godanesgo99

Agreed on LAX, thus me mentioning it in my response. I just see the ceiling of revenue and potential profitability of LAX as being lower than basketball and football. Being good in those sports can bring in more revenue from TV, Buy Games, and NCAA Shares than LAX does. While lacrosse is increasing in national recognition, I don't see it passing FB and MBB nationally anytime soon. It is definitely a top 3 long term, and as you state could be #1 or #2 today.

Most, not all of us. My son is picking colleges based on Track and Field opportunities, so I totally get that revamping those facilities is important. I am living it right now when visiting schools with him. He might not make a D1 track program, but the facilities available to him and the programs stature is part of his decision matrix. I still think priority 1 is improving the football and basketball facilities (and to a lesser extent LAX) to stage 2 or stage 3 is more important long term. Having those teams have facilities that sell out and bring in recruits to win games will ultimately bring in more money to support the non-revenue generating sports. Unless we can pull a Binghamton and get a rich baseball alum or Track and Field alum endow a facility improvement, the school needs to win and draw fans in those revenue sports. That will improve everything else faster, at least in my opinion.

Could be different now, but when I went to school they didn't do any of the fountain shows over the summer when normal classes weren't in session.

Anyone have any idea when the season tickets will start to go on sale and when returning ticket holders will have the chance to pick their new seats? I made a GDAC donation last week to get it into the fiscal year and I hope it was enough to not have to wait too long. I really want to be in the same type of spot I've had in SEFCU for the last 8 or 9 years.

I'm still surprised that the floor is down. I would have thought that it would have been one of the last things to get put down. The baseline looks real close to the overhanging seats. I don't remember, but are there going to be seats going down to the ground along the baselines like before? Thanks for the images. Definitely wets the appetite for this upcoming season.

No argument here. The team looks pretty solid on paper, but frankly it's 100% unknown how they will play, and it would be foolish to have any expectations beyond a finish near the bottom of the league. That said, they return the last two rookies of the year, plus an all-rookie team guy and a guy I think deserved to be on the all rookie team. Add in a few good recruits and a few good transfers and you have the recipe for a good team. Add in the fact that there are multiple "local" kids on the team with the renovated arena and you have the recipe for strong home attendance. I hope they fill the early OOC with D1 teams that we can beat and build a strong record in the early season. That should get people to attend the games, and when we lose as expected to some of the power programs on the schedule later in the OOC it shouldn't kill any fan base momentum.

Long term, im sure that's the plan. Short term, I'm ok with 5-6 OOC at home and 7-8 on the road/neutral site... As long as the couple extra neutral site games are for $$$$. Need the team to rebuild some momentum and winning results to be able to get enough butts in the seats to make more home games worth it.

Either Quinnipiac or Army will be home. Not sure which. I think the 2 games only counts as 1 game for limits because it is a MTE. That means 14 or 15 OOC games could be on the schedule. I don't think any other home games have been announced yet. My bet is that is because no one has a firm date yet for a game in Albany thanks to construction questions. I would hope we 5 or 6 at home. Need a few more road $ games.

Haven't seen this mentioned yet... Add Seton Hall to a schedule that is looking pretty good so far... 11/6 @ UMass 11/26 @ Siena 12/16 @ Drexel TBD Quinnipiac TBD Army TBD @ Harvard TBD @ Seton Hall

Agreed and understood on the rules and multiple athletic departments and why it hasn't happened yet, but it just seems like such a no brainier to do and would help out schools and draw a lot of fans. With conference realignment and other rule changes happening rapidly in the NCAA I don't see any issues with conference members in the same pre-season MTE as long as they couldn't meet until a championship game. Who would care about SOS? Maybe Syracuse? But honestly this would probably make their OOC schedule harder as they always play multiple low major schools every year to have a great record going into January. Again, just a pipe dream of mine that I wish someone with the ability to set it up would set it up. Yes there are multiple schools and ADs involved, but if it's limited to 16 teams, then you market it as only the first 16 to sign up get in. As long as you had buyin from St. Johns and Syracuse, getting 16 shouldn't be hard. Then you have two weekends of games set regionally.

I'm still waiting for someone to start a Pre-Season NYS Basketball Tournament, like the preseason NIT or something like that.... 23 Division 1 Basketball Teams in NYS NYC/Long Island Columbia Fordham Hofstra LIU Manhattan St Francis St Johns SBU Wagner Upstate / East / Albany Iona Marist Siena UA West Point Upstate / Central / Syracuse Colgate Cornell Binghamton Syracuse Lemoyne (new to D1) Upstate / West / Buffalo Canisius Niagara St. Bonaventure UB Seems like it would be a no-brainer to run - gets everyone some easy to schedule OOC games for the preseason and have some in-state rivalries created. Have a 4 sites with games on Friday/Sat/Sun to narrow the field down to 4, then a championship weekend rotating around the state each year for the semi's on Friday and Championship on Sunday (Buffalo year 1, NYC Year 2, Syracuse Year 3, Albany year 4). Could pretty easily schedule brackets so people in the same conference could only meet in a championship game, and could have multiple consolation games to help fill out everyone's schedule. If they wanted to make it 32 teams to add a weekend or make even brackets you could easily add some D2 schools or some of the better D3 basketball programs / SUNY Schools.

I could swear I read it's a MTE playing both teams home and away. I could be wrong and it could just be one game against each. Edit: it's probably just home against one and away against one.

So we have the following for an OOC Schedule announced so far: 11/6 @ UMass 11/26 @ Siena TBD Home Vs. Quinnipiac TBD @ Quinnipiac TBD Home Vs. Army TBD @ Army 12/16 @ Drexel

Awesome. That's what I was hoping for. I think I even said I was hoping he would be another "Sir Buckets" in the post where I pointed out his highlight tape only showed him taking one three pointer and it was almost at the end. Absolutely love that all it showed was him attacking and getting to the rim! Let's get back to making more free throws than our opponents attempt!

If I remember correctly, isn't this a once every 4 years thing schools do? I think the team did Canada in the 19-20 season, which would mean the team is eligible for that again. Anyone know if any plans for that type of trip are in the world for if these upcoming seasons? They were always fun to follow in the summer

FYI - You are missing Matulu.... https://ualbanysports.com/news/2023/5/10/mens-basketball-mens-basketball-adds-zach-matulu-as-preferred-walk-on.aspx

Talk about refreshing. His sophomore highlight real only shows him shooting 1 three-pointer and it's two minutes into the video. He feels like a banger that wants to get to the rim and not settle for the outside shot. Everyone loves the long ball, but the days of UA glory were based on the team making more free throws than the opponents attempted. Having a consistent drive to the hole guy opens up more of the outside shot that todays players have fallen in love with. Would love to see him become the next "Sir Buckets" in the Travis Charles mold. The real question is can he defend? Who will be the defensive masters on this team? I really hoped we would have picked up a pass first floor general with the last spot, but if they can stay healthy, I am sure Amica/Little/Jackson could fill that role. FYI: This should only be the last spot of Jackson got a scholarship or if Hutch is returning. I am assuming Jackson Got a ship based on conversation on the AE board, which is awesome for him and well-deserved.

I'm all for freak athletes, but we have a few of those. Still need a floor general to control the pace. Both on offense and defense.

As seen on the AE Board: Albany F Tairi Ketner has entered the transfer portal. http://verbalcommits.com/players/tairi-ketner I haven't paid attention to the football team as I have lost all interest (and cancelled my season seats) with them being so terrible for so long. Does this mean he didn't make that team?

I too agree he deserves a scholarship. Thrown into it or not, he started almost every conference game, and after Hutch: he was probably the hardest working "hustle" guy on the team, sacrificing his body to get the play done. Not even mentioning the hard foul on Finn Sullivan that was my favorite play of the year. That alone deserves recognition with a scholarship. His stats aren't great when you look at the season as a whole, but remember he was a Freshman and it takes time to get it. If you look at the conference only stats, a better picture emerges: Conference Only: Games/Starts: 16/15 - 26.8 minutes per game - 5.9 points per game 50.7% Field Goal Percentage, 33.3% from 3, 76.4% from the freethrow line 4.5 Rebounds per Game (1.1 Offensive, 3.4 Defensive) 1.6 Assists per Game / 1.5 Turnovers per game - this is the area that needs the most work 0.8 Steals per game / 0.3 Blocks per game Those stats are pretty decent for a Freshman. I'd argue that he should have been in the conversation for making the all-rookie team with those conference numbers. I know nothing about his family financial situation, and I am not going to assume anything, but I know there are a lot of kids that qualify for the Empire program, which means he might be getting Tuition free already, so a scholarship may not provide that much benefit. Sometimes it could be the case of him agreeing to stay on as a PWO so that the team would have another scholarship to use to improve.

Well that sucks, as a lot people thought he could be a beast on day 1 and keep the UA AE ROY streak going. That said, I think I was the first to post the punch on the board, and frankly the program doesn't need another potential problem child considering all goings on still unresolved. Probably for the best. Good luck to him wherever he lands. This means we have 1 confirmed spot, and a couple spots that may or may not be open depending on things that I don't think have been officially announced (Jackson/Hutch).

Wonder why the exodus? Admittedly, I only follow the ladies a little. I root for them and have gone to a few games, but I don't know the team well. Haney, Worth, and Heeps seem like pretty big pieces, and I though Sanford was supposed to be an up and coming rotation player. Anyone know if this is just the modern reality? Players looking to either move up for a bigger program or down for playing time?

The central Michigan one was reported today. At least thats when the tweet quoted was from.

This one might be the best target if he hasn't committed anywhere else yet. Anyone on an all-defensive team is needed in the program!