statefan

I believe it is a common practice at BCS type schools to give academic credit (perhaps not 3 per semester) to marching and pep band members who perform at athletic events. Practice and perfomance at events can be time consuming, taking students away from other studies, and I see no reason that they can't be compensated with academic credits for their time and effort. The fact that they have to reach out to alumni because they can't get enough student participation , however, seems discouraging.

There was a better article in today's Gazette about our 4 signed recruits on the front page of the Sports section above the fold. Those who read the Siena Board may be somewhat amused by some of their posters whining that the media covers UAlbany better than Siena; but that's another story. The Gazette article detailed each recruit's high school career. Coach Brown indicated that Dyson's decision came down to us and Houston and felt that geography played an important role as Dyson has a lot of family in the Bronx who will now be able to see him play more often.

I've been a little surprised that there has been very little fanfare for the game thus far. I've heard a few Siena spots for the sale of their season tickets which hypes the game with something to the effect of Siena showing us who the "big dogs" really are. I've heard absolutely nothing in the way of UAlbany advertising for the game or for season tickets. Truthfully, I'm disappointed in our marketing efforts. Rodger Wyland had Coaches Brown and Lanier on his 11:30 show last night. Lanier was stoic, saying they had a 9 man rotation last year, with 8 of those guys returning and has the benefit of experience. Brown was more animated saying that we were much improved, with better size this year and could surprise people. Wyland tried to hint that maybe Jamar would play, but Brown flatly ruled it out.

What is the nature of Hghes' injury? I didn't see him on the bench. I agree with your comment about Zoellner. He is a full head taller than Wyatt or Knotts.

Tony, it's not old news to me. Patch had posted last week that there was to be an expected (by the coaching staff) signing that had not previously been reported and I assume this is it. I will feel a little more at ease when I see the press release reporting that National Letters have actually been received. I also note that the Times Union article last week which reported the Siena National Letters received indicated that UAlbany women had a verbal from a 6'4" player. Can anyone provide more info on that?

Ruler, I think you're way off base here, and I hope this string does not devolve into yet another football first vs. basketball first poster argument. The fact of the matter is that when Coach Brown had the interim title removed it was very late in the recruiting year for the past (2002-03) season. This recruiting year (Iati, Martin, Hughes, Jordan & Zoellner) are really his first class that as a full time head coach he has had the ability to pursue. He recruited Levine and Wilson when he was an assistant on Beeten's staff and Knotts when he finally got the job, well after most other D-1 schools recruiting for the year had been completed. Time will tell if Coach Brown has been successful, but given the circumstances it is totally unfair to declare him to be on the hot seat, at this point. Yikes, do I sound like Czar or what?

I know this is off the topic of UAlbany Hoop, but if anyone is interested, the Corning Cup Tournament will played this year after several years absence. It will be the weekend following Thanksgiving at Albany High School. The four teams will be Albany High, Kingston High, Hunter College High School, and Automotive Tech, the latter two being NYC PSAL schools. I think some of the readers of this board follow high school hoop. If you don't, please disregard this string.

I received an e mail today regarding a Great Dane luncheon on Wednesday Nov. 19, at Noon at the Armory Center, featuring Coaches Ford, Brown and Patterson. I attended two of these last season and found then very worth while. I really encourage as many posters as possible to attend. I don't know if Wyland will be the emcee as he was last year, but if he is, he generally brings a cameraman and it gets covered on the news. It sure looks good to the community and the many alumni sitting on the fence and wondering if they should attend games and support the program to see a TV spot with a full room of enthusiastic supporters. It only costs $10, which is close to what many of us spend on lunch anyways. Let's get out and support this. By the way, as much as I enjoy listening to Coaches Ford and Brown, I found Coach Patterson to be an especially interesting presenter.

This question is really directed to the Siena guys who sometimes post here. Siena football is 0-10 with a game this week at Florida Atlantic, a team looking for its first 1AA bid and which if the Sagarin system can be believed will be a 70 point favorite. With other northeastern Catholic schools dropping football, and with most Siena Board posters seeming to care only about basketball, does Siena's athletic dept have the resources to maintain its football program?

Just out of curiosity, can any of these injuries, including Jamar's ongoing knee concerns be related to the RACC floor? I recall a few years ago, while Cetnar and Haggarty were here that the players complained about the floor and Coach Hicks often practiced in the old gym to avoid the RACC floor.

There is also a front page of sports section article in today's Gazette entitled "Levine returning to natural position for Danes", which focuses on Levi being able to play the 3 , having lost 10 pounds to become quicker, and on his relationship with Jamar who apparantly is his roommate.

While driving to work this morning, I listened to the Paul Vandenburgh show on WROW. Please, I am not intending on turning this discussion into a forum on Vandenburgh, who I almost always disagree with; but he does seem to sometimes be a Republican mouthpiece and I have always believed that things are leaked to him to offer on his radio show to gauge the impact. He said today that he heard that a replacement for President Hitchcock might be Lt. Governor Mary Donohue. For those of you unfamiliar with Mary Donohue, she was a school teacher who went back to law school; became politically active and close to Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, became Rensselaer County District Attorney, then State Supreme Court Justice and then Lt. Governor. There have been rumors for years that Gov Pataki has been looking for a way to dump her and replace her as Lt. Governor with someone who could succeed him if he takes a cabinet post in Washington. As has been widely reported, President Hitchcock's problem have stemmed from disagreement with SUNY Chancellor King, who is a Pataki appointee and was his budget director. If (and obviously a really big "if") we wind up with a Republican political appointee, my guess is that the University will be in for budget cuts and athletics will be a prime candidate. I am pessimistic that we will get a President who is currently an underling at a BCS conference type school and views the benefit of athletics the way we on the message board do. Another concern I have is the top down style of management at the University. President Hitchcock hired Dr. McElroy and allowed him to greatly expand athletic administration with positions common to D-1 programs but previously not budgeted at UAlbany (ie compliance directors, athletic academic advisors). What would the relationship be between a new president and Dr. McElroy? If it caused Dr. McElroy to start looking for another position, what effect would that have on the coaches he has hired? Lastly, it is my belief that for the most part President Hitchcock has been a positive force for the development of athletics at UAlbany. I can certainly understand the frustration of those of you who are primarily football supporters, as I have always believed that when compromise was needed in order to advance the D-1 agenda, the compromise was generally to give up football expansion in order to get everything else. I hope I'm wrong on this, but I can't believe we'll be in line for a football stadium and full scholarship football until the state's economy turns around substantially. Just my thoughts.

Can anyone post any info on either the men's or women's new assistant coaches? I think it's a little odd that there have been no press releases about these hirings, but the pictures appear on the 'Meet the Team" page. I note the new men's assistant does not have a graduating year after his name; does this imply he is not a graduate of Coppin State?

In today's Gazette, Coach Ford hints that our only hope of "winning" the league would be for Sacred Heart to beat Monmouth and for all three teams to wind up 6-1. Does anyone know how the league representative in the ECAC bowl would be determined under those circumstances? If Sacred Heart beats Monmouth, but loses to someone else, and only Albany and Monmouth wound up 6-1, Monmouth would win based on head to head.

For those who are interested, The 2003-04 Women's roster has finally been posted on the UA Athletics website. Sweetland and Hutchison are co-captains. A 2003 grad of Virginia has taken the job vacated by Val Klopfer.

I read the post about Duell on the AE Board. I think it is curious that there was no announcement made by the player to a local paper. Deuel transferred to CBA before his junior year from Niskayuna. I've probably seen him play half a dozen times, and while he improved a lot over the season, he is still pretty slow and not particularly athletic. With good coaching and training, maybe in a few years he could resemble Vermont's Matt Sheftic. If I had to pick the top 5 local high schoolers, he wouldn't make the list, and rarely do we place 5 local kids in D-1. The other CBA player, Brian Monaghan is much better, more versatile, and a better shooter and was on Wyland's Newschannel 13 all-stars last year. If Deuel is an AE player, then Monaghan should project to be a MAAC level player. Personally, I would have thought that Monaghan was an AE level player and Deuel a D-II player, but I don't want to steal anyone else's catch-phrase.

I guess I wasn't clear. I'm not looking to mooch off anyone, I can still afford my own beer, etc. I was just wondering if any of the posters get together before the games to enjoy a beverage.

For a variety of reasons, I have not been home on a weekend when we've had a home game yet this season, but plan to be there Saturday. Anyone have a tailgate I can crash?

Well, those of you who know me will probably get a good laugh out of this. I sit in the row in front of UAalum72, which he identifies as in Sec 600, and which from the diagram on the season ticket application appears to be Sec 600; but on my tickets for the past two seasons it says Sec 200, so, I suppose I've been sitting in the wrong seats all these years. I better go over there tomorrow before someone takes what I think are my seats.

Did you also get the post card from the Alumni Association last week advertising the homecoming football activities, including the game against "NH"?

Dane Pound - I don't get your Staten Island reference. Wouldn't Staten Islanders be Wagner fans? Hopefully Wagner will have a huge victory also.

This is very good news. We have 13 home games, an away game with Siena, two away games that are easy drives (Colgate and UMass) and now two away games televised.

This is a great question. All I can tell you is that when I arrived on campus in 1969, the rivalry was already very heated. I'm hoping OldTimer can shed better light as he indicated he played in the years before the nickname was changed from the Peds to the Great Danes. It would be terrific if one of the local newspaper sports reporters did in depth interviews with Doc and some oldtime Siena faithful and presented a balanced look at the issue in the weeks leading up to the game.

Did you get this on-line or in the mail?

Two questions: 1. How come the women's basketball roster is not posted while the men's roster wasposted at least two weeks ago? 2. Is there going to be any midnite madness type event this year?