Dane Pound

Wish I'd seen the Gazette article but there are also alot of good things in Blue Ribbon. Brown said Levine was the most improved player in the league (which is saying alot) and echoed Patch's praise of Q St. Hillaire. Like alot of you I would be extremely happy with double digit wins this year but if we do end up at the .500 mark in March I'll remember where I heard if first.

I realize most of you check the AE board also but if you don' t there was a post containing Blue Ribbon's season preview of the Danes. Here it is: Blue Ribbon - Albany Will Brown looks for two things when he's recruiting players to build his Albany program with: toughness and basketball intelligence. "I need kids who I can go to war with and who understand the game," Brown said. Size and athleticism don't hurt either. Especially when your starting lineup averages 6-1 and you are out-rebounded by an average of 12 boards per game like the Great Danes were last season. Despite its shortcomings last season, Albany is pointed in the right direction. America East All-Rookie Team selections Jamar Wilson and Levi Levine were the third-highest scoring (32.1 ppg) freshman duo in the country last season and a strong group of recruits and transfers (including 7-1 Kirsten Zoellner from Boston College and 6-2 guard Lucious Jordan from Loyola College) will have the Great Danes up to 13 scholarships at the start of the 2004 season. But, that is still a year away. This year Albany will rely on Wilson and Levine to point the way for a team that will still be a bit undersized and have a relatively short bench. "From the end of the season until now, they are the two most improved players on the team," Brown said. Wilson (18.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.3 apg), who ranked second in the America East in scoring, has added 25 pounds of muscle to his 6-1 frame. "He has just lived in the weight room and lived in the gym," Brown said. Levine (13.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.6 spg), a 6-5 forward, has lost about 12 pounds since last season ended and the added quickness will allow him to spend more time on the perimeter. "I think I've got the most improved player in the league and possibly the best player in the league," Brown said of Levine and Wilson. Wilson, who led America East in scoring during conference play (21.2 ppg), is an elusive player who gets to the basket and draws contact well. The additional size and strength will allow him to finish more plays after drawing contact and shake defenders to free himself on the outside. "He's a very talented kid and I'm trying to get him to understand that if his scoring numbers go down it will be a good thing because that means we are winning some more games," Brown said. Although it isn't pretty, Levine does whatever it takes to help the Great Danes win. He led Albany in blocked shots (19) and three-point percentage (.392) last season. Levine also held his own while having to play in the post, but will see more mismatches this season when he plays at shooting guard or either forward spot. "I describe his game in one word-ugly," Brown said, in a complimentary way of course. "He's got no set position, but he's the toughest competitor that we have and he backs down from nobody." After Wilson (37.2) and Levine (34.0), the Great Danes don't return a player who averaged 17 minutes per game last season. That player, 6-6 junior Chris Wyatt (1.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg) has been slowed by plantar faciitis, which means Brown will rely on a group of youngsters and newcomers. Junior Aquawassi St. Hillaire, a 6-6 forward, should play a prominent role. St. Hillaire, who red-shirted last season, transferred from SUNY-Delhi where he averaged 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks while leading his team to a 30-1 record in 2001-02. "He is the best athlete in our program-by far," Brown said. "He's a super athlete. He'll be a tremendous garbage man and can defend one through five." Jamal Hughes, a 6-8 sophomore, will help address the rebounding problem. Hughes (8.2 ppg. 6.8 rpg) was a first-team All-region VI pick at Brown Mackie College in Salina, Kansas, last season. "He is athletic, active and strong," Brown said of the Rochester, N.Y., resident. Todd Martin, a 6-7 freshman from Upland, Calif., should also see significant minutes. Dubbed "a poor man's Luke Walton" by one West Coast recruiting analyst, Martin averaged 12 points and nine rebounds at Upland High School. Martin has shown the ability to make outside shots, but also can mix things up inside. "He can play the three or the four," Brown said. "He's highly skilled." Sophomores Jerrad Knotts (1.7 ppg, 1.0 rpg), a 6-6 forward who played in 25 games last season and Herman Banks (0.1 ppg), a 6-9 center who saw action in 10, also return. The Great Danes suffered a scare in the off-season when Jon Iati, a 5-9 freshman expected to start at point guard, went down with a shoulder injury in July. Iati, who suffered the injury during a conditioning drill, had successful surgery in August and is expected to be ready to practice by Nov. 1. Iati, whom Brown has called "a poor man's Gerry McNamara" averaged 23.7 points at York (Pa.) Catholic High School, where he scored 2,216 career points and is known for his shooting prowess. "I think he can be as good as any shooter in America East," Brown said. BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS When Brown replaced Scott Beeten midway through the 2001-02 season, he knew it would take time to rebuild a program that was bottoming out. Landing Wilson and Levine was big, because it gives Albany two cornerstones to build around, but the Great Danes are not a finished work yet. Hughes and St. Hillaire will boost the inside game, but with Wyatt's health a question mark and no proven player in the post the interior will still be a problem. Martin and Iati will be called on to contribute as freshmen that will also help in the long run. Having transfers Zoellner and Jordan in practice every day will help create competitive situations, but they still must wait until next year to play. "I know we're going to be better, but I don't know what that means in terms of wins and losses," Brown said of this season. "I do know that next year we are going to add six kids to a team that has everybody back. When that happens, I think we'll be able to beat [on a given night] any team in the league at home or on the road." Until then, the Great Danes will continue to try to get the most out of what they have.

Any idea who's on the Big Apple All-Stars roster? They also have an exhibition game against Virginia next week. Last years version had some former A-10 and CAA players and an all-ACC player on the team.

Good story in today's TU. Wilson believes they can be .500 this year. I liked Brown's comments on Iati too. TU Story

I still associate this team with dominating the conference for all those years. They have a very good run defense this year, allowing 84 yards a game-2nd in 1-AA to you know who. Their running back Sam Dorsett has rushed for over 130 yards against us the previous two times we've played them. That said, they still haven't looked that good this year against anyone-even in their wins.

I like the way Great Danes84 thinks big. We are going to have to earn our way to a higher conference however. Let's walk first in the AE before we think about jumping anywhere. One of the ways we can do that is to build a solid portfolio of sports (including lacrosse).

I just saw on the UA site that the women's team hired Liz Sahin and local product Kristan Pelletier. I was wondering if Kristin Pelletier was any relation to Josh Pelletier. Anybody know? WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SELECTS LIZ SAHIN ASSISTANT COACH AND KRISTAN PELLETIER DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Albany, N.Y. – University at Albany head women’s basketball coach Trina Patterson announced on Tuesday, Nov. 4 the hiring of Liz Sahin as an assistant coach and Kristan Pelletier as director of basketball operations. Sahin recently completed her collegiate playing career at the University of Virginia as a two-year letterwinner. She averaged 3.6 points and 2.0 rebounds as a senior, when the Cavaliers advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Sahin was the recipient of Virginia’s most improved player award in 2002, when she averaged 3.0 points and 1.7 rebounds. The Cavaliers earned a NCAA tournament berth with a 17-13 record. A native of Hatay, Turkey, Sahin previously attended Palm Beach Community College in Florida before transferring to Virginia, where she led the team to two Southern Conference Championships. She was named Southern Conference Player of the Year, plus was a two-time all-state and all-academic selection. Sahin received a B.A. in economics from Virginia in May 2003, where she was a Dean’s List student and member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society. She is also a member of the Turkish National Women’s Basketball Team. Pelletier, a native of Albany, N.Y., will handle community relations efforts, team and head coach appearances, marketing the women’s program and travel accommodations. She completed her collegiate playing career at the College of St. Rose during the 2002-03 season, where she averaged 7.0 points and 4.4 rebounds as a senior. A Dean’s List student, Pelletier received her B.A. in psychology last May.

I wasn't going to draw any conclusions about $iena from that game. The Globetrotters have a huge, talented team that is going to beat (badly) every college team they play on their tour. I didn't go to the game ($17 for an exhibition?) but saw in the paper that the Saints starting lineup wasn't that big-Miller 6'8, Haddix 6'7, Jordan 6'5, Mitchell 6'3 and Jackson who is well under 6'0. Granted the big difference is the size $iena can bring off the bench that the Danes lack. I know alot of us were saying that we should have tried to get somebody like the Globetrotters for an exhibition but in my opinion there are alot better ways to spend $35K. Nice avatar by the way.

At 6'4 and 290 lbs Coleman is big enough for two numbers. Hard not to notice Coleman when he is on the field and he has been playing alot more than he was at the beginning of the season. He and Lee have played well this year as underclassman. Bolt and Parks are going to be pretty hard to replace next year though as both have been awesome this year.

In the spirit of election day I thought I'd take a poll of where you guys think we'll finish in the conference. In the preseason mags I've seen us picked anywhere from 7th to 10th. Conventional wisdom has BU, NU, Vermont and the Brook in the top four spots. From there down it seems pretty open. I probably haven't been paying enough attention in the offseason but I don't see Maine or Hartford being as good as they were last year. UNH has only one way to go, BingU lost alot but I see them being about the same as last year. UMBC was terrible last year but did return all five starters if that's a good thing. Albany has alot of question marks that will hopefully turn into exclamation points. I would be happy with 7th with the hope we could sneak into 6th.

FOOTBALL’S GARY JONES NAMED NEC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR FOURTH TIME Somerset, N.J. – University at Albany’s Gary Jones has been named the Northeast Conference Offensive Player of the Week in football, as announced on Monday, Nov. 3 by the conference office. He earned the award for the second straight week and fourth time this season. Jones, a senior tailback, became the first player in NEC and UAlbany history to post back-to-back 200-yard rushing games with 211 yards on 16 carries against Wagner. Head coach Bob Ford reached the 200-career win mark in the 28-7 victory. Jones, who gained 176 on the ground in the first half, tied a league record with four rushing touchdowns (41, 8, 28 and 7 yards) and totaled 264 all-purpose yards. He set the school’s career scoring record with 228 points and moved to third on the NEC’s all-time rushing chart with 2,698 yards. Jones, who is the first UAlbany runner to account for 1,000 or more rushing yards in consecutive seasons, is eighth among the Division I-AA leaders in rushing (132.1 ypg) and fifth in scoring (10.0 ppg). UALBANY VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS EARN AMERICA EAST CONFERENCE WEEKLY AWARDS Boston, Mass. – University at Albany’s Eileen Nicole Rodriguez has been chosen as the America East Conference Baden Player of the Week in women’s volleyball, as announced on Monday, Nov. 3 by the conference office. Freshman Shelby Goldman was selected the America East Rookie of the Week. Rodriguez, who received the award for the second straight week, averaged 6.29 kills per game in three matches and went over the 30-kill mark in two victories. She had 34 kills, two off the school’s single-game record, as her team rallied for a five-game victory against UMBC. Rodriguez, a sophomore outside hitter, also had 32 kills in a 3-2 win over Northeastern. She ranks first in the conference in service aces (1.17 pg) and 10th in kill average (3.21 pg). Goldman, an outside hitter, recorded a career-best 29 kills in a five-game match at Northeastern on Oct. 28. She followed that performance with 14 and 22 kills, respectively, against Binghamton and UMBC. Goldman averaged 4.64 kills in three matches to go with a .288 hitting percentage. Albany (22-7, AE 7-3) is in third place in the America East standings. The Great Danes have already posted their most victories in a season since 1992.

Monmouth had a slew on injuries in their loss to CCSU. Monmouth Story

No matter how you look at it if we win next weekend we are at least conference co-champions. Unbeliveable day at Wagner. Jones is the first player in Albany history to run for over 200 yards in consecutive games! Sciarra even passed for over 100 yards without an INT. 200 wins for Ford and Monmouth loses. Incredible.

I forgot about this until I read the paper this morning. If we win today Ford will get his 200th coaching victory, fourth among active 1-AA coaches. TU Story on Ford It would be quite a milestone. I have to wonder how many schools have a basketball coach with 700+ wins (Doc Sauers) and a football coach with 200+ wins.

O'Bannon will be out at least two weeks. I was saying the other day I wasn't sure why Patterson didn't bring in another front court player instead of three guards. (I know Prof, no one cares about women's hoops) Looks like it will be just Clark, Majors and Mookie up front for the first few games. If Lyndsey Clark starts at the Pepsi it will be a pretty tough introuduction to college basketball. In front of the largest crowd all year against the reigning MAAC player of the year.

Wow, "Indians Fans" you're either going back a ways or they are selling the tickets to the folks in Cleveland first. I think the $iena logos would stay on the floor. When we played Syracuse at the Pepsi the $iena logos were on the floor. They must only have one set of hardwood. I think the $iena fans would be OK, I can't see them rooting for some team from the MEAC.

I have to hope Hitchcock's resignation doesn't contribute to the instability that we've had for the past four years. It's unlikely a new president will be in place before January 2005 which hopefully won't scare off McElroy and any newly hired coaches. Two of the names for replacements I've seen are SUNY Provost Peter Salins and Elizabeth Capaldi, U Buffalo's Provost. Salins is a Syracuse grad while Capaldi is a Rochester and University of Texas grad.

Story from Fox news about $iena and the Pepsi Arena trying to host the NCAA P.I.G. in a few years. Play-In Game

Thanks for the link Dane2K3. Kind of a nice idea for a school to have a bio on their assistant coaches.

Funny you should mention it. There's another short story in today's paper about Jones Also on the page is a story about HVCC football, UAlbany Volleyball player Eileen Nicole Rodriguez, and St. Rose soccer.

I'll remember her for being a good sport at the AE tournament at NU in 2002. Lady DP and I were seated next to her and her husband. Coach Brown was the interim coach then and we were lobbying her to hire him. She took in all in stride and had a good time with it.

I'm pretty sure she was instrumental in getting the move up to D1 done. Certainly looks like bad news to me. Hitchcock

Kind of curious that they have Alicia Learn listed as a guard. With her we have 8 guards on the roster and had Hemlock not transferred we'd have 9 guards. It will be interesting to see the coaching staff's thinking on not bringing in more front court players.

Short story in today's TU. Jones

I hope everyone had a good time at homecoming. Seemed to go about as well as a homecoming could go with the exception of the long lines at the concessions. I got to campus around 12 to find the back lot was full of tailgaters. Ran into several of you before the game and was happy to see $py4Danes was able to make it. I don't know if it was good promotion, good weather or a combination but the announced crowd was 5340. Pretty lively today too. I especially enjoyed the antics of the "walk-on" cheerleader who got us doing the wave and singing the "everywhere you go..." song. That's what homecoming is all about. The pasting of Stony Brook was fun too. 61 of 75 of our plays were running plays but I still thought we threw too much. The O-line was awesome today. It seemed like all day long they were knocking down their guys and then running down field and looking for someone else to hit. Gary Jones knocked down whoever the O-line missed-he averaged 9 yards a carry for 242 yards. I'll have to trust Ford on picking Sciarra at QB because I just don't see it although he does run the option well.