Dane Pound

Chris Schongar and Shen lost in the playoffs to Guilderland the other day. The three signees from West Genesse, Dan McKeon, Mark Cometti and Tim Spillett are still going strong in the state playoffs. They won yesterday and are 19-0 and ranked #2 in the country.

Crud. If Albany didn't get it I was hoping for Boston. At least this time I'm armed with prior knowledge of having been there and probably won't spend the weekend in downtown dullsville like we did last year. Should be an interesting seeding battle as I expect Bing will be among the top four in the year. I'm sure most coaches will be trying to avoid a game against them at home in the semi-finals.

It shows the success of the past year that I could not find a way to get Will Brown as one of my COY selections. I voted for Marr mostly because of the ranking and the fact that it's tough to repeat 3X, especially in a tougher conference (since UMBC.) Daquino was a no-brainer. Should have been player of the year in conference. I wanted to vote for Hutch for POY but Buchanan really made the v-ball team go this year.

Keil Graham (#44) Position: Forward/Center 6'9 215 Feather River Community College (California) Graham averaged 15.1 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks en route to earning first-team All-Golden Valley Conference recognition. He led Feather River C.C. in California to a share of the conference championship with a 19-10 record. Graham was ranked among the top 30 players in the state of Wisconsin as a junior and senior at Bay View High School.

Jason Siggers Position: Guard/Forward 6'4 195 New Mexico Junior College Siggers was named to the 2005 Western Junior College Athletic Conference first team, when he averaged 17.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals. A second-team All-Region V selection, Siggers shot 46 percent from the field and 79 percent from the line, plus made 56 three-point field goals. He played scholastically at Dallas' Skyline High School

Jimmie Covington 6'7 235 Position: PF/C High School: Morgan Park Chicago Covington averaged 14.9 points and 11.2 rebounds for the Mustangs as a high school senior. He was named to the Chicago Public League's all-area and all-section teams. Covington, a member of the league's all-academic squad, was chosen to play in the City/Suburban All-Star Game.

I saw that the UAlbany Women's Corporate team placed in the standings at yesterday's Corporate Challenge. Kudos to them although I wonder does that mean there are alot of fast women at UA? Saw Field Hockey Coach Phil Sykes there yesterday and thought I saw 72/74 there but I wasn't sure.

I really hope we can put the race thing to bed. It started on the Siena board where there are several posters who make EVERYTHING into a race issue. We shouldn't let that kind of poison affect the way we look at things here. McElroy has been an AD for nearly 20 years and has won a variety of award from his peers for the good job he's done. He's also done a great job here at Albany. To forget all that because of what some neanderthal on the Siena board said is foolish. As far as the Brown contract I admit I'm torn. I really like what Brown has done so far and hope he stays for a long, long time. He's brought in great recruits and has had the long-term health of the program in mind. I'd like to see him have a great year next year and get a long term deal. On the other side when you look around Division I basketball you don't see coaches who've never had a winning season get five year contract extensions. At least as far as I've seen. Combine that with the fact that Albany is probably still paying off Beeten and I can understand McElroy's reluctance to give him a long-term contract. I'd like to see give him one but I can understand why he doesn't, this year anyway. If we finish in the top 2 or 3 in the conference next year (which I think we will) and Brown still doesn't get a contract (which I think he will) then I will be just as angry as anyone.

UAlbany makes pitch in first NCAA tourney-TU

Thanks UA66. I have a few off-season upgrades in store for the summer. I hope to install a live chat room so people following games on the radio or internet can comment on things as they happen instead of waiting to post. I agree with you on how quickly things have taken off in the D1 era. I actually thought about running a poll on it but I suspect a lot of people feel the same way. Hard to imagine just a few years ago when everyone was kicking Albany's butt that after 6 years most teams would finish in top half of the conference standings and 3 teams would go to the NCAA tournament.

Funny we haven't been real impressed with Covington's numbers but he averaged a double-double against what I suspect is pretty good competetion in Chicago. One of his hometown papers had a story about him attending a basketball camp last summer. The camp was a basketball camp but also meant to teach life skills. Covington Camp. 6'7, 235 with good post skills, great student sounds like an ideal recruit. UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY MEN'S BASKETBALL SIGNS THREE STUDENT-ATHLETES FOR 2005-06 Albany, N.Y. -- University at Albany men's basketball coach Will Brown announced on Thursday, May 19 that three student-athletes have signed national letters of intent to play for the Great Danes in the 2005-06 academic year. Jimmie Covington, a 6-foot-7, 235 pound forward/center from Chicago, Ill. (Morgan Park H.S.), Jason Siggers, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound guard/forward from Dallas, Texas (New Mexico Junior College) and Kiel Graham, a 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward/center from Milwaukee, Wis. (Feather River Community College) each made his commitment. Brian Connelly, a 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward from Audubon, N.J. (Camden Catholic H.S.) inked his letter during last November's early signing period. "We have improved what I consider to be a weakness in that we have added size, depth and talent in the frontcourt," said Brown, whose team finished 13-15 last season, an eight-win improvement from the previous year. "We also added a wing player who can put the ball in the basket. This is a group that fits the University's profile of student-athletes who are both quality people and talented basketball players. With these four individuals and the return of a healthy Jon Iati, we have increased our chances of winning an America East Conference championship." Covington averaged 14.9 points and 11.2 rebounds for the Mustangs as a high school senior. He was named to the Chicago Public League's all-area and all-section teams. Covington, a member of the league's all-academic squad, was chosen to play in the City/Suburban All-Star Game. Siggers was named to the 2005 Western Junior College Athletic Conference first team, when he averaged 17.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals. A second-team All-Region V selection, Siggers shot 46 percent from the field and 79 percent from the line, plus made 56 three-point field goals. He played scholastically at Dallas' Skyline High School. Graham averaged 15.1 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks en route to earning first-team All-Golden Valley Conference recognition. He led Feather River C.C. in California to a share of the conference championship with a 19-10 record. Graham was ranked among the top 30 players in the state of Wisconsin as a junior and senior at Bay View High School. Connelly, who made his commitment to the UAlbany program last fall, was named to New Jersey's all-state second team. He averaged 22.5 points and 9.2 rebounds in leading Camden Catholic High to a 22-4 record. Connelly was also chosen first-team All-South Jersey and first-team All-Parochial. *************** 2005-06 University at Albany Men's Basketball Signings Name, Pos., Ht., Wt., Hometown (High School/Junior College) Brian Connelly, F, 6-8, 225, Audubon, N.J. (Camden Catholic) Jimmie Covington, F/C, 6-7, 235, Chicago, Ill. (Morgan Park) Kiel Graham, F/C, 6-9, 215, Milwaukee, Wis. (Bay View / Feather River C.C.) Jason Siggers, G/F, 6-4, 195, Dallas, Texas (Skyline / New Mexico J.C.)

Hopefully they find a good spot to hang those four championship banners!

Good story on the softball team and Kelly Ogden in today's Record. Diminutive slugger-Troy Record

This was tougher than I thought it would be. Male Athlete: 1. Luke Daquino-Lacrosse 2. Jamar Wilson-Basketball 3. Gered Burns-Track 4. Bouna Coundoul-Soccer 5. Nick Bazan-Football Female Athlete 1. Blair Buchanan-Volleyball 2. Danielle Hutcheson-Basketball 3. Amanda Morin-Softball 4. E-Rod-Volleyball 5. Kelly Ogden-Softball Coach of the Year 1. Scott Marr 2. Chris Canata 3. Kelly Sheffield 4. Roberto Vives 5. Johan Aarnio

As long as they don't change the direction Alum73. For the first time we'll be in the sun.

Tough situation for Siena's new coach to come into. Needing alot with not much time to get it this late in the recruiting period. Fans will probably give him a pass next year but you'd have to think if Albany improves next year and with the Patroon starting to play at the Armory there will be some heat on him to get things going quickly, especially if attendance drops.

I'd guess she has four years of eligibility left if she red-shirted this year. She should be available next season without sitting out. Really some nice transfers from higher level schools over the past few years with Hunter, Green and now White.

They haven't said if she's pitching on Friday but it probably helps to know that Morin has been to the NCAAs before. She's 2-1 in the tournament with her loss a 1-0 decision.

The late signing period ends on Thursday and I'm hoping the delay for Covington has been the announcing and not the signing of a LOI. Just one tidbit on Insiders. They have reranked some of their recruits. For the most part most of Albany's recruits had been labelled two stars including Connelly. They not have Covington listed as a three star recruit. I'm not sure how much faith I put in the recruit rankings but our only other three star recruit was Jamar. If you want to lose faith in the rankings they have Jon Iati and Levi and one star recruits.

Q+A in today's TU with Danes reliever Shawn Ryan. Ryan-TU

It's interesting how the AE has three different methods for hosting tournaments. I was thinking of it when softball had to play a lower seeded Stony Brook on their home field. Volleyball got the #1 seed and hosted the whole tournament. The higher seed in the lax tourney get the higher seeds in the opening round. Then some tourneys like softball, baseball have the tournament locations already set. I like the idea of rewarding the regular season champion with hosting the tournament. Basketball is an exception but I don't see why they can't do it with softball and baseball too.

Newsday columnist Tom Rocks picks Albany in the first round againt Virginia. Rock-Newsday "ALBANY at No. 4 VIRGINIA, Saturday, 8 p.m. It's hard to tell who got screwed more in this matchup. Virginia gets the No. 4 seed but has to play a very tough opponent. And Albany, in for the third straight year and coming off a season where it beat UMass and lost by a goal to Syracuse, should have gotten a lesser foe. One of my colleagues predicted an easy win for the Wahoos, by seven goals, but I'm not so sure. Virginia has looked pretty vulnerable lately (though it hasn't played in two weeks) and Albany has a potent offense led by Luke Daquino and Merrick Thompson as well as a stud senior in goal in Kevin Rae. If Rae plays like he did last week against Stony Brook, which normally has a pretty strong offense itself, this could be close. In fact, it might even be a shocker. THE TAKE: Albany 11, Virginia 10."

I was thinking of that game but didn't want to mention it. I think those games were also played at Stony Brook. As we saw last weekend in the AE lacrosse championship when it was the same situation as 2002 with Stony Brook coming to Albany, sometimes similar circumstances produce very different results.

Amazing that 7 of the 15 first team players are from Albany and not one of them is a senior. Even Ashley Rios on the second team is a junior. The future looks pretty bright.

Does anyone know if the UVA-UA game will be broadcast anywhere. TV? WCDB?