jimbo

Just finished: UA 16-9 over UMAss Lowell. Lead 15-3 after 3 and called off the dogs. UML won 4th 6-1 against mostly 2nd string, including goalie. VERY sloppy passing by 2nd string, plus some unnecessary behind the back passing, shooting. A win is a win.

I don't know about Coach Abe's, but from what I have seen there are buy out clauses in some of them. Pikiell's contract with Rutgers has a sliding scale buy out starting at $1,000,000 and ending at $700,000 depending on the year. http://www.nj.com/rutgersbasketball/index.ssf/2016/03/here_are_the_contract_details_for_rutgers_coach_st.html I'm not privy to these things, but I would think the new school might pony up the buy out if they really want the coach. Looking at WB's contract it appears there is no buyout or penalty. SP's contract with SBU has a $50,000 "damages" if terminated by employee. So I think it's fair to say that it's up to the contract and negotiations and perhaps fair to imply that the bigger the school, the bigger the money, the bigger the penalty for leaving.

I heard mention of Eli Mencer being shifted from RB to LB for his redshirt freshman year, but he appears on the spring roster at RB. I know those can change. Maybe this will impact it. Personally, I like coaches who are big character guys as long as it's for "real" stuff and not penny ante BS. I'd rather a decent clean program with good kids than the alternative.

Well this is a mighty fine how-do-you-do. I fall asleep early and wake up to a disintegrating program. LOL. Not really. Coach B and staff must be buying Pepcids in bulk by now. Let's see what they assemble before wringing our hands.

UCF has 60,000 students, FBS football (even though they were 0 for 2015 last year. they brought in the Oregon OC as head coach so things should improve). They just brought in the Stanford coach, Johnny Dawkins, as head men's BB coach. Does anyone think UA could attract either of those two? My point is that it definitely is a step up AND perhaps most importantly, they were 16-46 the last two years and one winning season in the last 11. That means they are a place ripe for improvement...which is what UA was when she got here. Tough to follow legends, tough to replace highly successful coaches. Also tough to rebuild a program, but the challenge to rebuild and put your stamp on the place is different I should think. And she has already proven she can make a dramatic turnaround.

Just heard on the CH 13 news that Elliott Croskey has been suspended for "violation of team rules". No term of suspension mentioned. Ah well....

I would think that a s a coach in her position she accomplished about all that could be expected at UA. It wasn't like she had one or two good years and bolted. She firmly established the program and is moving on to a greater challenge.

Good luck Coach Abe! Thanks for the thrills :-) We'll miss you.

Get Better Academy is a basketball academy in the Czech Republic that has placed some pretty good players in D-1 programs. Probably sounds better in Czech!

Harvard's defense was very aggressive I thought. Yes, a lot of ground balls on both sides. HU beat Duke earlier in the year so they're pretty good.

UA 10 Haaaavard 9! Really good game. HU made a late run and had the ball with 19 sec left and a TO. Got off a decent shot and BR made a good save. Zach O had a good game at the X.

http://www.twcnews.com/nys/capital-region/sports/2016/03/24/ualbany-football-brings-back-experienced-group.html A few videos from TW News. Nothing earth-shattering. No mention of Gontarek in the wide receiver segment.

Good win over Hartford, but what's up with FO's? Was Ornstein hurt or was coach just trying anything to get a spark on the X? Looks like their FO guy is 3rd in the country so a struggle might have been expected.

From what I read, Crook got to play because they knew Hackenburg was going to start and they wanted to protect a couple of freshmen so they could redshirt them. He played in mop up duty. Still, I figured having a year under his belt as a back up at the FBS level should have prepared him for this level.

Remember that Crook was a walk-on (I guess a preferred walk-on) so it wasn't like they had him on a scholarship. Anyway I hope that the Sussman-Brunson combo has more success.

Ny Post article on Pikiel's hiring is hilariously bad. It says he turned SB "to a mid-major power" And "the America East's premier program the last five years". Apparently the bozo who wrote it couldn't be bothered to see who won the championship the other four years!

Reminds me of C-lo Green. Great job ladies!!!!

I can't recall seeing so many held balls. They are really pressing with some of the passes.

Ok. Down 7 at the half. Let's see if Coach Abe can work some magic with the press. that's a brutal press!

The only part of the game I missed was the part of the third period when SB went ahead. Yeah, it was a bit choppy the whole way, but the camera was zoomed out more. It was especially choppy during pans. Cheap camera? Cheap tripod? I know little about such matters. It would be nice if they could some how at least make it possible to hear the PA announcer so the goals, penalties, etc were less of a guessing game. UA won FO's for a change and it showed. SB outshot UA 39-37 but UA had 6 more saves. There was one face off where the battle for control seemed to go on for 30 sec. On another the two guys on the far side of the X looked like they were doing some sort of martial arts moves with their sticks before the ref blew the whistle. I got the impression (especially early in the game) that these two programs do not like each other.

News day is saying $8 million over 5 years. Serious money for someone with one championship and a blowout loss in the tourney.

What? A cowbell controversy? More cowbell is never wrong. Unless of course you're sitting in Messa Rink at Union and the people behind you (with their knees in your back) won't stop! The fun part of the feed was the journey of the scoreboard from small and inoperative at the lower right to huge and at the top to smaller at the top. Then they kept showing the scoreboard because no running time was visible. But hey it's free. Like said above its always nice to put a whooping on SBU.

Seem to be talking to myself today....came back to the game and UA was down 8-6...then went on a 10-1 tear....final 16-10. Riordan was outstanding.

More cowbell!! 6-2. Laundry was flying in the first period.

Good start by UA! Up 4-1. Better on FO's. Also, props to the camera person...maybe they read this board.....much better today.