reeder

1. Listened to the game and the crowd was very loud. Sounded like a pretty big crowd. 2. This is the second time that Albany has let a team shoot 3's like that. The first was against Binghamton. Northeastern made a bunch as well but they are better than Stony Brook and Binghamton. UA has to defend the 3 better. 3. I think free throws were key again. 1 for 2 in the first half and 12 for 17 in the second half. They got them in the 1 and 1 early and got them to the double penalty. 4. 14 offensive rebounds is amazing. They had 14 more shots than Stony Brook. 5. If someone can make perimeter shots, this team will be hard to beat. 6. If Lillis can make those perimeter shots, he is hard to stop. 7. Good to see Brent have 8 rebounds - Zoellner had 4 (3 offfensive).

I expect Albany to win (Albany by 10). Would like to see: 1. Someone shoot consistently from the perimeter - one of the papers said Jordan took 200 shots in practice yesterday, if he can shoot well down the stretch they will be tough to beat. 2. Jamar, Zoellner and Jordan manage the turnovers 3. Zoellner not put the ball on the floor when he is close to the basket 4. Aggressive half court defense These next 4 games are very important - lower division teams 3 of 4 at home.

Would like to see the current scoreboard completed to include the missing lower portion - that would show players, scoring, fouls...

May not know the "mid-major" recruits for a couple of months. I think that Ford will look for the kids that he's wanted that did not receive scholarships. As I recall, UA usually announces the signees late in the academic year.

I think Brent is in a tough spot. UA doesn't have anyone that can consistently hit the outside shot. The stats are very misleading - before the conference season started, UA was a very good 3 point shooting team. Even the first game against Hartford had good results from 3. Since then they have struggled. Brent may be the only alternative. From time to time, Jamar, Lucious and Levi may make a 3 but Jamar has worked hard on driving to the basket lately and Lucious (even before the bad game at BU) and Levi have had a very tough time. My point is that I think for the rest of this year, Brent will have to take a lot of the 3's. Also, while Brent is 6'7/6'8, I don't know that he is a post player. I recall some of the AAU articles and I think he was pretty much a perimeter player then as well. HS games may have been a bit different as he was probably the biggest player on the court for most games.

I e-mailed Binghamton about this last month (the AE website links you to Binghamton). I have attached their response:

Listened to the game - a few thoughts: 1. Perimeter shooting continues to be a challenge - I know BU is a good defensive team but UA was 1 for 10 from the arc. They have struggled from behind the arc for the entire conference season. 2. Albany did a great job getting to the line in the second half. At about the 9 minute mark, they were shooting 1 and 1 and at about the 5 minute mark it was double bonus. I think that kept them in the game as BU had pulled out to a couple of big leads in the second half. 3. Brian Lillis will be a very good player once he improves his perimeter shooting. 4. I think Jamar should have been more aggressive in the first half. He didn't have any points and I don't know that he took more than one or two shots. The next couple of weeks is important for the team - these are all games that they would be favorite to win: Stony Brook, New Hampshire, Bing and Maine.

I've posted the same question twice previously with no response. Also, e-mailed the athletics department twice with no response. Has anyone even seen him at the games? Is he still enrolled at school?

With Northeastern leaving, that opens up to additional scheduling opportunities. I think other mid-majors would be good - they could probanly get home and home sereies with some of the MAAC schools or Buffalo. Also, would be great for one significant trip every 4 years - preseason games in Canada (I think Maine did that this year), maybe a tournament in Florida or California.

1400 fans is still pretty good. I think there will be a pretty big boost for the next few games. Interested to see what the BPG attendance will be - they had someone on from the alumni association at halftime that referenced a sellout but I think that is a bit optimistic.

I must say that I enjoy your posts on the Siena and AE boards. I don't go their frequently but when I do it's always good to read your posts.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=1/26/2005

Critical game for the Danes on Thursday: 1. Hartford has played pretty well since their 22 point effort vs. Boston U. 2. Important momentum game going into Sunday's game at Boston U. If UA slips, they risk a possible 3 game losing streak. 3. Hartford is a pretty athletic team which means ALbany needs to protect the ball - they forced 16 turnovers in the first game. 4. Siena is playing so poorly now that each UA win will attract more attention to the program. They have some very winnable home games coming up - Hartford, Stony Brook, New Hampshire, Maine. Keys for the rest of the season: 1. Minimize turnovers - that will keep them in every game they play 2. Post play will be the difference in beating the top tier teams 3. Free throws - they are much more likely to win when they get to the line.

Patch, Agree with your post. If they can just control the turnovers, they should be able to beat most teams in this league. Would be great to get something more from Brent, however he is one of the most consistent 3 point shooters. If they can Zoellner to get back to the level he played vs. Binghamton, that will help as well.

I sent an e-mail asking about Dyson's status to Ostrom last week - I haven't received a reply yet (usually he replies very quickly). I heard he wasn't at the Binghamton game and was wondering about his status.

Vermont by 10. For Albany to be competitive and have any chance to win: 1. Jamar needs to get to the free throw line at least 10 times 2. Albany needs to reduce their turnovers 3. They need to shutdown Sorrentine - Lillis needs to have a big game defensively. Let's hope the Danes give them a run for their money

Patch, I am not giving up on Zoellner - just trying to make an observation. I believe that he will be a very good player. Brown surely understands the tradeoff that he is making to get him there.

I think the disappearances of Levi and Q are to some extent related to Jamar trying to get the ball to Zoellner. For the last few games, I think the pattern has been to try to feed the ball to Zoellner to start the game and he struggles; the result is that you are 5 or 7 minutes into the game with maybe 5 points or are trailing. When that happens, it seems like Jamar (or Jordan) tries to take over and drive to the basket for some easy shots or he gets fouled. It seems like the second half starts the same way. I don't have the specific stats, but it seems like UA has less around 5 points after five minutes consistently. I say all of this to say that the focus of the offense seems to be feeding Zoellner or letting Jamar and Jordan penetrate. I don't know that Levi and Q have plays called for them that much. I think this is where Brown needs to make a decision - if Zoellner begins to convert or is able to kick the ball out consistently then Levi gets perimeter shots, Q gets shots from the Zoellner passes, the team is winning and everyone is happy - like most of the Binghamton game. When this doesn't work, Jamar and Lucious take over and try to carry the team. I think there is a big difference between having a post presence and having an offensive threat in the post. Does Brown go back to having a post presence and not try so hard to feed the ball to Zoellner?

GreatDanes84, Your pictures did not display - couldn't see any of the ASU game shots.

1. Brian Lillis had a great game last night. Couple steals, 4-4 shooting including a reverse dunk. If he can work on his perimeter game, he'll be a very good player in this conference. 2. You wonder how Brown manages Zoellner. How do you help Zoellner understand how critical his performance is for the teams success without making him more frustrated than I'm sure he is. How many games does Brown try to pound it down low to Zoellner to start the game when he cannot convert? 3. I think the team really misses Iati's perimeter play. At the beginning of the year several players were making the 3's, but since conference play started it has really tapered off. Jamar is driving to the hole, would be great to have Iati on the perimeter for the pass and three point attempt. 4. Someone has to step up and hit the 10 to 12 foot shots. Listening to the games, it almost sounds like 3's and Jamar and Jordan going to the basket. Someone needs to find a short jump shot so that others are involved with the offense. 5. UMBC is a bad loss. Yes it was on the road and the kids were tired, but they were outrebounded by a team that only played there big man 23 minutes and had 17 turnovers against a team that doesn't really press. 6. UA must get to the free throw line. I think the free throws compensate for their struggles from the 3 point line. This was the first game that UA had fewer free throws than their opponent since the Boston University game. In fact, in games where the opposition had more free throws, UA is 1 and 4 (loss to UMBC, Wagner, Boston University and Lehigh while beating Sacred Heart). Jamar gets most of the free throw attempts because he drives so frequently. I think that Zoellner and Levi need to be more aggressive and get to the line. Even if their free throw percentage is not as high as Jordan and Jamar, that will force the other team into the bonus and double bonus a lot sooner. UA only had 5 free throw attempts in the second half last night - they had 18 in the first half.

Student turnout would be great to have but I don't think the administration should spend a lot of cycles trying to solve that problem. Over the years, there have been buses, meetings with fraternities, advisory councils (i was on an advisory council 20 years ago) and a lot of other efforts - not sure that there has been any consistent improvement based on that. I think the biggest improvement has been that athletes from the different sports attend the games to show support I think you focus on the community and get them excited. Then you focus on the freshmen - you have a section in the recruiting brochures, it's discussed at orientation. Maybe there is a tie in with intramurals. I don't know the numbers today as I graduated many years ago, but there were about 2k students in each quad uptown. I think there are 5 quads, that's 10k students within walking distance to the RACC. Even if you only count Indian and Dutch (I think those are the two closest to the gym) that is 4k students. That is still a decent size population to get 500 students to a game. UA has never been successful in gettting those students. Get the community first, then get the freshmen and create a culture that supports athletics.

Tough loss. Don't want to harp on the travel, but it's tough to travel 1800 miles in 1 week and play 3 games - they'll get back to Albany at 3 or 4 in the morning and go to classes tomorrow, practice and leave for Vermont on Friday. Hope they get a chance to rest a bit before playing UVM.

THORNWOOD 46, MORGAN PARK 36: Lonte Ward scored a game-high 19 points for the Thunderbirds (8-7). Corey Webb led the Mustangs (4-10) with 11 points. Morgan Park center Jimmy Covington, who committed to Albany over the holidays, scored seven points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

UA by 10 I think, the things they need to improve on are: 1. Perimeter defense. May not be huge tonight, but important against top tier teams - Vermont, BU, Northeastern. The inability to stop the 3 almost cost them the Binghamton game. 2. Turnovers - Jamar and Zoellner need to keep them under control 3. Zoellner needs to establish a consistent presence in the post. Doesn't necessarily need to score a lot - just needs to be a presence. Also needs to stop the careless fouls.

from the gazette: "We’ve got our two toughest bus trips back-to-back," said Brown, whose Danes defeated Maine, 58-49, on Sunday. "It took us seven hours each way to Maine, and now we’ve got a 5 1 /2-hour bus trip to Baltimore. Ideally, we’d like to fly, but we couldn’t get a flight back until Thursday, and Wednesday is the first day of classes. That’s why we’re going to drive down on Tuesday, and come back right after the game."