reeder

Need to manage Cori Spencer in the post and stop the 3. When they played at the RACC, Santiago hit a lot of 3's to keep them in the game. Stony Brook just beat Binghamton - will be a tough game.

I think each of the top three teams has something that they are great at. Vermont has a great inside - outside game. They struggle when either Coppenrath or Sorrentine struggle (BU, Albany, Nevada) BU has great defense - they struggle when their oppenents get real hot (the Northeastern game)or when the opponents play great D as well (the second Albany game) Notheastern may not be great , but they have streaky shooters, they pass well and James is a very good interior presence on defense. I believe that Albany can compete with any of these teams if they play great defense and can make some perimeter shots. I agree with the point guard comment, but they have not had sufficient production from the post position either.

I'd be surprised and disappointed if there wasn't a bus going to the games. I think the athletic department should pay for the buses (they can use the money that they saved when the team took the 1800 mile bus trip). UA needs some fan support - you'll have over 3k Binghamton fans - maybe 4k. While the UA fan support has increased, I am not sure how many fans will drive the 2 hours to Binghamton to watch the game. They would want to have as much fan support as possible. I say they charter three buses and offer tickets to the games at the list price with free transportaion. Make it available to the first x number that sign up.

Who is planning on going to the AE tournament? I actually booked the trip a month ago as I use frequent flyer miles and it's so tough to get flights, just found out that my son has baseball tryouts on the 5th in the AM and I'm the coach so... Assuming Albany makes it to the Sunday games, I may use the tickets to go to those games.

The conference has reached a pretty critical point. The RPI is pretty high this year primarily because of the success of Vermont and BU. While the formula is pretty complex, some of the key factors are the RPI's of your competitors and their Strength of schedule. Wouldn't expect Vermont to play teams ranked as high this year as they graduate 4 starters. That means that other teams are going to have to "schedule up". Albany has one of the lower out of conference strength of schedules. Although we usually play 2 guarantee games against top notch schools, most of the ooc schedule is against lower rated NEC schools, Patriot League and Ivy League schools (Sacred Heart and Army have RPI's over 300) . By contrast, the lowest ooc RPI game that Northeastern played was Detroit at 226. I think Albany is going to have to play an increased role in helping the conference maintain their overall ranking, the question is how do they do that. I think if the games in the Coaches vs. Cancer pan out and they can get UCLA that will certainly help. I think in addition to that, they should take the two available games (with Northeastern leaving the conference) and schedule teams with RPI's in the 200 range. There are many options - Manhattan, Iona, Marist in the MAAC; Pretty much any Horizon League team if UA wants to continue improving their profile in the Midwest; Several of the A-10 and CAA schools... I am not saying that Albany needs to stop playing the games vs. Sacred Heart, Army... I am proposing that they need to evaluate ways to improve their RPI. At a minimum schedule up with the two newly available games. I believe that this topic should be high on the list of topics at the next conference AD meeting and a key initiative for the new conference commissioner.

Sounded like a poorly officiated game. Box score shows some good stuff: 1. Zoellner fouled out but appeared to play well when he was in. This is 2 consecutive games where he was pretty active. Only missed one shot - I think that was the dunk. 2. They're making perimeter shots. 7 for 14 from 3 point range. 3. Shot 52% from the field. 4. Wyatt stepped up and had a great game. The bad news is that they gave up a lot of offensive rebounds again. THe same thing happened against Vermont. UMBC had 14 more shot attempts than Albany primarily because they got 19 offensive rebounds (Albany only had 7). They need to figure this out before they get into the tournament.

I read somewhere that there are HS games at the RACC on Sunday - wonder what the attendance will be at those games. As I recall, they usually get in the 4k range.

They need to update the media guide on the UA website - it still has the 2004 media guide.

Any updates on Joe?

wnba scout - is this Sarah Sweetland? I think I read somewhere that she went to work for the NY Liberty

I think that it doesn't matter to us fans whether they are 4th or 5th. I do think it will matter to the players. They need to play well in their last 3 games to secure the 4th seed. Either way, they will probably be in the same bracket as Binghamton and Vermont.

Favorite Wyatt moment was his putback against Villanova this year. His family was there taping the game. I don't recall that he had a lot of minutes, but he got up high to put back a missed shot - even the Villanova fans were impressed. I think Q has had a great career at Albany - a JC transfer who sits out a year, walks on and gets the team MVP.

There were 1,700 for the Binghamton game during the break (it was a doubleheader). The other sports teams may be in town as the Spring sports are probably practicing now. Need about 1200 to average 2000 for the season.

Connelly will be a player. I'm just not clear on if he is a post player or more of a perimeter player. At 6'6", he might not be big enough to bang in the post.

Have a good weekend at home with your family. Let's hope the team can avenge their earlier loss - which I think is the only really disappointing conference loss.

I have only seen the Rowdies in action once - at the BPG. There was one student in a wig that was about to explode aftere some bad calls in the women's game - I was sitting courtside opposite the New Hampshire bench and I could hear the frustration. That same student took a free throw in one of the contests during the men's game and missed badly. The guy that I sat next to told me that the student started the "RACC Rowdies" - I assume that was Brian? If this wasn't Brian, I think it was another member of the Rowdies. I was impressed by the intensity but concerned with the free throw attempt.

The one thing that was obvious listening to the game last night was the number of offensive rebounds Vermont had. It seemed like they would miss and would get the rebounds pretty consistently. Yes, it seemed like Albany had some challenges with the zone, but they played well offensively overall - shot over 50%, made some threes. Lucious got untracked, Zoellner played well... I think the difference was the offensive rebounds. Yes, Sorrentine shot well for a stretch, but it just seemed like whenever they missed, they'd get the board. They had 17 offensive boards - Albany had 6.

I think the RACC rowdies have done a great job. I listened to the game last night and at times it was hard to hear the announcers because of the background noise - huge contrast compared to prior years. That said, i don't believe you can build a fan base based on student support. You get a loyal base of students to follow the team, the team performs well, community interest increases and you have improved attendance. The administration must work on selling the programs to the kids during orientation and during other campus activities. You can't make kids go the game - get the RACC rowdies and a good core group and let the team continue winning. Everything else will work itself out.

I think 1000 is a sellout at St. Rose. Either way, the increase is tremendous. Probably one of the best percentages in the country - from 1100 to 2000

Listened on the internet feed. Sounded like a great game and a loud crowd. Haven't seen the stats yet, but I think there were some very good things that came out of tonight's game: 1. Jordan shot extremely well - like he did in non-conference play this year. 2. Zoellner played well - a couple of early baskets. I'm sure this will help his confidence. 3. Levi - Over 1000 points and he made some good shots tonight. 4. Jamar - didn't sound like he scored much but worked hard especially in the second half to try to slow down Sorrentine. Hate to lose any game, but there were definitely some positives.

Not quite off topic, but we need a better ticket management system. I have used the "ticket office" three times this year and the process is you call them, leave a voicemail and they call you back. Hopefully they reach you otherwise it's phone tag. If UA is going to bid for the tournament, they need to improve the process for getting tickets. Some schools, like Vermont and Binghamton allow you to order from their website.

Last year, the 4 - 5 game was Saturday at noon

Lillis seems to be quietly putting things together. If you exclude Hew Hampshire where he was 0 for 0, he is 8 of 9 in his last 3 games and 3 for 3 from the 3 point line. Also, he played a lot of point against Binghamton last week when Jamar had foul trouble and appeared to do OK.

Did McElroy actually say this or is it your interpretation? thanks

Covington's team actually has 2 other kids that will play D1 ball. One is a senior and I think the other is a sophomore or junior. Yes it is a bit strange - not much info on him on the Chicago board either