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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