olddog71

Yes, great achievements. I was wondering how UAlbany would fare with teams at two different meets at basically the same time. The Vives teams just teams just quietly roll up achievements and records year after year.

Actually, the current record is 7-1. Even the website is wrong and lists the record as 6-1. The current team status further underscores your point.

The Final Four is all set: UCLA, Florida, LSU, and George Mason. During the season UAlbany played two of the four-team field competitively. We lost to UCLA by only 8 points and had a lead against Florida late in the first half. Remember this quotation by Coach Brown? “In two years I think Florida could be a Final Four team.” Good prognostication, coach. It happened even earlier. If UConn had prevailed in OT, then UAlbany would have played well against 3 teams in the Final Four this season. All of these developments toward the end of the season show the huge progress our program has made in the last few years. Two seasons ago, Final Four to UAlbany meant the total number of students we could put on the floor in the last Hartford game. (Now Harrison is gone, and Will Brown may be on the verge of signing a lucrative multi-year contract.) Today Final Four means something much different to UAlbany.

Reading through some of the comments posters have made here on Will Brown's contract situation and salary makes me a little confused. I may be wrong in reading between the lines, but the suggestion that comes through to me in many of these posts is the idea that Will Brown might be making a static salary throughout the lifetime of a multi-year contract. The type of contract with which I am more familiar is the kind that rewards longevity; i.e., the longer an employee stays with a certain institution, the higher the salary goes. This salary schedule for Will Brown would not reflect certain kinds of incentives, such as winning the conference, winning the conference tournament, appearing in the NCAA, winning an NCAA game, hours spend recruiting, types of recruits, etc. Some of you have called a $300,000 salary excessive and unaffordable. Yet, say Will Brown were to receive a base salary of $180,000 next year and then receive $20,000 increments in each of the remaining 4 years of a 5-year contract and all receive some incentive money, then a $300,000 salary in five years would not be all that unthinkable. Receiving increments as a reward for longevity is a normal practice in educational institutions. Of course, the administration would also have to contend with contract demands of other UAlbany coaches who have also contributed to the rise of athletic competition and greater national exposure for the school. Anyway, I thought I would detail a couple of my ideas of how negotiations might go/have gone for Will Brown.

And we did well against Villanova last year.

Statefan and I may diverge on this issue, but for me the NCAA was the higher accomplishment and gave the greatest satisfaction. Although beating Siena was always very satisfactory and my memories of those occasions certainly go back much longer for me than dreams of going to the NCAA, I have to say that last Friday was very unbelievably great for me. Except for the aspect of beating a local rival, beating Siena is only a milestone for the progress UAlbany men's basketball has made over a long period of time that goes back to Division III days. Competing so well with UConn says much more about that progress than defeating our archrival. Either way, for me both events are "gifts that keep on giving."

Thanks, purpleandgold, I've seen those pictures, but it was a great memory to see some of the pictures, especially the one with all the students waiting in line for tickets. I still haven't seen a picture of all those tents, though, except for a few lining the PE building. What I desire is a picture that probably would have to be a panoramic shot of the football field area, and I doubt many students had their expensive camera equipment with them on the campout. Thanks again for your help.

Things change, and for UAlbany things have become much better in the last few years. This university's athletic program has developed much faster than usual; its change is so fast a lot of us cannot keep pace with it. And, the changes are not complete. Although UAlbany competes in the Northeast Conference in football and the conference doesn't look very competitive now in Division 1-AA, the announcement of scholarship aid to specific athletes became a reality just yesterday. If Dane96 is correct in his prognosis, then UAlbany will be bolting the America East in the not too distant future for the CAA, or some other higher-ranked league for all other sports. What I am saying is that the continued growth of the athletic program at UAlbany may be able to compete against the aspirations of many of the very ambitious coaches at our institution. Why would any sane coaching member sacrifice relative calm and security for the unknown at another school? UAlbany should have enough to offer a lot of our current coaches for a long period of time.

One of the coolest things that happened this year with the men's basketball team was the number of students who camped out - some of them 2 nights before the event - to obtain tickets to the conference championship game against Vermont. People I talk to are amazed to find such a high number of collegiates willing to wait outside in March for up to 36 hours to get a ticket. What a change in student interest the recent events has caused! I've seen the pictures printed in the Times-Union and other newspapers of some of the tents that were arranged on the podium of the old Phys Ed building, but I don't recall a shot of all the tents that lined the football field. Is anyone aware of such a shot, or does anyone have a picture to share with us of that event?

Patch, I think I understand what you're thinking. We've got this really good thing going - finally, and now you might be thinking, it's going to be snatched away from us. I really hope you're wrong; I think even you're believing you're wrong. As other posters stated, McElroy is no dummy. He's had a lot of experience in administration and is here to build a program - just as he has done anywhere he has been. A couple things I know about many administrators: (1) They don't like to admit they made a mistake when they hire someone. McElroy basically hired Brown the year after he kept him after Brown stepped in for Beeten. (2) Administrators hate to replace personnel unless it's absolutely necessary. They have to search for suitable candidates, conduct background searches on top candidates, and then risk everything by putting their candidate up for approval from their head honcho. Why go through all that when you have someone who has more than filled the shoes of a head coach? (3) McElroy would be placing himself and his career in jeopardy if he canned Will Brown, now that Brown has become famous nationally. Yeah, it's difficult waiting for that contract to get signed, but it will happen - and it will happen soon!

In speaking about the growth of the UAlbany program, we have witnessed a major growth in our fanbase at home in a short span of time and a major step in national recognition in one quick shot. But it's also great to see a growth in the people who view this website. A lot of you have joined us this season - or even in the last couple weeks. I am really impressed by the growth of some of the posters who recently joined us. Your energy and enthusiasm are so commendable, and you all got up quickly to speed on some of the new developments in the program. The growth on this site is so fast that Patch cannot keep up with welcoming each new member with his famous "Welcome Onboard" in special font any more.

Great report from a distance. My initial reaction to where the campus is located. It sounds like a Brian Ettkin-type question similar to his question about how many teams will make it to the Final Four? Duh, it's located in Albany. I'm really glad that you had such a great experience at JMU. And, while I like summer very much, it's going to be difficult to wait eight more months for the season to begin again.

Do you know anything we don't?

I have a feeling this most recent event was poorly planned. Probably most of the people who are responsible for posting information on the athletic site were at the game, and it just has not been a common occurrence for our teams to be feted that way. Or maybe I'm just trying to find an excuse. Does anyone know how well the party at the Pearl went last night, or are most of them still not awake? Did any members of the team show up at the party? How ever last night went, the team and staff members have to know by now how much the university community thanks all responsible for a very great season - far better than even most of us long-timers could have hoped for!

I think David Bauman has to be the greatest sport on the UAlbany campus. That kid has been so loyal to the school and the team even though he has recorded only mere minutes on the court this season. Kudos also to his parents for supporting their son and for making trips to the campus and other sites to watch UAlbany play and knowing full well that David would probably not get a chance to play. I certainly hope he can develop a lot more over the summer and get more minutes next season. I wonder how Courtney Johnson and Kiel Graham were feeling last night. Probably feeling a lot of mixed emotions. I know that Courtney went elsewhere to pursue other academic ambitions and that Kiel had been feeling a little homesick, according to some reports. I wonder if they would have changed their minds if they had known what was coming. Sitting in that arena last night with the great majority of 20,000 fans pulling for you has to be one of the greatest emotions a human can feel. One more thing - Since I was not in an area where I could see the game - I only saw some snippets, does anyone have any idea whether videos or DVD's of the game might be available? I have got to see this game in its entirety sometime.

I hope someone will be at the campus to meet the team. The guys on the team and the staff did more to boost the image of the campus to the general public than any other single event. And if we're going to be known as a party school, then we should show the reason for it.

And finally: http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens...ome_out_on_top/

Yet more stories: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/400742p-339510c.html http://www.nypost.com/sports/65550.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/18/sports/n...r=1&oref=slogin http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ny-s...egesports-print There you go, Dane96. Hope you're enjoying your day.

Good points. Sauers certainly made and is still making a career here. Brennan was not so successful in his early years as Brown has been in his short stay. Brown has already achieved more.

Yet another article: http://www.courant.com/sports/college/husk...dlines-breaking And another: http://www.courant.com/sports/college/husk...ines-sports-top I got up somewhat early this morning, and most of it has been spent reading about last night's game. It's sunny and beautiful outside, but I just became aware of it.

The great effort and spirit witnessed last night is going to affect every aspect in the university in the most positive way. Now when people see our efforts in nanotechnology, developing relations with China, gene theory development, library science, etc., etc., they'll take our achievements in those fields a lot more seriously. And the reverse will be true, as well. People who are great in these other fields will remember our achievements in athletics, too. "Oh, UAlbany, that's the school that gave UConn a run for its money." Last night's game in the minds of the average American gave our school a greater boost than anything else done at the university in the last ten years. Maybe longer.

I'm going to take back my comments about Calhoun that I posted on the AE board. You can see the full text of my latest thoughts on him and my original thought processes over there which I posted a minute ago. I had an imcomplete picture of what he was saying about UAlbany, and I thought his single remark about fearing us was disrespectful. When I got the full text of his remarks, I thought the coach truly gave us our due. I should not have posted my comments on the AE board until I a lot more information. That said, I hope UAlbany can give UConn a second run for its money next season. Last night was a real thrill. In the first part of the game I was screaming and yelling. Today my voice is still husky (but that's the only part of my body that is).

You're absolutely right on that point, Dane Pound. In past seasons, I would be lucky to print out ten stories in all the media I found during a whole month. These last two weeks it has been ten a day! With very few exceptions, the press has been all positive. Dane96 keeps quoting Doc Sauers in saying that basketball will build this school. I think all of the things that the school is achieving are beginning to shine now, too. Is basketball the catalyst? It certainly is helping!!

We are . . . GRITTY DANES. We are . . .

Thanks, Sienaglen, You and several other Siena fans have been really gracious this week. Placing the ad in the Times-Union wishing us well was a real touch of class. Now, since you have a new coach, there are two great teams in the Capital District.