Massachusetts men's basketball, or "Chazketball" and it's 7-0 record is featured on ESPN.com Friday in a story written by Marty Dobrow. The following is the beginning of the story with a link at the end to the rest of the piece:
On Sunday morning at 10:30 the only buzz at the Mullins Center was literal. High above the basketball court at the University of Massachusetts, the bright lights sounded like hornets.
They illuminated the 9,493 maroon seats, all of them empty. Then again, the seats haven't all been full for many years.
The buzzing lights shined on the banners from the glory days. On one wall, there are retired numbers of players like Julius Erving, Marcus Camby and Lou Roe. And hovering over the court, almost tauntingly, are the white NCAA banners, seven of them in a row from 1992-98. Some are stitched with the most treasured alliterations in college basketball. Sweet Sixteen. Elite Eight. Final Four.
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There is also a short sidebar piece on UMass' weekend tilt with BYU as the Minutemen's next test written by ESPN.com's Andy Katz:
UMass handled its first game as a ranked team since 1998 with a road win at Eastern Michigan.
The Minutemen dealt with EMU’s 2-2-1 zone as well as travel issues. UMass’ team bus broke down, forcing the team to take four to five cabs to the arena and coach Derek Kellogg and his assistants had to go over scouting reports in the broken-down bus while they waited for the cabs to arrive.
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The Philadelphia Daily News also had this piece on the Saint Joseph's-Villanova Rivalry
EVERYONE knows a Villanova-Saint Joseph's basketball game doesn't need any extra anything.
But just in case, the Wildcats are ranked 14th and have yet to lose. Tomorrow they'll make the short bus ride down City Avenue to Hagan Arena to face the 4-3 Hawks. The first time they played there, two seasons ago, St. Joe's won by 16. Last December the Wildcats had to rally late to barely get by at the Pavilion, their fifth win in the last six meetings and seventh in the last nine. The other St. Joe win in that stretch was a 22-pointer at the Palestra in February 2008.
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