reeder

I have tempered my enthusiasm for Gifford a bit. I think he will become a very good player in the AE, but I look at the stats and they remind me an awful lot of Joe Dyson. Clearly, Gifford is on a better HS team than Dyson had. I forget who all recruited Dyson but all of the sites said that he could have gone higher as well. There was a quote from Brown in one of the papers recently that said (paraphrase)" people haven't realized how good Gifford can be". Sounds a little like Brown understands that there is some work to be done. All of this said, I have never seen the kid play but I think at 6'10" he will certainly help this team. I think that Filien will get some good work in with him in fall workouts and I do think he'll be able to provide some quality minutes as the season progresses.

This wasn't the first time that this was in print. There was an article in the winter that said he is on target to graduate in May and quotes his mother as saying he might leave to play in Europe. I think the difference now is that he had tremendous national exposure vs. ODU, UVM and UConn. If he does graduate in May, maybe he can get a ballroom dancing class and focus on basketball next year. Not sure if the NBA will be an option, but he can play himself into a higher level of European ball worst case.

The Times Union site has some pics for sale. Go to the UA sports section - there are pictures of the AE tournment as well as the NCAA tournament experience.

My guess is: 1. Getting $ to pay Brown's new salary (assuming deal gets done)? 2. Fund a few football scholarships?

Let's temper the expectations for Gifford. I am sure he will evolve into a very good player, but he didn't average 10 and 7 in HS so to expect that next year is a bit much - IMO. I think it will take the entire non conference schedule to determine how to handle the 5. I expect a battle with Iati, Siggers and Knight for the third guard position (with Jamar and Brian).

Went to my son's baseball game this morning wearing a UAlbany sweatshirt - had a bunch of parents come up to me to talk about the game. A couple said that that UA should have won and thought the guard would play in the NBA. Talk about exposure

Albany Bringing Slingshots

http://www.albany.edu/sports/dashboard.pdf This might be a good starting point for info on funding

Made it to Binghamton for the tournament - some thoughts: 1. What was up with Jamar's sneakers? Looked like suede converse with a silver patch. 2. I thought Brown did a very good job managing the rotation. Iati made a couple of quick 3's vs. UNH, Siggers made some shots, I also think Connelly is going to be a pretty good player. 3. When the game vs. UMBC was almost over, a handful of UA fans walked around the arena and started saying nasty things and giving the finger to some UMBC fans. Not sure if any of these UA fans are posters, but the behavior was not appropriate. 4. I'm glad the season is ending - I'm running out of frequent flier miles. Would be great if they get a tournament game in the Southeast. 5. The Binghamton fans were ridiculous (IMO) in the game vs. UVM. There were some bad calls, but they began to expect everything to be a foul. Three kids in the student section were escorted out of the building. 6. I am increasingly impressed by Lillis' game - he has learned to go to the basket pretty hard and either convert or get fouled. Looking forward to watching the game on ESPN2.

I read somewhere where one kid accepted a scholarship already - a good first step.

It could be that the team spends so much energy catching up to get to overtime that there isn't much left. I think that in each of the three OT games, UA had to come from behind. I know that in the first UNH game, they led with a few minutes to go but lost the lead and had to rally back. Against Siena and again last night, they were behind until very late in the game. IMO, I think the real issue is what DP posted on another thread - UA struggles against a team with versatile post players - or in the case of Siena, no center.

Niece piece on Levi and Jamar AE on campus - Levi and Jamar

Great point - I think this is the match up problem that Brown was referencing. I agree that this is probably why Connelly got the minutes. Covington seems to be a good low post player - I think Connelly might be better guarding players on the perimeter. I think a great illustration of this was in the VCU game where their 6'6"center dribbled the ball almost to midcourt and Zoellner followed him out there until Jamar waved his hand and had Zoellner go back to the paint but it was too late as they made a pass to the low post and made a lay up.

I think the home team decides when they want to play and everything else is folded in around that. Last year, Binghamton played Albany at noon in the 4 - 5 game. This year it will be Binghamton vs. the 7 seed in the noon game.

I'm sure it won't be an issue, but I hope the team stays focused. New Hampshire has already won at the RACC. They need to get some revenge on Thursday night.

I think this team has several players that may not be thrilled with their performance / opportunities this year - Iati, Jordan and Levi. I hope they all realize that the team is winning and that is what's really important. Jon has two more years to help this team win. Not sure how much his illnesss impacted his shooting or was it simply a loss of confidence, but I think it's important for the program that he keep working and help this team not only for the rest of this year but for the next two as well.

Glad to see him scoring a bit. He was a scorer in HS, but I guess the transition is a bit challenging. Will be interesting to see him, Covington, Yocum and Gifford battle for minutes next year

No problems at all with the Vermont feed. I did get to their site pretty quickly as I tried the Albany link at about 6:50 to catch the pregame interviews and realized that it wasn't working. Maybe they reached the limit of web ports for listeners?

I don't think that anyone on this thread is in the Albany area. The Vermont feed was good and the announcers did a very good job.

the vermont feed works - link from their site.

Nice game - even indefeat: 1. Tough to ask Jamar to go at that pace for 40 minutes. Not just scoring, but all the ball handling as well. 2. Brent had a nice game - glad to see him take some 10 to 12 foot shots. 3. I liked Brian's aggressiveness in the first half. 4. Tough to win in that environment against a very good team while committing 20 turnovers. 5. Was anyone else wondering why Siggers wasn't in the game down the stretch. I do think that that 3 of his 4 shot attempts were blocked - not sure if that's why. Would like to have seen him in the game with Jamar, Brent and Iati to look for the game tying three down the stretch. I hope they get enough rest on the 500 mile bus ride home (I thought they'd fly but TU says bus ride) and get ready for Vermont on Monday.

Read an article in the Atlanta paper yesterday - Albany has signed a linebacker from the Atlanta area. Chris Van Zelden Also, Central signed someone from the Atlanta area as well - forget his name.

thanks - I stand corrected. I guess there really isn't a question about her status for two more seasons

I hate to even bring this up, but there has been a lot of discussion about the contract status of Coach Brown, what about Coach Patterson? I think she got a 2 year extension after the 2004 season, so I think her contract expires this year. I don't follow the women's team that closely but I know that they are not having a very good year. Thoughts?

My brief research on concussions: