he news first broke on January 6: time was running out for UMass' starting point guard Maurice Maxwell. The third-year student athlete was given 48 hours to clear up an “academic situation”. Fans interpreted that to mean there was a problem with his fall semester grades. Perhaps an incomplete could be remedied. Maybe he could salvage the situation. But questions abounded.

Later that day, the Athletic Department released a statement saying that Maxwell was suspended indefinitely. Already suffering the loss of Art Bowers, one of the season opening guards, the team could ill-afford to lose the other. More questions came up. What did indefinitely mean? Was there a chance Maxwell could come back once spring semester classes started?

Perhaps the more immediate question was: who was going to pick up the point guard position? Brandon Thomas or Chris Lowe? Both were in their first year with the team, which itself was with a first year coach. If you're Head Coach Travis Ford, what do you do? Do you call on Thomas, a junior who isn't a natural point guard and played only scattered minutes there this season, or hand the reigns to a true freshman who's still learning at the Division 1 level? There was a great deal of uncertainty.

Maybe Ford had a plan all along. As a point guard in his playing days, Ford knew what it took to get the job done. He knew there was potential in Chris Lowe. Before the season even began, Ford offered hints. ''Chris Lowe has the ability to do it. But is he ready to do it?'' Ford asked. ''We're going to need him to play a lot of minutes. I spend a lot of time with my point guards. He needs to be an extension of me out on the floor and he has to know what I want to do.''

Ford himself was an extension of someone. Transferring after one year at Missouri, Ford then played for the Kentucky Wildcats for three seasons. His coach was a point guard in his playing days: former Minuteman Rick Pitino.

Lowe seemed to be destined to get the challenge. In the early 1990s point guard Pitino challenged Ford to step up and lead. Now in 2006, with a team of his own, would point guard Ford give Lowe the chance to live up to the challenge?

Ford was preparing his team for the Atlantic 10 season opener: on the road against Duquesne. UMass was even at 5-5 overall, but had only one win away from the comforts of home at the Mullins Center. The game against the Dukes would set the tone for the rest of the season.

Ford called on junior Brandon Thomas to start at the point, and Thomas did well in his first game: 10 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and zero turnovers. ''I thought Brandon did a terrific job because he had to do something he's not comfortable doing. He did a great job of responding,'' UMass coach Travis Ford said.

''He's still learning. It's not natural for him to be a point guard, but he's doing a great job,'' added junior big man Stephane Lasme.

The Minutemen ended up prevailing 82-63 over the Dukes. Chris Lowe relieved Thomas for stints at the point. Lowe logged 31 minutes in the game, and recorded 6 assists, but turned the ball over 4 times. It wasn't a bad start, but when looking at a point guard's numbers, you look at the assist to turnover ratio, and Thomas had the early lead, 4:0 to 6:4.

UMass returned home to face Saint Joseph's next. Though the Hawks weren't the Top 5 team they were a couple years ago, they were a perennial thorn in the side of the Minutemen. The Hawks had won the last 8 meetings between the two schools.

Thomas again got the start at the point. But things got off to a bad start when Thomas turned the ball over twice in the game's first minute. Ford made the call to the bench for Lowe to take over, and the freshman responded almost instantly. With Saint Joe's in possession and already leading by 5, Lowe stole the ball from Dwayne Lee, started a break, fed to James Life who laid it up and in.

UMass beat the Hawks, 68-58. Lowe played 37 minutes in all, scored 7 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, tallied 7 assists and was charged with only 1 turnover. ''I feel pleased with my play,'' Lowe said. ''I put it in my mind to come out and play my hardest.''

Teammate Rashaun Freeman had high praise for the rookie. ''He's playing like a fifth-year senior,'' Freeman said. ''He had tremendous calmness. They tried to trap him, but he beat it every time.''

"When Chris is playing like that, we're a much better team," said Minuteman senior Jeff Viggiano. "He brings an intense defensive presence on the ball, and he helps bring out the best in our big men offensively."

Coach Ford didn't let his freshman get too comfortable. ''I'll pat him on the back tonight, but Saturday is a whole new challenge,'' Ford said.

The Saturday he referred to was the Minutemen's next challenge, this one tougher in visiting the St. Louis Billikens. Thomas got the start again at the point, but Ford went to Lowe early and often, and Lowe ended the game with 31 minutes of time compared to just 21 for Thomas.

The end result though was a tough loss for the Minutemen, who fell to the Billikens 50-48 on a last-second shot by Tommie Liddell. Were it not for the 23 UMass turnovers, they might have been 3-0 in A-10 play for the first time since the 1997-98 season. Everyone shared the blame: Lowe and fellow guard James Life each had 5, Thomas had 4, and the starting frontcourt combined for 7.

Travis Ford reflected after the game: ''We have to get other guys handling the ball. We're asking Chris Lowe to do a lot and he's doing pretty much everything he can do, but he has to get help from other guys. We're going to have to do some evaluating in the next couple days to see who that is, whether it's Jeff Viggiano or if Thomas can improve, or...,'' Ford paused then laughed. ''We actually don't have a lot of options now that I think about it. So I guess we'll just ride Chris Lowe.''

And ride Chris Lowe he did. Lowe would win the job of starting point guard and didn't let it go. He went on all of the remaining 18 games for the Minutemen.

The benefits came almost immediately. In the next two games after St. Louis, UMass defeated Fordham by 13 and destroyed Temple by 26. Against Fordham, Lowe set a new career high with 14 points. In the Temple game, he set another career high by dishing out 9 assists and only commiting 2 turnovers. The performances would earn Lowe the Atlantic 10's Rookie of the Week award, his second of the season.

As bright as the future seemed for Lowe, the door had closed for Maurice Maxwell. On January 31, just after the Spring semester began, the school announced that Maxwell was no longer enrolled. One option was officially gone.

The other option at the point, in Brandon Thomas, was also fizzling. Thomas struggled to find a consistent game, and had just had a stretch of the games where he only averaged 7 minutes.

The job was Lowe's, but how would the freshman be able to handle it? Fans continued to speculate. The rigors of a D1 college schedule would certainly take a higher toll than what Lowe was used to in high school. Instead of games in neighboring towns or counties, Lowe and the Minutemen still had road trips to Florida, DC, western New York, Virginia, and Cincinnati for the conference tournament. Would Lowe tire as the weeks carried into late February and early March?

It turned out that he never did. Over the last seven games of the season, Lowe would play 268 out of the possible 280 minutes, a 38.3 minutes per game average. His assist average continued to climb as well. By the end of the season, Lowe would lead the conference in assists per game with 4.9.

Coming from the beginning of the season as the second or third option at point guard, to leading the league in assists per game, Lowe made an amazing progression. Travis Ford could certainly be proud of having Chris Lowe as his extension.