BU @ UA - Monday 7PM

[UA'08]

I just don't get it. The football supporters have aspirations of moving to another football conference with a full 63 scholarships and even want to see Albany one day move to FBS. Now when it comes to basketball why the hello is everyone set on us being a low major basketball program? Is everyone happy with settling with that???

 

That's the smAlbany mentality I see on this board. This issue with the team blowing big leads has been going on all year and there has been no sign of any change. Tell me why I should believe that anything will change come next season if the same players and coaches are back. It may be time to just cut ties at the end of the season. It's not like we are going to lose any big time recruits we have right now or any high impact players that would transfer.

 

I'm ready to take the lashing, but first tell me why anything is going to be different from now till next year.

[Clickclack]

I just don't get it. The football supporters have aspirations of moving to another football conference with a full 63 scholarships and even want to see Albany one day move to FBS. Now when it comes to basketball why the hello is everyone set on us being a low major basketball program? Is everyone happy with settling with that???

 

That's the smAlbany mentality I see on this board. This issue with the team blowing big leads has been going on all year and there has been no sign of any change. Tell me why I should believe that anything will change come next season if the same players and coaches are back. It may be time to just cut ties at the end of the season. It's not like we are going to lose any big time recruits we have right now or any high impact players that would transfer.

 

I'm ready to take the lashing, but first tell me why anything is going to be different from now till next year.

 

If the administration decides to go in a different direction...there will be significant loses talent wise. Ultimately, it's not my decision or anyone's here, I'll continue to go to games and cheer for the kids and yes coaches and hope they turn it around but at the end of the day the school will sit down and decide what to do. The last four year have been about as mediocre as they can possibly be sandwiched around a horrendous 7 win season. To say I'm extremely disappointed would be an understatement.

[UA'08]

I just don't get it. The football supporters have aspirations of moving to another football conference with a full 63 scholarships and even want to see Albany one day move to FBS. Now when it comes to basketball why the hello is everyone set on us being a low major basketball program? Is everyone happy with settling with that???

 

That's the smAlbany mentality I see on this board. This issue with the team blowing big leads has been going on all year and there has been no sign of any change. Tell me why I should believe that anything will change come next season if the same players and coaches are back. It may be time to just cut ties at the end of the season. It's not like we are going to lose any big time recruits we have right now or any high impact players that would transfer.

 

I'm ready to take the lashing, but first tell me why anything is going to be different from now till next year.

 

If the administration decides to go in a different direction...there will be significant loses talent wise.

So the "big three" are going to leave and sit out another year to play at a d1 school? Watts and puk are going where? Maybe the Australians leave. What recruits do we have locked up that would be devastating if there are changes? We haven't had any significant talent on our teams except for one player who has transfered out of this program in the past 7 years. Why should I be worried about losing talent.

[UA'08]

I meant to say talent that has left our program in the above post.

[Dane96]

I just don't get it. The football supporters have aspirations of moving to another football conference with a full 63 scholarships and even want to see Albany one day move to FBS. Now when it comes to basketball why the hello is everyone set on us being a low major basketball program? Is everyone happy with settling with that???

 

That's the smAlbany mentality I see on this board. This issue with the team blowing big leads has been going on all year and there has been no sign of any change. Tell me why I should believe that anything will change come next season if the same players and coaches are back. It may be time to just cut ties at the end of the season. It's not like we are going to lose any big time recruits we have right now or any high impact players that would transfer.

 

I'm ready to take the lashing, but first tell me why anything is going to be different from now till next year.

 

Self-explanatory.

[UA'08]

I meant to say talent that has left our program in the above post.

[Clickclack]

 

Last night was absolutely disgusting...all around...and that includes players and coaches alike.

 

D96, in all honesty, you've made this comment on 3 or 4 occasions this season from what I can remember. I'm not attacking you, please don't take it that way... I like you want/wanted to believe and a small part of me still does...maybe it's not to late, we can still make a run in the AE tourney, all we need is one piece...on and on and on...and after every loss like last night, Siena, Cornell, Mt St. Mary's (a BAD team we BARELY BEAT), non-competitive against GMU, biting my finger nails as we struggled with a 0-20 team I sit and think...what are we doing here? Then I think back to the 7 win season and the 3 .500 season and I scratch my head. I've told myself for years...wait 'till next season.

[Dane96]

I've said it because frankly...if I were on this team...i would be either off the team or in their faces. It's disgusting to see so much lacking in the intensity department.

 

I have coached and played at many levels in many sports; a coach can only do so much to set the intensity tone...it's the players who have to have it from the inside.

 

Personally, I would have locked these guys out of the gym a long long time ago until they showed any desire to play team defense.

[Clickclack]

I've said it because frankly...if I were on this team...i would be either off the team or in their faces. It's disgusting to see so much lacking in the intensity department.

 

I have coached and played at many levels in many sports; a coach can only do so much to set the intensity tone...it's the players who have to have it from the inside.

 

Personally, I would have locked these guys out of the gym a long long time ago until they showed any desire to play team defense.

 

I'm not looking to pin blame I'm just talking it through with you...so who is responsible for the lack of intensity and defensive focus? I agree that a coach can do only so much but in the end he handed out the scholarships, no? If someone can offer a coherent explanation as to why we are who we are, I'd like to hear it. I work in management and people report to me...ultimatly I'm held responsible for their failures and share in their success but it's my job/responsibility to get the most out of them. If every project we worked on we did it well for 75% of the time and at the end failed to deliver or folded like a cheap suite I'd be fired. My feet have been held to the fire over the few years I've been in my current role and sometimes it's painful and uncomfortable but you stoop down shoulder the blame and grow with your team to be better.

 

I just don't get it...what happened to the likes of Siggers/Levi/Jordan etc? How did we move so far away from the formula that worked for us?

[Patch]

Click - we are a donut team - nothing in the middle.

 

At the end of last year most of us had great hopes for Luke coming off his All Rookie Year where in AE play he was recording close to a double double nightly. Back surgery kept him off the court all summer and into the fall with hope he would come around by the New Year and that just hasn't happened. To Luke's credit he has given us all he has but he has truly been limited and not even nearly as effective as last season.

 

John Puk showed promise at times last year for a Freshman big but he spent all summer and fall in a boot and couldn't do any skill work and then in December (in season had minor leg surgery) with limited his time on the court in practice and what I believe John needs is repetitions.

 

Blake Metcalf gives us solid effort but is limited - Blake has to be held accountable for his 25% FT shooting.

 

Add to that that Logan is playing hurt and limited in practice and Peter Hooley has been lost for the season and you start to realize this team is extremely flawed and not what was expected.

 

If you look at the overview it is apparent that this team has had problems but it also has talent. Just in the last 2 games combined we lost by 10 points, erase a couple of turnovers, knock down some second half FTs and make 1 or 2 wide open looks and we are excited instead of depressed.

 

D96 also hit it the nail on the head we lack a Levi or a Lillis - TOUGHNESS

[Patch]

I just don't get it...what happened to the likes of Siggers/Levi/Jordan etc? How did we move so far away from the formula that worked for us? - clickclack

 

CB once said following the Virginia loss in the NCAAs he wanted to get more athletic and he changed his ways and went with the likes of Scottie, Will and MJ which wound up with horrific results.

 

We are 15-11 and 7-5 and it sucks and that's good.

[Clickclack]

Click - we are a donut team - nothing in the middle.

 

At the end of last year most of us had great hopes for Luke coming off his All Rookie Year where in AE play he was recording close to a double double nightly. Back surgery kept him off the court all summer and into the fall with hope he would come around by the New Year and that just hasn't happened. To Luke's credit he has given us all he has but he has truly been limited and not even nearly as effective as last season.

 

John Puk showed promise at times last year for a Freshman big but he spent all summer and fall in a boot and couldn't do any skill work and then in December (in season had minor leg surgery) with limited his time on the court in practice and what I believe John needs is repetitions.

 

Blake Metcalf gives us solid effort but is limited - Blake has to be held accountable for his 25% FT shooting.

 

Add to that that Logan is playing hurt and limited in practice and Peter Hooley has been lost for the season and you start to realize this team is extremely flawed and not what was expected.

 

If you look at the overview it is apparent that this team has had problems but it also has talent. Just in the last 2 games combined we lost by 10 points, erase a couple of turnovers, knock down some second half FTs and make 1 or 2 wide open looks and we are excited instead of depressed.

 

D96 also hit it the nail on the head we lack a Levi or a Lillis - TOUGHNESS

 

Patch, with all due respect, I understand that. But you could have changed some names on that list and the year and we could be talking about any of the teams from the last few years. For instance last year...

 

- Black got hurt early in the year and it hurt our continuity

- We were a donut team last year with very limited production from the post, Devlin plays more on the perimeter like Brent Wilson and has very little in terms of back to the basket game.

- We just don't have the defensive personnel, last year interior defense was poor and on the perimeter we have Logan and Tim Ambrose...neither one is a stout defender although good on the offensive end.

- We have no toughness, wait 'till next year when a former rugby player Rowley shows up...he's extremely physical can really get after people etc.

 

The following year we haven't answered a single one of those question...

 

- There is still NO backup PG on this team and as a result Black usually starts out strong (last night 6pts and 7ast) and slows down in the second half...when you are playing 33mpg because there isn't a backup PG and there hasn't been one in years...well, what do we expect. Logan Aronhalt on a painful knee is being asked to play 34mpg...that's INSANE! Again, there is very little of depth on the roster behind the starters.

- We still do not have a big who has any semblance of an offensive game down low....how many years of being a donut team? Come on, let's be brutally honest for a second. Many of us have sat here for years saying the same exact thing...

- We still after a few years of also discussing this here, do not have "toughness"...who's responsible for recruiting toughness? How can a leader pin our problems on lack of toughness after assembling the roster? Seems to me like a complete cop-out...how about saying, I need to do a better job of recruiting the pieces this team need instead of pointing out what we do not have...the irony is that ultimately the architect is responsible for the construction...it either can or can't withstand the pressures and for the last two years this team routinely wilts under pressure.

 

I know people say we have 15 wins...on the surface that looks great until you dig a half an inch under the surface. We have a few really good teams to give an appearance that this was a strong OOC slate...Pitt (who is down), Syracuse really good, Maryland and GMU. All games with the exception of Maryland our most impressive performance in OOC, beat the crap out of us. The rest of the OOC is as follows...

 

Brown - crap...300+RPI expected to go 7-23

Monmouth - crap...RPI 260+ expected to go 9-22

Navy - ****...RPI 323 expected to go 4-23

FDU - crap...RPI of 330 expected to go 4-25

Siena - below average although not crap - 19pt lead blown to a 6 man team, current RPI of 224 expected to go 13-16, not a terrible loss but hey...

Colgate - crap...RPI 297, expected to go 9-20

Cornell - average...RPI of 184...blew a 10pt lead in 8 minutes

St. Francis - average...RPI of 204 and expected to go 16-13...our best win of the season...a 204 team is our best win...yikes

Dartmouth - lets face it...crap with an RPI of 324 and expected to go 5-24

Mt. St Marys - color me again unimpressed...RPI of 292 expected to go 8-21...

 

That is our OOC slate. Our wins including the AE are against opponents combined 75-218 (26%)...had we played anything close to a competitive OOC for instance one like UVM or BU well....you figure out the rest.

[Clickclack]

Again, I will continue to come to games no matter what, I'll do my best to start D-fence chants, cheer etc. but the facts are there for all to see no matter how uncomfortable and painful they are to the eyes.

[Dane Pound]

Maybe the most frustrating thing about last night and some of the other games Click mentioned was talent-wise we are right there.

 

In crunch time in a bunch of those games we don't have anyone stepping up and making plays when we really need them. When the game was on the line at Cornell, Wrobleski stepped up for them and knocked in a big shot. At Vermont, the game was on the line and Glass knocked in a big shot. Last night it was Partin. Meanwhile we are clanking free throws and missing open shots. Partin wanted the ball, wanted to take the shot and I didn't really see anyone on our side who really wanted to do that.

[Clickclack]

Maybe the most frustrating thing about last night and some of the other games Click mentioned was talent-wise we are right there.

 

In crunch time in a bunch of those games we don't have anyone stepping up and making plays when we really need them. When the game was on the line at Cornell, Wrobleski stepped up for them and knocked in a big shot. At Vermont, the game was on the line and Glass knocked in a big shot. Last night it was Partin. Meanwhile we are clanking free throws and missing open shots. Partin wanted the ball, wanted to take the shot and I didn't really see anyone on our side who really wanted to do that.

 

Last night, Black who I think is our best player goes to the line with a chance to take the lead and blows two FT's...on the other end, their big guy steps up and knocks down two. You could ask why did Black a decent FT shooter blow those two FT? Well when you just logged 35 minutes because there is no one else to run the point...your legs feel a bit like noodles. Who is the heir apparent to Black when he leaves? The kid is going into his senior year and we don't have anyone who will take the team over when he's gone...it takes a good two years to groom a decent PG...maybe Gibson? But who knows...he can't even get on the court.

 

At some point you have to trust the roster you've recruited I would think, even if it's 2 minutes here and 3 minutes there.