Dane Pound

NM

Thanks Marilyn....I mean Statefan.

During that 5-0 start for Harvard they were getting some top 25 votes. Some interesting reading on them and their take on us: Back from Doldrums, Crimson Goes West Crimson Eyes Showdown at Albany

Good story in today's TU about Kamar Elliot. Twice the athlete-TU Also it was great to see Colin Disch was the 1-AA Linebacker of the year UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY'S COLIN DISCH NAMED FOOTBALL GAZETTE LINEBACKER OF THE YEAR Five Great Danes on NCAA I-AA Mid-Major All-America Football Squad Westmont, Ill. – University at Albany’s Colin Disch has been selected the 2005 Don Hansen’s Football Gazette NCAA I-AA Mid-Major Linebacker of the Year as announced today by the national publication. Disch, a sophomore, and offensive guard Aaron Kimball were named to the All-America first team. Disch, who recently was named to The Sports Network’s I-AA Mid-Major All-America squad, reached the 100-tackle mark for the second straight season with 112. He ranks 27th nationally in that category. Disch, who added 15 tackles for a loss and 4.5 sacks, was voted the Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Year by the league’s coaches. He made the Football Gazette All-America first team for the second consecutive season. "Colin Disch is highly respected by the players, coaches and staff," said UAlbany coach Bob Ford, whose team won five of its last six games to finish with a 5-6 record. "He has the unique ability that all the great linebackers have of getting to the football. He can come underneath the block or over the top with his superior quickness." Kimball, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound right guard, was a first-team All-NEC selection. He blocked for an offense that improved over the second half of the season, and averaged 173.7 rushing yards and 280.0 yards in total offense against conference opponents. Kimball appeared in 45 games and earned four varsity letters during his career. Jacob Anderson, a 6-foot-6, 300-pound left tackle, and Michael Dungey, a 6-foot-2, 275-pound defensive tackle, were each selected to the Football Gazette All-America second team. Brian Becker received honorable mention recognition. The senior inside linebacker accounted for 101 tackles, four pass break-ups and one interception. He led a defense that is ranked among the NCAA I-AA leaders in rushing defense (11th), scoring defense (12th) and total defense (15th).

In general I like that Brown seems to say what's on his mind. Hopefully he's right and we can get on a roll in the next couple of games. Brown (the school) is only favored by a point although they beat Bing pretty soundly and also took out Hartford earlier this year. Probably not a great comment on the state of the AE that their only two wins were against schools from our conference.

According to the stats on the AE site Stony Brook is shooting 39% from the Free Throw Line! That's worse than Shaq and probably below the percentage of people shooting at the in-game promotions at the RACC. That game should get ugly quickly.

And probably yelling at you in German as well-like playing basketball during a Rammstein concert. I saw the article this morning and liked the stuff about Zoellner. It may be nitpicking but I was surprised to see Brown seem to add up the wins against our next couple of opponents. I wouldn't think anything of it ordinarily but in a season when we may have overlooked a few teams on the way it seems like a bad idea to take our opponents anything but one at a time.

As much fun as I've had with the anti-$iena stuff on this board (and I'll keep doing it) I'll say this. As our athletics program has grown and been more successful over the past couple of years (commish cup, NCAA appearances, players being drafted by pro leagues) I care less and less about what $iena does outside of our games with them. I'm not saying I'll be rooting for them or paying twice as much for a ticket to go see them (and twice as much for food, and beer, etc) at the Pepsi. But I do think as we have goals for our own program we'll be defined less by what we "hate" and more about where we want our team to go.

It's telling that Lillis was one of the guys on the floor when they were trying to close out the game. As Statefan pointed out in the chat room he grabbed some big rebounds during that stretch (although he missed a lot of free throws). While I haven't seen the Zoellner transformation in person is sounds like he's getting in better position to catch the ball. Last year he posted too far from the hoop and allowed the double team to come or try and shoot from too far out. Now it sounds like he's working harder to get good position and they are finding him with the ball. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see it for myself next weekend. Overall while CSU isn't a great team it's great to see a bunch of different players chipping in. Also seeing them win while not shooting great (not bad) from the floor and pretty terrible from the line, Iati withstanding.

UAlbany stops skid on road-TUGreat Danes put brakes on Vikings' fast break-Cleveland Plain Dealer

Who knew this thread would get Albany fans to reminisce about their weddings? I knew I was marrying well when my wife picked purple and gold ballons and purple plates for our picnic wedding (without any prompting from me).

Funny you mention that. My wife and I actually talked about getting married at halftime of a game. We were going to do the reception post-game.

In the mail yesterday I received a wedding invitation for the same day as the Big Purple Growl (Seriously). Looking for your help.

I wonder if the new field will help get bigger schools to come to Albany. Syracuse was the one I had in mind. I think we've got them to Albany in just about every other sport we play them except lacrosse. It really would make for a fun environment if they were ever to pull it off.

This was in yesterday's paper but I didn't get a chance to post it. At UAlbany, the go-to guy's at the top

Chiefs' defense leads to victory Rock Bridge was held from scoring for most of the fourth quarter. Allen Vaughan News-Leader Sure, making a big steal is exhilarating and blocking a shot is chest-thumping material. But as Kickapoo showed Saturday night, getting a hand in the face of a shooter and blocking out can be just as fun — championship fun. Kickapoo held Columbia Rock Bridge without a point until the 1:38 mark of the fourth quarter and survived a late flurry of points to beat the Bruins 51-49 in the final of the Kickapoo Tip-Off Classic. "I was just trying to guard (Alex Austin) and stay with him. Just containing and making the shot harder for (them)," said Kyle Vaughan, a Kickapoo sophomore. Kickapoo senior Kyle Kirk led the Chiefs with 17 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Dusty Allen had 16. Vaughan set the tone early on defense, tailing Austin, Rock Bridge's leading scorer. Austin had 19 points, but was only 6-of-16 from the floor — 5-of-13 from 3-point range. "They created a lot of matchup problems for us. We just had to play good team defense and we helped out each other quite a bit," said Kickapoo coach Roy Green. The Chiefs held Rock Bridge to 39.1 percent shooting on the night, holding the Bruins' 6-foot-10 center Brett Gifford to seven points on 3-of-7 shooting. Alex Bernskeotter only had two points, but kept Gifford off the scoreboard until getting in foul trouble. Then Kyle Kirk switched onto him. "He's a big boy. I just wanted to keep him away from the basket," said Kirk, who also had seven rebounds. Kickapoo's largest lead was six at 30-24, the halftime score. Allen had 10 of his 16 in the second quarter.

A couple of features of Albany's women players. Thrower's play is sweet music-TU Schumacher makes point with Great Danes-Binghamton Press

I'm not sure if you saw it but there was a story in today's Gazette. The one quote which might speak to what you're talking about from Brown: "We need to demand more of ourselves as indiviudals, just as I am demanding more of myself and my coaching staff." There have been times when he's taken responsibility for losses. The most vivid one I recall again Boston U. during Jamar's freshman year. We were down by two and he ran a play for Jamar who turned the ball over and we lost. The next day he said he made a mistake. He should have let Antione Johnson, a senior, run a play. I know there are other times he's made similar comments as well.

I know some of this has been discussed before the lacrosse schedule is out. I'm not sure how far Baltimore is from Johns Hopkins but the weekend of Feb 25 looks like a good lacrosse-basketball weekend. Lax at hopkins on Saturday, then crab cakes and a basketball game with UMBC on Sunday. AMERICA EAST CONFERENCE CHAMPION UALBANY ANNOUNCES 2006 MEN'S LACROSSE SCHEDULE Albany, N.Y. - University at Albany Vice President and Director of Athletics Lee McElroy announced today the school’s men’s lacrosse schedule for 2006. The Great Danes, who captured their third consecutive America East Conference championship last season, will play five games against conference opponents. The non-league schedule features defending national champion Johns Hopkins and 2004 NCAA champion Syracuse. UAlbany begins its seventh NCAA Division I campaign on Saturday, Feb. 25 against Johns Hopkins, who won its eighth national title by edging Duke in last May’s NCAA championship. The Great Danes will meet four other programs that were ranked at the end of the 2005 season in the USILA’s national top-20 poll. UAlbany faces NCAA participants Massachusetts (No. 7), Syracuse (No. 9) and Delaware (No. 16). Yale and crosstown-rival Siena also return to the non-league portion of the schedule. America East Conference competition starts with Hartford on Saturday, March 25 at 1:00 p.m. Johns Hopkins, who finished last year with a perfect 15-0 record, will host the Great Danes for the fifth straight season on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 1:00 p.m. Syracuse and UAlbany will battle in the Carrier Dome during the regular season for the third consecutive year. The contest will be televised on Time Warner Sports 26-Syracuse on Friday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m. Syracuse won a 14-13 thriller in last year’s match-up. The Great Danes earned their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2005. Head coach Scott Marr has led the program to a 10-6 record in three straight campaigns. UAlbany returns three of the top four scorers from a squad that ranked sixth nationally at 11.63 goals per game. Merrick Thomson, a first-team All-America East Conference attackman, led the nation in goals (54) and was second in points (74). Frank Resetarits, who had 29 goals and 21 assists, and Chris Martocchia, who added 35 goals and 11 assists, also tallied 45-plus points. ******************* 2006 University at Albany Men’s Lacrosse Schedule Feb. 25 (Sat.), at Johns Hopkins, 1:00 March 4 (Sat.), Siena, 1:00 11 (Sat.), at Delaware, 1:00 14 (Tue.), at Massachusetts, 3:00 18 (Sat.), Drexel, 1:00 25 (Sat.), at Hartford*, 1:00 28 (Tue.), at Dartmouth, 3:00 April 1 (Sat.), at UMBC*, 1:00 8 (Sat.), Stony Brook*, 7:00 13 (Thu.), Yale, 7:00 15 (Sat.), Vermont*, 1:00 21 (Fri.), at Syracuse, 7:00 29 (Sat.), Binghamton*, 7:00 May 5 (Fri.), at America East Tournament Semifinals+ 7 (Sun.), at America East Tournament Championship+ *America East Conference Opponent +At No. 1 Seed’s Home Facility All Times Eastern -30-

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Story on Charity Iromuanya. Northeast girls finally find right gear, stop No. 3 Chieftains-Lincoln Star Journal

Actually I think the loss Saturday may have been good move long-term. If Siena loses two of those games in a row they would probably drop the series I was kinda curious about Graham. I didn''t see him in the lay-up lines or on the bench. Is he hurt or something? Just building a bit on what was said previously. I see some parrells between this teams start and the way the football team began the season this fall. Both lost some games early to tough opponents and seemed to lose confidence in close games after that. It took a couple of wins for them to get some faith in themselves but once they did they started rolling. I believe that will be the same case here.

There's a story and the box score up on the UA website now. This team has turned into a real pleasant surprise.

Wilson takes blame for 1-5 start-TU

After that Wilson shot at the end of the game I had visions of the Stony Brook game a few years ago. I think we were up one with .02 of a second left. Konopka head faked Will Brand into the air and they called the foul. Konopka hit two of three and SB won. I didn't see the play clearly from where I was sitting and didn't see a replay. At the time it happened I thought Jamar was not shooting well from outside and was reluctant to take that shot but that's just me. I don't think they usually call a foul in that situation but again I didn't see the replay. To his credit he didn't complain about it after the game. Probably the worst part of it was that it seemed to carry over in OT. I was wondering about Levi also. He was guarding Antione Jordan in the first half and Jordan was lighting it up. I think when Lou started playing well he left him in with Iati and Jamar. I was surprised at the attendace yesterday. It seems like as these games get more competitive less fans are showing up. Under 9,000 again yesterday although it didn't get heavy promotion. I could not believe how many people left at the end of regulation. I've never understood how people could do that.