Recruiting - 2023

[UA1882]

Cornelius Robinson decommits from Albany. I know he was going to be a good player but I'm glad.  

Punching a kid in the face has no place in basketball. Good luck to him.  

[godanesgo99]

Well that sucks, as a lot people thought he could be a beast on day 1 and keep the UA AE ROY streak going. That said, I think I was the first to post the punch on the board, and frankly the program doesn't need another potential problem child considering all goings on still unresolved. Probably for the best.

Good luck to him wherever he lands. 

This means we have 1 confirmed spot, and a couple spots that may or may not be open depending on things that I don't think have been officially announced (Jackson/Hutch). 

[dslyank]

13 hours ago, godanesgo99 said:

This means we have 1 confirmed spot, and a couple spots that may or may not be open depending on things that I don't think have been officially announced (Jackson/Hutch)

I do not have any inside information; but Hutch has said he was moving on {I guess he could always change his mind?}. Jackson deserves a schollie {even for those who question his skill set (which I DON'T) & poor outside shooting--IMHO for effort minimally and for how well he played for a very sub par team.} Like his brother, surround him with people who can shoot, and he would be more than capable of running the offense. Good passer and can get to the hoop.

But still think you are correct 2 more schollie's are/will be available. Hutch & Ketner {NO WAY DK keeps Ketner on scholarship--he is/will be off the team unless Gatusso hold the schollie, which I doubt.

Edited May 2, 2023 by dslyank

[Clickclack]

4 hours ago, dslyank said:

I do not have any inside information; but Hutch has said he was moving on {I guess he could always change his mind?}. Jackson deserves a schollie {even for those who question his skill set (which I DON'T) & poor outside shooting--IMHO for effort minimally and for how well he played for a very sub par team.} Like his brother, surround him with people who can shoot, and he would be more than capable of running the offense. Good passer and can get to the hoop.

But still think you are correct 2 more schollie's are/will be available. Hutch & Ketner {NO WAY DK keeps Ketner on scholarship--he is/will be off the team unless Gatusso hold the schollie, which I doubt.

I respectfully and strongly disagree. If Jackson is anywhere near a starting PG position this team will be bottom of the AE again. His turnover rate is more than DOUBLE his assist rate (11.9/24.7). He has no business being anywhere near a starting point guard role on a competent team. Granted, he's only a freshman so maybe that improves but other than a few minutes of energy from the bench he's a marginal D1 player. We'll see if that changes this year. But no, he's not even an adequate passer let alone a god one. 

 

I suspect DK is well aware that he couldn't go into next season with Jackson as the PG and recruited Thomas who not only played at a much higher level but also has an assist to turnover rate of 26.9/22.7. He's a bit of a turnover machine but his a/t rate is positive at least. 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Clickclack

[cwdickens]

On 5/1/2023 at 3:27 PM, UA1882 said:

Cornelius Robinson decommits from Albany. I know he was going to be a good player but I'm glad.  

Punching a kid in the face has no place in basketball. Good luck to him.  

Just to confirm, has Cornelius Robinson has de-committed due to on-court altercation in the NJ High School Basketball Tournament.  Did UAlbany express concern about the incident or is there some other eligibility issue?

[cwdickens]

2 hours ago, Clickclack said:

I respectfully and strongly disagree. If Jackson is anywhere near a starting PG position this team will be bottom of the AE again. His turnover rate is more than DOUBLE his assist rate (11.9/24.7). He has no business being anywhere near a starting point guard role on a competent team. Granted, he's only a freshman so maybe that improves but other than a few minutes of energy from the bench he's a marginal D1 player. We'll see if that changes this year. But no, he's not even an adequate passer let alone a god one. 

 

I suspect DK is well aware that he couldn't go into next season with Jackson as the PG and recruited Thomas who not only played at a much higher level but also has an assist to turnover rate of 26.9/22.7. He's a bit of a turnover machine but his a/t rate is positive at least. 

I have to respectively disagree if Marcus Jackson is a starting point and UAlbany MBB finishes at the bottom of the AE standings i 2023-2024, there are bigger issues then one ball player.  That being said, I see Marcus's role as the 2nd or 3rd player off the bench.  I highly suspect that two of three portal players are slotted as starters. 

[dslyank]

3 hours ago, Clickclack said:

He has no business being anywhere near a starting point guard role on a competent team.

For what it's worth: I did not say he should be the starting point guard; just that he should receive one of the open scholarships. Not sure if this Thomas guy is the answer either? Let them compete for time, with Little and Amica and see if any of them stand out? Not that I have any say in the matter.🤐

Edited May 2, 2023 by dslyank

[Clickclack]

2 hours ago, cwdickens said:

I have to respectively disagree if Marcus Jackson is a starting point and UAlbany MBB finishes at the bottom of the AE standings i 2023-2024, there are bigger issues then one ball player.  That being said, I see Marcus's role as the 2nd or 3rd player off the bench.  I highly suspect that two of three portal players are slotted as starters. 

This team had a ton of issues...PG play was one of the biggest. There was no one to get them into their sets, no one to distribute the ball or organize an offense or get anyone easy shots. I really don't get the fascination with Jackson. If he's anywhere near starter minutes because we need him, we are screwed. Fringe rotation player, on a team like UVM he would never see the court. Ever! Maybe spot minutes when he's a junior or senior. He tries hard...I get people love that but come on. 

[Clickclack]

1 hour ago, dslyank said:

For what it's worth: I did not say he should be the starting point guard; just that he should receive one of the open scholarships. Not sure if this Thomas guy is the answer either? Let them compete for time, with Little and Amica and see if any of them stand out? Not that I have any say in the matter.🤐

LIttle is even more lost out there then Jackson...but at least he looks like a D1 guard and pretty athletic. He just can't shoot, or really do anything on offense and you can't put him out there and play 4 on 5. He is absolutely not a PG. But I'm actually "higher" on him then Jackson. I can see Little growing into a rotation guy off the bench. If he can figure out how to finish around the rim and make an occasional 3. 

[cwdickens]

My question of the day: How do we balance fans' passion for analytics and the passion of just being fan of the team and one of its players, in particular when it comes to Marcus Jackson?  Our passion (dslyank and me) comes from the fact that he grew up in the area, played for a highly respected local high school program, Albany Academy, coached by the father of a former UAlbany player and chose to come here without a scholarship.

Yes, he deserves a scholarship, and yes, Marcus deserves opportunities to prove himself,  Just thinking about how Killings has thrown around scholarships in the past has always worried me.

[UA1882]

This is not middle school , everyone gets a trophy. This is college basketball. WIN!!!!!!!!!

I like Jackson. He is on Twitter a lot supporting Albany Basketball. (If he improves a ton then fine.) However,  at this point he is not a scholarship player.  You get 13 of these.  Coach Killings is making 400K plus a year to win. Giving this player a scholarship on a bottom 30 team in D1 last year is crazy.  Give the 13 best players scholarships but if Jackson is one of them then Killings will not have a job very long. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by UA1882

[godanesgo99]

30 minutes ago, cwdickens said:

My question of the day: How do we balance fans' passion for analytics and the passion of just being fan of the team and one of its players, in particular when it comes to Marcus Jackson?  Our passion (dslyank and me) comes from the fact that he grew up in the area, played for a highly respected local high school program, Albany Academy, coached by the father of a former UAlbany player and chose to come here without a scholarship.

Yes, he deserves a scholarship, and yes, Marcus deserves opportunities to prove himself,  Just thinking about how Killings has thrown around scholarships in the past has always worried me.

I too agree he deserves a scholarship. Thrown into it or not, he started almost every conference game, and after Hutch: he was probably the hardest working "hustle" guy on the team, sacrificing his body to get the play done. Not even mentioning the hard foul on Finn Sullivan that was my favorite play of the year. That alone deserves recognition with a scholarship. His stats aren't great when you look at the season as a whole, but remember he was a Freshman and it takes time to get it. If you look at the conference only stats, a better picture emerges:

Conference Only:

• Games/Starts: 16/15 - 26.8 minutes per game - 5.9 points per game
• 50.7% Field Goal Percentage, 33.3% from 3, 76.4% from the freethrow line
• 4.5 Rebounds per Game (1.1 Offensive, 3.4 Defensive)
• 1.6 Assists per Game / 1.5 Turnovers per game - this is the area that needs the most work
• 0.8 Steals per game / 0.3 Blocks per game

Those stats are pretty decent for a Freshman. I'd argue that he should have been in the conversation for making the all-rookie team with those conference numbers. 

I know nothing about his family financial situation, and I am not going to assume anything, but I know there are a lot of kids that qualify for the Empire program, which means he might be getting Tuition free already, so a scholarship may not provide that much benefit. Sometimes it could be the case of him agreeing to stay on as a PWO so that the team would have another scholarship to use to improve.

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by godanesgo99

[Clickclack]

4 hours ago, cwdickens said:

My question of the day: How do we balance fans' passion for analytics and the passion of just being fan of the team and one of its players, in particular when it comes to Marcus Jackson?  Our passion (dslyank and me) comes from the fact that he grew up in the area, played for a highly respected local high school program, Albany Academy, coached by the father of a former UAlbany player and chose to come here without a scholarship.

Yes, he deserves a scholarship, and yes, Marcus deserves opportunities to prove himself,  Just thinking about how Killings has thrown around scholarships in the past has always worried me.

You are advocating for giving a guy a scholarship because he grew up in the area and a father of a former player coached his HS team? LOL....

 

Again, he seems like a good kid, works hard, is an asset to the UAlbany community, I get all that. But Killings if he doesn't win is staring at unemployment. He better not be handing out scholarships because a kid is local. 

I'm on record as saying that while he may eventually develop into a rotation player, him playing as much as he did as a walkon is a testament to how poorly last years team was constructed and not because he was very good. I wish him luck. I don't have any animus towards the kid, hey if he balls out that's better for UA. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Clickclack

[cwdickens]

21 hours ago, Clickclack said:

You are advocating for giving a guy a scholarship because he grew up in the area and a father of a former player coached his HS team? LOL....

 

Again, he seems like a good kid, works hard, is an asset to the UAlbany community, I get all that. But Killings if he doesn't win is staring at unemployment. He better not be handing out scholarships because a kid is local. 

I'm on record as saying that while he may eventually develop into a rotation player, him playing as much as he did as a walkon is a testament to how poorly last years team was constructed and not because he was very good. I wish him luck. I don't have any animus towards the kid, hey if he balls out that's better for UA. 

In all due respect, at least I feel Marcus Jackson has earned a scholarship for the 2023-2024 year because there may be hidden value there.  However, no one who posts here will have the final say whether or not Marcus ultimately gets a scholarship.  As you, all too often do, you went a little over the top.  

Lastly, was the construction of the team affected by injuries that sidelined Neely for the year and others for varying amounts of time.  I strongly suspect that Killings, while not staring at unemployment at the moment, he may always have that feeling someone or something is following him. As a reminder, he has three more years on his contract.

Edited May 4, 2023 by cwdickens
update & clarification

[cwdickens]

In keeping the discussion, another Capital District connection, is added to the MBB team: https://ualbanysports.com/news/2023/5/10/mens-basketball-mens-basketball-adds-zach-matulu-as-preferred-walk-on.aspx

Zach Matulu is from Shaker High School (Latham, NY) and captain of his basketball team.

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by cwdickens