ALBANY 1984-85 1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 EASTERN DIVISION CHAMPIONS

ALBANY PATROONS 1984 CHAMPIONS

ALBANY PATROONS 1988 CHAMPIONS

Albany Patroons
CBA 1982-1992

They could have been called the Albany Senators or Albany Leprechauns, but the fans chose "Patroons" in a name-the-team contest (patroons were Dutch landowners prevalent in Albany's history). In 1982, the Albany Patroons were an expansion franchise in the Continental Basketball Association, organized in an attempt to bring entertainment to the downtown Albany area. With no arenas or stadia suitable for a basketball franchise, the Patroons moved into the Washington Avenue Armory, a castle-shaped munitions depot that had housed basketball contests as far back as the 1920's.

The team's first year in the league was not a strong one, and former New York Knicks head coach Dean Meminger had trouble finding quality players to win games. And because of a dispute between the NBA and the CBA over the existence of the CBA's Detroit Spirits franchise in NBA territory, the few players qualified to be called up were ignored by the NBA - including Albany forward Mike Davis.

Meminger was later replaced by another former New York Knick, Phil Jackson. In Jackson's first year as a professional head coach, he coached the Patroons to a victory over the rest of the league in the 1983 All-Star Classic. One year later, the Patroons fought their way into the playoffs - and defeated the Wyoming Wildcatters in a best-of-five series to take the CBA championship in only the team's second year of existence.

Jackson stayed with the Patroons for three more years, winning the 1985 CBA Coach of the Year award for piloting the Pats to a 34-14 record and their first Eastern Division regular season crown. Among the players who helped Albany win game after game were former Division III basketball star Derrick Rowland, the flamboyant Frankie J. Sanders (the "J" stood for Jumpshot, should anyone ask), the quiet sharpshooter Lowes Moore, and veteran scorer Kenny Natt. Phil Jackson left the team in 1987, signing with the Chicago Bulls as an assistant coach - he would later win nine NBA championship rings to go with the 1984 CBA ring he acquired with the Patroons.

The Patroons looked for a new head coach, and eventually hired the most unlikely head coach in the league, Bill Musselman. Musselman, who had guided the Tampa Bay / Rapid City Thrillers to three consecutive CBA titles, had always been a thorn in the Patroons' side - those three championships came after beating Albany in three consecutive playoff seasons. But in the 1987-88 season, Musselman assembled a core of veterans and hungry rookies, pushing Albany to a 48-6 regular season record and a second championship. After that season, however, Musselman left the Patroons to accept the head coaching job of the NBA's expansion Minnesota Timberwolves - he later took several of his former Patroons, including Scott Brooks, Tod Murphy, Tony Campbell and Sidney Lowe, to the NBA with him. That 1987-88 season also included the CBA debut of Micheal Ray Richardson, the former NBA superstar who had been banned from the senior league for violating the NBA's substance abuse policy.

George Karl, who previously won a CBA championship with the Montana Golden Nuggets, was the Patroons' next head coach, and among the stars on his team included Vincent Askew, a shooter with tons of range and a hornet's nest of European contracts that kept him out of the NBA for years. In Askew's three years with the Patroons, he would set CBA and team scoring records, and win the CBA's Most Valuable Player award twice, only the third player in league history to earn multiple league MVP honors. During the 1988-89 season, the city of Albany built a downtown sports arena for basketball and hockey, and the Patroons would be the primary tenant.

During the 1989-90 season, with head coach Gerald Oliver patrolling the sidelines, the Patroons moved out of the venerable Washington Avenue Armory, and into the spectacular, state-of-the-art Knickerbocker Arena. Their debut game at the Knick, an overtime loss to the Rapid City Thrillers, the Patroons drew 11,272, at that time the largest crowd ever to attend a CBA game.

George Karl returned to the Patroons for the 1990-91 season, and coached Albany to one of the greatest regular season runs in basketball history. Behind such stars as Vincent Askew, Mario Elie, Albert King, Clinton Smith and Jeff Fryer, the Patroons achieved an astounding 50-6 regular season mark for the 1990-91 season, including a perfect 28-0 run at home.

In the team's 10th anniversary season, former Patroons assistant coach Charley Rosen was hired as head coach, with veteran Patroon Lowes Moore as his assistant. The 1991-92 Patroons featured a mix of veterans (Derrick Rowland returned for another season, as did experienced ballers Jeff Sanders and Clinton Smith) and new talent (Siena's Marc Brown; Idaho State's Johnnie Hilliard). In addition to their home games at the Knickerbocker Arena, the Pats also played games at Siena's Alumni Recreation Center and at the Glens Falls Civic Center. But the team struggled on the court; Rosen was fired midway through the season and was replaced by journeyman coach Herman Kull. Albany barely qualified for the playoffs, losing to the Birmingham Bandits in a "play-in" game.

At that point, rumors bounced around that the Pats might move to another city, as attendance at the Knickerbocker Arena was dropping (actually, the team still averaged 4,000 fans a night, but the Knickerbocker Arena could seat 15,000, so it looked like there were 11,000 empty seats each game). However, the team's owners found a way to gut out another season - by renaming the team the Capital Region Pontiacs, taking sponsorship from the local Pontiac car dealers. The team moved to Hartford a year later.

The Patroons returned to the CBA for the 2005-06 season, with former Patroon Micheal Ray Richardson as head coach. His assistant, Derrick Rowland, played for several years with Albany, and still holds most of the team scoring records. The top stars from the return of the Patroons included former George Washington standout T.J. Thompson; a high-flying dunker from the WBA's Rome Gladiators, Jamario Moon; and a big bruising center who went to school in nearby Schenectady, James Thomas. The Patroons barely made the playoffs, won one of three contests in the round-robin format, and did not advance to the next round.

             W   L   QW     QP   Result

1982-1983   16  28   75.5 123.5  did not make playoffs
1983-1984   25  19   89.5 164.5  Won CBA Championship
1984-1985   34  14  118.5 220.5  lost semifinals
1985-1986   24  24   99.5 171.5  lost quarterfinals
1986-1987   26  22   96.5 174.5  lost semifinals
1987-1988   48   6  149.5 293.5  Won CBA Championship
1988-1989   36  18  125.5 233.5  lost semifinals
1989-1990   41  15  136.5 259.5  lost semifinals
1990-1991   50   6  139.0 289.0  lost semifinals
1991-1992   24  32  109.0 181.0  lost play-in game

2005-2006   20  28   89.0 149.0  lost in round-robin tournament

1982-1983 did not make playoffs
1983-1984 Won in quarterifnals over Bay State, 3 games to 2
          Won in semifinals over Puerto Rico, 3 games to 1
          Won CBA Championship over Wyoming, 3 games to 2
1984-1985 Won in quarterfinals over Toronto, 3 games to 2
          Lost in semifinals to Tampa Bay, 2 games to 3
1985-1986 Lost in semifinals to Tampa Bay, 3 games to 4
1985-1986 Won in quarterfinals over Mississippi Jets, 4 gams to 0
          Lost in semifinals to Rapid City, 0 games to 4
1987-1988 Won in quarterfinals over Savannah, 4 games to 1
          Won in semifinals over Pensacola, 4 games to 0
          Won CBA Championship over Wyoming, 4 games to 3
1988-1989 Lost in quarterfinals to Wichita Falls, 2 games to 4
1989-1990 Won in quarterfinals over Pensacola, 3 games to 2
          Lost in semifinals to LaCrosse, 3 games to 4
1990-1991 Won in quarterfinals over Grand Rapids, 3 games to 2
          Lost in semifinals to Witchita Falls, 2 games to 4
1991-1992 Lost play-in game to Birmingham, 122-131

2005-2006 Lost in playoff round-robin to Sioux Falls, 97-106 (2-5)
          Won in playoff round-robin against Idaho 108-104 (5.5-1.5)
          Lost in playoff round-robin to Yakama, 114-132 (0-7)