ualbany wbb UAlbany WBB Updates - 2024

[bob87]

Wisconsin womens basketball schedule released yesterday.  Great Danes at Wisconsin December 20. 

[UAalum72]

WBB wraps summer workouts 

https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/guard-oriented-ualbany-women-s-basketball-closes-19626087.php

[tnehurley]

Team will miss DeJa Evans a lot. But hopefully smaller and quicker will result in more points on the scoreboard. And if the defense remains really good, the team should be fun to watch. Lots of 3 point shooters on this roster!

[cwdickens]

From Tuesday's Times-Union:

Falcao stands tall for Danes

Lightly played junior is team’s lone true post player

BY MICHAEL KELLY ALBANY — As part of a strong frontcourt last season, Gabriela Falcao played a consistent, but limited, role for the University at Albany women’s basketball program.

Last season, Falcao totaled nearly twice as many assists as turnovers and made a quarter of her 3-point attempts. In discussing center Gabriela Falcao, UAlbany head coach Colleen Mullen said, “She’s a really hard worker, so I’m excited to see what she does this season.”

Now, Falcao appears set to take on a significant role for the Great Danes in her second season with them. “There’s a big opportunity for Gabby to come in and make a big impact,” coach Colleen Mullen said, “and I know she really wants it.” Falcao and the rest of the Great Danes concluded their summer workouts Thursday at Broadview Center, a string of practices that helped the team’s revamped roster start to sort itself out ahead of the 2024-25 season. Coming off a 25-7 campaign, UAlbany brings a guard-heavy look into next season and a desire to play more small-ball lineups because of that.

The 6-foot-1 Falcao is the team’s lone true post player. She played a bench role last season and came into games to spell starters Deja Evans and Helene Haegerstrand, a duo that’s no longer with the Great Danes. After a strong freshman season, Evans transferred to Drexel, while Haegerstrand — one of the program’s most-accomplished players — exhausted her college eligibility with the 2023-24 season. “I feel like there’s a little bit more space now for me to get into the game more, and play more of that big post role and guard those big posts,” Falcao said.

A native of Figueira Da Foz, Portugal, Falcao joined UAlbany ahead of the 2023-24 campaign following a season at La Salle University in Philadelphia. Falcao averaged 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds in 9.1 minutes per game as a sophomore, and appeared in all but one of UAlbany’s contests. While Falcao didn’t play a lot last season, she did spend the campaign practicing against Evans and Haegerstrand, as well as Kayla Cooper, UAlbany’s returning versatile star who plays all over the court.

Mullen said the strides Falcao has made in terms of her playing and leadership abilities was evident throughout the team’s several weeks of summer practices. “Both on and off the court,” Mullen said, “a huge uptick.” Falcao said this summer was her most comfortable one playing college basketball. Since she only played one season at La Salle before transferring, this offseason was her first as a returning player. “It’s really different for me because it’s my first time coming back to a program, and it’s been wonderful,” Falcao said. “I love the staff and every single teammate, so I’m excited to keep being with this team.”

Falcao is one of only three Great Danes that stand taller than 6-foot, but those other two players — Kaci Donovan and Martina Borrelles — are guards. One of the challenges for this upcoming season will be how the Great Danes deal with opposing top post players, such as Vermont’s Anna Olson and Maine’s Adrianna Smith, but the easiest solution for UAlbany is that Falcao becomes capable of offering 20-plus minutes as a defense-first center. “She’s a really hard worker, so I’m excited to see what she does this season,”

Mullen said. Last season, Falcao totaled nearly twice as many assists as turnovers and made a quarter of her dozen 3-point attempts. The combination of more playing opportunities and heightened familiarity with how the Great Danes play should help Falcao show more of her offensive game during her junior season. “I feel like the things that I wasn’t used to, they are now second nature to me,” Falcao said. “So I can focus more on skills that I have been working on and forget all about (focusing on) those little things that come to me naturally now.

[bob87]

LSU women's basketball schedule is out. Great Danes are listed on it for Sunday December 29. 

[tnehurley]

11/8 Rhode Island @ UA. Lilly Phillip’s twin sister Sophie comes to Broadview. Nice!

[cwdickens]

20 hours ago, tnehurley said:

11/8 Rhode Island @ UA. Lilly Phillip’s twin sister Sophie comes to Broadview. Nice!

Will not be her first visit to the Broadview Center, Sophie was in the house on March 11, 2024.

[cwdickens]

From today's Times-Union

Danes team has nine new players for the upcoming season

BY MICHAEL KELLY ALBANY — There’s a “newness,” as coach Colleen Mullen puts it, to the type of roster the University at Albany women’s basketball program is bringing into the 2024-25 season. There’s nine new players, sure, but the changes for the Great Danes go beyond that. When UAlbany starts its formal preseason Saturday, it’ll do so with a guard-dominated group that should play smaller and faster than the Great Danes of recent seasons.

“It’s a different look than we’ve had,” Mullen said this week, “and we want to capitalize on that.” UAlbany, though, wants to do that “without reinventing the wheel, since the wheel has been working.” UAlbany is coming off a 25-7 season that ended with an appearance in the WNIT, and that campaign was the America East program’s third in a row with at least 22 wins.

Back from that team are five players, a quintet that includes three of this past season’s top four scorers, while the Great Danes’ additions include a pair of players — Kaci Donovan and Jessica Tomasetti — who each averaged double-digit scoring elsewhere this past season. UAlbany won’t start play until Nov. 8 when Rhode Island of the Atlantic 10 Conference visits Broadview Center. In the weeks leading up to that game, Mullen said the Great Danes will work to craft a more explosive offense to go along with their strong defense, which allowed the fewest points per game this past season in the country.

“We’re different than we’ve been. We’re smaller than we’ve been,” Mullen said. “We’ve been post dominant the last few years, but we know we have to play more small ball and a faster-paced game.” Part of making that adjustment is the coach becoming more comfortable with it. Mullen said she’s trying not to be “too coachy,” which she defined as “overthinking and trying to force things,” rather than giving players more freedom on offense. “It’s hard not to want to play a constant chess game,” Mullen said. “But, sometimes, you have to simplify and just let them play.”

That should work with this season’s group, which has more pure offensive talent than recent versions of the Great Danes. All-conference standout Kayla Cooper leads the team, but UAlbany also has proven returners in guards Meghan Huerter and Lilly Phillips to go along with added transfers Donovan and Tomasetti. Mullen said she expects multiple freshmen to earn immediate minutes, too, and singled out guards Martina Borrellas and Delanie Hill for how they’ve adapted to the college level. “That’s been a bright spot,” Mullen said. “I’m excited about what they’ve shown us so far.” Mullen said she’s been encouraged with how the team’s players have come together. Patience, though, is needed for a group that’s trying to up its tempo while incorporating so many new players. “It’s been a focus on process and progress over perfection,”

Mullen said. “Playing chemistry is what takes time. You can’t fast-forward that.