College basketball season begins Friday November 11th! Be sure to check out our daily previews of all nine America East schools. Here are some key notes on Albany women's basketball:
- The Great Danes were picked as the preseason favorite in the coaches' poll for the fifth-straight season after winning an America East record fifth-straight conference title last year.
- Albany finished last season ranked second in the CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top-25 after winning its first NCAA tournament game in program history, a 61-59 upset of No. 5 seed Florida.
- The Great Danes bring back the conference's leading returning scorer in Imani Tate, who averaged 18.3 points per game last year and was an All-Conference First Team selection. She was a unanimous pick to this year's preseason all-conference team.
- The Great Danes start the season ranked ninth in the CollegeInsider Preseason Mid-Major Top-25.
- Head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee enters her first season at the helm of the Great Danes. She is the 11th head coach in UAlbany women's basketball history.
- Bernabei-McNaMee comes to UAlbany after three seasons as the head coach of the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Ky. There, McNamee racked up 63 wins and led the program to back-to-back National Tournament berths, including a program-record 26 victories and an NAIA Final Four appearance in 2016. McNamee was named the 2016 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) NAIA Regional Coach of the Year, and was also named the 2015 Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year.
- Albany kicks off its season at Kentucky on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. as part of the Kentucky Classic. The Great Danes take on Miami (Fla.) the following night.
Head Coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee
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