godanesgo99

I see ads for tickets every so often as well, but I am already following the team and I have renewed my seats already. I am not talking about a post saying that tickets are available. That does little to nothing except potentially remind people to renew or maybe grab the attention of someone who was thinking about buying tickets already. The whole point is trying to find new butts to put in the seats. Obviously the school wants to renew everyone that is already a ticket holder, but without adding new people (people who may not be on twitter at all, much less following UA twitter accounts) then the attendance will shrink instead of grow.

Unless you are suggesting that the school decides to punt attendance this year because they wont be good.

You are spot on. The team is nothing but ??????? for this season. There are no stars to hype. There are no local players to push attendance. There can be no expectations of a huge season. No LCC at SEFCU. This is exactly why the program needs marketing now more than ever. I placed my comments in the "Butts in the seats" thread because attendance and season ticket sales are going to be down this year. SEFCU is way better when it's packed. Will Brown should be starting his weekly appearances on 104.5 now talking about the new guys. There should be press releases weekly to the papers about story lines. We aren't Syracuse, but google shows over a dozen articles on Syracuse.com alone being written in just the last week, much less all the other media outlets. I'm not talking about a release on twitter that only people already following will see. I'm talking about finding ways to get the casual fans involved. Why not promote that you can get 2 season tickets in great purple level seats for under $400, and that includes a parking pass for the season. Compare the value of the 15 games to other things you could spend those 4 bills on? I brought my son to Colonie Center for a movie and it cost $60 after a popcorn and a soda. The last concert we attended at SPAC was over $100 a head after parking. I just get the feeling that the school is promoting football and ignoring basketball. Yes football is about to start, but now is when they need to push the basketball program. Football needs to be pushed during Lacrosse and the early summer.

If true that really sucks for him. He looked talented. I wish him the best in recovery. He still has UA on his twitter feed. As far as Jerotic goes, he was previously signed by Southern Miss, and they were very high on him. Might be a great 'filler' signing. Wonder what happened there and why that didn't work out for him.

https://southernmiss.com/news/2017/11/14/Men_s_Basketball_signs_Jerotic_Watson_in_early_period.aspx

Also, it's possible someone is playing as a walk-on as well I guess. Who is on the team from NYS that might get the free SUNY tuition? I believe that while a team can only have 13 scholarships, they can have 15 players.

I did post above that they left Starks out of the 'meet the players' videos. I wonder if he is no longer with the team for some reason.

I'm on twitter and facebook, and I haven't seen "pimping". If you think that they are advertising enough, then I don't know what to say. The meet the players videos were great, but what else is out there?

I stand corrected. Not sure why I thought that was August. Either way, I haven't seen any real push for Basketball season tickets or getting people excited early this season. I am afraid that the loss of Stire and Cremo might lose some local fans and ticket sales. They should be out pimping the team and the program now. Becker has had multiple radio interviews in Burlington already. Brown should be doing a media tour here. Anything that gets the program in front of potential local fans will help. The region needs to know that the team has promise even though we lost most of what we had last year.

The twitter posts introducing the team were a great move, but beyond that I havent seen much marketing yet. Season tickets are on sale. The team should be out there. In past years, hasn't Will Brown already done radio appearances talking about the team by now? The team is almost all new, but isn't this about when the captain(s) get announced and do some media appearances?

I am betting that he splits backup duty with Brunson this season behind Testaverde, and starts for his Junior and Senior years.

Looks like they added French today, but they state that this is "rounding out the team"? Did they forget to post Starks, or is it possible he isn't with the team? Also no Fruscio, but that is potentially because he is a walk-on? Both are still listed on the roster on the ualbanysports page. French:

Here you go: Clark was one of the first done. I haven't seen Starks, Fruscio, or French yet. I think they are doing 1 per day. The women's team was done last week. Here are the intro's so far: Lulka: Clark: Rizzuto: Hank: Campbell: Healy: Lauderdale: de Sousa: Miller: Brooks: Flory:

I'm curious to see what Sasha French looks like. I can't seem to find any recent video of him. If 6'11" is true, we could have a solid big man lineup. Have we had someone that close to being a 7 footer since Zoellner? Big Rich, John Puk, and Brent Hank are all 6'10". Am I forgetting someone? Plenty of size on the team this season: SF: Campbell (6-6), de Sousa (6-6) PF: Lulka (6-8), Lauderdale (6-8) C: French (6-11), Hank (6-10) Brown can even throw some other big bodies out there as well. I don't know if we have seen this much size in the AE in a while. SG: Flory (6-5), Rizzuto (6-3) PG: Healy (6-3), Starks (6-2) (leaving Clark and Miller at 6-1, Fruscio at 5-10, and Brooks at 5-9) With the smaller guys, could probably run a small line up as well with 1. Brooks, 2. Clark, 3. Flory, 4. Campbell, 5. Lulka or something like that. Gotta temper those expectations lol.

No doubt they could be suspect, and that is an advertisement for a personal trainer, but the bigger thing is that he appears to be able to handle the ball well for a big man. This year is going to be a crapshoot, but I am really excited to see the team play. I know it's sad to admit this, but I actually had a dream about the team a few weeks ago. Cremo and Nichols had left because Will Brown had gone all "Blue Chips" bringing in ringers and they left to get playing time elsewhere. Funny to think Villanova and Florida State meant more playing time. LOL. But Brown went 10 deep, all 10 were on an all AE team in some capacity (1st, 2nd, third, defensive, or rookie) and the team made it to the final four. Obviously pipe dream, gotta keep expectations in check, and I'll be happy with a top 3 finish in the league. Being an obsessed fan is great. ?

Saw this on YouTube...

This year's game isn't happening. Time to move on. $iena only cared about the $ and didn't care about the community. I already showed how the best solution for the community was home and home. Their AD wanted to save his job by not appearing to give in to the crosstown team. He stared UA down and ended up losing a money maker for his school. Good riddance. No reason to discuss that low-major program any longer. Let's move on to the games and team we have.

With the team being mostly new this year they are working on introducing everyone... https://twitter.com/UAlbanySports/status/1028989715930742786?s=19

I'm fine with 2 games a year with home and home, that works mostly great. It ends the "Albany Cup" though. What if there is a split? Do we really want to play them twice and have twice the affect on RPI and SOS playing that junk? Does twice a year reduce the hype?

My message above really should be what Benson shares with the media. In years that Siena gets the game they gain 4k in attendance In years that UA gets the game they gain 2k in attendance. Over a 2 year period that's only an average of 1000 extra tickets sold per year with it downtown both times vs. home and home at the expense of the uptown economy, future growth of UA athletics, it's sponsors, and fairness in basketball. The community solution is actually home and home, not pandering to the LCC community. Want to win the media war? Go on offense.

UAlbany alumni mostly leave the capital district when they graduate and travel the world. Most came from downstate and head back there when they are done. LCC historically has had more local kids and a large majority of those stayed in the area. With the cost of Siena, those kids were also from more "well-off" or "advantaged" families. Because of these factors, this area has a much higher percentage of alumni in leadership positions in the local business community being $iena alum. These are the donors and long time fans. These are the people that want the game downtown to add value to their advertising dollars spent in the TUC. They don't care about fairness from a basketball perspective. The game at TUC every year is better for the city and downtown. It is not at all better for uptown, UA, or their interests. The question then comes to where your loyalty lies, and what is actually better for everyone: the game, LCC, or the community. A. Do you want an event that brings 10k people downtown once a year, every year (4-5k more than when Siena brings a different low-mid major opponent in) adding value to the downtown businesses along with the $iena donors and sponsors. or B. Do you want to do that every other year, and during the other year bring an extra 2000 people to the SUNY campus (over bringing in a different low/mid major opponent) helping uptown business and adding value to the UAlbany sponsors and donors. or C. End the series In my mind, choice B is actually the best for the "community". It really only adds 2000 extra people to the paid attendance with choice A., while ignoring uptown businesses and the UA sponsor companies. The game at SEFCU also advertises the football and LAX programs and could entice LCC corporate sponsors to invest in advertising at Casey Stadium and SEFCU, improving the value of those events for the community. It also fixes the equity problem for the actual basketball teams. Choice C., is obviously the worst option for the "community" but if it forces the move to choice B then it is a great short term solution for the long term best overall "community" solution. As far as the "public relations" war, I don't see it. The only public relations war I see losing is potentially in the Times Useless, but remember where that paper wants the game to be played. (Hint: it's in the arena that has their name on it)

Instead of scheduling D3 Oneonta every year, why not schedule a local lower level team if there has to be a down game? Plenty of closer teams to schedule that could sell tickets. St. Rose. RPI. Union. Skidmore. Hell, give HVCC a game. Any of those would sell more tickets than Oneonta if we have to have a non-D1 opponent.

That's why is said #SEFCU19

Siena loses a bunch of money by losing this game. Their sponsors want it at the TUC so they get more exposure for their dollar. Siena gains a schedule spot to try and get a team they can beat UA loses an easy win. UA gains the opportunity to raise it's SOS, and the respect of its fan base. Too bad we didn't take advantage and gain a better opponent on the schedule. #SEFCU19 or please another year with no series. LCC will be begging for it to return within a few seasons.

5 home, 7 away, 2 neutral (in Ireland) (I don't count Oneonta - I get why we play it, but it shouldn't count as a home game) Biggest complaint is Oneonta being the season opener. It is nice to start the year with a big crowd. I skip the Oneonta game each year, opting to give those tickets away to friends (I'm trying to do my part to sell more season tickets and I like to let people watch the game from my seats). I would be surprised if there are 2000 people at that game. As far as the no P5 games, and what looks like a weak SOS - Providence will be a good test, and frankly with the team being so new and young and inexperienced, an easier schedule is a good thing.