigans, I started in the Monty Mack/Bruiser Flint Era. I followed close but I didn't really get into it till the Lappas era. The big Deli, Rashaun Freemaan and the beginnings of Stephane Lasme.I remeber checking the newspapaer and being excited if they got close to the top 100 My first exciting moment when Umass Upset Uconn... that was absolutely incredible. Rashaun Freeman jumping on the scoreboard before the game was over I will never forget. I think Lappas got the short end of the stick, he was building the team in the right direction when he got fired(Lasme, Maxwell, Freeman, Anderson) 

The Ford years were even better and brought life to Umass basketball that I had never seen before. The flu game where they lost against saint Louis was upsetting , but a 24-9 record was something I had never seen before. The next year was even better, The both syracuse wins are top 10 moments for me. The best game though, was the Houston game. Mullins was filled and it was a close game we came out on top. Gary Forbes was an absolute stud and we were on our way. Then Ford left...darn, I was pretty much in love with the guy and I suppose I had unrealistically high expectations for the next coach. 

I remember the first year Kellogg was coach and being frustrated with him.They stood around on offense, played horrible defense and didn't seem to play with the same heart as they did with coach Ford. I watched promising guys like Chris Lowe and David Gibbs go by the wayside as players because of what I thought was DK. 

I remember following Terrell Vinson's recruitment and literally jumping up from my chair in class when I came on to Umasshoops that morning to see he committed, looking at the rivals page I was gitty with excitement and although I was extremely skeptical of DK at the time, I was very impressed with his first recruiting class(Put, Vinson, Riley, Samp, Farrell). It made everything I was frustrated about alright and I was still excited for the upcoming year with all the potential we were going to have. 

I then went and sat through the entire next season, going to games where less than 3k people showed up, just looking for signs of hope, to bring me back to the ford days. I saw impressive recruits, in a horrible offense and system... I was outraged and wanted Kellogg out. I wanted him out bad, we were so talented and lost games we shouldn't have on a consistent basis. I saw Chris Lowe's college career go up in flames, which was extremely upsetting because we saw what he could do early on. I saw a bunch of poorly conditioned, not fundamentally sound, unfinished products. Losses to teams like Jacksonville state and Toledo stung quite a bit and I started to question if things were only getting worse rather than better. I also saw a completely demoralized David Gibbs. The kid had clearly gotten all the confidence he had knocked out of him and he played like it. I still hold out that if Ford stayed, Gibbs would have been a star for us. We had one great win, Memphis, but that only seemed to frustrate me more as we could be such a great team and have such great potential, but not be able to prove it at all. It was confirmed to me that the coach was the issue. Rickey Harris was a good player, but the offense where we stand around for 25 seconds, hand it to him and have him shoot an off balance three was miserable to watch. Still, I gave Kellogg a mulligan, 'his guys' were all freshman at that point, so I pessimistically let it go. 

This is when I guess I gave up. The offense had not changed, I saw on multiple occasions Kellogg looking to Vance walberg for advice in timeouts and sometimes Walberg taking control in timeouts altogether. I was through with this regime... get Kellogg out and start over was where I was at. I was so fed up with watching this frustrating brand of basketball I stopped going to the games and just started listening to them on the radio. We started out 7-0 (not beating anyone) , got my hopes slightly back up and then volleyball spiked them right back down to where I had been finishing the year 8-15, 7-9 in conference and a first round loss to Dayton in the A-10 tourney. We lost Traynam, who showed solid potential, half way through the semester and Anthony Gurly, seemingly the only guy on the roster who could consistently score. gross. 


I went into this year as, ok, 3 things can happen. 

1.Were horrible, DK gets fired, we find a new coach, a new direction, and start over ... I would be happy 

2.were mediocre (14-18 wins), DK stays, we continue to be mediocre and I spend the rest of my Umass fandom as a mediocre fan rooting on a mediocre team for the rest of my mediocre life. ... I would be mediocre and miserable 

3. We progress quite a bit, DK improves his in game coaching, the offense improves, we win 18-20 games and compete in the A-10 tourney... I'm ecstatic and I'm willing to live with Derek Kellogg the below average coach because he can overcome it with his impressive recruiting. 

and then Chaz Williams happened......... 

I am so glad I went to the first game at the cage. This team was so different and I didn't know why at the time, but the energy of this team had changed so much I was confused. it wasn't the opponent or the score of the game. The feeling of the team. 

Starting out 4-0 I began to be cautiously excited, but ready at all times for a smack into reality. I thought the FSU game was the beginning of that. after the 20 point loss I braced myself for a big letdown and potentially mediocre season. losing 3 out of 5 and getting beat handily by the only 'good' teams we played so far ... After that they strung together quite a few wins in a row, including a win over davidson... I didn't trust it whatsoever. I remember saying"yea, but were screwed when we get to A-10 play, no point in getting excited now, maybe they blow it and kellogg still gets fired." 

after the loss of Cady lalanne and Sampson Carter" o no inside prescense were screwed, season is over" 

after lasalle loss ..."o season is over" 

after Duquesne loss " o were screwed, first of many bad losses" 

At this point though we were 16-5 and still had an outside shot at the tourney... obviously, just like all of you guys, I was getting excited and looking ahead on how we needed to finish the year 

after Rhode Island " of course, setting me up for failure yet again, why do I lie to myself" 

and then... I started thinking at the end of the regular season . I said I would have been happy with 18 wins this year and I was miserable with 20. We had won 20 games , were improving , get ready for next year. 

Then the A-10 tourney and NIT happened. You can't overstate the heart and soul they have played with and the never say die attitude has made for some of the most incredible wins I've seen as a Umass fan. I've seen great improvement from Kellogg making halftime adjustments and in game decision making, I'm blown away by how much he has improved and how he kept confidence in himself even when things were bad(empty stands, bad offense, bad conditioning, players transferring and leaving).

As much as I'm proud of Kellogg and am finally happy hes our coach, he is not the main reason why this Umass team is where it is, it's Chaz Williams. He is absolutely incredible and probably my favorite player of all-time. He brings heart and leadership that had been severely lacking on this team. He makes the entire team play harder and makes them play up to their potential. His grit and determination to win wears off on every player on this team and you can see it. 

Without Chaz do we think Javorn and Freddie so easily accept their roles comming off the bench? Do we see the overall difference in pace and control? do we make comebacks in any of these games without knowing Chaz is the guy willing to lead us and take the big shot? The only guy I've seen in college basketball the past few years that I can compare him to is Tu Holloway, probably my favorite college basketball player(out of everyone, not just the A-10). They seem to have the perfect combination of leadership, confidence and skill to lead and push a team, even against superior talent. 

The one thing I am worried about is when Chaz leaves, I realize it's a while off and probably not something I should be thinking about, but is he creating the illusion of progression in the program? or are we actually improving in multiple areas. I sense DK is getting a lot of good experience from having Chaz, but I hope we can find another sure-fire leader before Chaz's days are done in western mass. 

moral of this extremely long story is, I apologize to Derek Kellogg and the team. I doubted from day 1 this year and pretty much for the past few years, sometimes making unfairly harsh comments and opinions. I did not support the team the way a fan should the past few years and I apologize for my pessimistic attitude I brought to the games and team as a whole. 
.......Alright, that felt great to get off my chest..... 


now I'm ready for the NIT semi-finals at Madison Square garden!!! lets go Umass !