LI GAME WAS A JOKE...BAD LOSS CAUSE OF REFS

[GreatDanes06]

I blame the refs for that loss. Very bad, and i mean VERY BAD calling from them. Foul trouble that the Danes should have never been in, that cost us at least 10 pts. Very upset with how it was called. Add to the fact that LI was shooting like 80% from 3-pt range, it spells trouble. I bad loss, but a loss that i can actually put alot of blame on the refs for.

[scottotile]

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. You can only blame the refs so much. Bottom line is that UA still should have won the game and didnt. Missed shots in the paint and LI getting 2 and 3 chances at scoring didnt help.

[GODANESGO]

LI got 2 and 3 chances to shoot because our guys were getting called for the foul nearly everytime they attempted to be aggressive and brush up against anyone of the LI players.

 

Zirsten showed a bit more agressiveness and Courtney was really helpful off the bench. Lucious scored probably the quitest 12 points I think I've ever seen.

 

I wonder if it was planned to give a lot more time to Courtney over Iati. Was it just because Courtney was doing well? Because Iati didn't look to be playing too poor at all.

 

I think this was probably Jamar's best game this season. I can't wait to see Jamar and Lucious hot in the same game, let alone adding in any other of our weapons into that.

 

But basically, that was probably THE WORST refed game I have ever seen, college and high school level. Yes, LI's #3 (pretty much their only weapon the whole game) was deadly from both the free throw line and from downtown, but he (and the rest of his teammates) had so many open shots because our guys couldn't play hard at all because the refs were calling the fouls on us like I could not believe.

[GODANESGO]

In addition, why didn't we get the ball back following the technical on LI and Jamar's shots?

 

Speaking of Jamar, those were some BEAUTIFUL lay-ups he had, especially early in the game.

[Dane Pound]

I'll be curious to see what Brown has to say about this tomorrow. I'm not sure if they changed the technical rule or not. I thought you get two shots and the ball. I remember very clearly Chris Webber doing that in the final four against UNC and the game was over. UNC got two shots and the ball.

 

I also think the officiating was terrible but the Danes still had a great chance to win this game and they let it slip away.

 

Courtney did have a nice game. Iati was having trouble guarding the quicker LIU guards and thats why Courtney played so much. Iati's guy was either going by him or Iati was fouling him. Tough matchup for him tonight.

 

I thought Albany did what it needed to do on the offensive end, they just didn't make LIU work hard enough to get their points. Their guards were just chewing them up and Bell had a much more effecient night than Zoellner. They are scoring well enough to win but they aren't defending well enough. That will come and this team will get where we expect it to be.

 

One last thought that was actually Statefan's at the game. Q again had a nice night. I had thought he may replace Levi in the starting lineup but Levi still may go in at SF and Wilson starts at PG in place of Iati. Makes us a better defensive team. Just a thought (actually Statefan's thought)

[scottotile]

I think Q has 14 pts and 9 rebs, strong numbers. I would like to see him start and Iati to the bench. Gives a bigger lineup and stronger too. We will see, I doubt Iati will go to the bench though.

[Patch]

I don't think it matter who starts but how the minutes will be distributed. Levi and "Q" will have to get their minutes and I would imagine that will be at Iati's expense.

 

The one thing we will have is more versatility this year.

 

I think it was evident last night that we miss Levi ( he really hurt us by his actions at Lehigh) and Brian Lillis's absence.

[reeder]

Thoughts from the webcast of the game last night.

 

1. Zoellner needs to make more of the easy shots. It sounded like he made a few off good passes from Jamar, but when you are 5 or 6 inches taller than your defender, you shouldn't have to shoot hook shots and he needs to stop putting the ball on the floor. Turn and shoot, drop step, dunk - that should be Zoellner's repertoire.

 

2. Q should start with Levi and move Iati to the bench. Iati is a great three point shooter but Jamar (although I think he had a couple of bad shots last night) and Jordan both shoot them pretty well also - they need to haveQ and Levi get the garbage points.

 

3. Courtney played well - took and made some shots but he should not be taking a 3 pointer late in a close game.

 

4. I think the rotation should be:

 

Jamar

Jordan

Zoellner

Q

Levine

 

Iati - back up guards

B. Wilson - back up forwards

Dyson - back up center - he is big and seems to have a decent game, Brown needs to give him some minutes.

 

I think Brown is still looking for the right rotation. He is pretty much out of time as the next game counts and the Syracuse and Villanova games probably won't tell you much.

[GODANESGO]

It seemed as though Kirsten needed to dribble twice instead of just once after he was getting the ball in the paint. He would dribble once, turn, and would still be a small shot from the hoop. So he would either hop a bit (and be called for traveling) or would have to take the small hook shot, which he was not shooting well last night. If he dribbles once more, which he can because he tends to have the size to push his defender back a bit, then he will nearly be able to just drop the ball in with his long reach.

 

I think a start by Q, pushing Iati to a 6th man role, would also give our team more of a shot blocking threat. Even though Kirsten has a good 3-4 inches on the tallest player of our opponents, he's been lucky to get a block per game. Even though Q is quite a bit shorter, his quickness and jumping abilities often puts him in the position to redirect some shots.

 

But I agree, it's going to be tough for Coach Brown to figure out the possible new rotation with our last non-conference games coming against Nova and Cuse.

 

In the TU article about the game, I was disappointed to see nothing mentioned about the poor officiaiting. I didn't expect the article to use that as a reason for the loss, but it wouldv'e been nice to see something saying that the sell-out crowd was very upset on many occasions, or something like that.

 

The article also mentioned that it was last year that the NCAA changed the possesion after a T on a botched timeout call. That explains why we didn't the ball back. Perfect timting for that change...lol.

[GODANESGO]

Danes flunk early test - TU article

[UAalum72]

In the TU article about the game, I was disappointed to see nothing mentioned about the poor officiaiting. I didn't expect the article to use that as a reason for the loss, but it wouldv'e been nice to see something saying that the sell-out crowd was very upset on many occasions, or something like that.

Don't ever expect to see stories about officiating; I bet half the people complaining about it haven't had traveling and charging explained to them since they first learned basketball in the third grade. Yes, the referees were inconsistent, and both coaches were working them over, but Albany made plenty of mistakes to lose this game on their own, including Courtney's 3-pt attempt in OT, allowing LIU too many unguarded threes... and a lot of the travels WERE correct calls.

 

Also, Zoellner shouldn't be the one picking himself off the floor so often.

[alum73]

I noticed that Zollner always goes right, even when overplayed in that direction. There were several times he could have drop stepped left and scored but went to his right across the lane. He hasn't had much PT in his career yet, so I think he'll keep improving rapidly, at least I hope so.

[statefan]

I have to agree with UAalum72 that most of the travels called were correct, and in particular the one on St. Hillaire and a couple on Zoellner were pretty obvious. The one I stenuously disagreed with was the first one on Jamar. I really didn't have a good view of the second one on Jamar to comment.

 

I thought our 2-3 zone was terrible.

 

If LIU's final shot in regulation hadn't gone in, I think the game story would have been on Courtney Johnson's great job defending LIU's James Williams on that last possession, forcing him to pass when he was likely the first option to shoot on the play.

[Dane Pound]

The officiating was certainly in the minds of the fans last night. I hate to see it get in the players heads as well and it did to some degree as there were reactions by players to several calls. I watched Zoellner stare down an official after getting called for a travel and then on the next possesion he was called for a foul on Bell. Really hope the staff gets the message across that they should just play and ingnore the officiatiating no matter how surreal the calls occasionally seems to be. For the most part LIU didn't react at all to the calls and they had their share of dozies.

 

I don't think any of us expected to see the Danes play their best basketball in the first 10 games or so and they certainly haven't. Jamar Wilson's said in today's TU that this team is more talented that last years team but isn't as tough as they were last year. At this point in the season I'd agree. Some of that is probably the changing defensive philosphy from a half court defensive team to full court trapping, etc. When they get that figured out with the offenisve possibilities on this team there should be alot of fun times in the RACC this year.