Monday, September 29, 2008

Anosike lands at Siena

According to ESPN, Siena's basketball team landed their third recruit on Monday as Oderah Anosike committed to Fran McCaffery. Anosike joins Jonathan Breeden and Denzel Yard.

Here's what ESPN says about the 6-foot-8 Anosike, who plays AAU for the New Jersey ShoreShots.

April, 2008: This active "face-up 4-man" has a great feel for the game and an extensive arsenal of moves. Anosike has great genes as his sister Nicky helped lead Tennessee to two National Titles, and she was recently drafted 16th in the WNBA Draft. His 6'10" wingspan helps him defensively as he has a great knack for blocking or altering shots. He should be an A10 or CAA starter by his junior year.

Also, here is a link to a story from ESPN's Andy Katz, who apparently made a trip to Loudonville recently.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=3614256

If you notice, down near the bottom, there's a picture of "Kenny Hasbrouck," but it's actually Alex Franklin. (I bet Kenny would love to dunk like that)

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Saturday, September 27, 2008

RPI takes down WPI

RPI got a good solid win today against a game WPI club. I was impressed with RPI's offense and the win helped them retain the Transit Trophy, which the two technical schools have battled for over 100 years for.

Here's the Engineers' (the ones from Troy) report card for Week 3.

OFFENSE

The offense looked great, especially since they only scored 10 points for most of the game last week against Utica. Quarterback Jimmy Robertson threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore Patrick McCarthy and senior Eren Savasli both had 10+ catches, the first time for a duo of Engineers receivers in four seasons. Savasli really impressed me. He had a long touchdown, fought for passes and came up with big-time catches. The only thing that kept this performance from being an A effort, were the fumbles and the lack of a running game (only 63 net yards)

Overall Grade: A-

DEFENSE

Defensively, RPI had three interceptions and stuffed the run, but Justin Wells was able to complete 21 passes for 254 yards and Mike Swanton threw for 45 additional yards. 299 is too many yards through the air. The defense bended, but didn't break.

Overall Grade: B

SPECIAL TEAMS

The third facet of the game was pretty quiet for RPI on this day. Nick Lalumia averaged 41.8 yards per punt, which is good. Other than that, Peter Nilson kicked his extra points and there weren't any really big play.

Overall Grade: B


This was a good win. It was important to get out to a good Liberty League start and say what you will about winning 11, now 12 straight matchups against WPI - you still need to get the job done. RPI proved they were the better team, but they have things to work on. Next week is at Rochester and they defeated Union today, so that should be a good game.

Other programming note: On Sunday's "In the HuddLLe" at 7:30 p.m. the guests will be....

WPI Head Coach Ed Zaloom

Rochester Receiver Pedro Sosa

Hobart Linebacker Justin Hager

Merchant Marine Academy Running Back J.J. Watson

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Friday, September 26, 2008

RPI redesigns website

I have to hand it to RPI Sports Information Director Kevin Beattie, his assistant Amie Canfield and the rest of their staff.

First, the website http://www.rpiathletics.com/ has a great splash page set up for the home football opener with a great overhead shot of '86 Field.

Then, they have set up a YouTube site for sports highligts, which has been spiced up by Perry Laskaris.

You can check that out here....http://www.youtube.com/rpiathletics

They also have a facebook group for athletes, which also contains the links to highlights and other things.

Pretty good work.

I'll be at the football game tomorrow against WPI...even if it rains. It should be a good game.

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Thursday, September 25, 2008

New Liberty League Football show

Frank Rossi, the voice of Union College football and Eric Ren, a former RPI student-athlete, have put together a new internet radio show.

"In the HuddLLe" obviously a play on Liberty League will air at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ normally on Sundays at 7:30 p.m.

The show will run 90 minutes and the first show happened last night (Wednesday 9/24) because the league kicks off conference play this weekend with these matchups.

WPI (3-0) at RPI (2-0)
Susquehanna (1-2) at Hobart (2-0)
Rochester (0-2) at Union (1-1)
St. Lawrence (0-3) at Merchant Marine (1-2)

You can listen to the first show here.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LLRecap/2008/09/25/In-the-HuddLLe-Inaugural-Show-1

I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but the guests from the last night's show were

Rochester Head Coach Scott Greene
RPI Quarterback Jimmy Robertson
WPI Linebacker Matt Boudreau (Rensselaer native and La Salle graduate)
Merchant Marine Academy radio voice Seth Cantor (a fellow Ithaca alumnus)

Ninety minutes seems lengthy, especially when just focusing on one league, but the two seem to also want to make the show interactive and take calls from listeners, which would make for an interesting segment.

I'm in the process of trying to contact Frank and get more information, but for now I'll leave you with Robertson's take on the show (since he was already on it).

"It's something pretty cool," Robertson said. "I know a lot of guys were listening to it from around the league. It's just going to give all these teams exposure, not just within Upstate New York and the Liberty League, but throughout the whole nation.

Here's what Robertson thought about being one of the very first guests on the show.

"It feels good to be on the inaugural show," Robertson said. "I feel pretty honored that they wanted me to be part of it."

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Monday, September 22, 2008

Saints Sneak Preview

The Siena basketball team kicked off their season with a function downtown and an introduction of the players for both the women's and men's basketball teams.

The Saints, who were the preseason No. 1 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference last year, surely will be again and senior captain Kenny Hasbrouck will almost surely be the preseason Player of the Year in the conference.

Hasbrouck, who along with fellow senior Josh Duell are the two captains, was asked on Monday if he feels like a senior now.

“I feel like I’ve been here for eight years,” Hasbrouck responded. “I feel like I’m getting old. I came here the summer before my freshman year and everybody on campus keeps saying, ‘oh, you’re still here.’”

Siena coach Fran McCaffery introduced his team, including newcomers Owen Wignot, Kyle Downey and walk-on Connor Fenlon (Fenlon's father Joe is a friend of McCaffery and allowed Siena to practice at Tampa Prep during their time in Tampa at the NCAA Tournament in March).

Fenlon did average six points a game and seven assists last year for his father and the Terrapins of Tampa Prep.

Here's what a couple of the veterans said about some of the new guys.

“They’re hard workers and they know there are very high expectations,” junior point guard Ronald Moore said. “There’re getting a sense of how the community and the fans are behind us. They’re excited and as long as they work hard, they’ll find their way.”

“Owen is a great athlete,” Hasbrouck said. “He’s a running rebounder. I think he has to adjust to the college level a little better and has to gain a little weight. I think Kyle Downey is ready right away. He’s real crafty, like his brother, who played for Canisius (that's Kevin Downey). I think he’s more athletic and a little quicker. He’s focused and he works harder than anyone on the team, including myself. He’s in the gym every day, sometimes two times a day.”

Also, Hasbrouck was asked about sophomore Ryan Rossiter, who made waves of progress in Italy during the team's summer trip and seems poised for a big year.

“He hasn’t been a surprise,” Hasbrouck said. “He’s just showing his potential.”

Also, McCaffery mentioned that Erik Harris is now on full-scholarship and he said that this season, Harris' jersey will have his name on it, which it didn't last season.

Look for more in Tuesday's paper.

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Siena to scrimmage Union

I got a chance to catch Fran McCaffery this afternoon on Sound of with Sinkoff.

I'm sure many people are getting excited for the upcoming college basketball season, especially Saints' fans because they are primed for a big year.

McCaffery was talking about a number of things, but one that everyone should know about is Siena's scrimmage against Union on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at the ARC on campus in Loudonville.


(Union Athletics)
It's the first time Siena has played at the ARC since 1998, when the Saints defeated a Ukrainian team.

The tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for children 14 and under - certainly a little expensive, but there is no Green vs. Gold scrimmage, so this will be the first time and only time to see the Saints in action until the opener on Monday, Nov. 17 against Boise State.

It should also be a great experience for Bob Montana's Dutchmen team to take on a Division I team that is coming off a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Also, one more programming note. Siena is hosting their "Sneak Preview" on Monday in Albany at 5:30 p.m.

If you're a Jets fan, you'll be home for kickoff and you won't be missing much anyway (whoops - that's my Buffalo bias coming through)

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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

UAlbany trying to block out last week's win

I had a chance to stop by UAlbany football practice today and the team is certainly happy that they are 1-1 and not 0-2 after their dramatic overtime victory over Hofstra.

Of course they have changing big Raphael Nguti (he's 6-foot-7 and 330-pounds) to the special teams unit to thank for that.

Nguti (who is as big as advertised, believe me I talked to him Wednesday) blocked two kicks - including one in overtime as the Danes defeated Hofstra 22-16.

Nguti was named Northeast Conference Special Teams Player of the Week (duh).

David McCarty broke the program record by rushing for 178 yards and eclipsing 100 yards for the eighth consecutive game passing Gary Jones' (2002) total of seven.

McCarty, who scored the game-winning touchdown, didn't know about this until I told him today and he also didn't know that he has eclipsed 2,000 all-purpose yards for his career.

The accolades piled up for McCarty this week as he received a College Sporting News All-Star selection and Northeast Conference Offensive Player of the Week.

Here's what McCarty had to say about that...

“I’m just out there to win,” McCarty said. “I hadn’t done anything all game. I was just happy to be involved in the winning play.”
Here's a picture of the winning touchdown....

(Brian DePasquale - UAlbany Athletics)
Another key player and someone I had a chance to catch up with was junior safety Dave Casale, who blocked the third kick of the night for UAlbany when he deflected the Pride's possible game-winning kick with under 10 seconds to go, which forced overtime.

Casale said the team is much more positive heading into the big matchup against 10th-ranked New Hampshire (2-0), the first time these teams have ever met, on Saturday with last week's thrilling win under their belt.

Coach Bob Ford said that the win was one of his best (and remember he's got 226 of them), but he also said that the big win provides a large challenge as his squad gets ready for a tougher task come Saturday.

“The two toughest challenges in coaching are picking a team up after a devastating loss and after a great win, bringing them back down to earth,” Ford said.

I'll have something in the print edition on UAlbany's matchup and last week's big win, probably on Saturday or possibly on Friday.

New Hampshire Results
Sept. 6 @ Army W 28-10
Sept. 13 @ Rhode Island W 51-43

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Siena hoops release full 2008-09 schedule

Here it is.

Just got an email regarding the schedule for the Saints in 2008-09, with dates and some containing times. Before I even look at it, I'm posting it here (sorry that it's a little hard to read).

There's only one thing left to do...predict Siena's record.

Let me know how you think the Saints fare through what will certainly be their toughest schedule ever.

Also, let me know if you'll be at Siena's "Sneak Preview" on Monday.

Mon. Nov. 17 vs. Boise State, 7 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 22 vs. Cornell, 7 p.m.
Thu. Nov. 27 vs. Tennessee!& Lake Buena Vista, Fla. 12 p.m.
Fri. Nov. 28 vs. Wichita St./G'town!% Lake Buena Vista, Fla. TBA
Sun. Nov. 30 vs. TBA!% Lake Buena Vista, Fla. TBA
Wed. Dec. 3 at Loyola* TBA
Sat. Dec. 6 vs. UAlbany, 7 p.m.
Tue. Dec. 9 vs. Marist* TBA
Wed. Dec. 17 at Pittsburgh&, 9:30 p.m.
Tue. Dec. 23 vs. Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Sun. Dec. 28 at Saint Joseph’s, TBA
Tue. Dec. 30 at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.
Thu. Jan. 1 vs. Fairfield* TBA
Sun. Jan. 4 vs. Saint Peter’s* TBA
Tue. Jan. 6 at Kansas% 8 p.m.
Fri. Jan. 9 vs. Rider*$ 7 p.m.
Sun. Jan. 11 at Manhattan* TBA
Thu. Jan. 15 at Marist* TBA
Sat. Jan. 17 at Fairfield* TBA
Sat. Jan. 24 vs. Niagara*^ TBA
Mon. Jan. 26 vs. Iona* TBA
Thu. Jan. 29 vs. Canisius* TBA
Mon. Feb. 2 at Saint Peter’s* TBA
Sat. Feb. 7 at Rider* TBA
Mon. Feb. 9 vs. Loyola* TBA
Thu. Feb. 12 vs. Manhattan* TBA
Sun. Feb. 15 at Iona* TBA
Sat. Feb. 21 vs. ESPNU BracketBusters TBA
Fri. Feb. 27 at Niagara*$, 7 p.m.
Sun. Mar. 1 at Canisius* TBA
Fri.-Mon. Mar. 6-9 MAAC Championships Albany, N.Y. TBA

Conference Times are TBA
All times are Eastern
All home games in bold and played at Times Union Center
! Old Spice Classic, The Milk House at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex
* MAAC Game
^ MAAC TV
$ ESPNU
& ESPN2
% ESPN Family of Networks (Exact Network TBD)

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

We actually have moved....

On July 14, I posted that the blog would be moving....

Now it has and if you're here you've made it.

To tie into our paper, The Record, just a little bit more we're moving to therecordsports.blogspot.com.

Will and Ryan's High School blog is troyrecordsports.blogspot.com and now that I'm getting a little more blog savvy I've figured out how to move the blog along to a more fitting name.

Again point your browsers to therecordsports.blogspot.com.

Yard verbals to Saints

The Philadelphia Daily News reports today that Denzel Yard, a 6-foot, 170-pound guard from East Germantown, Pa., has verbally committed to Fran McCaffery.

The newspaper reports that Yard was on his visit this past weekend along with Parrish Grant, a fellow Pennsylvania player from Imhotep Charter.

Yard had this to say...

"What really impressed me was that he offered me a scholarship even before I went up for the visit. This school has a high mid-major program. Someone like that wants you, it means a lot."

Siena has three more scholarships for the 2009-10 season.

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Rivals: Siena ranked No. 34

The Siena men's basketball team comes in at No. 34, according to Rivals.com, who is unveiling its top 65 teams for the 2008-09 season.

The Saints are one behind Saint Mary's at No. 33 and one ahead of No. 35 Clemson. Also, of note, Siena is just two spots behind Syracuse.

Here's what Rivals writer David Fox said about Siena's outlook....

Siena opened some eyes with its rout of fourth-seeded Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This team should be even better, and coach Fran McCaffery is a solid X's and O's guy. Four starters return from last season, which is good because the non-conference schedule is brutal. Siena will play in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando against Tennessee and then either Georgetown or Wichita State. Games at Pittsburgh and Kansas loom in December and January, plus there's a BracketBuster game in February. Siena feels it has several players who can compete with anybody. How the remainder of the roster performs will be critical.

The fact that the Saints are ranked that high could mean some possibly Top 25 votes when the first poll comes around.

Here's one thing that I thought was a little off.

Coming off the bench are defensive specialist Cory Magee and Ryan Rossiter, who can provide an inside presence with his rebounding and shot-blocking. Neither is an offensive threat.

I think both Magee and Rossiter would be a little offended with that statement.

Certainly the way Ryan showed maturity during the Italy trip and making the transition from green freshman to more settled sophomore, he has begun to prove the above statement untrue.

You can read the rest of the article here...

http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=849779

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Monday, September 8, 2008

Geiler leaving Siena

So much for the Siena basketball team heading into this season without any turmoil.

The school announced today that 6-foot-8 transfer Wolfgang Geiler is leaving the Saints before suiting up for one game.

Here's the announcement.....

Wolfgang Gieler has left Siena College to pursue a professional career in Germany. Gieler was enrolled at the College this summer and had been taking classes and working out with the team before deciding to head home to Germany this week.

"We regret that Wolfgang determined it was in his best interest to leave Siena," head coach Fran McCaffery said. "I was excited about his future at Siena and regret that he did not have the experience we were all hoping for."

Even though it shouldn't the names Chris De La Rosa, James Carr, Al Turley, Rob Moores and Reid Anderson will all come up as players who have left either Siena or the University at Albany during this long offseason.

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Friday, September 5, 2008

ESPN2 for Pitt game

Siena announced today that the game played against Pitt will be moved to Wednesday, Dec. 17 and the game from the Petersen Events Center will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 9:30 p.m.

The school also announced that they will host a BracketBusters game on Saturday, Feb. 21.

Pitt finished 27-10 last season, they were 12-1 in non-conference games, not including the NCAA or Big East Tournaments (loss came 80-55 against Dayton) and then made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Michigan State in Denver.

The Panthers have a couple of interesting opponents in a three-game stretch that includes Siena. Pitt plays Vermont on Dec. 6, then UMBC on Dec. 13 and then the Siena game (Dec. 17).

This is the 7th annual BracketBusters event and there will be 13 nationally televised games for 102 teams.

With the potential for a big season, Siena has a good chance at snagging one of those 26 nationally televised games, if they play like they are capable.

The University at Albany is not participating in the BacketBusters event because they were not ranked in the top four in the league in a poll taken during the America East Conference league meetings.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

UAlbany gets verbal from Watts

Fox 23 is reporting that Ralph Watts, a senior at Peekskill High School has given his verbal commitment to Will Brown and the University at Albany.

Watts is a 6-foot-6 wing and played last season alongside Mookie Jones, who had committed to Syracuse.

Apparently, Watts was in town earlier this week.

Hope to have more on this soon.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

UAlbany report card: Week 1 vs. UMass

I hope to get the chance after each college football game I cover this season, to provide an analysis of each part of the game for our local teams.

Because of the Labor Day holiday, I hoped to have it up this earlier, but overall UAlbany certainly played well and has to hold their heads up high after this first game of the season.

OFFENSE
Just looking at the numbers (Esposito, 172 passing, McCarty, 125 rushing) it looks pretty good. But there were some problems. One, two interceptions from Vinny, who I think looked pretty good - even after UAlbany got down and he had to try and bring the team back. I think the biggest thing the offense will look back on is when it was 1 & Goal at the one, just before halftime with UMass leading 14-9 and the Great Danes came away with nothing. That was probably the biggest blemish, especially since UMass came right out and scored on the second half's second play. 

Overall, against the No. 5 ranked team I think the offense played well. They will need to play just as well against Hofstra on Sept. 13 and probably even better against New Hampshire and Delaware. 

Overall Grade: B  

DEFENSE
The defense played great in the first quarter, shutting out UMass, but the second quarter is when All-American Liam Coen took over, leading two long drives to take the lead for good. 

Also, Tony Nelson consistently pounded the defense, rushing for a career-high 171 yards in total. 

The defense played well, but Nelson's long touchdown rush - a 64-yard score - early in the third quarter and the Minutemen's ability to convert when needed was the difference. 

Overall Grade: B-     

SPECIAL TEAMS
There were highlights - most notably the safety which was created by a good punt by Chris Lynch and good coverage and lowlights - the missed field goal by Herb Glass with UAlbany up 9-0 - for the first game I would say UAlbany's special teams were average, but good for the first game. 

The only thing that could have made it excellent was if the Great Danes had recovered that onsides kick after the cut the lead to 21-16 towards the end of the third quarter. 

Interesting call by coach Bob Ford, but if UAlbany recovers, they could steal the momentum and possibly stage a fourth-quarter comeback. 

Overall Grade: C+

There's room for growth and I think Ford's belief that a team grows the most between game one and two is a good one, especially with a week off before another tough road matchup with Hofstra. 

The main thing that stings is that there were several occasions where the Great Danes could have taken control/further taken control and in the end UMass' talent got the better of them.

Another interesting note....Appalachian State dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 after losing 41-13 to LSU, who was ranked No. 7 in the Bowl FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) poll. North Dakota State is now the No. 1 team in the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) Coaches poll. 

UMass rose in the polls to No. 4.