UMass transfer portal news - 2024

[NilesGold]

Add Watson to our roster and we are the 9th rated team in the A10 per Torvik.

https://barttorvik.com/trankpre.php?con ... 2024&sort=

Bizarre rankings.

Richmond is having a hell of an offseason. Zero chance they finish bottom 3.

They weren't very deep, and I think they lost their 3 best players (King, Quinn, Bailey).

[UMassfan_19]

Think what we are seeing in the portal these days is a desire from frank to be long and athletic. Seemed he would get frustrated with cohen inability to really impact much on the defensive end and the players we brought in all fit that mold of being able to cover multiple positions and probably hedge and ice pick and roll ball handlers and recover while cohen was essentially forced to play drop coverage to have any hope of contesting at the rim

[Upstate10]

Fascinating point about modern PNR offense and rim protection at multiple positions from Frank on today's pod. He's really good on the pod when he is talking ball.

[TheInsider]

It's so hard to predict these days.. all I know is 40 ppg walked out the door. As a team we were bad from 3.. with the adds are we suddenly a good shooting team??? How do we replace that much scoring??

[Floridafan71]

Episode 29 of Just Being Frank out. Frank announced the commitment of Abdelgowad from Murray Statr 6'10 big. Seems rebounding one of his better skills.Also said we now have one scholorship left.We needed another big player though Malek was used sparingly he fills in my opinion an important need as Coach mentioned he is a rim protector.

[vanmeter]

I don’t we should trick ourselves about the loss if Cohen. He was first team all A10 for a reason. While he had some deficiencies, he was very a good inside scorer who often commanded double teams.
I think with the addition of these 3 players we really need someone who can shoot the basketball. Right now we got Rashool.
I see Rivera as a good addition. I see no reason he can’t give us the 13/8 and 2 blocks per game that he gave Bryant- and I definitely see him starting

[NilesGold]

Also said we now have one scholorship left.We needed another big player though Malek was used sparingly he fills in my opinion an important need as Coach mentioned he is a rim protector.

Frank knows more about basketball than I ever will, so maybe he has a different idea of what rim protection is... but Malek had 1 blocked shot all season at Murray State during 212 minutes played.

[DoctorJ]

Because he protects the rim so well, they don't bother to shoot?!?!?

[69MG]

This may explain why Frank went after him. Adam Wells is the Sports Director for the local TV station in Paducah, KY, which covers Murray State.

Adam Wells
@TheAdamBWells
Feb 14
It is a shame that Malek Abdelgowad has been injured for most of the season for Murray State.
The more he plays, you can tell how much more comfortable he is and provides a great post presence along with Nick Ellington.

UMassTwittter
@UMassTwittter
4h
How did he look in the final stretch of the season?

Adam Wells
@TheAdamBWells
When healthy he provided needed size inside and showed glimpses of taking over games. But injuries really limited what he was able to do.

[DoctorJ]

Podcast, Frank said he is a rim protector but not a shot blocker. Says we could have used him last year and he went to Murray instead of us a year ago. He reached out to Frank about coming here.

I think, perhaps, the injury history he carries, plus the greenness of Damjanc, will mean our last scholly goes to a big.

Like what I'm hearing from Frank.

[kdogg8173]

Only a secret to the outsiders. Join the collective.

Outsiders? What a douchey system this has turned into. I’ll root for my Alma mater but the fawning and groveling at the feet of 20 year olds that have shown to not give a shit about fans is absurd.

[5150]

The good news is that $10 a month can get you on the "inside"

[Zeke]

Re: Malek E. On the podcast Frank distinguished between
a high flying athletic shot blocker and a guy (Malek) who can use his body/defensive foot movement to prevent other bigs from getting good shots (he specifically cited the Bonnie's big man back the the basket style player). At the same time he spoke of Rivera's exceptional shot blocking record (only 10 fewer than whole of last years Umass squad). He said that at 6'6" Rivera has a 7' wingspan and you don't block shots with the top of your head but with arms/hands.
My preference with 1 remaining scholarship is a shot creating and pure shooting guard - ideally good sized since neither Rashool and Curry are over 6-2"

For Bigs we have:
- Malek E. 6-10"
- Watson 6-9" ( Frank mentioned 6-8")
- DHS 6-7" (height officially exaggerated but plays like 6-9"
- Rivera 6-6" (shot blocker/rebounder)
-Luka Damjanac 6-10"
-John Brigham 6-10" (watch his h.s tapes, while a walk on, he has good back to the basket game and fluidity similar to Cohen and doesn't fall on his butt after every shot)
-Foster 6-8"

Wings: strong with Njdique (who plays like a PF at times), Guerengomba and Walker or Foster or Rivera)

Guards: Diggins, Curry, Worthy, and sometimes Njdique

With a mix long, fast, athletic, hard nosed players, we can offset the absence of a classic beefy big. I recall a number of opponents we played last year who were smaller than us (or no bigger) but out toughed or outran or out jumped us. Think Lou Roe! We have those kinds of players in DHS, Njdique, Rivera and even (per scouting) Guerengomba and Walker.

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[JoleonLescottsHair]

^ I don't recall getting out toughed much last season, but I do remember lots of getting beat off the dribble and easy buckets. The epic fail in the A10 tournament was perhaps the worst example. Maybe that’s what Frank saw and maybe the new dudes will help. Maybe. But somebody besides Jayden needs to play much better D on the perimeter. Keon was good, but, well, he was apparently not a good fit.

[69MG]

It's so hard to predict these days.. all I know is 40 ppg walked out the door. As a team we were bad from 3.. with the adds are we suddenly a good shooting team??? How do we replace that much scoring??

Good question. After the 2022-2023 season we lost 60 points, returned 23, and ended up the highest scoring team in the A10. Of course, we got Cohen and the 3 returners all stepped up their games. I don't have an answer, but since I've seen it happen before I have to feel like it's possible to replace 40 points. Lots of questions, but it seems like there always are.