Confessions of a St. John's Fan-- from collegehoopsnet.com. Click here for article.

An aside-- does it make anyone completely nuts that bums like Jarvis and Fraschilla (among others) have jobs with ESPN?! Why does ESPN allow this to happen? Jarvis moreso than Fraschilla, as he left the school disgraced, but Fran isn't exactly teaching any ethics classes in the near future, either.

Now I'm pissed...

Just saw Sportscenter highlights-- where's the boxout on Collison's three-pointer from midcourt? All right, its tough to be that mad, but there were three Albany jerseys right there!!!! Just needed to get that off my chest.

Danes 65, UCLA 73

All right, so I missed the game. After listening to the Johnnies on the radio blow a 15-point halftime lead to Hofstra-- c 'mon, Storm. I know Showtime was out, but that's no excuse-- especially at home. Anyway, I went out to find the Albany game on satellite. In the rain. Big mistake. I wound up following the game on the ticker at DeJohn's. Down by 16-- 35-19-- in the first half was to be expected. Later, some jackass told me we got blown out-- what does he know?! To lose by 8 is a great effort by our squad, the kind I was talking about earlier.

UCLA was without Farmar, who, combined with Affalo completes one of the nicest backcourts in the country . However, it sounds like we shot well, thanks largely in part to Johnny, and when we shoot well like we're capable of doing, we'll be competitive. Nice to see Johnny playing inspired ball to lead all scorers tonight. Good job by Coach Brown to start the hot hand over a strugging Lucious tonight.

Also. excellent job by Coach Brown getting the team to rebound after a poor performance against San Diego State. As he said in the paper, the Danes have to play more patient ball, which they seemed to do tonight if the score is any indication. I know the team wants to run, but you have to also play controlled ball. That concept seemed to get away from the team in the Sacred Heart and SD St. games.

By the way, nice reporting by the TU today. I had no idea Coach Brown was an assistant to Howland-- albeit a brief one--at Pittsburgh. Actually, as Reeder pointed out, Coach Brown never served as an assistant for a game. he was hired, but pormptly took the Albany job shortly thereafter.

From all accounts and despite the loss, a great effort by the team tonight. Too bad the game wasn't on TV up here. Actually, what a joke. The program finally gets some recognition, plays THE most storied program in college sports history, and the game isn't even broadcasted. Of course, no one seems to have a problem showing the Slingerlands-Colonie football game or some nonsense.
Give me a break.

It works both ways. The media has the power to create a buzz about this team, and televising tonight's game would have gone a long way to help promote the program. Don't criticize the turnouts and regional apathy when TWC can't even put a game against a Top 25 team on TV. Oh I forgot-- all we watch around here is high school football, because everyone's kid is getting a scholarship to Penn State.

OK-- the game was on Fox Sports Pacific, which in my mind, still doesn't count-- that's the ONE sports package I don't have.

Can't wait for Saturday!

Albany 57
San Diego State 80
San Diego is about the nicest place on the planet, but it wasn't too kind to our Danes.

Listened to the game on the radio while trying to write a research proposal-- not quite sure if the game affected my work or if my work affected my ability to listen to the game. Either way, neither my work nor the game was very good.

For the second straight game, poor transition defense, turnovers and spotty guard play hurt the Danes. As in the Sacred Heart game, the Danes would go down court, hit a nice little jumper or a three, and then fail to get back-- that's how it sounded on the radio, at least. I know that happened a few times in the Sacred Heart game.

Lucious and Jamar combine for a total of 8 points-- throw in Johnny's 12 for a total of 20 from our three best players. Lucious was actually held scoreless, and I have a feeling that he is hurt. Just a hunch, but if I recall correctly I think he hurt is knee or ankle during the McGill exhibition, as he sat for almost the entire second half. Either way, the guards will be fine. San Diego State is good, but not 27 points better than us.

For the second straight game we got some quality minutes out of Zo, as he recorded his second career double-double against a bigger and more athletic Aztec team. Loved his deadpan response which was something like, "It was about time I did something." Hilarious. Truth is, he's been our one bright spot over the last 2 games. Keep up the good work, Zo. If he is able to keep up the good play when our guards come around, we'll be just fine-- we'll be better than fine.

UCLA and Siena this week. Despite the drubbing we gave Siena last year, I am very nervous about this year's game. Siena just put up 77 v. Syracuse, while we have had trouble scoring since the Oakland game. However, let's first play a solid game v. UCLA. Looking forward to see how we handle UCLA's defense.
By the way, nicest campus in the world is UCLA. UAlbany's is a close second.

Nice Article re: AD Lee McElroy in today's Time Useless. I'd be a little happier if the article addressed anything he's doing at Albany instead of focusing on his days as a Bruin. Despite my issues w/McElroy, it was a good article. At least the article mentioned that he is going to root for UAlbany tomorrow night. Gee, thanks.

More news as it happens-- last week of the semester, though, so it'll be a little tough this weeK. Once this week is over, we'll focus more on our recruiting class.
Also nice to see the Johnnies start the season 3-0. Keep up the good work, Norm.

Brett Gifford-- Recruit
From scout.com
"Brett Gifford, a 6-foot-11 big man from Columbia Rock Bridge High (Mo.), committed to Albany, according to sources close to the situation.
Gifford averaged 14.9 points, 11.3 boards and 3 blocks per game as a junior and played with Team Missouri.

Gifford visited Utah State, UW-Milwaukee and Albany. He was also considering Southeast Missouri State, Southwest Missouri State, UMKC, Ball State and Illinois State."

Looks like a great signing for the Danes. Way to go, Coach Brown. So much for the lame duck coach not being able to recruit, huh? I will try to track Griffin's progress throughout his senior year.

I was going to get on the Times Union case, particularly for the "Don't Get the Parade Permit Yet" article, but that will have to wait a bit. The title alone tells you all you need to know.

All I will say is this-- it gets tiresome to read articles by people who think they are writing for The Daily News or The Post. An upstart team with huge expectations doesn't need this type of scrutiny from its local rag. Three games into the season, three negative articles re: the team. Don't tell me you're just doing your job, unless your job is to blow every little thing out of proportion.

No one crowned ayone anything. Let's wait a bit, huh?

Sacred Heart (Fairfield, CT) 63
University at Albany 61
Recreation and Convocation Center (RACC), Albany, NY, November 21, 2005

The Danes' last game was 11 days ago v. Florida and the rust showed as the Danes struggled throughout the evening to find any continuity on either side of the court in their home opening loss to Sacred Heart-- a team they smashed by 18 a year ago.

Nice crowd on hand-- I think the Times Useless reported 2,500, and a lively student section which I sat in-- despite my age and my blood alcohol level-- helped the Danes get back into the game after a falling behind as much as 11 points in the second half.

However, too many errant passes from the guards tonight, missed free throws and 5-23 three-point shooting ulitmately proved to be the Danes' downfall tonight. Oh, that and #54 on Sacred Heart, Kibwe Trim, who scored 29 points and hit every free throw that he took-- at least that I recall. Trim was a beast inside, abusing Kirsten Zollner for the first half, and making clutch free throws down the stretch. Hats off to Mr. Trim on a stellar and unflappable performance that would have given Mr. Coppenrath all that he could handle tonight.

Despite Kirtsen's first half woes, he played terrific defense on Trim and the rest of Sacred Heart's big men in the second half. Zo was rejuvenated in the second half, swatting shots, grabbing rebounds and hustling to the floor for loose balls. Zo provided the spark the team needed, as the Danes' emotional leader, Levi Levine, was tagged with three fouls before I had a chance to sit down in my seat.

It was also good to see Brian Lillis back in action tonight. He appeared to move well. The other half of the Danes' Iowa connection, Brett Wilson, played steady ball, adding 11. John Iati knocked down 20, but had a tough time connecting from behind the arc early in the game. Once Iati gets going, though, his stroke is a thing of beauty-- those in the crowd caught glimpses of that tonight.

The Danes had a chance to tie the game, as they held the ball for the final possession, but ultimately failed to get a shot off. To paraphrase Coach Brown, the game wasn't won or lost with that possession. It was just a fitting evening to a frustrating night for the Danes.

Off to the west coast for two-- San Diego State and UCLA. A split would be huge. Nice to see the program stretching its wings a bit. Best of luck and Happy Thanksgiving to Coach Brown and to the team.

I love this team. However, they must learn to play with poise and must learn to win close games if they are are going to win the America East championship. Its a long season, and I suspect they will learn to win the close ones sooner than later-- this team is just way too talented. And Will Brown is too good a coach.