godanesgo99

I'm betting we see Malachi on Lamb with a double team strategy of Hank and potentially even French on him when he tried to go inside. Using French in this game will spread the potential foul trouble risk and add another large body to protect against Giddens having a good game. Hansen's length will be good to cover his man and whoever is left open when the double team comes down low. Clark can cover Smith, and Rizzuto and Healy can worry about Davis and/or Duncan. 

I'm actually feeling the most positive about our chances against UVM than I have in a few years. The biggest thing that UA needs to focus on is not having one of those stretches of 5-10 minutes with no field goals. This UVM team is no where close to as explosive offensively as they have been. The question is if we have the shooting ability the team has shown at times or the 15% from 3 team that also seems to show up too often.

On 1/25/2020 at 5:57 PM, BestDaneSinceHamlet said:

Clark graduates, who knows JoJo's health, Healy clearly can't run the offense (though fantastic off the ball when he's on) and Amica is a frosh.  Like this year, where is the back-up plan at PG? Who else runs the point next year besides a true frosh and a coming off injury Anderson?

I assume Rian Carter gets a ship and is the backup to JoJo and Amica. He was impressive before the injury. That assumes he wants to come back. I think he has 2 years of eligibility left.

This is why losing JoJo hurts so much more than we realize. I get that he didn't feel he could contribute and felt it best to get the surgery now to be 100% for next season, but when Clark isn't on the floor the team plays a survival game. With no one else that can really handle the ball the team can not beat a press or really any pressure defense. Healey made a couple of nice attacking plays, but for the most part the team can't run the offense without him. 

It was a 2 point game when Clark had to leave. In less than 5 minutes without him it turned into a 15 point lead extremely quickly. By the time he was back in the floor the entire team had lost its energy and started playing defeated. You could see it in their eyes. Clark dove to save a ball from going out of bounds but accidentally threw the ball to Hartford who promptly hit a 3 and the team just appeared to give up.

I hate to put pressure on one kid, but this team will only go as far as Clark takes them.

We shouldn't have another game where the team shoots that poorly. I didn't think Hartford looked that strong defensively. The outside shots UA took were mostly uncontested and open. Most looked flat with no rotation if they were on line, the rest were all off right or left. 

Hopefully Clark is ok. He was limping while shaking hands at the end. If he is out, that would be the end of the season.

Not sure if have seen so many shots be so far off. Like not even close. Add that to an extremely strange reffing job here in the opening 10 minutes and I'm baffled at what is happening.

Was playing around looking up pro stats for some #purplefam and I have to say: it is way to hard to find stats on foreign teams. I though Sanders and Singletary were both playing in Europe. Can't really find anything. Sir Buckets was doing well somewhere, but outside of a few tweets last year, there isn't much out there. 

David Nichols was leading his league in scoring, assists, and efficiency last I knew.

Cremo is still playing in the G league and doing pretty well, averaging over 20 minutes per game... Here is a video from a recent game....

This team was supposed to be quick and able to score. We haven't seen that yet this year. Hopefully this game is the one that gets the team flying and we didn't waste all the good shots

Nothing like playing against UML to get the offense clicking. 

Congrats to Can Healy for breaking the program single game scoring record.

Cograts to Fruscio for a nice move. He took a charge (but called for the foul) and probably should have had an and 1

Nice to see Schafer on the floor

Hope deSousa isn't out for long.

36 minutes ago, BestDaneSinceHamlet said:

https://ualbanysports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary

 

I meant in the ESPN app. I was watching from my phone and I like the split screen with stats and the game when I rotate out of full screen.

Couldn't make the game for multiple conflicts. Watching online. No box score available sucks.

4 hours ago, dslyank said:

I usually try and keep it as positive as I can and definitely skip whole sections when the name calling and nit picking get too serious. But if I understand your sentiments  here I got to disagree. If people leave this blog because it is too negative, I feel sorry for them, but their choice to do so; just as it is everyone who does participate choice to rant to their hearts desire {provide they adhere to the rules of the blog.} If any players left because of this blog [which I seriously doubt by the way--may have been a contributing factor but NO more IMHO], they probably found the grass is not always greener elsewhere {ask Dev Holmes} and they would most definitely find this blog is NO worse than any others and considerably BETTER than most.  

So skip the negative parts and people lighting themselves un-fire; if you like, but don't give up on this blog. A lot of GOOD people on this blog who ALL LOVE UA athletics. 

Agreed. I was just relaying what was actually told to me by several fans that sit around me in SEFCU. The people that sit behind me always ask me stuff about the team and the opponent. I share with them what I know, but I always suggest they come here. So much good info. But multiple people told me they didn't like the tone. They said if they wanted the negativity they would follow LCC. With that comment, I said they would fit right in, but to each his own.

7 minutes ago, Clickclack said:

With the above said... Time for me to post less... Should significantly help pull up the happiness quotient and bring in better recruits, better fans and prevent players from transferring. 

Don't post less. Post your thoughts and knowledge. Just censor yourself a little. There is a line between puppies / bunny rabbits / rainbows and death and destruction that can be found. 

My comment on players leaving or not coming is tongue in cheek and based on a comment that was shared with me. I hope players would never make a decision based on how the fans act on a message board - although they do make one based on facilities and game atmosphere in many cases. 

There are a few fans on this site that are open with their emotions and at times go over the top with the can of gas and a match. It's their right to post their opinions and feelings. I wish they would tone it down a bit at times, but that is part of being a fan.

The sad part is that the overly negative posts have driven some fans away from the site as well. I know multiple people who go to all the games and are big fans, but they hate coming to the site because of the negativity. I have heard stories from people connected to the program that it got in some players heads and affected their play. May have caused some to transfer or never attend in the first place when they were searching for schools.

I don't expect everything being rainbows and sunshine. I expect their to be a post about a bonehead play or a forced error. I expect criticism of players when they have a bad game. I expect people to share their opinions and I don't want anyone censored, but reading through this thread again is harsh. 

I stopped reading the football section early last season because it got so negative. Hopefully it doesn't get that bad here.

14 hours ago, Real Purple Fan said:

We will agree to disagree. I want to see the kids win in life as much as I  do on the court. And if Rizzuto saves a life Idc if he ever scores another point. Your comments have nothing to do with someone's feelings being hurt. They have to do with the team being 3-1 in conference play and everyone acting as if they are 0-4.  I definitely don't know who you are and idc to know you. I never planned on being a part of "the board" and may never post again. Regardless of how often you post, it doesn't make your opinions more relevant than others. 

I've tried to argue with people on the boards (here and the AE board) that they should be less negative on the players, and through the conversation I've come to see, and agree with, some of their points. That said, I'm with you on most of your comments. I hate reading that so and so sucks and this player doesn't belong in D1, and so forth. Back to the "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all".

That said, players should 100% not be looking at the sites. They should have them blocked. These are fans discussing their observations of what happened on the court. It's unfiltered and can get nasty at times. That is part of the fun of being a fan. As long as the topics stay with performance on the court, you will see rah rah posts in good times and suicidal quotes in bad times.

This team has vastly underperformed expectations so far this year. 3-1 in conference or not, they just haven't looked good. With what appeared to be (and still does) an easy schedule, the team is ___________ among 350 D1 tema

 271 in points per game

 253 in field goal percentage 

 243 in turnovers

 213 in assist to turnovers

 213 in blocked shots (actually good for a UA team)

 213 in rebounding (typically an area UA shines in)

276 in Adjusted offensive efficiency

198 in Adjusted defensive efficiency

302 in ORating

 Those are not numbers of the team we were expecting.  While there is talent there, we all knew the team would be light in the play of the bigs, and knew it would be a guard heavy lineup.

 194 in assists

 167 in 3pt %

158 in FT%

194 in tempo

Injuries have definitely hurt, but based on the talent we put on the floor, and the schedule, those are pretty bad results. It causes superaddicted fans to pull their hair out. 

The biggest problem I see right now is the ability to put an entire game together. Only in the Canisius game did the team perform start to finish. Even Potsdam had us looking bad for stretches.

They hit the floor and show they have talent and can run any team off the floor for 10 minutes then don't score a field goal for 5 minutes. This is something that needs to be fixed, and now, or the team will end with a 4 or 5 seed and lose in the first or second round of the playoffs.

Rizzuto: love what he does off the court. Great ambassador for the program. Hustles and has talent. Has not produced this year, and outside of a few good minutes has been a negative.

DeSousa: still the best athlete on the floor. Proved he might be the best player on the team against St. John's. For some reason he hasn't performed in other games. When you have his length and athleticism, fans expect him to take over for stretches not finish a game with 0 field goals.

Healey: one of the best shooters in the country. Not sure why he has been so cold shooting the last few games. 

Clark: best ball handler on the team, potentially in the AE. Always brings top energy, and has been my favorite player on the team for 2 years. Still forces too much at times and it makes fans batty. Love his energy.

Hank: although he didn't play much early, he has outperformed everyone's expectations. Wish he would get more than 10 minutes a game.

Lulka: Can't comment yet. He has underperformed, but that's understandable with the injuries. Fans need to let him get back to full game shape before complaining too much.

Hutch: major positive surprise so far

Lauderdale: fun to watch. Free throws are a gas. Needs to work on his hands

JoJo: whatever he brings is a bonus. Hopefully he gets in better game shape soon to help down the stretch, has his surgery in the off season and is 100% for next year

Hansen: Glad he isnt chucking 3s anymore. Has been solid defensively, but we haven't seen what he brought to the team in Canada yet. 

French: when given the opportunity this year he has shined. I wonder how he can earn more trust and get some more minutes. 

Doherty: he was highly touted, and supposedly the best passer on the team in the preseason. I'm ok with him taking a year to learn the level. Not sure why we didn't red shirt him if he was only gonna play mop up time.

Shafer: no idea what he will bring when he returns. 

I can't think of a player on the team that I don't want in purple and gold. All great kids with bright futures. Kids that I am proud to call #purplefam. Kids that I am happy that my actual kids look up to and idolize. That said, when they underperform, it's expected that a fan message board for a D1 program with a history off success and a decent number of fans will rip into them. Go read the Kentucky fan boards this season. With some of their losses so far the posts there have been crazy bad. 

If you actually have connections to the team, please, I beg of you, find a way to block access to these boards on their phones and computers.

Time for my annual post...

What the Bing is a Seawolf?

Big game with the potential to go 2 games up on SBU. Crazy start to conference play all over the league. Who would have guessed the standings would like like they do right now after 2 weeks of conference play?

Who would have thought that Brent Hank would have the highest ORating on the team at this point in the season....

I was made fun of on the AE board for predicting Maine would steal a few wins they shouldn't. It's because of what we saw last night. They have 3 or 4 players who can really play and carry a team to a win. They will probably finish 8th or 9th, but could steal a win against anyone in the conference including SBU or UVM if 2 or 3 of them get hot at the right moment together. They just have no depth whatsoever and will get blown out more than they keep it close or steal a win.

Back to Clark. He can frustrate us fans (and coach Brown I'm sure) but he balls hard all the time. Simply have to love the effort. If JoJo can get back to full strength by the middle of conference play, having the two of them on the court together could give other teams fits.

Here is the epitome of what Clark brings...

How many years have we had the opener on the road? 14-15 team started 12-0 in conference before losing their only conference game at home against SBU (that we should have won) after going 5-7 in the non conference (6-7 overall but we played NJIT in the middle of the conference schedule).

Conference opener was at home that year against Maine, but they did win their road opener.

Only 4 turnovers in the first half? That is the stat that seems to determine if UA does well or not. Protect the ball and they will be in games.

More on JoJo. Didn't realize UA has won 16 of 17 against Bing

https://m.timesunion.com/ualbany/article/UAlbany-basketball-14948356.php?utm_campaign=CMS Sharing Tools (Premium)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

Maine beat Columbia 75-72 last night. Darwich hit a layup to tie the game at 65 with 1 second remaining to send the game to OT. Then with 4 seconds left in OT Columbia hit a layup to tie the game at 72, but Flemming hit a 3 just before the buzzer to win by 3.

That's two heartbreaking losses at the end of a game by Columbia. Not sure if that says more about their inability to close out a game, or more about UA being on par with Maine right now.

Highlight of the game for me was Lauderdale being ready to defend after Clark lays it in. The score to tie is obviously huge, but I want my kids team to watch Lauderdale.

This video shows it pretty well:

On 12/28/2019 at 10:59 AM, Dane06grad said:

I threw Harris out there as bait. I agree he was a bust. 

Suero dropped 31 on Syracuse in his first game. I was at the dome for the game, they couldn't stop him. You couldn't keep him off the free throw line all year. If it weren't for a fluke  against stony brook in the conference tournament, they would have had a shot to win the thing. I remember Will Brown saying after the game "We are gonna figure this out and win this thing next year." And then Suero went diva, and that was that. He left school and we went to the tourney the next year and pushed Duke to the limit.

If you pick Suero, you might have to consider ones of the younger players as well, and we don't know what they will do this season. 

Say Healy stays 4 years, he will have been on 3 teams of this decade, and 2 years in next. Which decade team is he on?