cwdickens

From the Instagram Account grayed_danes_nil: This next incoming frosh is someone I am really excited to watch develop. This is Tayoni Galante - a 6’2” attack / midfielder out of Salamanca High School. We love those hybrid types running out of the midfield…think Graydon Hogg and Ben Wimmer. Salamanca has been one of our feeder program as of late and Tayoni will be following in the footsteps of Keelan Seneca and the great Famous Amos Whitcomb. All three of these guys came out of the womb with a stick in their hands and by 3 months they were already going behind the back. If he’s anything like Keelan and Amos, I gotta believe we’re getting another high character human being. Welcome to the family.

From the Instagram Account grayed_danes_nil: Too soon to start our look at 2025? Looking forward to watch this kid put on purple next year - this is midfielder Brendon Barnard from Chittenango NY. I’m just going to say it - he reminds me of one of my all time favorite players - Sean Eccles…and not just because he plays with his socks below his ankles. He’s a 5’11” lefty midfielder who loves to attack the goal - exceptional stick skills and plays with his head on a swivel. Check out his video and tell me he doesn’t play like an Eccles. Fun fact - Jack VanValkenburgh’s father is his shooting coach so we know he already has some of that Great Dane blood in his veins…

If anyone had said a few weeks ago that a post-season would be part of this team's future, I would have chuckled. No one is chuckling now... Baseball Clinches Playoff Spot With Win

Sadly, not to be 9-3 loss to Penn State however, overall, exceeded expectations.

Win or go home time.... May 18 (Sat) 5:30 PM ET Penn State Bryan-College Station Regional First Elimination Game College Station, TX ESPN+ Live Stats Preview History

While the majority on the forum may have a preference for CAA full affiliation, I believe the greater fan base outside this forum prefers the America East for all sports except Football and Women's Golf. Will the America East look at taking on Football? The question is: Does Maine, New Hampshire, UAlbany and Bryant agreed on this and can you get Rhode Island, Stony Brook, Nova and Monmouth on board? Well, then there are the schools without football, ex. Vermont, Binghamton, NJIT UMBC., which may put up a roadblock.

A flash from the past, Greg Stire... got married in Tampa, FL, where he has lived for the last few years. Congratulations.

Per the Patriot Conference website, Richmond is joining the conference in Football only, looks like the Patriot Conference was looking to make it eight teams for football. Was losing to UAlbany in the NCAA to much?

Beyond playing Baylor in Football and a couple of "lessor" known TX schools in MBB, no recollection of playing Texas A & M in softball or any other sport.

May 17 (Fri) 6:30 PM ET at #16 Texas A&M Bryan-College Station Regional First Round College Station, TX Live Stats Tickets History TV Coverage: ESPN+

Concur, the future is bright, if we can keep our underclassmen. This team matured nicely, as the season progressed.

If you are not following the John Hopkins - Leigh game on ESPNU, you should know that two delays have occurred due to lighting in the area of John Hopkins stadium. Our match with Norte Dame may be moved to another ESPN channel.

Just noting, Lilly Phillips received her bachelor's degree this weekend and has referred herself as an UAlbany Alumni. As for basketball, not sure what it means, perhaps playing as a grad student.

You can watch with team as they learn their destination. 141 likes ualbanysb WATCH PARTY 🎉 Join us as we find out where we go next ‼️ Broadview Center - Doors open at 6:30 pm! #UAUKNOW // #AESB // #AEChamps

Perhaps, someone will rise to the occasion with some solid coaching. Perhaps.

A clean sweep, 3-0 in the AE Tournament.

I agree, three to four deserving teams, left out from the tournament.

Great Danes beat UMass-Lowell 4-0 and are AE Softball Champs, on to the NCAA Tournament.

UAlbany advances to Saturday's Championship game with a 6-3 win over Binghamton.

Just saying, "We have to agree to disagree on this comment." I have recollections of infrequent comments concerning other team recruits and recruitment efforts, yes, rarely.

Friday, May 10 Game 7 - 11:00 AM No. 1 UAlbany vs. No. 2 Binghamton Live Stats | Video Game 8 - 1:30 PM No. 3 Bryant vs. No. 5 UMass Lowell Live Stats | Video Game 9 - 4:00 PM Game 7 Loser vs. Game 8 Winner Live Stats | Video Saturday, May 11 Championship Day Game 10 - 12:00 PM Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner Live Stats | Video Game 11 - TBA If Necessary Game

In terms of reality: how this team looks on paper vs. how this team performs on the court can be a world of difference. Again, not much said in the forum about how other teams in the America East are do filling in their needs. In the end, if other teams are recruiting better players, we may have a competitive team however not a "winning" team.

Wednesday, May 8 Links Game 1 - 10:00 AM No. 5 UMass Lowell 4, No. 4 UMBC Box Score | Recap Game 2 - 12:30 PM No. 6 Maine 9, No. 3 Bryant 7 Box Score | Recap Game 3 - 6:00 PM No. 3 Bryant 6, No. 4 UMBC 2 Box Score | Recap Thursday, May 9 Game 4 - 11:00 AM No. 1 UAlbany vs. No. 5 UMass Lowell Live Stats | Video Game 5 - 1:30 PM No. 2 Binghamton vs. No. 6 Maine Live Stats | Video Game 6 - 4:00 PM No. 3 Bryant vs. Game 4/5 Loser Live Stats | Video Friday, May 10 Game 7 - 11:00 AM Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner Live Stats | Video Game 8 - 1:30 PM Game 6 Winner vs. Game 4/5 Loser Live Stats | Video Game 9 - 4:00 PM Game 7 Loser vs. Game 8 Winner Live Stats | Video Saturday, May 11 Championship Day Game 10 - 12:00 PM Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner Live Stats | Video Game 11 - TBA If Necessary Game

From today's Times-Union: For college athletes, it’s free agency’ time BY MICHAEL KELLY ALBANY — The list was long, littered with names of players to try to recruit. Each day, that list in University at Albany men’s basketball coach Dwayne Killings’ office would receive several more names. Most nights, when Killings was at home, he’d receive a text message from one of his assistants about another player or two to add to the list when he got back to the office the next morning. “So you’re constantly pivoting,” Killings said, “constantly moving with it.” That’s one way to describe what’s been the state of college basketball — college athletics, really — over the past several weeks, an intense period of 45 days when the NCAA transfer portal was open and saw approximately 3,500 Division I men’s and women’s players pour into it. In terms of players entering the portal, that season started March 18 and the deadline for an athlete to inform his or her school of an intention to leave was this past Wednesday. Recruiting of those athletes continues, but the nonstop churn of players becoming freshly available ends, allowing coaching staffs to catch their breath a bit. “Everyone waits for that date,” said Megan Methven, the UAlbany women’s basketball program’s associate head coach. “You just don’t want to miss anyone.” Nearly every Division I program in the country lost players this spring to the NCAA transfer portal, a tool launched in 2018 to help manage the increased ability of college athletes to transfer. For so long, any transferring Division I athlete had to sit out a year and could only transfer once. Now, in an era in entered the portal. Now, she said, she’s come to accept that even if a player is happy and plays a lot, they may still leave. which the NCAA’s rules and regulations related to amateurism and eligibility are seemingly the constant subject of lawsuits — and courtroom concessions and losses — the college basketball offseason allows players to mostly be able to move freely from one school to the next, as often as they like, and increasingly with name, image and likeness (NIL) money attached to those decisions. “Right now, it’s a free agency model, with no structure around it,” said Frank Ambrose, the co-founder of the Siena College-endorsed “Saints March On” NIL collective. That’s the environment athletes and coaches are navigating this spring across the country, the programs at UAlbany and Siena included. Of the 49 basketball players with remaining eligibility that ended the 2023-24 season on the rosters of the Great Danes and Saints, 27 of them opted to transfer. Those local numbers include scholarship and walk-on players but doesn’t include players who formally left their program during the season. Coaches, players, administrators and others tied to the sport generally described the portal season as a frenetic one, a super-charged period that takes the yearslong process of recruiting a high school player and condenses it into days or weeks. “Nothing prepares you for how fast it moves,” said Jillian Huerter, a Shenendehowa High School graduate who transferred this offseason from Rutgers to Fairfield. And for Huerter, the connection to Fairfield was a relatively simple — and strong — one, since Stags coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis had recruited her before she committed to Rutgers. “Obviously, back then, she told us, ‘No,’ which we were bummed about,” said Thibault-DuDonis, whose MAAC program finished 31-2 this past season and earned its first national ranking. “But we want to play in that sandbox as much as we can.” That “sandbox” is one filled with players likely heading to play at a higher level out of high school, like Huerter did with Rutgers in the Big Ten. The reason to recruit a player likely heading to a stronger league, Thibault-DuDonis and other coaches said, can’t solely be about a potential re-recruitment down the road — but it’s also undeniably a factor in making that effort, and making sure “you don’t burn bridges” when that initial offer gets declined. “As coaches, now, you have to assume some percentage of the kids you’re recruiting are going to transfer,” Thibault-DuDonis said. That knowledge, though, doesn’t necessarily make it easier for a coach when it’s one of their players leaving, even as transferring has become so common for programs of all sizes and levels of success. UAlbany women’s basketball coach Colleen Mullen’s program has won at least 22 games and appeared in a national postseason tournament in each of the past three seasons. That hasn’t stopped players — including some who played major minutes — from heading elsewhere. “And, at first, when the transfer portal came, and players were deciding to leave, it was hard for me,” Mullen said. “I took it very personally.” At some point within the last year, Mullen said her attitude about that started to change. After the 2023-24 season, UAlbany lost standout freshman Deja Evans to the transfer portal — and then to Drexel in Philadelphia, much closer to the 6-foot-2 forward’s hometown of Conshohocken, Pa. — and Mullen understood she couldn’t dwell on that like she would’ve in past years. “What I’ve learned is that, even if they play a lot and they’re happy, they still may leave,” Mullen said. “This is what it is.” Players have always departed from programs for a variety of reasons, but NIL dollars are becoming a much more common reason for a player to move along. Just within the past two offseasons, Jim Hart — the founder of the Albany City Rocks AAU program, which competes on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League scene — said he’s noticed a difference on the men’s side in terms of players entering into the transfer portal. In 2023, Hart said he thought most players entering into the transfer portal could be lumped into one of three groups. “It was more or less people with a fifth year looking for a new option, people who didn’t get playing time at a high-major moving to a lower major and getting some money, or people at low-majors — who had really good years — looking to move up and get paid handsomely.” This year, Hart saw the transfer portal season add another category, one that encompassed a lot more players. “It seemed like anyone who scored double-digits went into the portal to see what else was out there, and I thought that was crazy,” Hart said. But … “In almost every case,” Hart said, “you’ll get paid more to leave.” Without naming the player, Hart said he had one former City Rock go from an NIL deal around $12,000 to one at a new school that’s “well above $100K.” Most players, though, are not getting deals worth that much money — especially at the mid-major level. Locally, the only active collective supporting basketball team is Saints March On, which Ambrose said had NIL deals during the 2023-24 school year with approximately 20 Siena athletes split between the school’s basketball and lacrosse squads. (Ambrose did not disclose how much money individual athletes received as part of their deals, other than that the largest deals went to men’s basketball players Sean Durugordon and Michael Eley, both of whom left the program this offseason.) In all, Ambrose said the Siena-aligned collective raised approximately $100,000 for the current school year. Originally, the goal for 2024-25 was to raise $150,000 — but the collective jumped that to $200,000 after the school hired former Syracuse star Gerry McNamara to be its new head coach in March. “Gerry presents a unique opportunity to draw in more interest around this,” said Ambrose, who also said Saints March On is seeking a way to make donations to it tax-deductible in order to “help increase the donor pool.” At the moment, UAlbany does not have a collective that supports its basketball teams — but that appears poised to change. Former UAlbany men’s basketball player Chris Wyatt recently confirmed that he’s starting up the Danes of Greatness collective to support the program, with plans to launch within the next few weeks. For now, though, Killings’ Great Danes don’t have a collective behind them, which means their recruiting during this period of transfers had to take that into account. At the mid-major level, a consensus — for now — is that NIL conversations generally happen more toward the end than the beginning of recruiting, but Killings said his program has needed to keep in mind whether a potential player is “looking for things outside of what we can offer them.” Between players either transferring or exhausting their eligibility, the Great Danes lost eight of their top nine scorers from a team that finished 13-19 — so Killings and his coaching staff had plenty of work to do this offseason. One of Killings’ priorities, though, was making sure his program didn’t overreact when faced with so many scholarships to fill. “It can all change really, really fast — so you don’t want to move too fast, to just fill them,” Killings said. “You need to find the right kids. To do that, I think you’ve got to have some patience. You’ve got to stay with it. You’ve got to grind this thing out. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Move too quickly, too, and a coaching staff can ruin its chances quickly with a potential recruit. Huerter, a guard who took 78.2 percent of her shots from 3-point territory this past season, said one school reached out to her, presumably just after seeing she is 6 feet tall, and told her she “looked like a great post player.” So, a laughing Huerter said, “some confusion” can occur with the speed of portal recruiting. UAlbany’s offseason demonstrated how quickly things can change. The Great Danes spent the opening weeks of the transfer portal window losing players — then, one day, within hours of each other, picked up a pair of commitments from possible 2024-25 starters in DeMarr Langford Jr. and Kacper Klaczek, both joining the Great Danes from higher-level leagues. Those additions changed the dynamics of the Great Danes’ offseason; the team still needs more ready-to-go players with five scholarships to fill, but also has a couple perimeter players around which to build. Being one of those early commits was important, too, for Langford. He declared for the NBA draft after a promising 2021-22 campaign, then returned to college with a couple seasons that were slowed by injury and illness. The chance to win an America East championship is something Langford said he values, but he also desired a chance to “showcase his talent” during his final college season. “One of the best things about joining a team with not too many guys yet is the coach can build around you,” said Langford, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound guard who previously played at Boston College in the ACC and Central Florida in the Big 12. “You commit earlier, the coach can find pieces to fit around you.” For Killings, those pieces came from that list of players, which kept growing throughout the past two months. Killings estimated that his coaching staff took “seriously” more than 100 players during the height of portal season, a figure more than double what it did a season ago. “Everybody’s fighting to rebuild their rosters through the portal and find their way,” Killings, 43, said, “and I think the kids are adapting to … the new norm. … When I first got to campus here (in 2022) and was given the opportunity to lead the program, every single moment that has gone by, each offseason, the business has changed drastically. “And you’ve got to be able to adjust. That’s what it’s all about now.”

May 12 (Sun) 5:00 PM at #1 Notre Dame South Bend, Ind. TV: ESPNU Live Stats History