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Not sure how to link it; but click on Lax Power Backup Stick- "Spring Sports Links" above. Then click on 2019 DI/D1 MENS LACROSSE and then ALBANY 2019, and you can read the postings. There are only 5 or 6 posts.

Did anyone notice/see Mitch Laffin at the scrimmage? He wore #7 last year. I did not see a #7 on the field at all, nor even on the bench. Unless I just missed it; he either has a new # or is another mia?? Will keep an eye out tomorrow vs Hill Academy, unless someone knows more?

Do you think some of Sunday's "practice" may be devoted to a full five on five scrimmage??

You did not miss anything. It was NOT in the original email; when I registered, Ty responded per above.

"Sounds good. The open practice will be from 11am-2pm. Thanks! Ty Conyers Director of Basketball Operations University at Albany 1400 Washington Ave, PE 326 Albany, NY 12222 Cell: (917) 515-1781"

Observation/Thoughts from alumni scrimmage {getting a perspective from a game like this is hard to judge and perhaps meaningless, but I can tell you both sides seemed to be playing hard and serious.} So here are my observations/thoughts which may be meaningless in their own right, but here it goes: Offensively, UA seemed small in size and stature. That being said, they just might be the quickest we ever had. Like fan2018, I was impressed with Cavallo (Yorktown soph.); and #9 a freshman who I assumed might/probabalby is McComber, was the quickest attack on the field yesterday. Perhaps it was just the result of the new shot clock, but this could be the quickest group on attack UA has ever had? Patterson was a man on a mission and again seconding fan2018, is looking All American. (I was surprised when he passed up FILA to work on his own, but this may have been the right decision for him--he looked awesome.) I do hope Tehoka comes back, because we ARE going to need some bulk upfront. The one other big upfront might be Kyle Casey (also Yorktown soph.) who seems to have really bulked up. In fact he looked like he may have added +30lbs since last year. Yesterday he played a lot behind the net as a feeder and I did hear the coaches complement his "looks" a couple of times. But his passes need to be more accurate and even though he did nail one goal that I recall, his shot though fierce were mostly high or wide yesterday. Face-offs looked good and both had a goal. One strategy that I found interesting was Altimari on a number of occasions would pass the ball out to one of the wings who seemed to be hanging back from the scrum. I do not know if this is something new that UA is working on, or if I just imagined it??? Siekierski looked BAD in goal, but he was going up against some of the best offensive players to ever where a UA uniform (Bennet Drake old #88 though HUGE, can still bring it; hit on 3 out of 4 shots or something like that.) Yoquinto looked much better in the gage yesterday. Defensively, I did not see much? Final score 19-14/15 or something such. I am not a good observer of defense and will rely on others to speak on it if they wish. But one thing I did notice: both defensives used long sticks on attack A LOT. Again, I do not know if this is a shot clock strategy, but long sticks were sprinting up the field all day. Near the end of the game, #43 a freshman long stick (unidentified) took the ball out and sprinted the length of the field, hit Casey with a perfect pass, who than blistered a shot over & wide of the goal. {speaking of speed, I never seen a long stick with speed like #43--he could be FUN to watch if not just an alumni game aberration} . A lot of middies played. Ramirez, Schwab, Conlon and other sophs who saw little action last year got some real minutes yesterday. Could be VERY deep here and with increased game speed of the shot clock, could be a real advantage if this pans out?? Inside Lacrosse is showing midfield depth as a question mark when reviewing many of its "elite" teams.

Lax Power Backup mentioned that Tehoka was mia this fall. I hope it is not serious and he does return in the spring. Thanks for the update on the Hill scrimmage!

See slide #15 on "15 Things We're Watching in Fallball 2018" on Inside Lacrosse.

Received NEW monthly basketball news letter today by email. If you did not receive and would like to: "Dear Friends of UAlbany Basketball, Good afternoon! We have decided to start a monthly men's basketball newsletter to keep everyone informed as to what is going on in our program. Attached is the newsletter for the month of October. If you know of anyone who would like to be added to the e-mail list please have them reach out to our Director of Basketball Operations Ty Conyers at tconyers@albany.edu or they can contact me at wbrown@albany.edu. We are very excited about the upcoming season and we are looking forward to seeing you at the SEFCU Arena! Thanks." The news letter is in PDF which I did not copy here, but could attach to an email if someone wants to see it but cannot get in touch with Ty Conyers. The news letter also mentions an open scrimmage Sunday 10/14. A time is not listed. This maybe in lieu of the purple gold scrimmage??

The Lacrosse schedule per the above link, list the Headstrong Classic and times. Does NOT list the alumni game or Hill scrimmage. May be because they are "less official." Anyone know for sure they are still on 10/6 @ 4pm and 10/9 @ 8pm??

Second oldest college in the country (after Harvard.) Kind of small (less than 10k under grad & post) and very upidy (spelling). Has presidential graduates (Jefferson, Monroe); FBI heads and Supreme Court justices--nuff said.

Just wondering? Do you think the dearth of information and slow communications and promotion this year is a conscious reaction by Scott et staff, after all the hype of last years team and expectations?? Maybe being more focused and low key? Or is just another case of poor UA marketing and promotion????? Thoughts/Opinions!

DP, Thanks for the "Kids Table." In the middle of Fall Ball Lacrosse, I inadvertently got a discussion started on the growth or lack thereof of football/title Ix/allocation of resources. The topic seems to be getting a lot of play (mainly appropriate and mostly NOT personal.) But many feel it would be better placed somewhere else and more appropriate to ALL UA sports and return fall ball lacrosse to itself. Any chance of making this happen? Anyhow, THANKS for all you do running this blog. It has brought/brings me a lot of pleasure.

Agreed this topic belongs somewhere else. When I stated this thread, I did say it really belonged in football and I did repost it there also. I am not sure why it got so extended here, even though it really does apply to all UA sports. Wish it could be moved and that we could get back to LACROSSE here; but would also like to remind that my post was not about moving up. It was about moving back "DOWN" to the NE conference in football and reallocating the resources.

Got an email about picking up tickets "event." No details and nothing said about the purple gold scrimmage. Anyone got a date for the scrimmage??? "Sunday, October 21 will be your first chance to pick up your men’s and women’s basketball season tickets. Get your first look at the 2018-19 Great Dane men’s and women’s teams at 3pm in the SEFCU Arena! Click here to RSVP."

Getting back to what's important. Update from Inside Lacrosse: Saturday, Oct. 13 HEADstrong at UAlbany Army, Johns Hopkins, Albany and Vermont

Nothing has changed per se. But neither the community, nor the student body support UA athletics to the extent that the appropriate facilities are consistently near or at capacity {except possibly lacrosse, where gold seats at least are always sold out or nearly so.} We STILL have a Title IX penalty hanging over our heads. So what I am saying, is UA needs to take a serious look at how they allocate resources to which sports and do a cost/benefit analysis. I certainly have no power to instigate such an activity; but at some point the Title IX issue is going to rear its ugly head. I expect/hope such a review is already going on and wish it would be more open. The community (us on this blog particularly but not exclusively), students, and local businesses and politicians should all have input. Instead everything seems to occur behind closed doors with little or no communications. Not a good policy if you are trying to increase attendances and DONATIONS. As for the particular issue I brought up about leaving the caa; while I agree with you 100% we probably DO need a new coach; I still do not see how the caa has advanced attendance, donations, or University perception. While many have made some valid points that leaving the caa would not save us anything, I would like/hope the powers to be and those really in the KNOW would include this in a cost/benefit/resource allocation analysis.

96, I cannot disagree with your scholarship arguments. I just do not understand how it works, but have been told for years that more scholarships = more cost. But I still question the attendance up tic we get from the caa. Since the move to Casey {call it an 8 out of 10 field} from University Field {what a 0or1 out of 10} coincides with our move to the caa, any attendance growth credited to the caa hard to establish an exact correlation. And even if attendance growth could ALL be attributed to our caa membership the numbers are NOT impressive still; but UA does not draw enough fans and fans = revenue. IMHO I do not think we would suffer greatly @ the gate by going back to the NE; in fact with a more competitive (i.e winning) team attendance might improve. Simple sports truth more winning = more fans. Anyhow, thanks for your input!

Here is a reprint of a thought/idea I wrote in the lacrosse thread. It was originally intended to be written here after our "exciting" win last night against our former Northeast Conference opponent. Here is the idea: RETURN TO THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE! Speaking of revenue distribution, I will be posting an idea in the football thread that UA return to the Northeast Conference. I certainly DO NOT have any power to enact such an idea; and I know the idea will be SLAMMED! But I just do not see the projected attendance and revenue growth predicted by jumping to the caa. I certainly have not seen winning football at that level. I do not know the number$, but believe we could SAVE considerable monies by returning to the Northeast conference with less scholarships and less travel. In the NE we would compete EVERY YEAR for an automatic ncaa bid. In 5 years in the caa we have never even sniffed the auto bid (and may never or seldom) and have only once had a shot @ the 2-3 at large bids that the caa potentially offers. The "national exposure" loss by our caa departure would be more than made up by spreading the monies saved/gained around to other sports {lacrosse particularly.} I admit my lacrosse bias, but even if we allocated all the saving into basketball, it would be better spent than what we waste (IMHO) on caa football. GO AHEAD START SLAMMING.

Speaking of revenue distribution, I will be posting an idea in the football thread that UA return to the Northeast Conference. I certainly DO NOT have any power to enact such an idea; and I know the idea will be SLAMMED! But I just do not see the projected attendance and revenue growth predicted by jumping to the caa. I certainly have not seen winning football at that level. I do not know the number$, but believe we could SAVE considerable monies by returning to the Northeast conference with less scholarships and less travel. In the NE we would compete EVERY YEAR for an automatic ncaa bid. In 5 years in the caa we have never even sniffed the auto bid (and may never or seldom) and have only once had a shot @ the 2-3 at large bids that the caa potentially offers. The "national exposure" loss by our caa departure would be more than made up by spreading the monies saved/gained around to other sports {lacrosse particularly.} I admit my lacrosse bias, but even if we allocated all the saving into basketball, it would be better spent than what we waste (IMHO) on caa football.

I reported in the football meet and greet thread: Mr. Benson said 10 million for a covered indoor facility. He scoffed at covering Fallon, but insisted the turf upgrade is happening even though Casey is definitely the permanent home for men's lacrosse.

Volleyball to add to our "Cup" total points Sunday 2pm. BE THERE TO CHEER THEM ON!

A little information about Connor Russell: He was not a bad FOGO; as a freshman a little less than 50% and a little better than 50% his second year. He seemed to be really coming along when he had his injury. He would not become a TD (not many are) but IMHO he would have become MUCH better than average. The injury was devastating and many thought he would never play again. I had seats next to his parents {who never sat together--Mrs. R made Mr R too nervous--she seemed fine to me} and they came to every game even when Connor was rehabbing and unable to play. NICE PEOPLE! They told me doctors were against Connor trying to rehab, but Connor was adamant. Tough kid; I don't think he ever really healed all the way, but did get to play a little back-up to TD eventually.

Athletic Communications Name Position Pete Iorizzo Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations (Football, Men's Lacrosse) Lacrosse still does not list an Athletics Communications person. Perhaps Pete is too busy with football to post anything Lacrosse wise. Or maybe the communications team is preoccupied getting reading for the annual "head shots" spectacular. Or is the team taking a more serious attitude this year and NOT doing the "head shots" thing??????? Personally I hope they continue the practice--voted best in the country 3-4 years running. But in the meantime it would be nice to get some official Lacrosse news on occasion.

You have used this argument before. IT HOLDS NO WATER. This blog is open to all and everyone is welcome to their opinions. MILLIONS of people every weekend watch college and pro football, go to games and participate in blogs and fantasy football ; WITHOUT ever having played or coached a down. Because you played DOES NOT MAKE YOU necessarily smarter than anyone of these millions or anyone of the fans on this blog. In fact I would suggest that playing with all the shots to the head and concussions etc, may make having been a player a negative correlation. For years players at some schools; played without being able to read or write and graduated functionally illiterate.