Albany 76, UMBC 61, UNH notes

(Subject to revision when I get the chance)

2/23/06
Durham, NH
17-10, (AE 12-3)

2/26/06
Baltimore, MD
18-10, (AE 13-3)

Pardon the extended absence-- things have been a bit hectic since the UNH roadtrip.

While watching the first half of the MSU-Indiana games yesterday-- I'm a glutton for punishment-- CBS ran a story on a kid, Jason McElwain, who is the team manager for his high school team in Rochester. Jason is autistic. For the last game of the season, the team's coach let Jason suit up and play. Jason drained 6 3's with the crowd going bonkers after each shot. Here's a link to the story and video. Warning, Field of Dreams has nothing on this:
Jason McElwain

RIP, Don Knotts.

A friend of mine pointed this out and I thought it was kind of funny, that Lillis looks like the Minerva statue in the science library. You can tell when people are suffering from Danes' fever when they start having those kind of thoughts.


UMBC
Nice win for the team today-- let's build some confidence and get some rest heading into the AE tournament.

Solid all-around effort today, especially in the second half. The team has done a ridiculous amount of traveling in recent weeks, and though they have to be spent, I'd like to think that all of these recent road games in hostile arenas are only going to help us in the AE tournament. After all, its not like anyone is going to be rooting for us to win next weekend.

Also nice to win the AE outright and not have to listen to the Binghamton clowns talk about sharing the conference title. A big "thanks for nothing" to UVM for choking away a 9-point lead v. Binghamton with two minutes left in regulation. A UVM win would have made UNH the #6 seed and put them in Binghamton's half of the bracket.

Instead, well, we have to worry about the prospect of facing UNH again, provided that we advance in our first round matchup. Unfortunatley, the alternative to UNH-- Hartford-- isn't all that appealing either. This isn't sour grapes, however, everything really does seem to be falling into Binghamton's lap right now. I'm not sweatin' it-- as I posted earlier, to be the best we have to beat the best, and while I would prefer certain matchups to others, I certainly don't fear anyone, and I'm sure neither does the team.

I know a lot of fans have been pulling for Johnny lately. he's been slumping and his minutes have waned drastically. Against New Hampshire, Johnny didn't see any time until OT. During the UNH game, however, Johnny didn't sit and sulk on the bench, and although you could tell that Johnny was dying, he was always one of the first people off the bench to congratulate the other players.

Of course, he had the best game of his career v. UMBC, dropping 29 points in 21 minutes-- an aside, Richmond scored 39 points as a team v. St.Joe's on Saturday. A great perfomance by John and I know all Danes fans couldn't be happier for him. Keep up the hard work, John, because we're going to need ya' next week. After all, nothing silences hostile fans like a few big threes.

(If you haven't already, check out the excellent on Johnny and his brother, accessible through the BPF site.)

Speaking of which, Lucious continued his torrid 3-point shooting in the UMBC game. Lucious was perfect from behind the arc in the UNH game, hitting all three of his shots from downtown. Against UMBC, Sweet Lu was merely mortal, shooting 75% from 3-pt land, connecting of 3 of 4 shots. 6 of 7 from behind the arc over his last 2 games is pretty good, and hopefully the staff can find a way to keep him hot for aother few weeks.

Good to see the team put up 76 points on the road even when Jamar has an off-night, adding 9 points on 2-7 shooting. Jamar has seen a ton of minutes lately, and he might just need a breather-- just a hunch, that's all. One off-game, sure, but no one is really used to seeing Jamar have 2 bad games in a row. Maybe we're just spoiled. I expect Jamar to go bezerk in the AE tournament after a few days of rest.

Yeah, Randy Monroe is a raving lunatic during gametime, but I must admit, I kinda' like the guy. It is apparent in his interviews that he is a thoughtful and smart guy, and I was kind of shocked to see him get so emotional talking about UMBC's Seniors, Zito and Dinkins, during one of the commericial timeouts.

Also, I thought the guys from FSNY did an excellent job covering the game. They appeared to really do their homework and knew quite a bit about the players. I considered watching the game on TV and listening to the radio call, but I was interested to hear what these guys had to say about the team. They didn't disappoint.

UNH Notes:

Props to all who made the trip and a caveat to anyone ever thinking about making this trip-- its not a long drive, but damn, is it boring. Not that I did any of the driving!

Got to UNH early and had the opportunity to watch the team practice and speak with coach Brown. Thanks for the time, coach. Glad to say all of the things I have read about coach Brown appeared to be true. Class act all the way-- was very generous with his time, always placed the emphasis on the players and on the team, and continued to talk about the future of this program, which was encouraging. When we told him we made trip from Albany, he said how much the kids appreciate it when they see fans travel and was genuinely thankful for our making the trip.

This loss was certainly not due to a lack of effort, and it would be tough to call this performance a "letdown." I mean, it was a letdown to the extent that the team didn't play well, but the team definitely played hard. Brent hits the ground hard going for a ball, and then a play or two later, Jamar knocks over the team's water cooler going for a ball. Other than Lucious and Levi, and Zo from the stripe,however, no one was able to do much offensively.

Lucious was basically the man tonight, playing 41 miniutes and dropping 17 points. Zo shot 8-10 from the line, and though I certainly agree with someone at the game who said that the big man has to find a way to get some of those dunks that he gets fouled on to gol down, that's not why we lost.

UAlbany started the game with a 2-0 lead due to a UNH pre-game technical, and still found themselves down by 6 at the half. UAlbany also forced UNH into 3 shot-clock violations and three separate possessions where the Wildcats were forced to huck up a bad shot with the clock winding down. Its also gotta be a little disappointing to lose a game where you outrebound your opponents 31-27 and limit them to 2 second-half foul shots.

It appeared to me that our main problem was guarding on the perimeter. Although UAlbany actually had a higher 3-point shooting percentage on the game, UNH got too many open looks. A lot of those looks seemed to come with a UNH player basically standing in front of the shooter, effectively screening the defenders.

The denfense seemed so concerned-- and rightfully so-- with their ability to shoot the three, that UNH was able to get a lot of big baskets down low, especially in the second half.

Jamar had a few nice moves to the basket early, but then appeared as if he tried to do a little too much. He committed a few silly offensive fouls and had 6 turnovers in the process. Not sure if Jamar was hacked or not-- through these glasses I sure thought so, but other UAlbany fans thought it was a good no-call. I will say this, however, that Jamar usually gets that call at any other point in the game-- unless its played at the RACC where the officials hate us.

One ridiculously bad no-call occurred when UNH's PG, the kid from Exeter, I think, left his feet and clearly did not release the ball in time before he landed. What happens? UNH bangs home a 3.

Tough to say to what extent UNH has our number. I mean, did UNH force us to play a bad game? UNH scored 17 points in OT, with a lot of those points coming off of free throws, so its not like they had their way with us offensively. That being said, they sure are going to be confident if we meet again, plus they will have the crowd on their side.

UVM 64, Albany 76

2/20/04
RACC
17-9, AE 12-2
AMERICA EAST REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS!!!!!
(Feels good to type that.)

Congratulations to the team, coaching staff and fans, especially those who witnessed some of the leaner years. This program really has come a long way in a short time. Hopefully good times are here to stay.

Of course, there's still work to do.

Lines for the Seniors:
Lucious-- 3-10, 5-6 FTs, 11 pts, 4 rebounds, 3 steals
Levi-- 2-6, 3-4 FTs, 7 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal
Zo-- 2-2, 2-2 FTs, 4 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal
Jerrad-- 1-1, 2 points

Two of the biggest highlights in tonight's game came from the seniors, as well. The place went wild when Jerrad scored, and coming out of a TO, Levi threw a bullet to a darting Connelly early in the first for one of his 5 assists one the evening. Even Zo drained his 2 free throws on the night, and Lu had a few early baskets and steals to help us get out to an early lead. Lucious and Lillis each had 3 steals, combining for 6 of the team's 11 steals on the evening.

Albany cruised to a big lead, scoring 28 points in the first 10:30 of the game. The team's early defensive pressure was excellent, resulting in a couple of steals, somewhat resembling the UMBC game. Unlike the UMBC game, those steals led to points.

However, the Danes only managed 8 points over the last 9:30 minutes of the first half, allowing the Catamounts to claw their way back into the game-- hideous pun intended. Although UAlbany was able to maintain a decent lead during this drought, and despite taking an 8-point lead into the half, the game really felt much closer than the score indicated.

Quick note about Vermont-- Trimboli and Kilmes are both very good players. Tonight, however, we gave Trimboli all he could handle as he had 6 turnovers in the game,and despite a solid 13 points from Klimes, we were able to shut him out on the boards. That being said, UVM is young and Lonegran has done a very nice job so far. Lonegran again tried to clog up the middle with his big players. The difference tonight was that we found the holes in their zone and hit our shots tonight. You may recall that the first time Albany and Vermont met this year, the team shot 35% from the floor. Transpose those numbers and that's what we shot tonight.

Below is Albany's field-goal percentage over their last 6 games:
v. Stoner Brook 56.9
v. Boston University 52.4
v. Hartford 46.8
v. Maine 50.9
v. VCU 44.4
v. UVM 53.1
Our FG % over our last 5 games v. AE opponents is 52%.

The Wilson bros. teamed up for 39 of UAlbany's 76 points. Brent was on fire from the field tonight, hitting 8-10 shots and winding up with 18. Brent seemed visibly frustrated with the officiating at times-- good to see he didn't let it affect his game.

Jamar had 21 points on 5-10 shooting from the field and 9-11 from the charity stripe. At one point in the second half Jamar looked like he was about to take the game over, hitting a 3, a little jumper, and just missing another trey on three consecutive possessions.

Connelly has seen some early action in both the UVM and Maine games and has made an immediate impact in both games. In this game, Brian had 4 quick points and a rebound, and finished with 6 points in just nine minutes of work. Good job, Brian.

Coach Brown's comments on Big Board Sports were pretty good. He said something about "usually not paying attention to the fans"-- possibly an indirect reference to what has been written, both good and bad, in the TU over the last 2 weeks-- but he agreed with the "One More Home Game" chant.

There's no bigger credit to coach Brown if what I read on the AE message board was indeed correct with the seniors deferring to the regular season starters on Senior Night because they wanted to win. In the beginning of the season coach Brown stated that this team could be very good if everyone accepted their role. Today we have our first AE championship!

Despite my feelings regarding the University's handling of the event, I will save it for another time. We're here to celebrate, albeit briefly. I will add this--
Time Warner distributed disgraceful #1 fingers covered in all-in-one advertisements. Since the all-in-one package is a complete rip-off, I ripped the finger up in protest.

One more thing about TW-- please don't videotape people with signs when a game is being played. If you want to videotape idiotic fans such as ourselves waving signs, please wait until one of the 50 timeouts during the game. Some people care more about a game than face-time.

Loved to see the 5 students rush the court. Per the guidelines established by Pat Forde on espn.com(see:"Middle-Class Principle"), a conference championship is grounds for storming. Of course, those who stormed have been some of the team's biggest fans and have earned the right to storm regardless of what espn has to say about it.

Here's to a lot more storming in 2 and a half weeks!

Albany 67, VCU Rams 70

2/17/06
Alltel Pavilion, Richmond
16-9, 11-2 AE

Sunday afternoon-- just watched the Georgetown-Villanova game. They're ranked 17th in the country so its tough to call 'em a sleeper for the tournament, but I expect The Hoyas to make some noise come March. Oh, and since its Sunday and there's college hoops on, that means I have to suffer through more Indiana basketball.

Great to see the number of articulate and thoughtful responses to last week's TU letter. On behalf of the fans of the team, thanks to everyone who responded, printed letter or not.

More thanks to the Hawks of Hartford. Hartford's win at Binghamton yesterday reduces our magic number to one and a gives the teama a chance to clinch the regular season championship tomorrow night. As many people know by now, every regular season conference champion will receive an NIT bid, which means we are one step closer to post-season play. So, what does the Times Union do? They run an article blasting the NIT.

Etkin's arguments are decades old. Everyone knows that every team would rather lose in the first round of the NCAAs than win the NIT. There's absolutely no need for Etkin to point this out as we are one step closer to guaranteeing a post-season berth. Let the fans and the program enjoy the moment. Of course I wanna' go to The Dance, but Etkin sheds no light on the subject and diminishes the team's accomplishments in the process.

Great job by the Varsity Club and their production at Across the Street Pub for the game. The place was packed and people were really into the game. I had a chance to meet a few people from the BPF board, which was also cool to put some names to faces. I also got a call from a buddy of mine who played travel ball with Brown at Kings Park some 20-odd years ago and was watching the game at Standings in NYC-- said the event was very well attended and that the Alumni Association did a great job with giveaways and free food.

What can be said about the game-- ultimately, VCU's athleticism that helped cause 20 turnovers was the difference in the game. Nine of those 20 turnovers were steals, compared to the 2 steals Albany had on the evening. VCU committed 11 turnovers for the game. As a result, our considerable reebounding advantage, 32-19, was basically neutralized by the turnover ratio.

Jamar, initially snubbed as a candidate for the all-Bracketbuster team as voted on by the fans, put in a performance certainly worthy of consideration to such a team. Jamar played all 40 minutes, scored 28 points, and shot 4-7 from behind the arc. The 5 days off seemed to do wonders fror Brent, as he put in one of his finest performances of the season, and certainly his best game since the loss to New Hampshire. Brent shot 7-11 from the field (3-6 , 3 pts) for 17 points. As dangerous as the Danes are, they have been winning lately with a tired and banged up Brent Wilson. If Friday was any indication, Brent is better and this team is going to become that much tougher.

Aside from the Wilson bros., the rest of the team struggled from the field, shooting 6-22. Zo added 5 and 9. Jason had a tough time getting it going tonight. Despite these struggles, I expect the team to focus on what could've been, how they squandered some opportunities, and to play a very sharp game tomorrow. Remaining hungry is important here, as it is easy to get complacent, start thinking that that they can play with some bigger teams, and overlook teams in their own conference.

Speaking of tomorrow, its Senior Night and a chance to honor the Seniors who have seen some pretty rough patches here at UAlbany. Let's give 'em a huge thanks, but more importantly, let's bring 'em back for one more game in March.

When the bracketbuster schedule came out, I read a few comments how Albany did not deserve a TV game and how some of the VCU faithful felt slighted by the draw. The Danes hopefully proved themselves to VCU and to the rest of the Nation watching that they were worthy of such a game. Of course, all of this means a lot less if we lay an egg tomorrow, which would shock me. Its going to be an emotional night and I think we'll play one of our better games of the year and get revenge on UVM.

Danes Fever, Baby!

I am keeping my thoughts re: the bracketbuster to myself. I'm not here to rain on anyone's parade. Today is a great day for the University and for Albany hoops. Personally, its great seeing alumni get together in various cities-- Manhattan, Boston, New Hyde Park-- for tonight's festivities. We're still planning on going to the Across the Street Pub.

Since the Danes' last game 6 days ago, I haven't been able to satiate my college basketball fix. I saw Tyler Hansbrough put up for for UNC v. Tech, I watched the UCONNvict-'Nova game, the MSU-Iowa game and I even had the rare opportunity to even watch my Johnnies win a close one at The Rut. Yeah, that's great and all, but I'm dying for tonight's game.

Also glad to read about the recent developments re: Coach Brown's future. However, AD McElroy's comment that"(w)e've been talking about negotiating the extension, so obviously he's going to be (the coach), no question" makes zero sense, especially when the article goes on to quote McElroy later saying that "'it's not in our control' whether Brown pursues other openings after the season."

Its really a shame that the game will not be on regular cable in the Capital Region. A good showing tonight on TV could really help bring people to the Vermont game on Monday and go a way to help build a buzz for the team. I guess TW3 is too busy telling me what olympic events are on what NBC station or showing re-runs of the Tech Valley report or something.

For those not aware of the rule changes, the NIT committee will invite every regular-season conference champion to participate. We have not won anything yet and our ultimate goal is the NCAA's, but we're one step closer to post-season play. The link to the story is on the BPF site.

A thought ran through my head ("a" as in one) while wacthing the UCANT-'Nova game-- if we're fortunate to have our beloved Danes make the NCAA's, get ready because we're going to Philly to play Villanova. I just checked out ESPN's bracketology, and where do they have the Danes? That's right-- playing 'Nova in Philly.

VCU is installed as a 10-point favorite, and its easy to see why. The Rams have an excellent basketball team and they are something ridiculous like 83-16 in their new arena. The Rams have beaten some very good basketball teams such as Houston, Hofstra and Old Dirty University. Although VCU lost three of their last four games, only the Towson loss can be considered a bad one as The Rams possibly could have been looking ahead to this game. The Rams also recently lost to a very good GooMoo squad and to Northeastern, who would most likely be in first place in the AE right now had they stayed put.

VCU is not as big as they appeared to me on TV when I saw them play ODU. The Rams have one starter above 6'6" in Sophomore Sam Faulk (6'8"), who averages about 2 ppg and 4 rpg. Hopefully, Albany will be able to take advantage of his matchup with Zollner, whose recent play has been well-documented.

A big key for Albany tonight is going to be perimeter defense, as VCU shoots close to 40% from downtown. VCU also guards very well on the perimeter, as The rams rank second in the CAA in 3-point defense, holding their opponents to under 30& 3-pt shooting per contest.

A few other points--VCU has an excellent turnover margin at +3.6, they average 8 steals a game, and we all know just how careless Albany can be with the ball at times.

Something else that became apparent to me while watching the VCU-ODU game was how well VCU's players ran the floor. Transistion defense has been an issue for the Danes this season, and limiting their opportunities in transition will be another key for the Danes tonight-- based on all the VCU basketball I watched this year, LOL.

Although I dislike everything Duke(although I had a prof. in college, Dr. Burton, who was pretty cool), Jeff Capel, like Coach Brown, is a young coach whose stock is on the rise. In his 4 seasons with VCU, Capel has complied a very respectable 76-39 record, and with his pedigree, I suspect Mr. Capel will start hearing from bigger programs in the not-too-distant future.

So long as Brent and Levi are able to contain VCU's stud, Nick George, I think we'll be able to hang in there and make a very respectable showing. Ultimately, their home-court advantage does us in. We lose by 12, but some of those points are a result of FT shooting at the end of the game.

Albany 87, Maine 73

2/11/06
Orono, Maine
16-8, AE 11-2

A few things of note:

My PSA-- Please see the link for The Devil and Daniel Johnston. If the movie makes its way anywhere around here, it'll probably play at The Spectrum. Daniel Johnston is one of those musicians who is better known for those artists who cover his work-- Beck, Wilco, fIREHOSE, Yo La Tengo. You might be old enough to recall Cobain wearing a Daniel Johnston t-shirt all the time. For those not familiar with Daniel Johnston's music, it sure isn't for everyone, but its raw and honest, if poorly recorded. Even if you're not familiar with his work, the movie looks like a compelling watch.

Also, check out the 'CDB blog and the link to Jenn Sterger-- I'm sure we could solve our attendance woes this way, no problem!

Today's deplorable letter in the TU:
www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/12/2006
You'll have to cut and paste the address into your browser.

Not really worth addressing-- I posted my thoughts on the BPF board. Its inconceivable that anyone who follows the team and cares about the program at all could write such a misinformed letter. The letter is beneath any additional comment.

The Game:
Where to start. After all, when a team puts up 87, there's generally a lot going on. The big story tonight was the big fella'. 17 & 7, shooting 5-7 from the field and 7-11 from the stripe. Zo also had 2 blocks to go along with 2 PF's. Tonight is seemed like every time Zo got a rebound or helped keep a play alive the end result was points for the Danes. This happened at least twice in the early going-- once in a Brent 3-pointer, another time in an old fashioned 3-point play for Jamar.

As Coach Brown said in his post-game remarks, Jamar Wilson is POY. 30 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists in 37 minutes. Of course, right now POY honors is between Jamar and Adeleke. However, neither Mr. Adeleke nor any other player in the AE can take over a game at crunch time like Jamar is capable of doing.

Despite his concussion, Brent got the start tonight and promptly delivered. As Tobben loves to note, Brent seems to always be good for taking at least one charge per game. Brent took one tonight at a pretty crucial point in the second half, so it appears all is well. Its great to see a player come back and play with the same level of intesity prior to the injury sustained.

Connelly saw some early action , whcih quickly paid off tonight. As soon as Brian Connelly got into the game he had a quick rebound and four early points. Levi and Siggers had almost identical games, each adding 12 and 13 points respectively, each on 5-7 shooting. Levi also had 5 assists tonight. All in all, the team seemed to move the ball well tonight and their 19 assists tonight was 7 above the team average.

Jason has settled comfortably into his role. Mr. Siggers looks very comfortable in his ability and in his role, and its great to see him not force the issue after having the ridiculous month that he had.

With the game knotted at 59, the Danes come out of a TO and Brian turns the ball over. At that point I noted that it seems like something bad always happens whenever we come out of a timeout. However, after that turnover, the Danes went on a 10-0 run, basically blowing the game wide open and that theory out of the water.

Despite our inability to often deliver the knockout blow, its great to see the maturity the team displays by not panicking during those stretches where the opponent makes their inevitable second-half run.

I don't want to get too excited or look too far ahead, but last night's win reduces the magic number to 2. Two Albany wins or a Danes' win and a Binghamton loss will ensure our first AE regulsar season championship and number one seed for the Danes in the AE tournament.

Congratulations to the team for another gritty win and another all-around fine performance. We hope to see everyone at the Across the Street Pub for the VCU game. Speaking of which, caught some of their game v. ODU last night night. From what I saw, VCU is big, and all of their players run the court extremely well. I'm afraid that they will terrorize us on the boards and give us fits in transition. Full scouting report comes later in the week. Can't wait for that one, huh?

NHL; The Maine Game

Check out the new link to the 'CDB sports blog.

OK, I hope Rick Tocchet is innocent of any wrongdoing. I also hope that Gretzky's name is cleared. That being said, someone did name a horse after Tocchet. Different spelling, however. Just a coincidence that I'm noting, that's all. Good horse, too, until his owner ran him into the ground.

It may be me, but it seems like Indiana is on way too much.

Maine tonight. Today's TU article reminded me of something:
"Wilson hasn't missed a game in his UAlbany career. He has started all 23 games this season, rather remarkable given the slew of injuries he has endured. Wilson has battled plantar fasciitis in his feet, severely jammed his jaw, sprained his left thumb and suffered a black eye this season. "It's unbelievable," Brown said. "Talk about the walking wounded. Brent is reckless and his body takes a beating, plus he has played a lot of minutes this year, too."

Its easy to forget these things, but Brent has been through a lot. He's also getting knocked down on the charges he takes for the team. Those can't tickle, but maybe its nothing compared to the other stuff. Brent really is taking a page out of the Kellen Winslow, Jr page-- if you remember his tirade from about 3 years ago.

The team has to start strong tonight. Seems like a no-brainer of a statement, I know, but after the Hartford trip and now a 400 mile trip to Orono, I'd hate to see the wear and tear of road travel start to catch up with the team. Who know, maybe we'll try to go big against a much smaller team and try to get some easy baskets that way. Maine has three guys taller than 6'6" in Avenniemi, Cavanaugh and Scales. Of these 3, only Aveniemi logs serious minutes at 25 per game. None are what you'd consider scoring threats-- Avenniemi averages about 6 PPG.

However, with the possibility of Brent out, we'll probably need Covington to absorb some of the minutes, and that means staying out of foul trouble. I like Jimmy and I think he'll be a good player for us. However, he's almost too physical for AE play. I'd like to see Covington really put the clampdown on Bofia tonight.

If Brent's out, hopefully Levi gets the start. Coach Brown seems to like using Levi as an energy guy to come off the bench, but he is our third leading scorer, and Levi's energy might help us in the early going tonight.

We played what I consider to be our best game of the year the last time Maine visited to the RACC. Although we match up well against this team, they played Pitt close, and beat both Vermont and BU this year, so they are dangerous. Good luck tonight, fellas.

Albany 65, Hartford 63

2/8/06, Hartford
15-8, 10-2 AE

Since the University refuses to include a play-by-play sheet with the box score(thanks for nothing), I experimented with one of my own for a part of the first half. Comments in bold.

Listening to the pre-game show... Siggers rolled his ankle in practice. First Brent busts his thumb in practice, now Jason's injury-- just what goes on in practice anyway? Glad to see the team practicing hard, but 2 injuries? Wow.

This is even before Brent's concussion and Brian's mouth injury. I hope this season does not turn into a war of attrition, though I'm thrilled to see the team playing hard. No one seems to know what exactly happened to either Brent or Brian.

Starting lineups announced-- heard a few claps for the Danes. I guess time will tell what sort of support we have tonight. Doesn't really sound like a lot of people in attendance tonight.
Total attendance was ~1200.

Didn't know before the game-- Hartford is first in the AE in scoring, eigth in points allowed. Thanks, Tobben.

Adeleke and Cook are 1 & 3 in the AE in scoring, averaging 20.4 and 16.8 points, respectively. We all know who is second in the league in scoring.
Albany's #s- second in scoring, at 66.6 (the number of the beast), and third in defense, allowing 63.5 ppg.

Hartford's first possession, a Cook 3-- what did Brown say in the pre-game? Something about not letting Cook get off to a fast start, I think.

Lucious counters with a three of his own.
Then Brent. Then Brent again!
Now Lillis!

4-4 early from 3-point land! 12-3 early lead.

Covington in early-- seems like Coach Brown wants to see exactly what he get get from Jimmy down the stretch, based on Jimmy's recent increase in PT.

Adeleke hits his first, but Brian goes off glass. 14-5. 5 for Brian. And he just picked up his second. See ya' in the second, Brian.
Adeleke hits 2 FTs-- 14-7

Siggers hits on a jumper-- so much for the ankle.
Foul on Covington-- 5 early ones with 13 minutes left. Hartford will be in the bonus in 30 seconds.

Big lineup:
Zo, Levi, Siggers, Covington, Wilson. See how this goes.

I like to see Coach Brown experiment with the big lineup-- we're gonn'a need it in the UVM and UNH games.

Carter dunk-- 16-9. Sounded like a monster. This 5 has to be patient offensively.

Zo tip off the rebound 16-9
Another very nice night for Zo. His line:
4-7 shooting, 2-4 FTs, 7 rebounds, 10 points, 3 PF's, 4 TO's, 2 blocks, 3 steals. Love to see it and it looks like his game is coming together just at the right time. All in 32 minutes. Keep up the good work, Zo.

No transition D, though, Adeleke again, 16-11
Levi's turn for three, 21-11!

Team is shooting well, early. Gotta' watch the fouls, though.
Siggers foul-- 6 now. Adeleke is gonna' eat us up alive tonight, despite the early lead.
Adeleke again-- 8 of Hartford's early 13. 21-13.

Adeleke had 14 of his 21 points in the first half, probably because UH scored all of their second-half points in transition off of steals.

Levi rebound, Danes in transition and Jamar hits the baby j, 23-13

Iati's in-- hopefully he can get in on the 3-point action.
Adeleke rebound, layup. 23-15.
Ford foul-- their second team foul.

Commercial TO-- Have Indiana-Wisconsin game on mute. The ESPN team of Musberger-Lavin is the worst. Glad I can't hear 'em.

Back to the action...
Jamar from downtown! 26-16. UAlbany is 6-11 from downtown early, and it sounded like a few of those early misses were in-and-out jobs that could have gone down.

Zo with the spin move against Adeleke-- sounded nice, 28-15. See previous comments.

All right, enough of this experiment...

From the sound of things early, I though UAlbany was going to put up a ton of points tonight-- kind of surprised that we scored more in the first half that we did in the second, but that what happens when you commit 7 straight turnovers.

Despite the team's ridiculous early 3-point shooting, they cooled down considerably in the second half, only shooting 1-7 and finishing the night on 9-22 from downtown.

Balanced scoring tonight-- Brent was off to a fast start before getting hurt, scoring 9 first half points, all on 3PT shots.

In the first half, Carter's prayer along with their prefect FT shooting helped keep the hawks in the game. Take away those numbers, and its an 11-point halftime lead for the Danes.

Luckily, Carter's prayer was not answered a second time.

Proud of the team for holding on to win-- get well soon.

Upstate Uprising-- click for PDF

"Albany and Binghamton have risen to the top of America East"
Huh?
Both teams are having very nice seasons. Maybe I'm being cautious and I don't want to moosch the Danes the way Binghamton's pep band jinxed their team, but no one has risen to the top of anything yet. If nothing else, this year's AE has been most notable for league parity.

The PDF is pretty cool in that its more exposure for the program, and I'll take it. However, in attempting to drum up some excitement over the budding Albany-Binghamton rivalry and for the upcoming AE tournament to be held in Binghamton in March, the league neglects a vastly improved UNH team and a young and improving Vermont team, just to name a few of the other teams in the AE. While Albany and Bingo sit 1-2 respectively atop the standings in the AE, at least 4 teams have a shot at winning the tournament.

Of course, its obvious why the league does this-- to get the fans of the schools closest to Binghamton there for the AE tournament. Maybe I just had a long day and I'm just not biting right now. "Lighten up, Francis."

Two last things--Albany does not average 2700 fans per game-- they drew more than 2700 once all year. Don't lie or manipulate statistics.

The pamphlet also neglected to mention that Albany beat Binghamton TWICE this year. Couldn't let that one slide, sorry.

Hartford Game Notes 2/8/06
Loved the TU article today. The players sound confident, and I liked Brian's quote, that the upcoming road games are "just going to make us even more mentally tough than we already are."

The upcoming stretch is a tall order for the team, and Coach Brown's quote in the article is perfect:
"This will be a tremendous challenge for us because I think in any conference in America, it's tough to win on the road," Brown said. "I don't know what goes into putting the schedule together, besides a lot of hard work, and you can't please everybody."

(In the past I thought the coaching staff had something to do with scheduling-- mea culpa.)

Coach Brown reacted similarly when asked about the officiating during halftime of the Stony Brook, again refusing to take the bait. Classy move by Coach.

As Coach Brown alluded to earlier in the season when the team was losing, this year the Danes are the team with the bulls-eye on their backs. Hartford is really going to be up for tonight's game, and especially after beating Vermont, there should be a pretty hostile crowd awaiting the Danes tonight. Oh, and Hartford is obviously not out to do us any favors-- yeah, I'm still smarting over the Binghamton game.

One last thing-- we should start to really begin pressuring the University about re-signing Coach Brown. The media has to stay out of this now and wait until the season is over-- they had their chance all year and blew it. The team doesn't need the distraction during the most important stretch of the season. However, I'm afraid that a window might be closing. After all, no one wants to be where they are not wanted. Right now, its up to us-- the fans, supporters and alumni-- along with Dr. McElroy and President Hall to ensure Coach Brown that he is indeed wanted here.

Good luck tonight, Danes.

Shameless Plug, Though for Something Pretty Cool

First and Foremost, see the BPG comments below...

OK, for the last 5 years I have been in a pool with about 45-50 other people. It works like this-- every person selects a slate of 5 college basketball teams. The objective is to amass the highest win total with your chosen teams. The only caveat is that your slate cannot have a combined total of more than 100 wins from the previous season, thereby preventing you from picking Duke, UCONN, Mich. State, Gonzaga, Kentucky, and nothing but other perennial powerhouses who are good for ~30 wins a year. This year, three guys have Albany, and more miraculously, all three guys have the exact same slate-- Stanford, Duke, Memphis, and Texas, to go along with the Danes.

I'm getting killed, thanks to the terrible job Bobby Lutz has done at Charlotte this year. Actually, I really have no basis for this, except for the fact that the 49ers, who won 21 games last year in the C-USA bailed for the A10 this year. Oh, and I listened to Donkey V who had Charlotte in his pre-season Top-25. Yeah, I'm an idiot. My other teams are UCONN(vict), St. John's, Duke and Texas.

Why do I post this stuff? No, not because you actually care. However, it is a great pool and something to always think about when watching non-stop college hoops as I do, especially this time of year.

If anyone is interested in joining for next year, drop me a line-- I will also post a message on the BPF board well before the start of next season.

Big Purple Growl

Boston University 60
Albany 71
14-8, 9-2 AE
2/4/06

Apologies for not updating this sooner-- its been a busy week starting the semester and a new internship @ the Capitol to go along with my job.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the BPG. Don't get me wrong, its a great event for the University and the team deserves to play in front of this type of atmosphere every game. However, it seems as if the basketball team really is not the focus of the event and that is something with which I have a problem.

A friend of mine didn't think the game was really that close. I disagree, though maybe its simply a matter of perspective. He hasn't seen another game all year. On the other hand, I stress out about every possession. I'm also aware that Albany is prone to napping at times and that BU is a dangerous team, so that might skew my perception of the game. Either way, the cool thing is, he, as well as my other friends in town for BPG-- 2 Albany alums, 1 Richmond alum who follows the A10 religiously-- were all impressed with the team's performance. They liked the way the team played and also liked all of the players on an individual level.

True, Albany led for the entire game, but BU closed the lead to 5 with 4 minutes left, at which point anything could have happened. Ultimately, however, tonight we had an answer primarily in the form of Jason Siggers to respond to every BU run. Jason finished the night with 19 points in 19 minutes, once again making the most of every minute he gets on the court. Mr. Siggers nailed all 4 3-point shots he took tonight, all of them huge. Another Kobe-esque performance from Mr. Siggers.

Kirsten and Lucious accounted for 18 of our 26 first-half points, scoring 7 and 11 first-half points, respectively. Over the last two games, Zo has really looked more comfortable around the basket. Despite his second-half meltdown, Lucious played excellent defense and has played excellent defense this year. Right now, Sweet Lou is 14th in the conference in steals, averaging 1.18 steals per game while averaging 25 minutes per game in the process. Seems like a pretty good steals-to-minutes ratio, to me, at least.

Jamar was Jamar, leading the way with 23 points and 7 assists. 8 of those points came in the first 3 minutes of the second half, helping the Danes build an early 12-point second half lead. UAlbany would extend their lead to 21, before BU mounted a run, thanks to the play of Corey Hassan and Kevin Gardner.

The team is starting to hit their stride and play their best basketball at a crucial time of the season. Hopefully, the team will be able to takers its solid play on the road, where we will play 5 of our last 6 games. However, one area of constant concern for me is their carelessness with the basketball. The team collectively makes a lot of lazy and haphazard passes when bringing the ball up the court that result in steals.

Next stop is Hartford on Wednesday. This is a big, big game against a Hawks team, who, after losing to Longwood (huh, huh, Beavis), one of the worst teams in all of DI, seems to have actually turned a corner and smoked Vermont.

A lof has been made regarding the Albany fans (or lack thereof) at the BPG. The "lack thereof" is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, simply because, frankly, the majority of the students don't really know what they're watching. Ultimately, the majority of the students are at the game for the party atmosphere, not because they ultimately care so much about the game.

That's all right-- hopefully that type of atmosphere can be created on a continual basis which will hopefully and eventually draw in more students to the program and to the team. It really gets me, however, to see the pep band bring in ringers and for the "Spirit Brigade" to show up for an event that already has so much built-in energy to start. Where are the pep-band ringers and the Spirit Brigade at the Saturday night Utah Valley State games?

One more official home game for the year. Kudos to the main RACC Rowdy trying to build off the momentum created at the BPG by sending out an e-mail re: the Vermont game. Keep 'em coming! Gotta' admit, I'm pretty bummed out that the next home game is in 2 weeks. Ugh.

Signs we will make for the next game:
1. CONTRACT EXTENSION
1A. Four More Years
2. Something for the Seniors-- not sure what yet.
3. One More Home Game! I will also be chanting that one all night!