UAlbany accepts CIT invite
ALBANY, N.Y. >> The bus ride back from Vermont to the UAlbany campus was the quietest in Will Brown’s 16-year career. Forward Mike Rowley said no one spoke a word the entire way back.
The players and coaches might say they never thought they had the game won. But coughing up a nine-point lead late in the America East championship made the pain of a loss sting even more than normal.
“I get it. I understand it,” Brown said of the 56-53 loss. “It stings because we did what we set out to do as far as get to the final media timeout with a chance to win the game. The difference in the game could have been one more made basket by us. That’s how close it was.”
The Great Danes’ season isn’t over, though. With three sophomore starters that could use more games and practices, Albany chose to enter the CIT Tournament, and will play Saint Peter’s on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside SEFCU Arena. The Peacocks finished second in the MAAC and are one of the most accomplished teams to not be playing in the NCAA Tournament or NIT.
It’s a test, of course, for Albany. But it’s not the test they wanted. Brown said there was a “Vermont hangover” at Monday’s first practice back. He’d re-watched the heartbreaking tape of Albany’s difficult final stretch. He’d seen the things that could have gone better. But his task now was to learn from it, and get his team to move focus from failing at the ultimate goal this season.
“Any time you lose a game like that, you’re going to be emotional, disappointed,” Nich-
ols said. “Just felt I let my team down a little bit with the shots I took. It’s just replaying different plays in my head, seeing what I could have done differently, and learning and moving forward from it.
Brown thought his team was “over-anxious and undisciplined” in the last minute of the game. He also pointed to a couple missed open 3-pointers and a missed one-andone from Cremo. An ill-advised 3-point attempt to tie the game with 10 seconds left is still running through Nichols’ mind.
Saint Peter’s provides a similar challenge to Vermont in terms of defense. The Great Danes’ offense on Saturday sometimes would consist of using a lot of shot clock and asking Nichols to hoist a prayer. The Peacocks play some of the slowest basketball in the country. So this gives Nichols and Albany another chance to thrive in a half-court offensive set. It gives everyone an opportunity to do something just to put losing to Vermont behind them.
“Any time I can play and extend my college career, it’s kind of a bonus for me,” Rowley, a senior, said. “I know that in a couple of months, I’m going to be missing it. So to get another game, it’s going to add to the experience and hopefully we can get a championship.”
It’s not the Tournament, that, with eight minutes to play on Saturday, Albany thought they’d be gearing up for. But it’s a tournament nonetheless. There’s 26 teams, and Albany is the No. 5 seed. There’s a chance to win a title and it’s win or go home.
On Monday, the loss to Vermont had yet to leave the forefront. It was still right there, seemingly as painful as ever. But there’s still basketball to be played.
“I think the team continued to get better throughout the year, and I think they’re deserving of postseason play. I think we’re fortunate,” Brown said. “We had opportunities, and this is the tournament that we chose to go to ... Practice was better than I thought it would be today.”