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.
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.
posted by L3K at 5:31 AM
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