reeder

Looking at the stats: 1. Jamar had no field goals but he went to the line a lot. I think Jamar is at his best when he is penetrating - he will usually get fouled or get a lay up. Based on the number of free throws that he had, he must have been fouled a few times. IMO, moving Jamar to the 2 will allow him to do a lot more of that. The perimeter shots will come, but I think it's good that he seems to be penetrating and getting fouled. 2. I'm happy for Siggers - I think this is the most he's played all year. He did take a lot of shots - 8 in just 19 minutes. He made 3 in a row and then missed his next 5. 3. Free throw shooting obviously needs to improve. Not sure what Zoellner shot last year, but I think it was over 50% - if he can get back there then it would make a pretty big difference. As it is now, I think every team will try the Binghamton foul strategy. 4. Kudos to Levi for coming off the bench and having a big game. 5. Last point - it's good to see that Brent had a pretty good game with just two shots attempted. Got to the line and also got some rebounds. Olddog71, I think the difference in ft% is primarily Zoellner. I haven't looked at the stats in detail, but last year, Jamar had a lot of ft's and while Zoellner didn't shoot that well from the line, he didn't have that many attempts. This year, with his increased aggression, he's getting a lot more attempts. The good news is that I think Jamar and Brent will get to the line a lot more as the season goes on.

Specifically, Zoellner will need to improve his free throws. He is clearly playnig much better, but he will be fouled more because he is more aggressive. Also, when they are in a close game, teams will use the Binghamton strategy and just foul him. Also, over the next few games, it would be good to see Lillis make a few shots. The risk is that his defender starts to back off and sag into the lane creating a double team on Zoellner. Binghamton plays a different brand of basketball - aggressive in the half court. Almost like the old Big East. That lends itself to sloppy play.

At halftime, Wyland interviewed Hall. He made a comment that a good opportunity has presented itself for the athletics department and that it could be exciting (I forget the exact words). I wonder what he was talking about. Wyland didn't ask.

Listened on the internet. Good win - sounded like a decent crowd and it must be a big boost for their confidence. Thoughts on what I heard: 1. Lillis seemed to have a great game - at last count they said he had 11 boards. 2. Jamar seemed to have a few bad turnovers. Twice, Wyland said that Jamar was doing too much and right after he said it, Jamar got a TO. 3. I think it took Brown too long to get Zoellner out of the game when he was being fouled late in the game. That late in the game, it was just a free throw contest. 4. Brown sounded so happy in the post game interview - must be a huge relief to get the win. Good win - bring on Stony Brook.

Lillis makes a lot of sense at the point: 1. He will always look to pass first 2. Tall enough so that he should be able to make the pass into the post easier than some of the other guards 3. Will allow Iati and Jamar to play their natural positions 4. He is the only remaining choice - they need to let Jamar create shots I think DP makes a great point about Jamar as a freshman - he was able to create when Opong ran the offense. I also think that Tony makes a good point about being a running team. I would hope that the team has a plan with an option of having a faster team with a primary rotation of Jamar, Levi, Lucious, Jon, Brent and Brian. This is similar to the lineups of other teams in the conference. My guess is that Brown looked at his team and decided to run a more structured attack. Given the challenges, I would hope that he has reviewed all the options.

I think that you look at the schedule and see a lot of winnable games - I would take a .500 record in a month. Also, the Binghamton game isn't the end of the season. The only games that really matter are in March. It would certainly make all of us feel better if they played well from now through March. They need to keep working towards March. Certainly, getting off to a bad start in conference would hurt their confidence, but they aren't playing well right now and I'm not sure it's just going to come to them over the next few games. That said - this is not a strong conference and they do have the most talent in the conference. Too early to give up.

Sitting in a Crown Room between flights - thought I'd log onto the last 15 minutes of Wyland's show - mostly Bills talk, but the last thing that he discussed was UA. His comments: 1. Need a PG - Jamar is not a point guard - too many turnovers. Thinks Brown needs to find one. I absolutely agree with this. I don't think they have a PG - maybe they use the Graham scholarship for that. 2. Zoellner gets the pall at the top of the key too often - more than he gets it in the low post. I think this is a set part of their offense designed to create lanes for cutters. HIs other comments were that for their talent level they are not playing well. Said they are not a good team now and looked bad against Harvard.

Clearly he feels the pressure. This is what happens when expectations are high and have not been met to date. I think Coach needs to stay focused on coaching the team as best he can. I can certainly see how fans will be upset - they should be upset. That's how it works in D1 basketball - even at this level. He has a month with the kids - no school, just basketball. I would encourage him to take this time and sit with his assistants and his captains and work this through. I am sure that he'll do that and spend a lot of time going through game and practice tape. He needs to stay focused - can't have any distractions at this point. Sounds like he lost some of the fans, can't lose the players - that's when it's over. No one has more to lose than he does. This is clearly a very talented team - I think they will get it together. The next couple of games are critical...

Haven't seen any games since UCLA on television a few weeks back, but clearly things aren't going well. In most corporations, employees are given a mid year grade and specific feedback on how to improve for the year end review. Given the state of the program, I thought it would be good to give them a mid season grade. Overall Grade would be a D. Player for player, UA has the best talent in the conference. They should not be blown out at home against Harvard (missing 2 of their best players) or have to make a late comeback against Sacred Heart. Yes, expectations were high this year, but the team is coming no where near those expectations to date. Even if they aren't winning, the performance should be better. I do think that they can win the AE. Again, they have the best talent in the conference. I also think that Brown has excellent coaches with proven track records. It's also a very weak conference. The challenge for Brown is to begin to win before he loses the players. The next few games are critical, not just for the program, but for Brown personally. If they don't get off to a good start in conference, I believe that it will be difficult to keep the players on board (consistent effort) and that is when a coaches job is in jeopardy. Not sure how this gets turned around, but maybe the captains meet with the rest of the team and have a discussion about what they think needs to be done differently?

Dane Pound, I agree with your comments about Brown - I think he's still learning how to manage his comments. Even if he really believes it, I don't think it's something that he should say publicly. He also made a concerning comment (in hindsight) after the UCLA game. In an interview on the fox site, he said that Iati was a very good shooter - that he would would never go 0 for 8 or 0 for 9 from three point range. In the last two games Iati has gone a combined 1 for 12. That said, according to Pomeroy, UA is favored in each of their next ten games except Brown and BU.

Interesting, going from a scholarship league to a non-scholarship league.

When someone mentioned that Graham wasn't at the Siena, my first thought was that he left. Dyson just diappeared last year and the JC transfer from Rochester vanished two years ago. Graham probably assumed that he wouldn't get much time - Covington playing well and is a freshman with the 6'10" coming in next year. Courtney is a bit disappointing although I don't think he played in any games this year. Had he not played as a freshman walk on, the record that year could have been even worse than it was. I actually thought Bauman would be the first to leave. Disappointed that they would leave. Hopefully Courtney doesn't leave school and Graham lands someplace where he can get some PT.

Both SienaTony and Soup are giving us some s*** about the loss. That's OK - they won and I accept that they will gloat for a while. I especially like the way Tony couches the daggers in a veil of positive statements - If they want to say that they're a superior team because they won or that we will do better when we play teams at our level then so be it. They won, and are apparently playing very well with their new coach and that's pretty much it. What's important for Albany now is focusing on the conference win. Let's not get to caught up in the loss and their comments. While I know that a lot of posters on this board really wanted to beat Siena, I think the goal is still winning the conference. Personally, I much prefer to see the Siena fans gloat in December than the BU or Vermont fans gloating in March. Let's move on.

As the Head Coach, certainly Brown has some responsibility for the recent play. While they are struggling a bit, I don't think that he is far from getting things together - they certainly have the talent to win in the AE. Also, Brown must feel a lot of pressure - he knows that he has to win to get his contract renewed again. I don't know the context of McElroy's quote, but I am sure that he is frustrated with the performance to date just like everyone else is. Maybe he's not being antagonistic, it may just be the frustration coming to the surface. I hope that he let's this game go and instead focuses on watching as much tape as he can and keeping the kids focused.

Cleveland State is 2 - 2 with losses to Florida A&M and a 60 point loss to North Carolina. Their wins were against Rochester College and Central Michigan. They hava a Sagarin's ranking of 291 and an RPI of 259. Let's see if UA can reverse things against this team.

There is tremendous pressure on Brown and the team now. Not so much for losing to Siena, but for a lackluster first half (again), losing another close game... Not only is Brown's job out there, but there is credibility for the athletic program as basketball is the flagship sport. That said - I don't think all is lost. In a one bid conference, the purpose of the out of conference games is to prepare for the conference games and get ready for the games in March - the ones that really count. The good news: 1. Jordan and Zoellner played well 2. They have a week before the Cleveland State game and a week before the Harvard game. 3. I think they are capable of being a very good team - don't think they are missing any parts necessary to win the conference. The key for Brown is to not lose the kids - not sure how you manage that. They must continue to prepare for the conference games.

Nice job - it's good to see increased support for the program. Couple of notes - based on some of the comments in the blog: 1. Brown wasn't an assistant at Pitt - I believe he was offered the position but instead chose to go to Albany. 2. The game was on Fox Sports Pacific

I think that Siena has won the games that they should win (Albany has not). Siena beat a bad Fordham team and a HC team without theur best player. They also appear to be playing much better basketball with their new coach without having much depth. Albany made tremendous progress against UCLA. They were aggressively going to the boards and defending both in the post and on the perimeter. Siena is a good perimeter shooting team so Albany must manage that. Albany also seems to be making a lot of bad (weak) passes so they need to manage that to beat Siena. That said, this will be the first team that Albany plays without a real post presence (Oakland had 6'8" 300lb Sam Hopes). That should certainly help as ALbany is still improving their post defense. Big game for the team - not so much because it's Siena but because they lost to a poor Sacred Heart team, have to travel to Cleveland next week and then have a home game against undefeated Harvard before conference play begins. They have made tremendous progress putting this puzzle together - this is an important game for them.

I do root for Siena when they are not playing Albany. I don't recall any rivalry when I was in school, in fact I didn't know anything about Siena until I found this board (actually the predecessor to this board) a few years back. In terms of the game on Saturday, it will be the first one that I'll miss in the last 4 years - won't even hear the game as my son has a basketball game that afternoon. Anyway, I think it'll certainly be a good game. I feel good about the insertion of Iati into the starting line up and the rebounding and defensive intensity at UCLA. That said, Siena appears to be a much improved team this year. While most of the players are the same, they seem to be adjusting to the new coaches style quite well. I would also expect them to be fired up for the game because Albany has gotten more publicity than usual as they were picked to win the conference.

I agree - they played a lot of match up zone which slowed down the inside play of UCLA, but they made their perimeter shots. UA had some trouble when UCLA started reversing the ball and foound the open man.

The game was on Fox College Sports - Pacific. They usually re-air the games a few times. I apologize if this is redundant for those that heard or saw the game. Even with the loss, there were several positives: 1. Iati's shooting. Not only was he making them, but UCLA switched defenders and put a 6'5" or 6'6" guard on him and Iati was still getting his shot up. 2. Zoellner had two fouls (fourth and fifth) in a matter of seconds, but even with that, you can tell that the team was making an effort to get him the ball. 3. Jamar, Levi and Lucious did not depend on the 3 last night, they took a few but for most of the game they went to the basket hard. It was obvious that it was a mandate as they had a lot of shots blocked and turnovers. 4. Jimmy Covington played very well. Had a couple of key free throws and a couple of good moves in the paint. 5. Overall hustle. Brent missed a lot of 3's, but he worked very hard on both ends against his bigger opponents. Tried a baby hook a couple of times from the low post. Lillis played well when he got his minutes. He did a very good job overplaying his man. Also made a nice 3. Other thoughts: 1. The announcers had some fun with the AE (mostly intentional). At one point they said that the conference had Maryland Baltimore Community College. They went through the nicknames of the teams...Also had some good info on Albany - they compared Albany - Siena to USC - UCLA. Noted that the Giants practiced at UA and that Brian may not be the best player in his family... 2. Shot of Brown meeting John Wooden and having his picture taken with him. Mentioned that Brown almost joined the Pitt staff before going to UA and could have ended up at UCLA with Howland. 3. Good discussion about McElroy going to the football practice and talking about his playing days - also had a shot of McElroy in the stands.

Way to end the half. Clearly Brown has told them to go inside - Jamar hasn't made any shots and hasn't taken any perimeter shots. Neither Jordan nor Levine have taken any 3's either. They will be OK in conference Iati can shoot!!

I haven't pulled back on my expectations - I still expect them to play very well in conference. My view is that the team had problems last year - they were very bad on the road to end the year, they had trouble scoring in the post and relied on the 3 too much and when it didn't fall they were in trouble. To date, they are still trying to address these issues - I think that Iati returning will help with more consistent perimeter play but Iati is only 5'9", he needs to get open shots. That means they have to keep working on setting screens and moving without the ball. Also, even with the blowout loss to SDSU, Zoellner had a big game (relatively speaking) - this was his best game since Army last year. That makes me think that the coaches spent some time wotking on post play for the game. Once Zoellner can consistently contribute from the post, the team will be much improved. Also, they will not see any teams that are nearly as athletic as SDSU. They are still learning and understanding their roles. My thoughts on the roles so far are that : 1. The on the floor leaders of this team are Brent and Jamar - they will score a bunch of the points and have to be consistent for this team to win. 2. Lucious' role is changing. I don't think a lot of points can be expected on a regular basis. He needs to be a defensive stopper - at a legit 6'2", he will be bigger and more physical than most 2 guards ni the conference. HE also needs to keep going to the basket and not rely on his perimeter shot so much 3. If Levi cannot control himself, he will spend a lot of time on the bench and Siggers and Lillis will get his minutes. They will be fine once conference play rolls around - they just need to make it through UCLA tomorrow.

You see him play a lot more than I do, but based on what I've seen, I think that he has become more of a perimeter player. Lucious worked really hard on his jump shot when he sat out that year. He shot it really well last year in non conference play and in a couple of conference game (the Vermont game comes to mind). I think he has become too dependent on his perimeter play. I think that a lot of his non conference success last year was because he was a tough slasher and the defenses had to respect that. After a few games last year, he became a perimeter player. In fact, one of the announcers last night (I think it was Tobben) said that Jordan scored 30 last year a lot of the points were slasher moves and that he wasn't doing that anymore. If he wants to shoot from the perimeter, the shots don't have to be from 3 point range, they can be 15 to 17 feet. I'd like to see him shoot less from the perimeter and spend more time slashing to the basket.