Friday--March 10th, 2017

Former UMass OL Vladimir Ducasse has signed a three-year contract with the Buffalo Bills. Ducasse will be in his seventh season in the NFL.

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Phil Steele has the combined 2017 schedules for the four independent FBS football teams. When New Mexico State and Liberty join the list, the independents could have a mini football-only conference with UMass, BYU, New Mexico State and Liberty...

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A Bleacher Report writer has the top-25 college football talent producing states for 2017.

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USA Today has the top 2017 opening weekend college football games. They somehow missed UMass-Hawaii, but Minutemen 2017 opponents BYU, Appalachian State and Temple get a mention.

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OT:  I come from a long line of working-class people so I tend to wince when people lose their jobs. However, I think a change was needed in UMass hoops. The facilities UMass has and the level of expenditure by the Athletic Dept, I would think UMass should be able to be consistently in the top four or so programs in the Atlantic 10. A sub-.500 record in A10 play (67-83) in league play is just not enough.

Hopefully, a new coach will make those yearly seven or so long drives down from New Hampshire to the Mullins Center more rewarding.

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