ALBANY
Record: 5-14 (0-3 America East)
Last 10: 2-8
Last Game: UMBC 65, Albany 64 on 1/19/19
Last Game with SBU: Stony Brook 69, Albany 60 on 3/3/18 in AE quarters; Yeboah 18, Saintel 17
Checkmate Unofficial Line: Stony Brook -8
Net Ranking: Stony Brook 131, Albany 285
KenPom RPI: Stony Brook 148, Albany 301
KenPom Prediction: Stony Brook 70, Albany 65
Yeboah Point Watch: 1,100
Division I: Currently 7th. Next up: Dave Coley (2010-14) 1,222
All-time: Currently T-18th. Next up: Dave Burda (1983-86) 1,100; Frank Prantil (1983-87) 1,119
Listen/Watch:TV:
http://bit.ly/MBBGm20Vid (ESPN3)
Stony Brook radio:
http://bit.ly/WUSBSports_FMNotables:6-1/175 jr G Ahmad Clark 17.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.2 apg, 2.1 spg, .776 FT%
6-3/190 rfr G Cameron Healy 16.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, .404 3-pt FG%, .900 FT%
6-8/245 rfr Adam Lulka 9.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, .534 FG%
6-6/235 sr Devonte Campbell 7.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg, .375 3-pt FG%
6-3/190 fr Antonio Rizzuto 6.7 ppg, .353 3-pt FG%
UA hasn't had many lean years, and I don't expect many more as long as Will Brown's there. This year, though, this is a lean year up in the Capital Region.
As a result of the departures of Joe Cremo (Villanova) and David Nichols (Florida State), as well as Greig Stire (who I hated), Travis Charles and Alex Foster to graduation, the cupboards were nearly bare coming into the year. Campbell, the top returning scorer, is physical but by no means a go-to guy. Clark certainly wasn't ready to take on that kind of role either. With Clark in the starting lineup are four freshmen, and their inexperience up and down the roster has shown this year.
How inexperienced? Well, only three people on this year's team logged so much as a single minute last year at UA – Campbell, Clark and junior walk-on Nick Fruscio, who played six minutes last year and is up to three this year. Granted, Healy and big man Brent Hank redshirted last year so they were with the program, but didn't contribute on the floor to the 22-win team from a year ago. Other than that, Brown is working with an entirely new group. He plucked Rayshawn Miller from UMass, Kendall Lauderdale and Sasha French from the junior college ranks in California and Reece Brooks from a juco in Texas. A fourth juco transfer, Jeremiah Starks, never even got to suit up, having suffered a career-ending knee injury.
The results haven't been what they're looking for, and it's difficult to put a positive spin on an 0-4 start in conference. But nine of their 14 losses have been by single digits. They lost to Holy Cross in OT, by UMBC at their place by a single point, and they played a good Yale team pretty tough on the road too. Yeah, I know all that's a stretch, but it should remind us that this is a wounded animal here. They can lift their spirits in a big way if they can pick off their rival and knock them from the unbeaten ranks in conference. And they're capable of doing it.
If it's going to happen, it will start with the backcourt – Clark and Healy. Clark's a little erratic for me. From the games I've watched, he's shown to have questionable shot selection, a situation that I'd imagine is worsened due to the need for him to be the guy. The shot works – he made nearly 42 percent of threes last year – but that figure is down 10 percent this year. But still, he's gone over 20 in 10 of their 19 games, which means he's plenty capable of putting up a big number against us. Don't think that's lost on our coaching staff though. Clark's had some lows too, including a five-point afternoon against UMBC, 3 for 15 against Vermont, 2 for 14 against Providence, 1 for 14 against Holy Cross. I'm sure he will be Elijah's assignment on Wednesday night.
Healy has been a nice spark offensively after sitting out last year. It really feels like the offense comes down to him and Clark, with a general lack of punch otherwise. This is not an explosive or athletic team we're talking about. Healy likes to fire away from deep. Lulka's a wide body but not someone you're going to run a lot of plays for – like most AE pivots. Campbell? Somebody who can help you but limited offensively. Basically, they replaced Cremo/Nichols with lesser options, and their seemingly endless stream of physical bigs with inexperienced ones.
Looking forward to Saturday? Yeah, I am too. But let's hope the guys aren't. Let's put together 40 minutes of sound basketball. We've had ebbs and flows in all four conference games, and it's rare that we've been able to exhale a bit. I'd love to dispel any worries of a letdown early on, but I expect a typical hard-nosed, hard-fought battle against our arch rival.