godanesgo99

I'm sure pricing for tix and parking will be brought up, but I'll start that discussion with the theory that cutting those items in half wouldn't double the the attendance to make up lowered revenue and the revenue lost isn't palatable to growing the program and amenities. I still feel the pricing is reasonable and a great value.

There have been threads on this in the past, but I can't seem to find them from the mobile browser. With attendance seemingly down this season (I don't know of that's true as I haven't seen the numbers, and this is just from being at the games) I think it's time to start this discussion again.

I just got back into the country from a cruise (I was on the pier in Playa Del Carmen when the ferry exploded) and I won't be back in the 518 until after the game tomorrow, but I'm curious on everyone's thoughts on where to go from here...

I bring up the cruise, because I wore one of my great Danes t shirts on the boat one day, and while sitting in the sports bar watching a college game (Wisconsin vs. Northwestern) a guy started a conversation with me who's son will be a freshman next year from the Newburgh area. He was a college basketball fan, but his son isn't into sports, and will be a finance major. He didn't know that UA was D1, nor that they were any good. He had no idea that the LAX team was ranked #2, nor that the football team was FCS and has a guy named Vinny Testaverde on the roster next season.

How can we grow the fanbase, put butts in the seats, when a sports fan, with a kid attending next season, just over an hour away from Albany didn't even know the program was growing and having success?

This starts as a failure of marketing, and also speaks to the relatively new upgrade to D1.

Suggestions?

The star ratings are based on ratings from national recruiting sites, and I'm not sure he keeps it 100% up to date or had it linked to those other sites. It may only include rankings when the potential recruit gets added (JG3 has only recently blown up) or may only update once a year or something like that.

We are all victims of high expectation syndrome. If we came into the season thinking we were rebuilding and performed well, we would all be jumping for joy.

I've enjoyed the season so far, but I'll admit to wanting more.

I don't think we have a bad bench. I'm in the mindset now that it's the coaching fault for not developing them earlier. Brown has had a very quick hook and played the starters too many minutes in games that had no value if you are just planning for the conference tournament.

At this point in our development as a program we have several goals:

1. Play a rough OOC to make the conference season seem easy, while hopefully keeping a good record to enhance seeding if we win the conference tournament.

2. Play well in conference to get the best seed possible and get home games in the conference tournament.

3. Win the conference tournament to make it to the dance. We can go to other post season tournaments, but honestly the team has never seemed to "want it" in those other tournaments.

4. Use success in the above as leverage to get better recruits to make the above 3 easier in future seasons.

5. Get to a point with recruits where #1 becomes a given and we can eventually get to a spot where if #3 doesn't work out to dance we have a shot at an at large.

6. Have enough success where number 4 and 5 become easier and we can move to a better conference.

So far this season, we did well with #1, but it seems like #2 has failed.

Back to high expectations: how great must Hartford fans feel right now after what everyone expected from them?

Outside of 3pt% that line doesn't look that bad to me.

Orating over 100. FG% over 50%. Decent rebound percentage.

Someone asked near the beginning of the thread... any updates on Ahmad Clark?

 

 

 

 

Hartford just beat UVM

And @ Patrick!

When and who was the last AE team to beat UVM in Burlington?

SBU on January 30, 2016

I just threw up

 

Unexpected name from the past - Stephan Jiggits.

 

For those of you who don't remember, he initially committed to Siena, then came to Albany but left before games started. He transferred to Farleigh Dickinson. Didn't realize he was still playing but he's the leading scorer at South Florida in the American Conference. I guess he must have went as a grad transfer.

 

Jiggits was the same year as Nico Clareth right? He was going to go to siena with Nico, then didn't, then decided to come to Albany, then didn't. The kids Dad was the coach or something. Do I have the story right?

 

Jiggetts was close friends with Marquis Wright at Siena not Clareth if I remember correctly. I think they were AAU teammates and friends since they were kids.

 

 

So did Clark piss off Brown? I know he made a comment on the radio that he wasn't working out - but he wasn't wearing a jersey in the last game. I can't tell if he is at the game or not tonight as the video feed is on the wrong side.

Clark played last game, so he did wear a jersey.

Looked at the box score, and I was wrong as he scored in the game. I must have missed it. I remember seeing him in that black sleeveless t.

So did Clark piss off Brown? I know he made a comment on the radio that he wasn't working out - but he wasn't wearing a jersey in the last game. I can't tell if he is at the game or not tonight as the video feed is on the wrong side.

Game day!

Cool Video: https://twitter.com/Davey_Ballout13/status/963569685336870913

Fruscio Miked up: https://twitter.com/BrownJamie23/status/962473310201303040

Best win of the year will be against a team that currently has an RPI of 43, and that game will be played on either March 6th or March 10th.

Before last night, Iona was the best RPI based win of the year. This is why that sucked.

The top now looks like this:

Canisius 120

Iona 130

UAlbany 133

UMBC 151

Kent St 172

Hartford 214

Yale 218

BU 219

What really looked like a good schedule at the start of the season, really turned out to be a pile $iena

That Iona win doesn't look so great anymore after tonight... Talk about an RPI killer

What's up with Clark not wearing a Jersey?

I feel bad with all the negativity in this thread for our outstanding student athletes that may be reading this.

I have been critical of the results, GG, and the team in general, but I want to reiterate some of the comments on the OL. The line is critical to the success of a QB. I am of the school that there is nothing more important to the success of a team. See the Mark Rypen led Redskins. He was a terrible NFL QB, but won a Superbowl and an MVP when he had the best line in the game.

Our OL kids could be the best individual players on the planet. I'm not putting any of them down, but the best lines aren't always the best individuals, they play the best as a team. LeBron couldn't win a championship without a unit behind him. I put this 100% on a coaching staff that hasn't gotten them to play the line as a unit instead of individuals. A coaching staff that made the most predictable plays. My wife knows nothing about football, but she was making comments like "look that other QB just went in. Here comes a QB run."

This is at the feet of the staff, this is why I would have liked to see another season before a renewal myself, but I still trust Benson and the rest of the staff.

UA typically tries to make more foul shots than their opponents take.

UA was 8-11 from the line. UVM was 20-20 from the line.

This was the difference in the game. UVM even misses 1 or 2 of those free throws and the strategy and final minutes have the potential to play out very differently.

That second goaltending call in Foster still pisses me off. He looked like a beast most of the night last night.

https://twitter.com/MAACCommish/status/960837079214231552

Looks like the arena in Atlantic City that the MAAC is considering for the league tournament in 2020-22 has the same stupid horseshoe design.

Great question. Lots look available. I have 12 tix, so if its bad you cant blame me lol

That play happens with 12:00 left in the second half. I just watched it again a few more times. The ESPN feed doesn't show what happened before the elbow to the face, but I'm scratching my head as to where there was a foul on Conway with what you do see.

Also, maybe I am ignorant on some basketball rules, but why did UA get the ball under their own basket after the foul shots?

Armstrong gets the rebound, and is fouled on the play by Conway (according the refs) then Brown gets the Technical. Leissner shoots the free throws, then Albany gets the ball back under their own basket. Campbell in bounds to Cremo who hits a baseline floater.

Shouldn't it have been UNH ball after the T? I guess the foul on Conway may have been before the rebound and considered a loose ball foul? Even so, a foul on UA there gives UNH the ball, then the T gives them the extra free throws.

I'm confused. Does the T and foul shots automatically give the ball back to Albany? If that is the case, shouldn't the inbound have been from mid court?

 

 

Around 3900 at the game today. Not very impressive when in the past we have sold out. Students did not look into it at all.

 

I have written this before but Benson has been here a little while now and I really expected more given what he did at Old D. I have no inside information so does anyone know his 5 year plan? Disappointed at the crowd tonight and pretty much all season for basketball and football.

$20 for each ticket..on a bench. Plus $10 for parking in the Dutch Lot. For a family of four..that's nearly $100 to sit in less than comfortable seats. Add in some refreshments..and it's well over the century mark for a night out. Think of it what you may..but the top goal is clearly not to get the attendance numbers as high as possible.

Cut it in half, and lose $50 in revenue for every family of 4 or $12.50/head. After free tickets for students and season ticket holders, say it affects 1,500 tickets last night, but gets them to sell the 750 seats that went unsold last night. That's about $10,000 in lost revenue. Make that trend identical for every game (cut revenue in half on ticket sales to add 750 fans in attendance) and you end up losing the program over $150k for the whole season. That's a couple of employees of the program or a big hit to the marketing budget.

$25/person per game is still an incredible deal. What does it cost to go to a movie today before snacks? I think a 3D Imax movie is like $19/ticket at Crossgates. Guess what, they still sell out the theater for blockbuster movies. The lines for Star Wars on release date show that.

We can complain about inflation all day and how it hurts the casual fan and stops them from attending, but in the end of the day it's all about the product on the court. If this team was 9-1 in conference right now and 21-4 overall, it would have sold out last night - even if the price per ticket was higher.

I'd rather they maximize profits right now to put back into facilities, recruiting, and staffing to ensure the team gets better each and every year. If you win it, they will come. If you suck, we have an empty gym if the tickets are $5 each.

We are still way cheaper than $iena games. It's one of the best values around.

I get that times are tough and it can be hard to justify $100 for a family of four to attend today, but being profitable and winning will build the fan base much faster in my opinion.

Anyone know why Cam Healy doesn't appear to be on the bench?