‘Twas a five-hour flight, and the flight
was rough (actually, the flight was pretty smooth). Though I be scared of
heights, I can still never get high enough (not true for either phrase of that
last sentence, but ‘tis the next line of the rap, so what can I do? By the way,
if you know this song, you’re my new best friend).
Despite all that, the Stanford
Cardinal are now gettin’ down in New York City alongside U-U-U---U-Dub,
Minnesota and U-U-U---U-MASS (pretty sure that’s not an actual chant, excuse my
lack of A10 cheering knowledge) to play for the second most important title in
college basketball.
Stanford is three-fifths of the way
through its very own drive for five. To get the job 80 percent done, the Farm
Boys must take down the UMASS Minutemen, a team the Cardinal got cozy with quite
frequently in the postseason a couple of decades ago. Though Stanford lost to
Bobby Knight’s favorite coach two consecutive years in the second round of the
Big Dance (Stanford was eight seeds higher/lower, however you prefer to say it,
than UMASS both times - 2 vs. 10 and 1 vs. 9), the Card beat “the team from the
A10” in 1991, which was…
…you already knew - the last and only
time Stanford has won the NIT. Moreover, Stanford knocked off UMASS in the
Garden in the semifinals of the ’91 NIT by two points.
But of course, that was 21 years ago,
before even current UMASS Head Coach Derek Kellogg played his first game at his
eventual alma mater for John Calipari (Kellogg was a part of the ’95 team that
took down Stanford in the second round). Lots has changed about the Minutemen,
so get up to date with a program you probably haven’t cared about one way or
another for 16 years.
UMASS - The
Program
The Minutemen are postseason regulars
throughout history, but 2012 marks the first time UMASS has made a postseason
tournament since 2008, when they lost to 2007 NCAA runner-up Ohio State in the
NIT Championship game. They also have only made the NCAA tournament twice since
Coach Cal bolted for greener (questionable) pastures in the NBA with the New Jersey Nets- and those were the very next two years, so it has been 14 years
since UMASS has been in the Big Dance. Their seven-year streak of NCAA tourneys
made account for all seven of the school’s NCAA
appearances.
UMASS has made the NIT 11 times with
an all-time record of 13-12 in the C.M. Newton Invite. This is the Minutemen’s
third NIT Final Four appearance, with the other two coming in 1991 and 2008. The
three years leading up to 2011-12 were rough; after losing to the Buckeyes in
the NIT Title game, then-coach Travis Ford emigrated to Stillwater, paving the
way for Derek Kellogg to take over. He won 12 games in both his first and second
seasons as head coach before reaching .500 for the first time in his third
season in 2010-2011 (though the year ended in very disappointing fashion; losing
to Fordham, a team who was on a 41-game A10 losing streak, and then falling to
Dayton in the first round of the conference tourney by four
touchdowns).
UMASS - The 2011-12
Edition
Needless to say, expectations weren’t
all that high for UMASS in a deep Atlantic 10, as the Minutemen were picked to
finish 12th in the 14-team league (I guess Atlantic 14 isn’t sexy enough).
Kellogg put a heavy emphasis on running and pressing coming into the season, and
it paid off probably as well as it could have. Their up-tempo offense has
resulted in 77.3 points per game (15th in the nation), 74.8 possessions per game
(7th in nation), 2,273 attempted field goals (2nd in nation) and 2,691
possessions overall, which leads the country. On defense, they trap opponents
into more than 16 turnovers per game and are charged with almost nine robberies
per contest, 8th in the NCAA.
Those stats have bled into the win
column, as UMASS has won ten more games than they did in 2010-11 and are the
last A10 team standing with a 25-11 record. The Minutemen had an impressive 11-3
non-conference record, but didn’t really beat anybody of note - taking down
Davidson at home was probably their best non-conference win, and throttling
Boston College by 36 “on the road” was their biggest name victory outside of
conference play.
In conference, the Minutemen got off
to a very good start; actually, it was more than a start, going 7-3 in their
first 10 conference games and squarely on the NCAA bubble. Included in that hot
stretch was a 13-point win over eventual NCAA participant Saint Louis. However,
the Minutemen would lose four of their next five, and any at-large consideration
was blown out of the water. Still, UMASS finished 9-7 in the A10 regular season,
good for a tie for fifth with La Salle, Dayton and St. Joe’s. They got their
mojo back in the A10 tournament, knocking off Temple in the quarterfinals for
their first win over a Top-25 opponent this season before running into a red-hot
Bonnie squad that would eventually take the league’s
auto-bid.
Their 22-11, 9-7 performance was good
enough for a 5-seed in the best Field of 32 (take that, CIT!), and the Minutemen
have been the anti-Stanford in the NIT, winning all three of their NIT games on
the road. It started with a
double-OT 101-96 thriller over Mississippi State in Starkville. The
Minutemen were up 14 with 15 minutes to play before winning it in 50 minutes.
Up next was a date with #1 seed Seton Hall. Ahead by one late in the game, Chaz Williams and Terrell Vinson hit
back-to-back threes to pull ahead with 1:30 to play en route to a 77-67 victory,
setting up a clash of old friends Bruiser Flint and Derek Kellogg (Kellogg was
Calipari’s point guard at UMASS, Flint was an assistant at the time) in the
dragon’s lair at Drexel.
UMASS - The Drexel
Game
Drexel owned this game for the first
24 minutes. The Dragons held a double-digit lead for much of the first half and
were up by 17 with 16:26 to play in the second. They crushed the Minutemen on
the glass 43-21 and at one point had UMASS outboarded 17-4. They weren’t phased
at all by the trapping D and forced UMASS into a zone in the first half thanks
to the work Sammy Givens was doing (the dude had two and-1s to start the game).
The Dragons proceeded to carve up the zone for most of the first half, moving
well without the ball, finding baseline cutters and getting all the weak-side
offensive rebounds in the world. Kellogg picked up a T 91 seconds into the game,
Drexel fans were going B-A-N-A-N-A-S as if Gwen Stefani were in 2005 form
(though I wish she was still in 1996 mode when she was just a girl), and the
Minutemen were dead in the water.
And then the final 16:26 happened. The
Minutemen took their pressure defense to a whole new level, Terrell Vinson went
bonkers with 14 second-half points, and UMASS staved off multiple Dragon
attempts to send the game into overtime en route to a 72-70 squeaker, placing
UMASS in NYC.
UMASS - The Starting
5
·
Chaz Williams (#3, 5-9, 175-pound RS Sophomore
Guard) - He is UMASS’s engine. The Hofstra transfer had enough of CAA play and
found himself as the leader of “the team from the A10” in his first eligible
season. He brings more than close to 17 points, more than six assists and almost
four and a half rebounds per game. He brings, as Platz told me on Sunday, a
desire to win greater than anyone else on the court - at least that has been the
case during the NIT. The kid from Brooklyn has stepped it up in a huge way in
the NIT, averaging 22.7 points, 6.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds in the first three
games. Like all good small guards (the 5-9 listing is generous), he’s a crafty
penetrator who can get off some acrobatic shots (split two post defenders in
mid-air in the Drexel game) and is super quick. He has some absolute DIMES, too,
a couple of which I will link to throughout the article - one I won’t link to is
a no look 90-mph fastball he threw from the right wing to the right block to
Sean Carter for the and-1 dunk against Drexel. When he’s going, as the UMASS
athletic department likes to say, they’re playing
Chaz-ket-ball.
·
Jesse Morgan (#5, 6-5, 190-pound Sophomore Guard)
- Dude had a perfect game against Rhode Island (happened to be their last
regular season game): 25 points on 9-9 FG and 6-6 from downtown. Good thing he
didn’t miss; UMASS only beat the lowly Rams by four. Averaging about 10 points
per game on the season, Morgan is the first dude to have such a perfect game
from the field (shoot at least nine shots, six of which are threes) since Bryce Taylor did it in the Pac-10 Title game for Oregon five years ago. He’s a big
part of that opportunistic defense with 53 steals on the season (second to
Chaz-ma-tazz). When he gets a theft, he’s going the other way, getting an and-1
finish off one such steal against Drexel in the first
half.
·
Raphiael Putney (#34, 6-9, 185-pound RS Sophomore
Forward) - This cat is an athlete. Has absolutely no meat on his bones, but he
can jump, and he can dunk it - he has done so almost 30 times this year. His
dunk against St. Joe’s on January 14 (the same day Stanford smacked Colorado by
20 at home to get to 5-1 in Pac-12 play) is a nominee for GEICO Play of the
Year. The dunk is nice, but the feed from Chaz is even sicker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAFD_nUgxwM. He has another dunk, off an alley-oop
thrown from half court, which is a nominee for dunk of the year. Again, the feed
from Williams is probably better than the dunk itself, but this is still pretty
tight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLx7jkcYQ5Y. He rebounds pretty well for someone who
only weighs 185 pounds, grabbing almost six per game, but some of that is
probably because there are a ton of extra possessions in a UMASS game compared
to a normal one.
·
Terrell Vinson (#33, 6-8, 220-pound Junior- Forward)
- Kellogg’s Mr. Clutch in the postseason. He is averaging more than 13 points
per game in the NIT, but it’s when he has gotten his that makes him so
important. Against Seton Hall, he scored eight points in the final 6:22 to seal
the deal and scored 14 second half points against Drexel (18 overall) as a huge
contributor in the comeback dub-sac over Drexel. The guy is very athletic,
blocking a shot in transition to send the Drexel game to the under-eight
mandatory in the first half and can also throw the lob pass, setting up Sean
Carter for an alley-oop against the Dragons.
·
Jay-Z- er,
Sean Carter (#54, 6-9, 245-pound RS
Senior Center) - The dunkmaster himself. He has 52 of ‘em on the season, which
accounts for 47 percent of all his made field goals on the season. Though he did travel on his first
possession down on the block against Drexel, he can move pretty well (he will
finish alley-oops) and has good hands- you have to if you can catch that no-look
Williams pass. He has upped his
play in the NIT stats wise, averaging 12.3 points and eight boards per game in
the NIT as opposed to 8.1 and 6.5, respectively, in the regular season. With the
name Sean Carter, you can expect a ton of Hova and Illuminati references in the
And-1 article for this game.
UMASS - The
Bench
·
Javorn Farrell (#0, 6-5, 215-pound Junior Forward) -
It’s pronounced “Juh-VON”, in case you were wondering. This is another guy who
has stepped it up during the postseason, averaging 9.3 ppg, and 3.2 apg during
the A10 Tourney and NIT combined. He has also been judicious and lethal from
downtown, connecting on seven of his 12 three-point attempts in those six games.
While he can shoot it, he is also a slasher and can take it strong from the
perimeter.
·
Maxie Esho (#1, 6-8, 205-pound RS Freshman
Forward) - He averages five points per game, but has shown a capability to
really score it. Esho was named the A10 Rookie of the Week after dropping 18 on
the Explorers of La Salle in addition to grabbing six boards and collecting
three steals. Another guy who can take it to the hoop- he got into the Drexel
game and almost immediately looked for his offense.
·
Freddie Riley (#4, 6-5, 190-pound Junior Guard) -
Beware of shooter. He has hit at least three threes in seven games this year and
is one of four guys on the roster who have made at least 50 on the season (that
makes UMASS one of only four teams who can make that statement - Florida, Iowa State and those Penguins from Youngstown State are the other three). Truth be
told, this guy is more of a volume shooter (my favorite basketball euphemism).
Although he has logged the seventh most minutes of anybody on the roster, he has
jacked up the most threes, attempting a long ball once every 3.69 minutes he is
out there. His one field goal attempt per 2.58 minutes also leads the team. His
percentages aren’t pretty - .347 overall, .305 from three, .522 from free
(though just 12-23 on the season from the charity stripe).
The Stat
Comparison
|
Category |
UMASS |
Stanford |
|
Scoring |
77.3
(72.4) |
71.7
(63.5) |
|
FG% |
.437
(.410) |
.446
(.417) |
|
3FG% |
.352
(.307) |
.379
(.341) |
|
FT% |
.675 |
.664 |
|
Rebounds |
39.3
(38.8) |
36.7
(32.2) |
|
Defensive Rebounding
% |
.659
(.654) |
.719
(.652) |
|
Assists |
15.4
(14.8) |
12.7
(10.7) |
|
Assists/FG
ratio |
.559
(.594) |
.503
(.479) |
|
Turnovers |
14.8
(16.6) |
13.7
(14.9) |
|
Steals |
8.9
(7.2) |
6.4
(6.7) |
|
Blocks |
4.7
(4.0) |
3.3
(3.7) |
|
Percentage of shots as
3s |
.353
(.352) |
.321
(.312) |
The one stat that really stands out to
me is UMASS opponents’ assist-to-field goal ratio of .594 - that’s pretty high.
When teams are effective against UMASS’ trapping defense, it’s because they are
able to move the ball quickly and efficiently, meaning people have to move
without the ball. UMASS almost forces you to play team basketball on offense
because if you try to dribble your way out of their traps, zones and overall
pressure, you’re probably not going to have much success.
So ball movement is a big key for me
for Stanford going into Tuesday night’s matchup with the Minutemen- non-ball
handlers can’t stand idle and hope Chasson or Aaron can just go Kobe on
everyone. Coach Dawkins likens this team to Cleveland State and Washington a
little bit. It will take a Cleveland State-like effort, not a Washington one, in
order to have the chance to play Washington again (or Minnesota for the first
time).
Addendum - Questions I asked Derek
Kellogg
Yeah, it was a pool reporting thing at
the press conference today with all four teams, so I got in what I could. Some
of these questions made more sense in the context of what other reporters asked.
I got like five in, so it certainly isn’t worth billing The Bootleg for a
separate column. Here’s what I had to ask Coach Kellogg. For what it’s worth, he
seemed like a great guy:
The Bootleg (Coach Kellogg was talking about
UMASS fan support; he estimates 2,500 UMASS fans will be at The Garden): How much of Chaz’s family do you
expect to be in attendance?
Derek Kellogg: Oh I’m not sure (laughs). Probably as
many as they’ll let in at the Garden! Nah, he’s got a nice group of family and
friends that have followed him around and have come to his games, even make the
trek down to the Mullin Center. I think that’s one reason why we’ve done so well
with players from New York City is because it’s close enough where they can get
to it, but it’s far enough away where he can live his own life and be a college
student. It’s almost that perfect distance from Brooklyn/Bronx/Queens/wherever
to get to UMASS.
TB: I’m a West Coast guy, how far away -
how long is it?
DK: It’s about 2:45, three hours maximum.
Depends on who is driving, if there’s any traffic, you know. Where you from on
the West Coast?
TB: I’m out from the Bay Area, here for
Stanford.
DK: It’s nice out there!
*other questions by other
reporters*
TB: You were just talking about the press
in the second half against Drexel - what was the difference in your press in the
second half, as opposed to the first half?
DK: Well we were able to get into it,
because we made some baskets. I thought we made a couple of open threes that
went down, finally. The biggest thing against Drexel is you have to score on
‘em, and that’s pretty difficult to do - I think they were top ten in the
country in scoring defense. We were able to get a couple of shots to go and we
were able to set the press up, and then guys always seem to play a little better
after they have scored some baskets - they play with a little more energy and
intensity, and my team is not different from a lot of kids out there where they
play better when they score.
TB: I heard you mention to another
reporter that you talked to Coach Cal after his win yesterday. Did Coach Cal get
a hold of you and Bruiser after the UMASS-Drexel game?
DK: Yeah, he texted probably both of us,
I would assume. But actually, his text was “I didn’t watch the game,
congratulations. I couldn’t watch the game.” And then a couple of the other guys
said they watched it but sat on their hands. I think for a guy whose both guys
have coached for ‘em and worked for ‘em and played for ‘em, you probably can’t
root for anybody and you certainly don’t appreciate the game. Cal has been
pretty helpful with me this season and especially on this run to just check in
and text and call. He’s got words of advice without giving advice; just kind of
a comment or a one-liner that you don’t realize he’s giving you advice until you
realize he’s giving you advice, so it’s been pretty good. He’s been through it a
few times, is what I mean.
TB: Any chance you schedule a game with
Kentucky in the near future?
DK: Probably not, probably not. It was
kind of like the Drexel-UMASS game. You win, but nobody totally really wins. So
it’s one of those deals. You’d rather go up against somebody you don’t know, and
he’s got five first-round picks.
*longer break between
questions*
TB: What do you remember about the ’95
game against Stanford in the NCAA Tournament; you played in that,
right?
DK: Yeah, I remember that they came in
with a really good reputation. I know that Brevin Knight, who was the guy I was
covering, was one of the best point guards in the country. But I thought we had
a really good college basketball team that we would be tough to be no matter who
it was. It was a good game that we prevailed, and on that particular day, I
thought we were the better team. I also thought Marcus Camby was one of the top
ten college players in a long time, so I thought he made a big difference just
patrolling the paint and allowing our defense to press up on guys.
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