Last year was a monumental year for the UAlbany Men’s Basketball team. Last year marked the third straight year that Coach Will Brown led the Great Danes to an American East Conference Championship and the third straight year that UAlbany qualified for the NCAA tournament. What made last year great was the story of the UAlbany team off of the court.
Peter Hooley, a junior and native to Australia, had just lost his mother. Her untimely passing in the middle of the basketball season caused Hooley to miss a month of team-related activity. Miraculously, the Great Danes went 15-1 in conference play and earned the number one seed in the American East Tournament.
UAlbany didn’t face many challenges until the finals. They were pitted against the second seed Stony Brook. Coached by Steve Pikiell, the Seawolves had lost in the finals for the last three out of four years. The game came down to the final shot. With under five seconds remaining, Peter Hooley hit a three-pointer to give UAlbany the lead and, ultimately, the win. Winning his second straight American East Most Outstanding Player Award, he dedicated the game-winning shot to his mother.
Later in the week, Hooley’s story was featured on SportCenter. This was the first time that a UAlbany player was ever interviewed by a major sporting news network.
Even though this was its third straight American East Championship, Hooley’s shot may go down as one of the best moments in the UAlbany Men’s basketball history. This year was less fortunate. The UAlbany team was upset in the first round by Hartford. The three-year-long streak was over. It was also Peter Hooley’s last game. After the game ended, Hooley and his teammates embraced at center court. As I stood at my seat in the emptying SEFCU Arena, my feelings mixed. It was a feeling of sadness and disappointment. It was upsetting to watch Hartford celebrate. It hurt to lose. My friends and I didn’t talk as we walked back to our dorms and the elevator was completely silent. It’s almost like we were in shock over what had just happened in front of us. Stony Brook went on to win the American East Tournament, marking the first time when they won a conference championship and the first time when they were to make an NCAA appearance.
This year, I feel that the heartache got to me. It was reminiscent of the New York Mets losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in game seven of the 2006 NLCS or the New York Islanders getting eliminated in the first round of the 2010 and 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s a loss that leaves a sour taste in your mouth, like you didn’t expect the end of the season to come that soon. There's all of the hype, all of the build-up, and suddenly the carpet is pulled out from under you. When your favorite team loses like that, it sticks with you. You invest your time and your patience in following your team for the whole season. You attend games and track the games on your phone for the ones that you can’t make. You know the players, know their stats, root for them no matter what their up against, and then there comes the time when they are beaten. With UAlbany being eliminated, it was the end of my hype for college basketball. To watch your team perform great for three straight years and then to watch that streak be broken, it’s a lot to take in for a superfan like me. So, I am taking a break from college basketball. I may watch the National Championship game, but with an absence of support for either team.
