Dane Pound

Insiders' has had Albany listed as interested in Alex Zampier from Columbia for a while. Two new names on the list and while it's early it's great to see after wrapping up the 2005 class Brown and Co. are hard at working looking at guys for 2006. Ali Kanaan is a 6'9 from Quebec. The Canadian recruiting sites had him listed in the top 50 recruits in Canada as a junior. The other is 6'2 shooting guard Tony Dennision from NYC. Seems like quite a scorer-picture of him below.

Packers had a practice yesterday for rookies and 15,000 people showed up. That's amazing. Probably not that big of a deal for the guys from big schools but probably the most people Campbell has played in front of-for a practice.

This may be wholly inappropriate I admit. I couldn't help but think the photo of Kate Fontana on the front page of the sports page looks like Lauren Hutton. You be the judge:

Yup, they'll be back soon. Just bear with me for a day or two.

Just an FYI but the board may be offline or look somewhat funny over the next couple of days. If it's online and looks weird you'll still be able to post and none of the old messages should be lost. When it comes back it should be easier to use and have some new features like a chat room. Hopefully the upgrades won't take too long.

Cornell has announced their schedule. They are at Albany at 7 p.m. on January 9th. That's three home games so far Sacred Heart(325), Cornell(210) and Harvard(196).

That really sucks. Hopefully the injury isn't as bad as they say.

Agreed Alum73. I would expect Siena to be really hungry for this game this year unlike in the past where it's been "just another game" to them.

I know we've talked about Alex Zampier from Columbia for next year. He was supposedly offered from Albany and Depaul and now some A10 and CAA schools are getting involved and offering. Probably a long shot but it's good to see some interest in local players.

choler - 1. an irritable petulant feeling 2. a strong emotion; a feeling that is oriented toward some real or supposed grievance 3. Reaction of some Siena fans when the possiblity of Albany being in the Bracket Buster game was mentioned.

I hope someone gets you a good digital camera for your birthday. That way you can start supplying us with pictures on the lacrosse field construction progress.

I'd have to guess the Buffalo tourney was arrainged in advanced for Becky Ayers to play in front of her family. Aren't the women also playing a tourney at VCU or am I mistaken? They really seem to like those tournaments. They play in a lot more of them than the men do.

That's not a bad salary for your first job straight out of college.

I've seen the And 1 tour show on ESPN now and then. I'll have to catch the next one where Earv Opong plays for the Miami team. Here's the story from the Miami Herald: Posted on Sun, Jul. 10, 2005 AND 1 team left hopping mad In a game filled with unbelievable highlights, the local squad shocked the AND 1 team, which blew a 21-point lead. BY CAMMY CLARK The Pharmacist got the pass in the lane. No opponent was in the same time zone. But the pudgy 5-7 guard didn't take the easy layup for the AND 1 Mix Tape Tour team. The Pharmacist spread his legs wide, dribbled the ball between them and then in one motion made a perfect alley-oop pass to Spyda for a thunderous dunk. Next came the exclamation point. While hanging on the rim, Spyda pulled his legs up and wrapped them around his head, thinking, ``I hope the rim stays up.'' The crowd of 4,609 went wild Saturday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Oh, no, this was not your daddy's basketball. But in the end, the AND 1 team blew a 21-point second-half lead and lost 103-96 to the Miami team that included four players who had earned a spot on the team via the Open Run pickup games. ''We laid back on D and then the No. 4 dude [Taurian ``Air Up There'' Fontenette] got easy dunks,'' said the Pharmacist, who was born Jamar Davis. ``And we let I'll Be Right Back [Earv Opong] shoot the jump shots. That's how we lost.'' Well, that, and some extra running of their mouths. ''We got caught up in the trash talking and forgot about the game,'' said Washington native Hugh Jones, who was nicknamed ''Baby Shack'' because of his rebounding. Baby Shack was thrilled to play on the new home court of his namesake, whom he has been rooting for since Shaquille O'Neal's playing days at LSU. ''I wanted to represent his name right,'' Baby Shack said, adding: ``Did he come to the game? I don't blame him if he didn't. The weather was bad.'' This was the AND 1 Mix Tape Tour's third trip to Miami in its sixth season. And it's the second time the game was played in the midst of a hurricane threat to Florida. Baby Shack joked that the Pharmacist called him at 2 a.m. worried that his windows were shaking and said, ``Hold me.'' The Pharmacist gave him a look. But it was nothing compared to the ongoing cursing match between Aaron ''AO'' Owens, who led the AND 1 Tour team with 26 points and eight assists, and the traveling visitor team's coach, Mike Ellis. ''Nothing new, that happens all the time,'' said John ''High Octane'' Harvey. ``That's why we call him Big Mike because his mouth is so big.'' But now it is the AND 1 Tour regulars who will have to hear about the loss at least until Monday, when the 30-city tour resumes in Tampa at the Sun Dome. High Octane said losses also hurt longer because they are aired two weeks later on ESPN's Street Ball series. The AND 1 Tour players put a premium on showmanship, but that doesn't mean they don't like to lose. ''We don't really take losses,'' the Pharmacist said. ``We have like 98 percent wins and 2 percent losses. So we really don't take losses. This is just we came back off the [Fourth of July] break, and we were partying. But it's no excuse.'' Actually, it's AND 1's third loss in the first 11 games of this season. One of them was to Houston, in which the NBA's Mike James played for the local team. The other loss was to Memphis. Despite AND 1 being named after the basketball term for being awarded a free throw for getting fouled on a made basket, free throws are only shot in the last few minutes of AND 1 games to not disrupt the game's flow. Baby Shack made two free throws with 1:14 left to tie the score at 96. He said: ``Yeah, a lot of people say that, that I shoot them [free throws] better than Shaq.'' But I'll Be Right Back nailed a three-pointer, Air Up There made two free throws, and for Miami's explanation point, I'll Be Right Back made a perfect alley-oop pass to The Aggressor for an aggressive you-guys-are-going-down dunk as time ran out.

Very good story in today's TU about former UA runner Jamie Rodriguez. Albany runner tracking a dream-TU

Their new slogan is going to be "first on your dial and last in the standings," Vandenburgh did not add.

Pretty impressive that you're coming up with jersey numbers four months before the season starts. Wasn't Brent Wilson number #34 last year?

For those interested Becky Ayers transferred to Mansfield University in Pennsyltucky. I'm not sure what level that is.

I'm sure Gainesville is a great town and was voted America's best city or something one year. I will always associate it with Ted Bundy and the Gainesville Ripper however.

Also games against Vermont, UNH and BU might qualify Harvard for associate America East membership next year. They were actually decent last year with an RPI right around ours and I think beat Northeastern. I usually like an Ivy home during the year. Yale and Harvard have drawn their own alumni to these games the past few years which always helps. So far that's: Siena Harvard UCLA San Diego State The Coaches vs. Cancer game

Great to see Todd's coaching career progressing and for him to be back in the area. SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- Todd Cetnar and Duriel Price will join the Union men's basketball coaching staff for the 2005-06 season. Cetnar played at the University at Albany after an outstanding career at Amsterdam High School. He began his coaching career last season at Plymouth State, where the Panthers were 19-10 for the 2004-05 campaign. Cetnar also played professionally for the Albany Wildcats in the USBL and the TV Tigers in the British Basketball League. At Albany, Cetnar became only the second player in school history to record over 1,000 points, 350 assists and 150 steals. He was named to the NCAA Division I All-Independent First Team following his senior season, in which he averaged 16.1 points and 4.2 assists per game. Cetnar shot 39% in three-point attempts during his college career, 1997-2001. "Todd combines a good feel for the game of basketball with a great passion to continue to grow as a teacher and coach," commented Head Coach Bob Montana. "I am confident that the work ethic he exhibited as a player and this past year as an assistant at Plymouth State will have a positive impact on the players in our program."

Laxpower announced West Genesse was the top team in the nation along with a school from Maryland. It's impressive to have the best players from the nations best high school team coming to Albany. National Coaches/Computer Ratings for HS Boys' Lacrosse LaxPower, the world's leading authority on lacrosse performance ratings, is pleased to announce the National Coaches/Computer Ratings for High School Boys' Lacrosse for the recently completed 2005 spring season. West Genesee High School of Camillus, New York (22-0), which won the Class A New York State title for the 14th time, and McDonogh School of Owings Mills, Maryland (22-1), which won the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) title, are the co-champions for 2005. McDonogh finished in first place in the computer ratings by a narrow margin, while West Genesee earned the top spot in the coaches' poll, garnering 30 of the 43 first-place votes. This is the first tie for #1 since LaxPower adopted the current enhanced system three years ago. Rounding out the top four programs are two undefeated squads: #3: Lafayette High School, New York (22-0) — New York Class C champions — 3rd in both the computer ratings and the poll #4: Huntington High School, New York (21-0) — New York Class B champions — 4th in both the computer ratings and the poll Tied for the fifth position are: * Darien High School, Connecticut (23-0) — poll: 5, computer: 8 * Boys' Latin School, Maryland (18-2) — poll: 6, computer: 7 * Garden City High School, New York (18-2) — poll: 8, computer: 5 * West Islip High School, New York (19-2) — poll: 7, computer: 6 The final rankings were compiled using LaxPower's CCR rating formula, which combines the national computer rankings with a national poll. The computer ratings used for the rankings are based on about 17,400 game scores for over 2,500 high school teams. The poll is a product of rankings by 43 high school coaches from around the nation. Each of these two parameters represent 50% of the final tallied results. Detailed information for all teams can be found at the link below. The combined CCR ranking, the computer ratings, the results of the poll voting, the members of the coaches poll panel, and a detailed explanation of the computer formula are available. Results for the Top 20 on each of the components and overall are presented at the bottom of this page.

It seems early but College Hoops has started it's top 144 teams in 144 days. Albany is picked 141 with a short preseason story. They seem really high on Covington. College Hoops PreviewIt

You're certainly right aboutu Gallup on that team Olddog. He and Brand were probably the exceptions although I don't remember Brand having a great game that night. I think there was a sigh of relief among Siena fans when Gallup announced he wasn't coming back to Albany-he made quite an impression at the Pepsi that night. I thought Zoellner was terrific on the defensive end where he intimiated a lot of shots. After seeing a few years of every big guy Albany played have a career night it was fun to watch a guy catch the ball in the post, see Zoellner on his back and pass it back out again without trying a move.

Jamar had a great game against Siena that night, no doubt. I do think Lanier + Co. played right into our hands by pressing full-court against a team with two great finishers, Jamar and Lou. That opened a lot of things up and I was surprised they kept with that stratedgy as long as they did. I'd still like to see the primary ball-handling responsibilty go to someone else and just let Jamar attack and hound his man defensively. I thought they relied on him to do too much and at times didn't know what to do when he left the game. As far as minutes I'd like to see a lot of guys play because it would mean a lot of the guys that were brought in are good. It's a testament to the state of the program that Albany will have good players who may not start. I remember a Siena fan after the first Albany-Siena game a few years ago told me that the players Siena was bringing off the bench would be starting at Albany. At the time I couldn't disagree. This year, I can probably only think of two Siena starters that would be starting at Albany.