Dane Pound

After a rough non-conference schedule they're coming on. Knocked off former first placed Stony Brook tonight. I think we are in either first or second place in all the fall AE sports right now.

The forecast looks pretty perfect for football - sunny and in the 60s. Hopefully we can sell out and move up the CAA attendance list.

And some more preseason: From the TU about the first practice of the season An interview with Peter Hooley on College Hoops Daily. Peter Hooley writing about Three "Pete"ing on Pick and Roll Hoops. And Will Brown's secret championship sauce on NYC Hoops.

According to Upstate Scout we've offered Anthony Mack from Catholic Central.

I'm actually less worred about the scoring that defense. I think Dallas can step in and score if we need him to. I'm not sure who replaces Gary Johnson's role. He did defended, rebounded and slashed depending on whatever we needed. That's a tough role to fill. Surprised to see Mike Wells not mentioned as possible PG. Admittedly he's a freshman but he has a year of prep and seemed like a guy who set up the offense well at St. Thomas More. Also, a story on Richard Peters in NYC Hoops.

Actually, Siena could be a home game for us ticket-wise if nothing else. They could fold that game into our season ticket package, no? It would make us feel better about four home games.

He said he was down to New Hampshire or Albany as his choices. Great to see us winning some of those.

I would have liked a reply too. It didn't seem like he bobbled the ball at all. It just went through his hands, hit the ground, then he got hit. I'm sure I'm biased. I left thinking I saw a lot of weird officiating things I don't usually see happen, happen in one game and happen in bunches. Overall, this team played their heart out and deserved to win. Hopefully a big crowd gets that done next week. Considering the rain and gloom forecast, it was actually a really good night for a football game. Sorry so many people stayed away. As the guy I went with said, that was the worst good game I've ever watched.

The return game at NJIT is interesting. In the middle of the conference schedule in February. Actually it's Friday the 13th in Newark. Also, four games against the MAAC is a little different. The four homes is a woof. Looking at Vermont and Stony Brook. Vermont has six homes games (including a D2) and the Brook has six (including a D2 and a D3 - really?) I guess the solution would be: -Drop the guarantee games - we have two each year. Probably not going to happen. -Add some D2 or D3 teams. Probably not going to happen and I don't want it to. -Live with the road games and plans some trips to Loretto, PA.

Supposedly we are talking to Patrick Dembly, Austin Slater, and Amar Miller. All from Minnesota. Miller and Dembly are guards, Slater is a forward.

I like that reason much better.

There is some outerwear stuff at the bookstore. I wish more of it was purple. We have a slightly different problem at our house. Our cars are fitted with Great Dane license plate holders. Our shelves are will with Great Dane coffee cups and beer mugs, we have Great Dane artwork on the wall, a UAlbany flag that flies on game days and purple UAlbany blankets on our couch. Lady DP actually wishes they made a little less UA gear sometimes.

JMU has two wins but I don't know that their wins are any better than ours. They've beaten St. Francis (PA) and Lehigh. Those teams combined are 2-7. St. Francis has the two wins, both against Division II teams. St. Francis rushing for almost 300 yards against JMU is encouraging.

Lindy's College Basketball preview is out. They've picked us to win the conference. Their write-up concludes: "clearly, there's a bull's-eye on Albany." I'd probably pick Hartford as the favorite if I had to choose. They have a lot coming back. Also, Big Apple Hoops picked their top five freshman to watch in the America East.

In his defense he was 6 of 9 or 6 of 10 at halftime when things were still somewhat in doubt. He went o-fer during the second half when handing it off to Andre Martin was the best policy.

Thanks for the updates about the meet and greet. About redshirting. I don't see a lot of good candidates. Greg Stire seemed like the most likely but CB said on the radio last week that Stire has played better than expected over the summer and would likely play this year. Otherwise, it doesn't seem like we'd redshirt any of the juco players. Two of the incoming freshman, Mike Wells and Max Twyman, have already prepped for a year. It doesn't seem like they would redshirt. The other two freshman, Wheeler Baker and Geremy McKay, I might have too high expectations of them but they seem like players who could contribute right away. There always seems to be some attrition as the year goes on. We seemed to have plenty of guards going into last year then Jiggitts transfered and Odunsi had the injury and we were a little guard scarce for certain parts of the season.

I was sorry I couldn't make the meet and greet tonight. Anyone have any news?

As if this rivalry needs more spice. Ahmad Walker supposedly is visiting us this weekend. He's at Barton Community College this year.

Mine: 10. June 6th, 2003. Lucious Jordan announced he was transferring to Albany. That's when I knew moment #1 was going to happen. 9. Will Brown is hired as HC. I think he said we'd be in the NCAA Tournament within 5 years. It seemed like a crazy statement at the time. 8. Watching Jamar in the preseason scrimmage before his freshman year. 7. That Utah win. 6. Mike Black, left handed layup to beat Washington in the final seconds. 5. Mike Black, right handed layup to beat SBU in the final seconds of the 2013 AE tourney. 4. Jacob Iati's daggers at the end of the 2013 AE Tourney Championship. That was like a movie. 3. The three by Peter the Great this March to seal the deal over SBU. 2. 2007 Championship game at Vermont. Never won on that court before. Also like a movie. 1. 2006 Championship game at home. No suspense or drama but the first one is the sweetest.

The coaches poll is probably a little more realistic right not but people are talking about UA football. This makes the coaches jobs a little harder and our marketers jobs hopefully a little easier. BTW, Gontarek is not just the CAA rookie of the week, he's the national rookie of the week.

With Stony Brook as our last game of the year I'm opposed to any thoughts of "rebuilding" at the QB spot late in the season.

3-0 going into the Columbia game on Saturday. Hopefully this sets the stage for a nice big crowd at that game.

I think the five year clock starts once you step on campus. You have five years to play four which would be five this year. You'd have to petition the NCAA for a sixth year. Like 96 said, it sucks for a guy who worked so hard to get back this year. Those guys are the ones who really love the game.

Coach Brown was on the Fan today. He said they had been planning on redshirting Greg Stire this year but now it sounds like he'll play this year.

Joel Wincowski from Lake George committed to UMBC. He should benefit playing a few years with Elliot who should get him some good looks.