dslyank

Might as well redshirt Tanner. It will be middle of AmEast play before he is fully healed and in the flow; and I think Hooley, DJ and Iati can spell Black when he needs it (and if Black ever gets fully healthy himself, he will not need a lot of spelling). I still think Devlin needs to get more minutes. I love what Rowley has been doing, but his short comings {height for one} showed some last night. Had two or three shots blocked, four turnovers and got beat defensively a lot. OK Click, I know you disagree and I have been very pleasantly impressed and surprised with Rowley, but he may be more productive and less victimized by opponents in shorter stretches on the court. Besides, I keep thinking back to what Luke did both offensively, defensively and rebounding his freshman year (he was on the all rookie team [AmEast] and actually also could have been a second or third team but the league was pretty deep that year.

I heard Romain is NOT coming back?? Anyone know for sure??

I am more concerned about Devlin at this point. Guerrier will have his hot and cold days, but there are guys who can pick up the shooting slack. I think Puk will be fine when we/he gets against lesser opponents then what we have faced so far; and Blake is more than a capable back-up to Puk But I think we are still missing the Luke of 09-10, and in spite of a pretty GREAT start @ 3-2 (almost 4-1), we are going to need him. ps. If it was a football game with fair officiating, the last play would have been an offensive interference penalty.

Need to get Devlin untracked? He is only getting a few minutes per game. Is he hurt or just being out played by Rawley (who continues to be a pleasant surprise; but ultimately I still think Luke is the more skilled and more capable??) Looking for some input/opinions here???

DP, I could not agree more. Pretty successful season in spite of the graduations {2012}. As for rebuilding, we lose another three quality seniors now; and I am not overly impressed with this years class. Hopefully, we can bring in a couple or three impact kids for 2013. Anyone know what is in the pipe line, now that we are in the early signing period?????

HELP! From what is posted today on the UA sports web, Levan and Lamin appear to each have only ONE year of eligibility????? Each has played one year of DI, Atlantic 10 and Macc and two years JR. college. Am I missing something, or have we gone totally to the "guns for hire" mentality. {not that this is necessarily bad, but it would be nice to hire for at least two years.} What am I missing here?? HELP??? I might be reading the announcement all wrong; Does anyone know their actual status?

It really was not my intent to bring up this argument again, but as long as it seems to come up every year here is a thought which I am not sure if it has been considered before: First of all, the TU is a public building and I do not see any reason why UA can not rent it two or three times per year and bring in some big name teams (we did it against Syracuse a few years back). I know the argument against this is the Macc/$iena floor etc. Well that floor is portable and is removed for every hockey game and other venues. Why can't a second generic floor be provided or since I believe the floor comes in sections, they would only need to replace the "offensive" parts. Other $iena/Macc paraphernalia can be rolled up, covered, or at least minimized. So, this would be done every other year when UA is the home team and any other times UA brings in a Washington, Ohio State or Syracuse. OK shoot my theory down--where is the flaw????? I do not think a portable floor would be all that expensive??

LOOKS GREAT. thanks DP!

Last year somebody (I think time-warner) had a $5 deal [top four rows if I remember right], and it was the only reason I attended. I do not think UA should continue to support this unfair arrangement with $iena/TU. A number of us have been asking for years that the game be home and home; or 50/50 TU split; or every other year UA considered the "home" team by the TU. Why even schedule this game when we can go to Ohio or Washington and make $130,000. But if you are going, get your tickets from Brian Rudolph @ UA and at least we will make a little.

Wins against Vermont to get into ncaa's best ever. Also, for us old timers there were many dramatic and considered "upset" wins during the Sauer's era; including a consolation win in the DIII NCAA tournament (yes they played consolation games back then) against LeyMoyne after their coach commented he did not think Albany belonged in the tournament. That was the most delicious eating of words I've ever witnessed. Last DIII win vs DI $iena is also right up there as number 1 of all time. Rich Marchison and the "Cardiac Kids" 68-72 approx. had some unbelievable last second come back wins, including being down by 10 to Ithaca win 11 seconds left and came back to win (and this was before the 3 point shot). Anyhow for you youngsters; Washington win best "regular season" win in the DI era.

Congratulations to the volleyball team on another AmEast regular season championship (5th in 7 years). With the players they lost to graduation. an extremely difficult OCS, a couple of tough late season conference defeats (@home to brook and @ umbc); they re-grouped to beat bingo on the road Sunday 11/4 and clinched last night. Congratulations and GOOD LUCK next weekend @ home in University Gym for the AmEast championships and onto the NCAAs again!!!!

Great game. Everyone who played contributed; even the guys who only played a few minutes. Hooley a couple of nice assists and 4 rebounds, Johnson a nice drive to the basket, Evans a nice medium range pull up jumper near the end of the first half; Wiegmann had a rebound and I thought a steal (box score did not show one for him). Except for Hooley who had 16 minutes, the others only had 2-6 minutes apiece; but my point was they were able to contribute while in, with not a lot of fall off. Coach after the game commented that there are good people on the bench who did not play much because he is committed to the veterans in the early tough schedule (and he is 100% right). But I am really encouraged that when he does go to the bench, it is deep and productive. After the P&G scrimmage, I said with tongue and cheek Puk could be a POY candidate. If he can stay out of foul trouble this is not so far fetched, except his partner Black may have something to say about that. The only negative about the game was the fouls discrepancy and the number of offensive rebound we gave up; but after all we were playing an Atlantic 10 team with some pretty good athletes. So am I being overly positive and optimistic--perhaps, but this is definitely the best I have felt after the first game in a lot of years.

I voted +20. I hope you run this poll again in a couple of weeks; but most of us who saw the purple/gold scrimmage are pretty positive. For those of you who voted less than 14, I am curious if you were at the scrimmage? I know it is hard to judge from an in-house scrimmage, but man the team looked VERY GOOD that day. I am curious as to your negativism, but certainly respect your opinion.

I believe we scrimmaged Bucknell saturday 11/3. I have no idea how we did, other than what I read above concerning Puk. Coaches have to be careful what they say concerning closed scrimmages-ncaa rules. Even though I never fully understood the difference between closed and open ie $iena vs Skidmore. Anyone know when a scrimmage is open/closed "ncaa wise" ? or is it just a mutual coaching decision between teams???

Sorry but with or without Smith, this team is a long way from being ready for the CAA. We were lucky to win at St. Francis and Sacred Heart gave us a run for or money @ homecoming. We struggled against two terrible teams and yesterday got our @ss handed to us by Wagner, a team who practiced most of the week short players and in post hurricane conditions. Yet they were ready to play and UA offense, defense, special teams and coaching were all MIA yesterday. The crowd was pretty pathetic too. Robert Morris beat Dusquene yesterday or a loss to them would move us into third place in a league we were suppose to dominate. Even if we beat them, then we have ask them {hope/prey/whatever} to turn it around and to beat Wagner at Wagner. I know we will have a few more scholarships to give before we jump to the CAA next year, but does this sound like a team who is ready to make this jump??

From what I've seen and read, I can not believe Puk is not getting the start over Metcalf?? or Maybe both start with Devlin coming off the bench? or Maybe we go really big and have Guerrier coming offthe bench??

I was able to watch for about 2/3 of the first half and the feed was excellent. Then it started re-buffering and re-connecting with only one brief reprieve; I gave up @ half time and just listened on fox 980. I thought the defense really won the game, but I was a little disappointed that we gave up two touchdowns on third and long. Hearts last score came on a third and 17; and their score at the end of the half came on (I think--that is when I was having feed issues and could be wrong) third and 11. Omar is the man and I thought it was a great call. Heart's pass rush and blitz all day was ripe for a draw.

Still no roster. Anyone have any news/fall progress report on lacrosse. I know all the excitement is for football and basketball right now; but the lacrosse silence is deafening. Inside Lacrosse and Lax Power packed with fall ball news and recruiting about just about everybody BUT UA. Scrimmage @home feb 9/2013 vs Georgetown not really that far away.

Excellent points about basketball and the lack of success for recent/new CAA members. That is another reason why I was NOT ecstatic about our football invite. I still feel an enhanced NEC, or a Yankee football only conference, or AmEast adding football would have been a better fit for UA; but of course those options were only hypothetic. I do agree regardless, AmEast somehow needs to improve its basketball reputation.

I also inadvertently left out Rawley. Maybe it was because (in my opinion) he is a man without a position. Can't shoot, poor (maybe moderate) ball handler, too short, rebounds well but too short, defends well but too short; but I love what the kid brings. I just do not know where to play him. He does get his points and rebounds and can bang pretty well but too short. In my day (1/2 century ago) we called a player like Rawley a "garbage man" and we meant that in an extremely complimentary way.

just to complete my thoughts from yesterday. Based on the practice and scrimmage, at this point: Black is the man, he appears on a mission [the loss to brook must still sting or the loss of Logan and G, but he seems to have a fearsome determination]. Puk enough said above, Blake more than capable of spelling Puk. Weiggman a little above Luke at this point, but I am betting on Luke to start. Johnson over Guerrrier, Johnson seems to be a better slasher and stronger around the basket, but Jason a better shooter when he is on. Could be a real battle for minutes between these two. DJ Evans over Hooley, only because Hooley still nursing ankle injury {yet he plays hard with reckless abandonment (I mean this as a compliment)}. I think Hooley wins out starting, with DJ getting a lot of minutes backing up both Hooley and Black. Iati out with a concussion until 10/24, but I see him as instant offense off the bench and if DJ does not provide the pest defense claimed, look for Jacob here also. Gibson MRI on foot pending (season ending????). Paige very disappointing Saturday-could be jitters @ this point. OK I know a lot more people were there Saturday, so feel free to add your thoughts. I for one am very optimistic about the season, but I guess I always feel this way after the intra squad scrimmage--hope "springs" eternal in baseball; I do not know the appropriate sentiment for pre-season basketball, but opening day only 2 1/2 weeks away.

It is really hard to evaluate when a team plays itself. Some players come off looking better than they are and others because everyone is familiar, do not show what they are capable of. So here goes a couple observations with the stipulation I could be 100% wrong. First of all, Puk looks like all AmEast first team, even player of the year--he was really that good yesterday in the practice and the scrimmage. Weiggman looks like a player. Somewhere on the recruiting thread it was commented that he was just filling a roster spot--FAR FROM IT, at least by what he showed yesterday. Pound said it could be agued any of the three juco's could start and I will go one farther, based on yesterday it is not inconceivable that all three could start. More later maybe, the wife is calling me away. Looking forward to more input from others who were there yesterday.

I watched the first half of the lacrosse scrimmage Friday against Hill {pretty weak competition I assume} and we were totally dominant; and saw about 20+ minutes of the scrimmage against the alumni before going to the football game. There were no rosters provided at either event, nor is the roster up on the web site yet. It would have been nice to know which alumni were playing at least! The UA web announced both scrimmages, but no follow as to results, how the team is progressing, whatever?? Anyone in the know have a more "scientific" evaluation of the team so far? Anyone know why team information seems to be so lacking/secretive??

sent the following to Pete this am. Pete, Congratulations on being named sports editor. Now you need to address the above article which was totally inappropriate, unprofessional, and uncalled for. To make FUN of a school trying to fund raise in these tough economic times is inexcusable. With state and federal cut backs all over the place, tuitions and costs on the rise; how can your newspaper make FUN of fund raising of any sort. Whether your paper is for or against a new stadium at UA is their prerogative, but to ridicule the effort is unprofessional. The fact that the TU pays and supports a sports/entertainment complex themselves lends hypocrisy to the article. let's bomb him with messages.

I am so mad I can spit. If the TU does not like UA building a stadium, or the timing of it, or whatever, that is their prerogative; but to make FUN of it especially fund raising is intolerable and unprofessional. Someone in authority should really call them out this time.