Dane Pound

This from Newsday's Lacrosse columnist Tom Rock: "ALBANY AT STONY BROOK, 3 p.m. There are rivalries between teams that play each other competitively every year in games that are heavy with stakes and tradition. And then there are rivalries where the teams actually don't like each other. This is one of the latter. Albany has held a decided advantage since the teams entered the America East together four years ago, but always seems to play with a chip on its shoulder against the Seawolves. This may be the year Stony Brook stands up to the Great Danes, though, with its national ranking, home-field advantage and confidence oozing through its helmets. Luke Daquino will be tough to contain, but the SBU attack has been playing very well as a group and the defense is clicking. I like Stony Brook to win its first regular-season game against Albany in four years. THE TAKE: Stony Brook 11, Albany 9" Newsday Lacrosse

Phil Jackson and Dean Smith may still come as assists... But seriously, after all the hype he seems like a "safe" choice. Previous experience with a winning if unspectacular record. He was a hot commodity a couple of years ago when he was a finalist at UMass and I think Villanova after his tourney runs and then cooled down. Looking at his record in the paper I think Siena fans would have been calling for his head after his 7-22 and 11-17 seasons.

Albany was supposedly recruiting Tchana before he signed an LOI to Fresno State. A coaching change there has caused him to seek a release from FS. Still sounds like he'd like to go somewhere warmer but it's warm in Albany sometimes right? Bulldogs signees request releases-Sacramento Bee

I was reading a story about the Siena coaches search at lunch the other day. Someone looked over my shoulder at the paper and asked if Fran McCafferty wasn't the guy from Night Court. You be the "judge" Any questions on who he would hire as first assistant?

Good story in today's TU about Kurt Campbell's scouting process. Pros would be poetry-TU

UAlbany takes bead on Top 20-Times Union

Lacrosse knocks off #19 Dartmouth 9-7.

According to Insiders both Albany and Siena offered Zampier a scholarship. There was a bigger named school ivolved also, maybe Marquette?

It would appear someone named "Ivydude" wrote the book on unwritten rules. His claim: "The "unwritten rule" is when a SEASONED top 20 plays a lesser foe you stop scoring at some point as a gesture of kindness. Albany is an "up and commer". It appears they pulled alot of the 1st line and would have been justified scoring 30 if thats what Hartford allowed. " Hopefully they have some goals left over for Dartmouth. Too bad we are getting all these ranked opponents when I can't get to the games.

My favorite is one of those music on demand services. It shows the women getting dressed to go out and picking between clothes while Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" plays in the background and repeats the line "she's wonderin what clothes to wear" a bunch of times.

As an assistant? As most of you probably have been following Siena has been talking with ECU Coach Bill Herrion. Beeten and Herrion were assistants together a few years ago and George Washington. While he's been at ECU Beeten has been helping him out with recruiting from time to time. Probably a long shot but possible Herrion would hire him as an assistant if he got the Siena job. How wierd would that be? Speaking of Beeten, I didn't pay much attention when Vermont announced their coach for next year. It's Mike Lonergan and if I remember correctly he was one of the finalists for Albany when Beeten was hired. At the time he was at DIII Catholic University and we maybe didn't hire him because of lack of experience. He spends a year or two at Maryland and he's now head coaching material. I remember we played Catholic at a tournament and lost during Beeten's first year. It's a small world I guess.

That's amazing. I can't believe that guy would leave during a game like that. Maybe more amazing that he'd admit to it later and take a public beating like that. The ACC thing is funny because I found myself pulling for Maryland in the tourney a couple of years ago. Seems like the last few years there have been alot of people hyping the ACC to the point of irritation. Vitale's "analysis" can only come during games between ACC teams because he's just going to shill for the ACC in any other game. The Orange fans aren't alone about the Villanova travel call. I don't remember if it was Allen or Foye but he was fouled. Should have been the basket and a chance to tie at the line. I don't know if it was a conspiracy or not but I thought they called the foul and then changed the call.

My bracket is in deep trouble but I really don't mind. This has been a terrific tournament to watch so far. That Illinois comeback (or Arizona collapse) yesterday was amazing to watch. They really looked cooked with a couple of minutes to go. My apologizes to Statefan but I have really found myself rooting against ACC teams this year even if I had them winning in my bracket. It may have been fatigue from all the hyping they got all year but I greatly enjoyed Duke's loss to Michigan State. The sooner those teams get knocked out is one less day I have to hear Vitale braying about "the best conference is America, baby. The ACC, oh yeah!" It's not just him, whoever was doing the Nova-UNC game was describing what Villanova had to do "against a vastly more talented team," as if Carolina was playing a team from the Patriot League or something.

I couldn't make it to Troy yesterday but it sounds like a nice bounceback win. The lopsided score has drawn the ire of some on laxpower who say the scoobies shouldn't have run up the score. Laxpower forum

Most of my softball strategy has involved not knocking my beer overl while trying to shag a fly ball. If I had to guess about Morin pitching it could be that they have a week or so layoff until their next game and she has plenty of time to rest. Maybe once she's warmed up it doesn't matter how much she pitches that day it just hurts the next day. 8 wins in a row is a nice way to finish out the road trip.

I suspect Statefan brought this up just to start trouble. Not that we should be taking our example from Siena but they do use "lady saints" in some of their press releases. Of course they could just be backward and vaguely condecending as we know. I would guess fans who follow women's athletics enough to talk about them should be given some break in the terms they use. After all, would you rather have someone go to women's basketball games, listen to them on the radio and call them the "Lady Danes" or have someone who uses the "correct" terminology and doesn't follow or support them at all.

NM

I don't know of any such prohibition and I'm not sure why this such a big deal. "Lady" is used for the Lady Vols of Tennesse and the Lady Saints of Siena. Admittedly it seems a bit dated but it's not derogatory.

It is. I just found his picture on the ARE website. I'm happy to see that the race has been won the past two years by former UA runner Jamie Rodrigeuz. Easily one of the better runners in the area. I've always hoped to see him go head to head with Tom Dalton (Siena grad) but I haven't seen it happen.

There's a good story in today's TU about Albany Softball pictcher Amanda Morin. She transfered from Florida Atlantic and has won two player of the week awards. Cannata seems to do a really good job re-recruiting and sticking with recruits to get them to come to UA. UAlbany easing pitcher's pain-TU

Thanks for the link it sounds like a fun race. I've seen people with the Albany Running Exchange shirts on at some local races and wondered what they are about. I'm glad you supplied the link to answer that question. If I'm not mistaken there is some crossover with the RACC Rowdies and the Running Exchange. I know one of the ARE members (I don't know his name) also used to be one of the tee shirt throwers in the RACC

Story in today's TU about Patterson and Summit. Highest regard for Summitt-TU

Just wondering if anyone has experience with the summer hoop camp run by Brian Barnes. My nephew is considering going this year to hone his skills and look for pointers on better attacking the triangle and two defense. Also if you know if any players take part in the camp. I'm pretty sure the player my nephew would be looking for in particular is Jon Iati.

There were a couple of write-ups about Campbell and Gudmundsen on the New Orleans Pro Football.com. The one on Campbell sounds encouraging. ALBANY, NY (March 17th) senior linebacker/safety KURT CAMPBELL ran between 4.42 and 4.44 in the 40... 6.99 three-cone... 42.5" vertical... 10'2" broad jump... also did 19 reps of 225 pounds... weighed in at 6020, 228 pounds... did both linebacker and defensive back drills... there have been less than 15 available prospects that have posted similar size/speed numbers over the past three drafts, and 14 of them are still on active rosters... also has a private workout with St. Louis already scheduled, but has seen additional interest from Baltimore, Carolina, Dallas, Detroit, Green Bay, Indianapolis and Miami leading up to his Pro Day events... plans to workout both on March 28th and April 8th... senior offensive lineman GEIR GUDMUNDSEN ran between 5.38 and 5.42 in the 40... 4.56 short shuttle... 7.47 three-cone... 31" vertical... 8'3" broad jump... weighed in at 6052, 301 pounds... will bench press on March 28th... played mostly tackle in college, but has been doing positional drills at guard, as well... has improved greatly over the past 4-6 weeks, while training with Billy Ard, a former starting offensive lineman with the NY Giants... better footwork than you would expect... has the frame to eventually carry 320 pounds... has gotten enough attention from OL coaches the past month to become a PFA by draft day... Buffalo, Dallas and NY Giants are among those that have had their offensive line coach evaluate him in person.

Interesting reading on the Lax Power forums this week after Albany's loss to Drexel. Albany's stock has dropped after jumping up in the win over UMass. Still early in the season but the word "mercurial" has been used often to describe this team. RPI ratings has Stony Brook in the top 10. Could they have improved that much this year?