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This game is streaming on ESPN+

Today's forecast for Colgate University and Andy Kerr Stadium: Today: Rain. Patchy fog between 1pm and 2pm. High near 45. South wind 10 to 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Can we secure the number 1 seed? UALBANY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Danes hope trip proves fruitful By Pete Dougherty Jim Franco/Times Union UAlbany’s Kayla Cooper, shown vs. Vermont on Feb. 1, and the Danes travel to take on Maine on Saturday with first place in the America East at stake. ALBANY — Most University of Maine home basketball games are played at Memorial Gymnasium, a 91-year-old, 1,300-seat facility on the Orono campus known as “The Pit.” The University at Albany women’s team will visit there Saturday afternoon in hopes of not making a return trip later this month. “That would be nice,” coach Colleen Mullen said. First place in the America East and No.1seeding for the conference tournament will be at stake when Maine (20-9,13-2) plays host to UAlbany (24-4, 13-2) in the final regular-season game for both teams. The winner is guaranteed home games throughout its America East tournament stay, including the championship game on Friday, March 15. That would be the next possible meeting between the conference’s front-runners. Of course, each would have to win quarterfinal and semifinal games, but having the title tilt on home ground in front of what likely would be a capacity crowd certainly provides incentive to both. “It would be nice to do (only) the one big long trip up there,” Mullen said. “It’s going to come down to that game. If we win, we’re in a good position. If we don’t win, if we take care of business at home, we’ll be headed back up there, but it would be nice to, number one, get the win, but, number two, be playing well as we head to our first quarterfinal game.” Playing at home doesn’t guarantee victory for any team, although the Great Danes remember having to go to Vermont last March for the tournament final. The schools tied for first place in the regular season. Vermont got to host, based on tiebreakers, and won the game, 38-36. Not that playing a championship on the road isn’t necessarily a death sentence. In the two previous years, also1-vs.-2 matchups, the visiting team prevailed, both times at Maine. UAlbany knocked off the Black Bears in 2022 at The Pit, and Stony Brook won there in 2021. “It’s such a small gym,” said UAlbany senior Kayla Cooper, who was voted Most Outstanding Player in the 2022 America East tournament. “It can be a tough environment to play, just because they have fans up top. It’s like in a pit. I’m just used to it by now. If you let it affect you, it will, but I feel like it’s just another place to play.” “It’s a tough environment,” Mullen said. “It’s loud. The football team comes. They’re heckling all the players, including myself, but it’s what college basketball’s about. To play in that type of an environment and (with) that type of intensity, it’s exciting for players.” Aside from the conditions, UAlbany needs to be concerned about Maine, which before last season had won four America East regular-season championships in five seasons. Junior forward Adrianna Smith is the reigning conference Player of the Year, and graduate guard Anne Simon, who leads the America East in scoring, won the same award two seasons ago. The Danes defeated the Black Bears 54-47 Jan. 25 in Albany. Deja Evans, a 6-foot-2 freshman, had 17 points and eight rebounds in the game as UAlbany outscored Maine in the paint, 34-22. “Anne Simon is just the best player in the league,” Mullen said. “Deja just stepped up and played a tough game. We had a well-rounded, well-balanced game, but it was the defensive side because we still turned the ball over quite a bit (17 turnovers). It’s going to be a great atmosphere, so it’s got to be more of the same in terms of our defensive effort.” UALBANY AT MAINE When: 1 p.m. Saturday Where: Memorial Gymnasium, Orono, Maine TV: ESPN+ (streaming)

Two game winning streak would be nice going into the final game of the year... ALBANY MEN’S BASKETBALL UAlbany trio set for Senior Day By Pete Dougherty Stephen Weaver/Times Union archive UAlbany’s Will Amica, a 6-foot-2 guard and Syracuse native, will be honored on Saturday before the game against Maine on Senior Day. ALBANY — Three players will be honored, two for a second time. The third will be recognized for a first time on Senior Day, which traditionally celebrates a basketball player’s final career home game, although Will Amica hopes to keep playing, preferably for the University at Albany. Such is the climate after COVID-19 and transfer portals disrupted college basketball conventions. UAlbany (13-16 overall, 5-9 America East) closes its home schedule Saturday afternoon against Maine. Before the 4 p.m. tipoff, Amica will join graduate transfers Tyler Bertram and Marcus Filien in a ceremony commemorating their Division I careers. For Amica, a Syracuse native recruited four years ago by former coach Will Brown, it may be a tribute, but not necessarily the final one. “Even though it’s my first full year playing, it’s still cool to be honored,” Amica said. “I’m a senior. It’s a big accomplishment that I’m the first man in my family to graduate college.” Various injuries limited Amica, a 6-foot-2 guard, to10 games over his first three seasons. He was slowed further this season by hip and hamstring injuries, but he has played16 games. He is on schedule to receive an undergraduate degree in communications in May. Because of the injuries and a COVID-19 exemption, Amica still has two years of eligibility. “I want to come back here,” he said. “I do.” “His health has been hard for him over his college basketball career,” UAlbany coach Dwayne Killings said. “It’s a huge statement to graduate college, and we said to Will, hey, let’s celebrate that. Let’s get through the year, and then figure out where he’s at and let him reset himself.” Bertram, a Cooperstown native, has had one of the more traveled careers in college basketball. UAlbany is his fourth school, following Charlotte, Binghamton and Alabama-Birmingham. Heading into Saturday, he has played 101 career games, 41 starts, under five head coaches. “I loved coming here for my last year,” said Bertram, a 6-3 guard who was not honored on Senior Day at UAB but was two years ago at Binghamton. “The fans were awesome, and being able to play close to my home, it was nice. They all got to come and watch me play a lot of games. Being able to do that for my last year of eligibility was just amazing. I loved it here.” “Tyler’s been a super positive kid to have around,” Killings said. “He’s an elite shooter. When he’s shooting the ball, especially in our home games, he’s an easy guy to cheer for. He’s got the 3-point goggles thing that he does that my kid (6-year-old Tristan) does now. He’s been good for us. He’s helped us win some games, and the experience level that he’s had — being at Charlotte, Binghamton, UAB and now here — he’s been good for some of these younger guys.” All of the players said it will be an emotional day, but perhaps none more than Fi-lien, a 6-7 forward from Rensselaer who played at Albany Academy. His late father, Pat, was a UAlbany assistant from 2005 to 2011, and Marcus spent much of his childhood hanging around campus. Pat Filien died in 2021. “Marcus has been great because he’s been a professional about it,” Killings said. “He’s never late. He’s always here. He appreciates it. At the end of the day, he’s playing to honor his father, which is a huge thing for he and his family.” Filien was recognized as a graduating senior last year at Cornell, where he spent four years as a student and three as a player. He came to UAlbany as a walk-on but was awarded a scholarship in January. Because of Jonathan Beagle’s departure from the program, Filien has started the past seven games and 12 overall. “Senior Night’s always special, especially being here, with family history and having been here in the stands on Senior Night when I was 5, 6, 7 years old,” Filien said. “It’ll be emotional for my mom (Tiffani), seeing championships being won when I was just a little kid running around the locker rooms and stuff, and now I’m 23 years old, having a Senior Day here. It’ll be really cool.” MAINE AT UALBANY When: 4 p.m. Saturday Where: Broadview Center, Albany TV/Radio: ESPN+ (streaming), WTMM 104.5 FM

The NWS forecast for the UMass-Amherst campus: Today - Showers, mainly after 1pm. High near 47. South wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Mar 1 (Fri) 2:30 PM at George Washington Washington, D.C. L, 0-10 Box Score Recap History

Mar 1 (Fri) 1:00 PM Western Michigan Madeira Beach, FL W, 7-2 Box Score Recap Box Score (PDF) History Hide/Show Additional Information For Western Michigan - March 1, 202Mar 1 (Fri) 3:30 PM Quinnipiac Madeira Beach, FL L, 1-3 Box Score Recap History

I have watched this team, in person at home and via streaming occasionally when they are on the road. I am of the opinion that Sebastian Thomas did not like sharing the limelight with Jonathon Beagle and likely Jonathon did not like sharing the limelight with Sebastian. In conference play 3-3 with Beagle, without Beagle in conference 2-6. When we feel a player does not develop or exceed his or her previous year's efforts, we have to ask ourselves is it the player and/or the coaching and/or the chemistry of the team? Will any of us really know that answer? On side note, for the "first" time, I saw two incidents that Killings pulled players for behavioral issues, one involved a technical foul call, and Killings made a point of getting in your face discussion about what just occurred with each player. So unlike Killings from my past observation.

The unofficial ACC-Ivy League Challenge unfolds this weekend with a Friday night Doubleheader on the ACC Network. Duke and North Carolina will host Penn and Princeton, respectively. That kicks off what looks to be an incredible weekend of lacrosse.

Eicher took the ball at X, tried to get topside, rolled back, saw a double-team and rolled back the other way, shooting and scoring the overtime game-winner in No. 5 Army’s 14-13 victory over No. 7 Syracuse.

Mar 1 (Fri) 2:30 PM at George Washington Washington, D.C. Watch Live Stats Preview History Hide/Show Additional Information For George Washington - March 1, 2024 Mar 2 (Sat) 1:00 PM at George Washington Washington, D.C. Live Stats Preview History Hide/Show Additional Information For George Washington - March 2, 2024 Mar 3 (Sun) 12:00 PM at George Washington Washington, D.C. Watch Live Stats Preview History

The Spring Games Mar 1 (Fri) 1:00 PM Western Michigan Madeira Beach, FL FloSoftball Tickets Preview HistoryHide/Show Additional Information For Western Michigan - March 1, 2024 Mar 1 (Fri) 3:30 PM Quinnipiac Madeira Beach, FL FloSoftball Tickets Preview HistoryHide/Show Additional Information For Quinnipiac - March 1, 2024 Mar 2 (Sat) 11:00 AM St. Bonaventure Madeira Beach, FL FloSoftball Tickets Preview HistoryHide/Show Additional Information For St. Bonaventure - March 2, 2024 Mar 2 (Sat) 1:30 PM Monmouth Madeira Beach, FL FloSoftball Tickets Preview HistoryHide/Show Additional Information For Monmouth - March 2, 2024 Mar 3 (Sun) 10:00 AM Sacred Heart Madeira Beach, FL FloSoftball Tickets Preview History

2023-24 Women's Basketball Standings 2023-24 Women's Basketball Standings SCHOOL CONF CPCT. OVERALL PCT. STREAK UAlbany 13-2 .867 24-4 .857 W2 Maine 13-2 .867 20-9 .690 W2 Vermont 11-4 .733 19-10 .655 L1 Bryant 8-7 .533 15-13 .536 W3 Binghamton 7-8 .467 12-16 .429 L1 UMBC 6-10 .375 10-18 .357 L1 UMass Lowell 4-11 .267 4-23 .148 L5 NJIT 3-12 .200 11-17 .393 W1 New Hampshire 3-12 .200 9-19 .321 L6

For the number 1 seed, the schedulers could not have made a better story up for a regular season conference ending. Mar 2 (Sat) 1:00 PM AE at Maine Orono, Maine ESPN+ Int'l Video Live Stats Tickets Preview History

2023-24 Men's Basketball Standings 2023-24 Men's Basketball Standings SCHOOL CONF CPCT. OVERALL PCT. STREAK Vermont 13-1 .929 23-6 .793 W5 UMass Lowell 11-3 .786 20-7 .741 W4 Bryant 9-5 .643 17-12 .586 L3 New Hampshire 7-7 .500 15-12 .556 L2 UMBC 6-9 .400 11-19 .367 W2 Binghamton 5-9 .357 13-14 .481 W1 Maine 5-9 .357 13-16 .448 L1 UAlbany 5-9 .357 13-16 .448 W1 NJIT 3-12 .200 7-20 .259 L5

Mar 2 (Sat) 4:00 PM AE vs Maine Senior Day Albany, N.Y. Broadview Center ESPN+ 104.5 FM The Team Live Stats Tickets Preview History

Definitely helped by NH turnovers and our ability to the turnovers into points. In regard to Beagle's absence, all of the above, depends on the opponent. Against the Wildcats, we played better.

From today's Times-Union: UALBANY 45, NEW HAMPSHIRE 40 Huerter sparks Danes in victory Sports staff With her team struggling to get anything to fall, Meghan Huerter buried a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter to spark a big run that propelled the University at Albany to a 45-40 win over New Hampshire on Thursday in Durham, N.H. The Great Danes (24-4, 13-2 America East) were mired in a nearly seven-minute scoring drought in the the third quarter and had fallen behind when Huerter suddenly got hot from deep. Huerter scored nine of her12 points in an11-0 run that put UAlbany ahead for good. New Hampshire (9-19, 3-13) lost for the sixth straight time and has a 10-game losing streak to UAlbany dating back to February 2020. Karolina Andersson had nine points and Breezie Williams seven to stake the Wildcats to a 24-20 lead at halftime. Helene Haegerstrand scored nine of her team-high 14 points in the first half for the Great Danes. The Wildcats went scoreless for the first 6:30 of the second half before Anders-son drained a 3-pointer from the corner to give New Hampshire a 27-23 lead. New Hampshire went 0-for-7 from the field and committed four turnovers to start the quarter. But UAlbany struggled as well. After Haegerstrand nailed a 3-pointer 15 seconds into the second half, the Danes didn’t score again until Huerter converted a three-point play with 2:54 remaining in the quarter. Then she nailed two from beyond the arc to give UAlbany the lead for good.

UALBANY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL UAlbany focused on task at hand By Pete Dougherty Jim Franco/Times Union UAlbany graduate student Sarah Karpell, right, said the full-court press was tough to deal with the first time the Danes played New Hampshire. ALBANY — The formula is simple. A victory for the University at Albany women’s basketball team Thursday night at New Hampshire will clinch a top-two finish in the America East. A triumph Saturday afternoon at Maine, and the Great Danes will be No. 1 in the conference. The plan for coach Colleen Mullen: Don’t fret about the scoreboard. “If you’re focused on the outcome, that’s never a good thing,” Mullen said Wednesday. “We want to win. That’s what we do this for, we love to compete, we want to win, but nothing is final, and we just want to feel like we’re playing at our best and have a strong finish so that we have the momentum as we go into playoffs.” Winning the outright regular-season championship, which would be a first for Mullen in her six years in charge, has its privileges. It would assure UAlbany home court for any game in the America East Tournament, which begins Friday, March 8, as long as the Danes keep winning. Home court likely was a factor last season when UAlbany and Vermont finished with the same conference record, but the Cat-amounts were awarded the No. 1 seed based on tiebreakers. Vermont won that title game 38-36 in Burlington, earning an NCAA Tournament berth. “The wins and losses set us up for hosting and not hosting, and we want to be in the best position to host,” Mullen said, “but we need to focus on how do we feel like we’re playing. UNH is fighting to get into the playoffs, and we’re fighting for that top spot. We’re going to get people’s best, and that’s going to continue to make us better.” New Hampshire (9-18, 3-11 America East) is trying to stay ahead of NJIT for the final America East Tournament spot. The Wildcats gave the Danes all they could handle Jan. 27 in Albany, soaring back from a 21-2 deficit to get to within five points before losing, 54-46. The Wildcats used a full-court press that forced the Danes into a season-high 26 turnovers. “It was just something we had not seen that much until that point,” Danes graduate guard Sarah Karpell said. “It was still early in the conference season. We’ve seen a lot more presses since then, and we’ve gotten a lot better at it.” UAlbany also lost guards Meghan Huerter and Lilly Phillips to ankle injuries during the course of that game. Both have since returned, and the Danes enter Thursday’s game at full strength. “UNH did a terrific job,” said Mullen, a New Hampshire graduate. “They knew we weren’t very deep, and we had just come off the Maine game, which was a big win for us, with a one-day prep. We weren’t able to really focus on that press offense as much as we wanted to. “Plus, Sarah Karpell had played a lot of minutes and was emotionally and mentally exhausted. It was a combination of a few things of why we struggled to take care of the ball.” The Danes, whose only conference losses have come against Vermont, will eliminate any chance of a return trip to Burlington with one victory in their final two games. Even with a loss Thursday, UAlbany can still capture the No. 1 seed with a victory Saturday. The Danes will have swept Maine in that circumstance, giving them the conference tie-breaker. “We’ve just been focused on going 1-0 against all of our opponents,” Mullen said. “We’ve been doing that since December and just focusing on going one game at a time. We’re completely focused on New Hampshire. We can’t even think about Maine until Friday.” UALBANY AT NEW HAMPSHIRE When: 6 p.m. Saturday Where: Lundholm Gymnasium, Durham, N.H. TV: ESPN+ (streaming) MORE FROM Sports

UALBANY MEN’S BASKETBALL Danes ‘different’ team in rematch By Pete Dougherty Jim Franco/Times Union archive UAlbany’s Sebastian Thomas in action against Vermont on Feb. 22. Thomas scored a school-record 42 points in Saturday’s loss to UMass Lowell. Jim Franco/Times Union UAlbany’s Tyler Bertram, shown against Vermont on Feb. 22., has scored 27.7 points a game in three home games as a starter and 4.5 a game in his past four road games. ALBANY — What may seem like light years ago for the University at Albany basketball program in reality has been 33 days. That’s when the Great Danes scored perhaps their most impressive America East victory of the season, winning 86-79 Jan. 27 at New Hampshire. How things have changed since then. That was the last time starting forwards Jonathan Beagle and Marcus Jackson played a full game for UAlbany. Beagle, after playing eight minutes and eight seconds against Vermont, left the team, and Jackson has been sidelined with a hand injury suffered in practice before the Vermont game. As they enter Thursday night’s rematch with New Hampshire at Broad-view Center, the Danes (12-16) have lost six of seven outings since winning in Durham. They have fallen into a tie with Binghamton for next-to-last place in the America East standings, still needing one victory to assure themselves a spot in the conference tournament. If nothing else, UAlbany can look at film and rekindle memories of playing at full strength. “We’re different, but right now you’ve just got to find ways to win,” coach Dwayne Killings said after practice Wednesday. “You can go through this team beat that team, and you can go through the metrics of it, you can go through the past history of the matchups, but at the end of the day, it’s all about what happens tomorrow at 7 o’clock.” Since the departure of Beagle and the injury to Jackson, the Danes have become more perimeter-oriented. Point guard Sebastian Thomas scored a school-record 42 points Saturday, although the Danes lost 104-95 at UMass Lowell. Graduate guard Tyler Bertram, whom Killings earlier had been touting as candidate for the conference’s sixth-man award, has moved into the starting lineup in Jackson’s absence. Bertram has averaged 14.4 points since becoming a starter, most of that at home. He has scored 27.7 points in three home games as a starter and 4.5 in his past four road games. “The first couple games we had to figure it out,” Bertram said of the new lineup, “and more and more we started to get the hang of it. We played Vermont (94-80 home loss last Thursday) pretty good. We played UMass Lowell pretty good most of the game. We’re really starting to put it together now, and having two games at home, then a third game, right before playoffs, it gives us time to get comfortable with that.” UAlbany plays its final home game at 4 p.m. Saturday against Maine, then closes its regular-season schedule Tuesday at Bryant. The America East quarterfinals are Saturday, March 9. Another fifth-year player who has gained court time in recent weeks is 6-foot-7 Marcus Filien, the Albany Academy graduate who transferred in from Cornell. Filien, who has started the past six games and averaged 14 minutes, 6-5 junior Muneer Newton and 6-8 freshman Jack Margoupis have given the Danes at least some inside presence. “We’re finding our groove defensively a little bit,” Filien said. “We’ve had to adjust the past couple weeks, but our guards have been fantastic offensively the past couple games. We’re still going to play confident and keep that momentum going into tomorrow and Saturday.” The Danes will clinch a tournament berth with a victory or NJIT loss. They are mathematically still alive to overtake New Hampshire (15-11, 7-6) for fourth place in the conference standings. “There’s a lot at stake,” Killings said. “You win out, you could have a chance to crack to fourth place. You win tomorrow, you clinch an opportunity, but my mindset has been let’s have a really good practice, have a really good film session. “Instead of focusing on certain things that maybe we can and cannot control, let’s focus on the biggest controllable in college basketball, it’s having really good practices and getting better.” UALBANY VS. NEW HAMPSHIRE When: 7 p.m. Thursday Where: Broadview Center, Albany TV/Radio: ESPN+ (streaming), WTMM 104.5 FM

The Washington Tavern will return from an article appearing in The Times-Union on Friday: Washington Tavern being revived for June opening Beloved Albany bar had declined after being sold by longtime owner By Steve Barnes Lori Van Buren/Times Union The Washington Tavern, on Western Avenue near Quail Street in Albany’s student neighborhood, was a beloved bar during the 47-year tenure of owner Michael Byron but declined after he sold it 2018, never recovered from the pandemic and was sold again in 2023. The new owners are renovating it for a projected reopening in June. ALBANY — A pair of development partners who own dozens of properties in the city’s student neighborhood are working to reopen the Washington Tavern, a beloved bar that declined after being sold by its longtime owner and never recovered from the pandemic. John “Jay” Corallo and Justin Schmiemann, of J&J Investment Properties, are hoping to open in June after a gut-renovation of the building, located at 250 Western Ave. “We’ve taken it down to the studs. It’s a complete overhaul in there,” Schmiemann said in an interview Thursday. They are keeping the name. “There’s a lot of brand equity in it,” Schmiemann said. He said they are partnering on the tavern project with Ben Levack, a corporate trainer for Marriott hotels. Levack will operate the revived tavern. J&J Investment Properties’ 45 buildings include 163 apartments that are home to about 250 students, most in the immediate area of WT’s, as the bar was popularly known, Schmiemann said. “They need a place to eat, to watch football and have a beer,” he said. He said the partners and Levack plan to upgrade the food and beverage offerings but still maintain a tavern feel for neighborhood professionals during the day and a hangout for younger crowds at night. J&J bought the building last year. It is among a number of buildings in the Washington Tavern block of Western Avenue between Quail and Ontario streets that they now own and previously were owned by Michael Byron, a native of Ireland who took over WT’s in 1971. Byron sold the tavern in 2018 to partners named Don Keeler and Joseph Salin, though it is unclear if both were still involved with WT’s at the time of the sale to J&J. The tavern foundered after being sold, then was in business intermittently during and after the pandemic. Its last service appears to have been in early 2023, though Schmiemann said he could not say precisely when.

There are some concerns at Union College. Union College’s rating falls School officials say issues cited by credit analyst are being addressed By Kathleen Moore Jim Franco/Times Union The Nott Memorial building on the Union College campus is seen on Tuesday in Schenectady. A credit rating agency has changed its outlook to “negative” on the college, saying it is heading into a multiyear deficit, is giving out too much financial aid and owes too much debt. The college counters that its endowment is robust, and it only used some of it to supplement financial aid to increase enrollment. Jim Franco/Times Union Union College’s financial position has a “negative outlook,” credit analyst Moody Investors Service said in an updated report. The college disagrees with the assessment. SCHENECTADY — A credit rating agency has changed its outlook to “negative” on Union College, saying the college is heading into a multiyear deficit, is giving out too much financial aid and owes too much debt. However, the college’s credit rating remains A1 — a strong rating for ability to repay short-term debt, according to the update from Moody’s Investors Service. Unlike small colleges that are under extreme financial pressure, and in some cases closing, Union has not seen a decrease in enrollment and does not need to reissue bonds for debt with today’s much higher interest rates. Instead, the issue is mainly that Union has given out too much financial aid, said Scott Jones, Union College vice president for administration and finance. While that has kept the college’s enrollment steady, Moody’s said Union must do less “discounting” of full tuition to avoid an operating budget deficit. Jones agrees. “The biggest negative factor is our discount rate — that’s the amount of financial aid,” he said. “We’ve been talking about it for months. We’re talking about it this week with our board.” Union gets two-thirds of its revenue from tuition and other student payments. That’s less than many colleges: The College of Saint Rose, which is closing in June, relied on student payments for 90 percent of its revenue. But it still means the college is vulnerable and could fall into a deficit if student payments go down. Moody’s is not confident that the situation will improve. Analysts dropped the college’s outlook from stable to negative because of “expectations of ongoing multi-year operating deficits requiring the use of reserves, resulting in weakening financial reserve levels relative to peers.” Jones thinks the college is making investments that will lead to more students wanting to attend Union in the next few years. As demand increases, the college won’t have to give out as much financial aid. Union has rebranded — changing its mascot and logo — and announced Monday a new hockey arena. “The mascot, the logo, all of that is part of how we have a better discount rate going forward,” he said. Union is also expanding its engineering and computer science programs. “Having an engineering school differentiates us from the vast majority of our liberal arts fellow travelers,” he said. “There are schools facing true financial crises that would love to have an engineering school.” He believes Moody’s thinks all small, private liberal arts colleges have a negative outlook right now. However, that’s not quite true: Moody’s gave Russell Sage College a positive outlook, for the first time ever, last month. But many other similar colleges are being downgraded. “That sector is under a lot of pressure. They’ve seen a lot of negative downgrades and they’ve seen a lot of poor performance,” Jones said. “We have challenges, like others in this space have, but we have tools that others in this space don’t have, like our endowment.” Union has an endowment of more than $520 million. The endowment is used for financial aid, among other expenses. By comparison, Saint Rose had a $44 million endowment, which it drew from heavily to stay open in its last four years. But Union also is paying on $161 million in debt. Moody’s wants that debt to be lower, calling it “high,” and saying that the college should “gradually de-leverage.” Jones isn’t worried. “There are things that keep me awake at night. Debt is not one of them. It’s fixed (interest rate), it’s in a reasonable amount,” he said. “We’re below 30 percent of debt to endowment.” Moody’s acknowledged that Union has a lot of money: $544 million in total cash and investments, and enough unrestricted cash on hand to last 447 days. “Wealth levels still provide excellent coverage of both expenses and adjusted debt,” Moody’s said, but added that analysts want even better cash flow. “The ability to achieve fiscal balance will be largely determined by management’s ability to implement expense cutting measures without impairing the college’s competitive position,” Moody’s said. Jones is confident that Union is improving its competitive position. “Higher education is changing and the strong will survive. Those who are best in the position to educate students in future pedagogy like AI will survive,” he said. “We have to position ourselves even stronger in these investments. We are confident and bullish.” “We have challenges, like others in this space have, but we have tools that others in this space don’t have.” Scott Jones, Union College vice president for administration and finance

No, I do not see any aspiration to move away from the current conference alignment. In particular, with the current re-branding effort by the America East.

A leap year special on tickets for tomorrow night's MBB game Men's Basketball vs. UNH - Tomorrow at 7 PM Broadview Center Men's Basketball returns to the Broadview Center tomorrow at 7 PM. The Great Danes make their push for the post-season in the first of two home games this week. UAlbany will wrap up the regular season with home games against UNH (Thursday) and Maine (Saturday). Come celebrate the Leap Year with this Buy 3 get 1 special! Purchase tickets through the link below, and enter promo code LEAP to access offer! Click Here for Tickets Enter Promo code LEAP to access the offer.

Lastly, the St. Rose WBB wins their final regular season conference game, In my opinion, Will Brown's best coaching season, hopefully, it will lead to bigger and better things, whether inside or outside of coaching and basketball. Further, I hope for the women associated with program can continue with lives in the manner they had expected before the closing of their school. SAINT ROSE 46, SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE 43 Knights rally to win regular-season finale Sports staff The College of Saint Rose women’s basketball team closed the regular season with a 46-43 come-from-behind overtime win against host Southern New Hampshire on Tuesday in Manchester, N.H. Payton Graber’s buzzer-beating three-pointer tied the game at 40 to end regulation and force the extra period where the Golden Knights kept the momentum rolling and picked up the victory. Saint Rose finished the regular season at 21-5 and 17-5 in the Northeast-10 which will give them the three-seed in the upcoming conference tournament. Graber had a team-best 15 points and Kaelah Carter added 12 points, including four of the Golden Knights’ six points in overtime. Adriana Timberlake scored 16 points for Southern New Hampshire, which finished the regular season 17-9 and 15-9 to earn the fourth-seed. The Northeast-10 tournament begins Friday with the first round but Saint Rose has a bye and will start with a home game on Sunday in the quarterfinal round with a time and opponent to be determined.