Turtleboy: We Need UMass in NCAA Tournament at Any Costs

Monday, March 23, 2015

Turtleboy

March Madness is easily the greatest tournament on earth. It’s exciting, it’s fun, and it generates millions of dollars. And it would probably be a lot better if we had a team to root for around here.

There were only three teams from New England in the tournament this year – Providence, Harvard, and Northeastern. They won a grand total of zero games. Harvard and Northeastern at least came close, but PC got smoked by Dayton.

But here’s the thing – no one cares about those teams. Do you anyone who went to undergrad at Harvard? Because I don’t. And Northeastern? That was for St. John’s kids. And don’t even get me started on Boston College. There isn’t a higher concentration of people with boat shoes and polo shirts than Newton Community College.

Massachusetts has one team and one team alone – UMass. It’s the only team we can possibly get behind. Unfortunately for us they suck. Being a diehard UMass fan is a non-stop cycle of disappointment and heartache. Last year they made the tournament for the first time since 1998, and then proceeded to get annihilated by 11th seeded Tennessee in a game that was not close for a single moment.

That was the highlight of my UMass fandom since John Calipari skipped town almost 20 years ago. In hindsight making the tournament might’ve made things worse for UMass fans. They re-upped one of the most inept, uninspiring coaches in the country in Derek Kellogg, largely because they believed he was somehow responsible for this.

But it turns out the only reason we made the tournament last year was because 5’6” Chaz Williams literally put the team on his back. This year was the test for Kellogg to see if he could win without Chaz, since he had never had a winning season without him on the team. Instead they finished 17-15, lost in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament to LaSalle, lost six of their last seven games, and didn’t even qualify for the NIT.

Rock bottom.

I’ve been saying it for years – UMass needs to sell its soul. You can’t win at a school like UMass, which doesn’t have the same appeal to recruite as a bigger name like North Carolina, Kansas, or Duke. You must have a coach who’s willing to bend the rules, embroil your program in controversy, and win at all costs. It’s worked for Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun, and Calipari.

Yes, I am aware that the Minutemen had their only Final Four run “vacated” because Marcus Camby was getting money from boosters the whole time. But that doesn’t matter to me and it shouldn’t matter to you, because it was AWESOME. This state went nuts for the Minutemen back in the mid-90’s. That will never, ever happen with crap-happy teams like BC, PC, Harvard, or Northeastern.