Game 12, 2025-26: Kent State (12/20)

[TheInsider]

The refs didn't shoot 32%

[MikeUMA]

Good D by Kent today.
UM .327 FG overall
Banks 1-10 FG, his worst percentage day in over 2 years

[NilesGold]

DHS back to playing less aggressively with way too much time on the perimeter.

Why Frank lets some of these guys take 3s who are under 25% is beyond me.

[TheInsider]

What is sad is that even if we were still in the A10 the team really wouldn't look any different. Oh and Frank makes well over 2x what the kent state coach makes.

[ZooMass84]

What is sad is that even if we were still in the A10 the team really wouldn't look any different. Oh and Frank makes well over 2x what the kent state coach makes.

Coach Joe probably makes 3x what the kent state coach makes (oh we lost that one too)

[kd68]

It really comes down to NIL, who shells out the most money. The rich will get richer, loyalty will be a thing of the past. Look at Mississippi in football. Use to be you could build a program around a player. If UMass brings in some one unheralded, who turns out to be a surprise, he will off to greener pastures the next year. Can’t blame the players.

[TheInsider]

If it comes down to NIL... I thought we had more than Kent State

[HighPeaks101]

1.8 million dollar coach in a 400K Conference. Pay the going rate and have well over 1 million to go to NIL.

[MakeMullinsGreatAgain]

Saw a few people on X commenting on how it was the best crowd of the year and I agree - when we made that run to cut it to 2 it was actually loud for the first time in a long time. I still have no idea who they have counting, but no way in hell were there only 3100 people there - closer to 4500 IMO

[RagingCager]

Very disappointing performance today, by both the players and the coach. I have to agree with High Peaks… why pay upwards of $2 mil/ yr for a coach in the MAC if you’re not getting a significant return on the investment? Kent State coach Rob Senderoff was just given a substantial raise in recognition of the great job he is doing. His base pay is now $500,000, and with incentives he is up to $700,000 per season. Frank was extended with a bit of a raise for him and his staff after going 24-30 in the A10; yes he had a decent regular season in ‘23/‘24, a 4th place finish going 11-7. That team ended the year with an embarrassing lopsided loss in their 1st early round A10 tournament game ( despite having 2 1st team players and an all rookie guy). The team did not win a single A10 tournament game in Frank’s 3 years there, let alone any other post season play, and all 3 seasons concluded with a mass exodus of key players ( as is common in the current NIL climate).

We have all seen some signs of encourage with this current group, and I was excited coming into this opening MAC game. Kent State is a good team and very well coached…. we got off to a poor start and were in a hole, unable to get much going. That’s the time you need your $2 mil coach to take charge to change the course of the game. We have one perimeter shooter in the starting five that other teams have to worry about, so unless you run specific plays featuring multiple picks and screens to help that guy get open looks, it makes it really tough for him to get into a rhythm ( we saw that today). Parker is a good shooter as well, but is relegated to the bench far too often, and believe it or not, I thought Wembley showed that he has some upside there as well; the rest of the guys that saw most of the playing time today are not great options from outside, making Banks job more difficult and some of Frank’s rotations and offensive sets baffling. On the other hand, Bettiol is a capable inside garbage man, but if you try to force it beyond the normal flow of the game, it results in too many turnovers and he’s foul prone as well, the same can be said for Sanford, if he tries to do too much outside the normal flow of the game.

And, as far as Roi is concerned, the attendance figures aren’t quite paying the bills right now either.At this point, I think it’s fair to say that anything less than serious contention for a Mac title and post season invitation would be another failure for an athletic dept already reeling from a disastrous 0-12 MAC season in their other front porch sport (not played on ice)

[minutefanjsf]

Saw a few people on X commenting on how it was the best crowd of the year and I agree - when we made that run to cut it to 2 it was actually loud for the first time in a long time. I still have no idea who they have counting, but no way in hell were there only 3100 people there - closer to 4500 IMO

I guess closer to 1500. The entire student side was empty and it was less than a 1/4 full in the other sections. The place holds 8049 for hoops. I figure 2k for students and then a quarter of the 6k.

[minutefanjsf]

I was 30 feet from the bench. Coaching wasn’t the issue. We missed open shots. That’s not coaching. We held a team that averages over 90 points to under 70. That is great coaching. We lost on more on the boards than I expected. That is effort, not coaching. Where Frank lost today was in the wardrobe…he looked like Lex Luthor. It was not a badly coached game. It was a shitty shooting game all around. Stinkers happen.

[Berkman]

Tough game by one of the 4 top teams in the MAC. They held our top scorer to 1 hoop and that was a big difference.

[RagingCager]

I agree that the defense got us back into the game, and Frank deserves credit for that, although once the ball got inside, we continued to struggle there. My gripe on offense is that many of the open shots taken (and missed) were by guys that Kent State was willing to give up while maintaining a focus on keeping Banks bottled up. He had a rough day, but he didn’t get many open looks…. most of his shots were heavily contested. I’d like to see more of a priority in getting him going early and throughout games with specific plays and guys that can set effective picks and screens without fouling. Having Parker on the floor at the same time helps and Wembley may develope as a legit perimeter threat too. The guy guarding Banks (#1) did an outstanding job shutting him down, but I thought more could have been done to create some better shots for him. This will most likely be a common theme moving forward. All in all a tough opening day for UMass fans, but the season is still very young…. I wish them well moving forward.

[minutefanjsf]

I agree that the defense got us back into the game, and Frank deserves credit for that, although once the ball got inside, we continued to struggle there. My gripe on offense is that many of the open shots taken (and missed) were by guys that Kent State was willing to give up while maintaining a focus on keeping Banks bottled up. He had a rough day, but he didn’t get many open looks…. most of his shots were heavily contested. I’d like to see more of a priority in getting him going early and throughout games with specific plays and guys that can set effective picks and screens without fouling. Having Parker on the floor at the same time helps and Wembley may develope as a legit perimeter threat too. The guy guarding Banks (#1) did an outstanding job shutting him down, but I thought more could have been done to create some better shots for him. This will most likely be a common theme moving forward. All in all a tough opening day for UMass fans, but the season is still very young…. I wish them well moving forward.

Banks would have been open if anyone else stepped up. Unless they were going to switch the offense to a triple screen with two elevators like Monty Mack back in the day, Banks wasn’t getting open today without any help. They also held Banks all day and didn’t call it until the last two minutes.