UAlbany Men's Basketball Coach Interview

ALBANY – UAlbany is happy to begin official practice on Friday afternoon, probably no one more so than assistants Pat Filien and Jeremy Friel, who will be coaching instead of participating.

Filien and Friel, who played collegiately at Saint Rose and New Hampshire, respectively, often had to take part in practices in the latter half of last season because injuries left the Great Danes with fewer than 10 available players.

Head coach Will Brown was determined that not happen again, which is why UAlbany enters this season with the largest roster in its Division I history.

“The last five, six weeks of the season, we had players practicing with coach Filien and coach Friel because we just had guys banged up, a couple of guys just suiting up for games,” Brown said. “We’ve got 17 bodies now, and I appreciate coach Friel and coach Filien’s effort, they’re not going to have to practice this year, which is good.”

UAlbany’s roster has eight freshmen, including redshirt freshmen Logan Aronhalt and Jake Lindfors.

Brown compared some of last year’s practices to individual workouts because the Great Danes couldn’t go five-on-five for long periods of time.

.”Poor Jeremy Friel,” Brown said. “It’s hard. We had to revamp our offense to keep us from turning the ball over so much, but we didn’t have a lot of practice time working on it against defense. Filien and Friel, I don’t want them to get hurt, but we needed them as bodies on the floor. So it was a challenge, but this year’s a challenge with 17 guys. But it’s a good challenge.”

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Brown was asked what his expectations are for this season. He said that he believes his team is possibly second in talent in the America East behind likely league favorite Boston University.

“To compete for an America East Conference championship,” Brown responded. “That’s not going to change. I think we can do it. Boston University has the most talent returning on paper … I think there’s three tiers in our league. BU by themself in tier one, Albany in my mind is going to be at the top of tier two, and then you’ve got some other teams, and then you’ve got tier three.”

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UAlbany had the worst turnover margin in the America East last season, but Brown said he hoped that would improve with at least four who can play the position: 6-1 senior Mike Johnson, 6-foot freshman Mike Black, 6-3 freshman Derrek Tartt and 6-5 freshman Ralph Watts. Brown said 6-foot junior Tim Ambrose could play some point against Syracuse’s zone in the opener on Nov. 9 since Johnson will be serving a two-game suspension for his off-season arrest involving illegal fireworks.

“I like the group we have,” Brown said. “We have more shooters now, which I think is going to help us offensively, than we did a year ago, and I think we’re going to be stronger at the point guard position than a year ago, understand what a point guard’s responsibilities are. I think the guys we have playing that position this year will get guys involved and I think the turnovers will go down.”

Last year, freshman Anthony Raffa played hurt and struggled with the position before transferring to Coastal Carolina.

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Brown said redshirt freshman guard/forward Logan Aronhalt, who missed last season with a foot injury, has been cleared to go full speed since Oct. 1 but may not be 100 percent until the league opener against Binghamton on Jan. 7.

“I think he would have played major minutes and been an all-rookie guy for us last year,” Brown said. “He can really shoot the ball. Problem is, he’s been inactive for a year. He’s had screws put in the foot, taken out, put back in.”

Brown said he was encouraged during a recent workout when Aronhalt went down the lane and dunked two-handed over another player.

“I hadn’t seen that kind of explosiveness from him since we recruited him, but he hasn’t been healthy,” Brown said. “But he’s got a ways to go as far as getting his wind under him getting some rust off and improving his lateral quickness because you’ve got to be careful with that foot … I think by conference play, he’s going to be a major, major contributor.”

Courtesy: M Singleais