Dane Pound

I'm confused now too. I was in section 200 last year which on this year's ticket application says section 600. I'll have to check it out at the RACC today.

I remember discussing guard Ryan Schneider with Patch over the summer. Schneider just verballed to Vermont the other day. I would assume since Brown got verbals from Lillis and Bauman first that those were the two guys he really wanted. Vermont also got a commitment from local product 6'7 F Josh Duell of Scotia (CBA). Don't know much about Duell and I don' t know that Albany was interested.

Was wondering if anyone knew how the recruiting of a center for that last scholarship was going.

I was going to post this yesterday and I forgot. I wanted to let you know that I have added some images to the avatar gallery (avatars are the icon under your name when you post). If you want to use one or change it just go to "My Controls" at the top of the page after you've logged in. Then click on "Edit Avatar Settings" on the bottom left. From there you can upload a picture you want to use or go to the base gallery where I have put a few Danes-related images. Let me know if you have any problems.

Sure.

Cedar Rapids Prairie (Iowa) forward Brent Wilson recently made a verbal commitment to Albany.  This talented athlete saw his stock increase throughout the summer while playing for a talented Martin Bros. team.  Wilson was receiving looks from a number of Division One programs, but decided to join his summer teammate, Brian Lillis of West Des Moines Dowling, and make a verbal pledge to Albany.  IowaPreps.com caught up with Prairie head basketball coach John Gianforte and talked to him about his talented forward.

Can you describe his playing style?

"He is a 6-foot-8, 210 pound forward who is an extremely skilled basketball player.  He does well facing the basketball.  One of his biggest strengths, besides his outside shooting, is his passing and unselfishness."

What are some of his strengths?

"He is a great passer, very unselfish, highly coachable, and will be a team leader this season.  Everybody in the conference will be gunning for him.  He is going to defer a lot of lot of the pressure off to his teammates, and that is where his unselfish shows.  They are going to double and triple team, but he will be ready for that."

What areas does he need to improve on before college?

"All these areas that he needs to work on before college I have talked to him about many times.  His overall strength in the weight room is an area.  He really needs to take strength training seriously.  He has the frame to put on 15-20 pounds in a heart beat.  If he can put on that weight, he can be a 6-foot-8 guy who can pass, shoot, dribble, and be a power player as well."

How do you plan on using him this season?

"We are going to use Brent as an inside-outside type of player.  Defensively, we'll have him guard anyone from a shooting guard to a center.  We will get him the ball in the lowpost, but also let him shoot over people on the perimeter.  I have told him that it is not where you start with the ball, it's where you finish with it.  Great players have three phases of their game, inside game, long range, and medium range.  Great players can do it from all over the court, and that is what I am asking Brent to do." 

How is his work ethic?

"Since I have known him, and this will be my second year coaching him at the varsity level, it has increased 100 percent.  He started off as a tall, skinny kid who would get some easy buckets each game.  Now as the defense picks up, he is having to work harder for it.  His work ethic has increased to match his skill level."

How is he away from the court?

"Brent is a great guy.  He is the typical Iowa kid.  He has a good family and is a good student.  He gets in no trouble whatsoever.

How was his recruiting process?

"Albany was one of his first suitors way back in the summer.  He had a number of other looks, from North Dakota State and just about every Division Two program in the region.  He also had a couple of Missouri Valley schools interested, mostly Indiana State and UNI, but I don't think Brent wanted to wait.  He decided to go to the school that was loyal to him from the start.  We went through the whole gambit of schools coming in.  UNI and Indiana State both came and watched him play in open gyms.  But when it was all said and done, Albany had him take an official visit and showed him the most attention.  He remembered that."

What were his stats from last season?

"He was just over 16 points, ten rebounds, and two and a half blocks per game.  He also led the team in charges, and all that was as a junior.  He is going to have everyone gunning for him this season, especially with four starters graduated.  He did take the team to the substate final, but he is going to have to burden a lot of pressure this season."

*A special thank you to Coach John Gianforte for taking his time for the interview.

Good story on Rivals about Brent Wilson. Wilson

Patch-I agree 100%. In practically every business in Schenectady there are Union College Football and Hockey schedule.

I don't understand the lack of an open scrimmage either. For two years in a row homecoming weekend has been set up perfectly for an open basketball scrimmage to give fans some exposure to the team. Homecoming generally has the largest crowd for a football game, why we don't showcase the hoops program as part of homecoming festivites I'll never understand.

You're right I forgot about those two games that year. Tough to schedule as an indy with alot of road games those two years. 9 wins wasn't bad. I'm glad we aren't picking up cheap wins against DII and DIII teams anymore.

-Their damn new football stadium. OK, so I'm just jealous.

-Nick Macarchuk. Whine...whine....whine.....

-Will Brand's phantom foul on Jon Paul Kobryn (probably a result of Macarchuk's whining)

-Leon Brisport. If you remember him your probably trying to forget him. Proof of what a decent Big East center can to do teams at our level.

-Messing up our perfect conference season last year (in their damn new stadium)

-That Kevin Cosner movie about them "Dancing with SeaWolves."

Despite revisionist $iena history I remember it as a 1 point game last year with 40 seconds left. Haddix hit a bucket and was fouled and Wilson missed a 3 at the end of the game to make the margin of defeat 4. You gotta have faith this year (and every year for that matter).

2001-lose by 12

2002-lose by 4

2003-????

As far as the rest of the schedule this year (Excluding UMASS+Pitt):

Colgate-RPI 244

Army-RPI 319

LIU-RPI 289

Sacred Heart- RPI 306

Lehigh-RPI-228

Wagner-RPI 174

I don't know about you guys but I would be happy with double digit wins as it would only be the second year in D1 reaching double digits.

Before you go you may want to check your tickets and make sure you're not supposed to be sitting on the Stony Brook side.

The University it doing a tailgate thing with beer and food,Tailgate They also encourage you to do decorate your vechicle in purple and gold-I think I have some stuff left over from the wedding so I am all set!

I sit in Section 600 near Alum72 and section-crasher Statefan. I'm surprised to learn from Alumni 92 that we sit on the quiet side. We'll have to try and change that this year.

Lady DP try not to act our age by acting like students when we are at the games. No one brings the energy to the games like the students though and we could use more of them at the RACC. They seemed to turn out pretty well at the Pepsi as some of the $iena fans were saying all they heard last year was Albany students chanting "$iena Sucks." I think the students should do that at every game no matter who we're playing.

I did. Figured it was a double-header on Saturday-Stony Brook at 1 then "NH" at 4.

I recieved something from the alumni association yesterday about a pre-game party before the $iena game. I was wondering if this was something new or if they did it last year. You can buy the tickets for the game through the alumni association which I thought was funny since I hadn't recieved my season ticket info yet.

When you look at where some of those guys are going it's pretty impressive to think that two of them are coming to Albany. Heartland Tourney

The QB/Passing has been frustrating to watch all season and it was only a matter of time before it cost us. To be perfectly honest I was surprised we were picked to win the conference with 2 QBs who had never started a college game before.

That said it's way too early to start thinking we're out of it. Monmouth's remaining conference games are all on the road. They have a great defense (#1 in 1-AA) but their offense leaves alot to be desired. Can't forget that Sacred Heart is only two years removed from their conference championship and will essentially be playing for the championship as well against Monmouth.

I have to agree with Statefan that it would be great to read more about this either from the University or one of the local papers. In all those games played and the intensity of the rivalry I have a feeling there are alot of good stories.

I suspect if the teams had never played before we would have started building a rivalry two years ago. I call this a rivalry but it won't really be one until Albany wins one of these games. When that happens there will probably be $iena fans lining up to throw themselves off the Dunn Memorial Bridge.

One of the more engaging features of Coach Brown is that he seems to understand how much Danes fans want to win the $iena game. I was a little disappointed last year at the basketball luncheon when Patterson refered to the $iena game as just another game. Brown knows differently, it's not just another game and probably never has been.

Story in today's TU about the first day of basketball practice. Unfortunetly it's written by the reporter who covers $iena. Story

I was thinking the same thing yesterday UAlum while I listened to the game. Too many first down passes and too much Sciarra throwing the ball. To their credit Monmouth has a great D and knew we coundn't pass. We can run over the middle and bottom half of the league but the other top teams are going to expose our weakness and that weakness is glaring. It's a shame because Ford has done such a good job building depth at every postion. I don't know what the QB situation was supposed to be this year but I question if this was it.

While the people in Staten Island may be excited about Monmouth you're right, Monmouth is in NJ. I'm not sure why I had Staten Island on my mind.

Called Time Warner yesterday (Their number is 869-5500) to see if they would pick the game up. Still no dice. Monmouth is setting up extra seating, expecting a record crowd, televised game....sounds like a great atmosphere that hopefully we can duplicate next weekend. Should be a great game.

GO DANES!!!

I have to laugh when people on the $iena board write that us playing them the first game of the season is to our advantage. We lose 3 starters and 30+ points a game in Peterson, Johnson and Earv. I'm not saying that to be depressing just that it's going to take a while to figure out everyone's roles.

We have returning:

Wilson 19pts 37min a game

Levine 13pts 34 min a game

Wyatt 1.7pts 17min a game

Knotts 1.7pts 9.9min a game

Pipikis 1 pt 10 min a game

Even with Levine and Wilson playing ironman minutes that's still 90+ minutes and alot of points to make up.

Sounds like everyone on Staten Island is fired up for this game. Monmouth

This pretty good stuff. Hopefully they'll take our advise and put the cameras on the old gym or from the opponents side of the field.

TIME WARNER CABLE WILL AIR UALBANY HOMECOMING FOOTBALL GAME

Stony Brook Contest Will Be Televised Live in the Capital Region on Oct. 25

     Albany, N.Y. – Time Warner Cable will present a live broadcast of the University at Albany’s football game with Stony Brook at University Field on Saturday, Oct. 25 as part of Homecoming and Family Weekend on campus. UAlbany kicks off against its Northeast Conference-rival at 1:00 p.m.

     Time Warner Cable, which serves more than 320,000 customers in the Capital Region, will air the NEC football matchup on Channel 2 in Albany, Troy and Clifton Park, Channel 11 in Pittsfield, Mass., and Channel 14 in all other markets, including Schenectady, Bethlehem, Saratoga Springs, Glens Falls, Amsterdam, Gloversville and Rensselaer.

     UAlbany’s radio broadcast team of Rodger Wyland and Doug Mortman will provide the play-by-play coverage, while Capital News 9 Sports Director Damian Andrew will be the sideline reporter. Greg Bobbit will produce the broadcast for Time Warner Cable.

     Time Warner Cable’s Albany Division operates one of the most sophisticated cable systmes in the nation and is home to New York’s first two-way digital network. The system provides high-speed online access for residential customers, schools and businesses; digital cable with 240 cable channels, including on-demand services, interactive programming guides and popular, award-winning, locally-produced programming.

     UAlbany’s homecoming festivities include an appearance by the Mohanasen High School Marching Band.

OK, this would be a great story if they got the name of our team right. Perhaps they'll know our names after Saturday. Monmouth Story

Just curious which paper covers Monmouth and if they have an online version. I wanted to put a link to from the main page. I don't have one for them.

Thanks