Northeastern Predictions

[AlbanyObserver]

UAlbany 80, Northeastern 68

 

Not having Shawn James, the nation's leading shot blocker, in the lineup will hurt the Huskies. If he was playing, I think this one would come down to the wire.

 

Great matchups here with Jamar and Lou against Barea and Barnes.

 

We need to win this one to keep the momentum going. Playing at Northeastern in a few weeks will be a lot tougher.

 

I would like to see a crowd of 1800 at the RACC on Sunday.

[McFan]

What happened to James?

[AlbanyObserver]

Academically ineligible for three games -- this would be game two of a three-game suspension (I think).

[reeder]

Northeastern challenges:

1. When Barea starts throwing up shots and gets hot, he is very difficult to stop.

2. They have a good backcourt, jamar and Jordan will not be able to get the easy layups like they did against New Hampshire.

3. The good guards for Northeastern will pressure the ball and Jamar has to manae the turnovers. There was a point in the first half last night where UA had 5 consecutive turnovers. You can't do that and beat Northeastern.

 

That said, I think UA wins the game. They are a better team overall.

[McFan]

I'll go in at 72-68 with Albany on top.

[GODANESGO]

With the news of James being out, I think this is a game UAlbany can definitely win.

 

Although Northeastern's guards will probably do a lot to neutralize Jordan and J. Wilson, I think our overall forward strength will be the deciding factor, both offensively and defensively. But I think Jamar and Lucious will still be a factor because if they can cut in the lane at all, James isn't there to be a blocking threat.

 

Levi and Brent Wilson will be able to come out and hit the three and Brent, Levi and Q will do well on the boards. I think Kirsten will also do pretty well because I'm assuming (just looking at th their roster) that their center for the game will be Coffey who stands at only 6'6". I know Kirsten doesn't do great with the smaller centers, but I think the 7" difference will do a lot for him.

 

Defensively for us, I think can certainly do well. Barea and Barnes will score some points but I think Wilson and Jordan will do a lot to contain them...much like Jamar did against Carr in the BU game. And if they break through then they will have a tough time hitting lay-ups with Kirsten in there and Q always swinging his arms.

 

I think we will win this game and the factor will be the front court, especially considering our overall height advantage.

 

Albany 77, Northeastern 68

[GODANESGO]

After looking at the stats on the AE site...do they put Bennet Davis at center?

[statefan]

I'll make a prediction of a different nature. I predict that if we win the next two games, and if our attendance picks up once students return, we will host the 2006 America East Men's Championship Tournament at the RACC. I believe we have to show the league the ability to win a potential first round tournament game before they give it to us, and by beating Northeastern and Binghamton, we would be able to show that we can beat upper division teams. I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but I really think hosting the 2006 tournament would be the stepping stone to the "big dance"

 

After all, next year we will have the benefit of our keys guys having played together for a year, the maturation of our current freshmen and an incoming class that exceeds the abilities of our graduating class. And, the usual players that give us headaches in the league will be gone . Northeastern will be gone; Vermont will lose Coppenrath and Sorrentine, BU will lose Bell and Carr, and Bing will lose Billings and Adidarian. I confess I'm not as up to date as I should be on the Maine team. (I was going to add and Stony Brook loses its coach - just to see the howling responses I would get; but I was afraid some wouldn't know I was joking)

 

As regards the Northeastern game, I wouldn't be too surprised to see Coutrney or Lillis get some extra minutes guarding Barea.

[AlbanyObserver]

Statefan -- I think you are right on ... I am sure Coach Brown and Dr. McElroy have the same plan in place and will be supplying a bid. However, the department needs to straighten out and improve parking and concessions before filing the paperwork. Because it is embarrassing right now!!!!

 

I am looking forward to seeing the conference tourney in Binghamton.

[Dane Pound]

The roadblock to the 2006 tourney is the MAAC. They've already announced it will be held at the Pepsi. I know in the past one of the reasons they given against Albany is that they didn't want to run it against the MAAC tourney. I thought Albany had a better chance for 2005 when the MAAC tournament is in Buffalo.

[AlbanyObserver]

To be honest, I think people originally thought that might be an issue (having two tourneys going on in the same city). But, who cares about what Siena is doing anymore?????

 

Bottom line, the AE will want to give the tourney to the team that has among the best talent and facility for that particular year. UAlbany fits the bill on both of those. The Great Danes will be a top-three team in the conference next season and will challenge for a NCAA berth.

 

Fix the parking and concessions. You would also have to ditch the courtside seating to create more spots for media and administrators.

 

Speaking of the 2005 Tourney, Binghamton better get their act together or they will lose in the first round and that would make me laugh pretty hard. The decline of Nick Billings and emergence of UAlbany have to be among the biggest conference stories this year.

[DaneFan2k3]

I think they could go head-to-head with the MAAC Tournament for a variety of reasons.

 

1.) Siena may still suck at that time.

 

2.) MAAC's held at the Pepsi, which is a decidedly "upmarket" venue. Pay for everything, premium for tickets and parking. Whereas with UAlbany, the parking is free, and the ticket prices are bound to be under control.

 

3.) The America East needs to grow some nads. If you're going to try to be a big-time league, which I think they'd like to be, you can't shy away from going head-to-head with another middle-of-the-road league. If this was the Big East, or even the Atlantic 10 (which isn't as great as some believe), then fine ... you don't challenge. But the MAAC? It's a one-bid, through and through, so put your money where your mouths are.

 

4.) Albany is centrally located and would draw well for all teams. Whereas Binghamton is wayyyyyy out of the way for every other team in the league, Albany is a short distance from Bingo, Stony Brook, Vermont, UNH, Hartford, Boston. Only Maine and UMBC really have far to come, which is going to happen unless you hold it on Long Island (UMBC) or in Boston (Maine) every time.

 

People are loathe to drive from Vermont, Connecticut, Long Island or New Hampshire all the way to Binghamton if their team could go out in the first round. But the drive to Albany is like 2 hours from all directions and totally worth it.

 

----

Like Observer said, they need to prove to the America East this season that they have the parking and concessions situations figured out.

 

It's pretty clear that Chartwells or whoever runs the thing aren't interested in making money, or they would improve their operation. They're just going through the motions and it's too bad that athletics can't or won't take over.

 

As for parking, there is really no easy or cheap solution. The signage on campus is not that good for people who aren't familiar with where you can park. They need a parking attendant staffing the RACC lot entrance, like at Giants camp, which could direct people to other lots if that lot is full. Improved signage as well as one or two parking attendants at the satellite lots would be marked improvements.

 

Once they can prove that traffic flow and attendance are not going to be inhibited, they'll get the bid. Spend the money now to clean up those areas and it will pay off with the tournament.

[saints73]

I always laugh when I read the posts on this board. The MAAC is a mediocore league?! If I recall, Manhattan beat Florida in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year and then took Wake Forest to the wire in the next round. When has the AE ever won an NCAA tournament game?

In 1995 the MAAC sent two teams to the NCAA tournament (Manhattan an at-large and and St. Peter's the automatic). Has the AE ever had an at-large bid?

The MAAC, although down somewhat this year, is still the better draw for this area and probably always will be.

[GODANESGO]

Wow saints73, I thought you had learned a little bit better. The year is not 1995, or 2000, or even 2004, so get used to living in the present and not the past.

 

RIGHT NOW, the overall talent level in the AE is better than in the MAAC, and our usual top teams are better draws. Vermont is always a big draw whomever they play (remember how many thousand people came to the Pepsi to watch them kick your barnyard dog butts just a few weeks ago?). Coppenrath got huge press time in their NCAA tourney game. Boston is also an awesome talent to watch anytime.

 

I think we'd also have a better time drawing non-usual college basketball fans. As one of the posters wrote earlier, UAlbany is becoming (and arguably already is with the help of the Siena self-destruction) the predominent Capital Region team this year because it's name is exactly that...ALBANY. The AE is full of teams that are the official universities of bordering states and local big cities. That would get a lot of people out to the game so they could root for places where they were born or lived.

 

Basically my point is Siena sucks this year and will continue to suck more, making them less of an appeal, and damaging the appeal of the MAAC in the area.

 

By the way...has anyone noticed that Siena's current winning percentage (23%), is almost exactly the same at ours last year (22%)? What fun numbers, huh saints73?

[saints73]

You're right on a few points GODANESGO. Siena does suck thus far and Vermont and B.U. are top notch teams. However, what will happen next year? Vermont will regress back to a hockey school with the graduation of Coppenrath and Sorrenstein (spelled wrong) and B.U. may or may not continue to have a solid team. Bottom line, the AE conference needs to make some noise in the NCAA tournament.

Does the AE participate in the "Bracketbuster" weekend this year? Manhattan will be there which demonstrates the committees respect for the Jaspers.

Furthermore, while the AE has some very good top teams, I think that Niagra or Manhattan could beat anyone of them.

As far as Siena is concerned, do you really think they will be down for very long? Now is your time to shine UAlbany, because Siena WILL be back next year, I promise you.