The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s official blogger, Steve Amedio combines his years of experience covering the MAAC with insightful opinions on his site: Keepin’ Track of the MAAC. Recently he outlined all ten teams and how they’ve fared so far, finishing with Marist. In our first part, we get his evaluations on the Saints so far this season. We’ll have more conversation on the MAAC with Steve Amedio as Siena breaks after visiting Northern Iowa…

Ryan/Siena Saints Blog: I think Siena has been very good at beating the teams they’re supposed to beat: going undefeated at home so far but dropping games to the likes of Temple, St. John’s and Georgia Tech. I think Saturday’s game at Northern Iowa is a real test and if Siena can pull off the win, it would be the statement win of this third of the season (Siena will be off 12 days after that game) What’s your evaluation of Siena so far?

Steve Amedio/Keepin’ Track of the MAAC: Pretty much as expected. The three losses have come against very good teams, and all on the road. Siena clearly wore down against both Temple and St. John’s late in the games. I didn’t think they’d beat Georgia Tech. I keep in contact with Paul Hewitt, and I knew they were going to be real good this season. They’ve got two or three future NBA players on that roster.

Siena needs to find some depth so it can be fresh at the end of close games.

Kyle Downey had back problems over the summer and didn’t work out at all until September. He wasn’t 100 percent when the season started. Owen Wignot didn’t give them much in the first few games, although he’s started to play better. Kyle Griffin, the transfer 6-3 guard from La Salle, becomes eligible for the Dec. 23 game, and he should help. I’ve been told he’s been looking great in practices, a real coach on the floor type with great range who can also play some time at the point. Davis Martens, who is from Germany, is eligible as of Dec. 31. He’s a 6-9 forward with good “skills.” He can shoot.

Otherwise, Siena has looked terrific of late. Its win over UAlbany was the best it has played all year, particularly on the defensive end. It had a nice win at Iona, which is a pretty solid team. Moore makes the team go. I’ve  covered the team since 1985. He is the best “pure” point guard I have seen here. He’s not as good a player as, say, Marc Brown or Doremus Bennerman, both of which played the same position. But, as far as running a

team [and] being a distributor, Moore is the best I’ve seen. The fact that he leads the country in assists attests to that.

As for Northern Iowa, I guess you could call it the chance at a “statement” win. Northern Iowa is very good, 6-1 so far and has beaten Boston College, Iowa and Iowa State, three quality victories.

That said, Siena hammered Northern Iowa here last year. Northern Iowa plays a very deliberate style. If Siena can force the tempo, like it did last year, it has a decent chance of winning. Last year, Northern Iowa’s “bigs” were pretty much non factors; they couldn’t contend with the quickness of Ryan Rossiter [and] Alex Franklin.

Still, they’ve pretty much got everyone back from last year so they’re better. That’s a long trip for a single game and it’s a tough place to play. It would be a very nice win if Siena can get it, but it won’t be anywhere as easy to do that as it was last year.

You can take a look at my season ending essay to get a feel of what I was thinking going into this essay. I’ve been working on other writing projects, and working in general like we all do, but my time between the final buzzer against Louisville until now has been far from idle.

I have studied and reveled in all the polls. Yes, all the polls in which the Siena Saints have been ranked in the Top 25. The Men’s Basketball team has been projected by numerous sporting publications to start the season as one of the best 25 teams in the country. Many have begun to believe, others still think the ranking is too high. It’s difficult to absorb the ramifications. As I promised to do in my season-ending essay I will not look to the future with rose-colored glasses, those days are over. In examining the goings-on of the men in green and gold I’ll take a look with close scrutiny while still maintaining the game to game enjoyment and growth of the program.

We live in a reality as Saints fans that is more clear-cut than ever before. But as a fan who has endured much, I write as a semi-impartial journalist who is here to make even clearer the realities that truly exist in the world of Siena men’s basketball fandom.

The Saints enter the season as the favorites once again, voted to finish first in the MAAC almost unanimously for the second consecutive season, with the sole dissenting vote coming from Tommy Dempsey, the head coach at Rider. A lot of Siena fans bashed the vote, but if you look at it objectively, it makes sense. I picked Rider to finish second – they return possible player of the year Ryan Thompson with experienced scorers and possess one of the best starting five players in the conference. Niagara should be a tough out once again, and the conference looks to be as difficult to win from top to bottom as it has ever been.

Anything can happen in March, before the big dance. Anything. Dempsey knows this, Joe Mihalich knows this, and everyone has to accept it. It’s the price of being a fan.

Am I trying to hedge my bets that Siena won’t win the MAAC tourney and get to the big dance? Hardly. I just know that as a lifelong Saints fan, and as a sports fan, and as someone who understands the complexities of competition it is difficult for any team to repeat, much less do it three times in a row.

If the Saints are fortunate enough to win the MAAC tourney for the third consecutive time it will be the first time in 20 years that a team not named La Salle has accomplished the feat. Siena has the personnel, it’s been well documented. Coach Fran McCaffery has said that this year’s team belongs to the senior PG Ronald Moore. He is the floor general, he has sneakers made of pure speed, and his basketball IQ and instincts are exemplary. He will make the team go, but add returning seniors Edwin Ubiles, Alex Franklin, junior Ryan Rossiter prowling in the post, and junior Clarence Jackson to the mix, you have a blend of players who know the McCaffery system and are going to spend forty minutes a night running and gunning until their opponent is gasping for air. The leadership, experience, and ability to create within the coach’s system should provide for fireworks and offense that will enthrall anyone watching a Saints game this year.

Now is the time to enjoy what’s going on, but to also understand that the future is bright in Loudonville, while also uncertain and possibly maddening. The pipeline seems to be working as coach continues to recruit well and to add players who are not only skilled but fit well in his system. This is the first time in the history of the Siena Saints when continuity seems to be working, and the coach is not only reloading each year, but truly building a program. The 2009-2010 season has one minimum goal – yes, one main goal – to return to the NCAA tournament and try to win at least one game in the big dance. Why just this one goal? Because if it doesn’t happen then everything the program has worked for will take a step back due to the amazing pre-season hype and rewards extolled on the players and coaches. If the Saints make it to the dance and lose, then at least they had the shot. Gonzaga, in making the progression they’ve made to get where they are today, lost a number of first round games in a row, but the fact that they continued to make it year after year is what got them to their perch. It’s what enabled them to be able to play BCS schools on a regular basis. It is the one goal that Siena needs to continue to set and attempt to make – returning to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament year after year.

Professional golfers repeat the cliché when playing in tournaments that the event can not be won on the first day, but it can be lost. The same can be said for mid-major basketball programs. Close is nice, but without getting over the hump continually then programs can not evolve in to perennial threats.

This is where Siena is trying to get to, and the last two years were huge hurdles that were leapt. The mountain is large, though, and the summit is still far away. If the Saints are fortunate enough to make the sweet sixteen this year then they’ve come pretty close to reaching their goal, I’d go as far to say as they made it. Then, next year, the journey begins anew, albeit starting closer than they’d ever started before.

This is not a primer on how to be a Saints fan – you all know how to do that already. It is just one voice saying things that need to be said. It’s cautious optimism, hiding a passion that knows that every non-conference win is a step closer to that holiest of college basketball grails – the at-large bid. The schedule isn’t as strong as last year, but with a pocketful of non-conference wins Siena will continue to garner attention based on all the looks that were given to them in the preseason.

I can’t wait to see the development of Kyle Downey and Owen Wignot, who should develop to be a huge addition off the bench as possibly the sixth man. He will be challenged by OD Anosike as the other player off the bench who could have a growing impact in the frontcourt, even as a freshman. There is a depth to this team that has possibly never been seen before– freshman guards Denzel Yard and Jonathon Breeden adding their versatility to the backcourt, La Salle transfer Kyle Griffen, and big man Davis Martens coming in midseason to give the Saints more options.

Capital District residents have been waiting for this era of Saints basketball to arrive since the 1989 win over Stanford in the NCAA tournament, and it is finally here. On Friday, the Saints will open the season on the road against Tennessee State. Road wins are always tough to come by, and the opening game result will go a long way to setting the tone for the season. The non-conference schedule doesn’t let up, with the home opener against CAA powerhouse Northeastern coming the following Tuesday. Temple, St. John’s, Georgia Tech, St. Joseph’s, Mount St. Mary’s – each win is step closer to what every Siena fan wants – a 25 win season and a chance to win the MAAC championship.

Get nervous before every game, listen to the General and Tommy Heurter, watch Sportscenter if we get ranked in the top 25 for highlights, read up on the next game and prepare if we don’t. It’s a long season, but the offseason has been more than rewarding. Let’s hope there are plenty of prizes on the way as the men of the Green and Gold pursue their third straight MAAC championship and postseason NCAA berth.

Get ready to march, and if the Saints are playing in March, get ready to scream. I’ll be right there next to you, ready. Have fun, Saints fans!

First is a nice write up on the newest Saint, Davis Martens, as well as a round up of the rest of the roster. He takes a deeper look into freshman PG Jonathan Breeden’s work ethic, McCaffery’s impressions of O.D., and La Salle transfer Kyle Griffin’s first time getting on the court since his knee injury.

Pete also highlights how the Saints measure up / weigh in this season; Rossiter, Ubiles, and Wignot being the big weight gainers of the offseason. Read Pete’s blog »

Kudos to Ronald Moore.

I haven’t written much because my perspective has changed.  Actually, it’s a reflection of how my twenty year viewpoint as a Siena fan has changed over the past five months.

After Siena made their run in 1989, and went to the final four of the 1994 NIT, I was thinking about the future.  I thought Siena could become Lasalle or better.  Then Mike Deane left and we had to suffer the Bob Beyer years.

Once Paul Hewitt came and revived the program, the same expectations arose.  Then he left.

This year, as a direct result of their success last year, my views changed.  I decided to ENJOY the success, without delving in to possible future aspirations.

ESPN touted Siena (along with other major media) as a preseason top 25 team.  I drank the kool-aid.  I bought in to the hype.  After the losses in Orlando at the Old Spice Classic, though, I changed my attitude.  Immediately.  I don’t know why, but it happened.

I decided to enjoy the wins.  I went to half a dozen games, and listened to the radio broadcasts or watched the televised games on DVR when I couldn’t make it.  It completely changed my view as a fan.

We may lose head coach Fran McCaffery this time.  Perhaps he stays – he is almost 50 years old, and there’s no guarantee that even if he signs a multi-year million dollar contract at a big school like Virginia the odds are that he wins more and has more success at a school like Siena.

But like Deane’s and Hewitt’s departures before, I’m now used to it.  So I’ve focused on the players, and the current success, and had more fun this year than ever before as a Siena fan.

With luck, we’ll keep Coach Fran.  Without it, though, we return four incredible starters next year, we get to put in the offensive and burgeoning defensive skills of Clarence Jackson to the the starting lineup, and welcome a highly regarded recruiting class while developing underclassmen Owen Wignot and Kyle Downey and adding the abilities of Lasalle transfer Kyle Griffen.

The future is bright, but I am basking in the glow of the present.  Never before has a Siena team been this successful or well regarded in the national spotlight.  We’re finally being talked about in the same breath as perrenial mid-major successes as Xavier and Gonzaga.  While I had always aspired to attain the successes of those programs for the Siena base, though, I’m not as focused on it as I have been in the past.  The program is in good hands, and they’ll still most likely never have the financial resources of those schools.  So I’ve decided to soak this in, watch my DVR’d replays from the past month, and look forward to whatever happens in the future not with bated breath or unattainable expectation, but gleeful anticipation.

There is a silver lining here – in the unfortunate instance that Coach Fran decides to move on there will be a VERY talented veteran coach waiting in the wings who may be able to step in and take the reigns at what now has to be one of the most desired mid-major programs in the northeast.  Tim Welsh is being mentioned, which would bring instant credibility to the program.  Perhaps someone else steps in with the vision of Coach McCaffery to continue strong recruitment and scheduling to continue the evident success which the program currently possesses.  Perhaps Coach Fran stays.  If he does, my newfound Zen-like vision will enjoy much satisfaction.

But I won’t look to the future.  I won’t be sad if Fran leaves – I’ll wish him well and thank him for the memories.  What I will remember is a regular season win over Stanford, a blowout tourney win versus Vanderbilt, and a 27 win season which saw us play the big boys and beat a Big Ten team for the chance to take the best team in the country down to the wire.

I’ll enjoy watching Siena come from behind to take a four point lead over #1 Louisville with seven minutes left in regulation in the second round of the NCAA tournament.  I’ll thrill at jumping up and down like a ten year old with my best friends in the bar watching Ronald Moore hit his two legendary three point shots against Ohio State for the win.

But I will not worry about if Siena ever gets any more recognition again by the national media – they got it this year.  They’ve arrived.  The Siena College men’s basketball team is now where I had always envisioned it could be, and they are enjoying what I’ve always wanted them to be: a nationally recognized program.

Here’s to an unbelievable season by your Siena Saints.  As fans enjoy it, revel in it, spend your summer soaking it in.  It will be just as good next year possibly better.  But don’t worry about it, don’t fret – just enjoy it.  The program has arrived, and it will succeed.

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