On Wednesday it was Brison Gresham, and on Saturday DeJon Jarreau. Surprise late arrivals and surprise early returns were the theme last week for UMass.
It’s a pretty safe bet at this point that Unique McLean is going to redshirt. So inserting the New Orleans duo into the lineup gives the Minutemen a full roster of 14 going forward.
Through seven games, there’s been things to be optimistic about and things that will need to be addressed.
Reasons for optimism:
Ty Flowers won’t be as good every night as he was on Saturday when he had career highs of 20 points and nine rebounds. But in the past two games he’s gone from looking like a guy thinking too much to the guy coach Derek Kellogg raved about in the preseason.
He’ll likely play small forward and power forward, and gives UMass an outside shooter and a tall athletic player at the front of the press.
Jarreau being back should help the team and especially Luwane Pipkins. Pipkins already looks like the most advanced defensive guard UMass has had as a freshman. With Jarreau out he was asked to guard the opponent’s best guard, run the team from the point and score points.
That might not be what has led to his shooting slump, but it’s as good a guess as any. Jarreau takes some of that off his plate.
Gresham and Chris Baldwin figure to get better.
Kellogg said he plans to get both prepared to play power forward as they give him the option of playing a big lineup while still being athletic enough to run and defend fullcourt.
This week should be revelatory for Gresham, who is expected to have offensive skills, but hasn’t had a chance to show them yet.
There’s no player that has to have a good night for UMass to have a chance. UCF was the best team the Minutemen have faced and they had a shot to win late despite a rough night from Donte Clark.
Reasons for concern
It’s too simplistic to say that free-throw shooting cost UMass Saturday’s game, because it was in the game until the final second despite missing 7 of 9 from the line.
But had the Minutemen made a few more of those, things might have been different.
Overall this season they’re just 63.4 percent, a number that will have to improve for UMass to win close games.
Pipkins was a good free-throw shooter in high school, but he seems rustier there from missing last year than anywhere else.
Conference play is harder. When St. Bonaventure arrives on Dec. 30, the Bonnies will have a lot of video available to break down for each of the Minutemen. Will the young players be able to adapt and evolve when opposing coaches have figured out how to make them uncomfortable?
UMass has only played one true road game and Ole Miss was hardly an oppressive environment.
Playing at Providence (Saturday), VCU, Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure, George Washington, etc., will take more focus and maturity. UMass might handle it fine, but it has yet to show it has.
MY TOP 10 — 1. UCLA, 2. Villanova, 3. Baylor, 4. Kansas, 5. Duke, 6. Kentucky, 7. Creighton, 8. North Carolina, 9. Gonzaga, 10. St. Mary’s.
For the rest of my Top 25, visit the College Hoop Week Guide on gazettenet.com’s UMass Sports Blog.
GAME OF THE WEEK: — No. 5 Duke vs. No. 21 Florida, Tuesday 9 p.m. ESPN, Madison Square Garden — People like to criticize ESPN, but its annual work for the cancer-fighting Jimmy V Foundation is eminently laudable. The doubleheader at Madison Square Garden is always among the best matchups in December.
This game figures to feature the closest Duke has had to a full roster this year against a Florida team on the rise.
ATLANTIC 10 GAME OF THE WEEK: La Salle vs. No. 1 Villanova, Tuesday 7 p.m. ESPN2, The Palestra — On one hand, the Explorers are facing the No. 1 team in the nation and the defending national champions.
On the other, this is an ol’ school Philly rivalry in a classic old barn between a pair of Catholic schools who’ve been tussling for decades.
Hard to picture Villanova being overwhelmed by its newly minted No. 1 ranking, but it wouldn’t be the first time it happened.
BUZZER BEATER — Duke and North Carolina might have the best rivalry in college basketball, but two Hall of Famers criticized their fan bases last week.
Tar Heels coach Roy Williams, who grows increasingly grouchy every year, attacked his own fans after losing to Indiana.
He used the Hoosier crowd to complain about the UNC crowds in the Dean Smith Center: “But it was a wonderful crowd. Gosh. I’d like to play in front of a crowd like that in the Smith Center every night other than the frickin’ Duke game.”
Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who visits Cameron Indoor during conference play, found a better on-campus atmosphere than Duke’s … at Grand Canyon. For casual fans, that is a Division I school where Louisville inexplicably played a road game.
“Whether we go to Duke, Kentucky, nothing was as tough as that environment tonight,” said Pitino, whose team escaped 79-70. “They orchestrated on a timeout with music and the band so you can’t hear one word in the timeout. They have more students than come to one of our games. So I’m extremely grateful we won. And I’m really impressed with what you have here.”
Information from personal interviews, newspaper articles and sports information releases was used in this report.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage