Dane Pound

This freshman class seems like a fleet of ferraris. More than that though, some of the returning players who didn't get much of a chance last year like Couglin and Phillips have played really well. It's hard to figure when they don't get much of a chance but there were too many players ahead of them last year.

Story on DJ Evans in today's paper. Great to see him get a chance and make the most of on Friday.

NJIT played fairly well in their opener against Tulane in losing by 11. They were handled on the boards and, if the ESPN stats are right, shot 37% from free throw line. They actually shot a better percentage from the field.

Mississippi State returned that game at Albany the next season. I remember it well, much closer game and a minor miracle to get them on our campus. The men also played VCU at Sefcu during Jon Iati, Brian Lillis and Brent Wilson's senor year. VCU beat Duke in the NCAA tourney that year. Marist fans might travel well to us. They had over 3,000 at their opener against Kentucky. I believe they have a 6'5 center also.

Is happening Thursday night at Sefcu. Forget Siena. The Marist women are coming to town and this will be clash of the titans. Marist is just outside the top 25 but getting votes.

Believe me, I really want to see minutes for Dallas Ennema but I was thinking when I watched Wiegmann last last night that he gave us what I was hoping Dallas would. A bigger small forward who can knock down some outside shots. He also pulled down some tough rebounds in traffic. We played 11 guys last night, granted with only a minute for Odunsi. I'm hoping as Odunsi and Mike Rowley ease into things we'll get better as the season progresses.

I'm sure they're optimistic about the freshman they brought in. It's a pretty good class and a little hope for a program that hasn't had much in a while. They have some really good athletes but I'm not sure where they're going to find shooting other than Poole. The Pastos era should be interesting. Siena fans were hailing him as the next McCafferty but I don't think he's at that level. There was never a doubt that he could recruit well at Loyola but his in game coaching is still a bit of a question to me. His tech hurt his team, especially for a guy who has been coaching for a decade. Pastos complained about the free throw differences also. I was thinking when I saw it that CB would have been labelled a whiner if he made comments like that. Especially when Siena repeatedly fouled in the closing seconds to put us on the line which skewed the numbers. All right, I think I'm done talking about Siena for another year.

And she outscored LCC by herself in the first half tonight Great to see her knock down those outside shots. She's going to get a lot of looks with the "twin towers" inside this year. I had worried about our guard play and shooting going into this year. Not as much of a concern anymore. The Gazette dubbed our backcourt the "Double R" in their story today.

DJ's line tonight, 12 points, 2 assists, 0 turnovers, and six steals. Plus a blocked shot.

I'll add to the chorus of praise for DJ. He made some great steals in the second half. I thought GJ played well also. Not sure what his stats were but he seemed to come up with a lot of loose balls and rebounds when we needed them. That Shengalia fake handout was the play of the game. I admit I wasn't that impressed with Haas in the P+G game but he gave us a nice spark tonight. I liked that it was his first college game and he didn't think twice about launching threes.

I wouldn't mind the game staying at the TUC. A lot of people want to go and they'll buy tickets and I think that's great. However: -The game should not be part of either team season ticket package. -Split the arena down the middle and give each school half the tickets to sell. -The women's game should stand alone and be played on campus, rotating between the two schools. It should also be promoted like crazy.

Also the women's captains were announced today. Not surprised to see Sarah Royals was one of them. We are far away from the court in the stands but even from that distance you can tell how much she wants to win.

That was the first broadcast of the new show, I think. Good story in the Troy Record on Sam Rowley. Realizing now that it's 48 hours before the tip and I haven't seen our starting five announced anywhere.

So we are America Beast then? A single Highlander would be OK but...

Much better result last night. First win!

Coach Brown on with Scotty Mac today. Listed the four newcomers he thought would make an impact: Odunsi, Haas, Mike Rowley and Shengalia.

Winner, winner from last year Dslyank! The only person on record with a 20 win prediction. Just thought I'd bump this.

We haven't had one of these this year have we?

Funny, I was actually consider the lower corner seats the good ones. We've had the bad ones up in the rafters a few times.

I could have lived without the picture of Lou in the Siena shirt but you're right, it's a terrific story. OBW does some great stuff on us and the AE in general.

I'm curious too. Mine are at will call and the online ticket system (which I really like) doesn't say since it's not at our place. If I don't get down to pick them up before the game I might bring my binoculars just in case we're in the rafters again.

This is a quote from their board and not you, yes? That's classic Tony right there. No doubt their fan base will upbeat on Friday night as they're ready for a fresh start. Hopefully we can dampen that enthusiasm for them. Most years we play them I know a little about their team but this year other Poole and Hymes and the bit I've seen of Ogunyemi from high school their roster is an unknown to me. Not sure how we'd scout a team like that. I guess you just worry about what we're going to do. It'll be interesting to see who starts on Friday night. I know I had listed the five guys I thought played the best in the P+G scrimmage but that was two "secret" scrimmages ago and a lot may have changed. I wouldn't be surprised to see CB go with the most experienced guys in what will probably be a charged atmosphere at the TUC: -Evans -Hooley -GJ -Rowley -Puk That would give us some shooting, slashers and a bunch of guys who can handle. I'll be curious to see if Pastos tries to press and run as much as it sounds like he wants to. With DJ, Odunsi and the rest of this group that would be a highly entertaining basketball game. I suspect it will settle in a more half court game if form holds.

Glad to see him doing well. Brent Wilson made his head coaching debut yesterday at nationally ranked Sullivan. I haven't found a box score but it looks like they suffered a tough one point loss in thier opener.

Great news! Their training camp starts next week.

Let's get one today! Game story on Richmond. In the Towson game Omar Osbourne looked like he injured his ankle and I don't think he came back in the game. I haven't read anything about him not playing today so hopefully the week off did the trip. We've complained about how Fiacchi has played this year at times this year. Despite that, he has an outside shot at setting the record for passing yards in a season.