Dane Pound

I was listening to the postgame on WCDB the other night after the women's game against the Brook. Did I hear right that she can set the conference record for threes in a season?

I would think the fact that Albany, Stony and Bing are all in the same conference would take some of the fun out of a tourney. They play each other now a minimum of two games and possibly three with the postseason so to add another game would be anti-climatic.

Actually the AE site has the scenerios this morning. I'm not sure why Stony Brook can't get above the 7 seed but here it is: Albany (9-8, 13-13) is the No. 4 seed. Binghamton (7-10, 10-16) and Maine (7-10, 12-14) are battling for the No. 5 and 6 seeds. A Beatcat win or a Black Bear loss and Binghamton is the No. 5 seed. Maine (7-9, 12-13) will be either the No. 5 or No. 6 seed. Stony Brook (6-11, 11-15) is the No. 7 seed.

UAlbany's loss a head-scratcher-TU Case of senioritis isn't costly for Danes: Ualbany jumped on Stony Brook's senior night, but still clinch No. 4 seed-Troy Record

Somebody help me out if I'm missing something. Bing and Maine are both 7-10 and Stony Brook is 6-11. If Bing and Maine both lose and the Brook wins (against UNH) that's three teams at 7-11. Bing swept Maine and split with the Brook, Maine swept the Brook so I have no idea how they figure that out. My guess is whover beat the higher seed. Maine's best win is against Northeastern, SB's best win is over Albany and Bing's best win is over Albany.

As AO mentioned if you do have to buy tickets ask for the ones behind the UA bench. That's what we usually do when we go on the road. We've found sitting closer to the huddle than we usually do at home is both entertaining and educational.

Amazingly they still have an outside shot at 3rd place although I doubt they can get past UNH. Hopefully they can put something together going into Hartford. Big win was nice. We got to see some players we haven't seen this year like Martinson, Clark and Johnson.

Hutcheson's game well worth the trip-TU Danes hope to spoil Seawolves' Senior Night-Troy Record With one more win, Danes will be No. 4-TU

Somebody asked me this yesterday so I thought I'd pass it along. What's the difference between the top three teams in the AE and Albany? Other than Coppenrath my answer would be experience playing together and a seasoned PG.

We're planning on going. We'll actually spend the weekend there and maybe catch a couple of other games too. McFan, I asked Rob Totaro about the tickets for the tournament after the UMBC game. He recomended going through the Bing ticket office and telling them you want to sit in the Albany section. Single tickets aren't going on sale until right before the tourney and I was concerned if that game is against Bing it might sell out.

Actually one of the things I like about Brown is that he's come out and said he's made a mistake after a few games. After a game against BU he said in the paper a few days later that he made a mistake in a late game situation. I find it refreshing that a young coach is confident enough to come and say he made a mistake. I agree with McFan and Patch that this is the place (when it's online) to discuss games, coaches decisions, etc. That's what makes it fun.

Sorry about the problems. The server suffered a "fatal hardware error" which is as bad as it sounds. Depending on when you checked in yesterday you either got nothing or a "page does not exist" message. Things should be back on track now and things should be faster from here on out. I will be doing a upgrade of the board software but I will give you notice before and certainly will wait until the basketball tournaments are over.

After their last couple losses against some tough teams I really thought they would come out and take care of UMBC. Disappointing to see them heading into the tourney on such a down note. Still a couple of games to turn it around hopefully.

Lucky for those refs the Rowdies were not there in full force yesterday because they would have been all over them. Monroe earned a tech way before they called the first one on him. He and the official were going at and I don't know why he didn't give him one. Seemed like they tried to reestablish control by calling everything. Luckily for us we have the depth to combat that situation and still get the win. I think last year we would have finished that game with two players on the floor.

Freshman steps up for Danes on Senior Day-Troy Record Danes win foul-filled contest-Times Union

I agree with some of those teams you guys have mentioned but I really don't want to see our schedule get too difficult. You can overload on tough teams and really shread the confidence of your team. I think Binghamton did that with their tough OOC and it took them a while to recover especially because they started off with the tougher teams in conference play. At this stage of UA development I really just want them to win and I don't care that much who it's against. For the last few years our identity has been losing and the way to reverse that is with winning seasons. Most casual fans-who we're trying to get to the RACC-don't know a good mid-major team from a bad one. If it's not Syracuse, Duke, Kansas they haven't heard of them and don't know if they have an RPI of 50 or 250. For the past few years I've heard casual $iena fans complain after they've lost to some really good teams (Northern Iowa, Toledo when they were having good years) that they lost to crappy teams. Most people don't know the difference, they just know you're winning or losing. I'd prefer a winning record to a .500 one or below with the explanation that they played a tough schedule. Before we throw Army off the schedule we should remember that we really needed that game after losing at Lehigh(237) and Wagner (290). Our best win this year was over Bing with an RPI of 187. With NU gone I think we should 11 OOC games. I'd like to see 2 against "power" conference opponents (Looks like UCLA, and Florida) 2 against better midmajor conferences (The suggestions of Hofstra-CAA and Buffalo-MAC sound good to me) Siena 6 against teams we traditionally play. Patriot League, Ivy League and Northeast Conference. If we win 20 games nobody is going to ask who we played against.

Men's tournament March 4-6 at Binghamton University Events Center, Vestal, N.Y. First Round Friday, March 4 No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed, TBA No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed, TBA Quarterfinals Saturday, March 5 Semifinals Sunday, March 6 Championship Game Saturday, March 12 at higher remaining seed Tickets: Through the Binghamton Box Office Or call 607-777-SLAM Directions to Binghamton University Lodging and Food: Binghamton Visitors Bureau Women's Tournament March 9-12 at Reich Family Pavilion, West Hartford, Conn. First Round Wednesday, March 9 No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed, TBA No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed, TBA Quarterfinals Thursday, March 10 Semifinals Friday, March 11 Championship Game Saturday, March 12 Tickets: Call 860-768-HAWK Directions to Reich Family Pavilion

In the TU today it says Kenny Macalla will also be honored at Senior Day today. I thought he was only a junior as listed on the roster.

Since Saturday is Wyatt and Q's last home game I figured I would mention my favorite games. Q Kind of funny when you look at how much attention we pay to recruits coming in that Q came in under the radar. I don't think any of us knew he was here until he showed up on the online roster. His best game in my view was last year's AE tournament against UNH. He put forth an inspired effort on both ends of the court in that game-18 pts, 12 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. To me that solidified his pick as team MVP last year. Wyatt Pretty sure he was recruited by Beeten. As Statefan pointed out early this year I like that he has worn the "Private Pound" shirt the last couple of years. From the outside he really seems like a program guy, visiable at other teams events and knowledge about UAs other sports in interviews I've seen him in. Probably not his best statistical game but my favorite was his game against the Brook two years ago on Valentine's Day. We had lost four or five in a row and the BPG the week before. He was extemely physical in that game and in a battle with, I think, Konopka tossed him on the floor by pulling the ball away from him and not touching him at all. A few minutes later he had a big time dunk in Jairus McCollum's mug

Cats battle past Danes-Burlington Free Press UAlbany falls short-Troy Record Great Danes fail to hold momentum-TU UAlbany's glass half empty-TU(Ettkin)

I have to admit I cringed when the Rowdies started chanting "Overrated" early on the second half. No way Vermont was folding up the tents at halftime. I did talk to someone who sat behind the Vermont bench who was impressed with the Rowdies and their "Oscar." I suspect you guys were yelling alot of things in UVMs direction that we couldn't hear. If you told me before the game that -Coppenrath would "only" have 19 pts -Albany had 3 guys in double figures -Zoellner had 9 pts -Albany shot over 50% from 3 I probably would have said we won the game. Really saw tonight why Vermont is the #1 team as they took our best shot and still won. I really never thought Sorrentine was as good as he was made out to be but he was fantastic. I knew he was a good shooter but he also muscled Jamar to the hoop off the dribble several times. Both games this year Vermont has forced Albany to 20+ plus turnovers. I didn't really understand the trouble with the press last night. With Lou and Jamar on the floor we should be asking teams to press and instead turned it over several times in a row.

Irish ax unbeaten-Courier Post Irish ax unbeaten SCOTT ANDERSON/Courier-Post Wednesday, February 16, 2005 Cam. Cath. edges last unbeaten S.J. team By WALT BURROWS Courier-Post Staff MEDFORD It was one of those games that kept the fans on the edge of their seats, the coaches on the verge of life support and each player hoping it would be him who would hit the winning shot. It was a short, 12-foot jump shot by Camden Catholic guard Anthony Matera with 6.6 seconds left that gave the Irish a 48-46 decision over previously unbeaten Shawnee in a hard, cleanly played game. There were only seven foul shots taken and only three personal fouls called in the first half of the Olympic Conference interdivision game. It was a defensive clinic and the folks in the packed Shawnee gymnasium seemed to enjoy it right up to the finish. The luck of the Irish prevailed in the end. After Matera's jumper put Camden Catholic (17-3), ranked No. 5 in the Courier-Post Top 20, ahead, Shawnee coach Joe Kessler quickly called a timeout to plan for the last shot. Camden Catholic coach Jim Crawford then took two successive timeouts to rattle Shawnee. It was like icing the kicker. But it didn't prevent Shawnee from getting two shots at a possible victory. Kevin Dybalski hit Matt McFadden with the inbounds pass at halfcourt. McFadden, closely guarded, took an off-balance shot that Tyson Hartnett rebounded and sent another off-balance push toward the basket. Both shots failed to find the mark and time ran out, ending the Renegades' 19-game winning streak and leaving South Jersey without an unbeaten team. "It was a great high school game that could easily have been won by either team," Crawford said. "We got a little lucky at the end with those two shots, but it was that kind of a game. (It was) hard fought, clean and I thought well officiated. "I know it will help us in the tournament. It's the kind of basketball schools play in Parochial A. I think it will help both of us." Kessler agreed. "A game like this today helps us all the way around," he said. "It's good for us playing a team as good as Camden Catholic. We can only benefit." No. 3 Shawnee looked like it was in trouble when Brian Connelly (16 points) hit the first two baskets of the third quarter to put the Irish ahead 28-19. But Crawford didn't expect the Renegades to fold the tent. "They were undefeated, weren't they?" Crawford said. "I knew they would come back." Come back they did. The Renegades took the lead at 33-32 on McFadden's bank shot with 1:39 remaining in the third quarter. Then it was back and forth until Matera took over for the Irish, hitting their last six points, including the game-winner. "Tim (Smith) got me the ball and I just put it up," Matera said. "It was an awesome, clean game. Shawnee is a great team and well-coached." "I played on the same AAU team with Hartnett," Matera added. "Boy, he had a heck of a game." Hartnett led Shawnee with 22 points. McFadden had 12.

This info probably would have helped you more last night but anyway. ESPN televised the UConn-Providence game earlier in the night and it went into double OT. That's probably what threw the time off for the "The Season"

Nice quote from Jamar in the Troy Record which I'm guessing is directed at the Rowdies. "Our team has become fans of the fans who have supported us this year."

MEN’S LACROSSE VOTED TO CAPTURE AMERICA EAST TITLE IN PRESEASON COACHES' POLL Boston, Mass. – Two-time defending champion University at Albany has been selected to win the 2005 title in the America East Conference preseason men’s lacrosse coaches’ poll, as announced by the conference office on Tuesday, Feb. 15. UMBC stands second in the poll, while Binghamton, last year’s regular-season winner, is third. The Great Danes made their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament last season. Head coach Scott Marr has six all-conference performers returning, including first-team attacker Luke Daquino, from last year’s 10-6 squad. "Our expectation is always to win our conference and take another step in the NCAA Tournament," said Marr, whose teams have combined for 29 victories over the last three years. "This is a veteran team that burns to get back to the NCAAs." Daquino has been a model of consistency with 50-plus points in three consecutive seasons. He had 22 goals and 35 assists last year. Merrick Thomson, the 2004 America East Rookie of the Year, is among four players who netted 40 or more points for the nation’s seventh-best scoring offense. Thomson led all America East scorers with 47 goals and 12 assists. UAlbany’s defense is led by goalkeeper Kevin Rae, a two-time America East championship MVP. Rae, who is second on the school’s career saves list, posted a .578 save percentage with a 10.16 goals against average one year ago. All-America East defenders Ryan Olmstead (6-3, 215) and Patrick McSweeney (6-1, 240) will support Rae in the cage. 2005 America East Conference Men’s Lacrosse Preseason Coaches Poll 1. UAlbany (4), 44; 2. UMBC (1), 37; 3. Binghamton (2), 36; 4. Stony Brook 31; 5. Vermont 23; 6. Quinnipiac 16; 7. Hartford 9. ( ) – first-place votes WOMEN’S LACROSSE PICKED FOURTH IN AMERICA EAST PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL Boston, Mass. – University at Albany was picked fourth in the America East Conference preseason women’s lacrosse coaches’ poll, as announced by the conference office on Tuesday, Feb. 15. Boston University was chosen as the preseason favorite, edging out defending conference champion New Hampshire by two points and one first-place vote. "I expected to be right around fourth place, based on how we played last season," said UAlbany head coach Dennis Short, whose team opens its schedule at Colgate on Sunday, Feb. 20 at 1:00 p.m. "We are going to continue to work hard and show everyone that we are a stronger team this year." The Great Danes are coming off a 6-11 campaign in 2004. UAlbany turned in a 3-3 America East record and qualified for the conference tournament for the second time in three years. Kate Fontana and Kristen Mathias, a pair of all-conference second-team selections, are among the top returnees. Fontana, a midfielder, set a freshman scoring record with 53 points on 39 goals and 14 assists. Mathias, a junior, started every game on defense and tallied 27 ground balls and 17 caused turnovers. Other key returnees include sophomore goalkeeper Jen Daly and sophomore attacker Sarah Spillett, who were each named to the America East All-Rookie Team. Daly set the school’s single-season saves record with 190, while Spillett scored 28 goals and picked up 34 ground balls. 2005 America East Conference Women’s Lacrosse Preseason Coaches Poll 1. Boston U. (4), 46; 2. New Hampshire (3), 44; 3. UMBC, 35; 4. UAlbany, 26; 5. Vermont, 19; 6. Stony Brook, 18; 7. Binghamton 8. ( ) – first-place votes