New for the 2011-2012 seasons, the America East Daily Word, a collaboration between AmericaEast.com and AExtra, will recap the previous day's games and on goings on our nine campuses and provide links to previews, recaps, features and exclusive coverage.

Albany guard Jacob Iati would finish the season, forgo his final year of eligibility and join the Great Dane coaching staff as a graduate assistant.

That was the plan all along.

The plan has since changed.

A series of tweets from Albany coaches, including this one from head coach Will Brown, hinting at Iati’s potential return started to attract media attention. It was confirmed this morning that Iati will be wearing the purple and gold for one last season and returning for his final year of Great Dane basketball.

With injuries riddling the team in the latter part of the season, Iati burst onto the scene receiving big minutes down the stretch. In the last six games of the season, Iati scored 14.3 points per game including three outings that saw him break the 20-point clip. Prior to those six games he had averaged only 2 points per contest in his career at Albany.

"I am excited that Jacob will be returning to our team next season", Brown said in the official release on Iati's return. "He made the most of every opportunity and he provided our team with great energy and leadership down the stretch.”

With Iati’s return, Albany will have its entire roster back from a team that went 19-15 and played in the postseason Collegeinsider.com Tournament.

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