SienaGlen

As a Siena poster I'd like to point out that IMO 1) Tony doesn't delete enough posts. There's far too much bickering, etc. 2) When Tony mentioned name calling I believe he meant personal attacks (ie: Tony is xyz) vs. general descriptions (ie: the fan base is xyz) 3) I've found Tony to be fair and a good board moderator 4) dissention is indeed tolerated. Beating a dead horse a hundred times over isn't. No school, organization, whatever is 100% right all the time. There's room to criticize. As a "fan board" it should generally be in support of the institution or at least offer up possible solutions to potential problems. Many dissenters just like throwing rocks with no good intention. That's not what a fan board is for. Just my opinion

I don't understand your statement that your AD would have political problems if UAlbany were to schedule a game or two at the arena every season. And I doubt whether he would put himself in the position you describe. I think something got lost in translation... It isn't a problem for our AD if you guys schedule a game or 3 at the arena. That's fine. The problem is if Siena is playing in a regular season game (part of season tix package) and our season tix holders can't sit in their seats. I no your next line of thought...don't make the game part of Siena's season ticket package. D'Arg could do that but I wouldn't want to be him after that news got out. Please tell me you see the perception problem. If not then you're just being argumentative. I just want to point out to: "Siena is God" "Siena is equivalent to SU in the basketball world" (paraphrased) These were quotes attributed to Tony or me that we didn't say! UA fan's made those logical leaps. Hey, if you say so!

Come to the RACC. 14117[/snapback] Are you trying to imply that the Aints would never play any away OOC game in a facility with less capacity than the cavernous Coca Cola? You must have had a hissy fit when your Aints went up to UVM this season or even when you went out to Amherst to play UMass. Have you contacted your AD about these horrible deals yet? 14124[/snapback] Nope. Most MAAC teams play in crappy gyms. No harm in that. But we're not playing out of the area. You guys are missing the obvious pollitical problems our AD would have to deal with. Again, would you guys do it if you were in Siena's position? I think not, so why should we? As far as being visitors on our own court, I think it should be clarified that Tony's comment is for a regular season game. MAAC tourney is not considered regular season.

Come to the RACC. 14117[/snapback] OK - and we'd get seats in your season ticket section? No, why not? Because it is silly to ask that of the home team! There's nothing in it for Siena to play at the RACC. Why would we do that? If roles were reversed would you advocate the UA do that? Nope. We wouldn't suggest the game be played at the ARC either. What's so hard about this logic?

Because you compared Albany at Syracuse to Albany at the Pepsi Arena. Siena parallelling itself to Syracuse shows how unrealistic your view of yourself in the college basketball world is. 14111[/snapback] Hold on there. You guys brought up the SU analogy saying that you got a home game and therefore Siena should do it. My issue with what was said was that while you got a home game it wasn't in SU's facility. You're asking for a home game in Siena's facility. Granted Siena doesn't own it but it is our home court. In no other way was I paralleling Siena to SU. Out of curiosity what was I unrealistic about?

What's the location of the facility have to do with anything? That's where Siena plays ALL of it's home games. That means it is our HOME COURT. Period. This is the choice - play the game at the Pepsi or no game. Again, I'm OK with an equitable distribution of money, alternating home whites, etc. If that's not good enough then we shouldn't play. It doesn't make sense to play in the RACC (for Siena) and it really would be a politcal faux pas for D'Arg to schedule the game and NOT include it with our season tix. Hey, you guys are occassionally spouting off about how much greater your resource pool is than Siena's. Fine. Build your own arena that will support the attendance. Personally I think it could be a "if you build it they will come" situation. Before any more comments are made about Albany County Tax payers supporting the bill for Siena I think you should take pause...isn't ALL of UA supported by all of the NY tax payers? PS: I believe lots of schools use public facilities such as the Pepsi for their home court. It isn't like we get this for free. Siena does pay a rental fee and I'm sure the Pepsi makes out pretty well on concessions.

My 2 cents: I have no problem with UA wearing home whites and even profitting more financially as a "home" team but you're not going to get Siena season tix holders to be visitors in the Pepsi. You guys have pointed to the Syracuse game a few times. A more correct analogy would be to have UA being the home team at the Dome. Ridiculous...sure. Just as much as having Siena being the visitor at the Pepsi. Hey, SU plays Cornell every year. Do you think the Red have told SU they want to be the home team? I doubt it. Also, it's funny to see how for so long UA fans were all about calling Siena chicken for not signing up to play the game. Now you're talking about walking away. Personally I like the game but if you guys walk away that's fine by me. Then Siena isn't the "bad guy". Hey, Siena is willing to play the games - if UA doesn't think it is a good deal then bag it. We'll both be able to find other teams to fill the schedule. UA will fill it with a game that'll draw a max 4K or so at the RACC. Siena will fill it with a game that will draw a minimum of 5K and a max of 10-12K at the Pepsi. Oh - I think Tony is underestimating UA for next year. I personally feel the big kid you guys recruited will be an impact player and I think you'll be as good or maybe a bit better than last year.

UA played a great and a I mean GREAT game. Congratulations. I was really torn. I was rooting for UA but I knew I'd hear it ....hmmm ... forever if UA won the game :-) Your team did put in a great effort and played with one of the best in the nation. You made the Capital Region proud. Congrats again for a great season. See ya in November!

Hi. First I'd like to note that I'm not one of the Siena crew who likes to see you guys lose! This has to be a huge disappointment but you're heading into conference play. All is not lost! I find the differences between our boards quite amusing. OldDog71 wrote something like "..., it was interesting how they became almost cannibalistic and turned on each other..." I prefer to think of it as a family disagreement :-) Your board seems rather quite. I can assure you our board would be quite busy if we had your record coupled with your expectations for the season. What's up? What's the consensus on Will Brown? I've been a huge supporter to-date but maybe I need to give McElroy some credit. There were pre-season discussions of NIT, etc. 2-6 pretty much kills that. Any comments?

A92.... I got alot of abuse about that jingle at work too!

You guys are funny. You haven't even won an NCAA game yet. Oh wait.. You haven't been there yet. NIT....nope. Tournament Finals....nope. Tournament Semis....???...not sure but probably - nope. So Siena has a down year and you can proclaim yourselves Kings forever more? Good Luck with that

Yes things are down this year but with any luck we'll get a new coach and turn this around. Before Danes fans get too cocky, remember it will happen to you too. The only question is how much will you achieve before then? As Siena fans we're very disappointed in the season and Lanier's tenure to-date. I believe the school will take action as season's end. As for the freshman backcourt...that's really not the problem. McClinton is doing fine at the point. Tay and Al Fisher are doing fine as 2Gs. The problem is the coach. I'll make some predictions. 1- If we get a new coach and the current LOI recruits still arrive on campus we win the (SC/UA) game at the Pepsi next year. 2- If we get the coach but the recruits backout it'll be a close game with the winner determined by a coin toss 3- If we have Lanier, you'll be able to polish that trophy again

Much like the previous poster I am also a Siena fan and I too expected the beating we got this year (congrats to UA). Before you guys go off thinking you're headed to a sweet 16 in a few years keep in mind that you're in much the same boat as every other mid-major including Siena. You will lose your coach! I know what Brown said in the paper. That's similar to what Mike Deane said before he left Siena :-) All coaches...hell, most people, want to achieve the most they can. Tell me if an ACC, Big East or Big Ten team offered Will Brown a 4 year $500K / year contract he'd say "...naw, I love Malta." Heck, I live in Malta and I love this area but not even being a coach I could retire on that kind of money even if I went O-fer. I think the rivalry is great between Siena and UA but I don't see either school making the jump to the big time. Keep in mind too that once we get a new coach (I believe it is inevitable - be it this year or next) we'll be back in the mix. All those positives SC fans like to post about - they really are postives and they do provide a recruiting advantage. Good luck the rest of the year.

Thanks for the nice words fellas... I'll add that if UA makes the jump to a higher level conference then everything changes. Unfortunately (and again like SC) there are no open slots in the better leagues. As for your coaching situation, yes you may have your coach for another 5 years...hey, we had Mike D for 7 right? You may go to the NIT in 2 years and then let's say you go to the NCAAs in both the last 2 years. Let's even say you win a game or 2. Then coach is history. New coach time. Do you lose recruits? Do you get Hewitt or do you get a Beyer? SSDS (same sh*t different school). Here's my big money prediction: The NCAA is going to split D1 hoop into 1a and 1aa just like football. I'm not sure how the line will be drawn but whatever schools end up on the 1a list will be BIG and the rest, well they may as well go D2 or D3. If, as in football, they base the split in part on attendance there may be quite a few schools in "power" conferences that don't make the cut opening up some slots for those that can. If UA and SC can manage to get over that hurdle we may be OK. I'm sure there will be other financial commitments as well which could kill the whole deal for less funded institutions (I'm thinking SC here but UA isn't exactly rolling in dough either). -G

UAlbany's future... I wish the best for you guys and like SienaTony I hope the games continue but for those of you thinking that UA is destined to make it big, please let me point out a few things: 1. UA may have a few great years...as SC has. The result will be the same - you're going to lose your coach. That's a given. 2. Size isn't everything. Look at UVM. New Hampshire, Maine. Even some really great (and former AE) programs like Delaware. There's a big difference between Delaware and Syracuse 3. UA is in the America East. A fine conference and not far behind the MAAC. Can I tell you how many freakin' recruits SC has lost because we play in the MAAC and not the BE or A10!!! UA is sure to hit the same hurdle. In short, the fate of UA is much the same as Siena's. In the short term Siena will be better. In the long term we'll probably end up close to the same. The one thing that will prevent UA from grabbing a huge local following is the fact that manu UA grads leave the area (my perception). SC also has a LONG history. The non-alumni fans that I know are that way because their parents took them since they were grade schoolers. If UA manages the same luck it'll still take 10's of years to garner the same season ticket holder base. Hopefully I'm wrong...'cause then I'd be wrong about SC's probable future as well!