Who is Siena? Haven’t I seen this name the past two years in my bracket? This name is so familiar I should just pick them right? Yes, and yes.

It’s a great day in sports; it’s the day that you spend penciling in teams in your bracket, until you can’t even read through the erase marks. Many of you are here now doing your due diligence on the 2010 Siena Saints.

If your team is in, congratulations, and good luck, unless of course you’re a Purdue fan, in which case we wish bad things upon you, well, that was a little dramatic– we wish your team plays extremely poorly on Friday night. We mean like first half Purdue poorly.

Recent History

The 2008 Siena Saints dominated Vanderbilt in the first round as a #13 seed. Their 21-point win over Vanderbilt was the most lopsided #13 over #4 seed win since 1985. They would go on to lose to Villanova in the second round.

Last year, #9 Siena took #8 Ohio State to double overtime in the first round. This is where PG Ronald Moore got his name on the map, knocking down two crucial threes in the closing seconds of each OT. In the second round, they were right with Louisville with about five to go, but the #1 seed proved too much for Siena to handle.

This Season

Siena has since lost one starter and one bench player in each year, but this has not stopped them. The Saints attempted to schedule up again this season, but nobody wanted to play them. Siena had their chances for quality wins against 4 NCAA Tournament teams; they lost a close one against Temple, lost at Georgia Tech (without Ubiles), competed closely with Northern Iowa, and got smoked by Butler.

Siena simply dominated the MAAC conference this season. Including the conference tournament, the Saints were 20-1 this season. In their last three games, they have trailed by 6+ points at half and have come back to win, including an overtime victory the Championship game. Siena trailed by as much as 15 points in the first half. One thing is for sure, if you let this team hang around, they will come back– they are resilient.

The Starters

PG Ronald Moore
Moore leads the nation in assists, but more importantly, is the most clutch player perhaps in Siena’s history. Ronald may only be shooting 23% from three this season, but two of those three pointers have come in the closing minutes of the Saints’ past two games.

SG Clarence Jackson
Clarence is the three point specialist for Siena, but has proven that he has the ability to drive the ball to the hoop with authority.

SF Edwin Ubiles
Ubiles marks the top of Siena’s 1-2-2 press. He has great length, anticipation, and the most NBA potential on this team. Edwin appears to be finishing off his Siena career strong, shooting 47.8% from the field in his last five games. Ubiles can simply do it all.

PF Alex Franklin
Conference Player of the year, MAAC Tournament MVP, there is not much else you really need to say about Franklin, who has greatly improved his ability to put the ball on the deck and go one on one. Alex’s strength is not found anywhere else in the league, and he has proven he can match up with bigger Div. I talent.

C Ryan Rossiter
Ryan Rossiter is sometimes overlooked, but it is hard to overlook his presence coming into this game. He is 5th in the country, averaging over a double-double per game, 21 this season. Rossiter is the smartest player on this team, and fights for every rebound.

Quick Facts

• Location: Albany, NY
• Enrollment: 3,000
• 6th NCAA Tournament Appearance
• Siena has the second longest home court winning streak (38) in Division I

Catch the 2009-10 Siena Saints video highlights and more HD video at our video page.

Colin Nickerson of the Fairfield Stags just missed a three pointer to win the game Monday night and potentially send the Saints into the at-large conversation.

If Nickerson made that three pointer Monday night, would the Saints be able to stir tournament talk today or would they have been bound to the NIT?

Gathering around the world’s top bracketologists and their opinions reflected the industry’s agreement on the Saints chances had that shot fell through Monday night.

David Mihm of Bracketography said the Saints would have been in the discussion for an at-large but didn’t think their conference’s strength helped their chances.

“I think there’d have been a very slim chance for Siena to make the field, probably less than 20%,” Mihm said. “The MAAC didn’t have the same level of teams at the top that other quality mid-major leagues like the CAA and CUSA had this season.”

The MAAC currently ranks 15th of 33 conferences in Ken Pomeroy’s conference rankings.

Eric Prisbell from his Washington Post “The 65″ blog, said the margin of error is extremely small for mid-majors like Siena and slip up meant a tough verdict despite their recent dominance.

“This is life for mid-majors, a tough life where the margin for error is very small. But everyone knows the deal: if you’re a mid major you try like hell to play a few top teams in nonconference play and hopefully beat at least one. Siena did not,” Prisbell said. “Then you have to dominate your conference. Siena did that. Then you try to get a boost from the BracketBuster game. Siena could not accomplish that. They were unable to secure a signature victory, the Niagara loss really hurt, and Siena therefore had to win [Monday].”

Rivals.com’s Mike Huguenin said Siena would have had a chance at an at-large but would have likely not made the field despite the fact that teams did not want to play the Saints.

“Siena is a team that can do some damage in the NCAA tourney – hey, just look at the past two seasons – but the Saints wouldn’t have the resume needed to get into the field. We did a three-part series in the offseason focusing on how three schools did their scheduling for this season – Tennessee, Siena and Morehead State.” Huguenin said, “Siena was the only one that had an enormous amount of trouble filling out its schedule, and that scheduling trouble could’ve kept them out of the NCAA tourney.”

Chris Kulenych of Bracketology 101 said that even with a weak bubble, the Saints resume did not stack up against the likely bubble contenders.

“Even with such a weak bubble this year, it would have been extremely difficult to come up with a case for the Saints getting an at-large,” Kulenych said. “They have no Top 50 wins, got pounded in their BracketBuster game and their strength of schedule is almost twice as high as it was last year (125 vs. 66).”

Sports Illustrated Andy Glockner said if the Saints snapped their 37-game home win streak on Monday night it would mean no chance at breaking into the field.

“I don’t think Siena was getting in as an at-large,” Glockner said. “Losing at home in the final after whiffing on every big non-league chance rarely means good things for a mid-major champ.”

Meanwhile Bracketography’s David Mihm finds it interesting that now the Saints are rooting for upsets now that they won instead of rooting for conference favorites if they were a bubble team.

“It’s somewhat ironic that had the Saints not gotten the automatic bid, they’d be rooting against any upset…but now that they’ve got it, their seed will be improved if the Bubble shrinks and at-large teams get bounced,” Mihm said. “Upset winners in leagues like the WAC and Pac-10 would definitely be seeded below the Saints.”

Ryan Restivo covers the Saints for SienaSaintsBlog and can be found writing about college basketball on RushTheCourt.

We all know you’re looking for the story, the cinderella, well the shoe fits. Davidson was the talk of 2008– with one storied sophomore. This team has three seniors– one the nation’s assist leader, one the conference player of the year, and at least one who is heading for an exciting NBA draft day. Three great kids who are going to graduate, and three great kids who know how to put on a show. If you want a story, give this team an 11 or 12 seed and give them the shot to make a deep run. In 2006, George Mason made that run. It’s been four years, Siena wears green and gold, give these seniors the chance to make that memorable run your friends at CBS would like to see.

Selection Committee, you can help.

How much will you work this week?

To be honest with you, not very much. We’ll lift and shoot. The guys have some nicks and bruises, so we’re going to try to get them healthy. That’s the beauty of winning on Monday and not having to play for almost two weeks…Rossiter tweaked his ankle two days before the Manhattan game and we didn’t say anything about it…O.D. wasn’t himself the final two games. He desperately wanted to play and I played him, but he just was not himself. He will be by tournament time.

What’s the highest seed you could make a case for Siena ending up in the brackets?

I have no idea. I never look at that…I just know we have a good team. I’ve been impresses with the committee’s sense of fairness over the years. I just know there was a time when we got in and just watched and praying we’re not the play-in game. Nobody wants to be in the play in game. It’s unfortunate. They shouldn’t have it. I’ve said a million times that if they have it they should put the two 8th place teams from whatever conference in it. Not teams that win their way in it. That’s my opinion. So I just know we’re not going to be in the play-in game.

Comments on Edwin Ubiles’ (360) dunk against Fairfield?

Timmy Welsh has no idea what he’s talking about, and I love Timmy Welsh. He kept saying how he was upset about it. I wanted him to do it. And by the way it didn’t matter what I wanted, he was doing it anyway….It’s was either going to be a windmill, a 360, or a reverse. One of those three….Either way it was going to be a high percentage shot…It was good for him, it was good for our press, it was good for the crowd. He’s always been able to do stuff like that to get everybody fired up. I think more than anything it really gets him energized. He was phenomenal.

Ronald Moore:

How much fun is this week for you guys with no real game to prepare for?

It’s a lot to be able to relax, re-energize, and really enjoy winning the championship…Practice will be light…The buzz on campus is at its best after winning a championship, so we’re really enjoying it. Especially the younger guys, like the freshmen and the sophomores who’ve done this a second time, they’re enjoying this too. We’re all excited for Sunday to see who we’re playing.

Any particular city you hope to be playing in for the tournament?

Definitely don’t want to go too far…Somewhere closer where the fans can get to and come out and support us because those fans definitely play a major part in our success. Especially at home when they get behind us and rally behind us.

Alex Franklin:

Is it worth the risk to do a difficult dunk like Ubiles did?

I think it’s definitely worth the risk. You don’t want to miss it. I think when you’re going up there you have the confidence that you’re going to put it down. It really does a lot for the crowd and it really gets us as a team energized too. (Would he do a 360?) Nah, I’d probably just dunk it really hard.

You had some solid free throw numbers in the tournament. Was that something you concentrated on leading up to the tournament?

Yeah, the last couple of games I was struggling from the free throw line. I wanted to get in the gym, get some more shots up because I know the way I play I’m going to get fouled a lot…They (the coaches) say something to you, but it’s more of yourself involved just trying to get out there and trying to get the free throws in because I know I’m going to get to the line most of the time.

That was the general reaction from students the day after the debacle that immediately followed the Saints winning the MAAC tournament. Initially, the influx of security and police officers appeared to have the upper hand. With 30 seconds left in the game they quite literally lifted a female student off into a nearby tunnel while one member of security was poking Siena fans who were getting too close to the rail with the end of a large MAAC banner. Narrowing down the passage to the floor to basically two aisles was looking like a successful tactic in keeping the student sections from storming the court.

Until with approximately 11 seconds left when the bunched up sea of yellow began to chant in unison, “You can’t stop us!” Then everyone in the arena knew that 30 men really couldn’t stop 1,000 running students. They tried anyway, however, and with the tight spaces security created a jailbreak scenario ensued that actually increased the chance of injury to students.

Around campus students are describing how they watched helpless people trapped up against steel bars as the momentum of the crowd kept pouring down a single aisle. In classes they talked about how scared they felt compared to past years. When told that it was the MAAC that insisted on targeting Siena students and not the Times Union Center, many students took it as an anti-Siena ploy. Would security even move to stop the 50 or so Fairfield fans from rushing down to the court if Needham hit that game winner? There certainly weren’t any apologies on campus for Siena’s basketball success or for the students’ passion for the team.

MAAC commissioner Rich Ensor made a comment referring to the student’s rushing the court this year as inappropriate due to the Saints’ recent success in the MAAC tournament. What Ensor is unable to understand (or admit) is that these past 4 seasons have stood as the most historic college basketball period in Siena’s history. This wasn’t just another game. It was the end of an era that has never been seen before in this league. How many teams across the nation over the last ten years have been to their conference finals 4 consecutive times, and won 3 in a row? How many teams in the MAAC have done that…ever? Yes, Siena was expected to win this season, but no team is ever expected to have the lasting dominance they’ve have and the students should not be criticized for wishing to be a part of that in some way.

“It’s frustrating because you always see that picture around campus of Ubiles on top of everyone’s shoulders after they won it all last year. It’s an awesome shot. Who wouldn’t want to be in that picture? But all of a sudden this year we’re not allowed. I don’t get it,” senior Lisa Dussalt. There are some who feel the Siena students should have remained in the nose bleed seats and watched their team cut down the nets through binoculars. There are some who feel that by storming the court and disobeying rules, the students were ruining the integrity of college basketball. So what does this writer say to those people who feel college sports shouldn’t be enjoyed most by the students who make up the schools? I envision that classic Ubiles picture where he is being hoisted up in celebration by his peers and think to myself: Funny how you’re not in it.

Winning the MAAC Championship, traditionally played early on in championship week, gives teams, fans, and pundits a welcome luxury – a six day respite before selection Sunday and then another few before the tourney starts in earnest.

With the big three graduating after what hopes to be a fruitful NCAA tournament run, this is the perfect time not only to reflect on their impact on the Siena men’s basketball program, but to also try to place them in their proper slot in the pantheon of Saints/Indians teams in history.

While I’m a modest basketball historian I don’t really go back farther than 1985 in terms of Siena basketball knowledge, although I’m well aware of Billy Harrell and the Bill Kirsch and John Griffin teams that competed over the last 70 years.

The team that put the program on the map, though, was obviously the one that beat Stanford in the 1989 NCAA Tournament, and almost beat Minnesota in the second round, and they have often been praised as the benchmark squad.  All discussions of best Siena teams ever must start here.

When looking at the 1989 team, one has to start with the NAC (which would become the America East Conference) finals which was the culmination of the Measles outbreak quarantine. A Steve McCoy put back off a Tom Huerter miss gave the Saints their first ever trip to the dance after doing the same thing earlier in the year on the road at Pittsburgh.  The NAC finals also was the first time the team played under the Saints moniker after switching from the longtime handle of Siena Indians.

Clearly Marc Brown is the best player to ever wear the green and gold, leading the program with 2284 points scored and 796 assists, and McCoy, Tom Huerter, Jeff Robinson, Monty Henderson, Mike Brown, Steve Downey and Bruce Shroeder were staples on a team that did what this year’s team excels at – they played as a team.  Yes, Showbiz could go off for 30 on any given night, but Robinson and Henderson were like a mix of Edwin and Clarence who could shoot from the outside but also slide in to the paint and get 15 a night at least.  McCoy was the Rossiter counterpoint, but Ryan Rossiter has many more tools than McCoy ever did, as valuable as he was.  And Huerter and Mike Brown were the perimeter players who could drain the threes that this team is somewhat lacking, and also hit mid-range jumpers and finish at the rim.  There were a lot of shooters on a team that Mike Deane liked to run in to the ground, and run in and out of the game – they were deep, and they could score.

I would argue, however, that one must also consider the NIT third place team of 1994, led by Doremus Bennerman, as having a rightful stake to the title of best ever.  While NCAA wins are gold, and we’ve been lucky enough to have seen three now over the years from the green and gold (four if you count the opening game win in 2002,) getting to Madison Square Garden and playing in the NIT final four is air that is just as rarified as that elusive first round NCAA tourney win for most teams.  While Marc Brown held the mantle of most assists in Siena history, eclipsed recently by Ronald Moore, Doremus took the program to new heights, leading the team to what I still feel is one of the most impressive wins in Siena history, and one of the greatest victories I’ve ever seen on their home court, beating the Bobby Cremins led, NCAA tourney snubbed Georgia Tech team in the NIT run in 1994.

They followed that with home wins on the Knickerbocker Arena floor against Tulane and Bradley (the Tulane game still ranking first in home game attendance at 15,727 spectators.)  Doremus scored 51 points in the runner-up game in that NIT at MSG under the bright lights of national television against Kansas State after losing to Villanova in the semis, and grabbed the MVP award for the tournament.  He was paired with fantastic role players and scorers in their own right in Stu Downey, Geoff Walker, Brian Bidlingmyer and Matt Gras – seeing either the 1989 team or this team match up against the big three and their teammates would be a dream for any Siena fan.

Honorable mention has to be given to the 1999-2000 Paul Hewitt led Saints who possibly had the most talent of any class other than the current string of players: Marcus Faison, Dwayne Archibold, Scott Knapp, Jim Cantamessa (nicknamed Cant-a-miss-a for you die-hards), Corey Osinski, Prosper Karangwa and Isiah Stewart – if not for one of the worst matchups any Siena Saint team could ever hope to get in the 1999 NCAA tournament against a superior athletic and hot shooting Arkansas Razorbacks squad, maybe this team would rank a little higher.  There’s no doubt these players deserve mention though, having multiple NIT wins and another NCAA appearance from the miracle MAAC tourney run of 2002 led by Archibold and Karangwa.  The athleticism of this team would match up better with the current crop of players than the 1989 crew, and with Paul Hewitt’s electric offensive system and the outside shooting of Knapp and Cantamessa a high scoring, high octane game would be sure to break out, with the defensive capabilities of Fran McCaffery’s players possibly being the difference, even though Hewitt’s team liked to press just as much.

In viewing the accomplishments of the big three, though, and trying to judge where they fall in Siena basketball greatness, one really only needs to start by looking at the numbers.

• Alex Franklin, Ronald Moore, and Edwin Ubiles have compiled a record of 97-37 in their four years playing under Fran McCaffery
• Ronald Moore is the all time Siena and MAAC conference leader in assists with 818 and will finish the year leading the country in that category.
• Edwin Ubiles is the third all-time leading scorer in Siena history, and Alex Franklin ranks fifth.
• Ryan Rossiter, in his junior year alone, has grabbed 21 double-doubles.
• The Saints have won 38 consecutive home games, and have won 43 of their last 46 games against MAAC opponents.
• For the first time in team history, the Saints have four consecutive 20 win seasons, and are the fourth team in MAAC history to make three consecutive tournament championship game appearances, and the second to win three championships in a row, along with the LaSalle team which dominated the conference 20 years ago.
• The Saints eclipsed the perfect record of the LaSalle team who went 16-0 by going 17-1 in conference this season.

Paired with the numbers alone the two NCAA victories in the last two years cement this team as the best ever to wear the Siena uniform.  The team couldn’t have done it without Tay Fisher, Josh Duell, and most importantly Kenny Hasbrouck in the last three years, so put an asterisk on it if you want, but the bottom line is that everything that has happened on this magical run has happened under the watch of Franklin, Moore, and Ubiles.  The Siena Saints fan base has had much to root for over the years, but nothing more valuable and important than the play of these three student-athletes and Coach Fran McCaffery.

Siena fans rush the court as the Saints celebrate their third straight MAAC Championship Monday night.

The MAAC attempted to stop Siena fans from storming the court and instructed the security at the Times Union Center to do their best to stop them.

However the battle between students and security was a petty one compared to the one that raged after the game.

Times Union Center General Manager Bob Belber said MAAC commissioner Rich Ensor was adamant that students not reach the floor while Belber had doubts as to whether or not it would be successful.

“He wanted barricades to be placed across the concourses to prevent the students from filtering into other sections of the arena to gain access to the floor,” Belber said in a statement.

“I told [Ensor] a number of times that the kids just want the opportunity to celebrate,” Belber said. “[Ensor] was determined to try to keep the students off the court, which is why there were security guards trying to keep students from entering the court areas.”

Belber also said that the security guards were trained to let the students go if the pressure was too great. Eventually the students broke through and reached the floor late after Siena’s overtime victory over Fairfield.

A Siena spokesperson said there were no sustained injuries and the Albany police said there were no arrests related to the court storming last night.

MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor fired back at Belber this afternoon. Ensor said his only plan was to want to protect the integrity of the game.

“That was our plan,” Ensor said to keeping the students off the court. “How the arena trains its staff and implements the plan is their business.”

Meanwhile Ensor did not spare taking a shot at the Siena Saints student section either.

“The incidents that occurred where are students aren’t listening and starting interacting with security and started throwing punches is really a reflection on the students,” Ensor said.

“I think there’s a tradition that’s developed at Siena that they want to storm the court and be a part of the action,” Ensor said. “The first time you win a championship, maybe there’s a reason for the spontaneity. At this point, it’s gotten beyond that to a very systematic approach.”

Meanwhile Marist and Rider fans will hope to not be run into the security policy that Siena fans ran into Monday night when they win their first MAAC tournament championships.

Belber said that he hopes the incidents last night will not strain the relationship between the Times Union Center and the community.

“The staff of the Times Union Center worked very hard and put in tremendous hours to host this record-breaking tournament, and it is a shame that there are negative feelings toward them for trying to carry out the directive of the MAAC,” Belber said.

The MAAC broke the attendance record set last year in this year’s MAAC Tournament.