Dane Pound

Shouldn't there have been another scholarship available already? The Hughes scholarship is going to be open next year unless they award it to Q who richly deserves it. I'm curious about Perry also. There hasn't been much info on him but one thing I saw said he was a good open court player who is very good going to the basket. At the time they signed him I thought they should have brought in another big guy but I'm sure there were none available that late. At the very least Perry is a nice insurance policy as there are really only the 3 proven guards Patch mentioned. At best he'll push Wilson, Iati and Jordan and we'll have a nightmare backcourt for other teams to stop.

Hey, the staff thought Dyson would go higher too. You never know.

Newsday has a story on James Tchana. According to Insiders Albany has offered him a scholarship for next year. Tchana story.

My wife and I paid a visit to the University Store in Colonie Center. I've been curious about the place since my newphews buddy came to a game wearing Danes stuff that he had purchased at the University Store in Buffalo. I was surprised to find that there was no $iena stuff in the store yet. Several UAlbany things including a Great Danes jacket for $8. Happy to see the Albany stuff displayed promiently and I witnessed a couple of people buying UA stuff. Lots of things from the other state schools, Cortland, Buffalo and Genesso to name a few. Surpising there was nothing else from the other local colleges-RPI or Union.

The new coaches have been added on the website.

At least we have one home game. I remember the last time we had Dartmouth at home they had a drunken one-man cheering section. He entertained our section through most of that game-hopefully he makes the trip again. We've been able to beat teams like Army and Dartmouth while we were undermanned so hopefully we'll be able to handle them next year. I saw Wagner a few times last year and they were awful-they just could not score at all. Hopefully this year the Danes are prepared for whatever exotic defense Mike Deane will throw at them. With the eight games listed I'd like to think we could get through them with a .500 record.

Thanks again to Statefan for the Poll idea. It's hard to believe we didn't do this one already.

ESG has some partial rosters on their site. No one from the men's hoop team but some other notables. Marie Jones is on the Adirondack roster Alicia Learn is on the Central Roberto Vives is coaching the scholastic and open track divisions and his daughter is competeing in the open division. I didn't recognize any of our lacrosse players names. Here's the ESG link.

Dane96 I'm not sure I can help you much with downtown Albany. As far as the Turf I think it's a little farther down Wolf Rd from the Barnsider (It's closer to the airport). Two places jump to mind near the Turf that you could easily walk to. The first for breakfast is the Wolf Rd. Diner. To be honest I don't know that I've ever been there while sober (they're open 24 hours on the weekends). Diner food but cheap and close-by. Practically right across the street is J.T. Maxies. Pub food all the way but again close by and reasonable. Also a good place to down a few cold ones to take the stress off. The rest of Wolf Rd. other than the Barnsider is standard chain resturant stuff-Red Lobster, Olive Garden, etc. The Turf also has a couple of resturants and a night club but probably not the place to go if you're looking to save $$$. I'm not in downtown Albany that much bit I'm pretty sure there are others who know the good lunchtime spots. If it's a nice day I would just head over to the Capital lawn where all the food vendors are. Quick and cheap and you'll probably run into alot of lawyery-types. Best of luck on the Bar!

Lax power has a chart with the biggest improvements from 2003 to 2004 seasons. As expected Bing was on the list with the 3rd biggest improvement. 3 teams with the top 10 biggest jumps were from the AE including UA. The Danes had the same record both years but scheduled up in 2004 and it payed off in the power numbers. Lax power chart.

He went to Springfield College-the same school as Bob Ford. O'Donnell is one travelled gent. He was a year at College of Richmond then -a year as Director of Basketball Operations at Robert Morris -two years in the private sector -one year as assistant coach at UNH -three years at Holy Cross -a year as an assistant at Bryant College -two years as assistant at Worschester State He handled recruiting while he was at Holy Cross and also in post-player development. Hopefully he had some contact with some C of C type players he can steer toward UA.

Reeder Unfortunetly you can't attach files when you email through the site. If you email it to me directly at danefan1@localnet.com I'll find a way to get it on the board. Patch-I won't worry about salting your assesment unless you come back telling us what a great dunker Iati is.

Good point Patch about the different posters and their sports. While for the most part we all follow most of the sports at UA, certain people are passionate about one particular sport and tend to supply the rest of us with info/opinions about that sport. When/if we can find those passionate fans of other sports should just be a matter of time. Like UA's move to D1, the BPF site is in it for the long-haul and to improve along the way. I'm trying now to get some coaches to use the board as a conduit to the fans. As you know we took a step back last year when Coach Ford read some detremential stuff on the board after agreeing to do a Q+A. Hopefully those days are past because one of the UA coaches has agreed to do a Q+A with the fans before their sports season starts next year. I'm hoping to get other coaches to do the same. I don't know anyone at WCDB but I'll see if they'll give us some free pub. I'm also planning on trying a couple of other things as well. I imagine as the fall sports pick up so will our membership and the longer we're around the more people will find us.

I have to say S.T. is certainly loyal to Lanier. No matter how much he defends the recruits he has to have his doubts about bringing in five guards no matter how many stars hoopscoop gives them. Most of the other posters on the $iena board are doubtful as am I. As Patch said things are wacky over there and will get downright ugly if the $aints get off to a poor start. Great to hear about Brent Wilson. A 6'8 guy who can shoot the 3 hmmmm...sounds like Taylor Coppenrath. But seriously hopefully he can rebound and bang underneath as well as shoot.

Terrific post! I hadn't thought about why UA didn't move up before. When you look around at the bigger D1 schools there are a ton of state universities. Someone told me once Rockefeller was against upgrading athletics but I'm not sure I remember that correctly. If you look at the progress UA has made in five years D1 and think about where we could be had we made the move 20 or 30 years ago.

Thanks Patch. I hope everyone had a good holiday.

The America East just announced it's academic honor roll list for 2004 winter/spring. Albany had 96 student-athletes named. Some noteables from basketball were CJ and Todd Martin, Johnson, O'Bannon, Schumacker and Sweetland from the women's team. Lingren from the softball team, 7 players from the baseball team including Steve Emerthal. Full list. My hat's off to these kids who can compete at DI athletics and excel academically. Congrats to them all.

We'll have to try that poll next time. I've never really thought of Bing as a rival. Probably because they don't have a football team and their fans are not nearly as obnoxious as Brook fans. A few more battles with them in lacrosse might change that. No votes for Mike Deane. I'm surprised.

Here's some reading on recruits that we've discussed before. Many thanks to Insiders for providing it. Diasparra Has Some D-1 Interest By Mike Sullivan Publisher Date: Jun 25, 2004 Westchester Hawks shooting guard Chris Diasparra has some mid-to-low division one interest Chris Diasparra, a 6-foot-2 195 pound shooting guard from Mahopac High School in Mahopac, New York who will attend Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Massachusetts next season, has had several mid to low major schools expressing interest in his skills via the phone. His AAU coach, Phil Diasparra, told us that four schools have made contact. "St. Francis of Pennsylvania, Holy Cross, Canisius, and Coastal Carolina have called," said Phil. Diasparra, a shooting specialist who can hit the long-range jumper, also has shown interest in Vermont, The Citadel, Buffalo, Albany, and Liberty. The Citadel had extended a scholarship offer. Diasparra averaged 19.5 points for Mahopac this season, connecting on 39 three-pointers. He had a high of 36 points against Poughkeepsie High School. Vines Impressive In Win By Mike Sullivan Publisher Date: May 12, 2004 Rice has produced some great players over the past couple of decades ... It's well know that Rice High School in New York City is considered one of the best basketball programs on the high school level. Head coach Maurice Hicks, along with his able staff, have forged a positive identity among college coaches too for several reasons. Among them is that players from Rice are usually prepared properly for the college level. Joseph Vines, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound guard/forward is also a player from Rice to keep an eye on this summer. Vines competed this past weekend with the New York City Rise Panthers at a qualifying regional AAU event held at the Island Garden in West Hempstead this past weekend. Vines is a versatile player. He handles the ball well in traffic, can lead a break, grab a rebound, make a steal, and drop in a jumper. Vines scored 18 points in a win that the Insiders Report was on hand to watch in person. He moved around the court very quickly, battled bigger bodies inside, and played hard end to end. Vines is open in his recruiting process. He's likely to land some offers on the division one level due to his versatility and his competitiveness. NY Elite Forward Worth Watching By Brian Towey Senior Reporter Date: May 26, 2004 A big summer for a small forward from the New York Elite AAU program could land him some division one offers Benoit Bekono, an athletic 6-foot-6 190 pound combo forward from Our Savior New American in Centereach, New York, is a player out of the class of 2005 whose development bears watching. Bekono is a live-bodied athlete who attacks the rim. He can put it on the floor a little bit, and has quick feet. Shooting-wise, he needs to be more consistent. But the native of Cameroon's physical tools are intriguing. Bekono has received interest from Albany, Rider, Arizona State, Rhode Island, and Florida International. Howevever, he is still flying under the radar a little bit. Bekono scored 17 points for the SRAP/NY Elite team against BABC in the finals of the the Five-Star Springfield Event last weekend. He will travel with the same team this spring and summer, coached by Dave Paulus, Chris Phillips, and Eric Jaklitsch. Next up for the SRAP is the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in North Carolina, and in June they will compete at the Rumble in The Bronx. There is a chance that Benoit will attend either the Adidas camp or Reebok ABCD camp, but that has not been determined yet. Poughkeepsie Forward Has Offers By Mike Sullivan Publisher Date: May 28, 2004 A forward from Poughkeepsie High School already has a couple of offers on the table A player to keep an eye on this summer is another Albany City Rocks athlete by the name of Lamar Pittman, a 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward. Pittman, who plays at Poughkeepsie High School in Poughkeepsie, New York, has been under the radar screen for a good reason -- not many have been able to see him in action over the past year. "He will probably get his first serious exposure this summer," said Albany City Rocks head coach Jim Hart. "He wasn't out there last summer because of an injury. So many really haven't had opportunities to watch him play. I am looking forward to seeing what he can do." It's likely that most fans, scouts, and coaches won't get their first shot at seeing Pittman play until the NIKE camp in Indianapolis, Indiana. "I think that's the first time he will be ready to play," Hart said. "It will be a good test for him." Pittman, a member of the class of 2005, already has two offers on the table. "I believe it's Texas Pan-American and the University of New Hampshire that have offered," Hart said. "He's open in his recruiting. There will probably be many more schools interested once they take a look at his size and the way he plays inside." Tchana Has High Major Interest By Mike Sullivan Publisher Date: Jun 30, 2004 It's a big month of July ahead for New York Elite big man James Tchana The month of July will separate the high major athletes from the mid-to-low college basketball players. James Tchana is one player that will be given an opportunity to shine in the month of July when he competes with the talent rich New York Elite AAU program. One of the Elite coaches, Eric Jaklitsch, was kind enough to spend some time and discuss James' recruiting process. "Richmond, St. Bonaventure, St. Joe's, Fordham, Marquette, Purdue, Albany are only a few schools interested in him," Eric said. "He's open." Tchana, a 6-foot-7, 260-pound forward from Our Savior New American in Centereach, New York, possesses a terrific frame for basketball and football. What he needs to do is become more active. The hard part, of course, is he shares the frontline space with NBA bound center Andray Blatche and outstanding big man, John Garcia. Tchana said he has been offered by Marquette, Purdue, Siena, St. Bonaventure, San Diego, Albany, and Temple. "James can play high division one basketball," Jaklitsch said. "He has been playing much better. He has come back from so much." Jaklitsch is correct. Tchana was involved in that horrible holiday time van crash in North Carolina. Tchana had a couple of collapsed lungs and five broken ribs. "He is still going to physical therapy," Jaklitsch said. James indicated in our last interview he would like to step up his progress in his individual game. "I want to work on my shooting," he said. "I want to get quicker and better along the baseline with my moves.

Thanks to Statefan for the idea and the info. I have to say I'm sorry there are no Stony Brook players or coaches in the poll.

Thanks to UAlum72 for suggesting them and D Johnson of college flags for the animated Albany flags. They are now in the avatar gallery if you'd like to use them. I grabbed a couple of other interesting ones as well and put them in there. If you want to go to the flag site it's here. You can use any of his flags but please download them to your computer first and then upload them to this site so we're not remote loading his graphics. If you have any problems let me know, DP

They're up now. I tried loading them yesterday morning when I got your email and had some problems. A cup of coffee made a world of difference. By the way, Patch who's that in your Avatar?

Thanks OldDog71, I think one of the strengths of the board is the range of posters here. There are people who attend UA now and give updates about what's going on around campus and with the players. We also have long-time fans who provide an institutional memory for the program. As our membership grows next year I'd like to try and get more access to the UA coaching staff. Until then hopefully they'll be plenty of all-americans to report in the future.

MJ I'd imagine the thought of this gives you hives but do you see Maine and UNH going to the CAA as associate members for football? I suppose if the A10 breaks up they won't have a ton of options but do you think they'd go willingly.

I very much like the idea for the poll. Any other nominations for villians? I afraid if I put Marachuk up there he'll win in a landslide. I guess it should be non-active villians.