Dane Pound

With all the possible scorers on this team I don't know that Lillis not scoring will be much of a problem although I agree he passed up a lot of open shots last year. I'd actually like to him at the point and free up Jamar to attack the basket more. The fact that he had a positive assist to turnover ration while playing much of the season with a brace on his hand was pretty impressive.

One of the Colorado papers has a feature on Coundoul. Good exposure for him and Albany. Goals in Mind-Loveland Reporter-Herald.

Either one of those are a pretty good first round matchup. All those first round games are played at a regional site (Florida) I'm guessing?

The pictures of the recruits are in the Winter Sports forum at the top. It's called recruits for 05-06 and has pictures of all four guys coming in. I'm not sure if it's just because he's from Texas or not but Siggers reminds me of Tommy Mitchell from Siena. He's certainly supposed to be a better shooter than Mitchell was but just in size and stature that's who first came to mind. Funny you compared Q and Graham. When they first announced his signing Graham seemed like a perfect guy to have on the front of the press harrasing the passer and trapping the first guy to get the inbound pass. I thought Q was very good at that last year. They probably were a few guys too short to be able to do that last year for long stretches. Hopefully with a couple of more bodies this year they can do more of that. I'm generally wrong when I try and pick who will make the biggest impact as a freshman (last year my pick was Dyson) but I'm looking forward to seeing Covington play. I see Bing giving us the most problems next year and I think a player like Covington is what we lacked most against them. He may take some time to develop but one of the things we've sorely lacked the past few years is a banger underneath who can post up. Hopefully he's that guy.

Happy Birthday!

I would think after their performance against a very good Villanova team last year they should be pretty confident they can play with anyone. Hopefully if some of the new big guys play well we can compete with an SEC team. No question about the backcourt the Jamar and Lou can play with those guys.

Seems all three have signed with Coates Sports Management to get play pro somewhere. According to their website Hutch was being scouted by the WNBA. Hutch Profile Learn ProfileJones Profile

Story in today's TU about the hires, also Carey Edwards departure. Danes hire two assistant coaches.

Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala was at the West Genesse game to watch his recruit Mark Bryan. He told a Syracuse paper West Genesse is "the best-coached team in high school, by far." In last nights Class A Exceptional Seniors game McKeon had four saves and Cometti was the player of the game. Their team won, of course, 12-5.

Here they are: UALBANY FOOTBALL RECEIVES COMMITMENTS FROM 33 STUDENT-ATHLETES Albany, N.Y. – University at Albany head football coach Bob Ford announced on Tuesday, June 7 that 33 student-athletes have committed to play for the Great Danes in the fall of 2005. The Great Danes, who finished third in the Northeast Conference standings last year, begin their schedule against Atlantic 10 Conference opponent Hofstra on Saturday, Sept. 10. "We needed to address our running back situation," said Ford, who has 205 career wins at the college level and has guided the UAlbany program to a pair of NEC titles. "Each player has speed with the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. On defense, we were able to bring in some solid linebackers and several good linemen who could help us immediately. It's a big class in terms of numbers and we met the needs of our program with this group. " The 2005 class is comprised of 17 players from the state of New York, plus 10 from New Jersey, two from Pennsylvania, and one each from North Carolina, Connecticut, Texas and New Hampshire. The breakdown by position includes two quarterbacks, four offensive linemen, three wide receivers, five running backs, one tight end, six linebackers, six defensive linemen, four defensive backs and two kickers. The Great Danes landed several talented offensive players, especially at the running back position. Marcus Allen, a transfer from Valley Forge Military College, was named the Seaboard Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He rushed for a combined 1,777 yards and 15 touchdowns in his two years with the program. Stephon Cooper earned New Jersey All-State Group I recognition after rushing for 1,351 yards and 12 TDs last season. Northern New Jersey quarterback Vinny Esposito passed for 2,700 yards and 28 touchdowns, and was selected to the Associated Press all-state first team. Marcus Miles, an All-Onondaga League tight end in Central New York, caught 26 passes for 352 yards as a senior. Jason Gagnon, a 6-foot-1, 305-pound defensive tackle from Manchester, N.H., leads a group of incoming defenders. Gagnon was chosen to the all-state Division I first team three consecutive years. Erie Community College transfer Ben Bayer (6-2, 215) totaled 98 tackles, seven sacks and three interceptions last season. UAlbany also picked up three all-area players from the Capital Region. Kevin Richards was a member of the Class AA all-state second team as selected by the New York Sportswriters Association. Richards, a 6-foot-2, 285-pound offensive lineman from Shenendehowa High, also earned Albany Times Union first-team All-Area honors. David McCarty, of LaSalle Institute, rushed for 2,828 yards and 29 touchdowns during his scholastic career, and was a Troy Record first-team All-Area selection. Troy's Dave Casale made 76 tackles and eight interceptions as a consensus all-area defensive back. ***************** 2005 University at Albany Football Newcomers Name, Pos., Ht., Wt., Hometown (High School) Marcus Allen*, TB, 5-11, 194, Fayetteville, N.C. (Seventy-First) Eric Althardt, PK/P, 5-7, 160, Allegany, N.Y. (Allegany-Limestone) Ben Amorese, OG, 6-3, 280, Endwell, N.Y. (Maine-Endwell) Rudy Armstrong, OLB, 6-0, 195, Bronx, N.Y. (Byram Hills) Ben Bayer^, LB, 6-2, 215, Clarence, N.Y. (Clarence Central) John Boyd, OT, 6-4, 280, Orchard Park, N.Y. (Orchard Park) Mike Burke, DE, 6-5, 230, Clarks Summit, Pa. (Scranton Prep) Dave Casale, FS, 6-1, 175, Troy, N.Y. (Troy) Stephon Cooper, TB, 5-9, 185, Metuchen, N.J. (Metuchen) Anthony Cortina, SE, 6-0, 205, Hamilton, N.J. (Steinert) Paul Cynewski, DE, 6-3, 235, Moorestown, N.J. (Moorestown) Vinny Esposito, QB, 6-1, 205, Demarest, N.J. (Northern Valley Regional) Jason Gagnon, DT, 6-1, 305, Manchester, N.H. (Manchester Memorial) Jamel Gray, FB, 5-9, 225, Yonkers, N.Y. (Mount St. Michael Academy) Richie Guillod, FL, 5-9, 180, Closter, N.J. (Northern Valley Demarest) Jean Juste, CB, 5-11, 167, Hempstead, N.Y. (Uniondale) Chris Kenneally, RB, 6-0, 220, Harrington Park, N.J. (Northern Valley Regional) Emerson Kinsey, OLB, 6-0, 193, Syracuse, N.Y. (Henninger) Nick Krajacic, LB, 6-0, 220, Farmington, N.Y. (Victor Central) David Kropilak, QB, 6-1, 170, Rochelle Park, N.J. (Hackensack) David McCarty, TB, 6-0, 172, Gansevoort, N.Y. (LaSalle Institute) Seamus McLaughlin++, DE, 6-2, 255, Wethersfield, Conn. (Wethersfield) Marcus Miles, TE, 6-3, 215, Watertown, N.Y. (Watertown) Nicholas Parker, DE, 6-3, 240, Northport, N.Y. (Northport) Kevin Richards, C, 6-2, 285, Clifton Park, N.Y. (Shenendehowa) Anthony Rogers, CB, 6-1, 175, Brockport, N.Y. (Brockport) Tony Sparano, DE, 5-11, 231, Colleyville, Texas (Grapevine) Apollo Story+, SE, 6-2, 198, North Babylon, N.Y (North Babylon) Steve Talarico#, OG, 6-2, 295, Peckville, Pa. (Bishop O'Hara) Adam Tanalski+, PK, 5-9, 183, Bellerose Village, N.Y. (St. Francis Prep) Kevin Wagner, ROV, 5-11, 195, Howell, N.J. (Freehold Township) Dave West, OLB, 5-10, 190, Toms River, N.J. (Toms River North) Cleon Wilson, CB, 6-0, 165, Lakewood, N.J. (Lakewood) *Valley Forge Military College transfer +Nassau Community College transfer ^Erie Community College transfer ++Dean Junior College #Lackawanna College

I'd never argue with that. You went to the AE tourney also when you didn't expect anything good to happen there either during those lean years. Fun fact for a Monday. Head to head during the 2004-05 year Albany 8 Siena 1.

I didn't know that. That makes it even more interesting then.

West Genesse took Orchard Park to the shed yesterday 17-2 in the state semi-finals. They meet Niskayuna in the state finals tomorrow. Kind of a neat local angle with Nisky having a Hopkins and Navy recruit on their team against 3 Albany recruits.

Not that you're looking forward to it or anything.

Their last year in the conference Deleware, Hofstra and Towson finished 1st,2nd and 4th. I guess we were good replacements for those schools. A terrific achievement for such a young program. Much further along than I would have imagined a few years ago.

From today's TU Giants seek extension to stay in Albany

He didn't play much this past year but I'd expect AJ. Babnik to compete for that job also.

NCAA announced the attendance figures for basketball from last season. Albany was up from 1193 in 2004 to 1945 in 2005. Both Vermont and Bing averaged over 3000 per game. Those were the only two with higher attendance than Albany. Overall a record year in the AE, thanks Vermont.

You're quite welcome OldDog. West Genesse won again today to go 20-0. They beat Vestal 15-9. A nice sign that the three guys from that team are already used to beating teams from Vestal as they'll be doing so for the next four years at UA. Pretty amazing program at West Genesse. They've won 13 state titles and produced at least one all-american a year for the past 31 years. They have an amazing website (and forum) for a high school lacrosse team. West Genesse Lax

This is a baseball question and it's totally out of left field. I don't see how things set-up for a conference championship this year. Schoonmaker was the Player of the Year last year and he graduated along with a couple of Albany's best pitchers, one of who was drafted.

I think they only update them after a seasons sports has ended. March 15th was when the winter sports ended.

Hopefully they'll be an annoucement after the long weekend. Someone on the AE Board had Albany in the lead followed by BU and then Bing. For a school in it's sixth year of Division I winning it would be pretty impressive and to possibly have 2 of the top 3 be SUNY schools unbelievable.

I'm guessing if Bing wins the baseball tourney then they get enough points for the cup right? They lost yesterday to Northeastern and face host Vermont today.

I'll join the hallelujah chorus going on the AE Board. With Vermont looking like they are going to make more of a financial commitment to basketball and now UNH going after an experencied coach. Things should be looking up for the quality of the AE the next couple of years.

That's great news. He's already up on their website-Colorado Rapids-Coundoul