On a more fun note, I have heard that freshman guard Kevin Crawford is and absolute animal. I was told he is dynamic, fearless and will be a difference maker for this team immediately. I was also informed that transfer big Bryan Assie is the best low post, back to the basket player that we have had since Big Vic which is really saying something!

Well Albertus fans, to me its beginning to look like it might be difficult for the Falcons to get on the court and at least get a few games in this season. They have had a few positive cases from my understanding and continue to work to try and get back. Ultimately, all that matters is that these players and coaches stay healthy during these trying times. As disappointing as it is, especially for the seniors, sometimes you have to take a step back and realize that some things are just bigger than basketball.

On another side note, some news out of New Britain as Central CT and Donyell Marshall decided to part ways the other day. Our head Coach, Mitch Oliver name is already being tossed around as a potential candidate and replacement. I have seen some talk on twitter and fan boards and while this would be an amazing opportunity for Coach Oliver (and I think we all agree he deserves it) it would be a crushing blow to the Albertus basketball program. We'll see what happens as things progress in their hiring process over the next month or so........

Awful, terrible, sad news for the entire Albertus community. This one really hits home on so many levels.

Jahqwan "JQ" Walters was such a great basketball player but an even better person. He had such an outgoing personality and was always the first one to come over and say hello or just shake your hand and say thank you for coming out and supporting the team. A really remarkable spirit who went through a lot in his life and always seemed to have a positive attitude. Not only an all american player but an all american person. To have such a great life cut short due to gun violence is just incredibly sad and I pray for all of JQ's family and friends who new him.

As a fan, to feel such a connection to him simply as that, just a fan, I think speaks for this young mans personality and character. To graduate with a degree I know meant a lot to him from a few conversation we had together and then to see him sign a professional contract overseas to play basketball was the icing on the cake so to speak because it justified all the sweat and hard work he put in over the years. Not to mention being selected to play on the WeAreD3 team in "The Tournament." To this day, I have yet to see a player who shouldered as much as he had to and played all out for 40 minutes every single night.

JQ solidified himself as one of the greatest players to ever put on a Falcon jersey not just with his play on the court but his life off it. He attended games as regularly as he could when he was home as an alumnus and I will truly miss his smile and sense of humor in the stands.

RIP JQ, you will be missed dearly

Amazing story about Coach Oliver's family and what his parents have gone through over the past couple months. Mitch's father, Ernie, who is at every single game, home or away, almost lost his life to the COVID Virus and John Pierson from News 8 did a really touching story on his battle. Hats off to Mr. Oliver and the entire family.

https://twitter.com/JPPierson/status/1265053909611151360?s=20

Falcons25, respectfully my friend, while I agree with your assessment here in the sense that it is a joke they received such a close draw. I don't exactly think Coach Calhoun has a lot of friends within the NCAA based on his past history and involvement with them. He's had a number of run in and conflicts over the years within the NCAA and he's been punished for those actions.

That being said, Albertus has 7 GNAC Championships over the last 10 years. 7!!!

Last three trips.....

2014-15 - Dickinson - 272 Miles
2016-17 - Rochester - 371 Miles
2018-19 - Christopher Newport - 478 Miles!

First trip ever for St. Josephs - Springfield - 30 Miles

Tickets sold out for tomorrows GNAC Championship in less than a minute through the USJ-Eventbrite system. Really unfortunate that this game couldn't be moved to a larger venue but I understand the advantage of home court. Just really sad that a lot of faithful fans for both side probably wont be able to attend! Myself included! Such is life! Thankfully, St Joes normally puts on a pretty good broadcast with play by play commentary and analysis throughout.

The semi-final on Thursday night was just incredible. It was without question one of the best comebacks I have ever seen take place in The Nest. Albertus looked all but done with just over a minute to play and down 6 points. Our two best players, Jahmerikah Green Younger and Tyreek Perkins on the bench with Kai fouling out and Tyreek not in the game. And yet a group of Sophomores and junior Keith Antonio Davis stepped up and brought us back from the depths to another GNAC Championship appearance! Andrew Rice and Davon Warner came up HUGEEE in this one folks. Lasell lost their composure and couldn't inbound the basketball. We forced 4 straight TO's if you include the 10 second violation forced to start this entire run off! Andrew Rice single handily changed the game with his pressure defense and amazingly quick hands. Words dont do just for what was witnessed the other night! I am missing a lot of information because there is just so much to put in!

Now we get the matchup that the GNAC and most of New England wants to see. The rematch between the two best teams in this conference and both ranking quite highly in all of New England! St Joes vs Albertus, Calhoun vs Oliver, Matchup vs Matchups! This is going to be a great championship game and many bubble teams and the NCAA selection committee will be watching this one closely!

What a battle last night in New Haven! How Suffolk fell to a 7 seed is beyond me! They are a far better team then the draw they received but those are the brakes! Albertus did not play their best game but when it became to make plays they did exactly that. Andrew Rice is back!!!! What a difference maker at both ends of the court. His presence and defensive abilities are something to marvel at. In my opinion, he is the best defender Albertus has ever had. With the exception of 2 misses down the stretch at the line from Qualon Wilkes the FT shooting in clutch time was superb and the defensive effort was just enough to get by.

Jahmerikah Green Younger is a beast!! He does not want his season and college career to end and he is capable of single handily taking over a basketball game and that is what he's been doing for the last few weeks now. Tyreek Perkins. Mr Consistency as I like to call him. Plays as hard as anyone and takes so much contact when going to the hoop. He has really matured over the last few games and has done a great job of keeping his emotions in check. He is a strong, firey player which is why he might be my favorite player on this team but in the past his emotions have sometime gotten the best of him. It looks like he has taken a turn and really worked on being a leader. He really did a good job of gathering his teammates last night in times where it looked like some were going to lose it a bit!

Really surprised by the other matchups. Emmanuel performance against Lasell was disappointing. I was fully expecting a matchup with Emmanual in the semi finals. St Joes of Maine??? What happened? Anna Maria is a decent team but I really thought Maine would perform much better then that! Box Score for Maine, how does Jack Casale, easily a 1st team all conference player only take 4 field goal attempts on the night? That is unacceptable in a game of that magnitude. In 37 minute played too! That was the biggest shocker of the night IMO. He is far to good a player!

St Joes CT did there thing as expected........Not much to say on that one

Huge opening round game for the Falcons tomorrow night against Suffolk. The Falcons were embarrassed a couple weeks ago against Suffolk in Medford Mass. Out hustled and out worked for the entire game and was really one of the more surprising outcomes of the season. However, losing happens to everyone, its the manner in which you lose that can be alarming and on that night it certainly was the case. But, the Falcons have bounced back extremely strong since that loss and appear to be playing at a very high level right now heading into the GNAC tourney. Suffolk no doubt has some strong players and are a very talented team with a lot of senior leadership but they are no match for the Falcons when their clicking on both offense and defense. Not to mention beating Oliver twice in one season, that just doesn't happen very often in this conference.

This will be a tight game but I see the Falcons pulling away late in the second half. 86 to 73 final.

As for the other match-ups, I believe Emmanuel will take down Lasell, St Joes Maine will best Anna Maria and St Joes CT will advance past Regis.

Albertus vs Emmanuel
St Joes CT vs St Joes Maine is how I see the GNAC semi-finals shaping up for Thursday!

Quote from: deiscanton on February 19, 2020, 07:14:17 PM
And most of us are going to have to watch the GNAC title game on-line through a video stream, because the O'Connell Center in West Hartford is much smaller than the Nest in New Haven.  Glad to see that USJ is building a new 1400 seat gym.

Regarding this statement, if both St Joes and Albertus are fortunate enough to make the GNAC Final, do you think the school would consider moving it to a larger venue? I know they have already done this in the past for a few big games and I would think this has to be considered for a potential match up of this magnitude? They have used Trinty's gym a few times in the past for Calhouns first game last season and another time I believe as well? Would the GNAC have something to say about this as well? I know playing in your home gym on your home court is a huge factor but so is playing in front of a huge crowd of people as well. I sincerely doubt this would upset Calhoun considering the stages he has coached at. The gym at St Joes is just too small! Albertus looks like the XL Center compared to it and it was very difficult to get a seat at last years championship!

Hopefully both schools and the GNAC can come together on some agreement here for the sake of the fans! Selfish I know but Calhoun/Oliver BlueJay/Falcons is must see action!

An impressive last couple games for the Falcons as they pick up wins against rival JWU and Rivier. Both games were well executed at both ends defensively and offensively. This team is really clicking right now and they're in a good spot to hopefully win out and go into the GNAC tournament with home court advantage for the quarters and semi finals.

This team has dealt with a lot of adversity this season between losing key players to injuries for stretches of time and losing a impact freshman in Marquan Watson. I heard that Marquan had some personal issues that required him to have to withdraw from the school. Its unfortunate as his future was extremely bright and was without question a player that Oliver could have potentially turned into an outstanding player had he been able to continue but things at times are more important than basketball and I wish Marquan luck in the future. Never had any personal interactions with him but he carried himself well on the court and seemed like a respectable young man.

The St Joes loss was a tough and the the overall effort in the loss to Suffolk the next game was not something we as fans are used to seeing out of our Albertus teams. But again, it looks like they have refocused and have their eyes set on another playoff run and GNAC championship. Lasell on Wednesday followed by Norwich, Emmanuel and Anna Maria. The big one is going to be against Emmanuel who continues to impress under second year HC Danny Lawson.

The GNAC race is turning into quite a finish and with only a few games remaining it will be interesting to see how things finish up. The top 3 teams are clearly St Joes CT, Albertus and Emmanuel with everyone else battling for position for the remaining spots.

One game at a time. Lasell is next at home! Lets keep it rolling Falcons!

Quote from: MiddWatcher on January 14, 2020, 11:32:24 PM
It's a long drive from southern CT to Middlebury, VT - especially to play a 5 pm contest in a half empty gym. It showed today for Albertus Magnus. The old expression " never got off the bus " was highly appropriate in this 'watcher's opinion. Not all in attendance agreed with me .... but I was somewhat pleased to read " d3hoopjunkie" in the GNAC page. ( IF I actually knew how to cut 'n paste from another one of these sections, I would have put it in here ! )  Read it if you are interested. I thought his/her thoughts were right on. Basically, they did not bring much emotion or energy to the game defensively, at all, and did not run any offense with any merit whatsoever. They had 4 assists as a team and 2 fast break points.  Really ??  I do think they have a terrific coach, and I have watched many of their games where they really play with emotion and zeal and a great deal of energy. They COULD give a lot of teams a big run for their money. But tonight was not the night. Very good efforts from Bosco,Cahill and Eastman again, as noted. Farrell never really got going, but all else contributed mightily and Ingram gave them a good effort off the bench. Folger changed a lot of shots. DeLorenzo's odd home/away shooting split in evidence ( 27% at home, 57 % on the road ). Kind of amazing for a kid who has been shooting in that gym since he was 5 years old.  The Mule train will arrive on Friday night and it should be really fun.

I couldn't agree more with your assessment here. Let me start off by saying that my next comment is not an excuse, I repeat NOT an excuse! I have stated on the GNAC thread that the Panthers were the better team last night and deserved to win. That said, getting on a bus and taking a 5 hour ride to arrive at 3:30 and tip off at 5PM is certainly not an ideal situation for any team. I would have loved to see this game played out on a Saturday afternoon or something when players can adjust and prepare properly for such a big game. But scheduling is tough and Oliver knows he has to take whatever games against NESCAC schools willing to schedule him whenever he can. Every team has to do these things and I get that, especially in D3. From a fan standpoint its just unfortunate. I know my team didnt bring their best effort and I think most Middlebury fans would agree and say neither did their team! But they did enough to win and came out with a victory.

Good luck to Middlebury the rest of the way, from what I have seen thus far in the NESCAC they seem to be the most polished and well balanced squad in the league. But like every conference, you can pretty much throw those intangibles out the window once league play and conference tournaments begin! That is of course why we all love this game....isnt it?!

Tough one today for the Falcons. Not a very impressive effort on the road in Middlebury this evening. I really dont think either team played their best game tonight. It was not nearly as entertaining of a game as I had thought it would be. No question that Middlebury was the better team tonight but overall, I have no doubts in this Albertus teams ability to compete with pretty much anyone that I have seen thus far in the Northeast region to date. And they have already proven that they can go on the road and beat some pretty darn good teams but tonight it wasnt in the cards for them. It was just one of those nights where Albertus couldn't get their offense into a rhythm and the first game all season where there defensive effort was just not present. There defense and ball pressure has been much improved this year but for whatever reason, it just wasn't there tonight and hats off to Middlebury for making some 3's and shots at big points in the game to maintain the lead that they built on early in the 2nd half.

Albertus showed some glimpses late of going on one of there patented offensive runs where they can rattle off a 10-0 run before you blink and get right back into a game, but it just never materialized to that.

Time to bounce back and get ready for a good Colby Sawyer team on Saturday.

Also, hats off to all the GNAC schools who won there contests tonight against other NESCAC opponents. It truly was GNAC vs NESCAC night and to the surprise of probably a good amount of fans, the GNAC got the best of the NESCAC on this night.

Another HUGE sidenote, Falcons25, we need some info here.....why was Andrew Rice in a sweatsuit tonight?? Hands down our best defender and one of our better rebounders who can really change a game? We are deep with talent but Rice is one of those guys that does so much, you really hate to lose him?

Great weekend of victories for the Falcons and to receive the #20 ranking in the country come Monday evening is a nice way to top off a successful start to the 2nd semester! Huge game coming up against Middlebury a week from today. Another road test and without question the toughest matchup of the season for Albertus. I am a little concerned about having so much time off between games but at the same time, after the 2 hard fought victories that the Falcons had this weekend on the road in York PA, I think a little R&R is a good thing for these guys right now. Not to mention an entire week for Coach Oliver to prepare. While these programs have faced each other the last few seasons the beauty of both these head Coaches in Oliver and Brown is that they never seem to settle and are always improving there programs year in and year out which means scouting is that more important in a matchup like this.

Lets keep rolling Falcons!

Quote from: JEFFFAN on January 04, 2020, 06:43:22 PM

Why did my alma Mater play Lesley?   What a joke.

I feel your pain here JEFFFAN. My Falcons faced them earlier in the season and it was extremely hard to watch. Not kidding there are a few high school programs down here in southern CT who could no doubt compete and possibly beat Lesley. I hate to say it because the players are out there competing and playing as best as they can but I think the school needs to take a hard look at their program and consider changing things up a bit......sheesh!