UAlbany - Siena

[GODANESGO]

With the game less than 48 hrs away now, I figured we could look at the match up between the two teams. I think Siena has been playing on the top end of what most expected them to be (especially with their win tonight against, an although weaker than usual, Holy Cross team) and us not playing up to where some of us expected against SDSU and Sacred Heart.

 

Siena obvious big weakness is a lack of an inside presence and relatively short depth. But, it seems like most of the teams they have played haven't really been able to exploit either of those, especially the lack of post size. Now I think Brent might do better in exploiting their lack of post play and Zo's sheer size compared with their tallest starter at 6'7". With their lack of depth, might Coach Brown be more likely to use the press to maybe tire them out a bit more? Although a bit wild at times, Mensah looks to be a pretty decent point, especially his passing ability. I think it'll be fun if we contain Fisher so he doesn't think he's god's gift to basketball anymore with his amazing 18 points tonight against Holy Cross.

 

For us, we obviously need to shoot well. We have plenty of scoring options, and we just need some of them to be on (more than just Iati). If we showed the patience on offense that we showed against stronger UCLA, then I think our shots will come (but we need to actually shoot better than 36%!!). Hopefully Zo remembers his game he had against the Aints last year. It seems like he has maybe found his stroke a bit since the second half of the Sacred Heart game, especially defensively. Although his stats against UCLA def weren't that impressive, his played helped us hold the Bruins to little frontcourt output. Hopefully his half a foot size over Ryan will bode well. And if we can play the over defense we played against UCLA, we should do well. If we can hold a couple of their guards, I think we'll be in good shape. Rebounding will also be important for us, as the Aints have done fairly decent (A. Jordan at 6'4" had 13 tonight!) on the boards for their lack of size.

 

After watching the game tonight of TW3, it brought me to wonder if the game will be using MAAC refs. I don't know if it's their conference refs are just those ones specifically, but they seemed to be QUITE a bit less whistely, for both sides, than the ones we have seen. If that holds true on Saturday, that would certainly help out Zo's game, as foul trouble seems to be his big weakness.

 

Wyland after the game asked McCaffrey what his plan was for Sat and Fran said he actually doesn't know much about us other than being a bit bigger than his team (isn't every team tho?) and how we have a number of scoring options. He said he hasn't viewed tape of us either, but would in "20 minutes." I'm sure they recognize the "importance" of this game and have been looking at it a bit more than he illuded. Coach Brown said that he's looking forward to showing that last year's win wasn't "just a fluke" and that the Danes certainly don't need any extra motivation for the game.

 

Should be a good one...kinda nervous to make a prediction, but... Danes 74-66.

[reeder]

I think that Siena has won the games that they should win (Albany has not). Siena beat a bad Fordham team and a HC team without theur best player. They also appear to be playing much better basketball with their new coach without having much depth.

 

Albany made tremendous progress against UCLA. They were aggressively going to the boards and defending both in the post and on the perimeter. Siena is a good perimeter shooting team so Albany must manage that. Albany also seems to be making a lot of bad (weak) passes so they need to manage that to beat Siena.

 

That said, this will be the first team that Albany plays without a real post presence (Oakland had 6'8" 300lb Sam Hopes). That should certainly help as ALbany is still improving their post defense.

 

Big game for the team - not so much because it's Siena but because they lost to a poor Sacred Heart team, have to travel to Cleveland next week and then have a home game against undefeated Harvard before conference play begins.

 

They have made tremendous progress putting this puzzle together - this is an important game for them.

[olddog71]

Anyone have any idea how many tickets have been sold for the game tomorrow? The Times-Union usually provides a count the day before the game or so? I do not recall seeing any such statistics?

 

Also, does anyone on campus have any idea how much interest there is for students attending the game?

 

I would like to think that because UAlbany won its first game against Siena in the modern rivalry and thereby instituting real competition that there logically might be a little more interest in the game than there was since the rivalry began, but I also know that logic does not always apply and that there might be other more important factors for the turnout?

 

I was disappointed that fewer spectators appeared for last year's game than for the previous year.

[GODANESGO]

I think student interest (and hopefully resulting turn-out) is pretty high, likely even higher than the Sacred Heart game. There are more flyers on campus for this game and I'm sure the direct link of the University homepage helps. While transportation issues will make it more complicated than getting to the RACC combined with the fact that the tix are costing $5 compared to nothing on campus, I still think turn-out will be good. I know the UAlbany section floor seats are sold out.

 

I will try and check with the office on campus that's selling them to see how their general ticket sales for students are going.

 

UPDATE: I checked with Student Activities and they have only about 30 tickets left at this point. With however much are left, they are going to be selling them for 2 hours during dinner in the Campus Center where a lot of people will be getting their food. So it looks like just about all of the "University reserved for students" seats are going to be bought up by game time.

[Dane Pound]

For what it's worth Pomeroy has the Danes as six point dogs tomorrow.

 

I would hope attendance will be up. Much better date than last year and both teams have legitimate reasons to think their teams can win tomorrow.

 

Caught the Siena game last night with Holy Cross. Really no surprise they're winning those games. Well-coached team and more talent than they were given credit for before the season. No matter what happens tomorrow they made a good hire.

[statefan]

I also watched most of the Siena - Holy Cross game last night. A couple of things struck me. One was how bad Holy Cross was. A more significant observation is how many Siena players seem to possess skill sets very close to our players. Tay Fisher's game is very similar to Jon Iati's. Also, I think Jamar and Kojo Mensah play a similar style. Another example is Brent Wilson and David Ryan, although I think Brent has improved his inside skills to a level above Ryan's. And to a lesser extent, Levi Levine and Scoop Jordan.

 

I am thinking these players might balance each other out to a great extent and our advantage comes in our bench and height. I believe that to win tomorrow, we must get a substantial contribution from someone who has not done so yet this year, and I'm thinking it'll come from either Lucious Jordan, Brian Lillis or Jimmie Covington. I thought Holy Cross scored inside fairly easily when they worked at it, and I'm thinking that Covington is the guy we need to step up tommorow - just a hunch.

 

One last observation - Fran McCaffrey is a much better coach than those on the sMaac Board acknowledged.

[GODANESGO]

The bought by UAlbany offices tix are sold out. 600 (200 of them floor seats) were available to both students and faculty/staff. Should be good!