Albany @ 'Nova

[alum73]

I think this will be a good team, but it will take some more time. Hopefully it's not too much. There's a month and a half before league play starts, so I'm hoping we'll have a cohesive unit by then.

[Dane Pound]

Considering how up in the air the starting lineup seemed to be going into the game I thought the player rotation was good. There are a lot of new players and for the first game it seemed pretty clear.

 

I thought Mcrae would play more SF but he went in for Connelly a lot in the second half. I don't know if he can hit those shots from the outside all the time but if he can do that, drive to the hoop and block some shots that's pretty good for a PF off the bench. Heck, that's not bad for a starting PF.

 

Like the rest of you I was pretty happy with the rebounding and play Giff gave. If he can do that consistently we have a heck of a starting five.

 

I was very happy to see the Ambrose - Raffa starting backcourt. I really hope Ambrose can take to the coaching because that backcourt is going to tough to handle for a lot of teams if he plays well. As for Raffa, starting a freshman point guard on the road against a top 25 team is about as tough as a beginning to a college basketball career as you can have and he handled it quite well.

 

It'll be interesting to see what happens when Aronhalt is able to play if the starting lineup stays the same. From the outside it looks like Hastings, Barraza, Allen and Aronhalt will be competing for time at the guard and small forward spots. The one look they gave Friday night was playing Harris at PF which would free up some more time for these guys.

 

One funny thing that happen in Philadelphia. I was having breakfast and reading the paper at the hotel on Sunday morning when a guy came over looking to get the paper. He said he wanted to see if his grandson got his picture in the paper. His grandson's picture was in the paper wearing a UAlbany uniform, it was Brian Connelly's grandfather!

[Patch]

Post Game Quotes from the Villanova site......

 

Albany head coach Will Brown...

 

 

Opening statement: We were kind of a deer caught in the headlights for the first 10 minutes. Our energy was good but their pressure and size and their length bothered us quite a bit. They were very aggressive, more so than I anticipated them being defensively. I was very impressed and it was tough for us to recover. We had 12 first half turnovers and I told the guys that one of the biggest keys for us was to get a shot every time down the floor and put the ball in the basket. Half of our turnovers seemed to come when we would get a stop and get running so quickly that it led to bobbling the ball and a careless turnover. We didn't help ourselves and you have to help yourself to compete with a team of this caliber. I think Villanova is a team that can compete to win a Big East championship and is a sure top 10, top 20 team.

 

 

On the game: I thought that towards the back end of the first half we settled down a little bit. We got it within 11 points and were in our 1-3-1. We had a great possession but didn't block out and they threw it back out and hit a three-pointer. Just like that it goes from 11 points to 14 points, where if we get a rebound we have the ball and have a chance to cut it to single digits. You can't go 9-for-18 at the line and turn the ball over 20 times against a team like Villanova.

 

 

On the Villanova lead in the game: It was never worse than 20 and even when it was we helped it get to 20. That's the tough thing. You just have so little room for error against Big East schools, especially the good ones. You have to take advantage of every opportunity and I really didn't think it should have been an 18-point game. We missed some opportunities. We did some good things but we got beat by a very good team that was better than us.

 

 

On Villanova's size: I looked up late in the game and they had four guys out there that were bigger than me. We just have a hard time matching up because we can't score on the other end. When we went to four big guys on the floor they brought back Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes and those guys finished us off.

 

 

On Villanova's team: They spread the floor so well and Scottie Reynolds and Fisher are so good off the bounce that the big guys just have to stay out of their way. They make the big guys look good and if you don't help off the big guys the guards will finish at the rim. They are good. I like Jay's team. They will go deep in the NCAA Tournament if they stay healthy.

 

 

On Albany: I like my team. We have a lot of new faces and I played a lot of guys so it's a feeling out process for us. We have some talent and I think we're going to be pretty good. We made some aggressive mistakes and some of the guys were overanxious. We have some pieces to the puzzle. Will Harris played well once he settled down after the first 10 minutes and our freshman point guard was fearless but has to learn to change gears and not be 120 miles per hour out there. We did some good things but we got beat by a very good team.

 

 

On playing teams like Villanova: I think it was good for the new guys to play at this level and for a guy like Brian Connelly to come down here in this environment. We threw our guys to the wolves right away in the opening week. I could care less about our non-conference schedule. We are prepared to go out and try to win every game and prepare for conference play. Only one team is going to the tournament from our league and games like this make us better in America East play.

 

 

On who stood out for Albany: I thought every guy that played did some good things and some bad things. I thought Anthony Raffa did some nice things. I thought Will Harris did some nice things after the first 10 minutes. Jerel Hastings guarded Scottie Reynolds pretty well and I probably should have played him more than 15 minutes. Collectively we did some good things and did some bad things. You live and learn. We have to get better and get ready for DePaul now. If we can correct some of these things in that game then I think we have a shot..........................

[Phoenix]

I was very happy to see the Ambrose - Raffa starting backcourt. I really hope Ambrose can take to the coaching because that backcourt is going to tough to handle for a lot of teams if he plays well. As for Raffa, starting a freshman point guard on the road against a top 25 team is about as tough as a beginning to a college basketball career as you can have and he handled it quite well.

 

I agree..quite a lot of offense on the floor with the two of them out there together..definitely a much different look than last year..and Hastings is such a defense stopper, holding Reynolds to just 13 points..great to see the intelligent positioning from Gifford, leading to his 7 rebounds in 24 minutes..very impressed with McRae as well, wasn't sure what to expect from him this year..Will Haris certainly showed glimpses of what he can do this year during the second half..if the Danes can continue to play throughout the season the way they played in the second half, while continuing to gel and learn each other, I think we'll be in for a very exciting season.

[danefan]

I was very happy to see the Ambrose - Raffa starting backcourt. I really hope Ambrose can take to the coaching because that backcourt is going to tough to handle for a lot of teams if he plays well. As for Raffa, starting a freshman point guard on the road against a top 25 team is about as tough as a beginning to a college basketball career as you can have and he handled it quite well.

 

I agree..quite a lot of offense on the floor with the two of them out there together..definitely a much different look than last year..and Hastings is such a defense stopper, holding Reynolds to just 13 points..great to see the intelligent positioning from Gifford, leading to his 7 rebounds in 24 minutes..very impressed with McRae as well, wasn't sure what to expect from him this year..Will Haris certainly showed glimpses of what he can do this year during the second half..if the Danes can continue to play throughout the season the way they played in the second half, while continuing to gel and learn each other, I think we'll be in for a very exciting season.

 

 

Welcome to the board Phoenix!

 

Sounds like we have another avid Bball fan on our hands!

[DanesRGood]

What a great time at the game Friday night! It was great to see our school playing in a sold out arena against a Top 25 opponent. I thought they played very well against a good team but the turnovers and missed free throws were bad. I'm not sure I've ever seen a team throw more balls away and lose more passes. I guess the team was nervous being in that situation and I don't blame them for that.

 

I do think we have a lot to look forward to though!

[alum73]

"Hastings is such a defense stopper, holding Reynolds to just 13 points"

 

He did sit out most of the first half with 2 fouls.

[Phoenix]

Welcome to the board Phoenix!

 

Sounds like we have another avid Bball fan on our hands!

 

Thanks..glad to see so many Great Danes fans.