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Indeed, Temple had a stranglehold on the A-10 for a number of years, including victories in the first 21 games of the Owls-Minutemen series. It was a rivalry much in the way that a bowling ball has a rivalry with the pins. But everything changed with the 1988 hiring of then-29-year old John Calipari, who was coming off stints as an assistant coach at Kansas and Pittsburgh. It wasn't long before the also-ran Minutemen became a spectacle in their own right."All of a sudden UMass was one of the best teams in the country," said Ron Chimelis, who was covering the UMass beat for The Republican in nearby Springfield. "I think I appreciate it more now than I did then. Everything was a big deal. There were a lot of people who came from Boston who hadn't cared and don't care now about UMass to watch and cover the games."Read More: Joe Fulks, the Jump Shot Innovator One Man Murdered and the Rest Forgot
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