alumni '92'

they may be only press clippings for now ... but it sounds like a talented balance on the horizon for UA basketball ... still hoping for the best in 03-04 ... but the forecast suggests that there may be a new sheriff in the AE and Capital District come 04-05

congratulations to the rookie ... what will happen when his shoulder is fully healed?... expect Martin to also pick up one of these weekly awards in the near future ...

Patch i thought jamar was a 'little contained' vs. Colgate considering: 4 of 14 from the field, 2 assists, 5 turnovers - from where i was sitting his problem wasn't conditioning, it was a lingering knee injury ... Go Danes!

i don't agree with jamar looking "damn good" at Colgate ...as i wrote previously, it is not a knock, he is injured, but Jamar was miles from his old self ... four of fourteen from the floor... and he did not move very well ... it is not just conditioning ... he needs some time ... hopefully the physicians do their thing ... etc. ... if competent professionals and the athlete himself decide that a redshirt is the best course of action, it would not be the worst thing ... he'd still have three seasons ahead ... it is nice to see a weekend evening game tonight, no matter the scheduling difficulties, there should be more of them ... in the meantime, beat Army

... the drive out from albany just prior to game time was snowy ...

not a knock ... the kid is a star ... but, it appeared as though Jamar has a way to go to be as effective as he was last season ... it clearly looked at times as though he was struggling to get up and down the court ... hopefully, a few more games and the knee will be "be back" ... i hope he makes this assessment look foolish friday evening vs. Army ... Go Danes.

much thanks to the DP family for their efforts with the board ... best wishes to all for the holiday, a personal favorite (family, food, football, etc.) ... anyone heading to Pitt? it would be nice if distant road games found their way onto TW Cable ... can't complain though with four on the air for the season

a few notes ... i hope that the athletic dept. avoids the fault that we've discussed with football coverage ... if we are trying to market the program to the sports fans of the capital district, it should appear as though there are fans at the game ... shoot the footage with a crowd in the background ... as i have stated before, the football highlights on area stations create the impression that there are only a dozen or so fans at home games (including the homecoming game where there were 5k+) because they shoot from the UA side of the field ... for the televised basketball games the dept. should increase marketing efforts (Big Purple Growl type) to bring out students, and the ticket office should make all walk-up ticket sales to the one tv visible side of the court ... it is all about appearance ... hopefully the UA teams will play well on those evenings ... i may need to trade in my aging, though strong, honda for a new truck sold at Gendrons

no rivalry my ass ... look at the media attention ... check out the turnout for the games ... this was the first of three games that was not close in the final minutes ... you didn't hear a lot of this talk when they almost dropped one to us ... siena fans would lead you to believe that the injury to Jamar Wilson (plus two freshman starters) had nothing to do with the final score being what it was ... i had a siena friend of mine ask, "you don't really think you guys will ever win one of these? ... the gap will always be too great ...", it is a funny arrogance ... the notion put forth by a select group of siena faithfuls that there is no rivalry is just another way of defensively perpetuating the perceived notion of siena athletic superiority ... their commercials announce that they're playing the "defending national champions" this season ... actually UA played that championship team (not as much press for those UA-SU matchups, mismatches i'll admit) ... they'll play what is left from the SU '02-'03 team plus a few freshman and squeeze the marketing cow for all it is worth ... there is a UA-Siena rivalry ... believe what you will ... i'll wait until 2004 for another shot at legitimizing it in the capital district mind ... of course they haven't yet signed the contract ... it'll never happen, but i'd love to see one sell-out game at the RACC ... in the meantime, dane teams will beat them in sports that get little media coverage ...

i had to assume the lights going out prior to game time was a technical failure ... if it was intentional ... they should be put back on ... it looks shoddy ...

for those who care ... Duquesne 12 Monmouth 10

i bought my block of tickets (10) thru UA and also ended up on the wrong end of the arena (must have been near you DP)... also, didn't get them until only days before the game, which made it more difficult to distribute to the parties i was going with ... small things matter ... the seating situation definately took a little of the emotion out of the contest ... different feel at the wrong end of the court ... there were flashes of future success evident during the first half ... something to build on ... even if 'stranger things' didn't happen on friday evening ... we'll see siena again in 2004 ... focus on the upcoming AE season ... go DANES!

that is a rather arrogant commercial considering the fact that head to head our athletic department trumps theirs ... in sports in which they can't be competitive they decline to play ... good luck to both dane teams ... almost as good as a super bowl sunday ... the talent gap this year (injuries included) may not be significantly greater than the past two meetings, and we have been more than close in each ... a few hot hands could keep it within striking distance ... we need the rookies to shoot well in the opening minutes ... i'm glad to see that others have adopted the "stranger things have happened" mantra ... GO DANES!

... to those who ordered thru the UA box office ... has anyone received their tickets for the UA-Siena game in the mail yet? ...

... stranger things have happened ...

the Times Union ran a story on the resignation of President Hitchcock and the potential impact on the UA athletic dept. ... After Hitchcock, UAlbany's athletic future cloudy During her presidency, school's program expanded to Division I By MARK SINGELAIS, Staff writer First published: Sunday, November 2, 2003 University at Albany president Karen Hitchcock has been a visible sports fan during her eight-year tenure, making frequent appearances at Great Danes basketball games and going on the field after football games, win or lose. It's her behind-the-scenes work, however, that has helped elevate the school's athletic program, UAlbany officials and coaches said last week. Hitchcock announced last Tuesday that she'll step down from her post at the end of the academic year amid ors that she is being forced to resign by SUNY Chancellor Bob King. Under her stewardship, the UAlbany athletic program upgraded to Division I from Division II and joined two leagues, the Northeast Conference in football and the America East Conference in all other sports. UAlbany officials also said Hitchcock was the person most responsible for convincing the New York Giants to hold their summer training camp at UAlbany since 1996. "I think her achievements have been remarkable during that period of time," said Bob Ford, UAlbany's football coach since 1973 and former athletic director. "If by chance she does step down and disappear into the sunset, she leaves a pretty decent legacy athletically." Her approaching departure, however, has raised questions about the future of the UAlbany athletic program. The most obvious is who Hitchcock's successor will be, and whether that person will be as enthusiastic about college sports as she has been. UAlbany athletic director Lee McElroy, hired by Hitchcock three years ago, said he couldn't predict what impact a new president will have on the athletic program. "I don't know what the future holds," McElroy said. "But we don't just want to be a Division I program, we want to be a successful Division I program and we're going to continue to put our best foot forward. I have to be optimistic, but again, you never know." McElroy said that Hitchcock, 60, was a softball player in her youth and carried that love of competition into her work. Hitchcock was unavailable for comment Friday, according to UAlbany spokesman Karl Luntta. John Mara, the Giants' executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the team will keep its camp in UAlbany in spite of Hitchcock's departure. Mara said the Giants plan to sign within the next week the three-year contract extension to keep them in Albany through 2006. The sides have had a verbal agreement since last summer. "If anything, I'm the one to blame (for the delay)," Mara said. "I've been preoccupied with other things, but I anticipate (signing) the agreement." Milt Richards was UAlbany's athletic director in March 1996, when the Giants announced they would begin training there. Less than two months later Hitchcock, who had been interim president, got the post full time. "Karen did something no one else could do, pulling the corporate community together to bring the Giants," Richards said. "I believe that helped her get the presidency. Everyone knew she was a great academician, but people weren't sure about her external skills until then." Hitchcock also championed the Division I initiative began by former UAlbany president H. Patrick Swygert, who left for the same post at Howard University in 1995. Hitchcock made the final decision to upgrade to Division I in 1997, after the proposal received overwhelming support from the university senate and student body in nonbinding referendums. The move was made with the idea that upgrading to Division I would help raise UAlbany's public profile, help bring in more donations from alumni and make the school more appealing to prospective students. UAlbany entered Division I in 1999 and spent its first two seasons as an independent in every sport except football, which joined the Northeast Conference in 1999. UAlbany joined the America East in all sports in 2001, helped by fortunate timing when the departure of four America East schools to the Colonial Athletic Association opened room for UAlbany. Legendary UAlbany basketball coach Richard (Doc) Sauers, who retired in 1997 after 41 seasons, said he's sorry to see Hitchcock go. "I appreciated her loyalty to the program when I was coaching," Sauers said. "I'm curious to see what happens. I think it's unfortunate the way (Hitchcock's) situation appears to be developing."

... stranger things have happened ... keep an update this week on the injury to Joe Sentipal of Monmouth ... a strong chance that his health this week will determine our post-season opportunities

recent speculation is confirmed ... Karen Hitchcock has resigned ... state politics can be fun ... athletic impact? ... it will be any interesting search for her replacement ...

there are a few, loyal, season ticket holders from this board over in sec. 200 ... but a few are considering a move ... we could use a little more life on that side of the RACC ... DP may disagree ... all that is needed for this thing to take off is an injection of 2K+ students per game early in the season ... BPG every night ... not asking much from a student body of our size

in response to the question by Downtown ... is "beating siena at the pepsi ... way out of line?" ... the boys from loudonville have escaped with close wins the past two seasons ... a UAlbany win is more than a realistic possibility ... the gap continues to close rapidly

Dane Pound ... you may still get your wish ... Marist may still run the table in the MAAC ... beat Duquesne on 11/8 ... possibly setting the stage for UA @ Marist in the ECAC Football Classic championship game ... and how sweet a weekend would that be for those with a loyalty to Great Dane athletics ... Siena Friday evening 11/21 @ the Pepsi ... a major football game (within reasonable driving distance) on the following afternoon 11/22 ... it has the makings of two major wins in a span of 48 hours ...

UAalum72 and others should contact Time Warner and voice their support for TW picking up the MSG-Metro feed of the UA vs. Monmouth game ... customer service # 869-5500 ... their rep. said that it is not currently on the schedule for 10/18 ... but that could be changed fairly easily ... i would like to think that the UA athletic dept. has already made an attempt to encourage Time Warner presentation of the game in the Capital District market ... distant enough to not impact many ticket sales ... small stuff matters

AlbanyObserver is on point ... siena would not get an offer from the A-10 ... outside of basketball, there is no athletic program in loudonville

Don Hansen's NWFG Mid-Major Football Top 20 puts the UA Danes @ #1 as of 10/12 ... the stage is set for Monmouth ...

if it says UA on the jerseys, all should care ... and there are season ticket holders who come out for women's hoops