I often stray from posting my own opinion on this site, mostly in an effort to remain professional. But this time I’m not holding back, and I hope I get a ton of comments on this post…

Niagara is a bunch of punks. That’s right, I gave you your due credit above, but your team is full of punks, and it always has been (16 seed in 2007). This is not me being bitter about the loss, it’s just that personally I never like to watch players talk smack, or play rough (we’ll be watching closely Goldsberry), or take cheap shots during competition. I understand it gets heated out there, but going out and doing your job has nothing to do with roughing up other players, or talking smack. Play the game, play it like a man, not a punk kid.

Hopefully, we’ll see you punks in March.

I thought the key to the game was how we defended in the second half of the game…We were plus 11 rebounding in the second half. We did a much better job covering up on rebounding the ball.

Why was Edwin Ubiles held out of the starting lineup, and how well did he respond once he did come into the game?

He was late for a meeting yesterday. He responded in a big way….He handled the point when we needed him to. He had a couple of big put backs.

What was the impact of Kyle Downey today?

Kyle hit a huge three for us and a nice runner…Clarence was a little sideways; he missed some shots.

Coach Joe Mihalich:

They were the better team today, no doubt about that. If it’s not one guy, it’s another.

What were the difficulties defending Ubiles?

When you let a really good player get a couple easy ones early, the basket gets bigger and bigger.

Tyrone Lewis:

First half we played hard. Second half we let them do whatever they wanted…they didn’t do nothing different…they didn’t play a different defense or anything. We weren’t tough enough.

The familiarity of old friends Joe Mihalich and Fran McCaffery is just one of many storylines that has made the Siena/Niagara rivalry so compelling.  Players such as Ronald Moore, Clarence Jackson, Tyrone Lewis and Bilal Benn have become familiar in the offseason as well playing summer pick-up games together.  The two teams have faced each other in two of the last three conference tournament finals and combined to win four of the last five league titles.  Together they account for the most wins in the MAAC conference since 1997-98.

Saturday’s game will pit two squads against each other who have drastically different playing styles, even though they have very similar team makeups. The Purple Eagles will shoot freely from beyond the arc, try to force turnovers, and maximize their possessions by taking care of the ball. The Saints will push the tempo, get their transition and post games going, leading to open lanes for their shooters.  As different as their play styles are, their statistics are almost identical.  They match up closely in points scored and points allowed, with Siena holding an edge in field goal percentage and rebounding, while Niagara excels slightly in 3 point shooting percentage and turnovers made.

The Purple Eagles are led in scoring by 5’11″ senior guard Tyrone Lewis, who is averaging 16.5 points per game.  He is followed closely by 6’5″ senior swingman and Player of the Year contender Bilal Benn, who is averaging 15.5 ppg and 10.5 rebounds per game.  While most people would think Siena has the best balanced scoring attack in the MAAC, Niagara boasts four players averaging double digits in scoring.  6’6″ senior forward Demetrius Williamson and 6’2″ senior guard Rob Garrison are averaging 10.4 and 11.1 ppg respectively.

The Saints are on a roll, undefeated in their last five games, and they have averaged double digit wins in their four MAAC conference games.  Team scoring leader Clarence Jackson, who is averaging 15.1 ppg, is coming off a 24 point, 7 steal performance in their win at Loyola last Monday night.  Ronald Moore continues to lead the nation in assists per game with 8.7 for contest, but he has uncharacteristically had a negative assist to turnover ratio recently.  The team has been buoyed by the rebounding of Alex Franklin and Ryan Rossister, who are helping lead the Saints in rebounding in the MAAC conference, and Edwin Ubiles has returned to being the prolific scorer that he is and possibly the team’s best on the ball defender. Ubiles is averaging 18.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in MAAC contests this year.  Jackson, Ubiles, Franklin and Rossiter all average double digits in scoring.

Niagara has just as much experience as Siena, but the Purple Eagles have yet to win at the Times Union Center and the Saints are 7-1 overall against them during Coach McCaffery’s tenure.  They will need to hit their threes, which is possible given Siena’s penchant to leave players open on the perimeter at times.  Siena’s press can be effective, and they have shown brilliant stretches of on the ball and pressure defense throughout the course of the season, but weak perimeter defense has been a bugaboo of the team at times.  The deciding factor in Saturday’s game could be the rebounding advantage of the Saints, who have a slight edge in front court size but a marked edge in rebounding production.

Both teams are playing for more than first place in the conference on Saturday – they are going to try and make a statement as each school is jockeying for position as the conference schedule enters the middle portion of its slate.  Fans of both schools should be ready to enjoy what should be an exciting bout of two evenly matched and experienced teams.

KEYS TO THE GAME

• Sounds Like a Broken Record, Broken Record: Free throw shooting, defense, free throw shooting, defense…the same two things have been said over and over in assessing what the Saints need to do game in and game out.  The team is clearly improving their free throw percentage over the last few games, but for players of their ability it is still too low and could come back to haunt them.  After early season inconsistencies on the defensive end the Saints have seemed to right the ship, but they haven’t faced as prolific a three point shooting team such as Niagara since Northern Iowa, who they were unable to contain.  The Saints need to shut down the outside shooters of the Purple Eagles to earn the win on Saturday.
• Hit the Boards Jack: The frontcourt of Ubiles, Rossiter, and Franklin combine to average 22.8 rebounds per game, and the team is outrebounding its opponents 38.7-35.6 per game.  Rebounding is going to be crucial on Saturday – if the Saints can continue to dominate on the glass then they can feed their uptempo game and get their runners out on fast breaks.
• Benn There, Don’t Do That: Bilal Benn missed time this year due to injury, but his numbers and play still place him squarely in the middle of Player of the Year discussion.  While the Purple Eagles have balanced scoring the Saints will need to shut down Benn as the first step in keeping points off the board.

NOTES

• Siena is tied for fifth in the nation in fewest fouls committed per game with 14.5 per contest.  Last year the Saints finished sixth in the nation with 14.9 fouls made per game.
• Siena’s holds advantages in scoring, rebounding and assists when playing at the Times Union Center – +17.4 ppg, +6.6 rpg, and +5apg in the friendly confines of the TUC.
• Edwin Ubiles is back on track in the Player of the Year race.  He is averaging 18.7 points per game with a field goal percentage of 53% and he’s making 40% of his attempts from beyond the arc over his last seven games.  The Saints are 6-1 during that stretch.
• The Siena Saints have won 28 of their last 30 MAAC conference games.

• Anosike goes overtime to improve his free-throw shooting
  

  LOUDONVILLE – Earlier this week Siena freshman O.D. Anosike spent about half an hour shooting free throws before practice, which isn’t an uncommon sight.
  Anosike is shooting just 38.7 percent from the free-throw line, a number he is well aware needs to improve given the volume of fouls he draws.
  “It’s something I have to get better [...]

• A closer look at Niagara
  

  Here’s the six-pack of thoughts on Niagara, the team Siena faces Saturday at Times Union Center:
  1. Niagara, under 12th-year coach Joe Mihalich, entered the season expecting to be Siena’s primary challenger in the MAAC. The Purple Eagles returned four starters from last year’s team, which lost to the Saints in the title game. The only…

• More than 6,300 tickets sold for Saturday
  

  Siena could sell all of its alloted tickets for the first time this season Saturday against Niagara.
  As of Thursday afternoon, Siena had sold 6,316 tickets. As usual, capacity will be capped at 8,065.

• Mihalich: Moore is Player of the Year
  

  Niagara coach Joe Mihalich, whose team faces Siena this coming Saturday at Times Union Center, said Saints point guard Ronald Moore should be the MAAC’s Player of the Year.
  “Who else would it be?” Mihalich said Thursday.
  “Who makes their team win? That’s what I’m talking about. Not the leading scorer, the leading rebounder…

• Yard not yet close to returning for Siena
  

  LOUDONVILLE – Siena freshman guard Denzel Yard, who is suspended indefinitely for academic reasons, will be out “a while,” Siena coach Fran McCaffery said Wednesday.
  Yard is finishing an incomplete course between semesters. He then needs to show academic progress next semester before he can begin playing again, McCaffery said.
  “He has to completely refocus his concentration [...]

The MAAC’s official blogger, Steve Amedio combines his 20 years of experience covering Siena and the MAAC at his site: Keepin’ Track of the MAAC. He’s witnessed college basketball games at over 130 different venues and wrote the MAAC Preview in The Sporting News. In our second part we talk about the two contenders right behind the Saints: Niagara and Rider.

Ryan/Siena Saints Blog:  I’ve had my doubts about the Purple Eagles and it didn’t help that they lost Tyrone Lewis to start the year. The Purple Eagles, entering Wednesday, ranked 30th in the nation shooting 41.2% of all their shots from three point land. This has led to some good wins but also a bad loss against Austin Peay and then let Akron shoot a 77.2 eFG% in a 57-point second half where the Zips shot better than 60% from two and three point range.

Steve Amedio/Keepin’ Track of the MAAC: Don’t worry about Niagara. Joe Mihalich is one of the top coaches in the MAAC. In my mind, it’s Mihalich and McCaffery, take your pick on which one is better. Lewis had a minor foot injury and missed a couple of games. He’s 100 percent now.

Niagara plays an up-tempo style, but relies even more on creating turnovers off its press. It did the same last year, but is even quicker this year. Austin Peay was not a bad loss. It’s one of the better teams in a decent Ohio Valley Conference and has three starters plus a couple of experienced reserves back from a 19-win team a year ago. Akron is a terrific team. It won the Mid-American Conference a year ago, a league every bit the equal of the MAAC if not slightly better, and is the favorite to win again this year.

Ryan/Siena Saints Blog: Only way I call Niagara’s loss to Austin Peay bad is for two reasons. First off Niagara shot 11 for 26 from three point range (42.3%), lost a 15 point lead at halftime and let the Governors shoot 63% from the field in the second half. That combined with the Akron 2nd half outburst could be a concern. It’s a small sample but Niagara has been outscored in the second half in 6 of their 10 games this year.

Steve Amedio/Keepin’ Track of the MAAC: When you go on the road and face a quality opponent, it’s never a bad loss. Siena was ahead of Temple by 14, I think, midway through the first half and that’s not a bad loss.

My guess about the Niagara-Austin Peay game is that Peay made the necessary halftime adjustments. It doesn’t surprise me that Peay shot well in the 2nd half. Niagara isn’t known for its half-court defense.

Ryan/Siena Saints Blog: Rider got off to a hot start winning big over Mississippi State but cooled off considerably. If you combine the two pre-tournament games for Rider in the Cancun challenge, they shot 18 for 64 (28.1%) from three point range and cooled down considerably. Since then they were able to win three straight home games but struggled against winless Marist and lost against LaSalle.

Steve Amedio/Keepin’ Track of the MAAC: In my MAAC blog post on Rider, my “early” report on Rider is that the Broncs have been somewhat inconsistent thus far. But, they not only have that win over Mississippi State, but one over St. Joseph’s, too. The struggle against Marist was a little surprising. I was more surprised by the loss to Sam Houston State: not by the loss, but by the margin. Rider is very talented. That front-court duo of Mike Ringold and Novar Gadson is a personal favorite. They are both warriors. I’ve gone on record to say that Gadson should have been the MAAC’s Rookie of the Year last year and not Iona’s Scott Machado.

Ryan/Siena Saints Blog: What do you think in the great debate: Niagara or Rider?

Steve Amedio/Keepin’ Track of the MAAC: I’ll take the easy way out on this and just say that Niagara and Rider will more than likely finish 2nd and 3rd without predicting the order. It could go either way. If I had to, I’d take Niagara for 2nd, but it really doesn’t matter much. The No. 2 and No. 3 teams play each other in the MAAC tournament’s semifinal round. That’s really the only night it will matter, the night that will ultimately determine which is better. Rider has that bruising front-court, but no one maximizes its talent like Niagara and Mihalich. Bilal Benn and Tyrone Lewis are just disruptive forces in the pressing defense. Plus, I like Anthony Nelson a lot as a point guard. They’ve got 5 guys averaging double figures in scoring and a sixth averaging close to nine. They’ve got more depth than last year. It’s good enough to realize that both teams are very good at this level.

Ryan/Siena Saints Blog: I agree with you on the Niagara-Rider 2-3 argument. If you took Siena, Niagara and Rider: two of these three will play each other on Semifinal Sunday night. If it’s Niagara and Rider, we can only hope that it will be as great as last year’s game.

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!

I really shouldn’t need to stress this but this is a huge game. Students– it’s Saturday at noon, we know it’s early, but be at the TUC.

Siena is rolling and Niagara is reeling. The Saints are coming off two (solid) road wins and the Purple Eagles have lost two of their last three. Niagara was romped by Marist in Poughkeepsie [while shooting 30% FG] last week, and lost to Iona at home [37% FG].

Niagara is the best rebounding team in the conference, thanks to Villanova transfer Bilal Benn. Benn is averaging 9.6 RPG, best in the conference. Tack on 13.8 PPG, (good for 7th in the MAAC), and that’s one heck of an offensive threat. Junior guard Tyrone Lewis is having another solid offensive season averaging 16.6 PPG.

It’s no secret, Niagara’s game is just shoot and play no defense. It’s the Mihalich staple. However, when you rebound the basketball like this team does, they get plenty of good opportunities to score. Siena has to be committed to boxing out and forcing Niagara to take bad shots on Saturday.

The Saints will need solid play from the big guys.