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.

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.

In the Saints final possession, Alex Franklin passed to Kyle Downey who lost the basketball out of bounds in Siena’s final chance to tie the game. Siena gave the ball away 11 times, 2 of which occurred in the final 2:04 in their first loss of the season.

With the game still within reach, Siena compounded their problems with uncharacteristic mistakes. Franklin missed a dunk with 2:31 left and Ryan Rossiter fouled a Temple shooter from behind the arc with 2:10 to go. After all three free throws were missed, Ronald Moore followed a rebound by turning the ball over on an errant pass to a cutting Franklin with 2:04 in regulation.

Alex Franklin led the way for the Saints with 22 points. Siena was able to pound the ball inside with Franklin and Rossiter off of post ups and pick and rolls to shoot a 52.1% 2 point FG% in the 2nd half. Rossiter scored 8, all of which were scored in the 2nd half.

Edwin Ubiles woke up in the second half, scoring 6 in the second half after a cold first half for his total of 10.

Temple used a 13-0 run to take a six point lead with 11:38 left.

Siena used their full court press to turn a 4 point deficit with 11 minutes to go into a 3 point lead which culminated with a Juan Fernandez intentional foul on Ronald Moore with 7:50 left.

Ryan Brooks made a jumper with 3:40 to go to give Temple a 1 point lead, a lead they would not surrender.

Juan Fernandez led the way for Temple with 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting. Fernandez made 4 out of 6 three pointers he tried. Ramone Moore scored 12 of his career-high 16 points in the second half.

Temple shot 70.3% effective FG% in the second half which included going 16 of 20 (80%) from 2 point range.

Siena’s bench managed 4 points (2 for 5 from the field), 4 rebounds, 4 turnovers and 2 steals in 35 total minutes. This was only the 5th time in Ronald Moore’s career where he has totaled double-digit assists in a game.

SSB: First off, what a game (against Georgetown) on Tuesday, you can bet we were all rooting for the Owls. Has your fan base being voicing that they wanted those two fast break points down the stretch?

Owlified: The poor shooting performance to start the game was absolutely killer. Going 1-10 against the #20 team in the country will do you no good. Also, Temple’s 3 point shooting percentage at the end of the game was absolutely atrocious to be honest. Imagine hitting just about a third of the missed shots, and that’s 20 points on the board early in the game.

Fans were more upset with what happened prior to that possession. Temple had opportunities, up by 3 points to hit crucial free throws, but couldn’t. That being said, Georgetown had every chance to keep this game in a position for them to win, and they took advantage of that.

SSB: What has gotten Temple to the NCAA tournament the past two seasons? With the departure of Sean Miller to Arizona, does that leave the A10 more wide open than it’s ever been this year?

Owl: Temple has gotten into the post season with late surges in our own Atlantic 10 tournament. It’s not easy getting an at-large bid, so as you know the safest way is to win your conference tournament. For the last two years, the Owls have run the table in the Atlantic 10 tournament to earn their invitation to the Dance. A three-peat? Eh, that won’t be so easy.

I think the loss of Sean Miller at Xavier will slightly open up opportunities for other teams in the conference. I do believe though even with several players lost on that roster, there’s still plenty of leftover and potential talent on that X roster. Dayton has run a successful program year in and year out (not to mention they just beat Georgia Tech last night), and will definitely be considered to take the conference.

SSB: From what I watched against Georgetown, Temple looked like an athletic team. How do you tend to matchup against teams that like to run and gun, score in transition, and pick your pocket–ie. teams like Siena?

Owl: Georgetown put Temple in an awful shooting slump, and I believe the reason for this is because they were able to slow us down and force us to run the offense. When you hold on to the ball too long, it becomes tougher to feed your guys in the paint, and more pressure can be exerted on your perimeter players. Also, your players sometimes tend to rush shots, regardless of time on the clock.

Defensively, you just have to play smart basketball. Temple’s defense seemed to show up for 40 minutes against Georgetown. Play smart, and execute– that’s all there is to it against any offensive unit.

SSB: Thanks for stopping by Owlified, looking forward to Saturday night and good luck with that football team of yours!

For the Saints this was a tale of two halves. The game began with a number of unforced turnovers, and the team struggled to shoot from the field. The players, coaches, and fans were getting frustrated as Northeastern jumped out to a 20-6 lead. Similar to the Tennessee St. game, the Saints ended the half strong and went into the locker room trailing by only six. In the second half Siena looked much more aggressive on both sides of the court, and the shooting finally came around (heck, even Rossiter hit a 3-pointer). Ubiles had an impressive performance in front of the Albany home crowd finishing as the game’s high scorer with 26 points. At times he looked unstoppable on offensive, and was able to create his own shot seemingly at will. The team needed this type of game from Ubiles because he was clearly the most athletic player on the court. Rossiter contributed a solid double-double outing (13 pts, 14 rbs) and did an excellent defensive job against the Huskies powerful frontcourt players. Jackson had two aerobatic blocks that kept the Saints in the game early on and helped create the momentum shift the team desperately needed. While Moore finished the game with only four points, they were all on clutch foul shots down the stretch to seal the win.

This was not an easy victory for Siena, and all the credit for that goes to the great efforts by the Northeastern players. They refused to quit, and never allowed the Saints to put the game out of reach until the very end. If this game is any indication, the Huskies should be in the hunt to visit atop the standings in the Colonial Athletic Conference. Matt Janning lead the team with 14 points, and point guard Chaisson Allen finished with 11 points. Center Nken Ojougboh should also be commended for being a solid paint presence for the Huskies. A lot of credit must go to Siena’s defense because at no point during the game did a Northeastern player seem to dominate on offensive, and it was clear it was difficult for them to get into a consistent rhythm.

While there seemed to be a lacking student body turnout for a nationally televised game, there was an excellent overall attendance for a noon tip-off game at the TUC. For the first ten minutes there were more Northeastern students than Siena students in the stands, and since the team wasn’t playing well the crowd wasn’t vocal. However, students began trickling in right on time as the team went on their second half run and the atmosphere intensified quickly. Thank you to all the students, alumni, and fans who helped welcome in college basketball to the capital region for another exciting season.

The Saints fought hard for a nice comeback win, but they have another tough opponent this Saturday at Temple. With this victory over Northeastern and a win over Temple, Siena will only increase their bid to be voted into the AP Top 25 Poll. They may also need a loss from a current Top 25 team, so if you can please catch a game or two on TV to root against one of these programs.

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