(AP Photo) In what we were hoping would be a more competitive game, Siena could not find their shot in the second half, the Saints scored just 22 points in the half and shot 23.3% from the field as they fell 70-53 at Butler, all but ensuring the Saints will have to win the MAAC Tournament in order to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in March. (ESPN.com Video Highlights)

Siena did a good job containing Matt Howard but Butler quickly picked it up with a 9-2 run sparked by three point shooting. ESPN’s Pat Forde was at the game and gave his quick take on how Butler was able to hold off the Saints. Siena did a great job in the first half to push the tempo but when Howard picked up his fourth foul, Butler found its groove in a four guard set to execute against the Saints defense.

Meanwhile SportingNews Mike DeCourcy drops in on his evaluation of the Saints and gets some good quotes:

The bottom line is Siena lost to every NCAA Tournament team it faced. And there’s this: The MAAC tournament will be played on the Saints’ home court, the Times Union Center in Albany. Given that they clinched the regular season with nearly a month to play, they’re not going to generate much selection committee support if they fall short of the automatic.

“That’s a really good team,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “I hope they get their due nationally. They’re a bear to prepare for, and those guys have been there, done that.”

Siena coach Fran McCaffery was asked whether losing this one changed the team’s approach to its remaining games—two in the regular season, and then the league tournament. Not in the mood to talk bubbles, brackets, busters or anything like that, he simply answered, “No.”

Over at The Dagger, Siena (along with William & Mary and Old Dominion) played themselves off of the bubble with losses this weekend.

Boasting a 22-5 record, 16 wins in its last 17 games and the No. 32 spot in the RPI, Siena would have made a strong case for an at-large bid by handing Butler a rare loss at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Now the Saints have no argument, not with an 0-4 record against teams in the RPI top 50 after early-season losses to St. John’s, Temple, Georgia Tech and Northern Iowa.

Rumor has it, even though now BracketBusters teams have two years to play return games, that Butler and Siena are already ironing out a date for a return game at the Times Union Center next season.

But for now let’s recap all of our BracketBusters coverage:

We found out Siena’s BracketBuster opponent as ESPNU made the announcement in late January. Bottom line, when it all comes down to it: ESPN gets what ESPN wants and ESPN wanted a Siena-Butler headliner game to start the event Saturday morning. Matt thought it had to be Butler and was right. Ryan gave a big picture BracketBuster preview on RushTheCourt. Not only that but there was even more coverage of the announcement and the result.

We had a Preview of Siena-Butler… Siena’s at large hopes for a MAAC team aren’t the first in the conference’s history. Remember Manhattan won an at-large bid in 1995 after losing the MAAC Basketball Championship Game to St. Peter’s in Overtime. It might take an overtime controversial loss to give the Saints a chance at an at-large bid since they lack a signature win.

We were also interviewed on College Hoops Journal where Matt Norlander, who also writes on Yahoo!’s The Dagger, started our Q&A with, “I wanted to share with you a quick Q & A I had with the guys over at Siena Saints Blog, truly one of the best team-oriented fan sites out there.” We’re a sucker for compliments and we talk about where Siena stands as a mid-major and how important Ronald Moore is to the team.

We also had a Scouting Report on Butler star Gordon Hayward who appears to be NBA Draft bound. Hayward scored 15 points and dropped in 12 rebounds in Butler’s 17 point win over the Saints.

Follow that up with an extensive question and answer period, our One on One with David Woods of the Indianapolis Star. (Part One Part Two Cross posted at Bulldogs Insider) His book, The Butler Way: The Best of Butler Basketball, is out and available on amazon.com.

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