Dane Pound

We see Jamal Hughes in person. I realize he probably can't play yet but I'll take him being in the RACC tonight as a good sign.

Bearcats hope Great Danes provide the cure for ailing offense-From Bing Paper.

I was just looking on the BingU website because one of $iena's former players is now on the BingU staff. Look for some $iena fans at the RACC tomorrow. Anyway on the BingU site they have a poll on who BingU's biggest rival will be in the AE. The four choices are Albany, BU, The Brook and Vermont. We're in second behind BU. Like $iena I guess we have to beat them to make it a rivalry. BingU Poll.

I generally take the recruiting sites with a few grains of salt but they provide fun stuff to talk about.

It's kind of funny about the ROY because no one has mentioned it. I would have to think Iati would be one of the top candidates with winning ROW 4 times. I don't recall Brown mentioning it this year in talking about Iati. I know last he lobbied for Wilson to win it early and often.

Thanks for the info Patch. He seems like a Lillis-type player which I find surprising. I kind of thought they might bring in a big guy and red-shirt him in 05. One thing for sure, being from South Dakota the weather around here shouldn't scare him off.

OK it's probably way too early to start thinking about 05-06 recruits. Hoopmasters lists 6'4 guard Adam Templeton as a prospect. Here's a story on him.

Congrats to Iati: Coppenrath, Iati Earn Men's Basketball Honors Junior Taylor Coppenrath (West Barnet, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) of Vermont is the America East Player of the Week after leading the Catamounts to two road wins last week. Albany’s Jon Iati (York, Pa./York Catholic) is the America East Rookie of the Week for the fourth time this season. The awards were announced Monday (January 12). Coppenrath scored a career-high 41 points on 18-of-23 shooting from the floor in an 88-78 win over Northeastern Wednesday. The field goals made tied the America East record (shared with Nate Fox of Maine vs. Sacred Heart in 1998) and erased school record that stood for 62 years. He also added nine rebounds in that game. The 6-9 forward scored 11 points and had six rebounds in the 71-62 win at Maine Sunday. Iati scored a career-high 23 points in the 57-52 win at New Hampshire Thursday. The 5-9 guard added 18 points and five assists at Northeastern Sunday. Iati leads the conference’s rookies in scoring with 14.5 ppg.

We would be in deep without Johnson and Q. In the Gazette article the other day Johnson said just what Patch did-that he doesn't think of himself as a walk-on but as a basketball player. The staff has done a good job bringing in solid players with and without the benefit of scholarships.

The Feast is a pretty good time especially when you're bringing people who may only see one game all year as I did last year. I don't recall the drink situation but I do think last year's BPG was better than the year before. Considering how the promotions staff has stepped things up this year I would imagine it would be better this year. We generally follow Oldtimer's stragedy of getting there before the women's game and having dinner, then grab some dessert after the women's game.

Close not good enough for Danes -TU Huskies survive Danes' upset bid -Troy Record Davis, NU thwart Albany-Boston Herald

Looking forward to the BPG this year as both games should be competitive. Bringing the Maine women in for that last year was a bad idea-they were awesome.

I was going to mention it yesterday and I forgot but Loyola at Marist was on MSG last night. A chance to see former Danes coach Scott Hicks in action. Loyola had a ten point halftime lead which I swear they lost in the first 3 minutes of the second half. From there it was all over as Marist cruised. I knew Loyola had troubles but I didn't know how bad. They have lost 26 consecutive games including 12 straight this year. The NCAA record for consecutive losses is 33...yikes.

As fans I think we just have to look at the other AE teams that are going to come into the RACC this year to see what Dyson can do. At 6'9 and 240 or 250 lbs there are very few teams in our leagues that will be able to match up with a center with similar size. If you consider that Dyson might be able to get some time at PF with Zoellner at the center it's a pretty scary looking front court. .

We thought about making the trip to NU but we're already going to Boston for the tourney so it doesn't make sense to go during the season. From the sounds of things during that Vermont game and on the AE Board Northeastern is quickly becoming the least popular team in the league.

I amazed at how much good radio I miss by going to the home games. Apparently both Jordan and Jamar Wilson were interviewed by Doug Mortman during halftime of our last home game. Fortunetly a $iena fan I work with listened to the game on the radio. He told me Jordan said despite the injury problems this year he thought coming back to Albany was his best decision. He also mentioned how tough it was to sit on the bench during games especially when we were so shorthanded and could use an extra body. All in all he said it sounded to him like Jordan was fitting in well with the team

Albany solves its road woes-From TU Wildcat Men Take Big Step Backward-From NH Paper

Any mention of coach Stewart in the article? It seems to me since he joined the staff both Pipikis and Knotts starting scoring more easily in the post. Just guessing but it seems more than a coincidence that both guys starting playing better when he arrived.

Great win on the road tonight. Iati was on fire in the first half-3pt shooting, driving into the lane, dishing and scoring. Doing it all-23 points, 5 assists and 2 rebounds. Levi had a rough shooting night but he and Q came up with the big free throws at the end. ESPN has Levi with 3 rebounds but I thought he had more than that. Didn't score alot of points tonight but it was enough and they toughed this one out. Everybody who played had at least two rebounds.

They lost another halftime lead-this time they were up 7. Learn, Hutch and Mookie all fouled out and as a team they committed 23 turnovers. I'm not sure if it's conditioning in the second half or the opponents are making adjustments the coaching staff isn't picking up on but I thought this team would be better than this. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS IN CONFERENCE OPENER TO NEW HAMPSHIRE, 65-54 Durham, N.H. – Senior Maren Matthias scored a game-high 18 points and collected eight rebounds to lead New Hampshire to a come-from-behind victory over Albany in the America East Conference opener for both teams on Wednesday evening at Lundholm Gymnasium. New Hampshire (5-5, AE 1-0) trailed 30-23 at halftime, but came out firing in the second half as the Wildcats used a 13-2 run to tie the game at 36 with 13:15 remaining. Matthias, who scored 11 of her 18 points in the second half, jumpstarted the Wildcats’ run with a layup underneath the basket with 18:56 to go. Five Wildcat players scored during that span, including rookie Salee-Marie Johnson, whose three-pointer from the baseline tied the game. Matthias, who shot 8-for-10 from the floor, gave her team its first lead of the game since the Wildcats led 5-3 in the first half on a jumper in the lane with 12:44 left on the clock for a 38-36 advantage. Albany (3-7, AE 0-1) tied up the game for the fourth and final time at 41-all on sophomore Jen Schumacher’s baseline jumper with 7:33 to go in the second period. New Hampshire, who scored 22 points off of 23 Albany turnovers, took control of the contest with a 16-6 run for a 59-47 lead with 1:20 remaining. Sophomore Emily Hardy and freshman Danielle Clark each scored seven points during that stretch. The Wildcats finished the game making 12 of their final 14 free throws. In the first half, the Great Danes scored 12 unanswered points to take an early 12-5 lead with 12:28 to go before intermission. Sophomore Becky Ayers, who scored a team-high 13 points, ignited the run on a three-pointer from the left side. After New Hampshire cut the lead to five at 19-14, Albany responded with a 6-1 spurt to take its biggest lead of the contest at 25-15 on a jumper by junior Maree Jones, who matched a career-high with 13 rebounds, with 5:14 left in the first period. "We had a positive first half," stated Albany coach Trina Patterson, who saw three of her starters foul out. "We were in a position to really move forward, but the foul trouble in the second half hurt us at the end of the game." Ebony Woods added 11 points for the Wildcats, while Schumacher contributed 10 points for the Great Danes. Albany opens the home portion of its America East schedule on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 1 p.m when they take on the Huskies of Northeastern.

Danes Hitting a Rough Patch-from today's TU.

I meant to do this a while ago. Here are some photos and links to info about the four signees for the 04-05 season: Above David Bauman (#4) David Bauman, a 6-foot-2 guard from Sarver, Pa. (Freeport H.S.) Baumann averaged 16.9 points and connected on 56 three-point field goals as a junior in leading his team to a 17-5 record and the WPIAL Class AA tournament’s first round. His season included a 46-point effort against Jeannette High, when he made eight 3-pointers. Butler Eagle-Bauman's Hometown Paper Pittsburgh Tribune-Occasional Stories about Freeport. Joe Dyson, a 6-foot-9 center from Wilmington, Del. (Sanford School) Dyson was named honorable mention all-state by the Wilmington News Journal, as he averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds last year. He was chosen first-team All-Independent Conference, and led his squad to the state tournament’s quarterfinal round. His teammate, Will Sheridan, is currently a freshman at Villanova. Delaware Online Brian Lillis, a 6-foot-5 swingman from Urbandale, Iowa (West Des Moines Dowling H.S.) Lillis, who has solid perimeter skills, totaled 16 points, five rebounds and four assists as a junior. A two-time All-CIML Central Conference selection, Lillis led his team to the Class 4-A Substate 8 final and a No. 4 state ranking. Des Moines Register Brent Wilson, a 6-foot-8 forward from Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Prairie H.S.). Wilson was named first-team All-Mississippi Valley Conference and Class 4-A honorable mention all-state last season. He averaged 16.0 points and 10.3 rebounds, as his team finished with a 14-10 record.

Terrific demonstration of my reading skills. 9 rebounds is still alot for a point guard.

Nice performance by Lillis and judging by his increased scoring and rebounding it seems like they don't have him playing the point anymore. Hopefully he gets those technical fouls out of his system this year because they are not going to fly at UA.

It's been quite a while since we've had some good news. This certainly qualifies. As Patch said it's good he has a few weeks to concentrate on his academics without having to worry about traveling with the team, etc. Jan. 21 is the Stony Brook game. It'd be great to have him back by then if he's ready.