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UMass Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Minutemen

By Stu Luddecke

AMES, IA - NOVEMBER 23: Head coach Matt McCall of the Chattanooga Mocs coaches from the bench in the first half of play against the Iowa State Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum on November 23, 2015 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)
AMES, IA - NOVEMBER 23: Head coach Matt McCall of the Chattanooga Mocs coaches from the bench in the first half of play against the Iowa State Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum on November 23, 2015 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) /
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DAYTON, OH – MARCH 15: Kalif Young #13 of the Providence Friars celebrates with Rodney Bullock #5 in the first half against the USC Trojans during the First Four game in the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 15, 2017 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
DAYTON, OH – MARCH 15: Kalif Young #13 of the Providence Friars celebrates with Rodney Bullock #5 in the first half against the USC Trojans during the First Four game in the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 15, 2017 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Non-Conference Schedule for the Minutemen

Nov. 6 (H) – UMass-Lowell

Nov. 9 (H) – New Hampshire

Nov. 13 (H) – Harvard

Nov. 16 (H) – Howard

Nov. 19 (H) – Arkansas Pine-Bluff

Nov. 22 (N) – Southern Illinois

Nov. 23 (N) – Nevada/Tulsa

Nov. 28 (H) – Quinnipiac

Dec. 4 (H) – Holy Cross

Dec. 7 (A) – Providence

Dec. 12 (A) – Temple

Dec. 21 (H) – Fairleigh Dickinson

Dec. 30 (A) – Georgia

The Minutemen have a great opportunity to get off to a scorching hot start in their non-con slate. Not only are their first five games at the Mullins Center, but out of those opponents, only Harvard stacks up in terms of talent level. That should be a great matchup, as both teams will be much-improved versions of the ones that went to overtime last year in Cambridge.

If UMass can pull that one out, they should get off to a 5-0 start with some much-needed momentum as their opponents get tougher.

The two games in Las Vegas against Southern Illinois and Nevada/Tulsa will be a great test for the young Minutemen and give us a hint of where they are as a team. The Salukis will be one of the top contenders in the Missouri Valley Conference, and Nevada (who you can expect to beat Tulsa) is being considered as a possible final-4 squad. Don’t expect the Minutemen to beat the flat-out superior Wolf Pack, but if they can compete and keep the game close, we’ll know they’re a team to watch out for come A10 play.

Among the remaining games in the non-con slate, the one that stands out the most is the one at Providence (honorable mentions for the Temple and Georgia games). The Minutemen, led by a 30-point performance by Pipkins, somehow pulled out a win against the NCAA Tournament-bound Friars at the Mullins Center last season. We can be sure that Ed Cooley, Alpha Diallo and co. would love nothing more than to extract revenge and remind the Minutemen who the real kingpin of New England college hoops is, but this older, deeper, and more talented UMass team will not be one to go down without a fight. If you only watch one UMass game this season, do yourself a favor and make it this one.

Projected record heading into A10 play: For now, 9-4 is a reasonable expectation. The ceiling of this team is better than that, but they’ll undoubtedly have some growing pains, and maybe even lose a game that they shouldn’t, in the process of building chemistry and finding their identity. They’ll have six tough opponents, so projecting 9-4 would allow them to either go 3-3 against those teams and lose one game to a softer foe or to go 2-4 and run the rest of the non-con table.

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