SIT, HEEL, STAY... Eagles Home Opener An Exercise In Dog Training

Opening Note: I'd just like to state that in no way do I support actual cruelty to dogs. That would be the PHILADELPHIA Eagles, ever since they hired Michael Vick. Alright, alright, that was just a joke, since I'm sure some of our readers are loyal Philly fans as well. Of course it's the AMERICAN Eagles that matter tomorrow night!

The AU Eagles' season opener at St. Francis (PA) on Friday was not our finest hour - blowing an 11-point halftime lead is never the way one wants to start their season. It's all part of the learning curve for these young Eagles, though, and I am confident we will rebound on Monday when we face down the University at Albany Great Danes on the hallowed hardwood of Bender Arena.

The first of a five-game homestretch that will keep the Blue Crew quite busy for the next two weeks, our home opener is sure to excite. Word has gone out that mini replica 2009 Patriot League Champion banners will be distributed again, and up to 2,500 dorm rooms on campus will get a whole lot sexier. So there will be goodies, but what's going to happen on the court?

To be concise - it could go either way. I can see us winning this, or I can see this being another rung in the learning curve where we'll just have to wag our fingers, say "bad dog", and hopefully learn some important lessons about our team. On that note, we do have a fairly good shot. UAlbany has only been in Division 1 for a decade, and in that time has traditionally been one of the more mediocre teams in the Northeast Conference (a frequent foe of the Patriot League due to geographic proximity and similar relative basketball abilities). While they've played six of the eight current Patriot League teams since joining D1, this will be the first meeting between the Eagles and Great [sic] Danes.

Perusing their history, the most memorable moment for Albany seems to be the 12-point lead they had in the second half over #2 Connecticut in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. Like our 14-point slap-in-the-face to Villanova, however, that lead slipped away and they suffered a loss that looked too formulaic to reveal just how close they came to a major upset. The similarities extend to this season, too. The Danes are 0-2 (but to be fair, the first was to national power Syracuse), while we are 0-1. Their important loss - and I say important because the Syracuse game was essentially decided before a single player stepped onto the court - was to Morgan State, a team likely to dominate the MEAC (the conference of local foe Howard) this season.

During those two games, the vast, vast majority of Albany's scoring came from only two players, Senior Forward Will Harris and Junior Guard Tim Ambrose. Shutting these two down on the inside will be key. Which players Coach Jones will assign this task to is hard to predict right now, since we're just starting to figure out our strengths, but I can assume Hendra will be assigned to Harris since they're about the same height. One thing we don't have is a serious height advantage in this match up, as the Danes sport two large forwards coming in at 6-10 and 6-11. If our rebounding doesn't improve over what it was in the St. Francis game, these dogs will be eating fresh Eagle for dinner. If I can say one thing about our team so far this season, however, it is that they've been able to adapt quite well from game to game. Could we pull this one out? Definitely, as long as we keep learning from our mistakes. Fortunately one advantage we do have is much more variety in our scoring than we ever had last season, particularly if Grafft's 14-point performance wasn't a one-time event.

This Monday at 7:30, the Albany Great Danes are going to be coming into our arena to test a young Eagles team. The 5-game home streak this begins is certainly a breath of fresh air after last season's dearth of non-conference home games, so let's take advantage of it. Like always, I hope to see everyone there LOUD, PROUD, and BLUE. Let's give them some obedience training early in the season to show them what we think of a pack of dogs barking into Eagles territory! As the season progresses we'll certainly see the early mistakes fade away and a powerful team emerge - hopefully one powerful enough to challenge the Patriot League.

On that note, I'd like to plug an additional contest AU is currently competing in. PETA2, the college-oriented branch of PETA, runs an annual vote-driven contest to determine "The Most Vegetarian-Friendly College in America." Now, I am certainly not trying to push any particular agenda here (being a meat lover myself), but I do support any contest in which AU is competing. Last year we won the whole shebang, and got some great press out of it. This year we've been doing well again, and are currently in Round 4 (of 5), where only four of the original thirty two remain. Click the link below to vote for AU and let's hope for a second consecutive victory: