Vermont: L, 80-76

Offense: C, Meager 3-14 from 3, 36.8% from the field, 23-29 from the free throw line, salvaging a passing grade.

Defense: C+, Outrebounded 44-30, allowed 47.3% from the field, forced 13 steals.

Overall: C, An inexperienced group showed glimpses of talent and were in this game down to the final possession.

Highlight Reel: Ryan Rossiter’s 27 points and 10 rebounds, season high 13 steals.

Minnesota: L, 76-69

Offense: B, Stellar 51% from the field,  9-17 (52.9%) from 3, only 53% from the line, season high 24 turnovers.

Defense: C+, Held Gophers to 7-22 from 3 (31.8%), forced 15 turnovers.

Overall: B-, To be able to go on the road in a hostile environment against a Power Conference foe and compete deserves some credit.

Highlight Reel: Clarence Jackson’s season high 29 points, “Rahk’s” 2nd half was a fab frosh performance.

Northeastern: W, 84-68

Offense: A, Shot a season high 56.9% from field, made 60% from 3, and 80% from the line, 20 turnovers kept this from an A+ performance.

Defense: A, Held Huskies to 40.7% from field, 29.6% from 3, outrebounded first opponent of season 37-24.

Overall: A, biggest margin of victory of the year (16 pts.).

Highlight Reel: Sensational senior performances from Rossiter and Jackson, 28 and 24 points respectively.

Butler: L, 70-57

Offense: C-, 2-11 from 3, 7-15 from the line, 45.3% from field which salvaged  this grade.

Defense: C+, Outrebounded 39-31, allowed 8 three’s, 8 steals.

Overall: C, competed against an experience group from Butler who was last season’s National Runner Up.

Highlight Reel: Rossiter dominates Matt Howard putting up 26 points and 15 rebounds.

Princeton: L, 86-77 OT

Offense: C, 38.6% from field, 5-20 from 3, 25 second chance points, 3-12 from field in OT.

Defense: C-, allowed season high 25-31 from the line, outscored 17-8 in OT, lost 6 point lead in final minute.

Overall: C+, were able to compete on the road after a strong conference victory over Rider, unable to do the little things down the stretch.

Highlight Reel: Ryan Rossiter season high 21 rebounds.  Five starters in double figures.

UAlbany: L, 88-82 OT

Offense: C, 19 turnovers, 44.6% from field, 17-21 from the line, second best offensive output of year with 82 points.

Defense: D, Season high 88 points allowed, 8 steals, allowed Albany to make 4-4 from field and 8-9 FT’s in OT.

Overall: D, Losing to your crosstown rival deserves a failing grade.

Highlight Reel: Trenity Burdine has a breakout game filling in for the injured Owen Wignot scoring a career high 14 points.

Florida Atlantic: W, 72-69

Offense: B, Outscored FAU 44-36 in the paint, and 10-4 on fast break points, made as many free throws as FAU attempted.

Defense: B, Held FAU to 4-21 from 3, 7 steals which lead to 15 points.

Overall: B, The first home win of the year against a team that entered this contest with a top 50 RPI.

Highlight Reel: Ryan Rossiter’s 7th double double in 9 games, 27 pts. 13 rebs.

Georgia Tech: W, 62-57

Offense: B+, Outscored Georgia Tech 18-5 from the line, outshot the Yellow Jackets 45.8% to 30.8% in 2nd half comeback.

Defense: A+, Execution of 2-3 zone was flawless in 2nd half holding Georgia Tech to 21 points, allowed 4-22 from 3, pounded the glass for 41-36 advantage.

Overall: A+, 2nd straight home win. A victory against an ACC foe deserves the best non-conference grade of season.

Highlight Reel: The 2-3 zone.  Best coached game of year.

St. Bonaventure: L, 82-79

Offense: B+, season high 11 3’s, +9 assist to turnover ratio, 100% from the line.

Defense: C-, -8 in the rebound department, allowed 48.2% from field, gave up season high 50 points in one half, 7 steals.

Overall: B-, Competed throughout the contest and the lack of execution down the stretch cost the Saints the game.  Great team performance.

Highlight Reel: Career high’s from Kyle Downey, “Rahk” Brookins, and Jonathan Breeden (21, 18, and 15 respectively).

St. Joseph’s: L, 58-48

Offense: D, Shot 32.8% from field, 2-17 from 3, 4-11 from line, season low 48 points.

Defense: B+, Held St. Joe’s to 36.2%, and 5-22 from 3.  Allowed season low 58 points.

Overall: C-, Offense was out of gas.  The defense kept them in the game in the worst offensive output of year.

Highlight Reel: The final whistle of this barnburner.

After a game where Siena shot 2-17 from beyond the arc, Owen attempted just 3 three pointers. Two of those threes came early in the first half, where he took a quick 3 in two successive possessions– which caused Mitch to yank him from the game.

I don’t have a problem with Mitch taking him out at all, especially for essentially wasting two possessions, but I think it’s time to start getting him some more looks.

Rakeem Brookins hit a big three point jumper to cut St. Joe’s lead to just 2 with about 8 to go and forced them to call a timeout, but wouldn’t attempt another three all game. For as big a scorer as he can be, I was shocked to only see him attempt two meaningful shots from that point onward.

I think when this team clicks, they are dangerous, but when they hit these shooting droughts like this, and don’t have Clarence to sharpshoot the team back into the game– it becomes tough to watch.

A sloppy and low scoring game all around– Siena cut the lead to five late, but couldn’t get closer. Kyle Downey missed a wide open three that would have cut the lead to just 2 in the final three minutes. Langston Galloway iced the game with a mid range jumper when Siena decided to play defense with about a minute and half to go. The Saints were just 2-17 from beyond the arc, and 4-11 from the free throw line.

Despite shooting just 36.2% from the field, St. Joe’s had four players in double figures; Carl Jones (17), C.J. Aiken (10), Langston Galloway (10) and Justin Crosgile (11).

Rakeem Brookins was forced out early in the first half because of 2 quick fouls but played spectacularly in the second half, he finished with 12 points. Ryan Rossiter recorded another double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

The Saints were held to just 48 points in the loss. The last time the Saints scored less than 48 points was on January 29, 2005 in a 67-47 loss at Rider.

Clarence Jackson and Kyle Griffin were both in street clothes today. Jackson has not played since scoring 20 points in Siena’s 72-69 victory over Florida Atlantic.

Siena will take on Iona on Monday night. Both teams will be seeking their 1,000th wins in program history.

Franklin turned in a second straight dominant performance, racking up 12 rebounds for his second straight double double of the season.

The Saints went on a 21-3 run in just under 7 minutes, opening up what was a six point game with 9:50 to go into a 22 point blowout.

Siena was able to excel at every facet of the game. Ryan Rossiter set a new career high in offensive rebounds with 11, besting his previous career-high of 8 in last year’s win over St. Joseph’s. Ronald Moore led the team with 12 assists, Moore’s 5th double digit assist game of the season. Edwin Ubiles scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half.  Ubiles has scored double digit points in each of his last four games. Clarence Jackson had another strong performance, scoring 23 points on 7 of 14 shooting including 4 three pointers.

Franklin made 10 of his 16 shots from the floor to lead the Saints. Franklin made 10+ field goals for the first time this year and the first time since Siena’s March 2, 2008 77-64 win over Saint Peter’s.

Siena shot 23 of 30 (76.7%) from the free throw line, their best free throw percentage since November 28th’s 20-point win over Brown (shot 83.3%).

Six of Siena’s eight wins have come by a margin of 15 points or more. Siena now leads the all-time season series against St. Joseph’s 3-2.

Former Siena Men’s Basketball player and now Student Assistant Cory Magee comes back from Christmas break looking forward to Siena’s Winter Break schedule.

• Griffin bound to see plenty of action during Saints’ busy week (Daily Gazette)

Kyle Griffin has rehabbed and worked hard since transferring from LaSalle and looks forward to more playing time as he looks to become a continuing part of the Saints rotation.

• St. Joe’s brings out the best in Jackson (Troy Record)

Clarence Jackson had his first double digit game as a freshman against the Hawks. Jackson had his first 20+ shot game in his sophomore year, scoring a career high 28 in last year’s 75-74 road victory. Jackson has had games scoring over 20 points this year.

• Home is where Siena’s wins are (Times Union)

Siena’s Home Win Streak is at 25 games and among the best in the nation. Kansas (49) and Pitt (29) are the only two teams ahead of the Saints. Their last loss? A February 16, 2008 Overtime loss to Loyola (MD).

• Franklin named MAAC co-Player of the Week (Siena Saints Blog)

Our story: Alex Franklin shared the MAAC Co-Player of the Week award with Loyola (MD) guard Brett Harvey.

• Siena readies for busy post-holiday stretch (Times Union)

Siena starts a four game in seven day stretch, Coach Fran McCaffery sat down with the media to talk before this busy week.

• Disappointment? Not For Siena’s 7-4 Start (Keepin’ Track of the MAAC)

The MAAC’s humble blogger takes issue with ESPN’s Andy Katz calling Siena’s start a “disappointment.” To Katz’s point, he labels Siena disappointing because they were unable to rack up any marquee wins in the non-conference schedule when it appeared the Saints had a chance to.

After a commanding win over Rider last week, Siena enters into their second match of a four game home stand. The team appeared to be energized and focused against Rider after getting over ten days off.The Saints are tied with Missouri for 4th place for the longest current home winning streak in the NCAA. They trail Dayton and Pittsburgh by a few games, while everyone is looking up at Kansas who is riding a 49 game streak. Alex Franklin is one of only two players in the MAAC averaging 15 ppg and 8 rpg. In his first season as a starter, Clarence Jackson has made more than half of the team’s 3-pointers thus far. Last year Siena trailed St. Joe’s by 18, only to make a huge second half comeback to beat the Hawks 75-74. This season the Saints lead St. Joe’s in every major statistic this season – except for FT % – so on paper the Saints are the better team. But that’s why they play the game.

The Hawks are coming off their own extended schedule break, and have quality wins against Drexel and Boston College under their belts. Senior G Darrin Govens leads the team in scoring averaging 13.4 ppg. They are considered a perimeter-based offense and have already attempted over 200 shots from beyond the arc, hitting 33% of them. This outside mentality has hurt St. Joe’s on the glass, however, as they have been heavily out-rebounded in nearly every game. St. Joe’s does have an experienced squad as they start two seniors and two juniors.

Look out for Franklin and Ryan Rossiter having huge games in the post since 3 out of the top 4 players receiving the most playing time for St. Joe’s are guards 6’5″ or shorter. If the Saints look to take advantage of their height and athleticism by driving to the basket and not getting into a 3-point shooting match, their home winning streak should be secure.

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!

If you’re looking for the short list, here’s how the non-conference shapes up so far…

11/13 @ Tennessee St
11/17 vs Northeastern
11/21 @ Temple
11/24 vs Delaware
11/27 vs St Johns (Philly Hoop Group Classic)
11/28 vs Brown (Philly Hoop Group Classic)
12/2 @ Georgia Tech
12/5 vs Albany
12/12 @ Northern Iowa
12/29 St Josephs
2/20 @ Bracket Buster

If I was a champ on it, perhaps Tom Perotta would have recruited me.

While NBA teams were executing the debatably successful ‘Hack-A-Shaq’ technique on Shaquille O’Neil, Canisius decided to employ the same practice on the entire Siena team last night in a 91-73 loss at Times Union Center.

Was it a bad strategy? Well, even when you’ve got a decent match-up size-wise, when you’re out-manned physically and athletically perhaps it is the only response.

As can be observed over the past few years, Fran McCaffery prefers to use his team’s athleticism to drive and draw fouls. But Canisius drawing 17 in the first half? When you’re facing a team with the ability of Siena, even if you can make a moral victory out of being down seven points at the half you can’t like you’re chances in the second half being in such foul trouble.

Being the devil’s advocate, I have to address Siena’s penchant for playing down or allowing runs. In this game Siena was able to absorb Canisius’ runs, equal them in rebounds by the end of the game, and use the turnover advantage to run out to an eighteen point win.

Watching the play of Canisius in the first half it was reminiscent of a lower seeded team giving all they could and taking it to a larger seed in the NCAA tournament. But, like most situations play out in March Madness, the better team was able to run out and prevail.

Siena stands at 11-0 in conference play, and with seven games left, some of them obvious challenges on the road, the Saints are maintaining the status quo. They have only a few dominant wins, but also a few character building victories in the process – Iona, Marist, and St. Joseph’s being the tilts that have allowed Siena to reacquire their swagger.

As long as more positives can be taken from each game, and more wins drawn than losses, this “team of destiny” can keep making history in the attempt of becoming the best Siena basketball team ever to step on the court.

Seems our free throw problem has diminished. Now its just the sloppy turnovers that have to go…