2015-16 Albany America East Preview

[godanesgo99]

FYI - Vegas has Albany as #77 and Stony Brook at 93...

 

 

http://www.oddsshark.com/ncaab/power-rankings

[MRSGDG]

 

 

[justdrastik1]

I suspect this season will be no different than most of recent seasons. We will start out "so-so", with many new parts and start to strengthen towards the end of the year. Hoping that we can get a slightly better jump than recently though.

 

Do think that we are probably the deepest we've been in a while.

[Eli]

Yeah I think we're pretty deep too. However, I hope this time we have kids who are willing to be patient instead of being me-first like Baker. It's hard to give players time when you can go 9 or 10 deep. Baker could have ran this team next year since Sanders, Peter, etc. are graduating. He'd be one of the top if not THE top guards on the team next year. Say what you want, and tell me I'm ridiculous, but that was a bonehead decision on his part. Almost as dumb as Suerro declaring for the NBA draft. Can you imagine him and Cremo when they are Sr/Jr respectively? YIKES. Sucks he couldn't deal with one more year of being 6th man.

[Clickclack]

Albany at Iona October 31 for scrimmage...UMass at Albany Nov 7...remember...they are super-duper secret.

[MRSGDG]

Preseason Poll

 

http://blog.timesunion.com/collegesports/ualbany-picked-second-in-america-east-preseason-poll/20636/

[MRSGDG]

CBS Sports 2015-16 ranking of every college basketball team, from 1-351

 

http://mweb.cbssports.com/ncaab/eye-on-college-basketball/25331040/cbs-sports-2015-16-ranking-of-every-college-basketball-team-from-1-351

 

121. Albany: The Great Danes return Peter Hooley, Evan Singletary and Ray Sanders. Man, the America East's top three will make for a really interesting chase. This is a good team!

 

108 SB

113 UVM

Edited October 27, 2015 by MsGDG

[Patch]

http://www.americaeast.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14000&ATCLID=210467035 Edited November 3, 2015 by Patch

[Dane Pound]

http://www.americaeast.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14000&ATCLID=210467035

It's a nice graphic but our game against Oklahoma was an NCAA 2nd round game, not a 1st round. I know it's nit-picking but I take this stuff seriously. Too seriously a lot of the time.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Dane Pound

[Patch]

From Big Apple Buckets regarding Peter Hooley:

 

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_144657550581011&key=fc83a41d9075fc60d9b3eb2fbe5855e0&libId=igjpkopw01000ayw000DA40yq7ouw&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.basketballforum.com%2Famerica-east-conference%2F529665-nyc-buckets-catch-all-thread-36.html%23post13844130&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwp.me%2Fp1s9Af-5GV&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.basketballforum.com%2Famerica-east-conference%2F&title=NYC%20Buckets%20Catch%20All%20Thread%20-%20Page%2036%20-%20Basketball%20Forum%20%3A%20Professional%20and%20College%20Basketball%20Forums&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fwp.me%2Fp1s9Af-5GV

Edited November 3, 2015 by Patch

[jalidanefan]

The weight of our big guys should weigh heavily on our opponents this year. As good as Warney is, we will have 3 BIG men able to anchor him when SBU plays us. I think this team is the best balanced group in the league. SBU new guys and return guys (Walker) will have to take time to fit in. Ours will be a new dynamic with the loss of Sam but the starting personnel are all there. And, I will be that guy, Sam made a lot of mistakes by holding the ball, slowing down the game, poor passing (some of which was his team mate's fault), forcing shots on double and triple teams ... that could be improved upon by this group. Obviously he was key in so many ways but this team could be a much more fun and successful one without him.

[Patch]

And, I will be that guy, Sam made a lot of mistakes by holding the ball, slowing down the game, poor passing (some of which was his team mate's fault), forcing shots on double and triple teams ... that could be improved upon by this group. Obviously he was key in so many ways but this team could be a much more fun and successful one without him. - jalidanefan

When everything constantly runs through you you will be forced into tough positions and sometimes make mistakes but lets be real here Sam was our BEST player for the entire seasons and when other teams prepared for us he was their #1 concern. It will be tough to replace one of UA's All Time Greats!!! He left with 3, yes three rings, not many players in the history of the AE can say that!!!

Edited November 4, 2015 by Patch

[Eli]

 

And, I will be that guy, Sam made a lot of mistakes by holding the ball, slowing down the game, poor passing (some of which was his team mate's fault), forcing shots on double and triple teams ... that could be improved upon by this group. Obviously he was key in so many ways but this team could be a much more fun and successful one without him. - jalidanefan

When everything constantly runs through you you will be forced into tough positions and sometimes make mistakes but lets be real here Sam was our BEST player for the entire seasons and when other teams prepared for us he was their #1 concern. It will be tough to replace one of UA's All Time Greats!!! He left with 3, yes three rings, not many players in the history of the AE can say that!!!

 

Peter has a chance to leave with four

[Patch]

So does Reece, Dallas, Mike Rowley, Stire, Cremo, McKinley and Nichols!!!!

Edited November 4, 2015 by Patch

[justdrastik1]

I can't fault Sam's play one bit. He was our horse. For the past 2 years, he was the guy we ran the offense through primarily. When we couldn't do anything on offense, we gave the ball to Sam, and said make something happen. Towards the end of last year, we saw Sanders and Singeltary start to take some of the offensive load and have another level of confidence. Unfortunately, Sam's gifted athletic abilities allowed him to be very competitive and efficient in the AE, but we ran into trouble when facing teams like Oklahoma (like most teams do), given Sam being undersized at the D1 level. I will say that when Sam got the ball, I felt that the team got stagnant at times though. I think people stopped cutting and it was more of a post up iso game. Certainly that's not his fault though.

 

With that being said, we don't need much offensively out of our bigs this year. Anything we get from them is icing on the cake in my opinion. We need tough D, rebounding, and the occasional junk yard dog offense.

 

With Peter, Ray, Evan, and Cremo we should have a lot of offense from a guard standpoint. Also through in Dallas with another year of work under his belt.

 

This team reminds me in many ways of our 2005-2006 team. We don't have a Jamar per se, but we do have serviceable big men, and we are fairly good and deep at the 1,2, and 3.

 

I think it will be interesting to see how Coach plans on using the talent. Do we go small ball for stretches, given depth at guard? Does he just reduce starter minutes throughout season and get guys like Cremo more minutes?

 

I have high expectations this year.