• D’Argenio: Capacity could be higher next season
  

  With average attendance better than 7,400 the past two seasons, Siena may raise its capacity at Times Union Center next year, athletic director John D’Argenio said Thursday.
  The school has hired a sports consulting firm to find an appropriate capacity and to determine which seats should be covered with tarps and curtains.

• Downey aims for MAAC Tournament return
  

  Kyle Downey is hoping to recover from his broken foot in time to return for next month’s MAAC Tournament.
  The sophomore guard, who was injured during practice Jan. 19, said his recovery has gone well since he underwent surgery two weeks ago.

• Meet Firefly
  

  My esteemed colleague, Tom Keyser, wrote a nice feature story on former Siena guard Tay Fisher, now a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.
  In case you missed Fisher’s appearance at Times Union Center earlier this month, check out the video:

The Gaels are led by sophomore G Scott Machado, who is averaging 11.8ppg and 4.2 apg.  He is followed by junior F Alejo Rodriguez and freshman G Kyle Smith, who both average 8.8ppg.  Coach Kevin Willard has developed a young team by preaching defense, and the Gaels have responded – they hold opponents to just under 62ppg on less that 40% shooting.  What the team lacks in size inside they make up for by hot shooting from the outside – Iona shooters are making almost 38% of their shots from 3-point land.  Excitement has returned to New Rochelle, and this team is gunning for the first place Saints.

Meanwhile, the status quo has remained unchanged in Loudonville.  The Saints had all week to prepare for the Gaels after learning that they will face Butler in the Bracketbuster on Saturday, February 20.   The coach and players would have told you what they’ve been telling you all year, though – they truly are taking one game at a time, and all they care about at this moment is beating Iona.  Edwin Ubiles should be back in the starting lineup as he’s been seen practicing with the team all week.  Kyle Downey is still nursing his broken foot and should not be expected back until at least the MAAC Tournament.  What looked like a team who was losing players to injury has seemed to gain experience on the bench.

In what will be the third sell-out of the year, the Times Union Center will be rocking out for the “Gold Rush,” with fans being urged to all wear gold shirts or attire.  Since there are only single tickets left, and few of them at that, the powers that be have decided to  televise the game on Time Warner Cable 1.  Game time is 7:00pm.

First place is not on the line Friday night, but the Gaels want the win – an upset Friday night would go to prove that Siena can be beaten on their home-court, which is what every team is going to need to do if they want to win the MAAC tourney come March.  The Saints want to keep streaking – an at-large bid is still unlikely and would not be likely unless they ran the table, but an unbeaten conference season gets closer with each win.

Friday night may be the big match up of MAAC foes this year where the immovable object meets the unstoppable force – as Iona and Siena renew their conference rivalry fans should be in for a heck of a game.

KEYS TO THE GAME

• A HEALTHY EDWIN IS A HAPPY EDWIN: Eddie scored 15 points off the bench at Marist on Saturday, and looked good doing it.  He was active and energetic, and even though he admits that the shoulder (non-shooting) is sore he knows he can play through it.  While Alex Franklin and Ryan Rossiter have been bearing the brunt of the work (literally) the Saints are going to need as much of Eddie being Eddie as they can get the rest of the season.  He is the X-Factor that each team needs to scheme for, and he’s going to relied on every game the rest of the way.
• HOW DEEP DOES THE BENCH GO?: Right now, it seems to be getting deeper.  During Edwin’s absence Owen Wignot got the starting nod each time – and while he still has yet to build on his athleticism and get in the scoring column more often he has looked terrific on defense and has played very productive minutes.  Right behind him is freshman OD Anosike, who continues to mature with each game.   His rebounding ability is outstanding, as are some of the post moves he’s starting to display.  While coach has seven strong to start, he is getting Kyle Griffen, Jonathan Breeden, and Davis Martens in more – each minute a bench player takes gives the starters that much more of a rest, which is invaluable this time of year.  Unfortunately, don’t expect to see TOO much of the bench Friday night, because…
• ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?: This is the time of the year when Coach McCaffery and his Saints don’t lose.  The team’s record in February and March is stellar, much for one reason – Coach has no problem riding his starters.  Expect all five to log big minutes Friday night – the conditioning of the team is excellent, and this is nothing new to them.  They’ve been doing it for four years now.

Last season Siena lost their 13th conference game at Rider to break their undefeated streak.

I recently caught up with Siena’s Jason Rich to find out if the school was currently considering removing the tarps,

The capacity will remain as is for the time being. We have said from the start that if we outgrow the current configuration on a regular basis, we will reevaluate. We are very pleased with the way the seating arrangement has worked out – it has obviously enhanced the atmosphere in the facility”

Understanding supply and demand, from a business perspective this makes sense. This obviously increases the demand for tickets and increases pre-sales, as well as creates a tougher place to play for opponents.

There is the argument that capping ticket sales and saying it’s a “sellout” is misleading and lame. What people don’t acknowledge is this– Siena has 3,000 students, and a (generous) average attendance hovering around the 7,000 mark. There’s no logical reason why this team should be playing in a 14,500 seat arena in the first place.

In my opinion, Siena needs a 7,000 seat facility that the students could (literally) shake night in and night out, like a typical college their size. However, due to the location of the school and limited land, it’s not in the cards. I used to talk to players who would hate that Siena was the big stage of the MAAC– it was every team’s chance to shine, every team’s superbowl. Since then Siena’s talent level has jumped far ahead of the rest of the league, but the big lights still shine bright in downtown Albany. If I’m Siena, I’d take the better atmosphere over the 1,000 extra people sitting upstairs any day of the week.

The Saints have won seven of the last eight contests, but recent years have provided close finishes.  While the Saints have won four in a row, the margin of victory in those games did not exceed eight points, including one game decided in overtime and a thrilling one point double overtime win three years ago.  Siena is defending their home court where they have won 23 consecutive games, the nation’s fourth longest winning streak behind Kansas, Utah State, and Pittsburgh.  Saturday night will provide a difficult test against an America East opponent who has experience and senior leadership.

UAlbany is run at the point by 6′1″ senior Michael Johnson, who is averaging 9 ppg, 4 assists per game, and 3 rebounds per contest.  Johnson does a lot of things well, but his main role is to set up the two scorers on the team, junior guard Tim Ambrose and senior forward Will Harris.  Both are averaging 16 ppg, and each has the explosiveness to go off on any given night.  The rest of the team tries to fill in the gaps, but the hallmark of coach Will Brown’s teams, and what you can expect to see on Saturday night, is aggressive and hard nosed defense.  While Siena had issues finding the basket Wednesday night they are still considered an explosive offensive team, so Coach Brown will implore his players to try and shut them down while relying on Johnson to take care of the ball, and Ambrose and Harris to bear most of the scoring effort.

The Saints are trying to mend some nagging injuries, most notably to senior wingman Edwin Ubiles.  Ubiles has an aggravated knee injury that started becoming serious during the Northeastern game earlier in the season.  He was replaced in the starting lineup Wednesday night by sophomore forward Owen Wignot, who scored 7 points, grabbed 3 rebounds and had 3 blocks and a steal.  If Edwin can’t go Saturday night, expect Wignot to get the start again, with freshman forward OD Anosike the first off the bench to replace him.

Coach McCaffery will most likely go to his big men inside against UAlbany, which he wasn’t able to do against the 6′10 Derek Favors and the ACC athleticism of Georgia Tech.  Ryan Rossiter and Alex Franklin have both had excellent seasons so far, and the offense should go through them Saturday night.  Clarence Jackson, who has ably filled the scoring hole left by Kenny Hasbrouck will also be a threat to have a huge game if Rossiter and Franklin get the post game set up.  Siena most likely will not shoot as badly as they did against Tech, and while the opportunity exists that the Saints could win going away, the fact remains that this is a rivalry game, and UAlbany will always get up for what is one of the biggest games on the schedule each year for them.

KEYS TO THE GAME

Don’t let UAlbany’s 3-5 record fool you – the team can play and they will compete for the America East league title this year.  Siena must do two things to get the ‘W’ Saturday night: step up their defensive intensity, not allowing yet another team to shoot over 60% in the second half (see Temple, St. John’s, and Georgia Tech losses) and to play a full 40 minutes.  The fact that their bench is a little short, filled mostly with younger players, hinders the Saint’s ability to sub in fresh legs which leads to more minutes, and fatigue, for their starters.

The subs, in particular OD Anosike and Denzel Yard, may need to start growing up a little quicker.  While the team gets shooting guard transfer Kyle Griffen and forward Davis Martens around the turn of the New Year, there are important games on the schedule after the UAlbany game, most notably the first league contest at Iona Monday night, followed by an incredibly difficult game at Northern Iowa.  While the Saints’ three ‘up’ games are behind them, and are the only losses on the docket, the men in Green and Gold need to bring a high level of intensity every night and play 40 minutes of tenacious defense.

NOTES

• Senior point guard Ronald Moore is leading the nation in assists with 8.3 per game.  He leads Kentucky freshman John Wall who has 7.8 per game.

• Siena has been outscored 131-98 in the second half of its three losses this season.

• Clarence Jackson has led the team in scoring the last two games, and three times on the season.

• Ubiles’ status remains up in the air
  Don’t expect any answers about whether Siena forward Edwin Ubiles will play Saturday until around tipoff against the University at Albany.
  Echoing comments he had made after Wednesday’s loss to Georgia Tech, Siena coach Fran McCaffery said in a radio interview Friday morning that the senior wing is “legitimately day-to-day.”
  McCaffery told WOFX (980 AM) radio host [...] – Read More »
• UAlbany keeps eye on Ubiles
  That’s the headline of today’s story about UAlbany’s chances on Saturday should Siena guard/forward Edwin Ubiles miss the game with a knee injury.
  The chances seem very real Siena could sit the hobbled Ubiles since the Saints open MAAC play at Iona on Monday.
  “We all need to realize that it’s a long season and whether it’s [...] – Read More »
• Wignot makes impression
  Forward shows promise subbing for injured Ubiles – Read More »
• UAlbany keeps eye on Ubiles
  Siena guard’s injury key to Danes’ chances for a win – Read More »
• Saturday’s ticket sales surpass 11,500
  As of early Thursday afternoon, more than 11,600 tickets had been sold for Saturday’s annual game between Siena and the University at Albany, according to the Siena athletic department.
  The series record was set two years ago, when 13,262 fans turned out.
  Times Union Center general manager Bob Belber said earlier this week that he’d be “shocked” [...] – Read More »
• Blog: Tickets going fast for Siena/UAlbany game
  To read the entire post “Go on the Sidelines” by clicking here. – Read More »

At 6:50 pm, the line inside the MAC stretched around an entire basketball court and even blocked the entrance to the gymnasium with waiting students. Already, there were groups of students sitting on the floor, and the boys playing pick-up basketball had some unexpected spectators. Once the clock stuck 7 the line moved smoothly.

It was an impressive sight of underclassman making sure they are a part of the Siena basketball experience.

The large line definitely showed the excitement the freshman and sophmores have for the season. It was also reminicient of the inconvenient lines that formed for nearly every home game in years past. Hopefully this new ticket offer will make this the last big line students have to wait in too see their team.

I rushed down because I thought the line would be huge, but it didn’t even go past the rope line they set up. I felt like I was in and out in two seconds. – Senior Kristen Adach

Overall, the Dog Pound sign ups were handled superbly with no stressful students and plenty of volunteers available to help. I anticipate a larger turn out by the freshman and sophmores on the second day of ticket sales as they fight over the remaining good seats.

• $50 season tickets inside the floor sections
• $30 shirt & tickets for the seats behind the floor sections
• $10 Dog Pound t-shirt and no tickets

Tickets for Juniors and Seniors go on sale Tomorrow, Sept. 29th  inside the MAC from 7-10 pm. Freshman and Sophmores will be able to purchase tickets the following day at the same time and location.

This new policy does solve the problem of tremendous lines clogging up the MAC and cafeteria with students trying to get tickets on game day. However, it does hurt the casual Saint fan on campus who now has to pay to catch the occasional game.

Matt 10:37pm: I wonder if they’re still going to charge students to go to the games, in other words, can a student still show up on game day and get a free ticket with their Siena ID?