The Great Danes....We Battle Marmaduke

So, in the finale of the Legends Classic the Falcons will return to Calihan Hall looking to salvage a win against the Great Danes of Albany.  Love this logo...love it.

Anyway, remember when you did something like this in philosophy class?

All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Socrates is mortal.



Try this one on for size.
Niagara beat Bowling Green.
Albany beat Niagara.
Albany is favored to beat Bowling Green.

I think I got a C, BTW.  And luckily, this has nothing to do with logic.

Albany is probably the surprise of the tournament.  They took the hosts to double OT and then beat Niagara by 10 last night.  They are 2-5 this year, coming off a 7-25 season last year.  In recent memory, they did make two NCAA tournament appearances, but they were not expected to have a strong year in the America East conference.

They have beaten Farleigh Dickinson along with Niagara, and lost to Georgia Tech, Iona, Detroit, Cornell and American.

One reason for the improvement could be that their PG Mike Black is back from injury, and he gave them a lift with 19 against the Purple Eagles.  They also have Logan Aronholt and Tim Ambrose both of whom like to shoot the ball.  Together, they have just over 50% of Albany's shot attempts this year.  Aronholt is averaging 19 a game and Ambrose (shooting 55%) is averaging 16.

A major worry for this game has to be defending the perimeter.  They are shooting 43% from beyond the arc, and given BG's ongoing struggles defending the perimeter, this has the potential to be a game breaker.

They play at 64 possessions per game, which is pretty slow.  There might be an opportunity for BG to up the tempo a little bit.  They seem evenly matched with BG on the boards and in terms of turnovers, but they are terrible at the free throw line.

Finally, they are not a great defensive team, allowing 1.1 points per possession and an effecting field goal percentage of 48%.  So, maybe this is a game where BG scores some baskets.