As fall sports schedules are starting to trickle in, just wanted to pass along this note about boys high school basketball.
Albany Academy is moving up to Class AA from Class A and will compete as an independent in 2008-09, not a member of the Colonial Council.

Here is there tentative schedule for the upcoming season.

It's certainly a great program that's run at Academy -- they went to Texas last winter and played some of the top talent in the nation. But, this is a novel situation for local teams. I can't think of any team in recent memory that played an independent schedule like this. The Cadets will play in the Catholic High Crusader Tournament to kick off the season in November - which should be a great introduction to Class AA.
But it looks like they're heading to at least three tournaments out of the area during the regular season - one in Florida and two in New York City. I think this could be a great experience for the players and another opportunity for the program to make a name for itself.

Do you think there will be any backlash with a team like Academy playing a premier national schedule during the season and then matching up with teams from the Big 10 and the Suburban Council in the sectional playoffs? How would the committee seed Academy against these teams that haven't played comparable schedules?

The Coaches vs Cancer event at Siena College should be another great day of basketball and the Cadets should again be a very good team. But come sectional time, don't be surprised to hear some grumbling from Suburban and Big 10 teams claiming the playoffs are unfair because they can't compete with the likes of Academy.

Fire away in the comments.
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Anyway, the countdown to the first day of high school football practice is just 12 days away.


-- Will Montgomery