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By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — There are times when a head coach does everything they can to put their team in the best possible position to win throughout a season and for whatever reason things still don’t work out. It can be recruiting prior to the year, preparation, in-game adjustments, tweaking substitution patterns based on matchups and anything in between.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — Frank Martin has landed his first transfer of the offseason. On Monday morning, Donovan Brown committed to play basketball for the Minutemen next season. Brown played for Division 2 Florida Tech, where he averaged 20.7 points per game and shot just above 36 percent from beyond the arc.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — Well, it didn’t take long for Division 1 men’s basketball players to take advantage of the transfer portal opening on Monday. As of Friday morning, there are already more than 1,000 total D1 men’s players in the portal. Some of them are still playing in the NCAA Tournament right now. Three of them have departed from UMass.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — For nearly 30 years of his life, UMass offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian has been a football coach. He’s had stints at the high school, collegiate and professional levels, his most recent gig being at Utah – where he was the program’s offensive analyst and quarterbacks coach.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — Tied 2-2 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, a dormant UMass baseball offense needed a spark – its only two runs coming from Albany miscues.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — After watching for just 10 minutes, I reached for my phone, picked it up and texted as many of my friends who love the game of basketball as I could.

The UMass women’s basketball team was in the driver’s seat entering the fourth quarter of its WNIT second round game with Buffalo on Sunday afternoon. Playing its future MAC foe, the Minutewomen led by 16 (61-45) entering the fourth quarter and looked as if they had another postseason win in the bag.

By GARRETT COTE

Not even three minutes into the NCAA Division 3 women’s basketball national championship game, it was clear Smith College had its hands full with undefeated NYU — the reigning Div. 3 champions which held a 61-game winning streak entering Saturday. The Pioneers were well aware of just how dominant the Violets are considering they lost to them in last year’s title game, but after NYU ripped off the game’s first nine points, the journey to the top of the mountain became even steeper.

By GARRETT COTE

For the third consecutive season, the Smith College women’s basketball team is headed to the NCAA Division III Final Four. The Pioneers held their send off outside of Ainsworth Gymnasium on Tuesday afternoon, as they walked through a crowd of supporters and onto their team bus, which headed to the airport where they took off for Virginia.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — Ally Yamada and Sofia Rosa sat on the floor of Ainsworth Gymnasium behind the group of 16 Smith College women’s basketball players as Pioneers assistant coach Jen MacAulay broke down film on Smith’s NCAA Division III Final Four opponent, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, on Monday afternoon.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — The stellar turnaround of Mike Leflar and his UMass women’s basketball team has earned them a chance to play postseason basketball, as their final season representing the Atlantic 10 isn’t over quite yet.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — On two separate occasions this winter, Mullins Center staff spilled onto Jack Leaman Court as soon as the final horn sounded to end a UMass men’s basketball game. They aren’t typically in a huge rush to break down equipment, especially if the next event to take place in the arena is another basketball game, but the Minutemen hockey team had a game about five hours later – they needed to change the hardwood to the ice in time for warm-ups.

By GARRETT COTE

Smith College is ‘elite’ once again.

By GARRETT COTE

When the NCAA Division 3 Women’s Basketball bracket was released on March 3, Smith College was thrilled to be hosting yet another opening weekend, just as it had done the previous three tournaments. But despite earning the right to play first and second round games at home, the Pioneers were given an extremely rigorous path to a potential third straight Final Four.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — When Joe Harasymiak accepted the UMass football head coaching job back in early December, a handful of members on the Rutgers staff – where Harasymiak was previously the defensive coordinator – were excited for him. They also wanted to go with him based on the relationships they had built with him over the course of their time together.

By GARRETT COTE

The time has come for the UMass men’s basketball team, as it begins its trek through one final Atlantic 10 Conference tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — The Smith College women’s basketball team’s nine-point fourth quarter lead in the NCAA Division 3 Women’s Basketball second round had evaporated. Amherst College clawed its way back in it on the defensive end, holding the host Pioneers to just six points for the first 9 minutes, 30 seconds of the frame, and got a massive 3-pointer from guard Reagan Pahl with 13 seconds left to tie the game at 50 apiece. Smith’s deafening crowd turned silent as head coach Lynn Hersey called timeout to draw up a play.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — When the final buzzer sounded to signal the end of the UMass men’s basketball team’s regular season, which ended in a 74-51 loss to Loyola Chicago on Saturday afternoon at Mullins Center, the arena’s staff immediately began tearing up the floorboards of Jack Leaman Court to get ready for the Minutemen’s hockey game at 7:30 p.m.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — Two years away from the NCAA Division 3 Women’s Basketball Tournament felt like an eternity for Amherst College and head coach G.P. Gromacki.

By GARRETT COTE

After defeating George Washington in their regular season finale on Feb. 26, the UMass women’s basketball team completed a turnaround for the ages and earned the No. 7 seed in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — After walking through the ground-level door of Ainsworth Gymnasium, up a flight of stairs and through the first-floor doors, you’re immediately met with five trophies staring right back at you. The two on the end are NEWMAC championship trophies. The three in the middle? A pair of Division 3 Women’s Basketball Final Four trophies and a national-runner up one.