Dane Pound

I'm not sure if I have any left. I'll have to look around. If not don't worry because there should be new ones coming this fall. I'm thinking "Beat Siena....Again!" Any suggestions?

I'd like a bowl game with one of the other conferences like the Pioneer League. It doesn't seem like that will happen. I'm sure Iamarino knows there is no way the NCAA is going to give the NEC an auto bid. It seems to me if the conference is going to try and raise the level of play in the future they are just trying to plant a seed here. Then maybe in a few years when the NEC schools can play with some of the top I-AA teams they'll have already started their case.

There was a story the other day in the Asbury Park Press about the NEC trying again to get a playoff bid. Also an ensuing thread on the Any Given Saturday board-1-AA Board Monmouth unhappy with lack of opportunity to play in bowl game Published in the Asbury Park Press 09/29/05 BY TONY GRAHAM STAFF WRITER In search of a football postseason. That remains the unfulfilled quest of the Northeast Conference, of which Monmouth University is a member, in its bid to land a postseason bowl game for at least one of its eight football-playing schools. According to NEC Commissioner John Iamarino, nothing will happen until 2007 at the earliest. And that's not exactly etched in stone either. The MAAC's withdrawal from the ECAC Bowl after the 2003 season, when NEC co-champion Monmouth bowed to MAAC winner Duquesne, left the NEC champion high and dry regarding a postseason bowl or playoff opportunity. Iamarino said an NEC application to the NCAA and subsequent appeals for an automatic berth in the Division I-AA football playoffs have been rejected. Now, according to Iamarino, the latest idea is for playoffs among the three limited or non-scholarship leagues: the NEC, the MAAC and the Pioneer League, which currently conducts its own internal playoffs. A similar plan for the NEC never got off the ground. "We would hope something could be in place for 2007," Iamarino said. "On a very peripheral basis there would be a two-week, four-team playoff perhaps with each of the (three) conferences getting an automatic (bid) and then a committee selecting a wild card. "Then you play at home sites, you seed the teams and have 1 play 4 and 2 play 3 and go from there. "But the key is going to be NCAA funding. For a school in our league, let's say to have to make two trips to play teams from the Pioneer League which would be very cost prohibitive." The nine schools in the Pioneer League range geographically from Dayton, Ohio, to Jacksonville, Fla., to San Diego. "There has been discussions among people in the NCAA and among (league) commissioners of trying to put this together. But there are a lot of different hoops we have to jump through." Iamarino noted: "And there are some people out there who say, "Why are we creating another championship for football when we already have one in I-AA?'

Northeast Region Rankings: 1) Louisville, 2) Notre Dame, 3) UALBANY, 4) Cornell, 5) Villanova, 6) Pittsburgh, 7) St. John's, 8) Cincinnati, 9) Syracuse, 10) Fordham I truly doubt the people of Louisville consider themselves to be part of the northeast. Considering where the program was just a few years ago it's pretty impressive to see a ranking where they are listed above schools like Syracuse, Cincinnati. Pitt and Villanova.

Pretty sure Engelman verballed to Butler a couple of weeks ago. That Zampier info has been on the Insider site for quite a while. I'd guess it still applies but he's been offered by some CAA and up schools. Hopefully the home cooking will do the trick to get him to UA. Supposedly Albany and Bing have offered Cole Dabney for next year. He's 6'10 and 260. He's seem interested in going to Army or a school in Texas. Not sure how current that info is anyway since things probably change quickly this time of year. Here's a story on Lance Feurtado Jr.: There's a tendency for public school players from Long Island to get somewhat lost in the shuffle. They don't always get an awful lot of recognition, but a couple of Division I prospects have emerged from Nassau and Suffolk County the past few years. Consistent with this trend, Uniondale High School's Lance Feurtado, Jr. hadn't received a ton of exposure before the summer, but the 6-foot-5, 180 pound small forward made the most of his July playing opportunities and parlayed that into a few scholarship offers. "My stock rose a bit down at the Peach Jam (with the Metro Hawks) and in Florida (at AAU Nationals and the Super Showcase)," said Feurtado. "I came off the bench during most of the games. My minutes were varied. I did what I could, and made some jump shots when I was in there." Heading into the summer, Rider had shown some interest in Feurtado, but he hadn't received an overwhelming amount of attention otherwise. By the time July closed, there were some new schools in the hunt. "I've got Drexel, Delaware, Albany, and Rider recruiting me," said Feurtado. "We're still having talks with Central Florida. Drexel, Albany, and Rider have offered. Delaware is getting ready to offer." Lance visited Rider unofficially earlier in the summer. He will likely be back at that school's Lawrenceville, New Jersey, campus for an official visit this fall, as well as some others. "I'll probably take an official visit to Drexel and an official visit to Rider," said Feurtado. "Albany, I'll probably take an official visit there, as well." Feurtado lent some insight into what he is looking for in a college program and a university. "Seeing who's coming back (for a team), seeing who they're recruiting," said Feurtado. "What the campus is like, what kind of education they have to offer. I'm interested in seeing if the team is like family, or if it's just a bunch of dudes playing basketball." Feurtado is a fundamentally sound player who knows how to play. He can score off the drive and finish with either hand. He's a pretty reliable shooter to the arc, and a credible perimeter defender. Lance played alongside Rhode Island-bound post Kahiem Seawright for Coach Tom Diana's Uniondale team this past season. The Knights were one of the top public school teams on Long Island. Feurtado told us previously that he had scored 960 on the SAT.

A story in the TU yesterday about the Patroons season ticket sales. So far they've sold 1200 season tickets. It should be interested to see if attendance for UA and Siena are affected. A quick glance at the two schedules show Siena did a pretty good job of avoiding home games on nights the Patroons play. I think it only happens once and that's a conference game which they probably had little control over. Albany has several conflicts with the Patroons including the Big Purple Growl. Just curious if anyone has heard how season ticket sales are going. Also I thought there was going to be an exhibition game against McGill on November 4th or 5th but don't see it listed anywhere.

I was planning on making my first ever visit to the Siena College campus next week to take in the Albany-Siena volleyball game. Just curious if anyone else was thinking of going. Siena seems to be improved this year as they beat Syracuse the other day. It should be fun and I make take an open beverage container across campus to violate their new policy.

Glad to give Crew the attention. My cousin married a rower (not from UA) and I believe his motto is Rowers do more before 8 A.M. than most people do all day. Here's the link for the photo Crew Pic

I put the picture up. I've been trying to put some different UA sports up there and I really liked the picture. I found it on the Albany site.

That was better than the answer I was looking for. After working with Nicholson you should probably sit courtside just like Jack does at the Laker games. Here were my six (or five) degrees: Bocanegra is coached by Bob Ford Ford had Dave Campo as an assistant Campo coached Michael Irvin for the Cowboys Irvin was in Jerry Maguire with Jay Mohr Jay Mohr was in Picture Perfect with Kevin Bacon Almost all football related expect Picture Perfect. I couldn't get one more football movie in there.

Wow, impressive and fast. The thing that amazed me about your degrees was that it wasn't the way I was going at all. Your's is shorter than the one I had although mine has everyone actually working with the other person.

Today's trivia is inspired by Kevin Bacon being in Woodstock. Find the six degrees of separation between Danes QB Daniel Bocanegra and of course, Kevin Bacon.

Friends, Family, and Alumni of UAlbany Volleyball: It was another great week for the Great Danes as we won our second consecutive tournament title. Junior outside Shelby Goldman was virtually unstoppable in the first match against Fairfield. Her 16 kills on 32 swings for a .406 hitting percentage led the way to a convincing 3-0 sweep against the home team. Defensively, we played very well and had 13 more digs and matched them with 7 blocks. The second match was a 3-0 win against Long Island, who was an NCAA tournament team last year. LIU's style of play can be difficult to play against, but we were very good defensively and our middles (Ashlee Reed and Ashley Crenshaw) were having their way. The third match was a 3-0 win against Columbia. Senior defensive specialist Eileen Rodriguez led the way with 7 aces. Shelby Goldman and junior setter Blair Buchanan were both named to the All-Tournament team, while junior libero Ashley DeNeal was named tournament MVP. Following her performance, Blair Buchanan was named America East Conference Setter of the Week for the third time this season. This is what Shelby Goldman had to say about the weekend: "We captured our second tournament trophy this past weekend beating Fairfield, Long Island and Columbia three games to zero in each contest. We really pulled together as a team this weekend capturing each game with certain confidence no matter what the stats. We are really starting to develop into a mature and poised team capable of obtaining great things." This coming Friday we begin our quest for a second consecutive conference championship as we open conference play at home against Stony Brook. Match time is 7:00 pm. We then play at city-rival Siena next Tuesday at 7:00. I'd also like to thank those of you that have been match sponsors for our Hurricane Relief efforts. We have set a goal of raising $4000 and think that we will be able to reach that number. Thanks for all of your support and I hope to see you in the stands!

Dominating performance at the Fairfield tourney for the women. They went 9-0 over the course of the tourney.

Had the FG been made earlier that touchdown would have been for the win. The way the defense was playing I'm not sure CCSU would have scored again. I knew it would be very hard to win the conference as young as this team is. After yesterday and the way some of the other teams in the conference are playing it still seems possible. Either way I was pretty optimistic about the future after yesterday's game. Yes Bocanegra didn't adjust very well to the second reciever when the first one was covered. He does have a cannon for an arm and will learn to be a better QB. We haven't had a guy who throws like that in a long while. He also jumped into a few scrums for fumbles and ran tough. I'm looking forward to watching him for the next few years. The rest of the team is just really young. Marcus Allen, Williams and the recievers are almost all freshman or sophs. This team may not win the conference this year but it will be better and better over the next couple of years. Great to watch a game on TV and see how good Colin Disch really is. I forgot from last year but he had an amazing game yesterday.

I thought the first half had an ESPN classic sort of feel. I worried something was up when the Blue Devils were green.

At this stage of the game being one of the best teams or the best team in the region is terrific. Especially considering that the region includes some Big East and A10 teams. Forget the national rankings if Albany can continue to beat teams like Syracuse, Boston College, and Seton Hall and win a tournament at Virginia we should be pretty happy. All that (and some trips to the NCAAs) create a buzz which should help bring in some increasingly better and better recruits and make the program stronger. Nice win last night over Fairfield 3-0. Kind of curious why in it's own tourney Fairfield would schedule themselves against the highest ranked team (UA) in the first round. Could be a tough match today against Long Island.

No doubt but in strength of schedule those were the only two games that could have help. Both are in the top 50. You have to beat of one those top teams to prove you can belong. I think like softball this team is becoming a regional power which is pretty impressive for a school with under 10 years of divison I history.

I understand this question will probably be answered tomorrow afternoon but what's the deal with CCSU? They were impressive in beating Colgate to start the season and a loss to URI was to be expected. Then they lose to Marist? A team that won't play Albany.

I'm guessing this is one of the benefits of having a new stadium as I don't think Stony Brook draws that well. Hopefully this could be in Albany's future someday. From Newsday: SBU to host lacrosse playoffs TOM ROCK September 23, 2005 The NCAA announced Stony Brook University will host two of the DivisionI men's lacrosse quarterfinals this spring, ushering the program and the stadium into the national spotlight. The games will be played on May 20 and televised on ESPN2. The other quarterfinals will be played at Towson. The NCAA also announced that the 2007 men's lacrosse championships will be back in Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium and the 2008 championships will be at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. Philadelphia, which hosted last year's championships, will again do the honors this spring.

Good story in today's TU about Blair Buchanan. Setting Danes in motion

November I think.

Thanks for the link. Certainly would be great if Q can catch on and get playing time there this year. Might provide me with some incentive for checking out the Patroons this year.

The latest Pablo ranking has Albany at 75. No one left on the schedule is in the top 100. I think Syracuse is around 105 or so. The latest update from Coach Sheffield: Friends, Family, and Alumni of UAlbany Volleyball, It was a great weekend for the Great Danes. We flew down to Charlottesville, VA and captured our first tournament title of the season. We opened the tournament against Liberty with a 3-0 win. We were very balanced offensively and put a lot of pressure on them with our serve. Highlights of the match were the eight aces by senior defensive specialist Eileen Rodriguez, and freshman outside hitter, Kamisha Kellam's first collegiate kill (5 kills in 9 attempts). The second match was against Appalachian State. We came out playing on all cylinders in game 1. We were very aggressive and determined. Something happened to that in game 2 and we became a very passive team - and ended up losing the game because of it. Fortunately we were able to get our fight back and won the next two games fairly handily. We then played Virginia for the tournament title. It was a great match to watch. We played the best defense that we have played all year and had 31 more digs than UVA. Game 5 we stepped it up at the net and had numerous blocks and controlled the ball well enough to get the ball to our middles. For the weekend, senior middle Ashlee Reed was named tournament MVP. She was very consistent all weekend. Junior outside Shelby Goldman and sophomore middle Ashley Crenshaw were both named to the all-tournament team also. Reed also won conference player of the week honors this week. This is what Crenshaw had to say about the weekend: "Whoo hoo!!!! It feels great to be CHAMPS. This weekend was so much FUN!!! Beating App. State, Liberty, and especially Virginia were very good wins for us. It was a learning experience for me as well as the rest of the team. We made some amazing plays. I am ecstatic we were able to stick together and come out victorious. Our hard work is really starting to pay off. We can't let up though......this is only the beginning. We can only go up from here." This coming week we travel to Fairfield, CT where we play Fairfield, Long Island, and Columbia. The team is also doing some fundraising for the Hurricane Katrina efforts. Each player is finding match sponsors to donate 10 cents per point that the Great Danes score in any match of their choice. (For example: we scored 90 total points against Liberty. Whoever sponsored a player for that match at 10 cents, would donate $9). If you are interested in sponsoring a player for a match, please let me know. GO DANES!!!