Siena tourney at the Pepsi

[SienaTony]

I'll admit there are some good elements to the tourney as described but there also have been no specifics. As an Albany fan, I'm skeptical about any Siena proposal just as I'm sure they would be if we invited them to join us in some time of tournament.

 

The thing I guess I don't understand about the discussion is that teams like UMass are being mentioned. I don't see what benefit it would have for a team like that. Under the proposed format as I understand it they would get a home game, a road game and then two at the Pepsi. Guessing that they would likely play Siena and Albany in Albany that would be essentially two road games for them. I don't see what's in it for them and why they would buy in. Maybe there's something I'm missing.

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Dane Pound I just threw Umass out there. I have no information on specific teams invited to play in the tournament. The appeal of the tournament is you get 4 games that only count as one against your schedule. You get a chance to accumulate some wins against what is hopefully a quality field. Actually with both Siena and Albany looking at good years it might discourage some teams, for instance Umass could balk at the idea of playing Albany and Siena on consecutive days at the Pepsi, very good chance Umass would lose them both. On the other hand if Umass could beat both teams it would look good on their resume. I’m still convinced the success or failure of the tournament will depend on the quality of the teams invited. If the MAAC can get at least 5 or 6 strong teams (with projected RPI of better than 150) I think the tournament will be a success. According to KnickSaint (who normally has excellent info) Albany has agreed to play in the event. And it makes sense. KnickSaint also said the Mid American conference has agreed to play also. So now it comes down to the quality of the teams we get from the CAA, MAC Patriot etc. We start out very strong with Alb being a contender in the AE and Siena being a contender in the MAAC.

 

From a fan Point of view I hope Ualb and Siena fans as well as causal college basketball fans support the event. We get to see our team 3 or 4 times in a week. It would be nice to see the event here once every 4 years. Both Siena and Ualb would benefit from playing the games in Albany as the home team in college basketball has a very distinct advantage. In this case I see the tournament as a benefit to both Siena and Albany and college basketball in general for the capital district

 

One other thing the bracket buster has no effect on this tournament. The bracket buster is a single game event and as such is not "exempt"

Edited May 9, 2006 by SienaTony

[bob87]

That is the problem with this tournament. There are limited specifics except for that we would play 3 games in the Knick. And sure you get 2 extra games. But what good are they if they are against a sub 200 RPI team in an empty building. I have posted a few times previously about playing in arena that size in front of a 4,000 crowd and what makes Siena think this games are going to draw any better than that even for their game if it is against a weak opponent. There is no atromospere at all with a crowd of 4,000 in that building. As an Albany fan I rather defer to Coach Brown , Dr McElroy and the rest of UA to schedule our games than the Loudonville Community college. UA has done a good job having put us in the vastly more regonized Coaches vs. Cancer tournament last year vs. Florida in addition to the trip to California last year, Notre Dame, Pittsburg and UConn to just name a few. I don't know what the other options are but personally I rather Albany built their program with real home games against the best teams possible and with nationally recognized tournaments and teams when possible.

[megowen70]

A tournament should mean something. And I realize that the Maui classic was once unheard of also. However, the more tournaments that there are, the weaker the opposition available to those who are hosting the newer ones. I agree, that finding home and home series with higher conference and higher RPI teams would be more beneficial.

 

I'm also not sure what playing that many games that close together at the beginning of the season does in relation to potential injuries and just the conditioning of the athletes. Sort of like teaching to the test. And, to the student part of student athlete. That's a lot of time out of the classroom, even for a nearby tournament.

[KingDane]

"I'm skeptical about any Siena proposal just as I'm sure they would be if we invited them to join us in some time of tournament. "

 

 

Exactly.

 

We need to beat them once a year and then have nothing to do with them.

[statefan]

Tony - Thanks for calling us clueless; we appreciate it. Maybe you can clear up at least one point i totally don't understand, which is, why won't this tournament have a champion? If the final day is a cross-over, why not have the #1 finisher from pool a play the #1 from pool b, etc, and have the games be for 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th places?

 

For the Albany fans - I note in KnickSaint latest pronouncement, he indicates that we have agreed to participate over Coach Brown's protestations. For most of us, if we don't know all the facts but had to choose a position between Coach Brown on one side and Tony and KnickSaint on the other, well. . . I'm just curious what Coach Brown's protestations might be. I did think it was the Head Coach's responsibility to create the schedule.

 

Do we make any money on this deal? Does the fact that we have to cover staff salary increases change any thinking on how we schedule?

 

To megowen70 - i think you have hit on one positive and one negative to this tournament. The positive is that our players should really not miss any class-time. The negative is that we will be integrating 5 new players, including one or more freshman that we will expect to play serious minutes, and the staff probably wants more time to prepare for the season; playing 4 games in 7 or 8 days really limits practice time.

 

As for me, i would still like to know the date of the Albany - Siena game that is already scheduled for early December (per KnickSaint). If it is a mid-week night, then my opinion would be to pasrticipate in the tournament; if it would be a Friday night or weekend date, then i would prefer to leave it as is. But, remember when Dane Pound did a poll on what was more satisfying; beating Siena in 2004 or the Championship run of 2006, and the tally was something like 14-1 in favor of the championship run - I was the 1.

[megowen70]

[

One other thing the bracket buster has no effect on this tournament. The bracket buster is a single game event and as such is not "exempt"

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The Bracket Buster is also dependent on an outside organization for team selection.

[statefan]

One other question about this tournament. Will there be nominally priced student tickets for students of all institutions or only Siena student? Are we going to have to hear about how our students don't support the team because they may not attend if they are charged $17 or $18 per day as opposed to Siena students, who i presume get in for free or virtually free.

[megowen70]

Tony - Thanks for calling us clueless; we appreciate it.  Maybe you can clear up at least one point i totally don't understand, which is, why won't this tournament have a champion?  If the final day is a cross-over, why not have the #1 finisher from pool a play the #1 from pool b, etc, and have the games be for 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th places?

 

For the Albany fans - I note in KnickSaint latest pronouncement, he indicates that we have agreed to participate over Coach Brown's protestations.  For most of us, if we don't know all the facts but had to choose a position between Coach Brown on one side and Tony and KnickSaint on the other, well. . .  I'm just curious what Coach Brown's protestations might be.  I did think it was the Head Coach's responsibility to create the schedule.

 

Do we make any money on this deal?  Does the fact that we have to cover staff salary increases change any thinking on how we schedule?

 

To megowen70 - i think you have hit on one positive and one negative to this tournament.  The positive is that our players should really not miss any class-time.  The negative is that we will be integrating 5 new players, including one or more freshman that we will expect to play serious minutes, and the staff probably wants more time to prepare for the season; playing 4 games in 7 or 8 days really limits practice time.

 

As for me, i would still like to know the date of the Albany - Siena game that is already scheduled for early December (per KnickSaint).  If it is a mid-week night, then my opinion would be to pasrticipate in the tournament; if it would be a Friday night or weekend date, then i would prefer to leave it as is.  But, remember when Dane Pound did a poll on what was more satisfying; beating Siena in 2004 or the Championship run of 2006, and the tally was something like 14-1 in favor of the championship run - I was the 1.

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I know that we don't have a real schedule for this proposed tournament...but that many games in that few days...are they all at night? Start at five? I have to admit I don't know the proposed schedule for the games...but is there the possibility that afternoon classes might get affected?

[statefan]

What i heard is there would be a night game mid-week (Wednesday, i think) and the others would be on weekends.

[megowen70]

What i heard is there would be a night game mid-week (Wednesday, i think) and the others would be on weekends.

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Thank you...that does remove the loss classes concern.

[bob87]

[

One other thing the bracket buster has no effect on this tournament. The bracket buster is a single game event and as such is not "exempt"

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The Bracket Buster is also dependent on an outside organization for team selection.

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While the bracketbuster is also dependent on outside organizations to match you up, we got a quality opponent and a TV game. Neither of which is likely in this Siena tourney. ESPN has certainly made it worthwhile to participate in bracketbuster. I don't see Siena making this worthwhile to participate.

Edited May 9, 2006 by bob87

[bob87]

One other question about this tournament.  Will there be nominally priced student tickets for students of all institutions or only Siena student?  Are we going to have to hear about how our students don't support the team because they may not attend if they are charged $17 or $18 per day as opposed to Siena students, who i presume get in for free or virtually free.

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Another Good point State fan. Will we have to pay twice as much as our regular seats in Albany for a worse seat in the Knick for a team no better than teams we see now at the raac?

[statefan]

One thing better than 4 games without leaving the City of Albany (at least to me) would be another Florida trip. Maybe we can schedule the newest D-1 school: http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar.../605110404/1075

[olddog71]

As just reported on the Siena site:

 

"I heard today that getting commitments from enough teams has become an issue. Many teams were already scheduled to play games during the weekend when the event is to be held at the Pepsi, and finding new dates that work for moving those games can be a problem. We should know for sure by Wednesday, one way or the other."

 

Perhaps this event will not occur this coming season at all.

[Patch]

I find this shocking.

 

With all the advantages Siena has including playing at the Knick/Pepsi/TUC I would think that teams would be begging them for games.

 

Some in the know (?) on the Siena site were even throwing around things like the Big East, the CAA and the A10 being willing participants and how UA would be foolish not to be involved this tourney would surely help the UA RPI because of all the 150 and better teams which would participate. They also talked that the MAAC had "COMMITMENTS" from conferences. I guess the word commitment has a different definition on certain sites.

 

I guess the know it alls don't know it all.

 

They'll probably tell us that now it's good the tourney didn't work out because now they'll only have to play NJIT once because if this report is true the UA game now counts as a regular game and not one that is included in the exempt tourney packages.

 

It's amazing with all the greatness of Siena & the MAAC how come other conferences are able to fill their exempt tourney fields?

 

OH Well life goes on.