godanesgo99

11 hours ago, UA'08 said:

Who’s he teaming with?

No idea at this moment. I'm gonna guess the AE team that is captained by Duncan from UVM?

Wasn't sure where to post this, but it looks like Ahmad Clark will be playing in the 3x3 tourney at the final 4....

https://twitter.com/3X3UHoops/status/1376285985022091272?s=19

7 hours ago, cwdickens said:

You know your in trouble when your conference has 28 players in the transfer portel (3.1 per team) and eight are from your team...not all may leave....however this means the average for the rest of the conference is 2.5 players per team

Extra year of eligibility + new coach = checking out your options in the Transfer Portal. As you can see, it's affecting other programs that haven't changed their coach. It's the reality of today.

Not sure if the announcement now means it happened after Coach DK came on board. The news on these things always seem delayed. 

Can we stop with the copy and paste from instagram posts?

They do not format right on mobile and kill the readability of the thread. Just post the link to the Instagram post or something.

I tried to skim through this topic and how its gone way off track in welcoming Coach Killings...

I can only add:

F&@K $1ENA

I get wanting as many people to be there live as possible, and a standing room only TUC is an amazing environment to be in for a mid-major basketball game, but guess what: we could get that environment every other year. A SEFCU arena that is only 2/3rds full is a louder more fun environment in my mind. No reason to ever play them if they wont accept a home and home. If we agree to anything worse than a 1:1 home and home - I don't even want a 1:1:Neutral like the last one as that still isn't equitable unless the neutral one is at a completely neutral court like the Armory or in Glens Falls.  If we accept less, it will definitely drop DK multiple spots in my book.

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46 minutes ago, DanesRGood said:

It's up.  Press conference doesn't start until 50 minutes into the video.

I noticed, and I'm still watching now. You'd think they would have someone edit it before posting, or at least allow fast forward in the video. Can't believe I waited so long to get to it.

For what its worth, I let it play while driving home to see what happened. After about 15 minutes it switched to the intro video with Calipari and such, then about 5 minutes later it seems to have changed, so maybe it just says live as it seems to be working. The player on the website on my phone doesn't allow for fast-forward and reads live. So maybe the AD just needs to edit the video so we don't have to wait for 20 minutes for it to start 

Couldn't watch the presser today. Tried to go to the UA website to see if I could watch it "On-Demand"

It seems that who ever runs the video has left the stream going and never ended the feed. All you see now is the podium and the background, music is playing, and it still lists as broadcasting live. If that's the case, it's about as UA as can be LOL. If anyone in the AD is reading this, please end the feed so fans can watch the replay!

I am excited for Coach Killings and what he brings. I'm beyond happy that at this moment he looks like a great hire. I feel more optimism on the board at this moment than we have had since we still had Cremo and Nichols, we almost beat UVM for the title, and we're about to have 3 aussies who had redshirted and deSousa and Rizzuto about to come in as Freshman. You know, before the 2 stars decided to move on (which I still argue was best for both of them and the right move for them)

I know this won't happen anytime in the near future, especially with Benson at the helm, but Brown deserves to have a banner raised on SEFCU next to Doc's. The program might be better off today with Killings than it was a month ago with Brown (hopefully it is or at least will be but that is yet to be determined) but Brown made UA what it is, and should be enshrined with the legend status that he deserves after starting with 0 and sending UA to the dance 5 times over 20 years.

Ill be in, i hope. havent had time to sign up yet. Im packed today to. Hopefully I remember this evening. 

There will be no March Madness in the Capital District.

Down goes LCC....

And Hartford beats Vermont.

UML beats UMBC.

We are going to have a team make the dance from the AE that has never danced before.

Kicking game was beyond weak, but it was freezing cold, so I'll give it another game. The snaps were a problem all game as well. Not sure if that's the cold or something that needs to be addressed. 

All in all great win on the road against a ranked team. Can't complain, even if it was a little scary at the end with the team attempting to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Next game up. Great to see football being played.

What about going for a good international head coach that wants to make a splash in the NCAA for a few years before getting a higher conference job? I'm not sure how much international coaches make, but I'm betting you could attract one from a decent league with ambition. The Albany job has a lot going for it for the right person, even if it's a pay cut. Top 60 media market in the country, relatively easy path the a NCAA tournament, and a clear rebuild case of a team that went to three straight not all that long ago. Some quick success could propel to a higher job quickly. Getting someone a higher job quickly makes the job more attractive for the next coach. While I loved having a consistent program, if done right this is the opportunity to grow to a destination spot. We will never grow to an ACC program level payroll as a state institution, so hiring coaches on the way up needs to be the plan.

The one I am most worried about leaving is Amica. Kid has a wheels and in the few minutes we saw him play he was as advertised. I listened to an interview with him last year at this time and he stated 2 reasons for coming here: he saw an instant path to PT with Clark leaving being 1, and the other was Brown being here for so long. 

Injuries derailed #1 and now Brown is gone.

We can keep debating all we want, but its now done with no real chance of being reversed.

What Will did was prove that we can bring in high quality student athletes, perform at a high level and make it to the NCAA tournament. He made Albany a destination for players that could go higher, but wanted to play right away and be part of something growing. He made players that were underrecruited feel good and want to come here to prove they could have made it elsewhere. He showed it could be done at UAlbany. 

The UA job should be an attractive one (outside of budget issues, NYS problems, and UA problems) as the team has always been competitive, is in one of the top 60 media markets in the country, and could be a springboard.

Let's hope that Benson uses those things to find someone that wants to take what has been built and grow it to the next level. My initial response was to be mad at Benson and the athletic staff. It made me want to cancel my basketball and football season tickets, but at the end of the day - I bleed Purple and Gold and will continue to support our fine student athletes and our school.  

6 minutes ago, BestDaneSinceHamlet said:

What was the trouble? I thought we wanted an upstanding citizen?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2019/10/24/patrick-beilein-steps-down-niagara-head-coach/4083840002/

Don't quote me because I didn't dig beyond the initial search for any article, but I believe the "personal reasons" involved sexual harassment of a female coach, or it may have been cheating on his wife with a coworker. Something like that. 

I'll edit this comment if I find the right article about it. The news happened right after the LCC faithful were pushing for him to take that job after Fatsos left. 

Edit: Info is hard to find, but there is this: https://twitter.com/CoachingChanges/status/1187401556733370368?s=20

13 minutes ago, UA'08 said:

Blame the school then and not benson. He was brought in to make the transition to the best FCS football conference. I agree the money pumped into FCS football for all those full scholarships are a waste, but without the full buy in into football I don’t know how much of these donations you will still see. This I believe is the biggest issue between between the football and basketball diehards.

We could blame the school, but the administration that hired Benson to make that transition isn't there anymore, so I can only blame Benson. 

I'd love to see us climb the ladder, do well in the CAA and keep a nationally ranked football team. I have great season tickets in the stadium. That said: I put the name recognition and help to a Universities national reputation of doing well at FCS Football somewhere between Division 2 and Division 3 basketball. Most people do not consider FCS football as D1 football. It is what it is. Becoming a CAA Football powerhouse means jacks&i7 on national stage for anyone this isn't more than a casual sports fan.

The value in college athletics is twofold: First an foremost it builds school spirit and comradery among students on campus, but more importantly: national success gives name recognition to a school and goes a long way when job hunting and recruiters from across the country recognize the name of the school when reviewing resumes. I'd be willing to bet that winning the #1 party school in the country award like we did twice when I was there in the mid-late 90's was more valuable to the name recognition of a UA degree than winning a FCS national championship would be. 

I enjoy going to our football games, rooting for the team, and the whole environment around tailgating, but I stand by my words: Low/Mid-Major Basketball is a much more cost effective, and easier path to national name recognition than football will ever be at the FCS or even low FBS level in the Northeast. That auto-bid is worth its weight in name recognition gold when tens of millions of people fill out their March Madness brackets. The priority should be getting to the tournament 3-4 times a decade, build the resources and push for a multi-bid league.   

Always great to get fired on the day the local news broadcasts a special about a prestigious national award you won for your community involvement and work on cancer.

Great Job Benson and UA. 

I am a Brown supporter, and I wanted him renewed a thousand times before we keep Benson at the helm to keep pushing us into being a "football school."  Does the department know that they will never become a football school in the Northeast? It's impossible. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Capital Region people are sports snobs. They will never fully support a program at the FCS level. We are too close to other hubs like NYC/Boston/Montreal. No one cares. If we had a P5 program, we could sell out every game, but anything less and no one will care. We don't have the resources or ability to go that high anytime in the next few decades.

A trip to the NCAA basketball tournament and a loss in the first round does more for our recognition locally and nationally than a FCS national championship in football would give us. I hope they realize this when they are hiring the next coach and talking about supporting the program with facilities and resources.

A couple players could have received awards if given a normal full season.

This team could surprise in the playoffs. They could play like last Sat and lose to anyone, or play like we've seen them play against several teams and make a run

Each of the last 5-6 seasons us as fans have started the season with high hopes. This year we are more athletic. This year we have these great transfers. This year we return all 5 starters. This year we....

I really dont think it's recruiting. I don't think it's the players. I don't think it's Brown because most players say nothing but great things about him and the environment. The ones that don't weren't playing and transferred down (I include a transfer to Hartford as a transfer down).

To me it's the offensive and defensive system that Brown has been using. I'm not sure it matches the talents and skills of the recruits he brings in. I think he has been in the league so long that the other teams know most of his tricks. 

The team has had the talent to compete every season. The team needs a breath of fresh air with a change of style. I'm not saying Brown needs to go, because I hope he stays, but I hope he takes a long look at the players on his roster and makes some adjustments based on what he has. The staff is all UA alum and past parts of his program. There is no dissenting views. I have no idea who on the staff needs to go, and I won't put down any of the purplefam, but there needs to be a hot shot young outsider to come in for a few seasons as a top assistant who isn't wearing purple and gold glasses and can shake the system up. One of those D3 or D2 coaches that wants a good gig for a few seasons at D1 before getting a head coach job themselves. 

3 hours ago, Dane Pound said:

We'll see. I think it's 50/50 if they can pull off the tournament. I keep suspecting they'll just say the #1 seed is the conference rep for the tourney at some point. 

That would be a crime if it happened. It's not like the AE has a runaway leader this year. Throw in the fact that we have the uneven schedule with the top teams getting wins against the bottom of the conference that other teams didn't get to play. 

7 hours ago, UAalum72 said:

Maine MBB opts out of the rest of the season

They haven't been able to practice since Jan. 17

Well that kind of sucks... Was hoping to get a few wins there. I mean I guess as long as the team makes the playoffs it doesn't matter, but seeding when other teams got to play them twice blows.