My Opinion

[GreatDanes06]

It probably does not make sense, but i think UA needs to jump on the idea of switching Conference in basketball. With Conference-USA falling apart and teams being moved from Independents and to the WAC and MAC and all that, i think UA should jump ship in American East. If Army can survive in the league, i dont see how we cant. If you can get major colleges to come to the RACC, you can get bigger attendence, bigger promotions, bigger venues and the building of a great basketball program and athletic department....just my point of view.

[DaneMan]

What drugs are you on? The only thing that draws fan interest is winning. Your plan of moving to a higher conference will result in more losses for the basketball team and this cause fans to stay away. The football team has won for the last couple of years and the students still don't show up, nor do most of them actually know anything abou the football team.

 

The only sport that has generated any type of student interest is men's lacrosse and that's because the last two years they have proved that they can win consistently. Why would you leave a conference that might get weaker and would probably result in Albany winning the automatic bid? Let the students see "Albany" pop up on their NCAA bracket first before becoming concerned with switching conferences.

[professor]

Only like 30 schools nationally play lacrosse. EAsy! Jumping conferences would be foolish. Don't use Army as a comparison. Army football would blast ALbany and Army stinks. Absolutely blast Albany!

[Dane Pound]

I like the way Great Danes84 thinks big. We are going to have to earn our way to a higher conference however. Let's walk first in the AE before we think about jumping anywhere. One of the ways we can do that is to build a solid portfolio of sports (including lacrosse).

[Albany Fan]

As I stated before, I favor a jump to a higher profile conference. Albany is losing at current level anyway & by time they start to be solid program will be stuck in current conference for who knows how long. Look at Siena as now pretty solid program but has to beg anyone decent to come play them in out of conference game as Catch 22 of being one of the better programs in a lower level conference & will still not draw great crowds against current conference opponents as not enough appeal to the casual fan even if winning on consistant basis. Football will probably never reach big time as establised Eastern programs continue to struggle year after year as not able to get recruits (due to weather, etc) needed to compete for title. UAlbany, in my opinion, will never gain a decent following unless product is made more attractive. Atlantic 10 would be perfect as don't rely on football programs as strictly basketball conference. Even though UAlbany does not belong at A-10 level at this time, it may be only opportunity for a long time to move up as end result could be awesome. I say take the licks now as have been doing anyway as would be competing (& shooting for top team in conference) eventually in very respected conference. Being the top dog in current conference may satisfy some but in long run won't bring UAlbany the sports recognition it & area fans seem to be craving. I for one would love to see UAlbany become respected program as sick of all the negativity surrounding other gimmicky local sports team in the area who draw squat (and still charge an arm & a leg for admission) as college b-ball is the real deal for sports entertainment.

[Albany Fan]

Also, people are contradicting themselves by saying how can you move to a higher profile conference as loses would decrease attendance even more; but then say how we have winning football program but does not increase attendance. It sort of proves the point that no matter if winning or losing, offering a higher level product can only help attendance. Also Lacrosse team could go undefeated & play for national championship but would not excite area fans all that much as not a sport that grew up with in this area as bad to use that as comparison as well. Syracuse has powerhouse lacrosse team in area where that sport is more well-known & still draw poorly compared to basketball.

[Dane96]

I think we will wait until 2010. That is the earliest the Big East can break up. AND IT WILL BREAK UP. When the BE breaks up, watch for their to be a major shift in affiliation with the current A-10 and the Big East. I would imagine that the basketball/football (1-AA schools) would merge somehow. THE IA football schools will form their own conference. Then you have the AE teams. I wouldnt be suprised to see a Duquense, Dayton, UMass, URI, Richmond, Fordham, UNH, UMAINE, NU, ALBANY, STONY BROOK, Hofstra, Villanova (if they dont go to the CAA...highly doubtful.), possibly Fordham (and for kicks---GTOWN???). That is a nice 14 team league...but maybe Nova wouldnt come and who knows what Dayton and Fordham would do. BUT IT WOULD BE AN ALL-Sport conference, w/ some power in football and definately a better hoop conference than the current AE makeup. I would then see UVM, Hartford, Binghamton, BU, UMBC, maybe forming something (not all those schools more than likely) w/ the non-football playing members of the BE and the A-Ten.

 

There will be new conferences no doubt. One with members from the current A-10/BE/AE schools (non-football playing schools), one with IA football schools in the BE, one with the football-hoop playing schools from the A10/BE/AE.

[DaneFan2k3]

Did someone really just suggest Conference USA?

 

Obviously you have no concept of geography and/or budget. One of the leagues that was originally looked into, according to an article way back in the Times Union, was the MAC (one A, Mid-American). Those schools, were all too far away to make sense, with the exception of UBuffalo.

 

Conference USA makes even less geographic sense than the MAC.

 

Get real people. Concentrate on things you can control, like getting two or three friends to come out to each game with you this year. That's the way to help build the school, one fan at a time.

[Dane96]

Who suggested conference usa? Re-read the post!