2024-25 Season

[BR72]

Rivera was continuing to improve and has been a key piece.

Rivera had a good stretch late in the non-conference and early in the conference season, but since then he seems to have regressed… I certainly wouldn’t say he’s continued to improve.

I agree with your assessment but you failed to mention that, according to Frank, he’s been playing injured for the last month. I understand that you can’t miss an opportunity to say something negative about him, however.

[NilesGold]

^ Am I obligated to say something nice about him if I say something negative? Being injured is irrelevant here, Rivera hasn’t been “continuing to improve”.

[BR72]

^ Am I obligated to say something nice about him if I say something negative? Being injured is irrelevant here, Rivera hasn’t been “continuing to improve”.

It’s not irrelevant to you asserting that he has regressed.

[Juice Stand]

Frank talks about his decision-making process in building the roster, and deciding not to bring in additional guard depth, which I think he knows was a mistake and we all saw as a mistake early on. That decision has hurt us when we are at full strength, and certainly once Curry went down with the wrist injury. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD827s9GanU

That discussion starts at around the 9:30 mark.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Not having Rivera moving forward is a tough loss. His continued improvement over the course of the season was nice to see. Diggins and Curry are really going to need to step up.

[JoleonLescottsHair]

Frank talks about his decision-making process in building the roster, and deciding not to bring in additional guard depth, which I think he knows was a mistake and we all saw as a mistake early on. That decision has hurt us when we are at full strength, and certainly once Curry went down with the wrist injury. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD827s9GanU

That discussion starts at around the 9:30 mark.

That was disappointing watching a guy not own his failure. Frank talks about the importance of guard depth and his desire to never have “too many point guards.” Great. Yet, he conveniently does not mention Keon’s departure and he allows that it was Diggins’ desire to play the point (a failed experiment) which led to a decision not to “recruit over” guys at that position, go against his long-stated philosophy of playing those who “earn time,” and presumably instead (over) recruit a bunch of 5s who trade time on the pine. Nonsense. Then he tops his own contradictory thinking with comments on Jayden who “worked really hard in the off season” only to not “get the reward for all the work you (he) put in.” Yes, that’s correct: the returning starter who is “all about UMass” and puts in the work, started the season sitting on the bench. I mean, you wouldn’t want to ‘recruit over’ or not reward the guys who have put in the work and earned playing time. Just incredible. We started the season like shit as Frank played around with dumb lineups, including Jayden on the bench, and we collapsed again late season when our lack of depth at guard showed itself. Those are the book ends.

This interview showed me a guy who has coached a long time, has a philosophy that he likes to share, but no longer has the management chops or ability to ‘see the court.’ This season has been a disaster and those 5-6 minutes in the interview perfectly illustrate why. Well, that and the fact that we can’t shoot and that Frank seems to find the modern technology of a clock, which can stop and start again, somewhat befuddling.

[m626t]

^
...Well, that and the fact that we can’t shoot and that Frank seems to find the modern technology of a clock, which can stop and start again, somewhat befuddling."

[JoleonLescottsHair]

Not having Rivera moving forward is a tough loss. His continued improvement over the course of the season was nice to see.

But he hasn’t. His decision making remains poor. His shot selection is painful to watch, to say nothing of his FT’s or 3s. And even his rebounding- what people rightfully say he does well- has gone down since his best game (Fordham); a game he almost cost us by fouling a 3 with one second in overtime. The main exception being against SLU (a game he DID cost us with his horrendous turnover that started the epic collapse). His shot blocking is good but his defense is mostly just adequate. People seem to like his play because he plays hard and I very much respect that. Better than the alternative. But he doesn't play smart, his shooting is below average (to be charitable), and I honestly don’t know what aspect you can say he has showed “continued improvement” other than to obviously try to rile up Niles, which I’m not sure is possible.

[NilesGold]

^ Am I obligated to say something nice about him if I say something negative? Being injured is irrelevant here, Rivera hasn’t been “continuing to improve”.

It’s not irrelevant to you asserting that he has regressed.

Does it matter why he's regressed? I wasn't trying to use this as an opportunity to take shots at Rivera, I was simply pointing out that IV's claim that Rivera was continuing to improve wasn't accurate.

[inthescoop]

Are Niles and Joleon the same person?

I understand if you don’t like Rivera, everyone has an opinion on here. But, a 6’6 guy who is top 5 rebounding in the conference and now you’re diminishing his rebounding? We get it even more, you really don’t like him.

[JoleonLescottsHair]

Are Niles and Joleon the same person?

I understand if you don’t like Rivera, everyone has an opinion on here. But, a 6’6 guy who is top 5 rebounding in the conference and now you’re diminishing his rebounding? We get it even more, you really don’t like him.

Except that I am not diminishing his rebounding. There’s that. But I understand it is important to challenge me and reflexively “defend” Rivera. ‘We get it even more, you really like him.’ Here is what I wrote within this very thread:

And even his rebounding- what people rightfully say he does well- has gone down since his best game (Fordham);

He rebounds well. I have said this more than once this season, including in this exact sentence above. Read slowly. Take a breath. Yet, there you are ready to white knight for the dude. His numbers (and we REALLY know how much those double doubles mean to you and a player’s worth) over the last 10 games have gone down to a little over 6 per game versus close to 8 in the previous 18. Horrible? No, not at all. But not especially an indicator of “continued improvement.”

How you can’t handle even that most mild form of a reality-based critique is absolutely wild. Really. Like you said, we ‘get it.’ It’s weird, but we get it.

And, yes, Niles and I are the same person because we hold a similar view of a player. I think it’s safe to say that almost everyone here but you understands that Niles and I have hardly been pals over the years. You do you.

[inthescoop]

^Read slowly. Take a breathe.

[69MG]

I love this bracket.

https://x.com/MLBergman_/status/1896004439431163947

[JoleonLescottsHair]

^Read slowly. Take a breathe.

Correct. And when you have nothing, ignore the facts, deny what you’ve posted, distract, and use a lot of emojis. Remind us all how I am “now “diminishing” Rivera’s rebounding. Show your work.But substance ain’t your thing, is it? Or, should I have hastily typed “[you’re] thing” instead, since that appears to be a perfect petty jam for you?

But, hey, we all just want to talk hoops here, right?

[minutefanjsf]

Frank talks about his decision-making process in building the roster, and deciding not to bring in additional guard depth, which I think he knows was a mistake and we all saw as a mistake early on. That decision has hurt us when we are at full strength, and certainly once Curry went down with the wrist injury. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD827s9GanU

That discussion starts at around the 9:30 mark.

That was disappointing watching a guy not own his failure. Frank talks about the importance of guard depth and his desire to never have “too many point guards.” Great. Yet, he conveniently does not mention Keon’s departure and he allows that it was Diggins’ desire to play the point (a failed experiment) which led to a decision not to “recruit over” guys at that position, go against his long-stated philosophy of playing those who “earn time,” and presumably instead (over) recruit a bunch of 5s who trade time on the pine. Nonsense. Then he tops his own contradictory thinking with comments on Jayden who “worked really hard in the off season” only to not “get the reward for all the work you (he) put in.” Yes, that’s correct: the returning starter who is “all about UMass” and puts in the work, started the season sitting on the bench. I mean, you wouldn’t want to ‘recruit over’ or not reward the guys who have put in the work and earned playing time. Just incredible. We started the season like shit as Frank played around with dumb lineups, including Jayden on the bench, and we collapsed again late season when our lack of depth at guard showed itself. Those are the book ends.

This interview showed me a guy who has coached a long time, has a philosophy that he likes to share, but no longer has the management chops or ability to ‘see the court.’ This season has been a disaster and those 5-6 minutes in the interview perfectly illustrate why. Well, that and the fact that we can’t shoot and that Frank seems to find the modern technology of a clock, which can stop and start again, somewhat befuddling.

You heard that interview very differently than I did. He literally started that segment acknowledging he messed up the roster by having too few guards and went against his own thinking for building a roster. He also said transfers are not recruited to come off the bench in today’s NIL landscape. Hence why an experiment to use transfers in the starting rotation over a sophomore returnee aligns with what he said. I didn’t hear what he said as contradictory at all. He said he was responsible for what has happened. Why he did what he did. And said it didn’t work. And now let’s move forward.