The Rematch - UConn v. UAlbany

The Albany Great Danes are meeting the UConn Huskies this afternoon in a rematch of their encounter in the first round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament last season. When I was at Albany, the Danes were never considered a powerhouse, let alone worthy of being on the floor with a team like UConn. The game last season showed just how far Albany has come, and how much further the team wants to go.

It set a benchmark by which Albany will judge its future seasons. The team can take a huge step forward today in its meeting with UConn. The national exposure has resulted in season ticket sales doubling.

The University at Albany has turned a memorable loss on the basketball court last March into a resounding long-term victory for the school, according to university officials.

The UAlbany men's basketball team meets 18th-ranked Connecticut today in Storrs, Conn., a rematch from that riveting night eight months ago when the Great Danes caught the attention of sports fans all over America.


On St. Patrick's Day, the Great Danes were poised to pull off the greatest upset in NCAA Division I Tournament history. They led top-seeded UConn of the Big East Conference by 12 points with 11 minutes, 34 seconds remaining before a CBS regional television audience and a crowd of 19,990 at Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.

Gradually, UConn's superior talent took over and UAlbany ran out of gas in a 72-59 first-round defeat that ended the school's first appearance in the tournament known as March Madness.

But the national exposure the school received from that game helped contribute to an increase in student applications, greater alumni support and, say university officials, an overall better atmosphere on campus.

"The tournament had a huge effect on the university," UAlbany officer-in-charge Susan Herbst said. "It galvanized alumni around the country who saw the game, and it kind of re-opened their loyalty channels back to the university."

Herbst said she'll try to attend today's game, which coincidentally was scheduled before UAlbany and UConn played last March.

The tangible results of the previous meeting are obvious at UAlbany's SEFCU Arena, where season-ticket sales have nearly doubled from about 600 last year to almost 1,200 this year in the 4,538-seat building.

UPDATE:
The rematch wasn't nearly as close as last year's matchup. UConn won 86-55.