UMassHoops.com

Stony Brook isn't going be a push over by any means. They are 24-7 and went 14-2 in the America East which they won the regular season and were upset by Albany by 2 in the semi-finals. To me they look like they are a year away from being pretty damn good and an NCaa team. They start 2 freshmen and 2 juniors with a senior:

Brenton (Guarded by Carter)Forward 6-5 Sr. (5th year) 8.5ppg 8.6rpg 4.7ast
King (Guarded by Cady) Forward 6-9 Fr. 3.2ppg 1.0rpg 0.3ast
Jackson Guard (Guarded by Chaz) 6-0 Junior 10.9ppg 2.2rpg 1.8ast
Coley (Freddie)Guard 6-2 Jr. 10.8 4.2rpg 1.4ast
Warney (Guarded by TV) Forward 6-8 Freshman 12.1ppg 7.3rpg 1.0ast


So they are led by a freshmen in scoring who our senior (TV) I think can matchup well with. They are 34th in the country in rebounding so they could give us a challenge on the boards. The average 68 points a game so they're going want to play this game in the 60's while we obviously want it in the 70-80's. I think if we can crack the 70 point line we will win. I think SB has had time to get over not making the NCAA's by losing to Albany and will be ready to play in a postseason tourney with these young guys. They are a program on the rise and a possible A10 school down the road. This will be a game we can win but we'll have to come to play and not be disappointed by not making the NCAA's.

Stony Brook has no big wins outside of their conference. They lost to UConn by 11, Maryland by 7 and Seton Hall by 1.

Ultimately, I thinnk we'll pull away late after coming out to a slow start. Would love to have Iowa or Indiana St come to Amherst next.

Prediction:

Stony Brook: 66
UMass: 78

Probably going to be a light crowd with students on Spring Break. Hopefully many of us are planning to attend. I know I am. Hurts to just miss the NCAA's, but an NIT Championship would be a nice consolation prize!

gosox22 wrote:Probably going to be a light crowd with students on Spring Break.

They shouldn't be allowed to schedule Spring Break during basketball season!

Well, preferably we wouldn't have any home games during spring break because we would be in the NCAA tournament...

They shouldn't be allowed to schedule Spring Break during basketball season![/quote]

UMass has the option of not hosting games. Playing at home in an empty NOPE (for old-timers( / the Cage for youngsters, would be better than playing on the road.

They tortured us...making UMass one of the two last teams announced.

Unfortunately it will likely be a small crowd. I'm guessing the attendance will be similar to the AIC scrimmage game.

But I'll be there plus 1

LS71 wrote:They tortured us...making UMass one of the two last teams announced.

At that point did anyon actually think we weren't getting in?? Part of me thought we were getting screwed. But I also called us hostin Stony Brook once I saw the 1st 3 brackets so I was still pretty confident.


As far as being excited about the NIT, I'm one who is in the boat of rather having play 1 game in the NCAA's and lose then make a run in the NIT. However, I didn't have my hopes up of getting in today, so I'm pretty excited of possibly seeing 5 more games this year. The only game I wouldn't attend would be if we had to go to Virginia in the "elite 8" game. Otherwise, I'll attend any home game and any MSG game! So the idea of watching this team possibly 5 more times excites me!

saw them in the America East tournament last year.

Really good team..but they lost some good guys. Tommy Brenton can be a monster. I just we dont come to play like Miss. St did last year where the team is upset about not getting the bid and not really caring about the NIT

Tickets paid for and printed! Hoping for another good run. The extra games should help Trey and maybe TBerg can get some more minutes.

Go UMass!!

Has anyone been able to buy their tickets on their account yet?

I enjoyed the NIT run last year and expect to do the same this year. I made the trip to MSG with a late night ride home to MA and enjoyed that too. Not sure I'd do it again on a weeknight but who knows.

I know that our NIT run certainly made the offseason more enjoyable and gave me greater hope for this year. Another run this year will do the same.

At the beginning of the year I said that I would not be disappointed if we didn't get an NCAA bid as long as we made another run in the NIT. My expectations were lowered when Jesse went down so getting a 2 seed is good with me but I'd still like to see us win at least a couple. Stony Brook, Iowa, Indians State? Should take all of them if we play with heart.

Their message board. Not much up yet but the few posts they have up show they think they can beat UMass.

HomePage
http://sbufan.createaforum.com/stony-br ... 0e4f42c38b

NIT Page
http://sbufan.createaforum.com/stony-br ... nament/15/

Some quotes from there...

"Very winnable. Mass is rated not much higher than SB. Put another way, Pikiell NEEDS to win this."

"A must win period. We hung with Uconn, Maryland and Seton Hall this game can be won."

I'm inclined to agree with the SB fans - this is a winnable game for them. UMass needs to come out to win and not be pouting about not dancing.