From the Third Chair...

[Rizzo]

[SIZE="3"][color="DarkRed"]2013-2014 Massachusetts Minutemen Roster[/color][/SIZE]

Freshman point guard Michael Perry will be the best player on this team as soon as he steps on campus. That's the kind of instant impact player this program needed, and I'm glad I found him for Coach Sanders. With that said, I wanted him to go hard after Gene Walter (now with St. John's), but instead he settled for Cameron Karcher. Unfortunately, looking at Karcher, it seems as if if he dominated the HS ranks due to his elite athleticism, but he lacks any semblance of skills, outside of shooting, that will help this team. Bummer...

Michael Perry's Ratings:

• Inside Shooting - 2/2
• Outside Shooting - 8/8
• FT Shooting - 4/5
• Scoring - 5/7
• Passing - 7/8
• Ball Handling - 3/6
• Off. Rebounding - 5/7
• Def. Rebounding - 6/7
• Defensive Ability - 3/4
• Shot Blocking - 4/6
• Stealing - 7/9
• Drawing Fouls - 3/4
• Discipline - 4/6
• Court Intelligence - 3/5
• Athleticism - 7/7

Cameron Karcher's Ratings:

• Inside Shooting - 3/5
• Outside Shooting - 6/7
• FT Shooting - 5/6
• Scoring - 1/7
• Passing - 1/4
• Ball Handling - 1/4
• Off. Rebounding - 1/4
• Def. Rebounding - 1/4
• Defensive Ability - 1/5
• Shot Blocking - 1/4
• Stealing - 1/4
• Drawing Fouls - 2/2
• Discipline - 1/6
• Court Intelligence - 1/5
• Athleticism - 7/8

[Rizzo]

[SIZE="3"][color="Blue"]2013 NBA Draft Results[/color][/SIZE]

The Professional Basketball Draft took place last night - here are the players that were selected.

1. C Mills Mastern (Kansas)
2. PF Dion Jackson (Duke)
3. SF Greg Locklier (Kansas)
4. PF Brian Brown (UCLA)
5. SF Jerod Haston (Duke)
6. PG Marius Battles (Kansas)
7. PF George Rhodes (Maryland)
8. C Vincent Anderer (Duke)
9. PG Travis Tillete (Duke)
10. PF Bill Hughes (Arizona)
11. PF Ben Tebbs (Maryland)
12. PF Marcus Thorne (Syracuse)
13. C Johnny Crews (Connecticut)
14. PF Jerry Korn (Boston College)
15. SG James West (Vanderbilt)
16. SG Rob Fields (Michigan St.)
17. PF Jovan Cook (West Virginia)
18. SF Robert Gamble (Notre Dame)
19. PG Travis Moody (UCLA)
20. SG Garrick Henderson (Clemson)
21. SG Luis Wallace (Purdue)
22. PG Chris Jarmond (Florida)
23. SG Justin Hendricks (Syracuse)
24. SG Jabari Thomas (UCLA)
25. SG Teddy Dunn (Oklahoma)
26. PF Steven Faye (Memphis)
27. PG Shane Julius (UNLV)
28. SG Al Jordan (Syracuse)
29. PF Tanner Warner (UCLA)
30. SG Eugene Crawford (Utah)
31. SG Shyrone Chandler (Oklahoma St.)
32. SF Michael Hall (Duke)
33. C Lee Lyday (Stanford)
34. PG Dan Collier (LSU)
35. PF Lenny Frederick (Iowa)
36. PG Reginald Feaster (Indiana)
37. C Tyson Gearhart (Auburn)
38. C Josh Alexander (Michigan St.)
39. SF Joe Bannister (Southern Illinois)
40. SG Will Davis (Texas A&M)
41. SG Jeremy Lloyd (Arizona St.)
42. SG Arthur Grove (Missouri)
43. SG Luke Anderson (Duke)
44. PF Valder Cooper (Holy Cross)
45. SG Shaun Long (Florida)
46. PF Denny Fishback (Tennessee)
47. SG Chauncey Morris (Minnesota)
48. SG Matt Harper (Arizona)
49. PG Jarvis Wolfe (Oklahoma St.)
50. C Adam Powell (Illinois)
51. SG Michael Williams (Kansas)
52. SG Kelland Reis (Cincinnati)
53. SG Frank Lee (Seton Hall)
54. PG Terrell Penn (Wisconsin)
55. PG Derek Oliver (Utah)
56. SF Michael Lovitt (Rutgers)
57. SF Tony Silvine (Michigan)
58. C Tyler Gibson (UCLA)
59. SG Gene Condill (Duke)
60. PG DeShawn Simpson (Wyoming)

[Rizzo]

June 26, 2013

Amherst, MA - With four graduating seniors, we will have to reload at any position we can get, besides point guard. I will just be looking for the best available players out there, regardless of position, and will attempt to Coach Sanders' eyes to them. Here's the first list of recruits I am targeting:

SF Quincy Jeppson (#50 OVR, #15 POS) - An oustanding scorer and rebounder at the small forward position, Jeppson is also a pest on the defensive end and is a very good athlete.

PF Mark Price (#57, #11) - An inside scoring threat, Price uses his 6-8 frame effectively to get into a good scoring position as well as making himself an effective rebounder.

SG Mike Ferguson (#59, #9) - At 6-4, Ferguson bullies people as a very good scorer with his size would. He's also got good handles, which he uses to get to the rim effectively.

SF Jermaine Green (#65, #18) - Green looks to be a player that complements the stars. He doesn't excel at any one thing, but gives you a little bit of everything.

SG Matt Crosby (#113, #24) - Combo guard at 6-1, he can score the basketball while also using his handles and passing ability to get others involved.

SG Alex Smith (#139, #30) - One of the best shooters in junior college ranks, Smith can stroke it from outside, is a great free throw shooter and a very good athlete.

SF Adam Mast (#228, #56) - Rated as a an elite scorer, but his 13.7 PPG suggests otherwise. Could be an enigma or just a product of playing against lower competition.

PF Gene Payton (#229, #48) - Excels in scoring in the paint, rebounding and blocking shots. An above-average athlete which helps his raw, under-developed skills.

C Michael Denson (#233, #33) - Decent inside scorer and good low-post defender, but just an average rebounder and an awful athlete.

C Bernard Smith (#238, #35) - Does not bring much more than a few inside buckets. Raw as sushi and will need some serious development.

SG Kevin Jones (#294, #56) - Good shooter but a great passer. This 6-foot shooting guard could certainly make his move over the point guard position if a team needed him to.

[Rizzo]

September 18, 2013

Amherst, MA - Our schedule was finalized and announced today. After last season, I can only imagine that we will have some higher profile games. Let's take a look.

We open the season with five of our first six games at home. The season opener is against UMKC and then three days later we take on a team from the SEC in the Tennessee Volunteers. Then we head on the road to Marist before returning home for three straight games.

The first of the three is against William & Mary, but don't be surprised if many of the Minutemen players and fans are looking past that game as pre-season #7 Duke comes to town just four days later! This will be the biggest name opponent to come to the Mullins Center since the Marcus Camby days! After that, we head down to Monmouth.

Our next five games are on the road. We stay local for the first two, traveling to Dartmouth and then Boston College for the Commonwealth Classic. After that, we are in the Las Vegas Winter Jam and open up against Kent State. After the tournament, we make another stop on the West Coast as we take on mid-major powerhouse Gonzaga. We end our out-of-conference schedule at Pennsylvania.

Quite the schedule we have put together. Some serious competition on there and it will be interesting to see how we do against some of these elite teams.

[Rizzo]

September 25, 2013

Amherst, MA - Our four scholarship offers have gone out. I guess I didn't do such a good job recruiting players that Coach Sanders wants because he went off of my board for his offers.

SG Brian Davis (#129 OVR, #31 POS) has received an offer, but only ranks as as the #2 school on his top-10 list. He's a great scorer, utilizing his silky smooth jumper, and is a very good passer. If someone can get him the rock in open space, he'll be making defenses pay.

PG Luke Holbrook (#377, #89) has received an offer and has verbally committed to UMass. He is the pure point guard that we lacked last season. His passing and ball handling are both top-notch and he can score when needed. He's a very good defender and at 6-2, has great size for the point guard position. He and Michael Perry could be a great 1-2 combo at the guard positions for years!

SG Kevin Jones (#646, #137) has a verbal commitment to UMass to go along with a scholarship offer. A bit of a reach here, I think. He's not a great prospect and with us making some serious strides, I don't think we should settle for lesser recruits like this. Either way, he's got a good stroke, can pass the rock and has a knack for jumping the passing lanes for steals.

PG Michael Spann (#622, #124) is the last scholarship offer and has matched a verbal commitment with it. Why?!? We already have Michael Perry, you all but locked up Luke Holbrook and now you want to add another point guard? I don't understand what we are doing here. He looks to have some good skills, is a great passer and ball handler, can stroke it from deep and is automatic at the line. He's a very good athlete at just 6-feet tall.

Some interesting decisions by Coach Sanders to say the least. Let's see how this all works out for him. With my services clearly not needed here much more, I think I will be moving on at season's end...

[Rizzo]

October 9, 2013

Amherst, MA - A little change in the scholarship situation over the past couple weeks. Shooting guard Brian Davis no longer holds a scholarship offer from the UMass Minutemen. Since then, he has dropped us from #2 to #3 on his list.

So who gets the offer now? Why, it's none other than [color="DarkRed"]Louis Abrams[/color]! Don't know who that is? Yup, me neither. After reading up on him, he's a 6-7 small forward from Seaford, DE. He's rated as the 531st best recruit in this class and the 114th at his position, yet still considered an A prospect. Interesting...

As for his other ratings, he's an A scorer, a B for passing, rebounding, defense, shot blocking and athleticism, C for ball handling stealing and inside shooting and D for outside and free throw shooting. Could be a good role player when all is said and done in his four years at UMass.

[Rizzo]

[color="DarkRed"]Team Goals:[/color]

1. Qualify for NCAA Tournament
2. Win Conference Tournament
3. Win 15+ Games
4. Improve School Prestige

[color="Silver"]Atlantic 10 Conference Preview:[/color]

1. Charlotte 49ers
2. Xavier Musketeers
3. St. Joseph's Hawks
4. [color="DarkRed"]Massachusetts Minutemen[/color]
5. Dayton Flyers
6. Fordham Rams
7. Duquesne Dukes
8. Saint Louis Billikens
9. Richmond Spiders
10. St. Bonaventure Bonnies
11. George Washington Colonials
12. Rhode Island Rams
13. Temple Owls

[color="DarkOrange"]Associated Press Preseason Top-25:[/color]

1. Arizona Wildcats
2. Kentucky Wildcats
3. Maryland Terrapins
4. North Carolina Tar Heels
5. Kansas Jayhawks
6. Florida Gators
7. UCLA Bruins
8. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
9. Indiana Hoosiers
10. LSU Tigers
11. Pittsburgh Panthers
12. Syracuse Orange
13. Connecticut Huskies
14. Georgetown Hoyas
15. Duke Blue Devils
16. Iowa Hawkeyes
17. Oklahoma State Cowboys
18. Texas Longhorns
19. Stanford Cardinal
20. Illinois Fighting Illini
21. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
22. Oklahoma Sooners
23. Michigan State Spartans
24. Memphis Tigers
25. Louisville Cardinals

[PointGuard]

Too bad to have lost Davis, but maybe Abrams will be a pleasant surprise since his overall "A" rating MAY be more indicative of his abilities that his ranking as #531 in the nation. Hopefully your scout picked up on something that the national rankings did not (does your scout have good scouting ratings?). Abram's good ratings for scoring, passing, rebounding, defense, shot blocking and athleticism are promising.

It will be interesting to see what kind of specific skills ratings (and his star rating) he shows up with when he arrives at school next year.

[PointGuard]

It seems that your head coach and your scout should be cluing you in on whom they are interested in and giving you some direction so you can work on those players.

Maybe that type of feedback from the HC and Scout to the Recruiter can be an improvement Gary could make for DDSCB3. Since you're the one experimenting with asst coaching, I'll leave it up to you to make any suggestions to Gary.

[Rizzo]

Too bad to have lost Davis, but maybe Abrams will be a pleasant surprise since his overall "A" rating MAY be more indicative of his abilities that his ranking as #531 in the nation. Hopefully your scout picked up on something that the national rankings did not (does your scout have good scouting ratings?). Abram's good ratings for scoring, passing, rebounding, defense, shot blocking and athleticism are promising.

It will be interesting to see what kind of specific skills ratings (and his star rating) he shows up with when he arrives at school next year.

I'm hoping his ratings are indicative of his skills rather than the national ranking. Last year, we signed the #126 player in the nation and he came in as 0.5 stars with a potential to be a 1.0 star player! BUSTTT!!!

It seems that your head coach and your scout should be cluing you in on whom they are interested in and giving you some direction so you can work on those players.

Maybe that type of feedback from the HC and Scout to the Recruiter can be an improvement Gary could make for DDSCB3. Since you're the one experimenting with asst coaching, I'll leave it up to you to make any suggestions to Gary.

Are the head coach and scout supposed to be making suggestions as to who I should be recruiting? I have no idea how it is supposed to work, I'm just going along with the flow.