I spoke with Laura Amato of the Troy Record on Thursday evening following an Albany basketball practice and she was gracious enough to share her time and thoughts on this matchup between Albany and Providence as well as her overall feel for Albany’s season and placing in the America East coming off of back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. Laura also happens to be a St. John’s alum who writes for the SB Nation site Rumble in the Garden covering St. John’s basketball so I’m sure we’ll be speaking with her later in the season when the Friars begin conference play. You can follow her on Twitter @LauraAmato.

Unfortunately I was having technical issues when I spoke with Laura on Thursday so I couldn’t use the audio for a podcast but I have transcribed the interview for the readers to get her thoughts.

Mike Hopkins: I know that Coach Will Brown has discussed that the team is pretty young coming off of last year but a few junior college guys coming in, I think two of them are supposed to start, so what do you think about the team overall?

Laura Amato: I think the big thing is that they have Sam (Rowley) and Pete (Hooley) back who were the crux of everything that they’ve been able to do over the last couple of season actually. They’ve got new faces and like you say two junior college guys are going to start on Saturday night but I think knowing that Peter Hooley and Sam Rowley are there has coach Brown a little more confident than he would be in another situation and every time I’ve talked to him this preseason that’s the first thing he likes to remind me of that Pete and Sam are still here and that’s really the focus this team going into the game.

MH: Peter Hooley being the MVP of the America East Tournament last year and I think he was also the leading scorer last season at 15.5 ppg.

LA: Pete’s just such an emotional competitor that it’s interesting to watch him play and after everything he went through last year I can only imagine that this year is kind of like a clean slate for him in that he doesn’t have a bit a million and two other things off the court that he doesn’t have to worry about. I was at practice today (Thursday) and I was talking to him about with some of the new guys on the court and even in the starting lineup the pressure isn’t quite so heavy on him, he’s not going to have to shoot from the outside  as much as he had to last year which is huge for him. He can move. He can make cuts. He doesn’t have to just be that pure shooter that he was last year. We’ll see how he goes on Saturday. But I think the offense this year is going to go as Pete goes.

MH: In addition to Sam Rowley who is a senior his younger brother Mike will be in the starting lineup.

LA: Poor Mike. It’s been a rough road for him. He had offseason surgery, foot issues last year and he was never really able to get going last year. So, he really, really fought this preseason to be get back up to speed and make sure he was available come gametime because he was going to be able to start. He battled for that spot for the 5. It’ll be interesting  see how he and Sam play off of each other just because they’re really going to be the only size that UAlbany has on Saturday and they’re going to be incredibly undersized.

MH: I was reading that Mike said he really isn’t a center but Sam is the best power forward in the league so you can’t switch that up.

LA: They’ve got a guy, came in from junior college, Richard Peters who’s 6’11. He’s a pure center and a giant of a man. But he’s not in the system and hasn’t gone through that preseason battle quite yet so Mike kind of fell into this 5 spot and he’s just going to have to get physical quick or it’s not going to be pretty on Saturday,

MH: Talk about Tre Green and Evan Singletary as the two point guards. I know Singletary is supposed to start.

LA: Evan is supposed to start which is kind of what we expected. In the scrimmages he’s gotten some more of the time than Tre. But when I had spoken to coach Brown after they did their intersquad scrimmage a couple weeks ago he’s seemed pretty confident they were going to be able to split time at point which is an interesting approach and not something they did last year at all when they had a senior point guard. But having both guys coming into the system I think it makes sense to both give them some looks especially before we get into conference play.

MH: In terms of conference play, they didn’t have a fantastic year last year, I think 9-7, but they won at the right time just like Providence did. You get hot in the tournament and you make a run. Where do you think they’re going to end up this year?

LA: I don’t think the preseason 3rd selection was too far off the mark honestly. I think Stony Brook is the team to beat in the America East. They return a heck of a lot of players including Jameel Warney. They’ve got returning player of the year and things like that plus they did play in the CBI, for what that’s worth. They actually lost to Siena who is our other local college basketball team up here. The number of kids they have back more than anything else is really enough to put them above the rest of the teams. I think the big thing for UAlbany, if they can win on the road and win some key games on the road then that’s going to set them up because this year the America East Tournament is in a different format where they’re not going to play the first couple of rounds at UAlbany. It’s a higher seed (hosted) tournament. So if UAlbany can win some regular season games on the road maybe they can get a home game in the tournament and then go on the road to win that could set them up pretty well.

MH: In terms of their style of play, what are they going to be looking to do against a more athletic, bigger team in Providence on Saturday?

LA: They’re going to have to move. They’re going to have to run and they’re going to have to try as much as they can to get out in transition and really rely on that backcourt because I don’t think they’re going to be able to matchup inside. The odds of them being able to tough it out underneath the basket are not very high on Saturday night. I think they’re really going to have to depend on that backcourt to move the ball and execute on offense. When I talked to coach today (Thursday) he was saying one of the things they really wanted to work on in practice today (Thursday) and even tomorrow (Friday) is cutting down on turnovers. The last couple of practices and the scrimmages that they’ve had they’ve just kind of had unforced, unnecessary turnovers and if that happens there’s going to be no turning back after that against Providence.

MH: Especially with the way Providence is set up right now early in the season they aren’t going to be a good halfcourt team losing Bryce Cotton. They don’t have that go-to scorer so if they can get out in transition that obviously is a big advantage.

LA: We’ll see how fast they can run on Saturday!

MH: What’s the biggest weakness for this Albany team beyond the physical disadvantages?

LA: I think maybe the inexperience at point guard with the system. You have to be a little concerned with a guy coming into a new team and a new system and new coaching staff who is trying to make his mark from the get-go especially against a team like Providence where you kind of have this big moment in the sun. There could be some forced passes and things that they don’t have to do that they might try to do to get an edge. If they let the moment get bigger than them then they’re not going to be able to handle it.

MH: That’s another thing I wanted to ask you about. Saturday Providence is going to have their ceremony to unveil their Big East Championship banner. The Dunkin’ Donuts Center will be packed and very loud. How do you think they’re going to handle that atmosphere?

LA: I think they’re ready for the game. I don’t think they’re intimidated. They went to Florida in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament and they were ahead at some points in that game last year. But, the key is the hold on for the entire game. Those last 5, 6, 7 minutes of the 2nd half are going to tell us a lot about how UAlbany is going to be this season. If they can hold on for the entire game and even make some plays late in the game, then, I don’t know if they’ll win but it will be competitive.

MH: What are they going to have to do if they want to knock of Providence?

LA: I think they’re going to have to get a big game from Mike Rowley. This kid has battled to get into the starting lineup. He really just wants to play and he wants to prove that he deserves to be here and deserves to play. If he can have a good game in any capacity whether that’s scoring or defending or even rebounding, I think that could have a huge impact on the way that UAlbany views itself and other teams view UAlbany going into the rest of the season knowing that this kid is another viable option for them.

Thanks to Laura Amato for taking the time to speak with me. Hopefully next time the audio difficulties are corrected and this becomes a podcast. As I mentioned earlier in the post, Laura also writes for the SB Nation site Rumble in the Garden which covers St. John’s so I’ll be looking to speak to her again when the Friars take on the Johnnies in 2015.