Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

UMass basketball players using upset talk as motivation

Cade Belisle/Daily Collegian
Cade Belisle/Daily Collegian

Every year, there’s that one matchup in the second round of the NCAA Tournament that ends in a major upset of a higher-seeded team.

Usually those games get so much talk and traction that by the time it occurs, it almost seems expected.

This year, that higher seed is the Massachusetts men’s basketball team.

It’s been 16 years since UMass last played in the NCAA Tournament, and based on predictions and rumblings from experts around the country, that appearance could be short lived.

When the Minutemen take the court Friday night against either Iowa or Tennessee in the No. 6 versus No. 11 matchup, they will be wearing their white jerseys and have the higher seed next to their name, but will be playing the underdog role. And that’s just how the UMass players want it.

“We love it,” senior Chaz Williams said. “We love it. A lot of people don’t expect us to be here, but we love it. Thank you to everybody who say that. … It just fuels my fire.”

Many experts are saying that the Minutemen got overseeded, and that they were the beneficiaries of an impressive string of wins to begin the season in non-conference play before stumbling down the stretch and exiting early in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

That may be true, but if you ask anybody on UMass, including coach Derek Kellogg, there’s a general belief that the Minutemen got the seed they deserved.

“It’s trendy because you have to pick somebody (to get upset),” Kellogg said. “I think (the experts) are right about 50 percent of the time. Where 50 percent of the time, it works out and the other 50 percent some team that the trendy guys don’t pick wins and then they all jump on them in the Sweet 16. So, hopefully we can be a team that is untrendy.”

ESPN’s Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight did a bracket projector based on analytics and gave UMass only a 32 percent chance to advance to the third round. And while that’s out of three possible scenarios, ESPN.com’s Jordan Brenner and Peter Keating gave the Hawkeyes a 78 percent chance of beating the Minutemen and the Volunteers a solid 70 percent chance.

“I use it as fire to hear what people are saying,” junior Cady Lalanne said. “The first day we got picked, sitting there watching it, people were saying we were going to get beat by Tennessee or Iowa and only make it that far, but I think we’ll make it further than that.”

UMass finished the season with a record of 24-8, three wins more than Tennessee and four more than Iowa. Even still, the Minutemen aren’t earning the same respect, mainly because they don’t play in a power conference like the Big Ten or the Southeastern Conference.

But, it’s something that isn’t uncommon for the players on UMass. Many of the Minutemen’s entire careers in Amherst have been set on trying to prove the doubters wrong.

“We’ve been picked to lose all four years,” senior Sampson Carter said. “I’m used to it and I’m used to proving people wrong too. That’s what we’ve done to get here, so we just have more proving to do.”

Patrick Strohecker can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @P_Strohecker.

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  • J

    jay allainMar 19, 2014 at 3:54 pm

    The basketball team is but a collectivist version of one’s life: Let’s face it, strip away the veneer and no one is expected to do anything. Oh, I know, there are exceptions. The sons and daughters of privilege perhaps. Or the rare babe who, despite the humblest of conditions, succeeds against all odds. (Even then, many would consider Jesus an abject failure.) Or, well, you get the idea. The bottom line: Making something out of one’s life has always been a long shot. And perhaps especially now; the existing negative forces are indeed formidable. But damn, come to think of it, the world itself is a distinct underdog. A betting type would say income disparities, global warming and the general human proclivity towards aggression and deflates the species’ prospects. (Or consider the various species in recent decades already lost from environmental degradation, human poaching, etc.) So why listen to the experts? (OK, listen to them – but get more informed and decide for yourself.) Sure, experts are well-informed and experienced but they’re repeatedly wrong. Consider the Alaska purchase (maybe that’s why Putin’s really pissed?), the 2013 Red Sox and our beloved current basketball sharpies, the UMass Minutemen. Can they do it? Oh, yeah. Believe it.

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