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

Passing of the torch

I’m not the only one who’s noticed the Massachusetts men’s basketball team take itself deep into the National Invitation Tournament.  Most members of the University of Massachusetts community have heard about it and they are likely going to hear about it for a while.

But this tournament run has done something for me it hasn’t done for many others. Last season, I covered the team exclusively for the Daily Collegian and spent a copious amount of time interviewing players, coaches and following the team. I’ll always remember running from Berkshire to the Mullins Center for interviews, sweating profusely with that Berkshire stink radiating from my body. I was dedicated.

Despite all the dedication, the Minutemen didn’t accomplish much. Last season’s team lost in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 tournament in a squash match to Dayton. The prolific Anthony Gurley struggled to keep the team composed on and off the court. It was such a mess.

Even though I was proud to cover the team – an accomplishment and feat for my journalism career – I was disappointed with the struggles through which the team suffered. It was my first year with the team, and, frankly, the setting seemed overstated and overly-professional. I wore a shirt and tie, nice slacks, a press pass, gelled-hair, all of the pieces of the puzzle – except I was covering an ailing team which didn’t match the seriousness afforded it.

I’m not saying I wanted UMass to play better or that I’m a cheerleader for the Minutemen. What I’m saying is that despite the idyllic conditions of covering arguably the biggest beat of UMass sports, the team was a travesty to watch.

What a difference a year makes. Here we are, just over a year after the team fell to Dayton in that oh-so-fateful A-10 tournament game, and the team has completely turned it around. The Minutemen are in the NIT Final Four and are playing in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night against Stanford. It’s a team very much unlike the team I first covered.

Am I jealous of the current beat writers of the team? Maybe just a little. But it’s all in good sport – excuse the pun. I would love to be following a team around the country, trailing as they trek through tournament after tournament, staying in hotel rooms, getting media passes, all of it. I wish I was doing all the fine makings of sports journalism.

But I’m not. I’m being the Sports Editor. I’m delegating and organizing the Sports section of the Collegian and making sure all the stories, photos and live blogs are going smoothly as we cover this team. I’m making sure that you, the reader, are well versed in all things UMass basketball. And the current beat writers are doing a fine job of informing and educating you guys.

Maybe I won’t get to cover the team again, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I covered the team for one season, one year, a time which didn’t show much success from them. Like other Collegian reporters of the past, I did my time and covered the team. They didn’t do as much as they did this year, not even close. And even though it hurts and there’s some jealousy within me, I’ve learned to accept it.

So I officially pass the torch off to all the future beat writers of the team. To all those future basketball beat writers, this column is to you. You will cover the team as I did, whether it is for one season or two or three or four. And one day, like I am doing with this column, you will learn to accept the passing of the torch as well.

Herb Scribner can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Scribner.

 

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