The Massachusetts Minutemen and Minutewomen have officially wrapped their men’s and women’s basketball tenure in the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10). UMass heads to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) in a football-driven move.
Since forming the Atlantic 10 in 1976, the University of Massachusetts has been a significant part of the conference’s history. The Eastern Collegiate Basketball League (now the A-10) is approaching its 50th season. UMass is departing before this major milestone to join the MAC for the 2025-2026 season. The only team that has remained in the A-10 since its inception is George Washington (Duquesne as well, but they left for one season and came back for the following season).
UMass has had a great history of winning during its time in the Atlantic 10, with multiple NCAA appearances in the 1990s for both teams, as well as appearances in the WNIT and NIT from the 2000s through the 2020s. The Minutemen and Minutewomen of Massachusetts have enjoyed notable runs in the NIT and WNIT over the years, providing players with valuable experiences.
Since attending my first UMass basketball game in 2007, when I was just 3 years old during Travis Ford’s final season, I developed a passion for several outstanding players who have come through the program and have essentially created a “Mount Rushmore” of players that I continue to follow closely.
Since 2007, I have witnessed 3 NIT appearances and 1 NCAA appearance by the Minutemen, along with 3 WNIT appearances and 1 NCAA appearance by the Minutewomen. The men’s basketball team has been idle in postseason appearances since their 2014 NCAA tournament, marking the final season for players like Chaz Williams, Sampson Carter, and Raphiael Putney.
Meanwhile, the women’s basketball team has seen more recent success with the “Savage Seven,” a WNIT appearance in the 2020-21 season, an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in the 2021-22 season, another WNIT appearance in the 2022-23 season, and an appearance to end the 2024-25 season in the WNIT.
Although this move aims to support the football team in leaving its independent status in FBS, it could potentially benefit both teams. However, the MAC has a history of being a “One-Bid League” for the NCAA tournament since 2021 for the women’s side, and the men’s side has followed a similar trend for decades. Analyzing the NET rankings, UMass appears to fit right in the middle of the pack for both the Minutewomen and Minutemen.
End of an Era for Women’s Basketball
UMass Minutewomen saw their tenure in the Atlantic 10 come to an end after being in the conference for 43 years. UMass has had a women’s team since 1968, but the A-10 did not begin sponsoring women’s basketball until 1982.
The Minutewomen began their success in the A-10 under former head coach Joannie O’Brien (1991-2002), achieving two at-large NCAA Tournament appearances (1996, 1998) and a Women’s NIT appearance in 1995.
After O’Brien’s departure from UMass, the women’s basketball team did not secure any postseason appearances until 2020. The coaches before Tory Verdi did not restore the program to O’Brien’s success, resulting in some of the toughest seasons in its history.
In 2016, Tory Verdi took over. He came to UMass from Eastern Michigan (a future conference opponent) and was ready to help rebuild the program. In Verdi’s first season, the team had only seven available players (including a women’s soccer player) and finished with a 9-21 overall record and 3-13 in conference play. Over the next three seasons, Verdi’s team, led by Hailey Leidel, began to improve, significantly impacting the record books.
Leidel was named Rookie of the Year in her first season, aiding Verdi and the team in gaining momentum. By Leidel’s senior year, UMass achieved its first 20-win season since 1995-96 and tied for fourth place. Although their season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had it continued, there could have been a first WNIT appearance since 1995.
Leidel’s aspirations of becoming the all-time leading scorer in the program’s postseason history came to an end. Unbeknownst to many, Leidel’s teammate, Penn State transfer Sam Breen, would break that record in 2023.
Breen and Destiney Philoxy stepped into leadership roles after Leidel, guiding the Minutewomen to their first A-10 tournament championship appearance since 1998. Together with five other players, they formed the “Savage 7” (Breen, Philoxy, Angelique Ngalakulondi, Ber’Nyah Mayo, Stefanie Kulesza, Sydney Taylor, & Makennah White), bringing the first of three consecutive postseason appearances back to Amherst.
In the following season, UMass finished third in the conference and reached their second consecutive championship game. Unlike their first appearance, the Minutewomen claimed their first A-10 Tournament title. The team celebrated by cutting down the nets in Wilmington, Delaware, in 2022, earning their first NCAA bid since 1998.
The Minutewomen were poised for success in the conference and secured a share of the regular season title in the 2022-23 season with Rhode Island. Verdi brought the Minutewomen to unprecedented heights for the program. UMass reached the championship game for the third consecutive season but ultimately fell to Saint Louis in overtime.
On Selection Sunday that year, despite a strong case for the NCAA Tournament, the Minutewomen fell short and found themselves just outside of the tournament. UMass qualified for the WNIT for the second time in three years. The Minutewomen faced two strong opponents, UAlbany and Harvard, but saw the historic careers of Breen and Philoxy come to an end.
Breen’s time with the Minutewomen included breaking the all-time scoring record for UMass, winning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons, and earning the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year and ECAC Player of the Year awards, among many other accolades throughout her career with the team.
After a historic 2022-23 season, Verdi was hired as the next head coach at Pitt. Just a few days after he left for Pitt, UMass appointed his associate head coach, Mike Leflar, as his successor. Leflar saw key players, including Taylor, White, Mayo, and Ngalakulondi, depart for Power 5 schools. He was left with three players from the previous season: Kulesza, Lilly Ferguson, and Kristin Williams.
In his first season as head coach, the team finished with a record of 5-27 overall and 2-16 in the conference. By the end of the 2023-24 season, an announcement was made about moving to the Mid-American Conference (MAC), marking the final season in the A-10 as 2024-25.
Leflar and his coaching staff aimed for significant growth in their last season in the A-10. Adding players like Megan Olbrys (transfer from Villanova), Aleah Sorrentino (transfer from Lipscomb), and Momo LaClair (transfer from Drexel) from the portal greatly benefited the team compared to the prior season.
Olbrys and freshman guard Yahmani McKayle immediately impacted the court for the Minutewomen alongside Kulesza and Chinenye Odenigbo. Despite a slow start to the season, UMass gained confidence by early December, which built great momentum for conference play. Allie Palmieri proved to be a valuable asset throughout the season, helping the team find ways to score when necessary.
McKayle began to hit her stride in December, showcasing a style of play reminiscent of what Philoxy had brought to UMass. She achieved career-high numbers while wearing Philoxy’s number during the Play4Kay games, once with Philoxy in attendance. McKayle was able to earn Rookie of the Year for the first time since Leidel did it in 2017 after she won Rookie of the Week four times this season.
The Minutewomen had a chance to secure a double-bye this season, which exceeded expectations for UMass fans. They finished in a three-way tie for fifth place with Dayton and Rhode Island but lacked the tiebreakers needed to secure the fifth or sixth seed.
UMass entered Henrico as the seventh seed, waiting to find out if they would face the tenth seed in Saint Louis or the fifteenth seed in St. Bonaventure. Unfortunately, Saint Louis defeated the Minutewomen in the second round of the tournament, ending a forty-three-year tenure for women’s basketball.
UMass had the opportunity to extend its play into the postseason in the Women’s NIT (WNIT), and got to experience postseason play under Leflar in just his second season. The Minutewomen had great success in their first-round matchup against the Stonehill Skyhawks, with McKayle becoming the first freshman in UMass history to record a triple-double, and only the third person to do so in the program’s tenure.
In the second round matchup against the Buffalo Bulls – a team that is in the MAC — the Minutewomen found ways to keep close to the Bulls and gain a big lead, but watched it disappear throughout the fourth quarter. While the Minutewomen lost to the Bulls, the future is bright for UMass in the MAC. UMass and Buffalo could become conference rivals in the MAC, but that is still tough to fully get a good grasp of with the Bulls having half of their team leave after they won the WNIT championship, and their coach getting hired to be the head coach at Arizona.
The Minutemen Leave Behind Traditions in the Move to the MAC
When the conference was formed, UMass had legendary coach Jack Leaman at the head of the men’s basketball program. The majority of Leaman’s tenure was before the formation of the ECBL in the Yankee Conference where he had big-name players playing for him and the Minutemen. Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Al Skinner, Rick Pitino, and Bill Tindall were some of the big names that came out of Amherst, Mass. before the formation of the ECBL with Leaman. Even though Leaman’s coaching tenure came to a close after the 1978-1979 season, he stayed actively involved within the athletic department in a variety of different roles, including coaching the women’s basketball team for the 1986-1987 season.
UMass at the start of the conference did not see a whole bunch of success, often going well below 0.500 until a coaching legend stepped in to help bring the team back to where it was in the 1970s under Leaman and made it significantly better. Enter UMass Hall of Fame Coach John Calipari who was taking his first ever position as a head coach at 29 years old.
In Calipari’s tenure as the head coach of the Minutemen, he only had one season below 0.500 in his eight seasons. Coach Cal helped to get UMass onto the national stage with two NIT appearances (1990 and 1991) and five consecutive appearances to the NCAA tournament (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996). In the team’s five straight NCAA appearances, the Minutemen started to become a household name by also sweeping the tournament and regular season titles in the Atlantic 10 and also through the classic press conference moment with former Temple Head Coach John Chaney getting ready to fight Calipari after a game in the Mullins Center.
Calipari produced NBA talented players in Marcus Camby and Lou Roe, and other extremely talented players from his final teams in Amherst. Former UMass Head Coach Derek Kellogg, Dana Dingle, Carmelo Travieso, Edgar Padilla, Tyrone Weeks, Mike Williams, and Donta Bright were just some of the talented players in the final seasons of Calipari’s tenure.
With the talented players that Calipari recruited, he was able to make three Sweet Sixteens, two Elite Eights, and one Final Four in the span of those five years. The run to the 1996 Final Four and all of the wins in the tournament were vacated by the NCAA due to violations of Camby accepting improper gifts from sports agents. While the NCAA stripped it from UMass, the Minutemen still recognize it with banners hung up in the rafters of the Mullins Center and the Men’s Basketball Practice Court.
After the 1995-96 season, Coach Cal went on to coach the New Jersey Nets (currently the Brooklyn Nets), and Camby having been drafted second overall by the Toronto Raptors, the Minutemen had to fill those voids. Bruiser Flint became head coach of the Minutemen, and he attempted to keep the momentum going for the Minutemen and postseason. Flint was successful in getting back to the NCAA Tournament in 1997 and 1998 with Weeks, Travieso, and Padilla all returning and the additions of Lari Ketner, Monty Mack, and Mike Babul. After those last two appearances, making the NCAA Tournament felt like it was going to be tough without players like Camby and Roe.
Flint resigned after the 2000-01 season with the pressure of keeping the program at the level that Calipari once had. Steve Lappas became the head coach of the Minutemen, and that was what felt like could have been the start of a dark turn for the UMass fans out there. Lappas did not have his four-year contract renewed by the time he was let go which resulted in the Minutemen hiring a new head coach.
Travis Ford came crashing into the scene in Amherst and started to rebuild what UMass fans saw back in the 1990s with Calipari. Ford took advantage of the talent that was left for him in Rashaun Freeman and Stephane Lasme while bringing in fresh talent from Chris Lowe. While they finished below 0.500, that was just the starting point for Ford and his staff.
Entering into the 2006-07 season, Ford had Lasme, Lowe, and Freeman all return and had Gary Forbes available after he sat out due to transferring a year prior and Ricky Harris. Ford led the team to their first regular season title since 1996 and brought the team to the second round of the NIT.
Ford continued to have the momentum go in the right direction in his third season with Forbes, Lowe, and Harris all returning. The Minutemen finished in third place and received another bid into the NIT for the second straight year, making it to the finals at Madison Square Garden. Shortly after the season ended, Ford was offered to be the next head coach at Oklahoma State thus abruptly ending his tenure with UMass.
The Minutemen brought back a familiar face to the program in former player Derek Kellogg. After Kellogg graduated, he spent time as an assistant coach at George Mason, Youngstown State, and Memphis, where Calipari was the head coach at the time. Kellogg inherited Harris, Lowe, Tony Gaffney, and Anthony Gurley to help start building his program.
While Kellogg’s first few seasons were below 0.500, he was working hard at revamping the Minutemen. He would go on to bring in Sampson Carter, Sean Carter, Freddie Riley, Terrell Vinson, Raphiael Putney, Jesse Morgan, and Javorn Farrell. This group of players with Gurley gave Kellogg his first season at or above 0.500 showing a positive trend in the program in 2011.
Kellogg continued to have success by bringing in Chaz Williams, Maxie Esho, and Cady Lalanne for the 2011-12 season. UMass would go on to finish 5th in the conference with Williams becoming a star for the team after having sat out the year prior. The Minutemen would go ahead and earn Kellogg’s first postseason appearance by making it to the NIT semifinals.
Kellogg kept bringing in talented players each offseason to match the team he had. Trey Davis and Tyler Bergantino were the latest freshmen that were brought in. While they did not make a significant impact in their first season with the Minutemen, they would become contributors in one way or another in their time with UMass.
A Williams-led team with Kellogg coaching brought them back to the NIT where they would get eliminated at home by Stony Brook in the first round. The Minutemen picked up where they left off for the 2013-14 season, and went on to win ten-straight games to start the season out.
Williams, Lalanne, and Sampson Carter were the leading scorers of the squad, and they helped get the team in the AP Top 25 for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Looking even farther down the bench you had players contributing in the scoring column all the way through. UMass finished the season at 24-9 and 10-6 in a super competitive Atlantic 10 Conference.
The 2013-14 season in the Atlantic 10 had one of the most stacked leagues out there. With how strong the conference was during that season UMass found themselves heading to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998, with five other teams in the conference. The Minutemen would make an early first-round exit to Tennessee, ending the careers of Williams, Putney, and Sampson Carter in their time with UMass.
After the NCAA appearance in 2014, the Minutemen have not made it back to a postseason tournament. Kellogg was let go after the 2016-17 season after the final two seasons of his time at UMass ended below 0.500. The Minutemen were then set to hire Pat Kelsey as the replacement, but moments before his introductory press conference, Kelsey backed out of the position and decided to return to Winthrop, where he was coaching at that time.
UMass then went on to hire Matt McCall as Kellogg’s replacement. McCall had Luwane Pipkins, CJ Anderson, and Rashaan Holloway from Kellogg whom he paired with Carl Pierre. Pipkins, Anderson, and Pierre became a powerful trio in the backcourt that helped McCall get some scoring.
By McCall’s third season, he brought in TJ Weeks (son of Tyrone Weeks), Tre Mitchell, and Sean East II as a part of a stacked freshman class. Pierre, Mitchell, and East were dominant in attempting to get the program back where it was with Mitchell earning himself A-10 Rookie of the Year honors. Weeks Jr., Pierre, and Mitchell became leaders for UMass during the 2020-21 season with the addition of Noah Fernandes. The bubble COVID-19 season was McCall’s lone season above 0.500 (8-7) with how few games were played due to having to quarantine with outbreaks and close contacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mitchell and Pierre both transferred out after that season, and McCall’s team fell flat and he saw himself fired before the end of the 2021-22 season. Outside of the 2020-21 season, McCall did not have a season above 0.500 with UMass.
Bringing in Frank Martin to try and correct the ship in Amherst was the next step for the Minutemen. Martin recruited Matt Cross and Rahsool Diggins out of the portal and recruited RJ Luis and Keon Thompson as freshmen to help build the program.
Coach Martin retained Fernandes and Weeks Jr. to help as starting blocks for his first season as the head coach of the Minutemen. UMass would end up finishing at the bottom of the conference in his first season, but things would turn around for the Minutemen.
Cross, Diggins, and Thompson worked hard to get better in the offseason, and Coach Martin brought in Josh Cohen from St. Francis (PA) and Daniel Hankins-Sanford from South Carolina from the portal to help the team grow. Martin also brought in eight freshmen to replenish the depth. Jaylen Curry, Jayden Ndjigue, and Robert Davis Jr. were some of the big talents that got the squad going.
Cross and Cohen became a double-threat in the post on offense, Diggins improved significantly from his first season at UMass, Thompson grew into playing the point guard role and helped the team in scoring, and Ndjigue provided the young spark and was utilized in every category there was on the court to help the team.
These five talented players with the strong bench that Coach Martin built up led UMass to their first 20-win season since 2013-14, and first top-4 finish since 2007-08. The Minutemen had great momentum heading into the tournament with a double-bye, but just did not get off to a good start and lost in the quarterfinals to A-10 Tournament runners-up VCU.
The 2023-24 team had four players receive all-conference awards. Cross and Cohen were named to the first team, Curry was named to the rookie team, and Diggins was named Co-Most Improved Player of the Year.
The transfer portal took great talent from UMass as Davis Jr., Cohen, Thompson, and Cross all entered the portal with some other teammates following behind them. Martin then had to go and build the roster from the freshmen he had coming in and the players who stayed.
Early on in the offseason, the team had given glimmers of hope of remaining towards the top of the conference. After watching for a good portion of the non-conference, those standards were lowered by longtime fans.
By the time conference play hit UMass hit their stride and Diggins got hot with having multiple 30+ point games including setting the program record for most points scored in a single game (46 points at Fordham [3OT] on January 15, 2025). Curry, Hankins-Sanford, and Daniel Rivera all were big contributors to getting back on track.
Injuries and the stomach bug then became a factor for the Minutemen in mid to late February which led to an 11th-place finish in the final season with the Atlantic 10. UMass would go on to lose in the first round to La Salle to end their tenure in the Atlantic 10.
The transfer portal this offseason struck again taking 11 scholarship players and a walk-on. UMass was able to retain only Ndjigue, Hankins-Sanford, and Luka Damjanac, but Coach Martin has been working hard to rebuild his roster with incoming freshmen, and transfer students from all of the different levels (Division 1, Division 2, and Junior Colleges). Curry moved up to a Power 4 team after his breakout season, and the rest of the players in the portal have found homes that are a move down or are still out searching for a new home.
While the men’s basketball team had such great success in the 1990s and again in 2012-14, the Atlantic 10 has shifted greatly since both of those eras. Moving to the MAC is going to be a step down for the program, but it might be what is needed to get UMass back to where it was even if it is in a weaker men’s basketball conference. MACtion is here for the Minutemen of Massachusetts and come November they better be ready to embrace this big change for the better.
My Hopes for the Minutemen and Minutewomen Programs in the MAC:
The move to the MAC is a small step down for both teams, but both teams should fit in with no issue. If Coach Leflar’s team picks up right where they were last season, they could be in the top half of the conference. Coach Leflar was able to retain A-10 Rookie of the Year in McKayle, and a vast majority of his team that went to the WNIT. If McKayle continues to grow and Olbrys and Odenigbo do as well that will help the Minutewomen in the MAC.
The Minutewomen have the opportunity to fly under the radar as some of the teams in the MAC do not know what to expect from UMass. This team will likely finish within the top-8 which will let them contend for the MAC conference tournament title.
The Minutemen are a little tougher to read into with so many new players entering into the program for the upcoming season. If Hankins-Sanford, Ndjigue, and Damjanac continue to grow as they have over their time with UMass, then we could see a strong team. Incoming players for the men’s basketball team could help to boost their chances of the top-8 in the conference. If they don’t make it into the top-8, then there is a good chance that UMass fans will be disappointed in the team.
Having seen both the Minutemen and Minutewomen play in the A-10 for all of my life, this move to the MAC was surprising and has had me reminiscing on the great history of both programs at UMass. The adjustment for fans from the A-10 to the MAC will take some time, but we will learn a lot about how all of the teams in the MAC function over the next few years.
While leaving the A-10 is tough for people to still fully embrace, UMass is going out on their own note to head over to the MAC. The move to the MAC will be a change for fans and the players, but we will get used to the new conference over time.
As I grew up a lifelong fan of UMass, all I have ever known is the Atlantic 10 conference. This change is going to be tough to adjust to, but this could lead to a nice bright future of making more NCAA Tournaments for both the Minutemen and Minutewomen in basketball. While this is an end of an era for UMass in the A-10, and for me covering them for the last 3 years for A10 Talk, some things must come to an end. As Frank Sinatra has said “I Did it My Way,” and I would not change my time covering these two wonderful teams.
Featured Images: Chris Tucci, UMass Athletics
