| RANDOM
THOUGHTS
01.18.09:
It
was good to get our first conference win
over UMBC on Saturday. We struggled
defensively in the first half and made some
adjustments at halftime. We did a much
better job overall in the second half. Our
focus was better defensively and we shared
the ball on offense. It was nice to see our
freshmen be so productive. Mike Black is
getting more comfortable as the starting
point guard. Logan is shooting the ball well
and feeling better each day. His best
basketball is definitely ahead of him. He
had to endure two surgeries and a lengthy
rehab process. He was basically inactive for
more than a year. Blake brings great energy
to the court. He keeps balls alive on the
offensive glass and can rebound outside of
his area.
It is a long season and freshmen are known
to be up and down. We need consistency from
our veterans so we can allow our young kids
to deal with the growing pains involved in
D1 basketball. Our next game is at Boston
University on Tuesday evening. Boston is an
explosive perimeter shooting team. Holland,
Lowe, O'Brien, and Strong can really shoot
the basketball. This will be a tough test
for us. We will have to do a tremendous job
of defending as a TEAM. We are looking
forward to the challenge!
Congratulations to Logan Aronhalt for being
named the America East Rookie of the Week!
01.06.09:
We
have played three conference games and sit
at 0-3 overall in AE play. The kids are
working hard and we need the energy to carry
over to the games. We have struggled
shooting the ball in conference play. We
have shot below 40% in each conference game.
That is not going to win you many games. We
dug ourselves a hole at UNH and made a nice
run during the final 10 minutes of the game.
Some missed FT's and turnovers at the wrong
time proved costly. It was great to see Will
Harris play so well. He was very aggressive.
I was most impressed with his work on the
glass. That is the Will Harris that we will
need the rest of the way. Logan Aronhalt hit
some big shots as well. We just never seem
to play well at UNH!
Our next game is against UMBC in the SEFCU
Arena. Randy Monroe has done a nice job with
the UMBC Program. We have played some tough
games against UMBC in recent years. I am
sure this one will be no different.
01.06.09:
We
open up conference play tomorrow night
against Binghamton. The kids have been
working hard and we are making progress as a
TEAM. We have made some changes in regard to
style of play and have been working on it
for about 2 weeks. It is going to take some
time but the kids are focused and they have
been working extremely hard. Effort,
execution, and progress is what we have been
stressing with this group. Those three
things will allow us to be very successful.
Conference play is always exciting. Every
team begins conference play with a 0-0
record and has the same opportunity. It is
so important to defend your home court. If
you can win at home and steal games on the
road you will be successful in conference
play.
I have been happy with our bench the past
two games. Consistency is what we need from
our bench. I am very happy for Billy Allen.
Billy has been playing very well. He is a
hard working kid who has really been
shooting the ball well of late. Our bench is
young and young kids always have problems
dealing with consistency. However, we have
made progress and hopefully the bench can
continue to produce.
Three of our first four conference games are
at home. It is imperative that we get off to
a good start. We had a nice crowd for our
Yale game. It was nice to see the community
support. We will need that especially since
our students will not be back until our home
game on Jan. 21.
It is nice and cold in Albany right now.
Coach Filien must be loving life out in
Phoenix, AZ right about now. I sent him out
to see a tournament. I have not checked the
weather report but I am sure it is warm! I
refuse to ask him about the weather because
I don't want to listen to him rub it in!
Alabama and Texas should be a great National
Championship Game! We will be playing
Binghamton so we will not have the
opportunity to watch it. Hopefully we can
get a W and catch some highlights later on
that night.
Happy New Year!
12.28.09:
I
hope everybody is enjoying the Holiday
Season! We are getting ready to catch a
flight to North Carolina. We play at UNC on
the 30th. This will be our last non
conference road game of the season. It will
be our 8th road game in a row. UNC is very
good and they play unselfish basketball. I
am not sure that I have seen a team push the
ball in transition like UNC. They push it
off made and missed shots. They do a great
job of forcing tempo.
We have two games left before America East
play begins. Practice has been very good of
late. We need to use the next two games to
help us get better and ready for conference
play. The conference is wide open this year
and consistency is going to be a key in
conference play. We have been working on
embracing all of the little things that
allow a team to be successful. We cannot
stress the word "TEAM" enough with this
group.
It has been nice to see some of our former
players at games. Jon Iati was at our Iona
game. Jimmie Covington and his family as
well as Brian Lillis were out in Chicago.
Many of the former players have remained
close to the program.
After a summer plagued by injuries and
inactivity Jamar Wilson is starting to play
very well in Belgium. Jason Siggers has been
putting up big time numbers in France. It is
nice to see the two of them enjoying success
in competitive leagues overseas. They are
two great young men.
Happy New Year!
11.19.09:
We
are off to a 1-2 start. We had a rough
opener at Syracuse. We struggled against the
2-3 zone. They have great length and
athleticism in the zone. Defensively they
are very, very good. They fed off our
turnovers. The only good thing was we were
able to play a lot of our younger players
and they gained valuable experience in a
tough environment.
Our second game was against a very strong
and physical Morgan State team. They played
in the 2008 NIT and 2009 NCAA Tournament.
Reggie Holmes is as good of a guard as we
will face this season. He was very smooth
and efficient offensively. Kevin Thompson
was a huge post presence and difficult to
stop. This was another opportunity for our
young players to gain some valuable
experience in the home opener. Morgan State
will have a great season. They are men!
The third game was at American. They entered
the game with a 12 game home winning streak.
They played in the 2009 NCAA Tournament and
gave Villanova a scare. American dropped the
NCAA banner before the game. American really
made us work defensively. They spent a lot
of time on offense. They went very small at
times and played a 6'4 guard at the power
forward spot. They could get away with this
since they played a lot of 3-2 zone. Our
match-ups were tough. We switched defenses
the last 7 or 8 minutes of the game and that
really helped us. We did not shoot well and
only had 7 FT attempts. It is so difficult
to win on the road so I was glad that we
could pull this one out.
We are getting ready for the 2K Sports
Classic this weekend at the SEFCU. Three
games in three days will be difficult. You
have to be mentally and physically tough.
Depth will come in to play in these this
type of format. All of the teams will need
support from the bench. Scouting is also
very difficult in these events. You have
less than 24 hours to prepare for your next
opponent. Our players will be forced to
stick to our defensive principles. We will
really try to get them to understand
personnel and player tendencies. It is
difficult to get really comfortable with the
opponents offensive sets on such short
notice. This is why we must stick to our
defensive principles.
Fans will have an opportunity to see some
good teams and players. Alcorn State has
plenty of talent and is coached by an NBA
veteran. Detroit has 2 Big 10 transfers
(Indiana) and some other very talented
players and could quite possibly challenge
Butler in the Horizon League. Robert Morris
played in the NCAA Tournament last year and
has a nice returning nucleus. All three
games will be tough for us. We will have to
play well and be consistent with our focus
and execution.
10.24.09:
We
just finished our Purple/Gold game. It was a
great event. We had a terrific crowd despite
the monsoon like weather conditions. The
event was well organized. Charlie Voelker
and Matt Roche did a great job putting this
event together. Our team has a lot of moving
pieces this year and we are excited about
the potential of this team. We have a nice
combination of younger players and veterans.
We are on the bus on our way to our first
scrimmage of the season. Nothing like
practicing in the morning, Purple/Gold in
the afternoon, and then a 4 hour bus trip in
the evening. I am tired so I can only
imagine how the players feel.
I decided to bring my 7 year old son Jackson
on this road trip. My wife Jamie is a
nervous wreck! LOL! He is sitting with Blake
Metcalf and Derreck Tartt. They are great
sports!
I am looking forward to watching us compete
against someone else for a change. I am
planning on giving everybody a shot
tomorrow. The players have all worked hard
and I have been impressed.
You can follow our program at Facebook.com/ualbanybasketball
and at Twitter.com (uahoopswb) for daily
updates. I just opened the twitter account a
few days ago and made it public today. This
way you will be able to keep up with Great
Danes Basketball!
10.21.09:
Our
first practice was Friday evening from
7:30-10. We came back and practiced on
Saturday from 9-10:30 and 4-6. We practiced
Sunday 9-11 and 4:30-6. The difference was we
participated in the American Cancer Society
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on
Sunday from 12-1. It was a 3 mile walk and for
a great cause. We try to expose our players to
as many community events as possible.
Unfortunately cancer has impacted too many of
us directly or indirectly. I was proud of our
players because not one of them complained.
They enjoyed the walk and had the opportunity
to meet a lot of people. It was a long three
days, especially Sunday! We are off today and
excited about getting back to practice
tomorrow morning.
It has been interesting putting together
practice plans for 17 players. My goal has
been to get every player reps and to keep
every player involved early on in practice.
The practices have been very competitive and
our players have been getting after it on a
consistent basis. We like the attitude and the
mindset. The newcomers usually have to make
the biggest adjustment to a college practice.
The level is more competitive and a lot more
physical. It can be draining mentally and
physically for the newcomers. Our new players
are working hard and trying to make the
necessary adjustments.
We have our Purple/Gold game on Saturday and a
scrimmage on Sunday. We have a lot of work to
do in a short period of time!
10.15.09:
It
is that time of year again! Another college
basketball season is about to begin. We are
looking forward to the upcoming year. We had
a very productive preseason and we are
anxious to get started. We will have 17
bodies available for practice which is a
good thing. The last few weeks of the 08-09
season we only had 8 healthy bodies and were
forced to have two coaches practice so we
could go 5 on 5. This year will be quite
different. Coach Friel and Coach Filien will
not have to be on the court competing!
We don't have a lot of time as we will open
the season Nov. 9 at Syracuse. That leaves
us a little more than 3 weeks to get ready.
We will need to use our time wisely! The
good thing is we will squeeze in two
scrimmages before our first game and that
will give us a chance to compete against two
other programs.
Our strength and conditioning coach Blake
Cundiff has done a tremendous job with our
players in the weight room. They are leaner
and stronger. We emphasize strength and
conditioning and our players understand the
importance.
We are anxious to start putting the pieces
of the puzzle together. This team has some
variety and versatility. It will be
interesting trying to find the right
combinations. We are looking forward to
watching them compete. Some players are
really good workout guys and others are
better structured team type guys. This is
why I don't get too excited when we have
players enjoy great success in workouts. I
want to see how they respond when we have 10
guys on the court and some structure. The
three things that we are going to stress to
the guys are COMPETE, COMMUNICATE, and
EXECUTE! We need them to do this every day!
Our early focus scheme wise will be DEFENSE,
REBOUNDING, and EARLY OFFENSE. We need to
get more easy baskets than our opponents!
Today we held a live practice for the media.
We had 17 members of the media participate
and more than 30 total in attendance. It was
an enjoyable event. We wanted to expose the
media to what a typical practice is like for
our players. We put them through drills,
they scrimmaged, they watched scout film and
went over a scouting report, they learned
some offensive sets, and got some good
exercise! Our goal was for the media to get
a better feel for what goes on within a
program and hopefully for them to learn a
little more about the game of basketball.
The practice was a huge success!
My son Jackson is just finishing up his
soccer season at St. Pius. He is 7 so the
games are quite entertaining. The games are
played in a crowd. They all run to the ball.
I get a kick out of watching him run from
goal to goal regardless what position he is
playing! He is having fun and it is great
exercise.
The only time I watch baseball is during the
playoffs. Hopefully the Yankees can keep it
going!
The NBA regular season is about to begin.
Several teams made moves in the off season.
I am going to go on record and say that the
Spurs will win the West and the Celtics will
win the East.
The "Basket Ball" was a huge success! We
raised over $150,000 for the American Cancer
Society. SEFCU was the presenting sponsor of
the event. Michael Castellana and SEFCU
continue to be generous and support these
types of events and our program. We honored
my good friend Jamie Dixon who is the Head
Coach at Pitt. My wife Jamie spent a lot of
time helping the ACS get ready for the
event. It was nice to see so many people in
attendance as we tried to raise awareness
and money to help find a cure for this
dreaded disease.
06.23.09:
Our
players will be arriving this weekend for
summer school. It is a great opportunity for
the veterans and the newcomers to spend some
quality time together on and off the court.
We will have 16 of our 17 roster players on
campus taking summer classes. Yes, we will
have 17 players on our roster. Fifteen of
the seventeen players will be active, one
will redshirt, and one will have to sit out
per NCAA transfer rules. I am sure Coach
Friel and Coach Filien are excited about the
roster size. They had to practice the last
few weeks of the season. Especially Coach
Friel! He had double duty as he was both
coaching and playing on a daily basis.
We received some good news regarding
redshirt freshman Logan Aronhalt. He was
cleared to remove the boot from his foot and
he is allowed to shoot and start doing some
lower body lifting. He has not been cleared
to run or cut yet. That should happen by
August 1. He will spend time shooting, doing
pool workouts, weights, and using the
elliptical machine. Logan told me he put up
300+ on the bench press the other day. The
good thing is he has lived in the weight
room since his surgery last August. When he
gets cleared in August it is going to take
him some time to get back in the flow of
things. He is a tireless worker so he should
be fine.
We should be releasing our schedule in the
near future. We are waiting for one or two
more contracts to be signed. It will be a
challenging one!
Billy Allen was one of two student-athletes
that recently had the opportunity to tour
the campus with new SUNY Chancellor Nancy L
Zimpher. Billy really embraced the
opportunity and did a fine job representing
our program and the athletic department.
05.21.09:
The
spring semester has come to an end. Our
players get a chance to go home and spend some
time with family. They will be back for summer
school on June 22. We will have 15 of our 16
players on campus for the summer. This 6 week
period is valuable because our team will have
the opportunity to take classes, play
together, lift together, and spend quality
time together. This should help us as we get
ready for the fall semester.
Our players did another good job in the
classroom this semester and we had a very
solid year overall. All of our players are on
pace to graduate in a four year period. That
is the name of the game!
It was nice to see Jimmie, Brian, and Jerel
graduate this past weekend. All three are
great kids. My wife and I had dinner with
Jimmie and his family on Sunday. He had a
group of seven come out from Chicago. After
dinner we met up with Brian Connelly and his
family and Jerel and his mom. It was nice to
be able to spend some quality time with these
young men. My staff joined us as well. All
three are great character kids!
I am heading up to Paradox Lake for Memorial
Day weekend. We have some family going up plus
our Equipment Manager Kevin Galuski and his
wife Shannon will be going up as well our Head
Trainer Jay Geiger and his wife Lisa (really
his girlfriend but I figured I would bust his
chops). The weather is suppose to be great so
we should have a good time. My wife and son
left today. I will be heading up tomorrow. My
little guy wanted to get up north and start
fishing.
Recruiting is going well! We signed a strong
2009 class and we are all done with our 2010
class. We will be on the road this summer
looking at rising juniors which will be our
2011 class.
Our schedule is just about complete. I have
the flexibility to add one more game. I am
just not sure if I am going to do that or not.
Our schedule is challenging to say the least!
I was very impressed with the Orlando Magic
last night in Game 1 vs. the Cavs. They are
tough offensively. They really spread the
floor well and give Dwight Howard room to
operate. It is hard to double down on him
because they have so many good perimeter
shooters. However, I still think the Cavs will
win as long as they don't stand around on "O"
and watch LeBron play 1 on 1 which they did in
the 4th Qtr.
We are working hard on our 2nd Annual Slam
Dunk Golf Classic which will be Monday
September 14, 2009 at Pinehaven Country Club.
05.05.09:
It
is final exam time and our players have been
busy studying. We are hoping to finish the
semester strong. Our goal is to have the
highest team g.p.a. in the America East for
the third straight year. We enjoyed a pretty
productive fall semester.
This weekend we received our second commitment
for the 2010 class. We are very excited about
our recent addition. We will have one more
scholarship for the 2010 class and I am
confident that we will add another quality
student-athlete to our program.
I feel that we have a versatile and talented
group coming in as our 2009 class. The 6 weeks
that they will spend on campus this summer
will really help them get acclimated to the
university. We will have the entire team on
campus for one 6 week session. Each player
will have the opportunity to take a class and
work with our strength and conditioning
coaches.
Our schedule is almost complete. It will
definitely be challenging and will hopefully
get us ready for conference play. We open the
season fairly early next year. We will really
have to maximize our practice time.
The Celtics vs. Bulls series was definitely
entertaining. You were able to watch OT games,
big shots being made, and some HARD fouls
being dished out! It was good to see the Celts
advance. Especially since they were playing
without Garnett and Powe. A lot of fans forget
that the Bulls were playing without Deng who
is arguably the most talented player on the
Bulls roster. It will be interesting to see if
Garnett is able to return. If not, the Celts
will be in trouble.
I am looking forward to seeing Brian, Jimmie,
and Jerel graduate on May 17!
04.16.09:
We
received an NLI (National Letter of Intent)
from Mike Black today. We are excited about
having Mike join our basketball program. He is
a great kid and a talented basketball player.
We felt that North Florida got a steal when
they signed Mike early. He did not play with a
high profile AAU program so he flew under the
radar. He had an outstanding senior season for
Coach Quinn at Fenwick HS. His well rounded
game will be a boost to our program. He can do
everything on the court. He just needs to get
a little stronger. We were very fortunate that
North Florida was willing to grant him a
release after they made a coaching change. I
am confident that we will be rock solid at the
point guard position next year. We will be
better defensively at the point and I expect
our overall assist/turnover ratio to be much
improved.
I would like to congratulate assistant coach
Chad O'Donnell and his wife Anna on the birth
of Brayden Cain O'Donnell. They are now the
proud parents of Declan and Brayden O'Donnell.
I don't think Chad will be getting much sleep
any time soon!
Brent Wilson is moving back to the area. He
just landed a job at SEFCU and will begin his
new job on Monday. Now I can start hitting him
up for some alumni donations!
04.14.09:
I
spent a few days in Detroit attending the
Final Four. The games were played at Ford
Field which seats over 70,000. I always enjoy
going to the practices that are open to the
public. The teams usually just have some fun
and entertain the crowd. It is amazing that
the open practices draw 20,000-25,000 people.
The fact that it is free to attend probably
helps!
Our players just got back from spring break.
It was a good opportunity for them to get home
and spend some time with family. We resume our
spring workouts today. The first set of
workouts after spring break are usually
sluggish. The week off does a number on the
body!
Our 2009-10 schedule is almost complete. I
might add one more game. The schedule will be
challenging and will hopefully prepare us for
conference play. We struggled on the road in
conference play this past season. We will try
to improve in that area by testing ourselves
on the road during non conference play.
Completing a schedule is a tough task. Most
coaches want home games and very few coaches
are willing to start a series on the road. I
happen to be one of the coaches that has no
problem going on the road to play. I usually
start working on a schedule one year in
advance. I started on the 09/10 schedule in
August, 2008.
New NCAA legislation prevents us from going to
AAU Tournaments during the month of April.
This has been very difficult for many low
major and mid major D1 programs. We used to be
able to attend an AAU Tournament on the
weekend and see hundreds of kids in a two day
period. Now you basically have to travel from
school to school and evaluate prospects. Also,
you can only evaluate kids that go to that
particular school. It cannot be an open gym
with kids from the entire area. They must
attend that particular school. Spring
recruiting has become very expensive for the
non BCS schools.
Recruiting never ends as we will be very busy
in the next week going from coast to coast
evaluating talent. It is a grind that most of
us enjoy.
03.26.09:
This
is our first week of spring workouts. We do
individual workouts 3x per week and lift
weights 4x per week. We do our spring
individual workouts a little different than
most schools. Our spring IW's are 1 on 1. One
coach and one player. We really challenge the
players and they get a ton of reps. Each
workout is devised to fit the specific needs
of each individual player. This is the best
way to improve weaknesses.
This is a busy time of year. We are out of the
road recruiting trying to finish up our 2009
class and see some players on our 2010 list. I
had a chance to see Ralph Watts play in the
state championship game up at the Glens Falls
Civic Center. Peekskill lost in OT to a very
good Jamesville Dewitt team. It was a very
well played high school game with a lot of
talent on the court. Ralph has a chance to be
a very good player for us. He is very
versatile and has a good skill set. He has a
very high Basketball IQ.
The NCAA Tournament has been interesting. The
"Sweet 16" and "Elite Eight" games should be
very competitive. I would not be surprised to
see all four #1 seeds advance to the Final
Four. I would like to see Pitt get an
opportunity to advance to the Final Four.
Jamie Dixon is a friend of mine and I think
his team is good enough to win a national
championship.
It is always tough when you have seniors that
will be graduating. I've enjoyed some
interesting conversations with Jimmie, Brian,
and Jerel about what they would like to do as
they are getting ready to enter the real
world. This is a time of uncertainty and
confusion. All three have grown and developed
during the time they have spent at Albany. All
three will be successful. I have been working
very closely with each to make sure that they
have options as they move forward. Great
kids!.
03.16.09:
The
season has come to an end. I was very pleased
that we had the opportunity to host the
America East Conference Championship
Tournament. I thought we did a terrific job as
the host school and I really do appreciate the
efforts of all involved. The games were
exciting. I was proud of our kids. I thought
we played very hard and had a big win against
a talented Vermont team. We just could not
score enough and lost to a good UMBC team who
received a big time performance from senior
point guard Jay Greene.
Mike Johnson gave us a great lift down the
stretch. His assist/turnover ration was
excellent and he hit some big FT's against
Vermont. He made great strides late in the
season and we will continue to work with him
on developing a consistent jump shot. That is
the missing piece for Mike to take his game to
another level. His court vision and defense
are his strengths.
I was very happy to see that Tim and Will made
the All America East 3rd Team. Jerel Hastings
was rewarded for his defensive consistency by
making the All AE Defensive Team. He is such a
great kid and will be sorely missed. He has
been an absolute pleasure to coach.
Brian Connelly and Jimmie Covington both
enjoyed very productive careers at Albany.
Brian and Jimmie are program kids and enjoyed
success on the court and in the class room.
They will be very successful in life.
Ralph Watts will be playing in Glens Falls
this Saturday at 9 a.m. in the state
semi-finals. He has enjoyed an excellent
senior season. If they can win on Saturday
they will most likely play #1 ranked
Jamesville-Dewitt who beat them in the state
championship game last year. Peekskill is
currently ranked #2.
We begin spring individual workouts and
weights next week. This is the time for the
returning players to really improve. We are
very excited about the potential of our team
for next year.
02.24.09:
It
was nice to get a win on Senior Day. I was
very happy for Jerel, Brian, and Jimmie. We
talked all week about competing at a high
level and winning this one for our seniors. I
thought this game was won in practice. I was
proud at how hard we competed all week.
Especially with only 8 or 9 bodies capable of
practicing. All three seniors played well and
helped us get this much needed win. I was
really excited for Jerel. His mom saw him play
in the SEFCU for the first time and he
responded with a career game. The most
memorable part of this week was watching Coach
Friel take a charge in practice. Coach Friel
had to practice all week because of our injury
situation.
Mike Johnson did a tremendous job running the
team. This is something that we have needed
from the point guard position. He was able to
push the ball in transition and he kept the
ball moving in the ½ court. He did a great job
defensively as well.
We will continue to work with him on
developing more of a consistent jump shot.
This will allow him to be even more effective
on the offensive end. Hastings and Johnson are
the two best perimeter defenders in our
program. They make us a much better defensive
team. We need both of them to stay aggressive
on offense and keep our opponent's defense
honest.
We have a big game on Thursday at UNH. We took
a beating from UNH last week. This game is
very important. If we win this game we would
have a strong chance to play in the 4/5 game
in the America East Conference Tournament. We
must do a better job defending dribble
penetration and the 3 point line. Also, UNH
beat us on the glass. That does not happen
often. Regardless of the outcome we usually
control the glass. We need to dominate the
glass on Thursday. This is a very meaningful
regular season game for us. We won the Maine
game in practice and we need to win the UNH
game in practice. We will continue to make
practice harder than the games. I need to make
sure I give the players enough water breaks so
Coach Friel can get some rest!
We will most likely suit up 8 players for the
UNH game. All 8 need to be ready. I thought
Billy Allen gave us a great lift in the 2nd
half. He had 3 rebounds and 5 assists. He is
our best passer against a zone. He also did a
nice job on Socoby.
The league is wide open at this point.
Binghamton is winning a lot of very close
games. I think Vermont is the best team in the
league. The conference tournament should be
interesting. Nothing would surprise me!.
02.10.09:
Well,
we are in the midst of a 3 game losing streak.
We lost to the three teams that are ahead of
us in the standings. We really struggled in
the first half of each game. That is something
that we need to focus on and improve as we
move forward. The biggest statistic that is
hurting us is our opponents points off
turnovers. When we turn the ball over it is
not a travel or a bad pass that goes out of
bounds. Our turnovers lead directly to points
for our opponent and that is killing us.
The Boston University game was played at
Agganis Arena which is a tremendous facility.
BU plays a few games each year at Agganis
which is the hockey facility on campus. BU is
playing the best basketball in the conference
right now. They have two dominant players in
Lowe and Holland and some others who really
understand and embrace their roles. They have
been playing 40 minutes of zone and we
struggled attacking it in the first half.
Plus, our defense was not as solid as it
needed to be. It was a one possession game
with 2 minutes to go and they made plays down
the stretch and we did not. Lowe really hurt
us in the 2nd half.
We hosted Vermont for the Big Purple Growl.
They are currently in 2nd place in the
conference. Again, we got off to a slow start.
Vermont did a nice job running the offense
through Blakely who is the reigning POY in our
conference. He makes everybody around him so
much better. Trimboli and McIntosh played well
and made big plays that you would expect of
veterans. It was a 1 possession game with 2
minutes to go and we missed the front end of a
one and one that would have given us some
momentum. It was nice to see Louis have a
great game. He is a hard worker and has been
struggling with an injury to his achilles. He
has been dealing with it for about 2 months.
He has really shot the ball well in practice
when he has been able to practice. The game
was a sell out and the crowd was great.
The Binghamton game was the worst 1st half of
this three game stretch. This game was a sell
out and the crowd was great. Binghamton played
with great energy early and consistently made
jump shots. Our game plan was to play 40
minutes of zone and take away driving lanes
and force them to stand and shoot jump shots.
It worked when we played them at the SEFCU.
They hit some uncontested 3's but also hit
some deep 3's. We could have done a better job
in the zone but what killed us were our
turnovers. We shot 50% for the game but had 19
turnovers. We had 12 turnovers at the half and
that was the biggest reason for a 16 point
deficit. We had 11 turnovers for the game the
first time we played Binghamton. Binghamton
scored 26 points off our turnovers and we
scored 6 points off Binghamton turnovers. As
well as they shot the ball we did not help
ourselves at all. We started the 2nd half in
man to man but Binghamton presents poor
match-ups for us. They played very small. They
went with 4 guards and a power forward. Our
best defensive line-up is with Johnson and
Hastings on the floor. The problem is neither
is very offensive minded so we need to pick
and choose our spots as to when they play
together. They exposed us in man and we went
back to the zone and they only hit 2 3's in
the 2nd half. We did do a much better job in
the 2nd half in the zone but we had too big of
a deficit to make up. Rivera and Tiki played
very well.
We have a big game at Stony Brook on Thursday.
We have no excuses. We need to regain focus
and try to help ourselves as much as possible.
We are really trying to help this team improve
its overall basketball IQ. This is probably
our biggest weakness. We need to improve our
feel for the game. I really think this is why
we commit so many silly turnovers. This is not
an easy task but something that we need to
focus on each day.
We need to gain some momentum down the stretch
and take it one day at a time and one game at
a time. We have 5 games remaining and we will
be feeling much better if we can get a win at
Stony Brook. Stony Brook is much improved and
they play very hard. We lost to them at home
earlier in the season. We were up 5 at the
half and fell apart in the 2nd half. It should
be a tough game.
The overall health of the team is not going to
improve any time soon. Raffa is struggling
with the turf toe and Will is battling the
tendonitis in his knee. Some days they will
practice and some they will not. They could
not practice this past week as we played 3
games in 5 days. Timmy has been difficult to
guard and he has played with great energy the
last two games. Mike Johnson has also given us
a great lift off the bench. He is playing
excellent defense and he gets his teammates
open shots.
We are not in panic mode. We lost three in a
row to three good teams. We will be just fine.
The way we lost is the big concern and we will
continue to work on the slow starts and
careless turnovers.
01.30.09:
We
have hit the half way point of the conference
season and sit at 5-3. We have won our last
two and do not play again until Feb. 5 at
Boston U. We were off yesterday and did a lot
of individual work today. The players took a
lot of shots today. We spent a good 11/2 hours
doing individual work and then finished up the
practice working on our offensive sets.
I was happy to see our bench contribute as
well as they did the past two games. Mike
Johnson provided a nice spark for us against
UMBC and Hartford. He has really been working
hard in practice and it is starting to pay
off. Jerel Hastings has played some impressive
defense, Billy Allen has done a lot of the
things that just don't show up on a stat
sheet, and Jimmie Covington has been very
physical up front. We will continue to get
better if we can get consistent production off
the bench.
Anthony Raffa has been shut down from practice
until Monday. He needs a few days for his toe
to heal. He was in a lot of pain after the
Hartford game. It has been nice to see Will
Harris play with such energy and passion. He
has been outstanding in conference play. It
seems that he is slowly becoming a crowd
favorite.
I am heading down to Mt. Saint Mary's College
in Newburgh tomorrow to see 2009 signee Ralph
Watts play against Newburgh Free Academy.
Peekskill High is undefeated and considered a
favorite to get to Glens Falls this year.
Ralph is having an outstanding season. I am
looking forward to seeing this game because it
should be a good one. Ralph has only been
playing about half the game because Peekskill
has won so many games in convincing fashion.
Coach Filien will be in 4 states over the next
6 days and Coach Friel will fly to Florida
tomorrow morning and should arrive back on
Sunday in time to watch the Super Bowl.
Recruiting never ends as we are always looking
for quality student-athletes who can help us
continue to grow as a program.
We are fortunate to have so many loyal
supporters and fans of the program. I would
really like the thank all of the people who
came out during the snow storm to support the
team against Hartford. The players and coaches
really do appreciate it. Hartford is very
difficult to play against because they shoot
so many 3's and play all match-up zone.
We hope to see some of you in Boston. This is
a big game for us and Boston U is playing very
well. The backcourt of John Holland and Corey
Lowe is the best that we have in the AE. We
will have our hands full.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the Super Bowl!
01.09.09:
It
was nice to be back playing in the SEFCU. We
found a way to survive against a BU program
that I respect greatly. BU played a very big
line-up against us. John Holland was playing
the shooting guard spot at 6'6 and Matt Wolff
was playing small forward at 6'6 with 6'8 Jake
O'Brien at the power forward spot and 6'9
Scott Brittain at center. Once I saw that
line-up I knew that we would be seeing 40
minutes of zone defense. BU is a man to man
team but I expect most teams will play a ton
of zone against us this season. Basketball is
a funny game. We shot 13/27 (48.1%) in the 1st
half and we were down 3 at the half. We shot
9/30 (30%) in the 2nd half and won the game.
The offensive rebounding was huge for us in
the 2nd half.
Until we start making shots we will need our
decision making to improve. We are spending a
lot of time with our players watching film. We
are trying to improve our overall team
basketball IQ which will help us eliminate
careless and unforced turnovers. We need to
get as many shots as possible and cannot
afford to have wasted possessions.
Communication has also been an issue. We
struggle to consistently talk on both ends of
the floor. Once our communication improves we
will become an even better defensive team.
Our schedule continues to get tougher. We are
at Vermont on Sunday afternoon. Vermont
features reigning AE MVP Marcus Blakely and
All AE player Mike Trimboli. Patrick Gymnasium
is always a tough place to play. They
basically have the same team as last year.
Just plug in Maurice Joseph for Kyle Cieplicki
who I thought was a very underrated player.
Vermont is a veteran team that has played well
this season.
I was very surprised by the presentation by
Dr. Lee McElroy after the BU game. I had no
idea that was my 100th win at Albany. All the
credit goes to the quality student-athletes
that I've had the opportunity to coach and to
my staff for doing such a great job. Hopefully
we can win another 100 in a lot less time. I'd
also like to thank our loyal fans who support
the team and program.
Last week we had the opportunity to
participate in a SAFE Clinic at the Clifton
Park YMCA. SAFE stands for Sports Are For
Everyone. We helped run a basketball clinic
for 50 special needs children. It was a very
positive and rewarding experience for the
players and coaches. I was very proud of the
way our players embraced the opportunity. They
really did a nice job working with the
children and the children seemed to really
enjoy spending time with our players.
01.02.09:
Happy
New Year! We finished the non-conference with
a record of 8-5. I thought our non-conference
schedule had pretty good balance overall. We
lost a tough one at Kansas the other day. That
was definitely the toughest environment that
we've played in since I have been the coach at
Albany. The Kansas fans celebrate every basket
as if it was the game-winning basket. The
atmosphere was very impressive. Kansas was
coming off a tough loss to Arizona and they
played like a team on a mission against us.
They have tremendous size at every position.
Even point guard Sherron Collins is physically
imposing. We continue to struggle making open
shots. The tough thing is that we are getting
some wide-open shots within the flow of the
offense. We need to pass up some early 3's in
the offense and continue to attack the basket
and develop more of a consistent low post
game. We shot 0/15 from 3 against Kansas but
we should have only taken 8-10 of those shots.
Regardless, we have to make open 3's or teams
are going to continue to clog up our driving
lanes and dare us to make open 3 point shots.
We were able to get some shots at the basket
early on but the length of the Kansas big men
bothered us and we became hesitant near the
basket. I do think we are a better perimeter
shooting team then our statistics indicate but
until we start making jump shots with
regularity we need to continue to attack the
rim and pound the offensive glass. Also, two
of our better 3-point shooters are sitting out
this year. Logan Aronhalt can really shoot the
ball and Jake Lindfors is a very skilled kid
at 6'9 who is comfortable shooting beyond the
arc.
We open up America East Conference play at
Hartford on Saturday January 3rd. Hartford has
just about every player back from last year.
We split with Hartford a year ago. They are
one of the tougher match-ups in our league
because of how they play. They spread the
floor on offense and shoot a ton of 3's.
Defensively they play mostly match-up zone.
Nobody else in our league plays a similar
style. Penn is the only team that we have
played that has some similar tendencies.
If you are going to be successful in
conference play you must win your home games
and steal as many road games as possible. It
is important to get some momentum early on in
the conference season. The conference is
improved this season and each game will be a
battle. The good thing is each team is now 0-0
and we all begin a new season with new
challenges. Hopefully we can get healthy and
enjoy a successful conference season.
12.15.08:
We
are getting closer to the start of the
conference season. We have three
non-conference games left on our schedule. We
are 6-4 at this point with the only real
disappointing loss being at Lehigh. We played
fairly well in our last game against Canisius.
I thought that Canisius could present some
problems for us because they had some real
good size on the interior and some good
quickness and athleticism on the perimeter. We
got off to a slow start but really got after
it the last 32 minutes of the game. Our
defensive energy and effort was excellent and
we were relentless on the glass.
The players are in the process of finishing up
with final exams. Our next game is at Sacred
Heart on the 19th. They are a dangerous team
because they shoot so many 3's and are capable
of putting points on the board very quickly.
We will have to defend the 3 and control the
boards if we are to get a win on the road. We
are still receiving contributions from a
variety of players. We need to start shooting
better, especially from the perimeter. Until
that happens we need to make sure that we
defend and rebound at a high level.
We lost power on Friday night. I had my family
downtown at the Crowne Plaza over the weekend.
It was nice to get our power back last night.
My son did enjoy spending some time in the
pool at the Crowne.
I was able to spend some time after the
Canisius game with Levi Levine, Brent Wilson,
Lucious Jordan, Jerrad Knotts, Brian Lillis,
and his dad Terry. Levi is back from Romania.
Brent drove up from Westchester and Brian and
Terry flew in from Chicago. Jerrad and Lucious
are in the local area. After the game we met
at The Across the Street Pub. It was nice to
hear them tell stories about the college
years. They sounded like they graduated 20
years ago. We spent a few hours laughing. I
did my best to just listen and enjoy. They
even busted my chops!
I am especially proud of Levi Levine. Levi was
in town all week. I asked him to address the
team moments before the Canisius game. I told
him to speak from the heart. Talk about his
experiences in an Albany uniform and how the
program has grown over the years. We pride
ourselves in our scouting reports and our
effort stats. It takes time to understand the
detailed oriented scouting reports and to
understand what the effort stats are all
about. It was nice to hear Levi tell the team
how much of an adjustment it was at first for
him and his teammates! He was also quick to
tell the team that if they embrace the
scouting reports and effort stats that they
will be very successful! I didn't even prep
him on what to say! LOL! He also took great
pride in letting the team know that the former
players are following the program and that
they want the program to continue to do great
things.
Our team will continue to get better. We need
to take steps forward in the next three games
and have some momentum heading in to
conference play. This team is a giant piece of
clay that we need to continue to mold.
12.03.08:
We
are off to a 5-2 start. We are getting better
and more accustomed to playing with each
other. Our defense and rebounding has been
fairly consistent. Our biggest weakness
defensively is a lack of constant
communication. Offensively we have struggled
to consistently make perimeter shots. The
Bryant game is a prime example. It had to be
painful for a fan to watch. However, if you
don't make shots you have to find a way to win
the game. Nobody in our program is concerned
with style points. We are concerned with
winning basketball games. We settled for jump
shots and 20 3's attempted is too many for
this team. Especially since two of our better
three point shooters are not in uniform (Lindfors
and Aronhalt). We've done a good job on the
offensive glass which has allowed us to get
some easy baskets and get to the free throw
line.
Our next game is against Siena at the Times
Union Center. The atmosphere is always great.
I was wondering how many non BCS rivalry games
draw anywhere near 14,000? The energy in the
building is off the charts. We will have our
hands full against a very talented, quick, and
athletic Siena team. I have been very
impressed with the tape that I have watched.
They are an experienced and confident group.
The tempo that they play at has caused major
problems for teams. We need a good week of
preparation.
It is nice to see that our conference has
improved this season. Our RPI is up at this
point and we have won a lot more games this
non conference season compared to a year ago.
Hopefully we can all keep it up! .
11.13.08:
We
are 24 hours away from the opener. We still
have so much to do but so little time. The
players have been focused and are excited to
open up against a talented team like
Villanova. Figuring out the rotation has been
the difficult part. I honestly am not sure who
is going to start. It really does not matter
in my mind. It is more important to figure out
who is going to log most of the minutes and
who is going to finish games. I think our team
is confident but we are playing a very
dangerous opponent on Friday night. Jay Wright
is one of the best coaches in America and he
has a very experienced team who I feel will
challenge for a Big East Championship this
year.
We have kept it fairly simple with this group.
Our emphasis has been to defend, rebound, and
get a shot every time down the floor. Our
offensive execution needs to improve and we
need to get better at paying attention to
detail. This is not a surprise with so many
new faces. It is going to take some time. We
have stressed ball pressure and rebounding
defensively and unselfishness and getting
shots on the offensive end. I have given this
team the first 10 seconds of the shot clock.
They have the first 10 seconds to push the
basketball and look for an opportunity to get
an easy basket. If we have nothing we need to
execute in our motion offense or offensive
sets.
Our point guards are trying so hard to please
me. They just need to make good decisions and
play. They are both so aggressive. If they
play passive they are not effective. They are
working on when to attack and when to initiate
the offense or execute the set. It is an
interesting learning experience for each and I
am watching them both develop on a daily
basis. Regardless, we need both point guards
to make plays for us on both ends of the
floor. They are talented!
The Villanova game is a homecoming for Brian
Connelly. He says he will have over 100
friends and relatives in attendance. Anthony
Raffa claims all of Wildwood will be at the
game as well. At least we know some Albany
fans will be in the building!
The next week is a difficult one for us. We
play Friday night and fly out to Chicago on
Saturday morning. We will be in Chicago on
Saturday and Sunday. We practice at DePaul on
Saturday and at Illinois Chicago on Sunday. I
am taking the team to the Bulls/Pacers game on
Saturday evening. That should be a lot of fun.
Brian Lillis will be spending the weekend with
the team. I am also looking forward to seeing
Brian and Brent's parents on Sunday and
Monday. They will be in Chicago for the game.
We play DePaul Monday night and will fly back
to Albany Tuesday morning. I don't want our
players to miss classes on Tuesday so when we
land they will go right to class. We will
practice Tuesday afternoon and then leave for
Bryant. We play at Bryant Wednesday evening
and will head home after the game. It will be
a long week.
The DePaul game is a homecoming for Jimmie
Covington. His mom has given us some good tips
in regard to restaurants. Jimmie keeps it
simple. He will eat anything! I know Jimmie is
excited to get home. Jake Lindfors is from
Illinois so he will have family and friends at
DePaul as well.
Our schedule is very challenging. I look at
the non conference schedule as an experiment.
I want to face tough teams in hostile
environments. I want the non conference
schedule to prepare us for the rigors of
conference play. Hopefully the non conference
schedule will help us get ready to compete for
an America East Conference Championship!
We signed three talented student-athletes in
our 2009 recruiting class. All three are
quality people who have enjoyed success in the
class room and on the court. All three will
add quality depth and talent to our program.
11.10.08:
It
is that time of year. The opener is right
around the corner. We have two scrimmages
under our belt and we have improved. We played
much better in our 2nd scrimmage. We were much
more consistent on both ends of the floor. I
have been pleased with our effort and overall
depth. This Friday is the opener at Villanova.
They are a very talented and experienced team.
I have been very impressed with the Villanova
guard play. Jay Wright has always had very
good guards whether it was at Hofstra or
Villanova. They are coming off a year in which
they made it to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. They
return all of the key members from that team.
We had a very good practice this morning. The
players realize that we open on Friday and
that it will be against a very good and
talented team. We need to have a great week of
practice and just continue to improve our
consistency. The beauty of the non conference
schedule is that it will get you ready for the
conference season. Some teams play a
challenging schedule and some are searching
for as many wins as possible. Our goal is to
go on the road and challenge ourselves as much
as possible so we are prepared for conference
play. We want to play in difficult facilities
against quality opponents. I believe balance
is the key to a schedule. Starting the year at
Villanova and DePaul is a challenge but I am
anxious to see how this group responds. I want
to see how we handle the adversity.
As a conference we all need to do a much
better job winning non conference games. This
is the only way we are going to improve our
overall RPI. I think the league will be very
good this year. I think several teams are
talented enough to win a conference tournament
championship. I think the key will be
match-ups. Hopefully opening weekend is a good
one for the America East Conference.
I know that Brent Wilson and Brian Lillis are
loving life as the Iowa Hawkeyes beat Penn
State this past weekend. Our TV/Radio
superstar Rodger Wyland is a proud Penn State
alum. I know that he is devastated by the
upset. Hopefully he can recover in time to
call our game at Villanova.
Congratulations to our field hockey coach Phil
Sykes and his team for winning the America
East Conference Tournament Championship and
advancing to the NCAA Tournament!
Our media day is tomorrow. I can’t wait to see
what Assistant Athletic Director for Media
Relations Brian Depasquale has on the menu. I
am going to go out on a limb and say New
England clam chowder, finger sandwiches,
salad, and some cookies. He is pretty
predictable!
Logan Aronhalt will be getting another x-ray
on Wednesday. We are hoping for some good
news. I would like him to suit up on Friday
and go through warm-ups with the team. If
things go well on Wednesday he should be able
to start practicing next Tuesday. He is a
tireless worker who can really shoot the ball.
We have a serious debate going on in the
program. I wish we could get Anthony Raffa and
Brian Connelly to agree on who makes the best
cheese steak in Philly. I guess we can’t rely
on two kids from South Jersey. Maybe I should
go with Connelly since he is closer to Philly.
I might have to call Dan Liebovitz at Hartford
to get his recommendation. We would like to
get a few on Thursday night once we get
situated at our hotel.
We hope to see all of you at Villanova!
10.21.08:
We
have completed three long intense practice
sessions. We took Monday off and we will go
again at 3pm today. Practice has been a grind
as we have spent most of the time trying to
implement our defensive system. It has been
difficult with so many new faces. The players
have to adjust to new terminology, techniques,
and drills. We have to do so much teaching
with so few veterans. The talent level is good
and the effort has been great. We have not
done much offensively. The good thing is we
have much more overall talent and offensive
talent this year.
We received some good news from the NCAA. They
granted Virginia transfer Will Harris
immediate eligibility. We are happy for Will
and his family. This was the correct decision
and it couldn't have happened to a nicer young
man. Now he needs to get himself in great
shape. He has a chance to be a very good
player in the America East Conference. He
reminds me of a bigger version of former
Hartford standout Jerel Parker.
Logan Aronhalt is progressing nicely from his
surgery. The surgeon and training staff have a
6 week plan in place and he is on schedule.
The goal is for him to begin practicing
November 13. He is anxious to get going as he
has worked extremely hard to get ready for his
freshman season.
We scrimmage Nov. 1 and Nov. 8 and play on
Nov. 14. It is hard to believe that we
scrimmage in 11 days. This is why we need to
maximize our time on the practice floor. The
season is here and we have a lot of work to
do!
10.12.08:
Recruiting
is the life line of a program. Regardless of
your system you need good players to be
successful and to win championships. We
received a commitment tonight from a 6’9 kid
who is rated by Indiana Basketball Digest as
the #1 2009 center prospect in the state of
Indiana. He actually committed on his visit. I
have stopped trying to figure out when kids
are going to commit or why they like a
particular school. We just make sure that we
put our best foot forward and recruit as hard
as we possibly can and sell UAlbany. We are
all done with our 2009 class. We are very
happy to have added a 6’5 versatile perimeter
player, a 6’7 athletic/skilled combo forward,
and a 6’9 physical presence with a strong
skill set. The best thing about these three
recruits is they are all great kids. They will
fit in great and help us continue to grow as a
program. Character and talent will lead to
success. Talent and a lack of character will
get you nowhere very quickly!
The only thing that concerns me about
finishing our recruiting tonight is now I have
to help my wife with her garage sale tomorrow!
This should be interesting!
10.10.08:
We are one week away from the official start
of practice. I think the players are ready to
start the season. We have enjoyed a productive
fall and I am anxious to see how the players
respond to a structured practice setting. Over
the years I have seen players that were very
good in individual workouts but struggled in 5
on 5 structured situations. I’ve seen players
that were very good pick-up game players but
struggled with the team structure. I’ve seen
players who struggled with workouts and
pick-up but were good 5 on 5 structure
players. This is why I have learned not to get
too excited until players produce in a 5 on 5
structured setting.
Our conditioning is solid. We are in decent
shape as a team. However, we need to continue
to work and get in better shape to play more
of an up-tempo style. We have been stressing
pushing the basketball and advancing the
basketball quickly. Shot selection and
turnovers are always two primary concerns when
you try to play fast. Our talent level is much
improved from a year ago but you never know
how that will translate to wins and losses.
The biggest improvement is that we have two
playmakers in our program that can create
opportunities for teammates and themselves.
They can manufacture offense with the dribble.
We also are a much better perimeter shooting
team. The only way we will be a good
transition team is if we are a good defensive
team and a good rebounding team. I can’t say
that enough!
Recruiting is going very well. We received two
early commitments and we have been very
careful with our last scholarship for the 2009
class. We want to make sure that we get a
quality low post player who will bring a
physical presence to our program. The
expectation is to get a third commitment in
the very near future. We are ahead of the game
regarding our 2010 class as well. We have a
commitment from a 6’10 center that we were
going to place at a prep school. However, he
will enroll at Albany next year and redshirt
instead. This will be of great benefit to his
growth and development as a player. In
addition we will look to sign a point guard or
combo guard and a versatile wing player in our
2010 class.
October 16 is our “Meet and Greet” in the Hall
of Fame Room. We expect a nice crowd. It will
give everybody an opportunity to interact with
our coaches and players. Food and beverages
will be served. Our Alumni Game and
Purple/Gold game will be held in the SEFCU
Arena on Saturday afternoon October 25th. Some
confirmed participants are Jon Iati, Brent
Wilson, Jerrad Knotts, Jason Graber, and Andre
Duncan. We are hoping to get about 20 former
players for the game.
I will try to get some pictures up of our new
locker room and our Golf Classic. I have been
very busy with our team and recruiting.
09.09.08:
We
had some great weather for our “Slam Dunk”
Golf Classic. This was our first year doing a
golf outing and I felt that it went well. Our
Golf Committee did a terrific job organizing
the event. It is amazing how many little
things need to be done to run an event of this
magnitude. We had just over 100 golfers
participate. We received tremendous support
from corporate sponsors. I am confident that
we learned a lot and next years event will be
even bigger and better. The foursome I played
with finished at -8 for the day. That is a
pretty respectable score considering my
contributions were minimal at best! The course
was in great shape and the greens were tough.
We appreciate the support from the people at
Colonie Country Club.
The revenue generated from this event will go
directly in to our Basketball Foundation
account. We are trying to raise as much money
as possible so we are in a position to go on a
foreign tour every four years and so that we
can tackle certain projects that will allow
our program to continue to grow. We moved our
locker room this past summer and that was a
major project. I am comfortable saying that
our locker room is now as nice or nicer than
any other in the America East Conference. We
have leather couches, video games, computers,
flat screens, a D1 Wall of Fame, and more. Dr.
McElroy and his staff were very supportive in
our efforts to complete this project. This is
why we added the Villanova game! LOL!.
09.05.08:
We
are just about done with our 2nd week of
school. The guys have been working extremely
hard in the class room and on the court. I
have been very pleased with the work ethic and
energy of this group. I still realize it is
early but the effort has been great. We really
have been stressing "Working Hard" on and off
the floor. One thing that is apparent is that
we have a few guys who can make plays off the
dribble. That is something we struggled with
last season.
Recruiting is going very well! We have
received commitments from two talented
student-athletes. One is a 6'7 combo forward
who will add a nice combination of skill and
athleticism to our program and the other is a
6'6 wing who is long, can play multiple
positions on the perimeter, and is used to
winning! We have one more scholarship for the
09 recruiting class and we intend to sign a
PF/C. More importantly, we continue to recruit
quality people. We put a strong emphasis on
"CHARACTER" when we recruit and that will
never change.
We are looking forward to our "SLAM DUNK" Golf
Classic on September 8th. We still have some
spots open. We have received a tremendous
amount of support from corporate sponsors.
Hopefully we will have some great weather. If
anybody has an interest in playing they can
call Ken Dagostino in the basketball office at
518-442-3036.
08.22.08:
Former
Great Dane Jason Siggers has signed a contract
to play in the 1st Division in Switzerland.
Jason had a great year in Denmark. He has
worked very hard and has made himself in to
quite a player. I am confident that he will do
very well. Jason was in Albany this past week
along with former Great Dane Levi Levine. It
was nice to see the two of them. Levi is
excited about his opportunity in Romania. Now
we just need to get Lucious Jordan settled.
Jason, Levi, and Lucious actually worked out
together this week. Just like old times!
Unfortunately freshman big man Al Turley
decided to head back home to pursue
opportunities playing college football. Al is
very close with his family and was a talented
football player in high school. However, this
did come as a surprise. He attended both
summer sessions and left on August 1. He
contacted me on August 4th. This caught me off
guard but this is about Al and his future. He
needs to do what is best for him and we fully
support him. He is a very nice young man. I
would hate to be a quarterback and have Al
chasing me down!
Brett Gifford and Jimmie Covington both worked
hard in the spring and summer and we are
excited about the experience that that will
bring for us up front. Both have played in big
games and have helped us win many games in the
past. We expect them to play well for us this
season.
Our entire team will be on campus by Sunday
afternoon. We will have some meetings on
Monday and get right to work on Tuesday. The
summer is just about over and we are looking
forward to the upcoming season. We are excited
about hosting the upcoming AE Tournament and
we as a program are going to take that
responsibility very seriously!
08.18.08:
We
are one week away from the first day of class.
Our guy’s will be moving back on campus this
weekend. We were fortunate enough to add an
ACC transfer to our roster. I am not allowed
to mention a name per NCAA rules but most of
you have figured it out by now. All I can say
is we added another talented student-athlete
to our roster. We have taken great pride in
recruiting quality people and this addition is
no different. This is a topic that is often
discussed in the staff meetings that I have
with my assistants. We want student-athletes
of high character who are going to represent
our institution and program in a positive
manner. This young man will help us in our
quest to win another America East Conference
Championship and another America East
Conference Academic Championship for Men’s
Basketball.
I have found myself glued to the T.V. every
night watching the Olympic Games. Michael
Phelps was unbelievable! Eight Olympic medals
is impressive but what is even more impressive
is that he accomplished this swimming so many
different events. His relay teammates deserve
a lot of credit as well. I would imagine that
they were feeling tremendous pressure not to
let Phelps down. He set 7 world records in 8
events. I have to believe that he is the
greatest Olympian of all time. People are
talking about him being the greatest athlete
of all time. All I will say is you have to
consider him in that discussion!
The other sport that I found quite interesting
was the men’s and women’s gymnastics. The
athletes are so talented and explosive. I did
have trouble trying to figure out how the
judges score each event. Several times I
thought one gymnast scored higher than another
and most of the time I was wrong. Watching the
Olympics can give you a greater appreciation
for a sport that maybe we don’t follow or know
much about.
I cannot wait for the first day of class so we
can start working with our players. I warned
them all summer that BOOT CAMP was going to
start on August 25th. Our goal is to play
faster this year and we need to be in great
shape to play at a quicker pace. We would like
to push the ball more offensively and pressure
the ball 94’ defensively. This team has an
interesting make-up. We have a few players
that need to play fast and a few that need the
½ ct. structure. It will be interesting to see
how quickly and how well we will mesh.
I am hoping to get a chance to go to the U.S.
Open but I am not sure I will be able to get
away. My wife and I are avid tennis fans. I
used to play a lot when I was younger. Every
once in a while I will get out and play with
our Women’s Field Hockey Coach Phil Sykes. He
is very good and ruthless! He doesn’t even
give me a chance!
I’ve had several requests from season ticket
holders to have a “Meet and Greet” before the
season. That is set for Thursday October 16th
at 6 pm in the Hall of Fame Room. All season
ticket holders will get something in the mail
as we get closer to the event. Eric Jeremias
in the Ticket Office will handle the event.
Enjoy the rest of the summer!
08.07.08:
Last
night we received our first verbal commitment
for the 2010 class. I can’t mention the name
but we are excited! The young man is a 6’10
center from Iowa and he is going to play his
senior season and then do a post graduate year
at a prep school in New England. We are back
in business in the state of Iowa! Hopefully we
will get a few more in our 2009 class!
How about the New York Jets? As a New Yorker
you have to love the signing of Brett Favre.
The guy was the runner-up for the MVP of the
NFL last year. He definitely brings some
excitement to the New York Jets organization.
Now they just need to win some games. Only if
it was that easy.
08.05.08:
The
month of July is finally over! July is a very
busy time of year for a college coach and for
a student-athlete playing on the AAU circuit.
I was on the road for 20 of the 31 days in
July. I had to re-introduce myself to my
family on August 1. It was a very productive
month for us. We are excited about the
prospects we are recruiting. The state of Iowa
has some talented players in the senior class.
We are hoping to get a few. We are not being
selfish. We only want a few! Brent Wilson and
Brian Lillis played for the Martin Brothers
AAU Program. We have recruited kids from the
Martin Brothers Program every year. We have
always been in the mix but we kept losing them
to N. Iowa, Drake, or Creighton which is
understandable (closer to home and a great
league). The Missouri Valley Conference has
kept more Iowa kids from attending Albany!
LOL! I had to chuckle when I saw our America
East rival (not going to name the school!)
showing up at all of the Martin Brothers games
in Orlando. I guess every program could use a
Brian Lillis or Brent Wilson!
All of our kids are home now. They left on
August 1st and will return on August 24th. Our
kids worked very hard this summer. Our
strength coach Justin Goulet really challenged
the kids this summer. Strength increased and
body fat decreased. Our kids are also in much
better shape. They were running the mile every
week and the ¼ mile as well. They played
Monday-Friday in the afternoon. It was an
opportunity for the new players to get
comfortable playing with the veterans.
We will have several prospects take unofficial
visits to campus during the month of August.
This will give the prospects an opportunity to
get a feel for the campus, facilities, and
coaching staff. Official visits will begin at
the end of August. We have several official
visit dates set. We feel very good about the
2009 class. We need to sign three
student-athletes to replace Jimmie Covington,
Jerel Hastings, and Brian Connelly.
I am going to try to get away with the family
for a few days. We went to St. Maarten in June
with Kevin Galuski (Our Equipment Manager/Also
runs NY Giants Training Camp) and his wife
Shannon. We might head up to Lake George for a
few days this weekend. I will probably head to
Saratoga Race Track for the Alabama and the
Travers. The U.S. Open is a possibility as
well. My wife and I are huge tennis fans and
we try to go every year. August is the time to
recharge the batteries for the upcoming year.
Our Golf Classic is progressing nicely. The
interest in the event has been impressive. Our
goal is to have 36 foursomes which is the
maximum that we can have on the 18 hole
course. I am confident that we will sell out
the event. We have a minor error on the
brochure. Lunch will be served during
registration and not at the turn. It is going
to be a great event and a great day for Albany
Basketball!
06.30.08:
I
was pleased to hear that we won the America
East Conference academic title for men’s
basketball this year. This is the 2nd season
in a row. I am very proud of the
student-athletes in our program. They are
getting it done on the court and in the class
room.
Our new guy’s have adjusted quickly. They are
all doing well in the class room and working
hard in the weight room. Our strength and
conditioning coach Justin Goulet has done a
great job challenging our team on a daily
basis. I am all about results and Justin is
getting results. Our guy’s overall strength is
increasing and we are seeing a decrease in
overall body fat. This team will have the
potential to play faster offensively and be
more aggressive defensively. I have been
impressed with the overall mentality of the
group. They work very hard and they just want
to get better.
I was in Orlando last week for a few days
attending the America East Conference coaches
and athletic directors meetings. It was a
productive few days.
We are getting ready for the busy July
recruiting period. As of now we will have
three scholarships available for the 2009
recruiting class. The staff is doing a great
job of recruiting student-athletes that fit
the university profile. We will continue to
work hard and not take short cuts on the
recruiting trail. We are going to recruit
QUALITY people who want to be successful on
the court and in the class room. We have great
kids in our program and that is never going to
change!
We are having our first annual Men’s
Basketball “SLAM DUNK” Golf Classic at Colonie
Country Club on Monday September 8th. I am
confident that the event will sell out (144
golfers, 36 foursomes).
05.30.08:
We
are really excited about our 2008 recruiting
class. The class brings talent, depth,
versatility, and scoring to our program. I
think we will be versatile enough to play many
different combinations and to play at
different paces as well. Below are my thoughts
on each of the student-athletes.
Anthony Raffa 6’1- Lead guard is
extremely quick and really pushes the ball in
transition, outstanding mid-range game, can
really get in to the lane and make plays for
himself and his teammates, very aggressive on
the ball defender.
Logan Aronhalt 6’4- Wing player who is
physically ready to play college basketball,
very good 3 point shooter, explosive off the
floor, understands the game, a coaches son,
will be able to post up smaller guards, has
some international experience, big time
student!
Jake Lindfors 6’9- Has a European type
game, skilled big man, shoots the 3, a pick
and pop guy, he is a power forward who with
added strength will cause match-up problems
for opponents.
Mike Johnson 6’1- Lead guard who just
makes plays on both ends, tough as nails,
reminds me a lot of former Great Dane Levi
Levine, very intense!, can make plays for
himself or his teammates, really competes!
Louis Barraza 6’5- Really shoots it!
Great range! Good feel for the game, has a
nice post up game, has 3 years of eligibility,
tremendous student!
Scotty McRae 6’8- Long and talented
wing player, played 4 games as a 17 year old
freshman at St. Peter’s College before
deciding to transfer to a JC during the first
semester, Averaged 19.5ppg and 10rpg at NJCAA
National Tourney, good 3 point shooter, nice
post up game, crashes glass hard, will post up
other small forwards, blocks shots.
This class will really bring some much needed
offensive firepower to our program. We should
still be a very good rebounding team and have
the make-up to be a good defensive team as
well. Only time will tell!
05.21.08:
This
past weekend was Graduation Weekend at Albany.
My wife and I had the opportunity to go out to
dinner with Brent, Brian, and members of their
family. We had a group of 20 and had a very
nice dinner at Lombardo’s Restaurant in
Albany. After dinner we ventured to the Across
the Street Pub for a few hours. We have all of
our team meals at The Pub and the owner Mike
Arduini is a big supporter of our program.
Brian and Brent have been great
representatives of our program on and off the
court. It is difficult when kids graduate.
Especially with Brent and Brian. Not only are
you losing two great kids but you are also
losing two great families. Terry and Joyce
Lillis seemed to be at every game the past
four years. Nadine and Ron Garrett made
several trips as well. The two families often
drove together from Iowa to Albany to support
Brent and Brian. We are losing six great
people. However, I know that we have not seen
the last of them!
I was at graduation Sunday morning. It was
nice to see Brent and Brian in the cap and
gown. Brian has already accepted a great job
as a financial analyst in Chicago. He turned
down several opportunities to play overseas.
Brent is in the midst of the interview
process. He should be all set in the next few
weeks.
Our players will be arriving for summer school
on Sunday and Monday. This will be a great
opportunity for our new players. It gives them
a chance to get acclimated to the University
at Albany before the Fall Semester.
I received a text message from Jimmie
Covington last night. He was thrilled that the
Chicago Bulls have the first pick in the
upcoming NBA draft. He is banking on the Bulls
selecting Chicago native Derrick Rose with the
first pick. I text him back and said the Bulls
would take Kansas State power forward Michael
Beasley with the first pick. Jimmie thinks
Rose is a done deal. I shot another text
suggesting that maybe Rose could play QB for
the Bears as well. Jimmie complains all the
time about the Bears QB situation!
05.10.08:
Well,
the series with Siena is going to continue. A
three year deal has been signed. This is a
great game for the city of Albany and the
surrounding area. I am glad to see that we
were given seats in Section 104 behind our
bench. I think that was the right thing to do.
The games have been competitive and I don’t
expect next year to be any different. Siena
will be very good next year. They will be the
clear cut favorite in the MAAC. I think we
will be inexperienced but very talented.
We are in the middle of final exams. They end
next Thursday. Our players will be back on
campus for summer school which starts on May
27th. Most of our newcomers will be on campus
for the first summer session as well. The
summer is a great opportunity to get ahead
academically and to improve as a player. We
try to take advantage of this time of year.
I am excited about our non conference schedule
for next year. I am confident it will prepare
us for America East Conference play. We will
probably release the schedule at the end of
the month.
Recruiting for the 09 class is going very
well!
04.23.08:
It
has been a hectic week. I was in Phoenix, AZ
this past weekend. We had two young men visit
Monday-Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon we had a
young man arrive on campus for an unofficial
visit. Tomorrow night is our banquet at The
Pearl. I leave Saturday morning at 6 a.m. for
the King James Tournament in Akron, OH. Chad
O’Donnell will be with me in Akron and Pat
Filien will at the Providence Jam Fest in
Rhode Island. It never ends!
Recruiting is going very well! We should be
finished with our 2008 class in the next week
or two. If things play out like I am
anticipating we will only have two
scholarships for the 2009 class. This would
allow us to focus on bringing in two post
players to replace Jimmie Covington and Brian
Connelly. We are heavily involved with some
talented players.
Our schedule is just about complete for the
2008-09 season. Scheduling is always a major
challenge. Trying to find 13 opponents to play
in November and December is like putting
together a giant puzzle. I am happy with the
schedule that I have put together and I think
our team will be challenged and that we will
be well prepared for America East Conference
play.
Our banquet is tomorrow night. We still have a
few seats available. You can reserve a seat by
calling Ken Dagostino at 518-442-3036. The
banquet will officially bring closure to the
season and the outstanding careers of Jon Iati,
Brent Wilson, and Brian Lillis.
04.18.08:
Spring
workouts are going great. The players are
working very hard. Our individual workouts are
all 1 on 1. One player and one coach. We are
really trying to cater to specific individual
needs. Each player has improved already. We
will continue to challenge them on a daily
basis. The new three point line has already
been painted on the courts in the SEFCU. This
is something that the players have been
adjusting to and they have made strides.
The players are spending four days per week in
the weight room. Our strength coach Justin
Goulet has put together a grueling program
that is challenging our players mentally and
physically. The biggest thing is that our
players have embraced the program and they are
seeing results.
Reid Anderson and Rob Moores have decided to
transfer. Both would like an opportunity to
play major minutes and have decided to
transfer down a level. The staff has been
working hard to make sure that they will have
plenty of options. Several DII programs have
expressed interest and both are in the process
of scheduling visits and taking visits. Reid
and Rob are great kids and we wish them
nothing but the best!
Recruiting is going great! We have signed 4
players in our 2008 recruiting class. All four
are good offensive players. Our main weakness
this year was the inability to manufacture
offense off the bounce. Raffa, Johnson, and
Aronhalt can all create and Lindors can score
inside/out. I would like to think that we will
have a much easier time scoring the basketball
next year. Especially with Brian Connelly
moving back to his natural power forward
position. I think he will be a tough match-up
at the power forward spot and he will be much
more comfortable.
We are still actively recruiting for the 2008
and 2009 class. I will be flying to Denver
tomorrow and Phoenix on Sunday. We are keeping
all options open. We are looking at HS, Prep
School, and JC kids. We are also looking at
several D1 transfers. I am looking forward to
watching the Martin Brothers AAU Program out
in Denver. They have a talented group of
players in the 09 class. Hopefully he can add
some more Iowa flavor to our program.
Hope to see all of you at our banquet!
03.28.08:
It
has been a while since my last post. We have
been busy recruiting. I went down to Texas
earlier in the week and the return trip was
the worst in my coaching career! I went from
Midland, TX to Houston, TX to Jackson, MS to
Baltimore, MD to Albany, NY. I was not allowed
to get off the plane until I got to Baltimore.
At least the kid that I saw was worth the
trip. Recruiting is going well.
Our guys have been off this week for Spring
Break. Brian Lillis, Brian Connelly, Jimmie
Covington, and Jon Iati drove down to Florida.
I can only imagine what they did this week!
The rest of the team went home. We begin our
spring workouts on Monday. We will spend a lot
of our time in the weight room. I am a big
believer in strength development. We will also
focus on player development and individual
improvement. We are going to work with our
guys 1 on 1 and really cater to specific
individual needs. This will be a great
opportunity for our players to get a ton of
reps and really improve!
Logan Aronhalt just returned from Italy. He
went with an Ohio All Star team to play in a
tournament. His team went 3-2 losing to an
Italian team and a team from Lithuania. Logan
received the trophy for the leading scorer in
the tourney. He averaged 29.8 points over 5
games. He is playing in several All Star Games
including the Ohio vs. Kentucky game. Jake
Lindfors was selected to play in the Chicago
Windy City Classic which features the Top 30
players in the state of Illinois senior class.
Anthony Raffa had a great prep school season
and played very well against some of the best
players in the country. We are very excited
about our 2008 recruiting class.
The NCAA Tournament has been exciting. Most of
the games have been very competitive. It seems
that North Carolina, Louisville, and Kansas
are playing the best right now. Unfortunately
Carolina and Louisville with meet in the Elite
Eight. I really think Louisville is one of the
top four teams left in the tournament and
Carolina is just dominating teams. I think
that Kansas has the most talent and depth in
the tournament. However, I picked UCLA to win
it all before the tournament started. They
have struggled a bit but they just keep on
winning.
Brian Lillis was just offered a pro contract
by a team in the 1st Division in Switzerland.
It is a very good opportunity for Brian.
However, Brian is a very smart kid who is
going to have many options in regard to his
future! We have several former Great Danes
playing professionally. Levi Levine is in
Ireland, Will Brand is in Luxembourg, Kirsten
Zollener is in Germany, Antione Johnson is in
Turkey, Jason Siggers is in Denmark, Jamar
Wilson is in Belgium, and Lucious Jordan
played with the Albany Patroons of the CBA.
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