reeder

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.

1. I don't know that intimidation is the right word - Vermont is a better team and it is difficult to beat them in general, but much more difficult in from of 3,000 loud fans. The same is true for Binghamton - only the team isn't as talented. 2. Not sure you want to start the year off with 4 tough games - you lose 4 in a row and nobody remembers that you were playing in front of 12k fans. Given this schedule, I think the team needs to take a few weeks and go on a pre-season trip to get some games in - I think Maine went to Canada last year. 3. Albany struggled throughout the entire conference season in three areas: 1. Perimeter defense. Binghamton lit them up in the first game and the third game, Northeastern won the game at the RACC when they shot so well, Sorrentine in the second half at the RACC... 2. Perimeter shooting. Albany ended up third or fourth in conference games shooting from the 3 point range, but the number was relatively low. Jordan had an incredible start but he and the rest of the team struggled from the perimeter for most of the conference season. Brent Wilson had some nice games and Jordan had a couple of nice games - Vermont at the RACC. 3. Consistent post play. Zoellner was great against Siena, I was sitting next to a Siena fan who kept asking why they wouldn't just dump the ball down low as Zoellner was dunking, using drop steps... Not sure what happened but he wasn't consistent for the rest of the season. One thing that I did notice was that once the conference season started, Brown made a point of starting the half court offense by feeding the post. I don't know if that was a good idea, there were so many games where Zoellner wasn't able to convert and Albany ended up with ony a few points at the 5 minute mark, training in the game. I think the big issue is that when you start out down in so many games, it is difficult to have the energy on the road to make the comeback.

According to Chicago Hoops, Covington verballed in December. He is listed at 6'6" on most sites although a couple have him at 6'7". He didn't seem to have a great year, but I'll take an OK year for someone in the Chicago Public Leagues. Connelly has had a great year and I've seen him listed at 6'6" on most sites - 6'8" on a couple.

Interesting, he was the only assistant coach that appeared to do any coaching. The other two just seem to sit around during the games. Even last year, with Spisto there, Driscoll seemed to be quite involved during the games.

I think he's referring to Dyson as the third front court player.

http://www.hofstrachronicle.com/news/2005/...al-886609.shtml

1. I think this is a pretty poor quote by McElroy. There is no reason to even imply anything negative at this point in the season. he should have simply said that he will evaluate the contract situation after the season is over. 2. I think Patterson's extension was before the AE tournament last year. 3. It was a 4 year 85k per contract. Yes I think Brown is underpaid. He should have his contract renegotiated sooner than later. I would be surprised if they haven't already had some conversations about it.

I also think Brown should have been coach of the year. Northeastern was picked to finish 4th and they finished 2nd. UA was picked to finish 8th and finished 4th. Not sure where the one year turnaround in wins stacks up, but I'd bet it is in the top 10 this year. Maybe the issue was that Albany was 0-6 against the top 3 teams?

Feeling pretty good about this kid - 23ppg is about twice what Dyson averaged last year (I know Dyson's stats in the media guide and the web page says he averaged 17ppg, but those are off significantly). Makes you wonder if he would have gone higher if he waited to sign in the spring instead of the fall.

Can't find stats for Covington, but he made the Chicago Public Schools League All Academic team. Boys All Academic Team GPA 1) Robert Eshmann Nothside Prep 4.1 2) Julius Hearn Lincoln Park 3.7 3) Addison WIlliams Robeson 3.3 4) Quinton Strother Whitney Young 3.2 5) Garvin Robinson Nothside Prep 3.9 6) Raphael Scott Morgan Park 3.6 7) Brandon Ewing Julian 3.0 8) Jimmy Price Brooks 4.4 9) Jimmy Covington Morgan Park 3.0 10) Joe Ballard Westinghouse 3.0

UA only had one POY - that was Jordan in the first week of the season. No ROY awards this year. There were a couple of indidual games where Brent Wilson and Brian Lillis played well, but I cannot think of any week where they should have won the award. Neither can I recall any week where there was a UA player that should have been up for the POY award. Jamar had some nice weeks, but Coppenrath, Sorrentine and Barea had a series of incredible weeks. I think this is good overall as it shows the team is pretty balanced and the freshmen were not needed as much.

Few thoughts on what UA needs to do to win on Saturday: 1. Jamar and Kirsten need to stay under control early and not have the quick fouls. I think this is what Brown calls letting the game come to you. 2. Switch defenses - I don't think they can press Binghamton 40 minutes again, that didn't work on Feb 9, won't work on Saturday unless they have some new pressing schemes. They also need to play an aggressive man to man - they played what looked like a match up zone early inthe year against Villanova and that worked pretty well. 3. Play aggressive defense on the perimeter. Can't give Heard, Hailey and Jackson ppen looks from the perimeter. 4. Make some perimeter shots. They don't need to make a lot, just enough to keep the Binghamton defense honest. 5. Don't give up the big run - UA tends to get behind a lot at some point in the game and then require a heroic effort to get back in the game. They need to weather the storm especially in the first 10 minutes of the game - will be a hostile atmosphere.

Wow - very disappointing and embarassing. I think many people thought she left because of a disagreement with the SUNY chancellor.

I thought they would be above .500 in conference play - they may end right at .500. I think that the good start inflated some expectations. When I look at the conference games, the only one that I can say was not a good loss was UMBC. Binghamton and Stony Brook are going to be tough on the road. They are doing good, would be great to win a tournament game.