Dane Pound

Sorry to hear that about Lillis. Hopefully he makes a full, speedy recovery. I'm guessing this will mean a little more time for Iati in the interim. Probably Perry too. I'm curious about Perry. I really thought he could get some more playing time this year but he hasn't. I know he played some at Wagner. Just wondering if anyone who saw him can shed some light. Is he a bad defensive player?

Thanks Patch. I expect those empty seats between season ticket holders at the RACC will start to fill in this year and we'll see some new faces this year. Hopefully some of them will find their way to the board also. It's been fun the past year or so but much like the Albany program we're just getting started! Looking forward to the next 100 members or selling out the RACC, whichever comes first.

Welcome GoDanes! There's a couple of links to rankings on the top of the board. Sagarins is one and there's an RPI one as well. I believe your legit. I'm sorry I didn't see you at the Pepsi last week. They stuck the season ticket holders up in the nosebleed sections so I didn't get a good look at the student section. We did hear you guys yelling and chanting though and enjoyed that alot. Hopefully you (we) have lots to yell about in the RACC this year.

When Dyson makes his debut it should be interesting to see where he fits into the rotation. So far Q and Wyatt have had a tough time finding minutes because of the play of Brent Wilson. I'm curious to see how Dyson will work his way into the mix. The rotation does not seem to be set as they were experiementing with some different lineups on Saturday. I'm guessing that will continue through the non-conference games until the staff knows what they can expect from everyone.

Compared to what UNH got last year that it a terriffic pairing. Looks like a very winnable game. For anyone who saw the pairing show (I couldn't find it) two questions: How do figure out who hosts the game? It looks like Albany should host as they are ranked higher. When do they know which day the game will be played?

Schumacher shot a better % (8-10) from behind the arc than either team did from the free throw line. She is an amazing shooter. From reading the story I was curious how much she played the point. The boxscore has Mikus getting 7 assists although I don't know when she got them. If Mikus can play the point well with Schumacher's outside shooting this team will be tough. Both team's are 2-1 and haven't played a home game yet this year.

The hangover from the $iena game was to be expected I guess and this should be a lesson learned. You have to put forth consistent effort to win consistently. From the sounds of things on the radio it seemed like a substantial dropoff in intensity from the first two games. There's no other way to explain getting outrebounded that substantially from the smallest lineup Albany has faced all year. Wagner just wanted it more. They had 19 offensive rebounds. On his own Sean Munson had more offensive rebounds than the Danes team combined. A couple of positives in this game, got some bench production. 18 points and 8 rebounds came off the bench. Brent Wilson had another nice performance-8 pts and 4 rebounds. Lillis seemed more agressive. Got himself to the line and had a couple points in limited minutes and another block. Didn't see the game but Jordan again got it done-13 pts, 6 boards, 6 assists.

MEN'S BASKETBALL DEFEATS CROSSTOWN-RIVAl SIENA FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1977 Albany, N.Y. – Sophomores Jamar Wilson and Jon Iati each scored 20 points to lead UAlbany to an 86-65 victory over crosstown-rival Siena on Tuesday, Nov. 23 before 8,904 fans at Pepsi Arena. The Great Danes are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 1996-97. Siena (0-4) trailed by as much as six points early in the final period, but then drew even at 55 apiece when Antoine Jordan nailed a three-point field goal. UAlbany’s Lucious Jordan, who scored 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, responded with a three-pointer from the left side to put his team back on top for good with 9:41 remaining. The Great Danes, who shot 65.4 percent from the field after halftime, still led 64-61 three minutes later, but then reeled off seven unanswered points. Wilson made a pair of free throws in that stretch, before Jordan converted a layup and Iati drilled a long-range jumper from the left wing. Still leading 71-65 with 3:13 to play, UAlbany tallied the final 15 points of the contest. Wilson, who made 14-of-14 from the line and added a career-high 10 assists, had six points in that span. The Great Danes shot better than 54 percent from the floor for the second straight game. "We didn’t play well in the first half," said UAlbany coach Will Brown, who saw the Great Danes win in this series for the first time since Feb. 3, 1977. "We made a nice run in the second half and cleaned up our turnovers and rebounding. This is a great win for the program. I know people will jump on the bandwagon, but we will welcome them with open arms." Michael Haddix, a 6-foot-6 junior, had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Saints, who won the last three matchups between the schools since the series was revived after a 24-year absence. UAlbany’s Levi Levine added 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Kirsten Zoellner, a 7-foot-1 center, contributed 13 points and eight boards. "We have confidence in ourselves," UAlbany’s Jordan said. "We didn’t buckle under pressure and we hit open shots. This was a big win for us."

Seahawks gird for tough stretch-Staten Island Advocate Off to a refreshing start-TU I found this part kind of funny, the accusation isn't true, but it's funny: "UAlbany coach Will Brown said that by 3 p.m. Wednesday, he had received 72 e-mails related to the Siena win. He said 14 of them were from Siena fans and alumni, and all but one of those were congratulatory. Brown said he took two hours replying to the e-mails, except the one from a Siena fan who charged he'd run up the score."

We're having a second thanksgiving dinner this weekend so I'll have to settle for the radio broadcast of this one. Army looks like the next best road game.

Not a horrible loss but it would have been great to see them pull that one out. Patterson's quote in the TU was that she was dissapointed with their rebounding and defense. If anything, this should be a very good rebounding team. NAU prevails in tourney opener-Arizona Daily Sun Dane women edged in Arizona-TU.

A couple of belated points that were discussed yesterday over turkey dinner: -I realize I am prone to complain about this ever year. It seems like the earlier I get my tickets for this game every year the further we get from the court. This year was the first time most of the season ticket holders were in the upper deck and I smell a Pepsi Arena conspiracy. Of course I could just be paranoid. In any event I'm glad we only play one game a year there. -For the record, Statefan predicted Albany would put a run together at halftime. The fact that he had been drinking since noon had me doubting his accuracy but alas, he was right on the money. -It's quite fitting that both Coach Sheffield and Coach Brown get HUGE wins in the same week. They both took over programs that were in shambles and have done fantastic jobs with them. -He's only played one game so far but you're going to have a tough time convincing me there's a better guard in the AE than Jamar Wilson. -I agree with the several posts that the $iena fans have been very gracious in defeat. I do think they are being a little too tough on their team at this point in the season. They started out in a difficult tournament and as was proved Tuesday night Albany is no longer a cupcake. Were I a Siena fan the one thing I would be peeved at Lanier for is not bringing in any guards before this year. Why he didn't bring a freshman PG in two years ago when Jamal Jackson was brought in I will never understand. That team would be totally different with another veteran guard right now. -The big concern people had going into this season was chemistry and one of the things that was most talked about Weds was how well the Danes played as a team. I credit the shared adversity of the past few years for that as well as the coaching of Will Brown.

I was thinking about heading down to see what kind of defense Mike Deane will try to implement against Albany this year. Just curious if anyone else was going to be there.

I agree with your points Reeder. I was kind of curious about Perry. I thought he would contribute more than he has. 7 minutes against Sacred Heart and none last night. B. Wilson did a pretty good job underneath of defense. Lillis did look a little overwhelmed in the beginning. He seems real reluctant to take a shot. No shots in his first two games. He was open for 3 point attempts a couple of of times and passed them up. Hopefully somewhere along the way he'll score a little and get some confidence on the offensive end. He is supposed to be a pretty skilled player I think.

I was sitting near you Statefan so I didn't see the Iati call. I did have a $iena fan tell me this morning what a terrible call the double tech was on Levine. He said he was closer to the court and saw the whole thing. He said HE was yelling at the refs for pinning the technical on the wrong guy. It could have been crucial as Levine had to come out at that point with four fouls. Luckily it wasn't.

I really like the 53 number. Pomeroy has us at 196 and going 16-11 this year.

Siena's goose was cooked on Tuesday, the turkey gets cooked on Thursday. Hope you all have a good Thanksgiving and everyone who journeyed to the Pepsi made it home safe. Remember to get good position around the food table and then box-out! Enjoy!

A couple of $iena fans I know stopped us in the hall before the game. They told us the time before tipoff would be the only time we were happy all night. Boy were they ever wrong. All five starters played fantastic. I was surprised when Siena kept pressing because Jamar was killing them in the open floor. He had 20 points but accounted for 20 more on his 10 assists. It was probably more than 20 points because he found Levi and Iati open for some wide-open 3s.

Hello Friends, Family, and Alumni of UAlbany Volleyball! In front of the largest and loudest crowds to see a UAlbany volleyball match, the Great Danes won their first America East Conference Championship this past weekend! In Friday's match against Binghamton, the team came out fired up and ready to pounce. The offense was clicking extremely well as we hit an astonishing .422 for the match. Junior Ashley Hunter led the way with 16 kills and a .536 hitting percentage. In Saturday's championship match against the Maine Black Bears, we were facing the same team that had defeated us just eight days earlier. They are a veteran team made up of mostly juniors and seniors. Our team came out smoking early behind junior Eileen Rodriguez' serve and won game one, 30-20. Game two was back-and-forth, as Maine got much more aggressive and started blocking our attack. They pulled out a close 30-28 win to pull the match even at 1-1. In the locker-room we talked about keeping our composure and that if people would have told us at the beginning that we could play a best of three match for the championship, all of us would have asked where we could sign up. There were still a lot of highs and lows to come, but we had to believe in ourselves and stay on task. Game three they jumped on us early, 7-0 behind some great serving. We were finally able to steady the ship, but not able to come back from that early hole as we lost 30-28. Game four, the level of play really took off, especially that of Ashley Hunter, who had 9 kills in the game. The defensive plays from both teams were incredible and we were able to force a fifth and deciding game by winning 30-20. In the fifth, Maine jumped up 9-6 behind the play of their senior right-side hitter. Senior Jill Dombrowski helped tie the match at 9 behind some great serving and defense. The match was then tied at 10, 11, 12, and 13. Each time Maine taking the lead, and UAlbany drawing even. At 13-13, junior Ashley Green went back to the back wall to serve. We called for the serve to go down the line to what we considered to be their weaker passer. The ball got a little closer to the line than probably Ashley or any of us were hoping, fortunately the Maine passer also thought it was going out and it came down and clipped the line. The match was then won by a thundering overpass kill by lefty sophomore Shelby Goldman and the place went nuts! This is what Senior Jill Dombrowski had to say: "The fan support was unbelievable. I think we made life long fans after that amazing match. They are a big reason that we went undefeated at home this season. This is the type of thing you work for the day you start playing a sport. I've always dreamed of a day like this, and the feeling is even better then I imagined it! I'm still pinching myself!" And Senior Susan Spierre: "To win the America East Championship this past weekend was one of the greatest moments of my life so far and truly a dream come true! All of the hard practices, conditioning sessions, and hours in the weight room finally paid off. Both teams brought their best games to the court Saturday night, and because the match was so close, it made the victory that much sweeter. The best part was having our family and friends there supporting us even when we were behind on the scoreboard. I am just so proud of my team and honored to have been a part of such a great turn-around in the Volleyball program at UAlbany." Hunter ended the match with a tournament record 28 kills and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Junior Ashlee Reed and Sophomore Shelby Goldman were both named to the All-Tournament team. The team now awaits word on who and where we will be playing in the NCAA Tournament, and will be the first UAlbany female team to participate in the NCAA Tournament - something we are obviously very proud of. The 64 team field will be announced this Sunday on ESPN NEWS at 6:45 pm. We will be having a selection show party in the Hall of Fame room starting at 6:00. Let me know if you are interested in attending. We will let you know the tournament and the team information following. Also of note, the America East honored players at their banquet on Thursday night and the Great Danes were well represented. Sophomore setter Blair Buchanan became the first player in conference history to be named Setter of the Year and Player of the Year. Reed, Hunter, and Goldman were also named to the first team All-Conference team and the team picked up their first regular season trophy. I want to thank everyone who has come out and supported us in person or has sent in words of encouragement. It has meant a lot to the team knowing that the support has grown stronger by the week. It should be a fun couple of weeks and we'll do our best to represent UAlbany and the community. Have a great Thanksgiving! GO DANES!!! Kelly Sheffield UAlbany Volleyball 2004 America East Champions

There's a short story in the Rochester paper on Ayers. Two former area hoops stars part with Division I programs-Democrat and Chronicle

Read'em and smile: A rivalry begins to take shape-Brian Ettkin TU Finally, we have a rivalry-Troy Record Jordan finally beats Siena-TU This time, Danes are the big dogs-TU Danes are top dogs-Troy Record Purple replaces green and gold-TU

That was sweet. Sooo sweet. Thanks for the kind words Soup. I think we were almost afriad to believe how good this team could be. You guys have to look at the photo from the game on the UA website. The look on Jon Iati's face is the same one all the Danes fans had in section 205. The last few years it's been a grind to be a Danes fan and that all changed tonight. Jamar Wilson-20 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds. 14-14 from the line. Levi-14 pts and 11 rebounds. The starters really got it done as no bench player scored. All five starters were in double figures. Seemed like we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds early but ended up outrebounding them.

The tournament seeding should be interesting. Like the lacrosse tournament they only seed the top 16 teams and place them somewhat geographically. If they seeded all 64 teams the Danes would probably get a pretty good seed as they have a higher RPI than 10 or more of the automatic qualifiers. They don't do that though and it just seems like the luck of the draw. Last year UNH had a pretty good RPI but still drew the #1 seed USC. Hopefully the Lady Danes fare better.

In the TU this morning they said just under 8,000 tickets had been sold. I guess the plan to limit crowd size by putting it on an inconvient day has worked.

Sacred Heart's win last night bumped our RPI up 30 points to the 250s according to Pomeroy. They list us as 6 point dogs to $iena.