reeder

To be completed over the next 5 years? Are they waiting to get additional donations to cover the rest of the expenditures? You can't recruit a kid by promising a new field in the next 5 years - the recruit would have graduated by then? Am I missing something?

I assume it will be replaced after the Giants depart. Any info?

Do we know that Hughes is definitely gone?

Don't know anything about him, but he only received an offer after Martin decided to transfer. My thought would be had he had another scholarship offer at the D1 level he would have accepted it earlier in the signing process. I am sure he will be a good player, obviously Brown thought he was the best available player - but if he was going to be more than a role player, he would have probably been signed by another team and not available to Brown. If Iati goes cold from the perimeter, Perry may be able to step up and nail a few. It would be great if he could provide more than that, but I would be happy with a few clutch 3's.

Speaking of B. Wilson, I have a video file highlight of him that I downloaded back in the spring. Not sure how to attach it to an e-mail - you need real player to view.

Didn't even notice that they were last years records. Good catch

7-4 looks right. I can see Albany losing all non conference games and winning all the conference games. I think an out of conference win wiuld be great, but it would be a bonus. Interesting that they took the non conference schedule into consideration as Monmouth is projected to be 10-2. Looks like they have Monmouth playing Duquesne in the ECAC bowl with Duquesne winning (Monmouth only has 11 games on their schedule and Duquesne only has 10)

Thought I read this a couple of weeks ago - was it posted somewhere else?

Mainejeff, First let me say that I appreciate your posts on other boards - especially the CAA boards. I don't know that Albany will leave the AE anytime soon for a couple of reasons. One is that they have not had success at this level so they won't be getting any invitations. Secondly, I think the football program will make a move when the NEC agreement expires - if there is a basketball move coming it will be tied to the football move.

When the CAA schools form a football conference, I bet the A10 becomes a 40 scholarship 1AA conference with UA joining. I recall a comment last year about UA and Stony Brook possibly wanting a conference with less than the maximum number of scholarships. I think UMASS may be in the same boat. I'll admit up front that I do not know a lot about A10 football, but I think UMASS and URI would be willing to compete at a lower number of scholarships. Maybe A10 football becomes AE football with: Albany Stony Brook Maine New Hampshire UMASS Rhode Island?? THis would be a cost effective conference as geographically the schools are relatively close. I think Richmond is in the A10 but they would probably play in the CAA as they are Virginia based. Not sure who else is in the A10. I think the UA football agreement with the NEC expires in 2007. I think there is a lot of planning going on now - does UA need to give the NEC 2 years notice? I do think the key will be 30 to 40 scholarships (not 30 like the NEC has today that are need based).

Couple of thoughts: Siena - would be great to beat them but it doesn't really matter much. Siena has more talent and a much more established program. Haddix is one of the best players in the MAAC. Siena will be coming from a tournament and that will probably be the first game for UA. Upset would be great but that would be a bonus. AE - Will be a tough conference. Vermont will continue to have a grat inside - outside game. Binghamton has two very good big men and will contend if they get consistent guard play. Northeastern has a great backcourt - they played Florida tough for most of the game last year. If Bennett improves, they will be a tough team. BU has Shaun Wynn who is one of the most underrated players in the conference and Chaz Carr back - a great backcourt. They also have Bell back and a couple of other big men so they will be very good as well. The AE is definitely better this year. While I think that UA is definitely a better team, it will take time for them to gel. I think that after the holiday break as conference play starts they will be playing well and have a legitimate chance at finishing in the top 4 or 5 in the conference. I also think Maine is going to contend again this year. Georgetown - The Big East is a world away from the America East. That said, anything can happen. UA will have so many new faces it is hard to believe that they will be playing cohesively until the holiday break when the other students are gone and all they have is each other for a month. They will be like the women were this past year - getting better as the season progresses. The women just couldn't beat Maine - we'll see anout the men

The Fox 23 had website had highlights of the Siena freshmen working out with the rest of the team. What's up with the UA freshmen? Are they on campus? Working out?

I don't really have a concern about Northeastern leaving. My concern is who will replace them. While I don't think there is any impact at all with Northeastern leaving, I don't want the AE to become a conference that teams use to transition to better things and have the AE look to the NEC for replacements. There are basically three alternatives for the AE to replace teams (not that they have to replace Northeastern): 1. Get an NEC team 2. Get a team that is moving up from D2 3. Get a team that wants to move down to a lower conference (Hofstra?) None of these scenarios is good for the conference future. Of course UA will leave one day and I'll feel differently

Daneman - not sure if it's managing egos as much as it is managing expectations. These kids were all recruited because they had no scorers, had no height...They were promised big minutes. Levine, Iati, St. Hillaire were all very valuable last year. Brown has to manage them as well as all of the new players - have them accept their roles and keep team cohesion. What will make UA good is the diverse skill set - post players, perimeter players and slashers. Hard to find a team with that diversity in the America East - clearly there are some - Vermont obviously. They will be .500 next year.

I agree - based on very minimal knowledge, that Bauman may be a redshirt candidate. The issue is that he would leave. If you remember his quotes when he signed - he signed specifically because he would not be redshirted. Said he had a shot at playing 20 minutes per game. His brother was redshirted and ended up transferring to a D2 program. Brown is going to have a challenge managing everyone's minutes.

Agree with Wilson, Jordan and Zoellner withe Dyson playing PF. The open question is who runs the point. Regardless of what some of us have said previously, I don't think Iati is a PG. I don't think UA has a PG. Iati will start out at PG and we'll see if he can distribute the ball. If that doesn't work out, we'll see how mature Jamar has become because he could be the PG - he'll have to sacrifice some points but I think he can run the offense. If Jamar runs the poist, then I think St. Hilliare becomes the other forward with Jordan PG play will determine the success of the season. They will have talent overall, how does Brown find leadership to distribute the ball?

Why was attendance so high in 2002? With the talent this year, I expect 1.500 / game and over 4k at the BPG.

Hard to believe that Schoonmaker didn't get drafted or sign a free agent contract.

I think they may have taken his quote out of context. Let's hope the reason that no one failed had nothing to do with the testing being in the off season or because it was important not to - I hope they didn't fail because they weren't using.

This isn't like basketball where you get guarantees for playing majors. UA received a guarantee for going to Montana a couple of years ago, but my understanding is that is not the case against the A10 teams and certainly not the Patriot and Ivy League teams.

Albany will continue to be a dominant team in the NEC. I'll be shocked if they lose more than one conference game. I don't know why they schedule so many tough out of conference games. I understand that the athletes like playing better competition and some people believe they are planning an upgrade for the program. Maybe they play one or two high level opponents and throw in a MAAC game or Dayton, San Diego, Morehead State or another really good Pioneer League team.

Baseball is unbelievable with the number of draft picks - over 1400. It is certainly an honor to be drafted but you have to ask why some of the late round picks - say numbers 1000 and higher even go through the process.

UA needs to continue to add size. They will have a lot of guards - maybe he can find another transfer for 2005-2006

My guess...we got up to 20-22 counters (10 more allowed this year) Is this a change in the NEC regulations? How many scholarships are you now allowed to offer? When did this change? This is devastating for the MAAC and Pioneer League - if the NEC can have over 10 scholarships, you are effectively down to 1 mid-major (the pioneer league) not including the Ivies and Patriot that don't offer scholarships.

I think the facilities link on the website is new - the lax field looks pretty bad.