Dane Pound

According to the folks at Virginia anyway. Some good stuff of Coach Sheffield even if their facts are a bit off. Jefferson Cup Tournament Appalachian State and Liberty should be easy wins for both UVa and Albany. If UVa does not go up against Albany with all guns blazing, Albany could win. Why? A few things to note: 1) Kelly Sheffield was UVa's assistant coach in 1998 and 1999 and was largely responsible for UVa's NCAA tournament births those two years (the only ones in the program) and for the 1998 2nd place regular season ACC finish (not tied for second but sole ownership of the 2nd place position) behind 1st place North Carolina and ahead of 3rd place Florida State out of 9 teams. 2) Kelly Sheffield coached Albany to their first Big East Championship in 2004 after only 4 years as the coach. If I remember correctly, UNY at Albany became a Division I school the year Kelly became the head coach. Not bad for a program that basically didn't exist before Kelly arrived. 3) Kelly recruited and coached Blair Buchanan to Big East setter of the year and player of the year honors and to an all American honorable mention. Blair is also a former Munciana girl and Munciana club girls kick butt. For those of you who remember our Whitney Ashcraft (DS/Libero 2000 -2003) who also was a Munciana girl; in extremely informal communications long before the Jefferson Cup schedule was set, Kelly said Blair is similar to Whitney in personality and work ethic. We are going to have a rough match. 4) When I watched Kelly run drills and coach during matches (here at UVa), he had a way of inspiring players. I was amazed at what some of the players here at UVa were capable of when Kelly was coaching. I watched Kelly intercede during the warm-up before Albany's match against Liberty and it seems like Kelly still knows how to get a team fired up to play at their best. Melissa, Matt, and Jason are good. Melissa coached winning seasons before. Matt and Jason are here now and the three of them are coaching winning seasons. But Kelly just might be one of those coaches you read about 10 years from now for taking a team from the bottom of the NCAA to the top and on a shoestring budget. Saturday night's match will be a showdown. Now, don't get me wrong. I adore my team. I want to see them go through this tournament like a hot knife through butter. I want to see them hammer the ball like never before when they kill. I want to see Emily run the X. I want my team to win. But to do that, they will have to come out on fire. They need to play the way they did against Appalachian State and also stay composed when Albany gets a few points.

Alum72 is right on both accounts. I did forget about the end of day light savings time (this year anyway). I haven't been able to get the text to display correctly next to the countdown so I've left them blank. I should hopefully work that out sometime before the end of lacrosse season. I will be putting the countdown the the Siena game up shortly.

That is some fierce competetition for playing time. Really the only time I saw Bauman play much was in the preseason scrimmage so I don't even know what he can do. I was surprised to see in the ticket brochure they have him listed as appearing in 11 games because I don't recall seeing him that much. His playing opportunities might open up next year with the graduation of Lou and Levi.

Right Reeder. That's who I was talking about. He may have even run track at UA although I'm not sure about that.

I know he's rarely been mentioned this off-season but I was wondering if anyone knew if Bauman has progressed over the summer. If he's gotten stronger this may be a chance for him to get an opportunity early in the season and make the team stronger overall. Just curious because I thought he could play the point.

Before we didn't win the lottery my wife was saying if we won we could chip in enough for a new stadium to get the naming rights. She liked either Bigpurplefans.com stadium or just Big Purple Stadium. I've been out on the west coast recently and reading about the absurd amounts of money Nike's Phil Knight gives to Oregon. I was thinking Nike's current president is a UA grad. Wouldn't it be nice if he followed Phil Knight's example.

As Alum72 said this seems to have been a problem for a long time. You'd think Chartwells or whoever would realize they are losing sales by creating these long lines. Maybe they just get the contract and don't care what happens after that. I wonder if they'd have any problem with me bringing in my grill and cooler and setting it up. I could probably make a few buck selling hot dogs and sodas for a buck apiece.

Mike Yocum 6'8 235lb Power Forward Episcopal Academy (Merion, PA) Hometown Paper: Philly Daily News Yocum #44 NJ Hoops Mike Yocum 6 foot 9 Episcopal Academy Sr. Mike Yocum plays high school ball with two All Americans. Wings Wayne Ellington and Gerald Henderson are both A.C.C. bound, to North Carolina and Duke respectively. Yocum transferred to Episcopal last season from Tamaqua PA and started to make a little name for himself. He helped lead Episcopal to a 25 - 3 mark and Inter AC Championship. The aggressive big man has made a verbal commitment to attend the University of Albany for the 2006-07 season. He joined the more famous duo as a 1st Team All Inter AC performer. Yocum continued to impress this summer with the Main Line Aces in AAU play and at Eastern Invitational Camp. Albany adds a solid power forward for 2006... By Van Coleman van@hoopmasters.com Will Brown and his staff have dipped into the talent pool at one of the nation's top high school squads Merion, PA Episcopal Academy for some inside help... According to sources close to the program, 6-8 235-pound Michael Yocum from nationally top ten rated high school Merion, PA Episcopal Academy will sign with Albany this November. Yocum does a yeoman's job on the boards for Episcopal Academy and can score with touch at the elbow or on the blocks. He averaged 12 points and 12 boards along with 3 blocks a ghame for the 28-3 squad. He is the inside presense on this top notch squad that features Wayne Ellington (North Carolina) and Gerald Henderson (Duke) Episcopal's Yocum to play basketball at Albany By TED SILARY silaryt@phillynews.com The official visit won't take place until early October, but the commitment has been made. Mike Yocum called Will Brown and said to him, "I want to be a Great Dane." We're not talking dog shows. We're talking basketball. Mike Yocum is a 6-9, 235-pound senior center at Episcopal Academy and the University of Albany is where he'll play his college hoops. The Great Danes, viewed as an up-and comer, went 9-9 in the America East Conference last year. "I went up there on an unofficial visit with my father a couple weeks ago, and everything went great," Yocum said. "We both felt it was the kind of school, and situation, that couldn't be a better fit. It wasn't a hard decision at all. That's a team on the rise." Yocum said he caught Brown's eye during summertime AAU competition, but that an offer was not made until last Friday. "Coach Brown said he liked the way I played as far as rebounding, defending and blocking shots," Yocum said. "What he wasn't sure of was my post play, especially the back-to-the-basket skills, because AAU ball is so guard oriented. He said my offense was kind of a gray area. "So last Friday, he came to Episcopal and I did a workout for him in the gym. Coach Tosti [bud, assistant to Dan Dougherty] helped me out. He was feeding me the ball and I was doing the back-to-the-basket things. He said he liked my footwork and how I handled myself and that was he ready to offer me a scholarship."

So once you're in the pool for the games they only televise 11 of the 50 games. I'm guessing they would select the 22 teams to be on ESPN by RPI rankings which you mean you have to earn your way on ESPN. Either way it should result in a good home game next year as Vermont got one with Nevada this year. I'm really hoping they don't pair us with a MAAC school as they already come to Albany already.

Also a story in today's TU about the Bracketbuster. It's ESPN or bust for UAlbany, Siena-TU

Today's Philly Daily News has a story about the commitment. Episcopal's Yocum to play basketball at Albany By TED SILARY silaryt@phillynews.com The official visit won't take place until early October, but the commitment has been made. Mike Yocum called Will Brown and said to him, "I want to be a Great Dane." We're not talking dog shows. We're talking basketball. Mike Yocum is a 6-9, 235-pound senior center at Episcopal Academy and the University of Albany is where he'll play his college hoops. The Great Danes, viewed as an up-and comer, went 9-9 in the America East Conference last year. "I went up there on an unofficial visit with my father a couple weeks ago, and everything went great," Yocum said. "We both felt it was the kind of school, and situation, that couldn't be a better fit. It wasn't a hard decision at all. That's a team on the rise." Yocum said he caught Brown's eye during summertime AAU competition, but that an offer was not made until last Friday. "Coach Brown said he liked the way I played as far as rebounding, defending and blocking shots," Yocum said. "What he wasn't sure of was my post play, especially the back-to-the-basket skills, because AAU ball is so guard oriented. He said my offense was kind of a gray area. "So last Friday, he came to Episcopal and I did a workout for him in the gym. Coach Tosti [bud, assistant to Dan Dougherty] helped me out. He was feeding me the ball and I was doing the back-to-the-basket things. He said he liked my footwork and how I handled myself and that was he ready to offer me a scholarship."

Covington was on that same list last year I'm pretty sure. Other places list him as bigger (6'7) and as a power forward so maybe some of that insiders info is old. For what it's worth Hoopscoop has him listed among the top 800 juniors in the country. Not a great write-up but better than nothing: 33. Elliot Englemann-6-8- Downers Grove- Wolves Previous Ranking: 28 Elliot's biggest strength is in his height. Elliot at 6-8, plays as well in the post as he can on the outside. His game has improved drastically from two summers ago, when he was slower and skinnier. Today, he plays with confidence and runs the floor well. If he continues to improve he could be compared to other top big men in state. Passing: B Ball Handling: B Shooting: B Rebounding: A Defense: B+ Knowledge: A Quickness: C+ Strength : B+ Overall: B+

According to insiders 6'5 SF Eliott Engleman is taking his official visit to UA today.

Except for Fordham it's tough to be optimistic about the OOC.

Last year Coundoul didn't give up his first two goals of the year until the sixth game of the season.

Thanks UA66. The Spaceballs pic from yesterday would have been funnier right after he said it but I lost the file until the other day. Figured I'd throw it out there anyway. Still some bugs to work out but right now I'm enjoying the last few days of summer instead.

Not my personal opinion necessarily. Just the name of a website-www.stonybrooksucks.com

I certainly hope you will. You just need to stop taking the cart when you're golfing. The walk is good for you. There's actually an interesting discussion on Any Given Saturday about this. Albany and Stony Brook

Admittedly the three of you who've previously posted follow this more closely than I do so this question may be naive. Is it possible the conference (NEC) is going to allow more scholarships to the 45 counter level Alum72 mentioned? That way everyone would experience the "growing pains" of moving up together while still being able to compete for a conference championship. Just a thought.

Seems reasonable to think that and I'm not sure his numbers have to be that great. Karim Quattara played a few pro seasons in France and his numbers weren't overwhelming. I think a lot of the European teams save most of the roster spots for native born players so guys with U.S. college experience are at an advantage.

They didn't really do enough running plays for me to see. Alot of passing and the few running plays were quarterback draws and scrambles. None of the running backs stood out to me but they didn't have a lot of plays to work with.

I went to the scrimmage yesterday. There were maybe a couple of dozen people there. Probably mostly family but there were some students there also. As expected the defense was ahead of the offense this early in the season. Offense mostly ran passing plays and the few running plays they ran got stuffed. A lot of missed routes by the recievers especially later in the scrimmage. Several passes went one way while the reciever cut in the other direction. I have to say just about everything thrown in the vicinity was caught which also was true for the defense who had a nice interception. I forgot to bring a roster so I wasn't sure who everyone was. I know Raphael Nguti got lots of reps on the o-line and he is enormous. He dwarfed the rest of the line which is pretty big itself. Quarterbacks-they rotated Espisito, Hall, Bocanegra and Kyle Watson. Seemed to me Hall got more snaps but Bocanegra got a good amount also. Watson and Espisito didn't get many and looked like, well, freshman. Watson is really big, looked like a fullback out there. Hall defenitetly was the most polished guy out there. Made some nice passes over the middle and with a good arm. I thought he was the best runner of the QBs as well. Bocanegra is super skinny. He's listed at 195 on the roster and that seems heavy to me. Terrific arm with a very quick delivery. I don't recall seeing him run at all but over time he looks like he could be the QB we've been looking for. I'm not sure it will happen early but we look to have a respectible passing game for the first time in a while. I'm not sure if they're new but I noticed they have Great Danes banners up on the perimiter road around the atheltics fields. Looks good. I had a couple of students ask me where they could watch the soccer scrimmage. After football was over I checked out it and there were a few dozen people watching the scrimmage with I think Bing. Didn't know soccer was that popular on campus.

Off to a good start with a win 3-0 over Seton Hall. That's the fourth straight win over a Big East team.

If it makes you feel better the majority of us are probably in the minority. It's just a different minority than yours. If this team wins 14 games this year Patterson will have done an outstanding if not miraculous coaching job. I love the optimisim but there are a lot of holes to fill on this team and not much experience. My starting 5 Thrower Schumacher Sanders Clark Majors

Maybe this can be marketed somehow? Not to tear down the list but it also has Tom Brennan on it. Granted I don't know what women find sexy but yikes! He's described on the site as a young Robert Redford. Not the first description that would have come to my mind.