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Did you know Fran McCaffery has a 100% graduation rate for his recruits at Siena? That is among one of the many things they talk about in this interview.

Friday night’s games will be broadcast on MAACSports.com. Saturday’s and Sunday’s games will be broadcast on the MSG family of networks, and the MAAC title game will be on ESPN2. The winner of Monday’s night game will go to the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

Tickets–

Ticket packages for all 9 games can be purchased online, buy now.

Schedule–

• Monday March 8th
• 7:00: Final
• Sunday March 7th
• 4:00: Semifinal I
• 6:30: Semifinal II
• Saturday March 6th
• 2:30: #5 Rider v #4 St. Peter’s
• 4:30: #1 Siena v TBD
• 7:30 #2 Fairfield v TBD
• 10:00: #3 Iona v #6 Niagara
• Friday March 5th
• 7:30: #9 Manhattan v #8 Loyola
• 9:30: #10 Marist v #7 Canisius

Download the 2010 MAAC Championship Bracket as a word document. DOC

Naturally, for a game of this magnitude, the Albany and Troy bars will open their doors for the early tip off time to accommodate the many Siena students looking to go out to watch their Saints. However, those bars will only be welcoming still-depressed Colts fans (or the usual Knicks fan crowd). Why? Because this weekend begins Siena’s super early spring semester break and students will be essentially kicked off campus by early Saturday morning.

Instead of packing Jillians, Broadway Joe’s, or even just a townhouse, the majority of Siena students will be watching the team play from their homes– mostly in the tri state area. The upper classmen of the student body will be scrambling to find a sports bar while on their vacations to much warmer places than the capital region.

I’m going to do my best, but I’m going to be in the Bahamas. If I do find the game on TV, there’s a strong possibility I will be watching it in Spanish. – Tom McBride

This sentiment is shared by a great number of students going away for break. I should know since I am still currently in the process of finding a pub near my hotel in Key West…

Ronald Moore will be chatting on Sports Nation tomorrow at 3:30pm, but you can submit your questions now.

What a great team player, and a great story. I don’t care who he’s up against, he really deserves serious consideration for the Cousy Award, which Ty Lawson won last year.

Story #1: Rider Falls Back To Earth

Well all that great reputation Rider built up came down to a thud this weekend with double digit losses in Charlottesville and Lexington.

Rider came out flat on Thursday night at Virginia and were able to close the lead to 5 with 6:08 to go in the first half but were cold from the field in the second half. Rider shot 35% effective FG% in the second half after shooting 47.6% eFG% in the first half. Brandon Penn led the Broncs with 10 points.

Head Coach Tommy Dempsey did not make excuses for this game. “We just didn’t play well,” Dempsey said “We couldn’t guard them.”

In game two of the road trip, the Broncs found John Wall who showed off his skills (21 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists) in a double digit loss in Lexington.

Rider was off to a good start but a few hometown calls later and Rider’s great first minute dissipated into a halftime deficit of 25. Even though this game didn’t look like a great showing for Rider, the Broncs were able to create turnovers, get a lot of open looks from behind the arc and push the Wildcats in transition off turnovers.

Just to prove some officiating inefficiency, this is the actual call for “illegal touching” (if he even touches him) on Justin Robinson. Robinson is the only guy who comes remotely near to touching Wall on this play and it was a continuation and-1.

Dempsey said he was proud of the way his team competed. Ryan Thompson led the Broncs with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Even though he had a nice line, Thompson struggled being defended by Kentucky senior Ramon Harris, going 1 for 10 from the field.

So why did Rider start so strong and now played two straight poor games against big conference teams? Well in these two games Rider went a combined 11 of 40 (27.5%) from three point range. When three pointers combine for 37% of your shots over these two games (40 of 108), it’s going to be tough when you can’t hit those shots from behind the arc.

Story #2: Niagara’s Weekend Ends With Sunday Collapse

On Friday, Niagara woke up early again, 11am this time, to beat winless Howard 82-77. A great game from inside the 3 point line was key for the Purple Eagles, as they shot 63.1% (24 of 38) from inside the arc. Anthony Nelson led the way with 18 points, Bilal Benn pulled down 12 rebounds and Niagara combined for 7 blocks in a hard fought win.

On Saturday, Niagara took it to Central Florida with a 17 point victory. Niagara with good shooting (46.2% effective FG%) and holding Central Florida to 4 of 23 (17.4%) from behind the arc and overall (35.1% effective FG%) in a convincing win. Niagara forced 23 UCF turnovers and outrebounded the Knights by 14. Demetrius Williamson led the way with 13 points as every member of the Purple Eagles scored and had at least one rebound.

However on Sunday, they let a halftime lead of 15 slip away in a 69-67 loss to Austin Peay. Niagara got out on a big 15-2 run in the first half to start the game and had a lead as large as 17 in the first half. The Purple Eagles shot 51% from the field in the first half (66.6% effective FG%) led by 8 three pointers; however, they only made 7 field goals in the second half (34% effective FG%) and Marcel Williams layup with 4 seconds to go gave the Governors their 6th and final lead of the night. Anthony Nelson led the way for Niagara with 15 points on 4 of 7 shooting. Demetrius Williamson had 12 points, all of which came in the first half. Bilal Benn added 12 points and a team-high 8 rebounds.

Story #3: The Rest of the MAAC: Did Not Impress

Frank Turner brought his best game: scoring 27, grabbing 6 rebounds, dishing out 7 assists in a 10 point victory over St. Francis (NY). Greg Logins and Julius Coles posted double digits for the Golden Griffins, scoring 13 and 11 respectively.

Iona led by 2009 Rookie of the Year Scott Machado’s 20 points and 6 assists, coasted to an 80-68 victory over Norfolk State. Iona forced 20 turnovers and made 23 free throws in their third straight win. They have proven to be a dangerous young team as Head Coach Kevin Willard told the New York Daily News, “We have six freshman and all six have worked hard and bought into their roles and paid attention to what they have to do to help us get (to 3-0).” Next stop for Iona is Orlando for the MAAC-hosted Old Spice Classic against Florida State.

Loyola could not score (31.2% effective FG%) and could not stop Jeremy Goode (23 points) and Jean Cajou (16 points) in a 63-44 defeat to their local rival Mount St. Mary’s. Brett Harvey led the way for Loyola with 12 points.

The Manhattan Jaspers could not keep up with William & Mary who made 12 three pointers in a 75-70 defeat. Antoine Pearson led the way for the Jaspers with 24 points on 7 of 12 shooting. Pearson made 5 of 8 three pointers. Nick Walsh scored 16 for the Jaspers as their only other double digit scorer.

St. Peter’s was awake for this afternoon game with Youngstown State, but could not convert from behind the arc in a 68-56 loss. Wesley Jenkins led the way with 19 points and 7 rebounds but made the only two three pointers the Peacocks had all night. Youngstown State was carried by Kelvin Bright’s 20 points on 6 of 10 shooting, 14 of which were scored in the second half.  Ryan Bacon, who poetically scored the first points of the morning on ESPN’s Tuesday Marathon, had 5 blocks for St. Peter’s.

SSB: First off, what a game (against Georgetown) on Tuesday, you can bet we were all rooting for the Owls. Has your fan base being voicing that they wanted those two fast break points down the stretch?

Owlified: The poor shooting performance to start the game was absolutely killer. Going 1-10 against the #20 team in the country will do you no good. Also, Temple’s 3 point shooting percentage at the end of the game was absolutely atrocious to be honest. Imagine hitting just about a third of the missed shots, and that’s 20 points on the board early in the game.

Fans were more upset with what happened prior to that possession. Temple had opportunities, up by 3 points to hit crucial free throws, but couldn’t. That being said, Georgetown had every chance to keep this game in a position for them to win, and they took advantage of that.

SSB: What has gotten Temple to the NCAA tournament the past two seasons? With the departure of Sean Miller to Arizona, does that leave the A10 more wide open than it’s ever been this year?

Owl: Temple has gotten into the post season with late surges in our own Atlantic 10 tournament. It’s not easy getting an at-large bid, so as you know the safest way is to win your conference tournament. For the last two years, the Owls have run the table in the Atlantic 10 tournament to earn their invitation to the Dance. A three-peat? Eh, that won’t be so easy.

I think the loss of Sean Miller at Xavier will slightly open up opportunities for other teams in the conference. I do believe though even with several players lost on that roster, there’s still plenty of leftover and potential talent on that X roster. Dayton has run a successful program year in and year out (not to mention they just beat Georgia Tech last night), and will definitely be considered to take the conference.

SSB: From what I watched against Georgetown, Temple looked like an athletic team. How do you tend to matchup against teams that like to run and gun, score in transition, and pick your pocket–ie. teams like Siena?

Owl: Georgetown put Temple in an awful shooting slump, and I believe the reason for this is because they were able to slow us down and force us to run the offense. When you hold on to the ball too long, it becomes tougher to feed your guys in the paint, and more pressure can be exerted on your perimeter players. Also, your players sometimes tend to rush shots, regardless of time on the clock.

Defensively, you just have to play smart basketball. Temple’s defense seemed to show up for 40 minutes against Georgetown. Play smart, and execute– that’s all there is to it against any offensive unit.

SSB: Thanks for stopping by Owlified, looking forward to Saturday night and good luck with that football team of yours!

For the Saints this was a tale of two halves. The game began with a number of unforced turnovers, and the team struggled to shoot from the field. The players, coaches, and fans were getting frustrated as Northeastern jumped out to a 20-6 lead. Similar to the Tennessee St. game, the Saints ended the half strong and went into the locker room trailing by only six. In the second half Siena looked much more aggressive on both sides of the court, and the shooting finally came around (heck, even Rossiter hit a 3-pointer). Ubiles had an impressive performance in front of the Albany home crowd finishing as the game’s high scorer with 26 points. At times he looked unstoppable on offensive, and was able to create his own shot seemingly at will. The team needed this type of game from Ubiles because he was clearly the most athletic player on the court. Rossiter contributed a solid double-double outing (13 pts, 14 rbs) and did an excellent defensive job against the Huskies powerful frontcourt players. Jackson had two aerobatic blocks that kept the Saints in the game early on and helped create the momentum shift the team desperately needed. While Moore finished the game with only four points, they were all on clutch foul shots down the stretch to seal the win.

This was not an easy victory for Siena, and all the credit for that goes to the great efforts by the Northeastern players. They refused to quit, and never allowed the Saints to put the game out of reach until the very end. If this game is any indication, the Huskies should be in the hunt to visit atop the standings in the Colonial Athletic Conference. Matt Janning lead the team with 14 points, and point guard Chaisson Allen finished with 11 points. Center Nken Ojougboh should also be commended for being a solid paint presence for the Huskies. A lot of credit must go to Siena’s defense because at no point during the game did a Northeastern player seem to dominate on offensive, and it was clear it was difficult for them to get into a consistent rhythm.

While there seemed to be a lacking student body turnout for a nationally televised game, there was an excellent overall attendance for a noon tip-off game at the TUC. For the first ten minutes there were more Northeastern students than Siena students in the stands, and since the team wasn’t playing well the crowd wasn’t vocal. However, students began trickling in right on time as the team went on their second half run and the atmosphere intensified quickly. Thank you to all the students, alumni, and fans who helped welcome in college basketball to the capital region for another exciting season.

The Saints fought hard for a nice comeback win, but they have another tough opponent this Saturday at Temple. With this victory over Northeastern and a win over Temple, Siena will only increase their bid to be voted into the AP Top 25 Poll. They may also need a loss from a current Top 25 team, so if you can please catch a game or two on TV to root against one of these programs.

Update:
Pete Iorizzo tweeted earlier today that there were two NBA teams at practice today looking for Edwin. He also digs deeper as to what Fran’s mindset is when it comes to playing the younger players. Read More »