Unique Game - a game we must learn to win

[Patch]

At first, I very was frustrated reading the Newspapers and then some of the websites regarding the game.

 

Then I realized that all is not lost.

 

I found it interesting reading....

 

Kojo Mensah had a tremendous game a TRIPLE DOUBLE.

 

Antoine Jordan was awesome 9 for 15 from the floor including 4 of 6 from three and 24 points

 

Kenny Hasbrouck had a breakout game 6 for 12 from the floor and 14pts.

 

Tay Fisher hit a fall down three for Siena to regain the lead late in regulation.

 

Osby hit an out of control shot and Zoellner fouled him in OT which led to a three point play.

 

While UA was playing very poorly and of course alot of credit should go to the Siena "D"

 

UA did shoot 37% from the floor, 24% from three ( and most of them were the normal type we take, not forced or because of the shot clock running out) and an inexplicable 57% from the FT line. Compare that to Siena which shot 44%, 38% from 3 and 74% from the FT line and ........

 

We had posession of the ball with a chance to win in regulation.

 

The Danes have alot of work to do, but i'm not ready to jump ship yet. We have to be better defensively and we have to get healthy and regain some confidence.

 

We are 1-2 in games we were suppose to have a good chance at winning so far a 2 pt loss and and OT loss. Florida, SD State and UCLA were anticipated losses, we are just not in their class.

 

The AE season is upon us shortly and this team must be ready by then.

[GODANESGO]

Had to take a day to collect my thoughts on the game...lol...

 

The first obvious issue with this team is consistancy. Defense, energy, patience, being able to MAKE SHOTS (especially when you're relatively open). It seems like we come out and play like we expect the other team to just somehow start to lose and then when that doesn't happen we actually start playing but have let the game get so far out from us that it takes near perfect play for us to close it out.

 

I am completely perplexed with our offense. I think the big difference between us and Siena was that they passed the ball around with speed and with some intent in what they were going to do with it. With us, as we seem to have done the whole season (with some exception maybe with the UCLA game), it looks like we simply pass the ball and move around just enough to see if we have an open shot. If we don't, they simply pass it to the next open guy. Now I know that's the basics of basketball, looking for a guy to have a shot to score, but I can't exactly put my finger on it. It's like we're just going through the motions on offense, it's like we don't have a plan.

 

Glad to see Lou play well, it looked like he had more confidence right from the beginning of the game. Hopefully his play continues. Where the heck was Iati??? Yeah, the Aints fans can brag about Fisher (or Mensah..whomever guarded him) and his smothering defense, but Iati didn't even take shots where he usually does, ones he can easily get off over close defense..something he showed with ease at UCLA. Lillis is simply not ready yet. I know a lot of us think he's a big key to our team, but he is nowhere near that right now. Hopefully's he's up to speed soon. I agree with the comments that Zo showed us what we should expect from him. It was obvious from the beginning that Fran's plan against him was to hope he picks up fouls early (as seen by Ryan's big flops the first 2 or 3 times Zo touched the ball on offense). I know he got the 2 fouls early, but I would've still liked Brown to bring him in more the 1st half towards halftime. He's really a decent player, but his foul calls (like Patch said, it's often the BIG guy that gets the bad breaks on some foul calls) are what hurt him. Maybe our coaching staff should talk to a certain recent UVM alum about how to get foul calls go Zo's way. Surprised Graham didn't get any playing time. I didn't expect him to be a key, but with how we were playing in the first half, how much could it hurt to try? I still want to see Iati play the point (when he's in..maybe Lou gets his starting job back now?).

 

Refs were tough. NOT going to use them as the excuse though, because like it's been said before, we had plenty of opportunities to win without them. That said, the blatant no call with Jamar's shot was tough, although I know it's tough for a ref to blow a whistle on a foul in that situation. Mainly because how Brown said it..that they fought so hard to get back in the game and a no call like that sends it to overtime. The refs also seemed to be a lot more lax on contact around and in the paint, while calling more around the perimeter. Something the Aints benefited from more obviously because of their lack of inside play.

 

Agreed, the team that played better definitely won this game. The Aints were forced to the outside, passed the ball well around the perimeter, and they hit their shots. We missed too many of ours, especially our free throws, something that we had actually done well and CONSISTANTLY this year. We waited too long to play as well as we could.

[reeder]

There is tremendous pressure on Brown and the team now. Not so much for losing to Siena, but for a lackluster first half (again), losing another close game... Not only is Brown's job out there, but there is credibility for the athletic program as basketball is the flagship sport.

 

That said - I don't think all is lost. In a one bid conference, the purpose of the out of conference games is to prepare for the conference games and get ready for the games in March - the ones that really count.

 

The good news:

1. Jordan and Zoellner played well

2. They have a week before the Cleveland State game and a week before the Harvard game.

3. I think they are capable of being a very good team - don't think they are missing any parts necessary to win the conference.

 

The key for Brown is to not lose the kids - not sure how you manage that. They must continue to prepare for the conference games.

[Dane Pound]

Actually I think the loss Saturday may have been good move long-term. If Siena loses two of those games in a row they would probably drop the series

 

I was kinda curious about Graham. I didn''t see him in the lay-up lines or on the bench. Is he hurt or something?

 

Just building a bit on what was said previously. I see some parrells between this teams start and the way the football team began the season this fall. Both lost some games early to tough opponents and seemed to lose confidence in close games after that. It took a couple of wins for them to get some faith in themselves but once they did they started rolling. I believe that will be the same case here.

[statefan]

I was also wondering about Keil Graham, but I was not as observant as you to notice that he wasn't on the bench. If he was not available, it would actually answer a lot of my questions regarding player rotation. I hope everything is OK because I thought he provided very valuable minutes in Florida.

[SienaTony]

You guys will be fine. Albany only really has the one bad loss to Sacred Heart..other than that.. hey what did you expect against Florida? And the trip out west was almost a guaranteed 2 losses. And Saturday well Albany just lost to a better team. To Albany's credit you kept the game close, in fact even forcing an overtime to a superior team .I will say this after seeing HC( probable 2nd place team in patriot league) and Fordham ( well they are an A10 team) I'd say Albany is better than both teams. Once you get into your conference schedule and play teams at your level I'm sure you guys will do fine

[soup]

You guys will be fine. Albany only really has the one bad loss to Sacred Heart..other than that.. hey  what did you expect against Florida?  And the trip out west was almost a guaranteed  2 losses. And Saturday well Albany just lost to a better  team. To Albany's credit you kept the game close, in fact even forcing an overtime to a  superior team .I will say this after seeing HC( probable 2nd place team in patriot league) and Fordham ( well they are an A10 team) I'd say Albany is better than both teams. Once you get into your conference schedule and play teams at your level I'm sure you guys will do fine

10720[/snapback]

 

 

 

 

 

^ What he said

l

l

l

l

 

 

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Edited December 6, 2005 by soup

[Patch]

Siena Tony - To Albany's credit you kept the game close, in fact even forcing an overtime to a  superior team .

 

Staight from the horse's *ss.

 

Three guys have career nights, Tay Fisher takes an ill advised fall back hit the deck three and regains the lead and Osby hits an out of control runner going diagonally away from the hoop and gets bumped in OT and of course that make Siena the superior team. I'm sure McCaffrey designed those plays for those situations.

 

In all honesty when two teams play 40 minutes and the score is tied those teams are basically fairly even, in fact many would say that the road team was damn near as good as the home team.

 

Congrats to Siena on a good effort and enjoy the victory but your arrogance is exactly what spurs the hatred.

 

What would the conversation be like if Jamar shot and hit the last shot???

 

World's greatest coach allows team to yeild 19 pt second half lead?

 

With 2 seconds remaining Siena still can't make an entry pass?

 

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

 

I for one thought UA stunk and Siena was a little better! Each team played one good half and one terrible half. Osby's three point play in OT set the stage for Kojo's foul shots.

 

Coulda, shoulda - no matter what - it's Siena win.

 

By the way, in my opinion, the final play in regulation had nothing to do with the outcome of the game.

[alumni '92']

To Albany's credit you kept the game close, in fact even forcing an overtime to a superior team ... Once you get into your conference schedule and play teams at your level I'm sure you guys will do fine. - SienaTony

funny stuff ... i've been quiet ... a bit disappointed w/ the result of the game + busy w/school matters the past couple nights ... great to see statements such as these from tony and co. ... to the victors ... enjoy ... thanks to Patch for summarizing what the headlines could have read ... i'll sit back and look at the big picture in this moment of disappointment ... good things on the long term horizon for UA ... confident the team/coaching staff will regroup and aim for those three games in march WB spoke of post-game ... who in that siena camp would have bet on the strides we've made so far ... those kids put a smile on my face, thanks ... go Danes!

[SienaTony]

Siena Tony - To Albany's credit you kept the game close, in fact even forcing an overtime to a  superior team .

 

Staight from the horse's *ss.

 

Three guys have career nights, Tay Fisher takes an ill advised fall back hit the deck three and regains the lead and Osby hits an out of control runner going diagonally away from the hoop and gets bumped in OT and of course that make Siena the superior team. I'm sure McCaffrey designed those plays for those situations.

 

 

Patch typical Albany poster, when you have no facts resorts to insults.At any rate I won't drop to your low insulting level patch, thanks for the imaginary headlines. Not sure where you get 3 guys with career nights? Looks like you are taking more literary license to soothe your battered ego. Understandable Patch, you shot yer mouth off for months how Albany was going to kill Siena, how Albany had surpassed Siena etc, it has to be quite humbling for you to see you are nowhere near that yet. The scary thing for a Albany fan is Siena is a very young team, it will be interesting how Siena will handle being the heavy favorite next season. My guess is they handle it well, but time will tell

 

Siena is a very young team, as far as Tay Fisher goes patchy ( a lesson for you) he can hit that shot, you don't become the all time 3 point shooter in NY state history without being able to shoot the 3 ball. Tay Fisher made a definitive statement that he was flat out better player than John Iati, that goes without saying. and that is no knock on Iati who is a terrific player for Albany

 

Like I've said , Albany will come around, you really only have the one bad loss. I think we can all agree the better team won Saturday. ;-)

[olddog71]

Understandable Patch, you shot yer mouth off for months how Albany was going to kill Siena,  how Albany had surpassed Siena etc, it has to be quite humbling  for you  to see you are  nowhere near that yet.

 

Siena Tony,

 

I'm not going to get into a debate between you and Patch about the specifics of your current disagreement.

 

I just want to address a concern of mine that I find you and several of your school's fans have expressed since Saturday's game.

 

You and your fans fail to recognize something very clearly provable: you did not handily defeat us in Saturday's game. You truly fail to realize that the game was all tied up after 40 minutes of play. If I were you, I would be a lot more humble than the strutting stance that you are demonstrating.

 

You brag incessantly about how you jumped out to a huge lead in the first half. You have every right to do so, but then you and some of your cohorts have the responsibility to weigh that half against our effort in the second half. It wasn't UAlbany fans, the UAlbany coach, or the refs who poured in the points to totally eliminate your 18-point lead. It was UAlbany players. Give us - and our program - a lot more credit. Some of your posters did see our effort. I commend them here for seeing the situation a lot more objectively than you.

 

Thanks for your comments to console us and wish us well in the rest of the season. If I took your words at face value, then I would be wrong. But then you turn around and take your 8-point victory in OT and smash our effort and our program. Pardon me, therefore, if I take your compliments as less than genuine.

 

I took the time last night to look back at all the comments made on this board in the few days immediately after last year's game. Besides a little bravado, I thought our fans handled our 21-point victory over you last year a lot more maturely than many of your fans have dealt with your mere 8-point OT win.

 

You and your fans act like you had just won the third round of the NCAA tournament. One of your fans stated that Siena was the only game that UAlbany got up for. Well, what was the game we played earlier in the week against UCLA? I think our guys quite clearly demonstrated they were quite "up" with a mere 8-point loss against a top-ranked team that was not decided until the last minute of the game.

 

Who was the fan who compared the appearance of our team members with "Neanderthals?" I don't ever recall any similar comment that UAlbany fans have made about the appearance of Siena team members. You ought to watch it, Tony. As the moderator of the forum in which that comment was made, you could be held liable for letting that comment through which could be interpreted in other, not so nice ways. I'll give that poster the benefit of the doubt now.

 

Respect is a two-way street, Tony. You need to see our performance against you on Saturday a little more objectively. You should not be two-faced in your comments about our program here and on your board, and you need to moderate a little better the over-the-top comments made by some of your posters.

[Dane96]

Understandable Patch, you shot yer mouth off for months how Albany was going to kill Siena,   how Albany had surpassed Siena etc, it has to be quite humbling  for you  to see you are  nowhere near that yet.

 

Siena Tony,

 

I'm not going to get into a debate between you and Patch about the specifics of your current disagreement.

 

I just want to address a concern of mine that I find you and several of your school's fans have expressed since Saturday's game.

 

You and your fans fail to recognize something very clearly provable: you did not handily defeat us in Saturday's game. You truly fail to realize that the game was all tied up after 40 minutes of play. If I were you, I would be a lot more humble than the strutting stance that you are demonstrating.

 

You brag incessantly about how you jumped out to a huge lead in the first half. You have every right to do so, but then you and some of your cohorts have the responsibility to weigh that half against our effort in the second half. It wasn't UAlbany fans, the UAlbany coach, or the refs who poured in the points to totally eliminate your 18-point lead. It was UAlbany players. Give us - and our program - a lot more credit. Some of your posters did see our effort. I commend them here for seeing the situation a lot more objectively than you.

 

Thanks for your comments to console us and wish us well in the rest of the season. If I took your words at face value, then I would be wrong. But then you turn around and take your 8-point victory in OT and smash our effort and our program. Pardon me, therefore, if I take your compliments as less than genuine.

 

I took the time last night to look back at all the comments made on this board in the few days immediately after last year's game. Besides a little bravado, I thought our fans handled our 21-point victory over you last year a lot more maturely than many of your fans have dealt with your mere 8-point OT win.

 

You and your fans act like you had just won the third round of the NCAA tournament. One of your fans stated that Siena was the only game that UAlbany got up for. Well, what was the game we played earlier in the week against UCLA? I think our guys quite clearly demonstrated they were quite "up" with a mere 8-point loss against a top-ranked team that was not decided until the last minute of the game.

 

Who was the fan who compared the appearance of our team members with "Neanderthals?" I don't ever recall any similar comment that UAlbany fans have made about the appearance of Siena team members. You ought to watch it, Tony. As the moderator of the forum in which that comment was made, you could be held liable for letting that comment through which could be interpreted in other, not so nice ways. I'll give that poster the benefit of the doubt now.

 

Respect is a two-way street, Tony. You need to see our performance against you on Saturday a little more objectively. You should not be two-faced in your comments about our program here and on your board, and you need to moderate a little better the over-the-top comments made by some of your posters.

10729[/snapback]

 

 

Great commentary, though I am sure we are still Neanderthals to Siena Tony and crew.

[statefan]

and, don't forget Communists, too.

[reeder]

Both SienaTony and Soup are giving us some s*** about the loss. That's OK - they won and I accept that they will gloat for a while. I especially like the way Tony couches the daggers in a veil of positive statements - If they want to say that they're a superior team because they won or that we will do better when we play teams at our level then so be it. They won, and are apparently playing very well with their new coach and that's pretty much it.

 

What's important for Albany now is focusing on the conference win. Let's not get to caught up in the loss and their comments. While I know that a lot of posters on this board really wanted to beat Siena, I think the goal is still winning the conference.

 

Personally, I much prefer to see the Siena fans gloat in December than the BU or Vermont fans gloating in March.

 

Let's move on.

[SienaTony]

and, don't forget Communists, too.

10731[/snapback]

 

And perhaps most important the second best program in the city ;-)..

 

In all seriousness lets clear up a few lets say mistakes on you alb fans part

 

I never called Ualb fans, Communists or "Neanderthals”

 

I never said we handily defeated you, I said the better team won, big difference. This was Albany ‘s best chance at a win in years and maybe for the next several years

 

I never said Albany didn't play well , in fact it was probably Albany ‘s best game of the year, I am not taking that away from you. And it’s a good thing Albany played well or Siena would have won the game by 30 ;-)

 

 

I’m not trying smash your program or effort- Many Albany fans talked trash for over a year on how they had surpassed Siena and would destroy Siena in this game. Needless to say how that turned out for you

 

 

Before the season began you had a thread on this board ( that is now missing or archived) on goals for the season and the number one goal by most posters was too beat Siena. Not only beat Siena but beat them badly, some poster went so far as to say that was more important than beating a conference rival or winning the AE title. I suggest you as fans put your priorities in order

 

Thank you for the advice on how to run the Siena board( I’ll take it under consideration) I have to tell you after seeing the comments made on Siena fans in this forum, your comments ring extremely hollow

 

In meantime see you girls next season when Siena will be about a 20 point favorite in the cross town game. Remember girls it is only mid major hoops, a lot of this is all said and done in fun. I really do have the utmost respect for the Albany program. In fact as I do every year I’ll probably take in a few Ualb games at the RACC. Relax and try and enjoy your team!!