The Year of the Dog!!!!

Albany 52
Binghamton 50
1/28/05
Bingamton, NY
12-8 (7-2, AE)

OK, well maybe the day of the dog...Just got back from Syracuse where we went after Binghamton, and despite total exhaustion, I'm still reeling from the game. I just keep replaying Jason's shot over and over in my brain...

Some people on the Albany message board mentioned BBQ-- we went to Dinosaur. The ribs were great, the brisket just so-so, and no collards on the menu. And you call yourself a BBQ joint?

Congratulations to Coach Brown and to the team and a great job to hang in there just as things started to look bleak. Albany was on the verge of getting blown out, as the team looked completely lost for a good portion of the second half. Also, congratulations to everyone who made the trip. Nothing is sweeter than victory on your rival's homecourt. I desperately tried to get a Bingo cheerleader to throw me a t-shirt to burn in effigy, but she wasn't biting.

Just by looking at the score, one can obviously tell that the game was a defensive battle. However, that's not to say that the Danes didn't have their chances. The team continues to miss too may layups from and shots from point-blank range, and the team started the second half missing two.

With about 11 minutes in the game, Jamar misses a layup and Binghamton comes down the court and drains a 3. That's a 5-point swing, right there. Coming out of a 30-second TO on the next possession, Zo somehow winds up with the ball at the top of the key and is forced to actually put the ball on the floor. Steal, layup, and the Danes are down by 7. This was all part of BU's 15-point run, that, when all was said and done, found UAlbany down 46-33.

Just a few more things to add-- I'm too tired to do this right now, sorry. Jamar was having a bad afternoon, huckin' some real head-scratchers, which lead to a seat on the bench. Coach Brown also really let Jamar have it at one point. However, the cream really does rise and Jamar took over when we needed him the most, finding ways to get to the hoop and score. We're very fortunate to have a player of Jamar's caliber on this team.

Can enough be said about Mr. Siggers? Great call by Coach Brown, terrific recognition and a nice little move to go left against Hermenier, who simply couldn't stay with Jason.

Sounds retarded, I know, but after Brent fouled out of the game, I really liked see him take up the roll as cheerleader and surrogate coach, directing some of the players and telling them what to do, at least based on his gestures from where we were sitting. Of course, I'd rather have Brent in the game, but good to see Brent take up a leadershipe role.

As a few people have already mentioned, I loved seeing the Bingo pep band "moosch" the game, playing "Na Na Hey Hey" with 2:48 remaining and the Bearcats clinging to 5-point lead. Oops.

The smiles on the kids' faces as they ran off the court alone made the trip worthwhile. A win at binghamton and another mokney off our back this year-- The Year of the Dog!?

One last thing-- I just came across some of Al Walker's comments re: the game. Way to call out your players, Coach. Where does this guy get off?
"Troy Hailey was the only guy who had a good offensive game," BU coach Al Walker said. "This is two games in a row Ian Milne (two points) has struggled. Duane James did not play well at all (two points, eight rebounds and four turnovers). Sebastian didn't play as well as he should have. We almost won the game without having anything productive really going on offensively."

Furthermore, Albany WON the game "without having anything productive really going on offensively."

UMBC 50, UAlbany 62; Unfinished UNH Game Comments

1/25/06
RACC
11-8 (6-2, AE)

Don't know what to make of this one. Yeah, every team makes a run in college basketball, but after opening a 17-2 lead v. the Retrievers, the Danes went ice cold and almost completely blew this thing. Luckily, we had Jason Siggers to bail us out tonight.

I spoke to a few others about this in the past and we all agreed-- Jason needs to see more action. Now, I don't think its even a question. If one considers the UNH game, Jason has 26 points in 28 minutes over the last 2 games-- including 18 points in 17 minutes tonight. Kobe-esque.

Albany's defense was stifling early. UMBC missed some open looks and looked very frustrated. Personally, I don't think Randy Monroe's antics from the opening tip really helped matters. I never get too confident, but for a moment I actually thought that this game was going to be a blowout.

Then a funny thing happened. UMBC hit us with the 2-3 zone and the press, which clearly baffled us. Its obvious that UAlbany will see a press and a 2-3 zone at some point in every game for the rest of the season, and the team's success will hinge on their ability to handle those different defenses. Personally, I'd like to see more players help out and come to the ball when someone is double-teamed, and I'd also like to find a way not to let Zollner touch touch the ball at mid-court. There are lots of things I'd like, though, and I'm certainly no basketball coach.

Another off-night for Brent. He looked visibly frustrated on the court and took the bandage on his left thumb off in the second half. Johnny continues to press, simply missing on some decent looks. Personally, I don't think Iati has been looking for shots that aren't there- he's just missing. Johnny is a big part of the team's success and we need his shot to force opponents to play man-to-man. Hopefully, he'llmanage to shoot himself out of this slump.

Some positives from tonight's game: Lillis' line tonight-- 6 rebounds, 8 points, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks (1 big one) in 26 minutes. Lucious also had an efficient game, hitting on 4-6 from the field for a total of 10 points. Lucious also played solid defense, finishing the night with three steals, (at least) 2 of which came early when UMBC was having difficulty finding any kind of rhythm. Zo also finished with 6 points, 10 rebounds and...get this...1 foul! Oh, and that one foul occured in the first minute of the game. Levi contributed 9 on 3-5 shooting in 21 minutes, and played pretty strong defense, despite being called for a few phantom foul.

Also, its nice to see us win without having to rely so heavily on Jamar, who struggled from the field and finished with 9 points-- 4 from free throws.

Much was made of Randy Monroe's move banning his players from their own lockers. I've heard of similar motivational tactics employed by college coaches, so that sort of thing isn't unprecedented. Mr. Monroe is an intense, animated coach who has had some success, especially as an assistant at LaSalle and at Vanderbilt. However, he came close to interfering with Albany players on several ocassions, and really let a few of his players hear it tonight. Coach Monroe made a spectacle of himself from the start and was an easy target for the student section tonight. UMBC's other spectacle tonight was Brian Hodges, who finished with 18 points in 29 minutes tonight. During the second half, he basically took over for UMBC and played a nice game for the Retrievers.

On to Binghamton-- Section 101, Row H. Hope to see you there!


Never finished this one...
UNH 75
Albany 72
RACC
1/22/06

Woke up early Saturday--He Got Game was on...such a good movie until the end, and it helped get me pretty psyched for the game. However, I had a bad feeing about the game. I don't mind going up against teams with good guards. What concerns me is going up against teams with good big guys, and UNH certainly has one in Janev.

I felt good about the game early. Coach Brown employed a nice little press that resulted into 2 consecutive steals and a shot-clock violation early in the game. Albany jumped out to a 7-point lead...
and then I'm not sure what happened. I think I blacked-out.

From what I remember...
I never get down on the team, but today's performance was a poor one and the loss probably the worst one of the year-- worse than the Sacred Heart loss. To paraphrase Coach K during his press conference after Puke's loss to Georgetown yesterday, Albany did a lot of Jamar-watching in the second half today.

We're not going to win too many games when Johnny, Brian, Lucious and Levi combine for 16 points a game. We really need to find offense from someone other than the Wilson boys, and I think its time to see what Jason Siggers has to give. Jason had 8 points in just 11 minutes today, most of the minutes coming in the first half.

Credit UNH for getting up and hitting big shots-- Tyrece Gibbs hits an impossible 3 with the shot clock winding down. UNH also made their free throws. Albany shot 10-17 from the line, 58.8 %. Zollner missed three, two of which came on a crucial play in OT in the game with Jamar on a breakaway. Jamar was fouled--no-call, of course-- Zo gets the rebound, misses the layup, gets fouled and misses both shots.

This leads me to another point-- how on earth did Albany take just 3 second-half free throws? According to the refs, UNH committed their second foul of the second half with 6 minutes to play, compared to 8 for Albany. Ther refs flat-out stunk today, and I'm sorry if this sounds like sour grapes-- its not. Three-second calls, travels and numerous fouls not called. I think the refs all graduated from Binghamton or Vermont. That's the only explanation for this crew of jokers.

Thanks for Nothing, Hartford-- and Jerry Bailey

Happy trails, JD.
I have claimed Jerry Bailey as a dependent on my taxes for the last 5 years. In all fairness, Bailey, aboard You in the 2002 Test Stakes at Saratoga, gave about the best ride I have ever seen. Bailey found an opening on the rail that couldn't have been wider than 2 feet and snuck through to beat Carson Hollow by a nose. Of course, I bet Carson Hollow.

From the University of Hartford website:
Binghamton Steals Game at Buzzer
(1/19/2006)
WEST HARTFORD, CT - With the game tied and seconds remaining, Binghamton University's Mike Gordon made a steal on the defensive end and dribbled the length of the court for a buzzer-beating layup and a 57-55 victory Thursday night over the University of Hartford men's basketball team at Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion.

Now the Danes share 1st place with bitter rival Binghamton, with Vermont a game behind at 4-2.

Here are the remaining schedules for all three schools:
Albany:
UNH, UMBC, @Bing. U., SBU, BU, @UH, @Maine, @bracket buster opp., UVM, @UNH, @UMBC
5 home games, 6 road games (5 v. AE opponents)

Binghamton:
UVM, UA, @UMBC, Maine, UNH, @SBU, BU, UH, UMBC, @UVM
7 home games, 3 road

UVM:
@BU, @Bing. U., @UNH, UH, SBU, Maine, bracket buster game, @UA, BU, Bing. U.

It doesn't take a neurosurgeon to realize that, of the three schools, Binghamton has the most favorable schedule. As asinine as Walker behaves, I have to admit this scheduling makes him look pretty good. Binghamton, on a 5-game winning streak, has a chance to gain some serious momentum headed into the AE tournament.

Tough stretch for Vermont with 3 road games against 3 tough opponents. We're going to learn a lot about UVM during this stretch. Whatever happens to UVM, I certainly don't want 'em on a neutral site.

I don't like all of Albany's road games, but I like that we still have Vermont and BU at home. Maybe a few tests on the road will help prep. the team for the AE tournament. That's my hope, at least.

Time to Start a New Streak...

Albany 53, Vermont 65
Burlington, January 18, 2006
10-7, 5-1 AE

Albany has gotten a few monkeys off of their back this year. One monkey that remains is winning in Burlington, where UA has never won before and won't until next year at the earliest, unless we go back to Vermont for the AE Champioship game.

The loss is sort of disappointing as the Danes played their worst game in quite some time, as no one could shoot. That is, other than Jamar, who did everything he could to take matters into his own hands, except stay out of foul trouble. Despite the loss, I liked Will Brown's professional and assertive comments in the post-game interview, courtesy of the TU: "We are still in first place ... and if we can take care of business in these next two (home) games and get to 7-1 we will forget about this Vermont loss very quickly. And when we play them again we will be ready." This is no time to back down, even after getting smoked by a conference rival.

However, we must give credit where credit is due-- Lonegran correctly recognized their size advantage and started a bigger lineup that dominated us on the boards. Vermont outrebounded us 19-10 in the first half and 34-23 for the game.

I was actually a little surprised we weren't able to shut down Trimboli a bit. Maybe he's the real deal-- based on the radio call, Trimboli impressed the heck out of me. It'll be interesting to see him live.

Trimboli and Cieplicki combined to shoot 11-17 from the floor (6-8 3-pt range), and 7-10 from the line for a total of 35 points. Anytime you get that efficient a performance from your guards, your opponents are going to have a tough night. On this particular evening, their combined guardplay was better and we could not handle their inside game. Again, based on the call, Vermont impressed me tonight.

That being said, anyone who thinks Albany is going to shoot 1-15 from 3-point land again doesn't know much about the Danes. If we make some of our shots early and force Vermont to play man-to-man, we have a much different ballgame. Maybe we still lose, but we're at our best when we make shots and teams have to matchup against us man-to-man.

I was surprised that Vermont shot such a high field-goal percentage, considering all of the emphasis the team has placed on defense. Hopefully it was just one of those nights. Not much more to say-- everyone knows about Jamar's stellar evening. Not to second guess, but I'm surprised we didn't see more of Levi tonight, especially given Levi's last performance and his size. After all, Levi was our second leading scorer tonight (6 points) in 22 minutes of action. Brent was clearly bothered by his sprained thumb and despite his uncharacteristically off-night, Brent still played 39 minutes tonight and led the team in rebounds with 7.

Binghamton at Hartford tonight-- Go, Hawks. I hope Adeleke drops 50.

Incidentally, Mike Yocum had a nice night. I wasn't initially impressed at how he ran up and down the court. However, Mike had a few nice offensive rebounds that resulted into points. I was told that Mike also had a steal to seal the "W" for Episcopal. I do like the fact that he comes from a basketball hotbed and is well-coached-- sort of like all those NFL teams that were just drafting anyone from Miami.
Final tally on Yocum-- 9 points and 13 rebounds-- very solid.

SJU-L'ville, Albany-UVM, and Mike Yocum

First and foremost, congratulations to St. John's on their victory over UL last night. Despite the team's struggles over the last 2 seasons, the Redmen have beaten three Top 25 teams in that time-- NC State, Pitt and now UL. Norm Roberts has taken a beating this year from everyone-- fans, boosters, the media. The unfair criticism levied at Coach Brown earlier in the year was nothing compared to what Norm has endured, but that's all part of coaching in NYC, right?

A huge win for a program trying to rebuild itself and I couldn't be happier for Norm and the kids.

Mase Jr., Eugene Lawrence, Darryl Hill, Lamont Hamilton and Aaron Spears provide a pretty solid foundation for Norm's squad. The team has the nucleus to be pretty good next year, though it will still take a Herculean effort from the team just to make the BE tournament this year. SJU has 12 games left- 6 of those games are against Pitt, WVU, Villanova, Syracuse, Georgetown and UConnvict.

Louie, now 81, looks great-- one of my favorite all-time coaches and human beings.

Onto the Danes...
Tonight is a big night for Albany hoops. Of course the Danes put their 8-game winning streak on the line v. UVM tonight in Burlington (kudos to anyone making the trip, especially in this horrenodus weather.) Admittedly, I don't know much about the Catamounts this year, but it appears that Mike Trimboli is a mortal lock for the AE ROY award. Trimboli has been very solid for Lonegran's squad, averaging about 15 ppg. Trimboli has 99 assists v. 68 TO's for a TO/A ratio of 1.45, leads the AE in APG at 6.6, shoots 37% from downtown and 81% from the line.

Vermont also has 3 guys in Klimes, Schneider and Holm who average over 5 rebounds a game. The Danes have one, and no, that one is not Zollner-- its Brent Wilson. Holm is 6'11", Klimes is 6'8", and Schneider is 6'7". UVM also has a few guys off the bench who are 6'8", so it would appear that the Catamounts certainly have an inside advantage over us. We're going to need an effort out of Zo similar to the one he gave in the UVSC game.

UVM has played a pretty decent OOC schedule, with games against Pitt, Nevada, Providence and Harvard. The Catamounts have a home win against Holy Cross, who would probably win the AE if they played in the conference. People seem to talk about what UVM has lost this year-- OK, they're mere mortals now. UVM is still very dangerous. A UA win would be huge and it is certainly not out of the question, but I can accept a loss so long as we continue to improve in the turnover, passing and defensive departments.

At the same time tonight ESPN2 will broadcast the Episcopal v. Goretti game. Albany recruit, Mike Yocum (F, 6-9, 235, Dresher, Pa.), plays for Episcopal, giving Danes' fans a chance to see what this kid is all about.

Utah Valley State Wolvernines 61, Great Danes 72

Saturday January 14th
RACC
10-6, 8 game winning streak

I was initially selected before the game to shoot for free tuition tonight, then told graduate students weren't eligible. Contrary to the University website, maybe graduate students aren't Great Danes, too. Completely bogus. I think someone was afraid I'd actually drain the shot and cost the TU a cool 8 grand.

Weird game tonight, especially after the BU victory. On one hand I was hoping for another AE matchup. On the other, maybe it was wise of Coach Brown to schedule an OOC game against an independent. The game was not a very crisply one as the team was sluggish early.

Jamar sat for most of the first half, but really poured it on in the second. Jamar scored all of his 16 points in the second half on 5 of 6 shooting (3 of 3 from downtown) in just 25 minutes of total action tonight. Jamar also committed 4 turnovers in that time, which may have had something to do with his lack of PT tonight. Then again, maybe it had more to do with the fact that Jamar played 108 minutes in the last week and simply needed a breather. It probably had nothing to do with either.

Of course the big story tonight was Levi. Levine had 5 assists on some sharp passes in the open court and on a few nice inside feeds, 10 rebounds and 17 points on 6-8 shooting. Levi always hustles and I was happy to see that effort result in a gaudy stat-line for him tonight. Levi's performance was a credit to his ability as well as his character. Levi is prepared to do whatever is asked of him, despite losing his role in the starting lineup. Lead by example, tri-captain!

Brent continues his unconscious deep-range shooting, as he drained 3-5 from behind the arc. Someone on the AE board brought up Brent's 3-point shooting, and that person is exactly right. Brent is developing into the type of shooter that you cannot leave alone. When you do you're gonna' pay, as the Wolverines did on a few occasions this evening.

Zo had a nice game, 8 points and 10 rebounds (5 offensive), especially going up against a player like UVSC's Ben Devoe. Whatever advantage Zo had in size he gave away in strength, yet was able to play effectively inside this evening. Zo also swished 2 free throws tonight. Pure.

What I didn't quite follow was why Devoe only played 24 minutes in this game. Devoe was clearly UVSC's best player and he finished with 17 points on 7-10 shooting. I wondered the same thing about BU's big man, Omari Peterkin, who was huge in the first half of last Thursday's game and nonexistent in the second half of that game. Not trying to be a coach at all-- just something that I noticed in the last 2 games.

Jamar gets hosed in AE POW voting. I'm calling BS. Don't get me wrong, Andre Heard had a very nice week and Blagoj Janev had 23 and 17 against UMBC and Stoner Brook, respectively-- good numbers, no doubt. Jamar averaged 19 points for the week and hit 4 crucial free throws at the end of the BU game when everyone else was missing from the stripe. I wonder if Albany's one game against an AE opponent this week hurt Jamar in the voting. Of course I'm partial, and I think the AE is trying to spread the wealth a bit. Ultimately I don't care that much and these awards don't mean squat as long as we keep winning. Keep it going, Danes!

It would be nice to see the University include the play-by-play details on the website that some of the other AE schools provide for their basketball games on theirs. Someone please make this happen.
Talk about sluggish-- sorry about this entry. Just wanted to get something down sooner than later.

Great Danes over Terriers, 53-47, Updated

We finally beat Boston University!
Although I've only been following Albany basketball for the last 3 seasons, I certainly understand the importance of this win, easily the most important win in our team's history as a D1 team. To paraphrase Roger Wyland, the Danes gave BU every opportunity to get back into this game, as Levi missed 3 free throws and Brent hits 1 of 2 late in the game. That being said, it sounded like Albany played a heckuva game tonight, getting solid contributions from everyone on the floor tonight.

Despite missing three free throws late, Levi had a strong first half. Levi hit a 3 to put us up 16-12 early, 2 free throws when intentionally fouled, and another basket down low to tie the game at 26 after the Danes squandered a 21-12 lead. On the radio it sounded like Zo missed a few gimmees in the first half, as he is prone to doing. However, Zo came up huge early in the second half as he scored the first 2 baskets and had a nice block which resulted in a Brent Wilson three-pointer. All of Brent's field goals tonight were from behind the arc, where he shot 4-7 on the night.

Brent and Zo sat much of the first half as a result of fould trouble. As Coach Brown commented in his post-game remarks, it was important to get those guys firing early in the second half, which is exactly what happened. It sounded like Zo did a number defensively on Omari Peterkin in the second half, who chewed us up for 11 of 4-6 shooting in the first. Omari disappeared in the second half and it sounded as if BU stopped going to him for some strange reason.

Its official, at least here, that Jamar is AE POW 2 weeks in a row! Jamar had 20 points, played all 40 minutes of the game, hit on 9 of 10 from the charity stripe and came up with 8 rebounds. Huge!

Iati had an off night, but he hit a huge 3 to put Albany ahead 45-38, which is big against a team like BU that wants to keep the score down. Lucious only had 4 points, but his first basket put UA up 7-0 and his second basket helped maintain the 7-point lead, putting the Danes up 9-2. Lucious' early baskets were big as those buckets helped UA dictate the tempo early. Scoring 9 points in the first 4 minutes may not sound like a lot, but that kind of early scoring was probably not what BU had in mind.

Connolly, Jason and Jimmy added quality minutes in the first half. Credit Coach Brown for going to those guys and credit the players for not letting the game slip away from the Danes as BU made a late first-half run.

Last night's win was the result of a great team effort that will hopefully not lead to a letdown v/ Utah Valley State on Saturday. Speaking of which, Saturday's game will be Albany's 5th game in 11 days. This team has to be tired. Hopefully we'll see a nice crowd on hand to energize the squad before enjoying a well-deserved three day rest before travelling to Vermont for next Wednesday's game.

Congratulations to the team, Coach Brown, and all fans. Still a long way to go in the season but this was a great win tonight. Now I'm almost over the Giants' debacle of a week ago.

That's all for now-- please pardon any grammatical/stylistic errors. I have work to do. Dammit.

How I'd like that Harvard game back!

Albany at Boston University Preview

These Alito hearings are killing me, as is waiting for tomorrow night's game. In the meantime, I decided to check a few things out, courtesy of midmajority.com.

Here's a statistical comparison between BU and Albany:
PF:
UA 66.2
BU 58.6

PA:
UA 67.6
BU 60.5

FG%
UA 42.9
BU 43.0

3 FG%
UA 36
BU 34.9

FT%
UA 67.0
BU 64.1

RPG
UA 30.4
BU 32.1

APG
UA 12.6
BU 14.5

SPG
UA 6.3
BU 6.4

BPG
UA 2.1
BU 3.6

A/TO Ratio
UA 0.8
BU 1.0

About these statistics:
Although both teams are close in a lot of the statistics, BU's OOC schedule has been tougher than Albany's, with games aaginst Duke, Michigan, GW, Bucknell and Holy Cross. That being said, Florida, UCLA and San Diego State aren't exactly pushovers.

Re: A/TO's. Although these numbers are virtually identical, BU's starting guards, Wynn and Macon are amongst the AE leaders at 2.1 and 1.4, respectively. These numbers are even more impressive when one considers that Macon's A/TO ratio is 39 to 17 (2.29) over his last nine games. Jamar's A/TO ratio is about .8, I believe.

Based solely on BU's low scoring output and solid defensive numbers, they may play a style simialr to Cornell's, in which case maybe Monday's game may help serve as a sold prep for Albany.

Defensively, I think the matchups are as follows:
Jamar (6'1")/Brian Macon (5'8")
Lucious (6'2")/Shaun Wynn (6'2")
Lillis (6'5")/Corey Hassan (6'4")
Brent (6'8")/Kevin Gardner (6'4")
Zo (7'1")/Peterkin (6'8")
Numbers courtesy of BU's athletic site.
Physically, we match up well. As good as Hassan and Gardner have been playing, I 'll take my chances with Brian and Brent on them. I also like Levi to come off the bench to work on BU's forwards, as well.

The Strokes 59, Albany 68

January 9, 2005
RACC
Sixth win in a row to go to 8-6. Congratulations to AE player of the week, Jamar Wilson.

The Strokes, or at least that's who I thought was on the floor when Cornell's basketball team took the floor against the Danes tonight in Albany. In the first half, it might as well have been The Strokes on the floor, as the Danes crusied to a 22-point lead before Cornell closed the lead to 15 (40-25) at half. Cornell really turned it around in the second half but Albany got some timely shooting from Jamar, Brian and Levi in the second half to keep Big Red at bay tonight.

The game got off to a rocky start as the refs called a lot of fouls against both teams in the early going. I figured we were in for a long night. Actually, there was something that felt just a bit off tonight, from the depleted pep band and cheerleading squad to the fans, who were pretty quiet throughout the game.

Cornell's second half turnaround should not have been a total shocker to anyone. This is a team that lost to Syracuse and to Washington by 5 and 15, respectively. Steve Donahue has his team running a lot of backdoor plays that will always catch opponenets off-guard, especially those not used to that type of offense.

Albany may have been going through the motions in the second half, but I think Cornell shocked us a bit. It takes a lot of discipline to play a team like Cornell, and for the most part, we did a pretty good job taking away their backdoor plays.
On several occassions in the second Cornell would come up with a big three as the shot clock was winding down, despite a strong defensive stand by Danes.

Note to self: stay on the scrawny white kid who you know is going to take a three at all costs. Of course I'm referring to Adam Gore who was good for 17 points, including 5 three-pointers. He's not going to drive and if he does, forced him to go left. Easier said than done, right?

After a tough shooting night for Levi against Hartford, Levi has made solid contributions in the scoring department against Maine last Saturday and against Cornell tonight, where he hit 4-6 from the field, including a pretty big three.

Brian Lillis had his biggest scoring night of the season, adding 14 points on 5 of 5 shooting from the field. Brian also made a few nice defensive plays against backdoor cuts in the second half. Brent was only 3 of 10 from the field, but came up with 5 offensive rebounds. Jamar had another very solid game tonight, adding 21. Drop another 21 v. BU and you could be POW two weeks in a row, Jamar! I don't want to nitpick, but Jamar took a few too many unnecessary circus-shots (for me) that he is prone to doing, especially one early in the second that obviously annoyed Coach Brown who immediately subbed Mr. Iati for him.

Coach Brown took the blame for the squad's second half performance, but all in all, I thought it was a gritty performance against one of the better teams in the Ivy League.

Hartford 62, Albany 75

RACC, January 4, 2005
Who's .500? 6-6

I am starting to amass a pretty extensive collection of Albany t-shirts. Tonight's t-shirt giveaway, courtesy of CDPHP, features a great dane doing a reverse dunk. Little did we know that this was going to foreshadow a couple of tonight's highlights. In the first half, Brian Lillis goes baseline and throws down a monster reverse dunk that sent Hartford's bench into shock. Their bench looked incredulous,as if to ask, "how'd shaggy pull that off?" The crowd went bananas. However, it wasn't the first time Brian pulled off something like that. Next to Kirsten and Zo's alley-oop in the Brown game, the highlight of the season (that I've seen) so far. In the second half, Kirsten had a reverse dunk of his own to open the second half that didn't quite match Brian's but was still something to get the crowd going early on.

Tonight was easily the best game I have seen the Danes play all year and it was in sharp contrast to the Brown game. The Danes did a good job staying out of early first half foul trouble- though they committed more fouls than I thought initially-- they played much more crisp defense tonight than in the Brown game. Anytime you can limit your opponents to 4 foul shots in a half as the Danes did tonight, you're going to put yourself in a position to win. The Danes also did a nice job passing the ball, inside, around the perimeter and on the break.

Jamar led the way with 29 points, protected the ball, hit 11-13 free throws, came up with a few nice defensive boards, six assists and exuded a swagger and intensity that resulted in a few benign shoving matches along the way. Nothing but a little friendly competition that ended up with the players shaking hands. Jamar also played the full 40 minutes tonight. Nicely done, Jamar. Brent threw in an other 16 on 4 of 9 shooting, as he is beginning to emerge as probably the most consistent player on the team.

Brian Lillis and Lucious were steady. Brian added 3 steals to an all-around solid defensive effort by the team and created another turnover. Lucious had 11 points, including a nice 3-pointer early in the game that helped get the team and the fans going early and a tip-in to give the Danes a 54-50 lead with 6 minutes left. Levi got some quality minutes and gave a solid effort. He had some good looks that didn't fall and went up strong for some good offensive rebounds. The effort is there and hopefully his shots will start falling soon. Levi hit a big three in the second half that helped us pull away. Levi also hit a shot from midcourt to end the game that unfortunately did not count.

Iati saw very little action, as Coach Brown may have been trying to use a bigger lineup to help shutdown Adeleke, which worked for the most part tonight.

Coach Brown did a nice job rotating players to guard Hartford's Kenny Adeleke. Sure, Kenny had 21 points, but it was a quiet 21. It really didn't feel like he dominated us inside the way Kwimbe Trim of Sacred Heart dominated. Of course, Trim had 29 points that game, but Trim truly felt like a force on that night. We made him work for his points, and if I recall correctly, Kenny went a while before scoring his first points of the night. Credit Zo, Levi, Brent and Covington for the job on Adeleke tonight.

It really felt like we were in the driver's seat for most of the game yet the score didn't reflect that feeling. We controlled the first half, yet went into the half with a six point lead. Of course, we missed two layups on breakaways (one was a brutal no-call on Jamar by the refs ( on replay, maybe it wasn't so bad a call), which would have put us up by 10.

In the second half, Hartford kept the game close, tied and briefy took the lead, thanks to some good, early second half three-point shooting led by Aaron Cook. However, the the Danes eventually pulled away, thanks to good play on both ends by Lucious, made a nice run late in the game. Brent also had a big three with 3 minutes to play to extend the lead to double-digits. Jamar's free throw shooting down the stretch helped solidify the lead and the victory.

Hartford has some talent, and anytime you have players of Adeleke and Cook's talent, you have a chance to be dangerous. Carter and Ruffin also had solid games tonight. I certainly agree with the senitment on the AE board that Hartford could be a very dangerous squad come AE tourney time. Problem is, Hartford does not have a very deep squad.

Overall a nice crowd considering the Texas-USC game, a weeknight and no students in town. I think I read 1500.
I'll try to update if I get a chance to watch the replay.

Random notes:

The pep band leader who also plays guitar needs to start soloing-- just ridiculous J. Mascis or Hendrix-type leads that go off into outer space. That'll get the crowd going!

Every halftime seems to feature the same kids shooting baskets. One kid, a lefty who wears the #2 jersey, can't be older than 5. He has better range than most AE players. I love watching the kid shoot and I hope the University is able to get a verbal commitment once he's able to speak.

Once again, the blindfolded shot experiment almost results in complete disaster. Tonight, a blindfolded girl stands right underneath the basket, beams the ball at the hoop only to have the ball richochet off the front end of the basket, almost hitting her in the face. This is a terrible idea that should be cancelled immediately.