2008 Woodie Awards
With five teams tied for first place in Hockey East, the conference picture is rather cloudy early in the 2007-08 season. But with the Massachusetts hockey team playing two games against Boston College this weekend, that picture could get clearer in a hurry as the Minutemen attempt to grab an early lead in what is always a competitive league.
Saturday's regular season finale between the Massachusetts football team and Hofstra has a little more at stake this year than it did last year, when the Minutemen knocked off the Pride at home, 22-16. This year's matchup in Hempstead, N.Y., doesn't feature a UMass team that has already clinched the conference title outright against a Hofstra squad that had just two wins overall.
In what was a back-and-forth game between the Massachusetts men's basketball team and Yale, it was the consistently solid play of Ricky Harris and Dante Milligan that led the Minutemen to a 89-80 victory at the Mullins Center Wednesday night. Yale hung in with the Minutemen for much of the game, but Harris' outside shooting and the inside play of Milligan down the stretch was too much for center Matt Kyle (20 points) and the Bulldogs.
aThe Massachusetts women's basketball team has won their first two games with last-second free throws, and UMass coach Marnie Dacko isn't complaining. "We keep telling them to learn how to win and expect to win," she said. "There was never any doubt, and that's what I'm so proud of.
Massachusetts men's soccer coach Sam Koch laid out some goals for his team prior to the 2007 season opener against Maine on Aug. 31. He talked about defeating Rhode Island and reestablishing UMass as a power within the Atlantic 10. But the most important goal Koch set for his team was to reach the A-10 Tournament.
The easiest way for a freshman to create playing time for himself is to do more than one thing well. Freshman forward Chase Langeraap saw most of his action early in season as a winger on the Massachusetts hockey team's third or fourth line. Langeraap scored the first goal of his career - a power-play goal - against Boston University last Friday.
Scoring in the paint will be an important part of the Massachusetts men's basketball team's offense this season, but it won't be the same kind of frontcourt scoring as last year's version of the Minutemen. UMass excelled in the frontcourt during 2006-07 with dominant forwards Stephane Lasme and Rashaun Freeman.
It's certainly not the first time this season that the Massachusetts men's soccer team has dealt with injury. But with its first round Atlantic 10 Tournament match set for tomorrow evening, the Minutemen would rather have a healthy roster than at any other point in the season.
Massachusetts football coach Don Brown - the leader of the consistently strongest defense in the conference - often classifies his defense as opportunistic. Perhaps no player on his team is more emblematic of that than Jeromy Miles, the starting free safety for the Minutemen.
Boston College junior forward Nathan Gerbe was suspended by Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna for the Eagles game on Saturday against New Hampshire. The suspension comes from Gerbe's actions in Friday night's game against Merrimack. Bertagna said that the suspension was not because of Gerbe's actions on Friday night alone.
The running theme in the 2007-08 Massachusetts men's basketball team is how different this squad looks from last year's. Not only are there a number of new players, the style of basketball will look nothing like last season. Third-year coach Travis Ford now has the players in place to execute his preferred brand of basketball, which involves a lot of running and a lot of shooting.
After playing against the likes of Duke and North Carolina at Virginia, Gary Forbes was billed as a big-time player when he transferred to Massachusetts men's basketball team two years ago. After sitting out the 2005-06 season, Forbes had a large hand in the success of the Minutemen last year - a season that resulted in a co-Atlantic 10 regular season championship and a berth into the NIT.
It was one of its most successful seasons in recent memory. The Massachusetts men's basketball team won a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title as a part of its 24-win campaign in 2006-07. The Minutemen also returned to the postseason for the first since 2000; winning a home NIT match against Alabama.
Historically in the Atlantic 10, the best teams have been the ones returning the majority of its starters. Last season the Massachusetts men's basketball returned its most important players and rode that experience to a share of the A-10 regular season conference title.
Last season, Massachusetts men's basketball coach Travis Ford scheduled multiple games against highly regarded opponents with an eye to bolstering his team's postseason resume. This year, the number of quality opponents doesn't stand out as much as 2006-07, but the Minutemen still have a challenging schedule in front of them.