'06-'07 Schedule and Ticket Information

First and foremost, the Univeristy hosted a memorial service for President Kermit Hall on Monday, September 18th. This service was in contrast to the one earlier in the summer that featured rememberances from many prominent NY politicians. A few of his colleagues spoke at this service, including a very moving eulogy by Dr. James Anderson, VP of Student Success, who managed to quote "The Rainbow Connection" and make it touching and poignant. All in all, very nicely done and very well attended. He will be sorely missed and nearly impossible to replace.

Just like "Alumni Hall" or "Independence Hall," the university should rename the RACC, "Kermit Hall." Or not-- just an idea.

At long last, per the university website:

2006-07 University at Albany Men's Basketball Schedule
November
11 (Sat.), Bucknell, 7:00
17 (Fri.), Delaware, 7:00
21 (Tue.), at Sacred Heart, 7:00
26 (Sun.), at Connecticut, 4:00

December
2 (Sat.), at Siena (Pepsi Arena), 7:00
6 (Wed.), Virginia Commonwealth, 7:00
9 (Sat.), Brown, 2:00
12 (Tue.), at Harvard, 7:00
16 (Sat.), St. Bonaventure, 2:00
22 (Fri.), at Cornell, 7:00
28 (Thu.), at Utah, 9:00
30 (Sat.), at Utah Valley State, 9:05

January
3 (Wed.), New Hampshire*, 7:00
6 (Sat.), at Binghamton*, TBA; 9 (Tue.), at UMBC*, 7:00
11 (Thu.), Maine*, 7:00; 13 (Sat.), at Vermont*, 1:00
15 (Mon.), at Stony Brook*, TBA
21 (Sun.), Hartford*, TBA; 24 (Wed.), at Boston U.*, TBA
28 (Sun.), at New Hampshire*, TBA
31 (Wed.), UMBC*, 7:00

February
3 (Sat.), Binghamton*, 7:00+
5 (Mon.), at Hartford*, 7:00
7 (Wed.), at Maine*, 7:30
11 (Sun.), Vermont*, TBA
16/17 (Fri./Sat.), at ESPN BracketBusters, TBA
22 (Thu.), Stony Brook*, 7:00
25 (Sun.), Boston U.*, TBA

March
2, 3, & 4, America East Conference Tournament (Agganis Arena, Boston, Mass.); 10 (Sat.), America East Conference Championship^, 12:00 (ESPN2)

*America East Conference Opponent +Big Purple Growl
^At Highest Remaining Seed's Home Arena All Times Eastern

Season tickets are available through the university website or by calling the athletic department. My seat is a few rows behind the team bench, but I'm sure I will be spending a fair amount of time in the student section. Tickets for individual games go on sale on October 16th. Tickets for the UConn game in Storrs are not yet on sale.

Coach Brown did a great job assembling this year's schedule. Four of their out-of-conference (OOC) opponents made collegehoopsnet.com's Top 144 (UConn, Utah, Siena, Bucknell). VCU finished last year with an RPI of 81, I think, and will be a good team despite losing Jeff Capel to Oklahoma and Senior Nick George. This strong OOC schedule will ideally only help prepare the team for what should be a much more competetive America East.

Also gotta' like that we finish the season with 5 of our last 7 games at home, opposed to last year when as the team ended the season playing 4 of their last 5 games on the road. The Big Purple Growl will be against Blinghamton. Every UA fan who attended last year's Albany-Binghamton game in Binghamton is hoping that our student section will give it to the Bearcats as their student section did to us last year-- as long as the students can keep batteries in their pockets.

Looking forward to seeing this year's team in action as it will certainly be solid, despite the departures of Lucious, Zoe and Lev. Judging from Eric Eaton's blogs while in Europe, Jason Siggers is poised for a breakout year, but its no secret that a good del of the team's success will hinge on the development of the big men-- Covington, Yocum, and the highly-touted Brent Gifford. With this OOC schedule, this trio will be tested early and often.