It was definitely interesting covering UAlbany this season. 

They had a lot of ups and downs and were like a different team at home where they were 10-4. 

UAlbany coach Will Brown had a somewhat difficult time taking about his seniors after the game because they won't be suiting up for him again. 

It shows you that when they aren't playing basketball, they are still very close because they are all teammates. 

"I got calls yesterday from Jamar Wilson, who's over in Belgium, Jason Siggers from Switzerland, Brent Wilson drove up today, Brian Lillis sends me a nice text, 'Tell the seniors not to choke today,' because that's the relationship he has with those guys," said Brown following the game. 

With that being said, I'll post a quote here from both Brian Connelly and Jimmie Covington. 

"When I came here I was a kid," Connelly said. "I got to play basketball and that was the only thing going on in my life. Now, that chapter is closed and I've got to move on."

"It hurts," Covington said. "I've been here for four years and this is like my family."

Junior Will Harris was asked what he wants to do next season. 

"I feel like I have to have a better season next year," Harris responded.

Harris was then asked in what way could he get better. 

"In every way, making it to the championship," Harris said. "It's about winning games and winning championships and that's what I look forward to doing next year."

UAlbany (15-15) will take on UMBC (14-16) in an improbable semifinal on Sunday at SEFCU Arena. 

The Great Danes were obviously ecstatic about the win. 

"I knew we had our hands full, so it was a great effort from our kids," UAlbany coach Will Brown said. 

Both Brown and senior co-captain Brian Connelly took a second to say something to Vermont all-conference senior Mike Trimboli following the game. 

Trimboli never made it to the NCAA Tournament in his four years at Vermont and UAlbany was a big reason why. 

"I just wanted to let him know how I felt about his talent and his desire to compete," Connelly said. 

Trimboli's status for the tournament was uncertain because of a viral infection that kept him out of the regular season finale. 

"He's had a great career, he's a fierce competitor and there has been a huge rivalry between us in our time here," Connelly said. "Luckily for me, we came out on top, but that shouldn't take anything away from him."

UAlbany was helped by a big-time hometown crowd. 

"I felt we gave the crowd energy and then the crowd responded and helped us," Connelly said. "That's how Albany fans are, they are great at responding like that and they helped us out with their energy."

TOP TEN NOMINEE

One of Vermont's best chances to win the game came when Trimboli stripped Mike Johnson and tapped the ball to Marqus Blakely. 

Blakely, a regular customer on SportsCenter for his highlight reel dunks, dribbled the ball off of his leg very uncharacteristically. 

"When you see Blakely taking off with the ball, you think SportsCenter, so thank god he dribbled off his knee," Brown said. 

THIRD TIME'S A CHARM 

UAlbany and UMBC split the season series, with both teams winning on their home floors. 

The game in Baltimore was just seven days ago and the Retrievers won 68-64. 

"I think they have a great chance to win tomorrow," said Vermont coach Mike Lonergan, before knowing who the Great Danes would play. 

FEELS LIKE AN ETERNITY

Connelly joked about how long the second half felt, as the Great Danes lost the lead, regained it and then had to play overtime. 

"That was the longest second half ever," Connelly said. "I looked up at the clock and it said four (minutes) and then what felt like three hours later, it said 3:30."  

UAlbany won this game with grit and determination and as Brown said by making it a "slugfest."

"I think this time of year you win defending, you win pounding the glass and you find way to score," Brown said. 

The Great Danes will be trying to cook up that formula again tomorrow. 

I'm still in downtown Albany, watching game five of six at the MAAC Tournament. 

Siena coach Fran McCaffery and his staff are sitting just off to my right, waiting to see who they will play, Loyola (Md.) or Canisius. 

The Great Danes kick things off tomorrow at SEFCU Arena, in about 15 hours. 

Here's a little bit more about the Great Danes' matchup with the Catamounts. 

UAlbany is 6-5 in their seven seasons in the America East Tournament. 

The Great Danes are 2-1 against the Catamounts, winning the titles in 2006 and 2007 and losing in the 2003 quarterfinals as a seven-seed (the same seeds the teams are for this matchup). 

No. 7 seeds are 0-23 all-time in the tournament against the No. 2. 

"We're not projected to win, but it could go either way," sophomore guard Tim Ambrose said. "It's going to be a great game between us."

UAlbany is clearly the underdog, something that hasn't been the case recently in this tournament. 

"We've beaten the three best teams in our league," senior co-captain Brian Connelly said. "There's no reason why we can't do it again."

As far as Mike Trimboli, Vermont's senior all-conference guard who is questionable with a viral infection, UAlbany is preparing for him to play. 

"I'd be shocked if he's not in uniform and does not start," said UAlbany coach Will Brown. 

While the Great Danes may be the heavy underdog on paper, things like the homecourt even the playing field considerably. 

"We know that we're good enough to compete with them," junior Will Harris said. "If we come out, play tough and do the right things, then we should be able to win the game, especially since it's at home."

Prediction: Vermont 74, UAlbany 65 (This game will be exciting, but I think the Catamounts will be too much) 

ALBANY - Vermont snapped a four-game skid against rival UAlbany at a packed SEFCU Arena on Saturday night.

“It was a much needed win for us,” Vermont coach Mike Lonergan said.

It was acatually amazing to me that the Great Danes were as close as they were considering Tim Ambrose didn't play the first half, Will Harris had his worst game of the season and Anthony Raffa didn't have nearly his best game either.

“We’re not a contender for the regular season championship because we don’t have the consistency right now for a 16-game regular season,” UAlbany coach Will Brown said.

Ambrose tried to make up for not playing in the first half by pouring in a school record-tying 29 points in the second half.

“In the second half, I just came out and left everything I had on the floor,” Ambrose said.

It still wasn't enough though and now the Great Danes are somewhat searching for answers, especially with a game against streaking Binghamton on Monday.

UAlbany had the lead down to three and had Harris on the line with 2:14 to go for a one-and-one, but he missed the front end.

“He had an off night,” Brown said. “We didn’t have guys to make up for that tonight, unfortunately,” Brown said.

Vermont hadn't won in Albany since 2007 and it took a huge effort from both Marqus Blakely and Mike Trimboli to get it done.

“They’re such a strong team,” Trimboli said. “They’re physicality overpowers us most games and most of our games have been within one or two points and when you get in situations like that, they’re always heartbreak losses. Tonight, our main goal was to try to out-tough them even though they do a good job at it."

Despite the loss, the crowd was by far the best of the season for a UAlbany game and it makes you wonder why it can't be like that nearly every game.

“The tournament’s here and if our crowd is like that for our tournament games, it will help us a lot,” senior co-captain Brian Connelly said.

The 12th annual Big Purple Growl is today and it couldn't be a better opponent for the University at Albany. 

The last three growls have been sellouts and the Great Danes are 9-2 all-time in Growl games. 

This year, the school is calling for a white-out on gameday. The first 1,000 fans will receive a free white t-shirt. 

Vermont is coming after losing a 25-point second half lead and dropping a game to Binghamton by two in what coach Mike Lonergan called one of the most "disappointing losses of his career."

The Catamounts will certainly be looking for a win, especially after falling to the Great Danes earlier this season. 

The key in my mind will be the health of Anthony Raffa (he scored a team-high 22 points back on Jan. 11 at Patrick Gymnasium), but has been struggling with multiple injuries and the way UAlbany contains Marqus Blakely. 

Blakely scored just 11 points in the first matchup, thanks in large part to the defense of Brett Gifford. 

At 6-foot-11, Gifford can present a mismatch for the 6-foot-5 Blakely in that he has a tough time going over him. 

Blakely averages 15.5 points and 8.6 rebounds, both team-bests. 

"Blakely is a tremenous athlete," said UAlbany coach Will Brown on Friday. "He's a tough matchup. He needs to be near the basket to score and Giff is 6-11 and he leans on him and uses his length. Giff's a big kid, but the thing is we can't allow Blakely to play 1-on-1 with Giff because he's a lot quicker. I think we've done a good job of keeping Blakely off-balance. We have to force him to be a passer."

Brown said Will Harris wouldn't practice on Friday because of tendonitis in his knee, especially because UAlbany has another game on Monday at Binghamton. 

Harris hoisted up a Division I program record 27 shots on Thursday against Boston University and scored a career-high 28 points. 

"I don't know," Harris said when asked if he would look for more shots on Saturday. "It depends on what time of game we've got going."  

Harris scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds last time out against Vermont, but this is his first experience with the Big Purple Growl. 

"The only thing I've heard is it's the most fun game of the year," Harris said. "It's packed, it's loud, it's energetic - just how I like to play."

Senior co-captain Brian Connelly has played before three sellout crowds at the Big Purple Growl and admitted Friday it's a game he's looking forward too. 

"I love coming out there in front of all of our fans," Connelly said. "Plus, I like playing Vermont because it's a great game every time and that's kind of what college basketball is all about really."

The last six meetings, the last four of which have been UAlbany wins, have been decided by a combined 23 points or an average of 3.8 points per contest. 

"I'm expecting a real competitive one tomorrow," Harris said. 

Me too. 

Prediction: UAlbany 76, Vermont 74 (My record is 16-6) 

ALBANY - While the University at Albany players agreed on Tuesday that it was a little early to be talking about first place, that's exactly where the Great Danes would sit in the America East if they can knock of Binghamton on Wednesday.

"I think we have enough talent to win an America East Conference Tournament," UAlbany coach Will Brown said Tuesday. "I'm still learning about this team and I want to see if have what to takes to win an America East regular season (title), if we can do over it 16 games and maintain our focus."

The Great Danes (2-1, 10-6) take on a Bearcats (3-0, 10-5) team that has won six of their last seven and seems to be coming together at the right time.

"We knew from the beginning that this team had a lot of talent," said senior co-captain Brian Connelly of Binghamton.

While Brown says he doesn't consider this a rivalry (see below), this has become a heated series.

In last year's game in Vestal, the postgame handshake turned into an all-out shoving match that led to both Binghamton coach Kevin Broadus and UAlbany assistant coach Chad O'Donnell being suspended for one game apiece.

"What happened, happed," Connelly said. "It's two totally different teams pretty much and I think it's water under the bridge at this point."

While Binghamton has a local player in Troy's Tiki Mayben (who my story in Tuesday's print edition focused on), they are led by Saint Joseph's transfer, D.J. Rivera.

Rivera leads the conference with 21.3 points per game.

"He's always in attack mode," Brown said. "He scores in a variety of ways."

Brown stressed the importance of not getting caught up in Binghamton's style of play.

"I think the way they want to play is kind of like a pickup game almost, up and down the court, fastbreaking," Connelly said. "That's not our style of play. It never has been. We're more on the defensive end I would say and play more team basketball."

One of the major reasons UAlbany is playing for first place has been the play of Will Harris.

The 6-foot-6 junior transfer is averaging 17 points and 9.7 rebounds in America East play (see below for more on that).

"I want us to have a good season and tournament, so we can do some good things," Harris said.
Brown said he talked to his team about breaking the conference schedule into four parts, the first of which could end tonight with UAlbany in first place.

"I think our guys are feeling pretty good right now an they're anxious to play tomorrow night," Brown said.

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Here's what Brown had to say about this not really being a rivalry.

"I don't think so," Brown said. "I think rivalries are either what you have with Albany and Siena as far as a local rivalry, where everybody's involved from alumni to students to administration or in your league, a rivalry is a team you've played meaningful games against, so for me I look at Vermont because we've played meaningful games against them that had championship implications and to a lesser extent B.U. (Boston)."

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Harris said his streak of two conference double-doubles shouldn't have ended Sunday in Vermont.

"I feel like I had a double-double actually," said Harris about his 20-point, 9-rebound performance. "Coach (Pat) Filien told me I had six rebounds at halftime, so I had to have at least 10 or 11 rebounds, so somebody messed up on the stats and I kind of want to get that changed."

If anyone's listing in Burlington.

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As far an injuries go, Brown said that Harris practiced Monday and Tuesday, Connelly still hasn't practiced and Louis Barraza doesn't have a fracture in his heel or foot.

"I think everybody should be good to go," Brown said.

Prediction: UAlbany 74, Binghamton 70 (No pushing this time either. My record is 12-4. UAlbany is 5-0 at home. I'll take a loss for the Vermont game since I didn't have a selection)

Overview: With 13 games in the books, the Great Danes now turn their attention to America East Conference play for the duration of the season. 

Step one starts tomorrow in Hartford against the Hawks. 

Hartford has had a murderous schedule, which has included Penn State, Connecticut, Baylor and Stanford (oh and a 40-point loss to Niagara).

On top of that, the Hawks have played their last three games without junior Joe Zeglinski, who is the team's leading scorer and rebounder. 

The Great Danes have played some tough teams as well like Villanova, DePaul and Kansas.

This should be a good matchup and should tell a lot about UAlbany's chances in this league this season.  

Records: UAlbany 0-0, 8-5. Hartford 0-0, 4-9 

The Series: UAlbany leads the all-time series 13-6, including eight of the last night meetings 

X-factor: Rebounding. UAlbany is +7 on the boards and the best rebounding team in the America East, while Hartford is -7 and the worst team so far in the conference. If the Great Danes can exploit that advantage it will give them a great chance to win. If the Hawks can be competitive, that certainly favors them. 

Injury Note: Zeglinski (ankle) is questionable for the Hawks after missing the last three games. UAlbany senior Brian Connelly (heel) is questionable, while senior Jimmie Covington (shoulder) is out.   

Prediction: UAlbany 66, Hartford 61 (Both teams beat St. Francis (NY), but Hartford needed double overtime and that was with Zeglinski. My record 11-2)   

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With America East Conference play opening tomorrow with three games (Stony Brook at UMBC, Binghamton at Maine are the other two), I asked Connelly and Brown what they thought of this league and this is what they had to say. 

"I haven't really looked at the standings because I know in league play everything is different than in non-league play," Connelly said. "I've seen some teams have played some big schools pretty well. Like I said, it doesn't really matter at this point. I think our conference is probably the best it's been in a few years. I think everybody's pretty talented and it's up in the air." 

"I think that we have some good wins," Brown said. "In years past, we've had two or three teams that have had one or two wins in the non-conference and that has hurt the overall RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) because when you get into conference play, if you haven't taken care of business in the non-conference, you can't help your RPI at all. If a lot of teams with poor records are beating up on each other in conference play, your RPI is not going to improve. I think this league's has a lot of parity." 

He went on to say.

"This might be the year where one of the teams near the bottom can make a nice run in a conference tournament. That would not surprise me at all." 

I guess I know why that motto comes from Kansas.

The Jayhawks come into Tuesday's game against the University at Albany with a 30-game winning streak at historic Allen Fieldhouse.

"Since I've been here, we've tried to play some tough teams on the road in some tough environments," UAlbany coach Will Brown said.

Check and check.

While Kansas, isn't ranked currently, the Jayhawks are the defending national champions and 8-3 on the season.

Last week, I asked Virginia transfer Will Harris what it's like when a mid-major comes in to take on a power school.

"Usually the typical mentality is we're playing against Albany tonight, they're in the America East Conference and we're going to play hard and we're going to get a 'W,'" Harris said. "You never really doubt yourself at all and that's probably how they feel right now."

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The game will be on ESPNU and here's what Brown and senior co-captain Brian Connelly had to say about that.

"It's good for your program and good for your university," Brown said. "It's one of those things where you're excited that you're playing on TV and you let all your recruits know, the kids that haven't signed with you and you hope you put your best foot forward."

"That's always fun because your family gets to watch you play without going, your friends call you up after the game and tell you how you got dunked on," Connelly said. "That's always fun to get that kind of exposure for our school and our program and help put Albany on the map a little more than it already is."

____________

I wrote a little bit in today's game advance about Cole Aldrich, Kansas's 6-foot-11 big man.

UAlbany's big man Brett Gifford played against him in an AAU Tournament at Allen Fieldhouse and the two know each other well.

Here's what Brown had to say about Aldrich, who is averaging 13.6 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.

"My assistant Pat Filien, who has the scout said to me, 'I noticed that Aldrich has struggled against guys his own size,' so I said sure, we'll take the two or three guys that are 7-feet, 290-pounds and just rotate them in to beat him up."

While Gifford is 6-11 and 260-pounds, he is by far the biggest player on the UAlbany staff.

____________

Louis Barraza is available after dealing with the flu and missing the past couple games.

I've been a little under the weather the last day and a half, so I apologize for this entry, which will be short and is being posted only six hours before tip-time. 

Here' s my story from today's paper about freshman point guard Anthony Raffa. 

The Great Danes come in on two consecutive losses, and on Monday surrendered a 15-point second-half lead in a road loss at Lehigh. 

"We choked," senior co-captain Brian Connelly said. "We dug ourselves this hole and we have to get out of it."

The youth and experience are starting to show themselves a little bit. 

"Like we've been saying pretty much since the beginning of the season, this team is young and inexperienced," Connelly said. "Maybe that was a good lesson. It stinks we had to learn through a loss, rather than maybe a close win, but it happened and we have to get over it."

The UAlbany players admittedly didn't have great energy in the first half against Siena are the second half on Monday, but they keep saying the right things about how they must continue playing hard, regardless the score. 

"What this team needs to understand is there's a common theme," UAlbany coach Will Brown said. "We're not making shots. When you're not making shots, you need to have longer possessions offensively, you can't settle for a decent shot or take a quick shot and then two, you're defense and rebounding needs to be that much better."

That brings us to today's game against MAAC opponent Canisius. 

This is a return game from the BracketBusters event from last season. 

UAlbany had a 18-point first-half lead in that game in Buffalo, before the Golden Griffins came back to post a 64-60 victory. 

"We slipped up against them last year," Connelly said. "This year, we get to play them at our building, so it would be nice to get a win."

I think revenge should be on the UAlbany players minds and even though this Canisius is better than the 5-21 team that beat the Great Danes last year, I think UAlbany will come out on top. 

ALBANY - UAlbany senior Brian Connelly was diagnosed with diabetes during high school, but he found out a few weeks ago he wasn't doing everything he could to fight it.

Connelly said he visited a Diabetic Educator at the Endocrine Group a couple of weeks ago and found out some new things.

"Apparently I wasn't getting the amount of energy I needed the past three years," Connelly said. "I found out and adjusted."

Connelly says instead of reacting to his sugar level and then taking a shot, he takes the shot before he eats.

Basically, he's doing things before rather than after.

"Scientifically, it allows me to get the energy to compete at a higher level," Connelly said.

After a slow start to this season, Connelly says it really is helping him out.

"Now I concentrate on doing it before every game and every practice," Connelly said. "So far, I think it's helped me."

Connelly is averaging 11.8 points per game over the past four games.

"I guess I should stick with it," Connelly said.

While Connelly would have loved to beat Siena once in his career, he thinks the rivalry is great for this area.

"Looking back, I wish we would have won one," Connelly said. "It’s a great thing for the city because a lot of people come out here and pretty much don’t know who to root for. It bring everybody together for friendly competition."

He was one of a number of Great Danes who said that Siena is very good, but not that much better than his squad.

"I think they’re a great team," Connelly said. "I’ve always thought they’re a great team. I think they’re well-coached. I think a lot of their players have a lot of talent, but I don’t think that they’re that much better than us, no."

He also posed the question to me about if the rivalry was played at the SEFCU Arena, something coach Will Brown also mentioned in his postgame press conference.

"What happens if they play at our place?," Connelly said. "Maybe the outcome is different. Even if we play here again, the outcome might be different."

"I would still like to play them twice," Brown said. "Once here and once in the SEFCU, even if it means two losses for us."

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UAlbany sophomore Tim Ambrose was upset with the result on Saturday night and even offered a guarantee that the Great Danes would win one meeting in his next two years.

"Yes," said Ambrose when asked if UAlbany would beat Siena over his next two seasons. "Guarantee."

Okay it was more of an agreement than a direct statement.

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Siena coach Fran McCaffery had nothing but good things to say this week as the matchup approached and he didn't change his tune after his team came out with a 7-point win.

"I’m not just saying this, I can’t imagine a better team in the America East than the team we just played," McCaffery said. "They’re physical, they’re quick, they’re deep, they don’t panic, they make plays and they challenged us on ever possession."

Brown responded by saying to some of the camera that his team wouldn't practice or play against until March if they would just be crowned.

He knows there's a long way to go.

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The Great Danes head out of town tomorrow for Monday's game against Lehigh.

Brown said after the Siena game that the game was supposed to be played later in December but that Lehigh had asked to move the game so they could pick up a guarantee game on that date.

ALBANY - University at Albany coach Will Brown was happy about his fifth team straight victory, but was quickly asked about the upcoming game with crosstown rival Siena (2-3).

"Too much is made of this game," Brown replied. "I've got seven guys who probably didn't even know who we played on Saturday."

Those guys Brown is referring to are the new players he has on his squad this season that haven't participated in the rivalry.

With that being said, I had to ask one of those new guys what he tought of Siena.

"They're a very good team," freshman point guard Anthony Raffa said of the Saints. "This is a big rivalry. I really don't know that much about them. Obviously, they made in the NCAA Tournament last year, that's about it."

Senior Brian Connelly said he didn't have to tell the younger guys much about the rivalry and that he'll let them experience it for themselves.

This is what college basketball is all about," Connelly said.

Brown said his team would take the day off Tuesday, but he and his assistants would start preparing for the Saints on Tuesday.

"We don't want to make too much out of it," Brown said. "We're not going to really discuss it too much...I guess Saturday can't come soon enough."

Brown said his team was the heavy underdog, which may be correct, but his team sure is gaining confidence.

"We realize that nobody thinks we have a shot and that's fine," Brown said. "I think we're a little bit better than people think, but how that translates to Saturday, only time will tell."

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While UAlbany went 2-0 against Bryant this season, Virginia transfer Will Harris will surely be glad not to play the Bulldogs any more.

Harris, who is averaging 8.9 points per game, didn't score on Monday in 23 minutes and was 0-for-6 from the field.

"The fact that Will Harris had the donut tonight is absolutely mind-boggling," Brown said. "That's twice. Bryant's got that padlock. They took the key and threw it out because he's done nothing against them."

Harris' stats in two games against Bryant....four points on 1-for-10 shooting, 10 rebounds and six turnovers in 43 minutes

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Junior Scotty McRae has seen more playing time lately and has been a presence inside.

Although he only scored three points on Monday, he grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, blocked a shot and had a steal.

"He's would play more if he understands he's not a 6-foot-8 jump-shooter," Brown said. "When he attacks the rim, and plays like an athlete, which he is, he can really help us. He's as talented as anybody we have."

ALBANY - UAlbany senior Brian Connelly grew up watching Villanova basketball.

Growing up in southern New Jersey, it only makes sense.

On Friday, Connelly expects 50 or so of his friends and family to trade in their Wildcats white and blue for purple and gold.

“Villanova has always been one of my favorite teams," Connelly said. "I have a lot of friends that go to the school. I’ve visited the school a few times.”

Connelly said he had to get some of his friends tickets and so he's "making" them support UAlbany.

Freshman point guard Anthony Raffa is also a native of the Philadelphia area, coming from Wildwood, N.J., which is about 45 minutes away.

“Hopefully a lot of family will be there,” Raffa said. “I can’t worry about that though. I have to worry about winning the game, our team trying to win the game.”

Raffa is excited for the challenge of going up against a Big East team that is ranked in the Top 25 in his first collegiate game.

"It's great," Raffa said. "It gets us ready for the conference tournament (which is) up here and it's going to be exciting."

Fellow point guard Mike Johnson is also excited for the challenge of going up against Villanova point guard Scottie Reynolds.

“I never thought it would be, but I’m embracing it,” Johnson said. “I’m up for it and I can’t wait. I tell Coach (Brown) that every day that I’m so excited and I just hope he’ll be able to schedule games like this more often.”

Johnson, who transferred in from Blinn College in Texas is listed as one of five starters by Brown for tomorrow's game. The others are Connelly, senior Jimmie Covington, junior Brett Gifford and red-shirt freshman Billy Allen.

Don't be surprised though if Brown changes things routinely Friday night because eight of his players will be putting the UAlbany jersey on for the first time.

“I feel like for one day, my first game, I can feel like I’m a Big East point guard,” Johnson said.

The last time UAlbany played a Big East team, they were defeated by Connecticut 86-55 on Nov. 26, 2006, in what was a rematch of the NCAA Tournament first round game from March '06.

“Villanova, that says it all,” sophomore guard Tim Ambrose said. “It’s the Big East, a Top 20 team, so we just have to prepare ourselves every day in practice until Friday and then go out there, try to execute our defense and our offense and hope we come out on top.”

In fact, the Great Danes first two games are against Big East squads as they will take on DePaul on Monday, Nov. 17.

“We have a lot of talent and we have some skill, but the teams we are going up against our first two games, definitely have that to, so this will show how much heart we have and how much desire we really have to win,” Johnson said.

Connelly says he's seen the team make "incredible" improvement from their first scrimmage against Long Island to their second, which was at Bucknell.

“In my opinion, we’ve made leaps and bounds since the beginning of practice,” Connelly said.

We'll find out how good UAlbany and a little bit more about their makeup on Friday night.

Make sure to check back for my prediction on the game.

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And finally, as UAlbany's resident Philadelphia Phillies fan, Raffa reacted the Phillies winning the World Series.

“They finally did it,” Raffa said. “Now, everyone is trying to hate on the Eagles because they lost to the Giants. I just have to rub it in their faces because everyone (here is) a Mets fan and Yankees fan.”