This column will be an opportunity for our journalists to pull back the curtain and write a bit more about their experiences covering UMass athletics, as well as a chance to offer opinions on the happenings in Amherst across a variety of sports. It will also serve as an opportunity to bring up topics that haven’t received the shine they probably should.
Here’s the first weekly installment of our UMass column: Through The Maroon.
On Sunday evening I sat down and planned out my trip to Brooklyn for Atlantic 10 men’s basketball media day that was scheduled to start Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.
I looked at how far it would take to get there (the GPS told me three hours and change), picked out what parking garage to park in, and chose which teams I wanted to hear and gather information from.
Well, after I woke up at 5 a.m. on Tuesday and got ready, I ate breakfast and punched that same parking garage into my phone. The once-three-hour trip now said it would take four and a half hours. I left my breakfast on the counter and dipped immediately.
Yeah, somehow I forgot to account for morning city traffic.
I zipped through western Mass. and most of Connecticut before I finally got into Brooklyn around 9:30a.m. (UMass head coach Frank Martin and forward Matt Cross were scheduled to talk at 10:15). Being in a rush during rush hour is quite frustrating, by the way. I sat at the same traffic light for nearly 30 minutes.
It became clear I wasn’t going to make it for the UMass portion of media day — the only one I actually needed to be there for. That was a bummer. I thought I had persevered through all that horn-honking and those garbage drivers for nothing.
But when I eventually got into the Barclays Center at 10:45, I immediately texted Sam Allard — the team’s SID — to ask if he could get me time with Martin at some point, to which he was very accommodating.
I ended up hearing from two-thirds of the A-10 teams in attendance, met some awesome coaches, other fellow media members, and had eventually had a great chat with Martin at the end of the day.
And to top it off, I walked right by Kelsey Plum and exchanged smiles with her on my way out. It was a stress-filled trip, but it was well worth it.
Oh, and, of course, I left just in time to catch the 5 p.m. traffic rush on the way out.
Garrett Cote can be reached at gcote@gazettenet.com
There’s much still to uncover about this year’s UMass men’s hockey team. One of those things? The goaltending situation.
Head coach Greg Carvel sung Cole Brady’s praises during preseason and over opening weekend. He then got the start in the team’s first game against AIC and put together a 36-save performance. Since then, freshman goaltender Michael Hrabal has gotten some run in net as well — Brady and Hrabal split time during the team’s exhibition game against Dartmouth, and after Brady and the Minutemen dropped the first game against No. 6 Michigan last weekend, Hrabal got the nod on Saturday, stopping 24 shots in a win.
It’s too early to tell exactly how the Minutemen will play the situation — whether one goalie will win the starting job outright, or if both Brady and Hrabal will share the crease this season.
“I’m happy with either one. But it can’t be two goalies and neither of them are carrying the weight. If they both deserve it, they both carry the weight equally, then we’ll play two goalies. If one guy takes the lead and doesn’t give it up, we’re playing one goalie,” Carvel said. “The problem is when you get multiple goalies and nobody’s carrying the weight, and that was more what we saw last year.”
After his impressive win against Michigan, Carvel spoke about what he’s seen so far from Hrabal.
“What’s really stood out to me is he has a lot of confidence and it doesn’t bleed into arrogance. He has a very strong presence, a very calming presence,” Carvel said. “He’s competitive and he’s a goalie that you can feel real comfortable about knowing that he’s between the pipes, that he’s going to fight, he’s going to work, he’s going to fight to make that extra save.”
Carvel doesn’t share starter info prior to games, so we won’t know who gets the nod against No. 19/20 Minnesota State. But both goalies have had time in net to plead their case. Now it’s up to the staff to make the call.
“Both guys have two games. So that was the plan, is to get both of them two games and let them make the decisions for us,” Carvel said.
Hannah Bevis can be reached at hbevis@gazettenet.com
Not even the person who wakes up wearing Maroon and White pajamas singing the UMass fight song thought the Minutemen were going to go into State College and pull off the upset against sixth-ranked Penn State on Saturday.
With that said, a 63-0 defeat should not be acceptable to anyone supporting the program.
Just look back to UMass’ infant days in the FBS for reference. Against the SEC, the Minutemen played Vanderbilt close in 2014 (a 34-31 loss) and 2013 (24-7). In 2016, UMass was competitive against Florida (24-7), Mississippi State (47-35) and South Carolina (34-28) and the year after, competed against Tennessee (17-13) and Mississippi State (34-23). Last year against Texas A&M, the Minutemen held the Aggies to 20 points in a 20-3 loss.
You can even point to 2010, when the FCS Minutemen went into the Big House and nearly upset Michigan (a 42-37 loss).
Those scores don’t look like the 63-0 loss to the Nittany Lions or the 59-14 defeat to Auburn earlier in the year. Sitting at 1-7, UMass is at an all too familiar point — no hopes of playing for a Bowl Game and without a conference, nothing really to play for.
In those early years, when they didn’t routinely get their doors blown off by Power 5 schools, there was hope that the program was heading in the right direction with stuff to build off. That optimism doesn’t exist at the moment.
With a bye this weekend, the Minutemen close things out against Army, Merrimack, Liberty and UConn.
What does UMass need to do to make people feel like things are trending up? Beating Merrimack is a must, but stealing a few other wins would be key to regaining faith and gaining any sort of momentum going into 2024.
Thomas Johnston can be reached at tjohnston@recorder.com