SienaSaintsBlog: The MAAC hosts events such as the Hall of Fame showcase in Springfield and the Old Spice Classic, how important is it for the conference to be a part of these November events?

Rich Ensor/ MAAC Commissioner: We do the multi-team exempt events under NCAA [rules].  We do those events with the Hall of Fame and with ESPN at the Old Spice Classic to both allow our teams the opportunity to play in the events, and in some cases host games, I believe Fairfield is in one this year, where they’re going to host teams at their home court. Beyond that, as Iona demonstrated when they went to Puerto Rico this year, and that’s not one we host but it’s a similar event, you get to play teams on a neutral court that you’d rarely have an opportunity to play in November and December.

So Iona was able to establish their bonafides early on by taking Purdue down to the last basket, that game they lost, but then they hammered Maryland, a strong ACC program one that’s played much better as the year’s gone on, and they also beat a good [Mid-American Conference] team from Western Michigan so they were able to establish themselves early on. And at the Old Spice Classic over the years, we’ve offered that opportunity to MAAC schools as well and the Hall of Fame so it gives us an opportunity to give our teams a chance at neutral site games and good non-conference opponents that hopefully give them some credibility when it comes to March, whether you’re looking for seeding in the NCAA Championship or even an at-large which the case could be made for Iona this year. Or if you’re talking about the NIT or the CIT or the CBI, those events all are looking for teams that have shown themselves to be able to play good non-conference opponents.

SienaSaintsBlog: With conference expansion in the news, most recently Temple moving from the Atlantic 10 to the Big East in our area, what is the state of the MAAC as it relates to expansion?

Rich Ensor/ MAAC Commissioner: We always look at membership issues relative to the MAAC and possible expansion. It’s a standard agenda item when we have our strategic planning meetings as well as our board meetings with the MAAC Council of Presidents. In this environment we’ve been dealing with the past couple of years, which has been largely driven by football, and even in the case of Temple that is the main issue there. They’re looking, these major BCS programs, to strengthen themselves with teams that give them added market share for TV purposes and as a result drive up their revenue from TV contracts.

We’ve kept our membership up to date on all those changes. We’ve gamed out certain scenarios of what opportunities might present themselves to the MAAC depending on how league formation would filter down to the mid-majors. We’ve seen some of that in the west coast; we’ve seen the West Coast Conference pick up BYU as part of all this shifting around. The Big Sky and the Southland [Conferences] have also been affected.

We want our members to know that this can filter its way down to the mid-major level as well and here are possible scenarios. How it plays out in the long term I don’t know, but we’re certainly well aware of it and have some strategies in place to talk about if certain opportunities present themselves.

SienaSaintsBlog: What are your thoughts on how Siena’s played when you’ve had the chance to see them this season?

Rich Ensor/ MAAC Commissioner: I think that Mitch [Buonaguro] has done a great job with a really small roster. They had injury issues and eligibility issues. I think he has responded by getting that team in a pretty good position for postseason. I think they’ve played with great enthusiasm and sometimes their legs give out, I was at [Siena's] game at Manhattan where it was a really good game for 30 minutes but just Manhattan kept the pace so high that he just at the end of the day were just short players. Steve Masiello was able to run players in and out against you and just wear you down.

So I think in response to that you’ve seen Mitch slow down the pace a lot, try and control that pace. When I was up there two weeks ago for the rematch of that Manhattan game, it was a different outcome by controlling that pace they were able to get the win so I think they’ve done a great job and I think the team’s really worked hard to get the position where they can have some impact in the championship and kudos to all of them.

We at SienaSaintsBlog thank Commissioner Rich Ensor for taking the time out to talk with us, follow him on twitter @MAACCommish.

SienaSaintsBlog: What are your thoughts on this exciting regular season we had this year?

Rich Ensor/ MAAC Commissioner: I think it’s always great for the fans when the seeds for the championship come down to the last weekend of play. It keeps interest high and it keeps the teams engaged in the process so I think its indicative of the type of year we’ve had while Iona certainly has been a team that’s driven a lot of interest, they haven’t been able to dominate to the extent where none of the other teams felt like they didn’t have a shot at the number one seed. It came right down to the last weekend and that’s what you want.

SienaSaintsBlog: How do you feel about the competitiveness in the league this season?

Rich Ensor/ MAAC Commissioner: I think it’s been very competitive. I thought back at the beginning of the year that we’d have a pretty good season and we got off to a little of a slow start frankly. Iona came out strong but we thought Fairfield and Rider in particular would get off to better non-conference starts but they had a few issues they were resolving so as we got into conference play I think you saw the teams start to gel and play better and typically when you get into our conference play teams know each other’s tendencies better than anyone else anyhow so it usually is a lot closer and that’s how it played out as teams have upset each other, they’ve won their away game but lost at home and vice-versa, so it’s been interesting and certainly has been hard to handicap.

SienaSaintsBlog: This tournament marks the sixth tournament in which the double-bye has been removed, what do you feel the impact has been with that in retrospect?

Rich Ensor/ MAAC Commissioner: When we went to the double-bye we were trying to protect the number one seed in particular, because you want the team that’s done well over the course of the year to  have some advantage as they get ready for postseason. We got rid of it because there were a lot of unintended consequences. First of all, it was almost too much of an advantage for the team that got to sit back and watch others play for a couple of days and then come in with much stronger legs and not having had to play games previously. So it was too much of an advantage and then we didn’t calculate that it would also impact the fan interest because if you were looking for games that were meaningful, you weren’t going to come in for the full tournament – you would just come in for the semifinals and finals because of the number one team wasn’t playing until the semis.

I’m glad that we went away from it, it was a good experiment but I think it’s a much fairer championship as it is currently constructed because you get to seed placement and theoretically a better opponent, if you’re the higher seed, based on your in season performance but you also have to be able to show that you could put three games, three or four if you’re in the out-bracket, together in a row to claim the automatic bid.

SienaSaintsBlog: What are your thoughts as the MAAC Basketball Championships head to Springfield this week?

Rich Ensor/ MAAC Commissioner: That’s going to be interesting to see how the neutral site works in terms of fan attendance. I know that the arena has done a great job locally in terms of developing interest and awareness of the Championships. So that was part of the deal when we went there, that they had a history of hosting neutral events with the NCAA Division II tournament, and we wanted to see some of that come over to the MAAC in terms of fans coming out to the event. So they’ve done a good job with that and now we have to see if our fans will travel to a neutral site. We haven’t done this since 1989 was the last time we ever had neutral site, when we played at the Meadowlands, and it was a much different MAAC in those days.

There was a sense in the league that the home court had become too much of an advantage, particularly when Siena had that three years in a row of championships. I often say that it wouldn’t have mattered where we played those games, those Siena teams were just that good. But I understood that the membership felt that playing on somebody’s home court was getting to be too much for both the fans and their teams.

So we’re off to Springfield, which has put a nice bid together with the Hall of Fame. We’ve enjoyed the relationship already with the Hall of Fame having our preseason awards show there and opening up the MAAC exhibit that will be in the building for the next three years. This week we’re going to have our postseason awards show there and then on Friday night we’re having a big honors dinner where we’re honoring two athletes, men’s and women’s, from each of the 10 schools for their past basketball accomplishments and then we’re going to enshrine them in our MAAC exhibit as part of our opportunity with the Hall of Fame. That part of it has worked out real well and now we want our fans to come up and experience both the Hall of Fame and the MAAC Championships at the MassMutual Center. It should be fun, they’ve done a lot of work and they’ve got a great FanFest developed for the youth of the area to be involved with and our fans coming in. The championship should be a lot of fun on a lot of different levels for different fans.

SienaSaintsBlog: What did you and your staff learn from December’s Hall of Fame Showcase which featured Siena and Fairfield amongst other teams?

Rich Ensor/ MAAC Commissioner: Operationally, there were a few things we noted. We worked on a lot of the details, how the Box Office works, how Will Call works and the locker room assignments – all the day-to-day sports management type of issues that we deal with. That was why we did it, as much as anything, was to get a sense of how the building works and how it fits into how we do our championships. It was a good useful learning experience for us and the arena.

In part two tomorrow, we’ll talk about the MAAC’s preparedness for conference expansion among other items…

The Saints have yet to win a conference road game this season. At 5-9, Niagara and Siena are now tied for 6th in the MAAC with 4 games to play. The Purple Eagles finish the season with Rider, Canisius at home and at St. Peter’s and Marist, while Siena will finish with Manhattan at home, Marist away and two games against Canisius. As usual, the 6th seeded team will have the first night off in the MAAC Tournament.

Freshman Ameen Tanksley erupted for a career high 24 points and Juan’ya Green added 16 points and 6 rebounds.

OD Anosike fouled out of the game just a shade before the 4 minute mark, and finished the night with 9 points and 8 rebounds. Owen Wignot looked strong with a clutch 3 late in the game, and finished with 11 points and added 9 boards.

Siena Saints Blog: So you’re the new Director of Basketball Operations for the Siena Saints– is it everything you thought it would be?

Tyler Simms/Siena Saints: It’s very exciting, very exciting. For a while in the summer, I was very eager for the season to start– but now that it’s here, it’s come pretty fast. This past summer at Siena was great, I had the opportunity to develop relationships with all the players, and that’s helped me get adjusted smoothly.

SSB: So with full practices underway, how has that affected your day-to-day? What keeps you in the office late into the night?

Simms: Well now that we’re in full swing, things are a lot more structured. Everyday we wake up and have breakfast as a team. After breakfast, we as a staff will meet and discuss the practice schedule, review charts, pretty much discuss anything that we need to go over as a staff.

As per NCAA mandates, we’re practicing 6 days a week, with Tuesdays as our off-day. Generally the players will lift for about 45 minutes 3 times a week. As far as staying late, I’m usually in the office in the late hours doing film breakdown. We film all of our practices and one of the things I’m tasked with is cutting the film, charting it– charting the players’ shots, tabling out the charts in various ways and other general scouting techniques.

SSB: What’s been the feeling around the locker room this preseason?

Simms: The feeling in the whole community is that this past season was a disappointment by Siena standards. You know, you have people here who were a big part of winning 2 MAAC titles, 2 trips to the NCAA tournament– last year was something of the past. The approach has been less about the past, and more about, okay this is what we have to do to get siena back to where it belongs.

Largely it’s been all four seniors leading that charge. They are quick to point out that 13-18 is something that Siena Basketball shouldn’t be a part of, and the team gets it– it should be that every year we’re in contention for a MAAC title. Conor Fenlon has been a big vocal leader as well.

SSB: You’re in the practices– tell us what’s going to be something that will shock Siena fans this season?

Simms: Well, Brandon Walters is in tremendous shape– he and Kyle Downey have both worked extremely hard in the offseason. I think, if I could take you inside the practices a bit, I would tell you that there is never a lack of effort or energy. Everyone has been working hard all the way through, and that’s a good sign.

SSB: How do you like working Coach B?

Simms: He’s great– very personable– he cares so much about everybody around him. I met him a few times before on the road at the Final Four through common friends, but now that I’m here it’s just amazing to see how much he cares about the Siena community. He was out instructing and helping kids in drills during this summer’s camps, it’s really great to see.

SSB: You’ve done quite a number of Summer Camps, tell us a little more about the work you did.

Simms: Teen camp and day camp at Siena this summer helped me develop close relationships with the players. Brandon Walters was an absolute camp junkie this summer, he helped out at Men’s and Women’s Hoops camp, he was all over the soccer fields with the kids– he was just a true contributor, all of the upper classmen were. They really helped me feel welcome in the Siena community.

In the past I had worked with Tony Bergeron, Chris Sparks, and Colin Tabb running 13-15 camps over the summers in New England. They are all heavily involved in the New England AAU scene as well. Runnign the camps were challenging, but fun. Tony, Chris, and Colin have done a lot to help me get to where I am today.

Follow Coach Tyler Simms on twitter at @CoachTSimms.

Read his full bio of Tyler Simms on SienaSaints.com.

Follow us: @sienasaintsblog

We’re tweeting to #champfortnight #siena tonight.

CoverItLive: TU Blog

Here’s a stellar speechless promotional video that features a flattering 3 second shot of Josh Duell. Yup– somehow that made the cut.

So the MAAC game now has another splash of corporate in it. I mean, I guess that is the market in Albany, but it’s just so far from what a College Hoops game should be.

Check out this illustration below… this has got bad news written all over it.

Overall this is a really funny way to try and cut down on student seating and attempt to generate extra revenue. Did anybody else notice that the only people that very few people sat in these things when they first launched them 2 MAAC Tournaments ago?

That was the general reaction from students the day after the debacle that immediately followed the Saints winning the MAAC tournament. Initially, the influx of security and police officers appeared to have the upper hand. With 30 seconds left in the game they quite literally lifted a female student off into a nearby tunnel while one member of security was poking Siena fans who were getting too close to the rail with the end of a large MAAC banner. Narrowing down the passage to the floor to basically two aisles was looking like a successful tactic in keeping the student sections from storming the court.

Until with approximately 11 seconds left when the bunched up sea of yellow began to chant in unison, “You can’t stop us!” Then everyone in the arena knew that 30 men really couldn’t stop 1,000 running students. They tried anyway, however, and with the tight spaces security created a jailbreak scenario ensued that actually increased the chance of injury to students.

Around campus students are describing how they watched helpless people trapped up against steel bars as the momentum of the crowd kept pouring down a single aisle. In classes they talked about how scared they felt compared to past years. When told that it was the MAAC that insisted on targeting Siena students and not the Times Union Center, many students took it as an anti-Siena ploy. Would security even move to stop the 50 or so Fairfield fans from rushing down to the court if Needham hit that game winner? There certainly weren’t any apologies on campus for Siena’s basketball success or for the students’ passion for the team.

MAAC commissioner Rich Ensor made a comment referring to the student’s rushing the court this year as inappropriate due to the Saints’ recent success in the MAAC tournament. What Ensor is unable to understand (or admit) is that these past 4 seasons have stood as the most historic college basketball period in Siena’s history. This wasn’t just another game. It was the end of an era that has never been seen before in this league. How many teams across the nation over the last ten years have been to their conference finals 4 consecutive times, and won 3 in a row? How many teams in the MAAC have done that…ever? Yes, Siena was expected to win this season, but no team is ever expected to have the lasting dominance they’ve have and the students should not be criticized for wishing to be a part of that in some way.

“It’s frustrating because you always see that picture around campus of Ubiles on top of everyone’s shoulders after they won it all last year. It’s an awesome shot. Who wouldn’t want to be in that picture? But all of a sudden this year we’re not allowed. I don’t get it,” senior Lisa Dussalt. There are some who feel the Siena students should have remained in the nose bleed seats and watched their team cut down the nets through binoculars. There are some who feel that by storming the court and disobeying rules, the students were ruining the integrity of college basketball. So what does this writer say to those people who feel college sports shouldn’t be enjoyed most by the students who make up the schools? I envision that classic Ubiles picture where he is being hoisted up in celebration by his peers and think to myself: Funny how you’re not in it.

The Saints went on a 15-1 run in the middle of the second half to take what was a close game and turn it into a solid win. Ryan Rossiter struggled but made all six of his free throws to finish with his third straight double-double.

The Saints appeared to start in a shooting drought that rivaled their second half in Hinkle Fieldhouse. Siena made just one of their first 13 shots, missing their first four and turning the ball over five times in that span.

Manhattan’s strategy of backing off of Siena’s big men and bottling up the inside appeared to stifle the Saints early. The Jaspers then used zones to push the game to behind the arc. The Jaspers also let Moore go unguarded to help inside and finished the half up four.

Player of the Year Alex Franklin missed the first two shots for the Saints but scored Siena’s first four points while every other Saint starter struggled to score. Darryl Crawford started out strong, scoring 10 points early before drawing two fouls.

Clarence Jackson’s three pointer with 15:26 left gave Siena their first lead at 46-45. Alex Franklin’s spin move with 13:27 to go gave the Saints a 50-49 lead. Franklin led the Saints with 21 points.

Jackson struggled, making just 2-15 shots and going 2-11 from three point range.

Coach Fran McCaffery turned to his bench for scoring and got contributions early from O.D. Anosike, Kyle Downey and Owen Wignot. Wignot made Siena’s first two three pointers. Anosike left the game with an apparent injury with 16:39 to go after getting into an altercation on the court. Downey scored 8 points off the bench for the Saints who led Manhattan in bench points 22-16.

Siena Saints Blog: Who do you think was the biggest All-MAAC Team snub?

Steve Amedio: This one is easy: Frank Turner, Canisius, who got picked for the third team. The guy has been underrated his entire career. He currently ranks 4th in scoring, 5th in Field Goal percentage, 2nd in assists, 1st in steals and 15th in REBOUNDING and he’s only 5-foot-10! Without him, Cansius wins a lot fewer games. Second team? OK, maybe. But, third team? That’s a travesty. The knock on him, early in his career, was that you could turn him over. Not any more … he’s third in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Not to knock other players, but he’s had a far better season than Iona’s Scott Machado, who plays the same position and was voted to the second team. I have no problem with Machado being on the second team. He had a nice season. But, Turner had a better season. And, I think he’s had a better season than Ryan Thompson, who is on the first team. Thompson had a terrific six game stretch in February, but I don’t think you should be on first team for six games. If he had 25 good games this year like everyone expected, Rider would have finished third, as predicted, and not have a 16-15 overall record.

I also think Ubiles should have been first team, but not so overwhelmingly so like Turner. On the women’s side, I think Brittane Russell of Canisius also should have made first team, rather than second team. She is one of five players nationally in the last 20 years to record career totals of 1,200 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists and 300 steals. She is 15th nationally in steals this season. She is 10th in scoring in the MAAC this season, 1st in steals, 4th in assists. She is just a disruptive defensive presence on the court and should clearly be the Defensive Player of the Year. That should count for something, too.

Siena Saints Blog: Who is your dark horse team for the MAAC Basketball Championships?

Steve Amedio: Let me go on record as saying that Siena will win the tournament, and with ease. The only team this dominant relative to everyone else I’ve ever seen was the La Salle teams of Lionel Simmons (1986-97 through 1989-90). This Siena team isn’t that good, but the distance between it and everyone else is as great as I’ve ever seen. Heck, the conference’s second-best team, Fairfield, played the entire season without two key starters and half the season without a third key starter. If there is a team that will cause some trouble, my pick is Saint Peter’s. The Peacocks have two good post players, two good perimeter players and a little bit of depth. That said, they’ll have to play Siena in the semifinals, so their season ends there.

Siena Saints Blog: Who do you think the coaches will give Player of the Year award to?

Steve Amedio: My guess is that Alex Franklin of Siena will be the Player of the Year. He is the league’s most-unstoppable inside force, and has been consistent from start to finish. If Ryan Rossiter got the award, though, I’d have no complaint. But Franklin is a senior and Rossiter is a junior. My only “pulse” about how coaches vote is that they almost always favor the senior when it comes time to vote for the top award.

Siena Saints Blog: Who should the Saints be scared of more: Rider or St. Peter’s?

Steve Amedio: I think that one’s pretty clear. Siena has beaten Rider by 22 points in Albany and by 26 at Rider. Rider doesn’t seem to match up very well with Siena. Their team chemistry just doesn’t seem to be there this season, and Siena plays hard and well on the defensive end and has kept Ryan Thompson in check so far. I actually thought Saint Peter’s had a shot at Siena when they played in Jersey City, N.J. Siena was without Edwin Ubiles, but still won by eight with a great defensive effort. My thought, though, is that Saint Peter’s matches up a little better with Siena. Still, the matchup definitely favors Siena by a lot should they play Saturday.

Siena Saints Blog: It’s simple, sometimes, to overlook the Women’s side of the MAAC but are we seeing the best MAAC player ever finish this week in Marist’s Rachel Fitz?

Steve Amedio: Rachele Fitz is certainly among the best ever in the MAAC, but not in the Lionel Simmons’ class as far as being head and shoulders above everyone else on the men’s side. Fitz is like Chinese water torture, she hurts you little by little. Her game is a lot more subtle than most real stars, but she does everything well. Anyway, she’s in the discussion along with Loyola’s Patty Stoffey and, maybe, Siena’s Melanie Halker.

Siena Saints Blog: We got your prediction on the Men’s side, how do you see the women’s tournament ending up? Will Marist’s reign on the conference end?

Steve Amedio: Will Marist win the tournament? Yes but they appear more vulnerable than in the past. They don’t have a presence yet, and only get consistent scoring from three players. But that’s enough for a team that lost just three times. Throw out Sunday’s loss at Manhattan, that was a fluke. Iona, though, forced Marist to go overtime on Friday in a game that Marist needed to win to clinch the regular-season title. The Gaels are very good, clearly the second-best team in the league and the one team at least capable of pulling off an upset. That said, Marist is extremely well coached, can play in a variety of ways and is the most-intelligent team on the court in the league. They rarely make mistakes.