Albany Message Board

[AlbanyGreatDanesFan]

By the way, I'm on cloud 9 watching Peter Hooley live in studio on Sportscenter on ESPN2 right now. They just did a bit about him going to break and are interviewing him after the break. This exposure is so great for the school and the program. It's like nothing we've ever had before. He will be on tomorrow's sportscenter live as well at 11am.

I wish he was home resting and learning the scouts though.

 

[Northbase]

Albany fan, thank you for the breakdown of your team. Welcome and best of luck!

 

[AlbanyGreatDanesFan]

I've read a couple things about OU pressing and/or a pressure defense. Can someone provide some info on this? Do they full court press? Trap at mid-court?

Edit: This article posted on these forums is a really good one and the way they describe our team is spot on. http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsext...cle_91328827-338e-5574-b5b5-1aa58abfcf33.html

Talked about rebounding earlier. From the article:

The Rowleys combine with 6-foot-11, 275-pound center Richard Peters to make Albany a top-40 team nationally in rebound margin.

 

[BigTime]

I've read a couple things about OU pressing and/or a pressure defense. Can someone provide some info on this? Do they full court press? Trap at mid-court?

Lots of "token" full court pressure. The Sooners also often double near the mid court line. Nothing like VCU, Arky or WVU though.

 

[Max Power]

I've read a couple things about OU pressing and/or a pressure defense. Can someone provide some info on this? Do they full court press? Trap at mid-court?

Edit: This article posted on these forums is a really good one and the way they describe our team is spot on. http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsext...cle_91328827-338e-5574-b5b5-1aa58abfcf33.html

Talked about rebounding earlier. From the article:

The Rowleys combine with 6-foot-11, 275-pound center Richard Peters to make Albany a top-40 team nationally in rebound margin.

not so much a traping press, but we mostly guard man full court and we switch almost everything

 

[AlbanyGreatDanesFan]

Thanks. Honestly, that could be a back breaker for Albany. They were much better this year against the press, that may be because of the new PG, but in the past they turned the ball over way too many times against pressing teams. Have to limit turnovers if/when OU pressures.

 

[AlbanyGreatDanesFan]

Hooley live in studio again this morning on Sportscenter. Coming up in about 5 minutes. As I said earlier, this exposure is priceless for a smaller program like Albany.

 

[BigTime]

Thanks. Honestly, that could be a back breaker for Albany. They were much better this year against the press, that may be because of the new PG, but in the past they turned the ball over way too many times against pressing teams. Have to limit turnovers if/when OU pressures.

I think that is a big key because the Sooners are really dynamic in the open floor...

 

[Zimwillett]

Just curious, what's the story behind Albany's Aussie connection? I assume there is one. Of all the hundreds of schools in the US they could have chosen, Albany is about as far away from Australia as any of them.

Also, welcome to the board, and thanks for your insights. I'm looking forward to Friday!

 

[BoulderSooner]

it is kind of a double edged sword .. you are going to want to slow the game down and stop us from running .. (as others have said I don't think you have a shot if the game gets into the 70's or 80's ..)

but OU is great on D in the half court ... 3rd best half court FG% D in the country only behind Virginia and Kentucky ..

 

[AlbanyGreatDanesFan]

Just curious, what's the story behind Albany's Aussie connection? I assume there is one. Of all the hundreds of schools in the US they could have chosen, Albany is about as far away from Australia as any of them.

Also, welcome to the board, and thanks for your insights. I'm looking forward to Friday!

One of Albany's former assistants had an Aussie friend he either played with or coached with who sent him some tape on a player named Luke Devlin. the coaches offered him without even meeting him and that started the flow. From there the staff built connections and got to be known as a D1 program that would take a chance on these lesser known Aussies. And boy has it worked out! Our two best players are Aussies and great kids (Rowley and Hooley). Hooley for instance is not just a clutch player who won MVP of our conf tourney the past two years but he is the top academic player in the conference. If you watched any of his interviews on ESPN the past day then you can tell what a great young man he is.

We also have the younger brother of Sam Rowley, Mike, who is a sophomore and gives us solid mins off the bench. He hit two free throws with under a minute left on Saturday that got us to within 1 point. Meanwhile Stony Brook's two best players went 1-4 from the line during that same timeframe.

I know there are a couple others back in Australia this will be offered this year and next and now we have 5 of their countrymen as spokesman for our program and the exposure it can provide.

it is kind of a double edged sword .. you are going to want to slow the game down and stop us from running .. (as others have said I don't think you have a shot if the game gets into the 70's or 80's ..)

but OU is great on D in the half court ... 3rd best half court FG% D in the country only behind Virginia and Kentucky ..

Coach Brown mentioned this during the interview I posted in this thread that they may have to go away from their normal gameplan of slowing the pace and running the clock because they will have to take advantage of open shots when they get them. He said they may have trouble getting them late in the shot clock.

 

[DenverSooner]

I want to see Cousins, Hield and Booker all make a three pointer early and hopefully their first attempt. If that happens, I see Albany losing big.

 

[AlbanyGreatDanesFan]

One other thing to mention is that Ray Sanders is a very good defender and was first team all-defense. I am almost positive he will get the assignment of guarding Heild. It is going to be a really tough matchup for him I can only hope he can keep him from totally going off. It will be a fun matchup for our fans to watch in this game to see what he can do against such a dynamic player.

 

[MNsooner]

In that Will Brown interview that AlbanyGreatDanesFan linked, he said something along the lines of: "we'll have to take the first decent shot we get because there is no guarantee we'll get a better one by using more time." I thought that was a pretty great compliment to OU.

Honestly, if we flame out in the first round, I'd rather it happen against Albany than anyone else. Personally, I think our athletes are just better. We seems bigger strong and faster and have the skills and discipline to go with it. It would be a huge upset if OU loses.

 

[pnkranger]

In that Will Brown interview that AlbanyGreatDanesFan linked, he said something along the lines of: "we'll have to take the first decent shot we get because there is no guarantee we'll get a better one by using more time." I thought that was a pretty great compliment to OU.

Honestly, if we flame out in the first round, I'd rather it happen against Albany than anyone else. Personally, I think our athletes are just better. We seems bigger strong and faster and have the skills and discipline to go with it. It would be a huge upset if OU loses.

I agree. We can lose. Absolutely. But we shouldn't. If we come out amped up and get up and down the court and keep them off the boards, we'll be in great shape. If we slow it down and let them burn clock, we'll be in trouble.

 

[AlbanyGreatDanesFan]

What we lack in size we make up for in strength. Big men are 6-11, 6-8, 6-7 and 6-6. The 6-6 player is Sam Rowley who plays bigger, leads the team in points and rebounds. He also has some really crafty moves in the post where he gets all his points. So I'm hoping we don't get killed on the inside. I'm more worried about the 3 point shooting but maybe I'm way off.

I liked this from the article posted in another thread on here:

How physical and stout? Albany’s rotation includes brothers Sam and Mike Rowley. Sam grew up playing Australian Rules Football in Sydney, before coming to Albany and becoming the Great Danes’ leading scorer. Mike followed his big brother two years later, but only after putting aside his rugby aspirations.

The Rowleys combine with 6-foot-11, 275-pound center Richard Peters to make Albany a top-40 team nationally in rebound margin.

 

[DenverSooner]

Personally, I think our athletes are just better. We seems bigger strong and faster and have the skills and discipline to go with it. It would be a huge upset if OU loses.

It is not even close. I mean no disrespect to Albany but they probably are not even a mid major. These are most of the teams Albany played (losses in parenthesis): N.J.I.T. (I have no clue who that is but would guess New Jersey Institute of Technology) (11), Quinnipiac (15) , Colgate (17), Holy Cross(16), St. Francis (PA) (15), Bucknell (14) , Siena (20), Yale (10), Fairfield (24), Niagara (22), Maine (27), New Hampshire (13), Mass-Lowell (17), Binghampton (26), Stony Brook (11), Hartford(17), UMBC (26), and Vermont (13). In my opinion that isn't even a mid major schedule.

If you consider the Missouri Valley a classic mid major conference these are some non conference games for Wichita State: New Mex St, Memphis, Tulsa, Utah, St. Louis, Seton Hall, Alabama, Loyola Marymount, George Washington, Hawaii, and Alabama. I don't know a lot about those teams this year but they are much bigger names than the names on Albany's schedule.

OU played 17 games against tournament teams plus games against Tulsa, Washington, Creighton, and Missouri. All four of those teams would stand out on Albanys' schedule even though three of them were not that good this year (and Washington was better before that kid got kicked off the team).

 

[MNsooner]

What we lack in size we make up for in strength. Big men are 6-11, 6-8, 6-7 and 6-6. The 6-6 player is Sam Rowley who plays bigger, leads the team in points and rebounds. He also has some really crafty moves in the post where he gets all his points. So I'm hoping we don't get killed on the inside. I'm more worried about the 3 point shooting but maybe I'm way off.

I liked this from the article posted in another thread on here:

How physical and stout? Albany’s rotation includes brothers Sam and Mike Rowley. Sam grew up playing Australian Rules Football in Sydney, before coming to Albany and becoming the Great Danes’ leading scorer. Mike followed his big brother two years later, but only after putting aside his rugby aspirations.

The Rowleys combine with 6-foot-11, 275-pound center Richard Peters to make Albany a top-40 team nationally in rebound margin.

Well, win or lose it sounds like our big men may be sore after the game on Friday.

 

[DenverSooner]

Well, win or lose it sounds like our big men may be sore after the game on Friday.

OU's big men should be smiling after the game because they should have double doubles.

 

[MNsooner]

OU's big men should be smiling after the game because they should have double doubles.

I don't see us losing out on the boards at all. In fact, our guards ought to be able to get inside and fight for boards this game. That doesn't mean those Albany players won't get their licks in.