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Matt Vautour of the Daily Hampshire Gazette talked with senior guard Javorn Farrell about his recovery from August ankle surgery and wrote the following article...
AMHERST -- Depending on how quickly he heals, Javorn Farrell could have a decision to make.
The University of Massachusetts senior is healing faster than expected from offseason ankle surgery, which was originally expected to sideline him for the entire 2012-13 season.
Anyone in the stands or watching on TV couldn't help but root for Thomas Robinson on Saturday.
The Kansas sophomore was playing for the first time since attending his mother's funeral two days before, a service that concluded a miserable month for the 19-year-old Washington D.C. native. Robinson's two grandparents died shortly before Lisa Robinson, his 43-year-old mother, died of an apparent heart attack on Jan. 21.
Only the most passionate of Kansas State fans, the Jayhawks' foe that afternoon, weren't wishing success for the heavy-hearted forward.
Few were rooting harder for Robinson than Javorn Farrell. The University of Massachusetts sophomore was glued to the television as the game aired Saturday night. He and Robinson were teammates at Riverdale Baptist in Upper Marlboro, Md., and have been very close ever since.
Here are stories about the game:
• Boston Globe: UMass thrilled with 'ugly' win
• Boston Herald: Minutemen pretty happy with ugly win
• Worcester Telegram: UMass wins league opener at foul line
• Daily Hampshire Gazette: Minutemen open A-10 play with win over Dayton at Mullins Center
• Daily Hampshire Gazette: Correia's return provides lift for UMass
• Springfield Republican: For the image of UMass basketball, beating Dayton could not have come at a better time
• Springfield Republican: With grit if not grace, UMass shuts down Dayton
• Daily Collegian: UMass defeats Dayton, 55-50, in first conference game
• Dayton Daily News: Poor shooting, lack of energy sinks Dayton
• Dayton Daily News: Flyers say rebounding hurt by lack of urgency
• ESPN: Massachusetts 55, Dayton 50
• WWLP NBC22: Defense dominates, UMass downs Dayton
• FSN Ohio: Ugly A-10 Battle in Amherst; Flyers fall to the Minutemen
Daryl Traynham's foot, ankles for both Javorn Farrell and Terrell Vinson - they're all healthy enough to play but problematic enough to keep three key players in the University of Massachusetts' rotation well below 100 percent.
After Saturday, the Minutemen will have 10 days between games, allowing coach Derek Kellogg to rest some of his players as they focus on final exams.
Until then he's hoping his players can keep grinding through two more games at the Mullins Center, tonight against Maine (7 p.m.) and Saturday against Seton Hall.
Point guard.
But, as UMass takes a 7-1 record into Wednesday night's game against Maine (2-5), the concerns about this key spot are being erased by three distinctly different players.
"I think the point guard spot is a microcosm of our team. The guys have done a good job, they have all been somewhat effective in their own ways. but there is still a lot of room for improvement,'' coach Derek Kellogg said.
Read the full story in the Springfield Republican.
With too little time between Wednesday's win over American International College and Saturday's 3 p.m. game against Holy Cross, most of the University of Massachusetts men's basketball players didn't go home for Thanksgiving.
Instead, the Minutemen visited and shared a turkey dinner with staff at the Northampton Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Northampton on Thursday.
UMass coach Derek Kellogg said it was a new experience for most of his players and he was proud of the way they handled themselves.
"It was an eye-opening thing for a lot of us. You want to go and have a good time and brighten somebody's day and let them know we appreciate what they've done," Kellogg said. "Some of them don't have families or can't get home to their families, so it was good to go and change the monotony."
"His ankle swelled up and he was having some major pain afterward," said UMass coach Derek Kellogg, who wanted to be cautious. "It's early in the season. We need him to be healthy to do anything special this season
Sacred Heart suffered a 69-51 loss To Fordham last night at Rose Hill Gym and is now 0-2 on the season.
"It's a bad high ankle sprain," UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. "I was hoping it would be something where he could come back quick, but it ballooned up pretty quickly."
A year ago, the four University of Massachusetts freshmen didn't know just how much they didn't know. As they prepared for the 2009-10 season, the rookies - Terrell Vinson, Javorn Farrell, Freddie Riley and Sampson Carter - all declared the freshman class ready for prime time.
At times they looked the part. Each had promise-revealing moments during their first collegiate season in which all four played a lot of minutes. But over the course of the year the Minutemen freshmen played like freshmen.
Now sophomores, the quartet is considerably more seasoned and wiser about what to expect.