The Daily Hampshire Gazette - 10/15 Cage revisited
The Springfield Republican - 10/17 player focus
can remember earlier this semester, tailgating before the Albany and URI football games and thinking how much different it must be to go to a school with a big-time football program where tailgating is the number one thing going on every weekend.
Clearly, there are reasons why UMass will never be a school where the football team is a huge draw, the most obvious being that the team competes in Division I-AA and plays in a stadium that needs to rent lights just to have night games.
But even if UMass eventually makes the jump to Division I-A and gets a new stadium, there's an even bigger reason why this will never be a football school: because UMass is a basketball school, first and foremost.
Sure, here are high-profile sports - namely football, hockey and lacrosse - that have had successful seasons recently, but the first sport that always comes up when discussing UMass is basketball.
And while attendance was embarrassingly low during the Steve Lappas era, the fan support could turn around just as quickly, as evidenced by last year's UConn game - a packed Mullins Center filled with fans going crazy during a nationally televised game.
The point of all of this is that Midnight Madness is coming back to UMass tomorrow night after a two-year hiatus - a hiatus that is almost unimaginable considering how big this program was just a decade ago.
This year some of the interest in this once-storied program is back, and it's due mainly to the hiring of new coach Travis Ford. Ford has been focused on bringing in top players and traveling around the area to meet fans, and in just seven months he has done an impressive job in both bringing in talent and exciting the fan base.
Tomorrow night at the Cage at 10 p.m. fans will have their first chance to truly welcome Ford and show the team that there will be more support this year.
And while I will always think about being a fan of the Calipari, Roe and Camby teams whenever UMass basketball comes up, my job as a journalist is to cover this team objectively, and I plan to do so. But I feel the need to take this one opportunity to let you know that the team seems to be on its way to getting back on the national scene, and that, as a fan, there would be nothing better for this campus than for the team to return to prominence.
Now, I'm not trying to come off like some cheerleader for the team, and I promise that I will never write a column begging fans to attend games. I know that if the team is good, you'll show up, and if it's not, you won't - and I won't blame you. My point is that the team has a good chance at being competitive, and you should get on board early.
Will this team win 20-plus games and bring back memories of '96? Probably not, but this year's team will be better than the last few years, and fans can count on seeing an energetic team playing an up-tempo brand of basketball.
All the fans have to do is show up and try to bring back some of the atmosphere from the mid-90's, and hope that the play on the court can begin to get back to that level. And the first chance for fans to show up and get behind this team will be tomorrow night.
So give up one Friday night.
It's getting too cold to stand outside at parties at Hobart and the Townhouses, and Charlie's and McMurphy's aren't going anywhere. Just take one night and go have fun in a way you won't be able to again once you pull onto the Mass Pike for the last time and leave this campus for good.
This might only be your team for one more year, or maybe two; maybe you're lucky and you'll get to see this team grow for your whole college career. But no matter what, if this team ever gets back to the top, it'll be an unforgettable experience, and tomorrow night is your first chance to hop on for the ride.
MHERST - To officially usher in a new era, the University of Massachusetts dusted off an old building and an old idea.
After a two-year hiatus, UMass is bringing back Midnight Madness to mark the start of the 2005-06 basketball season and the first year of the Travis Ford era as the men's basketball coach. The event begins at 10:30 tonight at the Curry Hicks Cage. No tickets are required, but the event is expected to fill the Cage.
Because NCAA rule changes allowed coaches to practice with their full teams during the off-season, Midnight Madness doesn't really herald the start of practice as it did in the past. But teams can begin their daily practice routines beginning tonight.
Midnight Madness will be the first chance for fans to see new Minutemen Chris Lowe, James Life, Brandon Thomas and Dante Milligan, who will make their debuts this season along with transfers Luke Bonner, Gary Forbes and Etienne Brower.
Matt Pennie, a former student manager, gets a uniform this year. The 6-foot-7 junior from Hanson will be a walk-on forward.
The women's basketball team will have a bigger role in Midnight Madness that than it has in previous years. Three Minutewomen sharpshooters will challenge the men in a 3-point shooting contest.
Coach Marnie Dacko will send seniors Katie Nelson and Ashley Sharpton and freshman Stephanie Gerardot to face Minuteman veteran Jeff Viggiano and newcomers Life and Forbes.
Viggiano will try to win from above the rim as well as behind the arc. He's one of five participants in the dunk contest. Brower and Thomas as well as veterans Rashaun Freeman and Stephane Lasme will challenge Viggiano, who junior Maurice Maxwell picked as the favorite.
'He jumps the highest and he's been working on some stuff,' Maxwell said.
But Ford has other ideas.
'I'd have to go with Stephane,' he said. 'But Etienne Brower is a dark horse. He's a really good athlete.'
It used to be that the freshmen were excited at Midnight Madness, while the upperclassmen pretended not to care about the attention. But Maxwell admitted he is excited.
'I was looking forward to it as a freshman and when I found out we didn't have it, I was disappointed,' he said. 'Now I'm a junior and I'm looking forward to it.'
UMass faces Dowling in an exhibition game Nov. 10 before opening the season Nov. 18 against Hartford. Both games are at 7 p.m. at the Mullins Center.
10th ANNIVERSARY - This season marks the 10th anniversary of the Minutemen's trip to the 1996 Final Four.
Readers will be able to relive that season on the newly redesigned UMass Sports section of GazetteNET.com. Each story from the 1995-96 season will be posted online 10 years from the day it was originally published.
MISCELLANEOUS - According to Scout.com, Jamine 'Greedy' Peterson is planning to make an unofficial visit to UMass for Midnight Madness.
Peterson is a senior 6-foot-5 power forward at Brooklyn Boys and Girls High School this year. He is expected to attend prep school in 2006-07 before enrolling in college. He already has gotten interest from Rutgers, Iowa State, Florida Atlantic and Stonybrook.
Former UMass coach Steve Lappas has been hired to do game analysis and studio work for College Sports TV beginning with that network's Midnight Madness show tonight.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage, including a frequently updated UMass sports blog, go to www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/umsports.
MHERST - Long-time University of Massachusetts fans use reverent tones when they talk about Curry Hicks Cage.
It's the building that saw 'Julie' thrill crowds before he became Dr. J and where Rick Pitino wore Chuck Taylors before he found Guccis. It's the roots of Jack Leaman's legacy and John Calipari's legend.
The first win over Temple and the first Atlantic 10 Tournament title all happened in the Cage's cramped but cozy confines.
The spirits of UMie basketball past welcomed the current incarnation of the program into the old gym Friday night, bringing life to the building not seen in almost 13 years.
Hopefully it marks the start of regular visits. The Minutemen should play in the Cage every year and not just for Midnight Madness.
A game. Not UConn or Temple or Boston College or any other big-draw opponent, but there should be one game a year in the Cage.
It would be a way to attract considerable attention to an otherwise unremarkable early A-10 game. UMass-St. Bonaventure is ho-hum at the Mullins Center, but 'The Annual Cage Game' or the '2006 Rage in the Cage' would be a much anticipated event, no mater who the opponent was.
Fans on the fence about buying season tickets would be further enticed to get them to ensure tickets to that event.
Commemorative programs, T-shirts and other souvenirs would sell better than at any other game.
The players could wear throwback uniforms, a different era's threads every year.
Start with the Julius Erving era. You'd have to lengthen the shorts a bit to prevent a player revolt, but for one game the Minutemen would have Massachusetts draped across their chests again.
They'd be classic and trendy at the same time as replicas of those tops, with Erving's 32 on the front and name on the back are popular right now. There's usually at least three or four people wearing them at UMass football games.
Afterward, the game-worn uniforms could be auctioned off to cover the cost of making them. Any profit could be donated to the Jack Leaman Legacy Fund.
The game would be a great way to keep former players feeling connected to their alma mater. Anybody who played for the Redmen or Minutemen could be introduced at halftime to be saluted by the crowd.
January makes the most sense. The students are on winter break and the attendance naturally dips. A sellout at the Cage is better than a half-empty Mullins Center.
If interest and attendance continues to swell like the athletic department is projecting, it's possible that most UMass games, even during student breaks, will draw more fans than the Cage holds (4,200).
But having a game that's a tough ticket would be a great thing. When's the last time there were scalpers in Amherst?
When the Minutemen departed the Cage in 1993, it was the right move. The UMass program had outgrown its former home. Even during last year's attendance nadir, the program still belonged in the Mullins most nights.
The building's modern amenities are critical for attracting recruits.
But for one game, one night in January, the Cage would connect a program with a seemingly optimistic future to its nostalgic past.
Even current Minuteman Maurice Maxwell, who was only 10 when UMass last hosted a game in the Cage, is interested.
'I always wanted to play one game in here,' he said sitting in the Cage's bleachers after practice Tuesday. 'I think it would be fun.'
He's right.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com.
MHERST, Mass. - Before a packed Curry Hicks Cage UMass held its annual Midnight Madness on Friday night. Newcomer Etienne Brower won the Slam Dunk contest with a show-stopping jersey tear-off dunk. The men's team also won the three-point contest.