Siena and UAlbany Go on a Break, Suspend Rivalry on the Court

Even Ross and Rachel took a break and still ended up together at the end of Friends so there's hope for Siena and UAlbany yet. After 17 consecutive seasons of playing against one another, the Saints and Great Danes are taking a break from the Albany Cup. For how long, we don't know.

In separate, well-timed releases on Thursday afternoon, Siena and UAlbany announced their non-conference schedules for the upcoming college basketball season. The noticeable absence was the Albany Cup. The competitive nature of this rivalry has spilled over into discussions about where the game is played. Ever since UAlbany became a Division I program in 2001, all but one of the Cup games have been played at the Pepsi Arena and now Times Union Center. SEFCU Arena on UAlbany's campus played host in 2016.

That alone nearly took an act of congress so getting the game back there seemed like a longshot and here we are: a stalemate that will last into 2019. Siena's side wants the game played at the Times Union Center citing the arena's capacity while UAlbany is playing the fairness card; true rivalries are home-and-home series or played at a neutral site. In this series, Siena holds an all-time 10-7 advantage while UAlbany has won 6 of the last 8.

Both schools' athletic directors, Siena's John D'Argenio and UAlbany's Mark Benson, say they're committed to keeping lines of communication open to renew this series in the future, but for now they're in a timeout. Is it the 30 second variety or longer is the question.