olddog71

I checked there. Was the thread so hot it got deleted there, too?

I don't see the thread over there. Did they censor it there, too?

What's your first language?

Dane96, Thanks for your input over there. Let the spin begin. (BTW, I'm shut out of viewing their forum now.)

Did you post that info over on the other site? I'll bet if you do, they will argue about it until the cows come home. Well, if they're the "gold" standard, I guess that makes us the "platinum" standard.

"UConnvict?" That's funny. I was laughing out loud and slapping my knees and laptop.

That's some way to reward us after all the excitement we provided in the first round. But, maybe the country just wants to see more of us!

Tony, as well as others, always comments about our being at such a low level. He essentially assigns us guilt by our association. The flaw with that argument is that the top team of a certain low conference may be superior to a mid-level team of another supposedly higher conference. Obviously, the best way to compare fruit is to compare apples with apples, instead of apples and oranges. The other flaw with the argument is that some high-level conferences certainly did not do well this year in the NCAA tournament. The perennial high-level teams of supposedly high-level conferences quite often bowed out early this year. I need only point to Syracuse and Duke as examples. So Tony's argument that Siena is superior to UAlbany because they're in the MAAC and we're in the America East just simply doesn't wash any more. This argument is bolstered by the admission of their own posters who have been celebrating like mad the triumph of mid-major teams over "high"-major teams in this year's tournament. I personally don't care where each of the two local teams ended up this year, in terms of RPI. The primary purpose of the RPI is as a tool to measure where to place tournament teams. The RPI is only a means to get to your goal, and that goal is to get to an end-of-year tournament. I personally don't care whether both teams made it to the Big Dance this year or not. I am mostly concerned about UAlbany, and we accomplished that goal, along with several others along the way and afterward. UAlbany's performance for this year far exceeded the expectations I had for us at the beginning of the season. That's all that counts. I'm afraid, though, that for several Siena fans this year's their jealousy of our achievements has gotten the better of them. (And, once again, I am not branding all Siena fans, even the majority of them who seem to offer genuine good wishes for our accomplishments, with this characterization.) Our game against UConn is an experience that no one can take away from us. UAlbany was able to go to the Big Dance, and for over 35 minutes, we were wearing Cinderella's shoes in front of millions of people - our fans, new fans, neutral newscasters and analysts - who were pulling with everything they had for us. And we were wearing those shoes very well while the wicked stepsister of Loudonville sat home dejected - and pouted.

Florida won tonight's game in convincing fashion. I'm reminding everyone here of Coach Brown's prediction about Florida made immediately after we played them last November. He forecast Florida's foray into the Final Four sometime in the next two years. It was really a great experience to watch tonight's game and know that UAlbany had played very competitively against both very worthy opponents. It really shows how far this team has progressed in such a short time. It's wonderful that the other teams had enough respect for us to play them this year. It's also a bit ironic that UAlbany scored more points against Florida this year than UCLA did. (Meaningless number, I know, but let me gloat some more.) Remember, just two years ago, "final four" to UAlbany meant the only players we could put on the floor at the end of a game. Now, we're playing teams who shine in the Final Four.

We're at a different level from where we used to be during the old rivalry. Division I ratchets up everything a notch. That being said, during the old rivalry one game had to be suspended at the Albany gym because a major fight broke out in the stands with 1:16 left in the game. This fight consumed about 1/4 of the stands opposite me. The refs just called the game, and Albany won 72-56. (Notice how I don't have to consult the score though the game was played over 30 years ago.) Also, notice the article I reposted which appears under Dane history. The article describes another game played in the old gym where Albany fans were so intense that the referees controlling the game could not hear their mutual whistles. I also heard about the game from people living 100 miles away who had heard about the fan intensity. I was at that game also. There were fewer fans back then, but they were very "into" it. It's hard to say how hot things are today compared to back then. I'm just providing some examples of how heated things could get.

Amen! LOL about your comments. Whine-coolers.

bosiydid, I know you have defended us over there; I've seen your posts. I also respect your comments here; you've gotten up to speed very fast over here, and I admire your respect for our team. I agree with your assessment that we don't get enough respect over there, and I think your reasons partially explain that lack. I have also defended our position over there numerous times, and I've slowly come to the realization that it often doesn't matter, but then I think it's not really my problem. Why should I expect respect for my opinion and my team, the enemy, when they don't often respect themselves?

I think one major reason why the fans here on this forum have reacted the way we do is because we remember the bad years. A record of 5-23 was not great, but the program and its fans persevered. We handled our adversity quite well. Part of the reason for our attitude was the strong belief that our program would move solidly forward because of our coach who was learning the ropes and because of the information we had on incoming recruits. Part of the reason was just our nature. Two years ago you did not find nasty attacks against Brown or the players on this board. We all knew what to expect realistically, and we were positive about signs of progress we detected. Compare the posts on this board, however, with what was going on over on the other board. Not only were the posters over there criticizing and/or defending to the hilt evry move their coach and their team members were making, they were savagely attacking each other. It was getting really cannibalistic over there. I cannot tell you how glad I am to pursue UAlbany athletics. I like the personnel and team members (and it's not just restricted to the men's basketball team), I like our fans. Thank goodness we have this forum to gather information and show our appreciation.

bosiydid, Be careful about defending Siena too much. I'm not talking about censorship here, but don't compare apples with oranges. You simply cannot compare our two records over the last 7 years, or 11 years, or whatever, unless you go back 25 years or more. When UAlbany first upgraded to Division II, it had its first losing year under Sauers. Did he suddenly become dumb? I don't think so. He was now competing against much better teams that had much better exposure to better recruits, better financing, better assistants, etc. But immediately that year I noticed that we already had a better athlete on the court than the previous year, even though we were losing more games. Same thing happened when we went D I. Better athletes, worse record. You just simply cannot put UAlbany and Siena against each other the first five years of the modern era. Beginning two years ago, the playing field became much more even.

Patch makes very good points about the current status of both programs. Many old-time UAlbany fans will also dispute Siena's claim to be the "gold standard" of the Capital District that goes back decades and decades. Back in the Sauers years, when both teams were on the level playing field of Dvision III, the other fans were making that claim then. But back then the record told another story. I think the great number of games played between the two teams when Sauers was coach resulted in about an even win-loss record for both teams. This fact certainly does not demonstrate Capital District dominance for either team back then. Back then, as now, the intensity in the games between the two teams was very high, and back then Albany fans had to put up with a certain Siena arrogance that continues today. Certainly after Siena went Division I, it has a right to claim it was the better team, but my point is that neither team has the right to say it has been the undisputed for the entire duration of this rivalry. For some of you newer fans, perhaps you can now understand the roots of the rivalry as well as the animosity that exists among the older UAlbany fans for our crosstown rivalry. My hope for the future is that somebody big will harness the great "energy" between the two teams and promote this rivalry even more. I think both programs will continue to show basic progress in the next few years which will make the annual game between us an event to show far beyond our region.

McFan, Thanks for the info. Can you please summarize the article for me? I would appreciate it. I'm also glad the TU did have the foresight to publish an article on the topic I requested. Thanks again.

I get only the online versions of the local newspapers, so I cannot comment for sure on what I see is a missed opportunity for local exposure. Will Brown is one of only three coaches nationwide who played both UCLA and Florida this season. It would have been a great interest story to see his opinion of how each finalist will perform this season. You didn't have to stop there; the local journalists could have interviewed UAlbany team members for comments on the matchups that they experienced. I'm just thrilled and ecstatic about the coverage UAlbany received from the local news media around the Vermont and UConn games. The reporters really covered these stories like a rug (maybe I should say "magic carpet"), but I'm disappointed at the lack of a story here. This obvious story still shows me that even the Capital District newspapers still haven't really completely caught up with the progress Great Danes basketball has made in recent years.

Siena fans have every reason to remember the Stanford game. It was a great victory for them and their program. It doesn't mean, however, that it has to be a great victory for everybody, and it doesn't mean that the victories UAlbany fans have in their memories should be less valid. For me, our first entry into the magical world of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament has to be one of the greatest memories I have of Great Danes basketball. For us, it is great because it took our program only 7 years to make it. For us, it is great because we were competing for only 65 spots in a field of approximately 334 teams in the country. By the way, does anyone know how many D I teams there were in the country 17 years ago? I know that in recent years approximately 4-8 new D I teams come into existence. As far as the "gold-standard" program of the Capital District is concerned, I would hardly call records of 6-24 and 15-13 in the last two years for an already-established program such a model to emulate. And I'm quite sure that you will have Siena defenders blaming it all on Lanier, at the same time some of their fans won't give us any slack for our poor record in the early Division I days. KingDane, you're correct when you call a lot of their fans big whiners. Compare the comments pasted on the respective boards when we were going through our 5-23 record the year before they went 6-24. I'm happy for the progress they've made under their new coach, but I have a right to be very proud of the greater progress our program has made in the last few years.

You can add LSU to that list. Florida beat LSU twice in conference, on Feb. 11 and on March 11. UCLA played LSU last night. I think your point is that we find UAlbany in very rare company in this country.

One of the criticisms that Siena has made of our program is our league affiliation. Some of them have "deign"-ed to call our conference America "L"east. This tactic is similar to the process of guilt by association. I notice that none of the Siena fans who have failed to appreciate our growth - and most Siena fans seem to give us credit and respect - have mentioned any statistics of our opponents. I just looked up what kind of opponents each local team has played this year. My statistics come from today's Sagarin ratings. Siena did not play one single team in today's Top Ten this year. By contrast, UAlbany played three of them - Florida, UCLA, and UConn - and played quite competitively in each of those games. I looked farther in the standings. Siena also did not play any team in the next 20, in other words, Siena did not play a single team in the top 30. Clearly, our game against UConn was no fluke! This evidence is clearly contrary to those Siena fans who continue to bash our achievements this year. This post is not to bash the past accomplishments of Siena's program. Siena deserves a great deal of praise for its performance, especially its victories in past tournaments. But that doesn't give Siena fans the opportunity to bash our program. Furthermore, I have noticed that the Sagarin ratings seem not to be upgraded after the NCAA tournament games. UAlbany has not moved an inch in the ratings despite our early season games against top tournament survivors nor our performance recently against UConn. I would think that our real current RPI would have increased at least a couple spots since the NCAA tournament began. What do you posters think?

Just wondering how many press personnel will be contacting Will Brown to seek his opinion on who will win the NCAA Division I final game on Monday since UAlbany is one of the few teams in the entire country to play both teams. Alabama and LSU are the other two teams, if I am not mistaken. Will Brown said after the UAlbany team's return to the RACC from the UConn game that UAlbany would be playing a brutal out-of-conference schedule next season. I don't know how next season can be more challenging than this season - unless we're playing in a different conference next year. LOL

Anyone have any idea of what the odds are for a Florida-UCLA final game? It would be an interesting match, considering UAlbany played both teams fairly competitively. We'll know the results in about five hours.

Good point, Statefan. And before one of the basketball games my wife was serenaded by the EarthTones, who appeared in the Hall of Fame Room. At that point, she thought the value of the experience was well worth the membership dues.

I like the comment made over there by one of their long-term fans who said that Brown would be signed to only a two-year contract and earn only 5 grand more than this year. Yeah, really knowledgeable old-time fan!

I had mixed emotions in the UConn-Mason game.