reeder

My son plays on a middle school team in the Atlanta area that is affiliated with a HS. They have played 3 games so far and we have gone to 3 varsity games. After seeing the different facilities - every one of them is nicer than University Field. The only drawback was that most of them have concrete bleachers. The seating capacity is between 5k and 10k for the facilities - and for the varsity games that we attended, the games were about 80% to 90% sold out. In terms of other facilities at the affiliated HS - they have a building primarily dedicated to football - weight room, film rooms, class rooms, locker room, coaches offices. I initially thought this was unique to this one HS, but I took a tour of another facility (we have a friend with a kid on a 9th grade team), and his school had similar facilities. There are also a lot of community teams that play in facilities built in community parks - not much seating as it isn't necessary but the field itself, concession stand, press box area... are as nice as University Field. I can certainly see how a kid from Georgia would look at University Field and think that their HS facility was better.

1. Makes you realize the importance of the kicking game - I think it was three years ago when Albany lost to an undefeated Monmouth team because of a missed extra point. 2. Fordham is an important game - a loss and some might consider the Lehigh win a fluke 3. Definitely the biggest win since the Duquesne win a few years back.

My guess would be a CSTV site. godanes.com has a nice ring to it.

Summer Thoughts: 1.Great that Jamar is playing in France with Athletes in Action. I understand that he is very religious and that AIA is a religious organization, but a part of me wishes that he was with his teammates in Belgium. Also, there is a blog for his AIA team that has pictures if you follow the links. http://aia.com/teamblogs/blogs/basketball_...en/default.aspx 2.Why isn’t Iati going to Belgium? 3.I wish that Covington was going on the Belgium trip. IMO, he needs to develop pretty quickly or Gifford / Yocum might be forced to step up sooner. 4.I think Coachwillbrown.com is great. I think that the athletics department needs to communicate better and this website seems to be updated every couple of weeks with meaningful information. Still not sure why the Athletics Department can’t hire an intern and post notes on football summer practices, pictures from games…They are missing a chance to connect with alumni and with the community. 5.The online ticketing may not be ideal, but I think it’s good. Someone mentioned that it will be updated periodically. It’s a great first step 6.The benefit to making the tournament is obviously much more than the check – apparently there are some pretty big time recruits that pay attention now. I just hope that all these kids make it to the school next year (I still don’t understand how there are three kids that are qualified and not enrolling – I know one is going to prep in California, what about the other 2). 7.President Hall will be a huge loss to the University and to the Athletics program – he had a vision. A lot of leaders aren’t crisp with their vision, I believe that he was and that he was executing on it. 8.I read the Siena board and find it entertaining. IMO, the loss of Kojo is huge because he gets to the line a lot – a lot like Jamar. I don’t have the stats, but both Kojo and Jamar were among the leaders in free throw attempts in their conferences. I don’t think that many of the Siena posters understand that. If you look at the results over the last couple of years, UA is not nearly as good when Jamar doesn’t get to the line. I don’t know that Siena will be as good without that aspect of the game – but they are still talented and did bring in some good recruits. 9.November 11th will be a very big day for the Athletics program. With the football game in the afternoon and the Bucknell basketball game that night. I think that was a great job at scheduling. Might be worth the trip up to see those two games. 10.Wish I knew what was going on with Knotts. Levi and Jordan. I hope they all graduated and have jobs or are playing somewhere. 11.While I don’t want to put much weight on the Siena game, it will be a big game for the capital district. 12.The football team is getting a lot of preseason respect. I hope they can step up and win the conference. They have new recruits from Florida, Texas, Georgia and Ohio - all football hotbeds. I would guess that these are some of the scholarship players. Let's see what kind of impact they have.

IMO, I think the site is fine - very similar to the Binghamton site (although done by a different company). The other sites that I have seen - Tickets.com, Ticketmaster are both nicer but I don't think either allows you the ability to specifically select your seats. I would also guess that those are much more expensive to develop and integrate. In the last couple of years, I have ordered tickets for several ACC and SEC basketball and football games and the order process is very similar - the biggest difference is that Albany allows you to manually select your seats. What's probably making people feel that it's not very nice is the graphic of the football stands. Maybe that's an unnecessary step but I don't think it's a big deal. I'm just happy that when I want to get tickets for the one or two games that I might be able to attend that I won't have to play voicemail tag with the ticket agents.

UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT UNVEILS ONLINE TICKETING SYSTEM Albany, N.Y. - Vice President and Director of Athletics Lee McElroy announced today that the University at Albany will now offer an online ticketing system through the department of athletics Web site (www.albany.edu/sports). UAlbany’s online ticketing will offer 24-hour access to account information, the ability to pay for individual game tickets online that can be picked up at will call on the day of the event, plus a feature for checking order status. UAlbany individual football tickets and parking are now on sale through the online system. Football ticket prices are: $8.00, reserved; $6.00, adult general admission; $1.00, children general admission. A season football parking pass for the Recreation and Convocation Center lot is priced at $15.00.

Clearly, I don't think anyone should cheat, but I bet that most of the elite basketball programs in NYC cannot claim that 81% of their kids come from their school districts (especially the Catholic Schools)

I know a lot of people feel that way, but I think it's tough to put so much into a non conference game early in the season. I remember reading a quote from Brown and Iati saying that the Siena lost was devastating because the players read the bulletin boards and they felt like they let everyone down. It went on to say that it took them a long time to recover. I know the game is important, but I wouldn't want a loss to shake their confidence.

I think this years team will be good, but it might take them a little time to pull things together. IMO the team took a long time to come together last year, I am sure that some of the challenge was related to players accepting new roles. A few things to remember about last year: 1. They played well in Gainesville but Jamar injured his groin and then he struggled for a good part of the OOC schedule. 2. Lu struggled for most of the season - he didn't really get going until just before the tournament. 3. There were a lot of unsung heroes - Siggers against Stony Brook (keeping UA in the game in the first half, Binghamton, Stony Brook, UMBC and BU at the BPG, Iati against UCLA and against UMBC, Levi against Utah Valley State. If these guys didn't step up, last year would have been a bit more challenging. 4. There were also several games where you wondered if anyone would step up. The first game against Vermont when Jamar singlehandedly kept Albany in the game. The game at BU when Brent and Zo had foul trouble and Covington was manhandled in the low post, the game at San Diego State which may have been the worst game that they played all season. The good news is that this year, the roles might be better defined up front but it will still take time to gel. I think that it may take some time to work through the rotation but I think they are very talented. Losing Levi and Lu is tough as they provided a lot of leadership. The big questions, IMO, are 1. Can the coaching staff manage this much talent, keeping the kids happy with their roles and finding the right mix. 2. Who is going to provide the toughness that Lu provided late last year and that Levi provided off the bench?

From coachwillbrown.com:

I agree in theory - my issue is the funding. Not sure where it's coming from - maybe it's already there and this is a non-issue.

I don't to resurrect the conversations from last year, but I believe that UA is making this way too complicated. They can add turf and some stands opposite the PE building and have a nice facility. It won't be great - but it will be as good as any in the AE (except Stony Brook).

I don't know that Vermont is athletic enough - I do think they will be one of the top teams in the conference, but in the first game last year (as I recall), I believe that Vermont changed their lineup and that may have thrown Albany. I think Jamar singlehandedly kept UA in the game until he had foul trouble. That may have also been the game right after Brent hurt his wrist and missed almost every shot. In the second and third games, I think Albany was just more athletic and UVM couldn't match it. Albany will be more athletic this year with the addition of Ross and development of Siggers. Anything can happen in a game, but I believe that Albany has more talent. Re: the point guard, I do think he's good, but it's way too early to compare him to Sorrentine (IMO). I also think that he is moving to the 2 as they are bringing in a new PG. Not sure how you can draw that conclusion.

I just hope there isn't too much pressure on Gifford to produce too early. He will need to continue to develop - I hope Yocum, Covington, Brent... will bang him hard in practice.

I would guess in the 115 to 120 range. I don't know that Albany should be ranked any higher but from the media perspective, there has been a lot of exposure and the reigning POY is back so I would not be surprised at a high ranking but given that BU was 122 last year, I would think 115 to 120 is reasonable.

Packers: Campbell back in action JASON WILDE 608-252-6176 jwilde@madison.com GREEN BAY - No one will ever accuse Ted Thompson of being a softie. The guy lasted 10 years in the NFL as an undrafted linebacker and special teams player, missing just one of 147 games due to injury. And as the Green Bay Packers' general manager, he has to make tough decisions all the time - from firing a coach to cutting a player - and can't get all touchy-feely about it. So when you hear what Thompson has to say about Kurt Campbell, a 2005 seventh-round pick who missed all of last season with a knee injury, you know the kid must be something special. "It's good to see him out there," Thompson said during a break in the Packers' organized team activity practices, which have marked Campbell's first on-field work since tearing the ACL in his right knee during an Aug. 1 training-camp practice. "He's just a bright young man that wants to be a player, and has worked diligently in rehab to get himself ready to go. "He's a nice guy. He's one of those people from a character standpoint you want on your team." So much so that the Packers drafted him, even though he was coming from a small school (Albany) and played the "rover" position (a linebacker-safety hybrid) after playing cornerback his first two college seasons. So much so that they kept him, even after his injury, while many other players injured in training camps throughout the league receive an injury settlement and are never heard from again. "We liked what we saw," said Thompson, even though the Packers only had a handful of practices before Campbell went down. "There was a reason we picked him in the draft. Even though he was coming from a small school and played corner a lot of the time, he was a instinctive player. Some players, when you see where they're at (following an injury), there's reason not to keep them. It didn't make sense for us to do that (with Campbell)." Still, Campbell, who'll turn 24 July 30 (two days into training camp), has his work cut out for him to make the Packers roster. The team added linebackers A.J. Hawk (first round) and Abdul Hodge (third round) in the draft, signed veterans Ben Taylor (Cleveland) and Tracy White (Jacksonville) in free agency and still have holdovers Nick Barnett and Roy Manning. Plus, 2005 fourth-round pick Brady Poppinga is coming back from a torn ACL in his left knee suffered Dec. 11 and figures to open the season on the physically unable to perform list. Campbell, though, isn't fazed. As he sat in the far back area of the locker room - filled with roster longshots and nicknamed "The Green Mile" - he massaged the "Blessed" tattoo on his right biceps and showed the kind of attitude Thompson must like so much. "You've heard it a million times, but I'm going to go out there and work my (butt) off and God willing, it'll happen. If it's not supposed to happen, there's a lot of things I can do in life. But this is what I want to do," said Campbell, whose degree is in information science and policy and whose technological wizardry is well-known in the Packers' locker room. "It's more competition, but the Packers have to do what's good for the Packers. I wouldn't expect them to say, 'We've got to wait for Kurt.' I just have to step my game up and prove that I'm worth it."

Not sure how he could receive a scholarship this coming year as I think they are all used

I hope it's at night - I would fly in that afternoon for the game. I missed last years game because it was in the afternoon and conflicted with my sons basketball game.

Maybe it's just me but I'm not sure that I think this is a real good idea: As good as Jamar is, this needs to be about the team. You can argue that coachwillbrown is going to help in recruiting, but Jamar's site can be seen as promoting Jamar to get to the next level. I certainly think that should be done, but IMO, it should be done in the context of the team. How does that happen? The obvious answer is that the University needs to fix their website. Other schools have video, player blogs... If UA could do that, this type of site might not be needed. If they cannot do that, then they should sponsor Jamar's site. His e-mail address should not be on the site - especially when the site talks about how much he has flown under the radar. Jamar is the best player to ever play for UA, but let's get the athletic department to say that. Isn't that what Northeastern did with JJB - sponsor a promotional site. Again, if UA had a better website, this could all be accomplished there. The more I type, the more this bothers me...

belgium

All Star tournament Just saw that Levi and Lu played in an all star tournament in late April - any feedback?

IMO, Lillis has the potential to be all conference. If he continues to go to the basket aggressively and make a couple of outside shots he would help tremendously. I think he has the most unrealized talent and might realize it next year

These are Jamar's stats as a freshman and this past year (not sure how to make this look better): 2003 2006 ppg 18.9 17.7 apg 3.33 3.91 rpg 3.8 4.9 spg .78 1.34 fg% 48.8 45.4 ft% 81.5 85 3pt made 33 49 3pt pct 36% 36% A/T .92 1.07 Not sure that this matters much but I had some time to kill. Anyway, it tells me: 1. Jamar wasn't needed as much to score this year, so he was able to improve the other aspects of his game - steals and rebounds. 2. He has developed a lot more confidence in his perimter game. Same shooting percentage from 3 yet he made 50% more shots. 3. He should have been first team all conference as a freshman

I just saw this in an article about Binghamton renovating some of their facilities: I think HVCC got State funding of their baseball stadium (Joe Bruno?), Stony Brook got state funding for their football stadium (Senator Lavalle?). You would think that Albany being the state capital would be able to get some funding for athletic facilities. I don't know if the RACC was funded with state dollars, but the new turf fields needed a private donor. Is there something wrong with this picture?

I recall an interview with Lu after he lost his starting spot in December. He commented that he wanted to do what was best for the team and had to keep working through his slump because one of his personal goals was to continue playing after Albany. He really stepped it up in the tournament and I think that he'll get his chance. Just needs to improve the consistency of his perimeter shot.