2006-2007 Season

Siena beats UAlbany in double overtime 76-75. Ubiles scores 20 points after hitting 4 from beyond the 3-point arc.

In a normal February game against Manhattan, Ronald Moore has his first double digit asst game with 10 dimes. This would be the first of many. Recap »

After losing two very close games to Marist earlier in the year, the Saints beat the #1 ranked Red Foxes in a semifinal classic and head to the title game for the first time since 2004. Recap »

Alex Franklin ends his freshman year with a bang by scoring 27 points on 10 out of 12 shooting in Siena’s 83-79 MAAC championship loss to Niagara. Recap »

2007-2008 Season

Siena defeats 20th ranked Stanford 79-67 at the Times Union Center. Franklin scores 14 points and Ubiles adds 11. Students and fans stormed the court after the win. Recap »

Josh Duell came up big on the road in Lawrenceville, NJ, hitting a three with 1.3 seconds remaining and capping an 11-2 run in the final 1:58 against the fiesty Broncs. Recap »

In the BracketBuster game the Saints went to Boise State to play the 20-win Broncos and crushed them 93-70. Franklin had a monster game with 30 points and 18 rebounds. Ubiles had 22 points and Moore had 9 assists. Recap »

Siena trounces Rider in the MAAC championship game 74-53. In a game known primarily for Tay Fisher’s six 3’s off the bench, Ubiles added 15 points and Franklin with 10 points. Recap »

For the program’s first NCCA tournament win since 1989, Siena upsets #4 seeded Vanderbilt 83-62. Ubiles scores 11, Franklin 10, and Moore has 6 assists for Siena. Recap »

2008-2009 Season

Siena plays their toughest schedule in school history. #12 Tennessee, Oklahoma State, #3 Pitt, and a Kansas team one year removed from a national title.

After going through the season not being able to beat any significant non conference teams, Siena defeats Northern Iowa 81-75 in their BracketBuster match up. In a balanced scoring game Ubiles scores 10 points, Franklin 9 points, and Moore 8 points. Even a kid made a $25,000 shot. Recap »

Siena gets revenge on Niagara from two years before by beating them in the MAAC championship game 77-70. Franklin puts up 16 points, Ubiles contributes 9 points, while Moore has 7 assists. Recap »

After getting bumped up to a #9 seed, the Saints beat Ohio State 74-72 in double overtime. Ubiles has 20 points and Franklin has a double-double performance with 10 points 13 rebounds. Moore has 11 points with his 7 assists, along with two of the most well-known shots in Siena history that extends the game into the 2nd OT where he then won it. The greatest game in Siena history Recap »

Siena took Rick Pitino and the #1 seeded Louisville to the brink, but lose a close game 79-72. All three players played well with Ubiles scoring 24 points, Franklin 19 points, and Moore with 10 assists. Recap »

2009-2010 Season

After opening up the season with a win against Tennessee State, Siena gets another victory over a solid Northeastern team 59-53. Ubiles scores nearly half the team’s points with 26. Franklin finishes with 9 points and Moore adds 5 assists in this low scoring game. Recap »

The Big Three end their career vs UAlbany with a nearly 30 point victory, 83-54. Ubiles doesn’t play much due to injuries but Franklin has 14 points while Moore puts up a double-double with 13 points 11 assists. Recap »

The seniors’ last victory together made them MAAC champions in a 72-65 defeat of Fairfield. Ubiles leads all scorers with 27 points. Franklin adds a double-double of 22 points and 12 boards. Moore contributes 9 points and 6 assists. Recap »

An end of an era came in the team’s opening round 72-64 loss to Purdue. Franklin scores 10 points and grabs 14 rebounds. Ubiles leads the team with 18 points, and Moore scores 14 points. Recap »

This story is all over the local NJ papers, though according to Pete, Fran’s interest level is unknown.

I always thought that if he was going to leave, it would be after the Big 3’s tenure, but I don’t think Seton hall is the right job for him. Why would you want to enter that mess in that conference? When he came to Siena, yes he inherited a mess, but it was still a school with a lot to offer– good program prestige, the big stage, and obviously, him.

He has said countless times that his family likes Albany and he still has 7 years on his contract. I do think he’ll leave eventually, but he’s still so young– he’ll hold out for the ND job, which it looks like won’t open up this year.

John D’Argenio, Siena’s Director of Athletics released the following statement;

Fran has had a tremendous amount of success at Siena both in the MAAC and at the national level. I would expect that other schools would be interested in him and his talents as a coach. I don’t think it is appropriate to comment on specific jobs or on another school’s search process.

Meanwhile, is anyone talking about how right Fran was on UNI?

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.

It should be said that in recent memory, the Saints have not been considered an exceptional free throw shooting team– not by any means compared to the rest of the NCAA. During the previous two years the team averaged 67.7%, and so far this season is shooting 64.8% from the line. Siena is more or less keeping on par with their usual free throw percentages at this point in the year– always starting out lower and improving as the season continues.

There was a stretch back in early December where the players didn’t even seem able to dream of making 65% of their foul shots. The Saints shot 10-20 in their December 7th win over Iona. This game would be viewed as an aberration if it hadn’t been immediately followed up by the team’s atrocious free throw performance against Northern Iowa, shooting just 39.1% (9-23). Coach Fran McCaffery and the players were asked if this was going to be an issue all year, or if it should be chalked up to a bad week.

Following the Northern Iowa game, Siena had an 11 day layoff, and they apparently utilized their time off effectively having not lost since. The players confirmed their poor foul line shooting would not continue past five games by posting up a 69.1% average in that span, with two 74% plus performances sprinkled in. Clarence Jackson leads the starters with 74.1% free throw shooting. He’s followed by the two forwards; Rossiter shooting 71%, and Franklin at 66.3%. Both Edwin Ubiles and Ronald Moore are hovering around the 57% mark.

The Saints have won 7 out of 8 games, and it isn’t a coincidence that their lone loss comes from the team’s only sub-50% foul shooting performance during that stretch. There are a lot of aspects Siena has improved on thus far this season, and regulating their FT% is definitely on that list. It will be interesting to see how much free throws will play a part as the year progresses, especially during close games.

What did those eleven days do?

7-14 from three will help, but it still seems like a lot has changed since there was about 8 minutes left to go against Northern Iowa.  Wake up call? I don’t attribute it to that, I just think it’s parity.

Our consensus #2 for the conference was Rider.  They have the best player in the MAAC and a wealth of experience.  Don’t write them off because of one big win.  Rider came into Albany on Wednesday night and couldn’t hit he broad side of a barn. Justin Robinson was 1-9 from beyond the arc– he was shooting 50% from three before that night. I guarantee they wont shoot that poorly in Lawrenceville.

Siena’s been subject to this sort of parity as well– for instance, last season they lit up Northern Iowa at home; even the kid at halftime hit his $25K shot.  Last January, they smoked Niagara at home– but when they’ve gone on the road, the results haven’t been pretty.

The national media has seen Siena as a disappointment– granted, this was the one year that they expected that we wouldn’t be a surprise, that we’d contend start to finish, and I think any reasonable Siena fan would say that they’re “disappointed in two of our four losses.”  Sure enough, our readers proved that theory.

Siena has beaten the teams they should, but struggled finishing against the others, and I think that’s where the focus needs to remain– finishing.

The game is the second conference game of the year for the Saints, who won 73-60 on the road over Iona on December 7th.  The Saints have not played since losing 82-65 at Northern Iowa last Saturday, so they should have had plenty of time to get some rest while finishing up finals for the semester.

Wednesday night will also mark the debut of junior guard Kyle Griffin, who had to sit out the first half of this season for eligibility reasons.  Griffin transferred from LaSalle, where he played 15 games as a freshman before being sidelined with a leg injury.  Griffin was highly recruited out of high school, and he is going to be looked upon to add some points, and depth, off the bench.

In the interim since the Northern Iowa game, coach Fran McCaffery has emphasized in interviews that the team spent most of its time working on team defense – while the Saints have shown flashes of brilliance defensively, the fact remains that they have allowed the four teams they lost to to shoot better than 60% from the field in each of the second half of each of those games.  The Saints can obviously score the ball, but they need to learn to play 40 minutes of lockdown defense as a team to be able to pull out close wins, and run away from those teams that they are suppossed to beat.

Rider enters the game with a record of 8-5, owning a 1-0 record in conference play with a 55-51 win against Marist.  The Broncs opened the season with an impressive win over then 18th ranked Mississipi St.  They have also played BCS conference teams Virginia, Kentucky, and Rutgers, but weren’t able to get a win out of those three.

Rider boasts the MAAC conference preseason player of the year in Ryan Thompson, who is averaging 15.1 points per game to lead the Broncs, while averaging 5.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.  Thompson is a threat to fill up the scoresheet every night, but he leads a team made up of multiple players who average double digits in scoring.  Junior forward Mike Ringold is averaging 10.6 ppg and 7 rebounds a game and junior guard Justin Robinson is averaging 13.1 ppg and 2.7 assists per game.  Talented sophomore forward Novar Gadson is averaging 12.6 ppg and 7 rebounds per game.  Rider is a physical team who can score and rebound the ball, and they are gunning for the Saints.  Rider is a contender for the MAAC conference title this year, and a win Wednesday night would be pivotal this early in the Saints’ conference schedule.

KEYS TO THE GAME

• Defense, defense, defense: If the Saints have spent their time in practice working to improve their defense, they’re going to have a nice test trying to keep Thompson and his teammates off the scoreboard.  40 minutes of solid play would go a long way towards getting the Saints ready for their conference slate.
• Home-cooking: The Saints need to continue to defend their home court, as this game marks the first of a four game home stand.  Stacking up wins are what the Saints need to do for the rest of the season, so winning the games they can win at home is paramount.
• They call it the Charity Stripe for a reason: if the Saints are going to win the MAAC conference and the rest of their non-conference games, they need to improve their free throw shooting.  The reason they lost the four games this year were because of two reasons – defense and free throw shooting.  While they have been working to improve their defense, they must spend extra time outside of practice on their free throws.  If they don’t, the season could go sideways quickly.

Everyone Siena has played is getting quality looks, but Siena, falling short with every non conference opportunity, is no longer on the national map– to no suprise.

We haven’t had a shot to get into a Siena practice since the loss at UNI. Should be very interesting to hear how Fran McCaffery reacts to the team’s overall performance– it’s got to be frustrating. Siena is just in a huge shooting slump, no matter where it is– 3s, FTs, or anywhere else. How do you get a team out of that funk? As he said on the coaches show after their 22-69 shooting performance at Georgia Tech– just… more shooting.

But if they’ve already been doing that, can this be fixed in practice?

Siena gave up 62% shooting in the second half as they lost another big game away from the Times Union Center. A win would have been the team’s first three game winning streak of the season, but poor defensive and atrocious free throw shooting prevented the team from reaching this mark. To comment more on the free throw shooting, the Saints went 9 for 23 and it by far was the story of the game. Edwin Ubiles lead the Saints with 19 points, followed by Ronald Moore with 16 and Alex Franklin with 13. The issue, however, wasn’t the offensive. In the second half Siena was never able to put together a significant run as Northern Iowa continued to answer every score. The Saints finally go on a decent break where hopefully Fran McCaffery will focus the players toward foul shooting and weak-side defense.

Northern Iowa finished the game shooting 9-16 from beyond the 3-point line. This is their 6th win in a row. All five of their starters ended with double-digit points. Adam Koch killed the Saints on the boards, while senior C Jordan Eglseder and junior Kwadzo Ahelegbe provided the offense. It was one of the few times this season when an opposing team has proven to be more athletic than the Saints. Northern Iowa is a mid-major team that will have to be dealt with when March comes around.

This is the Saint’s last significant non-conference game that would have national implications. The team’s concentrations should turn to winning the MAAC and the MAAC tournament because this slow start will not help them enter into March Madness as an at-large bid.

Added by Matt 12:16am:
Coach McCaffery is going to have to acknowledge the foul shooting, I don’t think there’s any way around that question now– it didn’t lose the game for us, but it was embarrassingly low. On the brightside, Alex had a pretty monster dunk.