reeder

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

A few more points. I think Binghamton showed how to beat Albany: 1. Don't let Jamar go left - interesting that the Binghamton freshman picked up on that. I have not seen as many games as most of you (I've seen 4 this year), but Jamar does a lot of damage going to the basket to the left. 2. Make them shoot perimeter shots - not made them consistently since the first Hartford game. 3. Get Zoellner away from the basket - on offense and defense. Zoellner does damage on offense when he is close enough to dunk and on defense he alters shots around the basket - that doesn't work when he 5 to 7 feet from the basket. If I were Coach Brown, I would have Jamar penetrate less. I believe he is the best perimeter shooter on the team. I like to get to the games an hour before tipoff to watch the shootarounds - in each shoot around that i've seen, Jamar has been the best perimeter shooter by far. He can make the perimeter shot coming off a screen but that takes a pretty big shift in his thought process. I've also noticed that Lillis has an excellent shot, he just does not use it in the games - he needs to put up some perimeter shots.

I think Patch makes a good point about losing Iati - Iati would keep the defenses honest. Regardless of what the stats early in the year said, this is not a good perimeter shooting team. This team has struggled offensively against several of the AE teams that play tough D - Boston U - Binghamton twice (the first game was won because Binghamton couldn't beat the press), Vermont, even Maine for most of the game. The teams that they beat are the teams that let them run the floor. For Albany to win the tough games, someone has to step up and make perimeter shots. They run the weave a lot, but the weave doesn't work if you can't get a shot up. At the BPG, I think there were atleast two occassions where Jordan chose not to take a jump shot that he would have taken and made earlier in the season. Nobldy appears comfortable taking that shot. After the non conference season, the team made it a focus to go to the basket more, they need to take time now and focus on perimeter shooting. I don't think anyone (besides Jamar) can consistently make a perimeter shot. I think that as a team they have almost abandoned it. In the second half, they came out and Brent Wilson made a 3, I think Jordan made one as well. Levi made a 12 footer. So I think Coach told them to take those shots. If you don't make those shots, they can run the weave but the defense is going to look for the penetration and not respect the perimeter shot. Another point about the game last night is that they pressed the entire game and Binghamton had no problems with it. They may have been better off in a match up zone to avoid some of the easy layups.

I think Brown also mentioned that he'll be one of the best centers in the conference next year. I am not sure that there are many returning centers in the conference. Sturgill, Cori Spencer, Billings, Adediran, Flavin all graduate. Let's hope K-Zo has a good game against Bing tomorrow. I don't want Billings to have his breakout game against UA.

Wasn't the 2700 a bpg game? I think 3000 would be nice, but I don't think Albany has ever drawn more than 2200 maybe 2300 for a non-bpg game. I think the Army game last year was over 2k.

I think Binghamton is a very dangerous team. Billings is a very good player - unclear why he isn't playing. He played well against UA the first game although I think he had some foul trouble. Also they sometimes have trouble scoring, but when the guards are hitting perimeter shots like they did against Maine and against Albany in the first game it presents a challenge. The keys for Albany are controlling the turnovers, making some perimeter shots and getting to the line.

The growl was great. I'll post my overall observations later, but the women's game was disturbing a bit as the team didn't try very hard to get Schumaker the ball. I splurged for courtside seats and you could hear Schumaker calling for the ball and see a bit of frustration a few times when they didn't get it to her. They got her a couple of shots late in the game but it was too late.

Big crowd for Vermont would be great. Will be an important game for the team as well: 1. They were blown out in Vermont after the 1800 mile debacle. 2. They didn't score for over 10 minutes (may have been more) - from late first half through a good part of the second half. 3. They will probably be in Vermont's bracket in the tournament (hate to think that far ahead, but that what it looks like). 4. Another opportunity to beat a top tier team. The last chance will be at Northeastern to end the season.

Check out Brown's video on the website about the New Hampshire game. He mentions the RACC rowdies. http://www.albany.edu/sports/Video/brown2-3-05.mpg

Check out this article about the Drexel DAC pack - the author even has a reference to giving Albany advice on starting a student section. You think he reads the board? http://www.midmajority.com/archives/2005/0...k_mentality.php

The halftime interview was interesting. Wyland went right to the football stadium questions, Hall deflected saying the challenge was raising private funding. Hall went on to say how great McElroy is, Wyland went back to the stadium and asked about timing... Hall deflected a bit again and said that it's TBD, the timing will depend on a lot of factors including raising $ - he went on to say that academics were first and foremost. Wyland went back and asked about the future of athletics at UA. Hall said that a reasonable goal was to be like William and Mary. I don't know much about William and Mary but Hall clearly was not going to provide specific answers to those questions.

I don't live in the area so cannot tape it for you. But it is available on Fox Sports NE (per the AE website) - is that available in Boston?

Several times on the radio call, Wyland mentioned that the women's game was at 5 followed by the men at 7. I thought the women's game was at 4.