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The game Berky is referring to is correct. It was an NIT game in Albany in March of 2001. We won 82-80 in overtime. Here's the brief description from Mike's opponent page:

NIT Quarter-Final, at Knickerbocker Arena, Albany NY. Barbee 3-pointer forces overtime after Siena PA announcer states team's plans for advancing to Semi-Final.

^ Yes, yes, now I remember it. Thanks.

69MG wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 9:32 pm The game Berky is referring to is correct. It was an NIT game in Albany in March of 2001. We won 82-80 in overtime. Here's the brief description from Mike's opponent page:

NIT Quarter-Final, at Knickerbocker Arena, Albany NY. Barbee 3-pointer forces overtime after Siena PA announcer states team's plans for advancing to Semi-Final.

Tony Barbee played in 2001?

You're 10 years off . . ironically UMass played Siena in both the '91 & '2001 NIT! The Barbee shot was in '91.

Y'all getting your facts mixed up

2001 - We didn't play in the post-season beyond the A-10 Tournament. You're thinking of 2000, but yes, that was at Siena.
https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id=opponent_siena
https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id ... nships#nit

For the record, I knew Tony Barbee wasn't on the 2000-2001 team

* OOPS. Make that 1991, not 2001. Everything else is correct. We could have used Tony on that 2001 team.

Speaking of Tony....

With the experience he's gained working for Cal at Kentucky after the debacle at Auburn...wonder if he's interested in becoming a HC again?

Got pulled over by a South Carolina State Trooper heading north the next morning at about 3AM with "Go UMASS" painted on the car windows and Mass plates. Was in the middle of a group of southern cars traveling the speed limit and he came up the back like a shark through a chum slick. Cars behind me pulled to the side, I did too, and he wasn't interested in any of the cars ahead of me- instant blue lights disco show. Asked him why we were being pulled over and got:

"Don't sass me, boy."

Ate a $300 ticket. The South still remembers. That was also the game that I realized that Allen Iverson is really about 5'8". He still yolked one on Camby that night. Unreal.

Old Cage wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:25 pm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o12V46y ... UMassGames

Mike has done an excellent long review of the game on twitter, but the events needs to be remembered here. The game is in my top five UMass games attended all-time, and I could easily be convinced that it is #1.

Dick, agree 100%. I could flip a coin between that game and UM vs Arkansas at the Civic Center. When Lou threw down that dunk off the opening tip, I was on the floor behind the basket he flushed it on and ended up covered in beer (my own and the students' around me) for the rest of the night.

Uminuteman wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:31 pm It's funny how Donta was a Top 5 HS player in the country but was still underappreciated

I actually think it was because he came here. The other guys in his East McDonalds AA class ended up at marquee schools: Kentucky X2, Maryland, Arkansas, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Miami, Syracuse, and North Carolina. Although UMASS was surging at that point, it still didn't get the coverage that those schools had come to enjoy in that era. And then he dropped off the map for a year because he had to sit out.

Donta almost ended up at Ohio State. St Johns was in the running, too, but how UMASS did in the tourney that year swayed his decision.

I watched an old game vs Western Kentucky on YouTube the other day (while on my old man treadmill). It must have been December 1994. Mike Williams was so tenacious and unlike any player I've ever seen wear a UMass uniform. He was borderline out of control...at all times! Just when you'd get frustrated with him, he'd hit a monster three.

I have to wonder how far that 94-95 team would have gone with him.

Can anyone share the story as to why he got tossed from the team?

UMass'96 wrote: Fri Apr 02, 2021 9:07 am Can anyone share the story as to why he got tossed from the team?

Not any one thing. Multi-factorial. Uzi paid the price for general immaturity that a lot of us featured at that age.

My man:

Anytime someone tells you Cal is dirty and only cares about winning, make sure you remind them about how he kicked Mike Williams off a team that might have won it all with him on the roster.