Albany (2-1) - HOF Tip Off Tournament Sat @ 8pm & Sun @ 8pm

[UAalum72]

What's with all the MAAC commercials? It's annoying enough seeing the team play poorly.

The MAAC sponsors this tournament

[jimbo]

A - 9,119??? Did that include everyone in the casino or do I need to see the eye doctor?

[DC615657]

A - 9,119??? Did that include everyone in the casino or do I need to see the eye doctor?

That includes the people who were there for the Duke-URI game at 1

[jimbo]

 

A - 9,119??? Did that include everyone in the casino or do I need to see the eye doctor?

That includes the people who were there for the Duke-URI game at 1

 

 

Ahhhhh.....now it all makes sense.

 

I'm going to be a contrary voice here. The team lost three terrific backcourt players. The team is starting a new backcourt. The team has a van load of new JUCOs finding their spot and working into the rotation. They

have a win against a Big 10 team and a 2-2 OOC record so far against D1 competition. Aren't we being a tad too critical at this juncture?

[godanesgo99]

We are definitely being over critical, but the mistakes haven't been because the team was outmatched. They have the talent. The problem seems to be failure to protect the ball and bad decisions. When you watch them dominate for periods then throw the ball away and miss free throws, it gets frustrating. Maybe this will end up like the 13-14 team. That team took a while to gel. They lost some fairly easy games in the OOC that year, then proceeded to go 15-1 in the AE.

[UA'08]

Lost in everything is how atrocious Rowley has been to start the season.

[DC615657]

After attending both games, here are some of my thoughts and impressions

 

- I was really impresses with Nichols play and attitude this weekend. He made some "hustle" plays and right before UA made the run against GCU he was telling his teammates it was unacceptable getting beat on the same plays on defense

 

- Grayson definitely seems more comfortable than he did last week. I am sure some part of that comes from not playing high major teams. He seems to have the ability to hit a clutch 3 when it is needed. If the backcourt can get on the page they will give opposing teams nightmares in conference play.

 

- The front court lack of available depth caused issues in both games. Charles, Stire and Rowley either fouled out or ended both games with 4 fouls each. They couldn't afford the be aggressive late in either game. Martin-Garcia looked lost out there for the few minutes he played against GCU. I don't believe he was able to practiced urging the preseason while his eligibility was an issue so it is understandable and am not knocking the guy. Hopefully he gets up to speed quickly and Lands isn't out for too long.

 

- Will Brown ripped the entire team a new one at the last media timeout in the first half last night. one of the Mohegan sun employees standing behind the team bench was making faces while brown was yelling at them. It was absolutely priceless.

 

- The main area of concerns that I see for the team are defense, passing, and trying to break the press. When brown pressed last night the team looked out of place. They can expect that for 40 minutes next Sunday night.

[DC615657]

We are definitely being over critical, but the mistakes haven't been because the team was outmatched. They have the talent. The problem seems to be failure to protect the ball and bad decisions. When you watch them dominate for periods then throw the ball away and miss free throws, it gets frustrating. Maybe this will end up like the 13-14 team. That team took a while to gel. They lost some fairly easy games in the OOC that year, then proceeded to go 15-1 in the AE.

Couldn't agree more. The team is making too many lazy passes and needs to commit to playing defense for 40 minutes.

[uofalbany]

Enenma hit that 3 pointer and was all fired up... going into the time out.

Came out of the time out, and it seemed like the energy, effort, and focus we substantially less.

Got to put in the full 40 minutes.

[jimbo]

I'm going to be a devil's advocate again and say that two games in 24 hours is tough. That being said, they are certainly uneven over 40 minutes.

[Eli]

I don't get why we sucked against the press so bad the last few games. We practically annihilated Penn States press.

[dslyank]

 

 

A - 9,119??? Did that include everyone in the casino or do I need to see the eye doctor?

That includes the people who were there for the Duke-URI game at 1

 

 

Ahhhhh.....now it all makes sense.

 

I'm going to be a contrary voice here. The team lost three terrific backcourt players. The team is starting a new backcourt. The team has a van load of new JUCOs finding their spot and working into the rotation. They

have a win against a Big 10 team and a 2-2 OOC record so far against D1 competition. Aren't we being a tad too critical at this juncture?

 

 

I agree! Also, missing Lands is huge. He provides very good defense and rebounding. When and If healthy he allows Rowley, Stire and (Charles even) to be ultra aggressive inside, without having to be AS concerned about foul trouble. Without him, the interior D has to be more cautious, which also has a residual effect on your guards. Also, without him the guards have to do more rebounding.

 

Now speaking of Charles, he was called for a foul in the arc. I believe that the arc has been a detriment to college basketball, confusing to players and ref's a like and has NOT accomplished a single thing (including not increased scoring overall as it was advertised.) As I understand the rule [HELP me, I could be wrong, because no one seems to be able to explain it properly]; a charge cannot be called in the arc; but it is NOT an automatic foul on the defensive man. If the defensive man is planted and in "rule" approved defensive position, he is not to be called for a foul. In other words, if it would have been a charge outside the arc, it simply is no charge (hence no call) inside the arc. If I am stating the rule correctly {Who Knows?}, Charles on the play in question was firmly planted (for at least 2-3 seconds), hands straight up and was totally barreled into by the Brown player. The announcers said it was a foul because he had one foot on the arc line, which is absurd in fact, but also not a foul as I interpret the rule????????

Edited November 21, 2016 by dslyank

[dslyank]

I don't get why we sucked against the press so bad the last few games. We practically annihilated Penn States press.

Coach Brown on his post game interview said Brown U had never been known to use a 1-3-1 zone. HE and the team were totally caught off guard. UA had not practiced a single minute so far this season against this type of zone.

 

You can bet they will practice it now; and remember as Jimbo stated, UA is breaking in a completely new back court. Young and still trying to get to know each other, they have only been practicing together for a month and only have 4 D1 games under their belt. The scout on Penn State was obviously right on and UA performed well against it. Also, remember your BIGS are very important in breaking a press and especially Rowley in the past has been a key contributor in this area.

[DanesRGood]

I really liked the lineup of Cremo, Nichols, Greyson, Ennema and Stire. Defenses cannot leave anyone open on the outside and it opens up some driving lanes. Obviously it hurts with rebounding and such but Dallas is big enough to cover the 4 on most teams we will play.

 

I also noticed last night Brown wasn't playing as much musical chairs with the lineup on the court which I liked. It seemed Saturday night every 1-2mins a substitute was coming and hurt the flow of the team on court but I'm sure he had his reasons.

 

As I said earlier, we've seen this before. Early season woes getting a new set of players to learn how to play together and for the coaching staff to learn how different lineups play together. I trust that by the time we hit conference play they will have it worked out. Just have to stop with the dumb cross court and lazy passes and the defensive lapses that give teams easy pts.

[alum73]

I thought Nichols got beat defensively quite a bit. We ended up in a zone part of the time. I don't think the team has played very much good defense.

Rowley is not that bad except for picking up too many fouls. Some are very ticky tack. I'm hoping he works that out. I agree some of the passes ending up as turnovers are lazy or just ill advised. There are just too many of those.