AlbanyFan2018

Even Bingo has a pump up video out. Let's go Danes!

There hasn't been a press release, but it finally does have Maloney and Russell as the two new assistant coaches on the web site. I don't know when they officially came on board.

I think the biggest positive is that it will reward teams who clear the ball well and fast with more time to run their offense. That is going to put an even bigger premium on goalies who can throw great outlet passes, and poles who can get the ball off the ground and into the offensive zone. If I am reading it right it also clears up some of the FOGO stuff because now if the ball is won clean an offense has the entire time as opposed to a clean win, FOGO takes ball into the restraining box and the clock would have started at sixty seconds. No news on how the face off battle is going for us or if anyone new has emerged onto the scene.

https://www.collegecrosse.com/2018/9/12/17834932/college-crosse-mens-lacrosse-year-in-review-4-albany-great-danes-america-east-connor-fields-tehoka

Does Scott Marr know anything about football :-)

Just saw the 2018 Inside Lacrosse recruit rankings. Albany comes in with the 24th ranked class with two incoming players in their Top 100 players. Tanner Hay rocketed up to #24 and McComber slipped to 97th. I don't know how this works since Swingruber had a very high evaluation from Inside Lacrosse, and most of our incoming recruits were not evaluated by them. Based on recent performance of our team I will put more stock in who the coaches are evaluating than the Inside Lacrosse guys.

And like it or not, the football program still moves the economic needle when it comes to funding a lot of the athletic budget.

Agree on needing to upgrade a few things.

Wow, is all I can say.

Alumni game is the 6th at 4pm and playing Hopkins and West Point on the 13th. I hadn't seen anything about the 20th and 21st, and that sounds like a typical prospect day which is normal. What makes it legal for all schools is that you have to make it open every to anyone who wants to attend and I imagine with the new rules there can't be any discussions unless they are now juniors.

Can't give this post enough thumbs up. I don't understand it, but I can add they are working very hard.

Great post, and I want to say you are right about Kyle's goals coming from wrap arounds from GLE. He is a really intriguing player. I don't know what kind of feeder Kyle is and his ability to dodge with his head up. That's one of the many things that made Lyle and Connor such special players.

I agree on Jakob at the 4th attack. I think the question will be which attackmen is going to get the defense spinning in a one minute shot clock world? When he was healthy Connor could do that. I haven't seen Mitch this year so I don't know if he has gotten fitter. Right now he is a great off ball/ man-up sniper, but doesn't really have any real dodging ability. Tehoka is a bull dodger, but I am not sure how effective that will be when a defense knows it only has one minute to defend. It may bail us out late in a shot clock. We need to have three guys down low that demand a long pole so Jakob can attack the shorty. That will be one of the interesting things to look for in the alumni and fall games. McComber in a lot of ways reminds me of Bennett Drake in his great senior season and McComber can create separation with with his great stick work. Then you have Davis who jumped in at X when Connor was out. So I think between those guys you have your 4 attackmen. It just depends on who can be the QB, and how the rest of the unit is put together. I would have bet money that Peter would have been the impact freshmen at the midfield position. There is a lot of potential in the sophomore group with Alex and Chris getting a lot of playing time last year, and a few others who have an opportunity this year.

Since getting any official information is harder than breaking into Fort Knox I am going to throw out some things that will be interesting to see during the alumni and fall ball games. - how if at all do things change with the new rules - goalie should be a good competitor between Nate, Jason, and Will. I don't think we'll see a drop off - face off. We have two FOGO's on the roster. I know there was a lot of support in the stands for Jonesy and I have never really seen Anthony take many draws. No matter how you slice it this is probably the biggest unknown going into the fall. I'm really surprised the staff didn't make a late push on either a transfer or an incoming FOGO once they knew TD was most likely leaving. - attack unit. Saying losing Connor is a big deal would be the understatement of the year, but the silver lining I guess is that when the team made the run Connor wasn't Connor. His presence was still huge, but his effectiveness was so limited it at least gave other guys and the staff a window into the post Connor era. The attack rotation will be the most interesting thing to look for in the fall. There is a lot of talent, but no real obvious quarterback based upon what I have seen. In the mix is Tehoka, Jakob, Davis, Mitch, and incoming freshmen McComber. Davis seemed to fill the Fields role of playing behind the cage, but when he had the chance, while he is quick and has the potential the offense didn't click. I am hopeful he can make the next step when given more opportunities. It is tough to put a lot on any freshmen, but I was surprised other than the bull dodges just how limited Tehoka was in dodging and causing slides. If I had to guess right now I would say it will be Tehoka, Jakob, and Davis at attack with McComber playing the 4th attack coming in from the box. It will be interesting to see if Jakob does play down low all the time how effective he is against a long pole. Middies - who fills the McClancy role?? His ability to invert was big, but with the shot clock I think overall we will see less inverting in college lacrosse, and there will be more of a premium on unsettled situations and the guy who can hit the 10-15 yard shot. We have the Burgmaster's back, Sean Eccles, Ron John who I always thought should have seen the field more and always looked really good, but never quite went off, and then a bunch of guys who have the potential to step up. I thought we would see more of Ramierz and Schwab last year and those would be two guys as well as Noah Taylor who saw the field a lot last year. There are a lot of good options, but someone will have to lift their offensive production big time to fill McClancy's void. Defense - The defense should be solid again, but needs to show they can win match ups against the big boys which is where the team has fallen short in its losses to Maryland and Yale. Dhuly and Perla should anchor the defense and I would imagine Filipowski will be the other starter at close with Sean Gleason pushing. No idea what will happen at LSM. Of the returners maybe Spahr has the inside track, but that would be the position where we may see one of the freshmen pushing for significant playing time. We were very susceptible on defense to be attacked by teams with good middies (Denver, Yale twice) so it will be interesting to see how Maloney as the new DC adapts to the new rules and any changes he makes. We have some bigger bodies to throw in the mix, but are they ready??

Well done! LOL Thanks for letting us know. No Albany thread yet.

I'm as frustrated as you about all of that and at least I get drips and drabs. I really think the point of view that lacrosse is out of season therefore we say very little to anything about it is a very short sighted view of the world. You see other programs aggressively marketing and keeping alums and fans appraised of what is going on. I don't know enough to say whether that is just Coach Marr being Coach Marr or if it is more of athletic department deal. The alumni game is supposed to be on the 6th and fall ball on the 13th.

Hard to draw too many conclusions from the Pitt game other than we have a tremendous group of receivers and a very good RB so the running and passing game should compliment each other really well.

The 2019 season is officially underway.

Agree, but would still like to see them play with more composure.

OUCH I get the whole defer to the second half, theoretically get an extra possession, but in a game like this why not lead with your strength which should be the offense?

I have to listen to the Pitt broadcast on Sirius :-(

Let's go Danes!

Probably costs $75k or so to fly and put up the team and staff for this kind of trip?

With practice starting next week maybe we'll get a few nuggets. A lot of teams are already in full grind mode. I know I find the way Coach Marr does business a tad frustrating at times, but there is a method to his madness. The guys are not worn out, and love the game. You can't say that at most programs. Only thing I can report is that early team morale seems really high and they are anxious to get after it.

That changes things. We have friends whose son played for Hawaii and their budget sounded horrible and wouldn't have imagined they could spring for that sort of trip. Aloha Mr. Hand.