Last week Ronald Moore said the last place he wanted to play in the first round of the NCAA tournament would be Spokane, Washington because the distance makes it so difficult for students and fans to make the trip.

Unfortunately, the NCAA Selection Committee didn’t hear him.
By car it would take a Siena student from campus 2,600 miles according to Google Maps, a drive of 1 day, 18 hours to reach Spokane. Moore was right, there probably won’t be a large Saints presence for their opening round game. Team manager Tim McElvoy estimates how many fans will be in the crowd this Friday for Siena’s match up with Purdue:

“Family members will obviously be there, and then the usual die-hard fans that come to all the games,” McElvoy said. “It will definitely be an older crowd; not too many students. I’m guessing there will be around 200 Siena people there.”

The past two years Siena College has offered its students a raffle to determine who would receive the school’s limited tickets to the opening round games. The tickets this year are expected to be around $60, but there’s a good chance the tickets won’t be sold out because travel costs would be too much for most students.

While those students hoping for a Buffalo or Providence playing location are disappointed, there is still a tremendous energy on campus surrounding the basketball team. While Purdue is in the Big Ten Conference and had an excellent season, they are by no means a basketball powerhouse. Robbie Hummel is quickly becoming the most talked about name amongst the student body, along with Purdue’s offensive struggles since losing him (scoring in the 40’s twice and scoring above 70 just once).

If there is one good thing to come out of the Saints playing in Spokane it will be that the site will be truly neutral. As any Siena student who traveled to Dayton last year can tell you, it was a virtual away game for the team as Ohio St. fans greatly outnumbered those who made the trip from Loudonville.

So students are slightly bummed about the location of the game, and are seriously worried about Clarence Jackson’s sprained ankle that he suffered during practice last week. However, just because the team will be in another time zone, it won’t prevent campus from basically shutting down and Albany bars from being packed as students and fans will be glued to their televisions to watch their Saints.