UMASS in NIT Final

[bourbonman]

Nice for them and good for A10. Plus we don't have to hear anything about a repeat of last year's NCAA final (if OSU wins).

[Juice]

This is a small consolation after Temple and St. Joes crapped themselves in the tourney.

[pizza delivery]

Any thoughts on this game folks? OSU has some pretty good guards with obvious experience in big games, but UMass is experienced as well and probably more talented at this point due to their overall experience. I like Umass as a battletested team, but something tells me the OSU gameplan will run well through Butler and Lighty. In the end I think Umass comes away with this thing. Could be pretty nice.

[xubball93]

I was impressed with the way UMass came back on Syracuse and against Florida last night. I hope they get it done Thursday night!

[PM Thor]

How much does Umass get for playing in the finals, perchance winning it? Do they share that money with the conference too?

I assume yes, but don't know particulars.

[Johnny X]

I would love for UMass to win. I have somewhat of a personal stake, as one of UMass' assistant coaches (Steve Middleton) was my varsity basketball coach in high school. Middleton is one of the top 5 all-time leading scorers in SIU history (once scored 43 points in one game on Hersey Hawkins when Hersey was at Bradley) and mentioned in passing to me and some of my teammates that he would love to end up coaching back at Southern Illinois.

Kinda hoping that the farther UMass and Travis Ford go, the more his staff will get recognized (down the road, probably) and Coach Middleton will eventually get the job he's always wanted. He had a tradition that when his players made their college choice their senior year, they would bring him back a baseball cap of the school they were attending. When I picked XU my senior year, of course, I brought Coach Middleton back a very nice, fitted XU baseball cap that he actually wore a fair amount. Though I'm sure he's since burned it, being a coach of an A-10 rival and seeing my Musketeers dance around his Minutemen since he came to Amherst from EKU with Travis Ford. Still, he was a great coach and a great influence on me in my adolescent days, so I'm hoping UMass goes far. In addition, he's a Brooklyn native, so I'm sure winning at MSG tonight would be even sweeter.

So tonight, and most games when the Minutemen aren't playing Xavier, I'm rooting for UMass and my old ball coach. Sorry for the rant and unnecessary sentimentality, but Coach Middleton was a pretty great guy. Just very proud to see how far he's gone from coaching a small, Catholic school to coaching under the lights at MSG on ESPN. :)

Sorry for the sappiness of this post, but I'm just damn proud.

[Michigan Muskie]

ISorry for the rant and unnecessary sentimentality, but Coach Middleton was a pretty great guy. Just very proud to see how far he's gone from coaching a small, Catholic school to coaching under the lights at MSG on ESPN. :)

Sorry for the sappiness of this post, but I'm just damn proud.

Absolutely no apology necessary. High school coaches leave such an incredible impression among their players that this sentiment is totally natural. For many players, coaches are like father figures, even for those with great fathers. I certainly played for a few coaches in my high school years (20 years ago....sigh) that I would most definitely be wanting to see win if they were coaching at the next level.

Good luck to UMass and definitely to Coach Middleton.

[Johnny X]

Absolutely no apology necessary. High school coaches leave such an incredible impression among their players that this sentiment is totally natural. For many players, coaches are like father figures, even for those with great fathers. I certainly played for a few coaches in my high school years (20 years ago....sigh) that I would most definitely be wanting to see win if they were coaching at the next level.

Good luck to UMass and definitely to Coach Middleton.


And ESPN just showed a clip of Coach Middleton on the UMass bus talking to the players on just a few minutes into the first half!!! Great to hear he's still kept that Brooklyn accent.

[PM Thor]

Dammit. I wanted UMass to win that game so badly.

But I have to look at it in the way that the A10 is just getting stronger in the near future. This conference has a bright future, and I am glad that X is part of it.

[X-band '01]

How much does Umass get for playing in the finals, perchance winning it? Do they share that money with the conference too?


Schools get money for participating in the NIT? That's news to me.