reeder

It's amazing that Marr can get this kind of talent without any facilities. Do you just sell them on going to the NCAA tournament?

OK - a few post season basketball thoughts as we get ready to hear who the new UA signees are: 1. Just got a one month subscription to Scout .com to get ready for the recruiting season. Doing some research on recruits over the last few years: Jamar is the only 4 star recruit for UA in the last 3 years Iati and Levi were both 1 star Barea was 4 stars None of the kids that signed with Hartford or Binghamton (in 2002)are on their rosters today (maybe scout.com didn't have them for some reason). 2. Still looking for an update on Dyson. Let's hope that no announcement is good news. 3. Hard to find stats on Covington. I did find a picture of him, but I can't figure out how to get it on my avatar. 4. Connelly had a great year - I wonder if he is 6'6" or 6'8". 5. How hard must it have been for Jamar to leave an incredibly talented Our Savior HS team and come into the UA program. That team had incredible talent. 6. The kid from Wisconsin - Steve Hoelzel that UA was apparently trying to recruit last year transferred from Michigan Tech (where he redshirted) to UWM where he has to sit out next year. I don't know much about him, but if he had to redshirt at a D2 school, how will he get time at UWM - a very good mid-major. 7. Where did all the Vermont posters on the AE site come from? They had an amazing year, so I understand all the new fans coming out... 8. If Siena gets blown out by UA next year, how fast will their fans turn against the new coach? 9. If UA starts out 0-4 - losing to UCLA, Florida, San Diego and the other Coaches for Cancer team, how worried will Brown be about his contract being renewed? 10. I remember sitting next to a Siena fan at the Siena game in November and that fan couldn't believe the moves that Zoellner had. He was using a drop step, good fakes, making good low post moves - what happened to him. He had moments throughout the year, but I don't know that he was as good as we was against Siena. I think he had very good games against Sacred Heart and Wagner before that although I recall that he had limited minutes against Wagner as he had some foul trouble. Anyway, I think that around the LIU or Hartford game is when Brown decided to start the offense by feeding the post as opposed to letting the guards manage the game (maybe that was because of the injuries to Iati and to Lillis). I think this is something Brown needs to reconsider next year unless Zoellner becomes a lot more comfortable in the low post.

I think UA plays number 1 Hopkins later this week...

Big win - on the lax power site, 62% of the fans picked Stony Brook to win.

I think that Tchana, Juan Palacios from Louisville and Jamar were all teammates in HS.

For $2 million, UA can do a lot. 1. Move the home side of the field across to the visitors side and add nice bleachers. Moving the bleachers close to the field for better viewing. 2. Add an enclosed area near the bleachers for restrooms and food. 3. Make the field turf so that it can be used for lax, field hockey and football. Those changes would give UA one of the best facilities in the NEC and save a boatload of $.

Let's hope that the plans to move to scholarship football in 2007 is accurate as the difficulty of this schedule is ridiculous - the same was true last year. Would be good to throw in atleast one MAAC or Pioneer program or a lower ranked Patriot or A10 program.

It may not be that Albany ran up the score, maybe Hartford is not very good this year - given up 14 goals twice and 21 to Yale Hartford Hawks Record: 1-5 (0-1 America East) March 5 Manhattan L 7-14 9 at Brown ppd. 12 at Holy Cross L 11-14 16 at St. John's L 4-9 22 at Providence W 8-7 26 *at Albany L 9-25 29 at Yale L 7-21

NFL Workouts UAlbany Pair Works Out for NFL Teams UAlbany lineman Geir Gudmundsen and DB Kurt Campbell working out for 5 NFL teams today at the RAAC. This is the 2nd time this month that NFL teams have come in to look at the pair. The Bills, Eagles, Packers, Dolphins and Colts bringing the total to over 20 teams with interest. Campbell is heading to St. Louis later this week to meet with the Cardinals coaches, take a physical and tour the facilities.

Not sure of the impact on athletics, but... Change in fundraising focus

Came across this? Anyway, pretty cool. 1. You don't always have an opportunity to watch linemen closely so it is good to see him block so well. 2. It is quite popular for HS players to make tapes like this to get a scholarship, good to see the college kids do it to get drafted.

I thought Zampier was a pretty big time player that was being recruited by Syracuse? Third team is good, but I thought he would have been first team.

Last entry into Kyle's blog - he reached 100 games. Nice commentary about Albany. http://www.midmajority.com/archives/2005/0...s_where_the.php

If only Campbell didn't have so many injuries... Hope he gets picked up put the injuries will hurt him - I think he missed the Las Vegas all star game because of injuries.

OK - Started at Temple transferred to SW Texas State in April 2003 and then to Tennessee Martin in July 2003. Can't find when he transferred to Lackawanna, but he did play in games at Tennessee Martin, so I assume he transferred after the 2003 - 2004 school year.

He appears to have graduated HS in 2002, that would give him 2 years of eligibility. Not sure how he could get to so many colleges in such a short time.

You hope an upset like this gets the UA kids excited about the possibilities. Let's hope it motivates Zoellner to spend the summer practicing post moves, Iati, Jordan and Lillis to spend the summer sticking jump shots...

Offer him a scholarship now

Begins in less than a month - what position(s) does UA need? Assuming Covington signs, I think that would leave them with 1 or 2 (if Dyson has left the program). I think they need another big man and a point guard. If they can't get a pg, they should get another perimeter shooter.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp...sdate=3/15/2005 Interesting article on admissions. Makes you wonder what the impact on athletic facilities will be.

Trying to figure out who the Temple transfer is. I checked the Temple website and they only have 3 qb's listed. two seniors and one junior from Florida. Wouldn't think the junior would transfer to play his senior year at Albany. Also checked other position players from NY and none of them were underclassmen - most were linemen. Who is this kid?

If Albany finishes 4th in the league but doesn't win the league title, I don't think that would be a successful season. That is the scenario this year. Next year, the league will be much weaker and Albany should be better as pretty much all the players return from this year. I am not saying that a 4th place finish means Brown should be fired, but I would consider it disappointing.

All the talk about Driscoll being fired and Brown's contract status had me thinking about reviewing what has been accomplished in the last few years: 1. Attendance - Significant improvements as this years average was over 2000. The biggest percentage increase in the conference and the third highest attendance in the conference. 2. Recruiting - a mixed bag. Certainly, Jamar, Levi, Brent Wilson, Brian Lillis and Jon Iati have proven to be excellent players, but Coach has struggled with recruiting the big men - Herman Banks, Todd Martin, Joe Dyson is a question mark (is he still with the program), Brent is a big guy but not a post player, Alex Zimnikas was a pretty hot prospect for a while but ended up at Hartford and not getting many minutes there, Zoellner has certainly helped the team but I think that even Brown would say that he didn't play as well as he could have this year. There was also that JC kid from Texas that was offered a scholarship last year and it was later discovered that he was suspended from his team for a good part of the season for using drugs. I think he is playing for a pretty good D2 school now. Also, we don't have any of issues like Northeastern with Barea and Barnes - not that they aren't good kids, but one was booted from his previous school and the other taunts players (I heard the taunts at the Stony Brook game in the tournament) and punches players. 3. Wins - perhaps the most important stat - UA had it's most wins ever as a D1 program this year. Yes they should have had more (should not have lost to UMBC on the road) also should have won one or two of the close games - LIU, Wagner, BU twice, Northeastern... 4. Representing the University - He does a great job at this. I have met him a couple of times and he is very personable and confident about the team. I think he handled the discipline issues with Jamar and Levi well early this year.

1. We don't know the details behind the Driscoll incident. It's true that McElroy isn't talking about it, but what if he did something so inappropriate that McElroy discussing it would embarass the program and the University? What if there were a seried of issues that have been building up to the firing? 2. I don't know that you can make a connection between the firing of Driscoll and Brown's status with the program. I do think that McElroy puts tremendous pressure on his coaches and expects them to win. 3. Fans will continue to come out as the team wins. Brown will win next year and have his contract extended. The issue is that McElroy will expect him to win the conference championship.

10 thoughts for the off season: 1. Can Brown get Zoellner to a big man camp. He needs to work on his footwork and one or two post moves. These things can be taught but not during the season. 2. Will Lillis work on his perimeter shooting - he can be a big time player if he can make that shot consistently. 3. Will Lou continue to work on his perimeter shooting? He had a great start but struggled down the stretch - some of that is related to not having Iati but Lou's shot has so much arc that he doesn't have a lot of room for error when he launches. 4. Who gets the remaining scholarship? 5. Will Dyson return to the program? 6. Will Brent Wilson continue to be a 3 point shooter or does he bang in the post more? 7. How is the point handled next year. UA still doesn't have a pg. Jamar did the best he could this year, Iati isn't a point either. I wonder if Jamar becomes the permanent pg and continues to adjust his game so that the TO's are minimzed. 8. How does UA avoid going 0-4 to start the year? If that happens, will they be composed enough to weather the storm. 9. What will Voelker do to continue to increase attendance next year - will he start with the kids coming in for summer orientation. 10. Can they get 10k at the Pepsi for the Siena game. If Gillen sp? becomes the new Siena coach, I think the fans will come out.