AMHERST — Another summer filled with workouts, practices and scrimmages — along with community service projects off the hardwood — is almost over for the UMass men’s basketball team as head coach Frank Martin now enters season No. 4 in charge of the Minutemen, and it’s safe to say he’s had a blast hanging around his new team.

During Tuesday’s media availability, Martin noted that the 2025-26 UMass roster, one that returned only five players from the previous year’s team as it transitions into the MAC, has come together quickly. With 10 new faces — high school recruits and transfers combined — in the fold, Martin is pleased with what he’s seen so far.

“It’s July, of course we like our guys,” he joked. “If you don’t like your team at this time of year, it’s going to be miserable when October gets here. But it’s been fun. There’s a vibe about how they get along that’s been fun to be around. They’re excited to be here.”

Two years ago, UMass won 20 games for the first time since 2014. That team ultimately lost in its first Atlantic 10 tournament game that postseason, and it lacked the athleticism the top teams in the conference possessed. So Martin went out and made his team more athletic with the length and size he brought in last season.

The team’s shooting took a hit as a result, as did the quality of guard play aside from now-graduated senior Rahsool Diggins. This recruiting cycle, it was clear Martin wanted to address both of those issues. He brought in elite guards in K’Jei Parker and Donovan Brown and addressed the shooting woes with long-distance snipers like Marcus Banks Jr. and Isaiah Placide.

“There’s basketball stuff that I sense that we got a chance to be good at, shooting being one of them,” Martin said. “But I don’t want to jinx the team. I thought last year our athleticism was better than the year before, I think this year’s team is our speed. I think our speed is at a high, high level. But that’s all just initial reactions to three weeks with them here this summer.”

Now, just because Martin is trying to fill in the holes of previous teams doesn't mean he’s veering away from what’s worked for him his entire coaching career. You can still expect this UMass team to relentlessly attack the glass and be aggressive defensively.

Those things will never change as long as Martin is on the sideline in Amherst.

“The biggest misconception with reality is that as a coach, you change everything you do for your team,” Martin said. “No, there’s got to be a base and a fundamental of this is how we play. And then you change the nuts and bolts, the intricacies within that foundation to individual talent, but you don’t deviate from who you are. We’re going to play fast, we’re going to play aggressive. Those are things that we recruit to and those are non-negotiables with me as a coach.”

Of the new transfers, several of them came from Division 2 colleges or junior colleges, not from Division 1 schools. That may continue to be the case moving forward as Martin and the coaching staff see their recruiting landscape change as a member of the MAC and not the A-10.

Part of his pitch is to sell UMass’ loaded non-conference slate, which has featured the likes of West Virginia, Florida State, Arizona State and Georgia Tech over the last two years and will feature Boston College, Florida State and a handful of other strong opponents in multi-team events this season.

“We have to talk people through that (conference) change as to what the vision is,” Martin said. “What I’ve done is concentrated on our non-conference scheduling. We got to make sure we continue to play high-level opponents in non-conference play. I think we’re trying to do that since I’ve been here. We have to make sure that we recruit in pockets where [playing in the MAC] doesn’t become as big a subject, meaning Division 2 [players], and in high schools we’ve got to recruit our backyard. You can’t ignore the Northeast part of the country just because we’re in a different league.”

The expectation from Minutemen fans is that UMass is going to enter the MAC and dominate. And while they are going to be resourced well to do so, it doesn’t guarantee they’re going to win the conference every year.

The MAC holds plenty of strong teams at the top, ones that rival their old league’s best squads — according to Martin.

“The top of the MAC is just as good as the A-10,” he said. “There’s a misconception out there that because we were in the A-10 we’re going to show up to the MAC and just roll through that thing. Like, are you serious? [People] have no idea how good Toledo, Akron, Kent [State], Miami (Ohio) and schools like that have been for the last number of years. They got really good coaches and really good guards.”

With the returning presences of junior Jayden Ndjigue and senior Daniel Hankins-Sanford as well as the exciting entrances of players like 6-foot-10 Dimitri Clerc, 6-foot-9 Charles Outlaw and the aforementioned abundance of playmaking guards in the mix, UMass has a strong buzz around it heading into its first season in the Mid-American Conference.