Fran McCaffery – Siena head basketball coach

Now begins the waiting game, waiting for the NCAA to tell the Saints where they will travel and what seed they will be in this year’s field of 65.

While the Saints carry a thorough reputation into this year’s tournament, having won a game in each of the last two years, the committee does not use that in their equation to seed the Saints.

The experts who square off on projecting the brackets, known as bracketologists, have honed in the Saints on their seeding lines as Siena awaits where it will travel.

Chris Kulenych of Bracketology 101 said Siena currently stands on a #12 seed line.

“They are a 12 seed in our latest bracket, which would mean a first game against either Baylor, Vanderbilt, or Georgetown,” Kuenych said. “The Saints fared pretty well against Vanderbilt’s style of play back in 2008, so that might be their best bet as the seeds stand right now.”

Kulenych said the Saints cannot play Butler or any other team that might be near the seed line that they played already this year in the first round.

Meanwhile Rivals.com College Basketball Editor Mike Huguenin projects the Saints in the range of 11 to 13.

“If committee goes by resume, Siena will be a 13,” Huguenin said. “But if you look at what Siena has done lately, it could be an 11.”

CollegeRPI.com and CBSSports.com columnist Jerry Palm said the Saints should be a #13 seed and said he hinks the Saints will draw a tough first round matchup.

“I see Siena as a 13-seed, but the committee overseeded them last year,” Palm said. “It could happen again, but I’d expect them to get a borderline top 20 team.”

Eric Prisbell, writer and bracketologist at the Washington Post, said he expects the Saints to be a #12 or #13 seed and said he thinks Siena will have a tough time winning against their likely opponents.

“The pool of bubble teams is very weak this season, but the teams in the mix for 4 or 5 seeds are pretty strong,” Prisbell said. “Who wants to play Vandy? Maryland? Georgetown is tough. Baylor is tough. Tennessee can beat anyone and has. Wisconsin is solid. I like Siena as a team and a program but I am not sure I’ll pick Siena this season to win a game because I like a lot of the [potential #4 or #5] seeds as potential tourney sleepers.”

Shawn Siegel of Collegehoops.net said Siena will be able to challenge teams as a #12 seed.

“Siena’s most likely looking at a 12th seed right now,” Siegel said. “Which would perhaps square them up with the likes BYU, Tennessee or Texas. You have to figure Siena would be competitive against any of those teams.”

Sports Illustrated’s Andy Glockner said Siena will be a likely #12 or #13 seed.

“Siena probably will land in the #12 [or] #13 area,” Glockner said potential opponents like a slow style with good defense the Saints faced earlier in the year with Temple but figures the Saints will have a better chance against a team like Brigham Young.”

While the Saints might hope to play certain opponents, Rivals’ Huguenin said if he were in Siena’s shoes, he’d want to play just about anyone.

“If I’m [Fran] McCaffrey, as long as I can avoid a big-time center, I don’t care who I play,” Huguenin said.

The Saints were ranked as a #13 seed when they defeated Stanford in 1989. The Saints have been a #13 seed three times in their history, played in the play-in game and received their highest rank, a #9 seed, last year.

We all know you’re looking for the story, the cinderella, well the shoe fits. Davidson was the talk of 2008– with one storied sophomore. This team has three seniors– one the nation’s assist leader, one the conference player of the year, and at least one who is heading for an exciting NBA draft day. Three great kids who are going to graduate, and three great kids who know how to put on a show. If you want a story, give this team an 11 or 12 seed and give them the shot to make a deep run. In 2006, George Mason made that run. It’s been four years, Siena wears green and gold, give these seniors the chance to make a memorable run.

Selection Committee, you can help.

How much will you work this week?

To be honest with you, not very much. We’ll lift and shoot. The guys have some nicks and bruises, so we’re going to try to get them healthy. That’s the beauty of winning on Monday and not having to play for almost two weeks…Rossiter tweaked his ankle two days before the Manhattan game and we didn’t say anything about it…O.D. wasn’t himself the final two games. He desperately wanted to play and I played him, but he just was not himself. He will be by tournament time.

What’s the highest seed you could make a case for Siena ending up in the brackets?

I have no idea. I never look at that…I just know we have a good team. I’ve been impresses with the committee’s sense of fairness over the years. I just know there was a time when we got in and just watched and praying we’re not the play-in game. Nobody wants to be in the play in game. It’s unfortunate. They shouldn’t have it. I’ve said a million times that if they have it they should put the two 8th place teams from whatever conference in it. Not teams that win their way in it. That’s my opinion. So I just know we’re not going to be in the play-in game.

Comments on Edwin Ubiles’ (360) dunk against Fairfield?

Timmy Welsh has no idea what he’s talking about, and I love Timmy Welsh. He kept saying how he was upset about it. I wanted him to do it. And by the way it didn’t matter what I wanted, he was doing it anyway….It’s was either going to be a windmill, a 360, or a reverse. One of those three….Either way it was going to be a high percentage shot…It was good for him, it was good for our press, it was good for the crowd. He’s always been able to do stuff like that to get everybody fired up. I think more than anything it really gets him energized. He was phenomenal.

Ronald Moore:

How much fun is this week for you guys with no real game to prepare for?

It’s a lot to be able to relax, re-energize, and really enjoy winning the championship…Practice will be light…The buzz on campus is at its best after winning a championship, so we’re really enjoying it. Especially the younger guys, like the freshmen and the sophomores who’ve done this a second time, they’re enjoying this too. We’re all excited for Sunday to see who we’re playing.

Any particular city you hope to be playing in for the tournament?

Definitely don’t want to go too far…Somewhere closer where the fans can get to and come out and support us because those fans definitely play a major part in our success. Especially at home when they get behind us and rally behind us.

Alex Franklin:

Is it worth the risk to do a difficult dunk like Ubiles did?

I think it’s definitely worth the risk. You don’t want to miss it. I think when you’re going up there you have the confidence that you’re going to put it down. It really does a lot for the crowd and it really gets us as a team energized too. (Would he do a 360?) Nah, I’d probably just dunk it really hard.

You had some solid free throw numbers in the tournament. Was that something you concentrated on leading up to the tournament?

Yeah, the last couple of games I was struggling from the free throw line. I wanted to get in the gym, get some more shots up because I know the way I play I’m going to get fouled a lot…They (the coaches) say something to you, but it’s more of yourself involved just trying to get out there and trying to get the free throws in because I know I’m going to get to the line most of the time.

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.

Winning the MAAC Championship, traditionally played early on in championship week, gives teams, fans, and pundits a welcome luxury – a six day respite before selection Sunday and then another few before the tourney starts in earnest.

With the big three graduating after what hopes to be a fruitful NCAA tournament run, this is the perfect time not only to reflect on their impact on the Siena men’s basketball program, but to also try to place them in their proper slot in the pantheon of Saints/Indians teams in history.

While I’m a modest basketball historian I don’t really go back farther than 1985 in terms of Siena basketball knowledge, although I’m well aware of Billy Harrell and the Bill Kirsch and John Griffin teams that competed over the last 70 years.

The team that put the program on the map, though, was obviously the one that beat Stanford in the 1989 NCAA Tournament, and almost beat Minnesota in the second round, and they have often been praised as the benchmark squad.  All discussions of best Siena teams ever must start here.

When looking at the 1989 team, one has to start with the NAC (which would become the America East Conference) finals which was the culmination of the Measles outbreak quarantine. A Steve McCoy put back off a Tom Huerter miss gave the Saints their first ever trip to the dance after doing the same thing earlier in the year on the road at Pittsburgh.  The NAC finals also was the first time the team played under the Saints moniker after switching from the longtime handle of Siena Indians.

Clearly Marc Brown is the best player to ever wear the green and gold, leading the program with 2284 points scored and 796 assists, and McCoy, Tom Huerter, Jeff Robinson, Monty Henderson, Mike Brown, Steve Downey and Bruce Shroeder were staples on a team that did what this year’s team excels at – they played as a team.  Yes, Showbiz could go off for 30 on any given night, but Robinson and Henderson were like a mix of Edwin and Clarence who could shoot from the outside but also slide in to the paint and get 15 a night at least.  McCoy was the Rossiter counterpoint, but Ryan Rossiter has many more tools than McCoy ever did, as valuable as he was.  And Huerter and Mike Brown were the perimeter players who could drain the threes that this team is somewhat lacking, and also hit mid-range jumpers and finish at the rim.  There were a lot of shooters on a team that Mike Deane liked to run in to the ground, and run in and out of the game – they were deep, and they could score.

I would argue, however, that one must also consider the NIT third place team of 1994, led by Doremus Bennerman, as having a rightful stake to the title of best ever.  While NCAA wins are gold, and we’ve been lucky enough to have seen three now over the years from the green and gold (four if you count the opening game win in 2002,) getting to Madison Square Garden and playing in the NIT final four is air that is just as rarified as that elusive first round NCAA tourney win for most teams.  While Marc Brown held the mantle of most assists in Siena history, eclipsed recently by Ronald Moore, Doremus took the program to new heights, leading the team to what I still feel is one of the most impressive wins in Siena history, and one of the greatest victories I’ve ever seen on their home court, beating the Bobby Cremins led, NCAA tourney snubbed Georgia Tech team in the NIT run in 1994.

They followed that with home wins on the Knickerbocker Arena floor against Tulane and Bradley (the Tulane game still ranking first in home game attendance at 15,727 spectators.)  Doremus scored 51 points in the runner-up game in that NIT at MSG under the bright lights of national television against Kansas State after losing to Villanova in the semis, and grabbed the MVP award for the tournament.  He was paired with fantastic role players and scorers in their own right in Stu Downey, Geoff Walker, Brian Bidlingmyer and Matt Gras – seeing either the 1989 team or this team match up against the big three and their teammates would be a dream for any Siena fan.

Honorable mention has to be given to the 1999-2000 Paul Hewitt led Saints who possibly had the most talent of any class other than the current string of players: Marcus Faison, Dwayne Archibold, Scott Knapp, Jim Cantamessa (nicknamed Cant-a-miss-a for you die-hards), Corey Osinski, Prosper Karangwa and Isiah Stewart – if not for one of the worst matchups any Siena Saint team could ever hope to get in the 1999 NCAA tournament against a superior athletic and hot shooting Arkansas Razorbacks squad, maybe this team would rank a little higher.  There’s no doubt these players deserve mention though, having multiple NIT wins and another NCAA appearance from the miracle MAAC tourney run of 2002 led by Archibold and Karangwa.  The athleticism of this team would match up better with the current crop of players than the 1989 crew, and with Paul Hewitt’s electric offensive system and the outside shooting of Knapp and Cantamessa a high scoring, high octane game would be sure to break out, with the defensive capabilities of Fran McCaffery’s players possibly being the difference, even though Hewitt’s team liked to press just as much.

In viewing the accomplishments of the big three, though, and trying to judge where they fall in Siena basketball greatness, one really only needs to start by looking at the numbers.

• Alex Franklin, Ronald Moore, and Edwin Ubiles have compiled a record of 97-37 in their four years playing under Fran McCaffery
• Ronald Moore is the all time Siena and MAAC conference leader in assists with 818 and will finish the year leading the country in that category.
• Edwin Ubiles is the third all-time leading scorer in Siena history, and Alex Franklin ranks fifth.
• Ryan Rossiter, in his junior year alone, has grabbed 21 double-doubles.
• The Saints have won 38 consecutive home games, and have won 43 of their last 46 games against MAAC opponents.
• For the first time in team history, the Saints have four consecutive 20 win seasons, and are the fourth team in MAAC history to make three consecutive tournament championship game appearances, and the second to win three championships in a row, along with the LaSalle team which dominated the conference 20 years ago.
• The Saints eclipsed the perfect record of the LaSalle team who went 16-0 by going 17-1 in conference this season.

Paired with the numbers alone the two NCAA victories in the last two years cement this team as the best ever to wear the Siena uniform.  The team couldn’t have done it without Tay Fisher, Josh Duell, and most importantly Kenny Hasbrouck in the last three years, so put an asterisk on it if you want, but the bottom line is that everything that has happened on this magical run has happened under the watch of Franklin, Moore, and Ubiles.  The Siena Saints fan base has had much to root for over the years, but nothing more valuable and important than the play of these three student-athletes and Coach Fran McCaffery.

Did you know Fran McCaffery has a 100% graduation rate for his recruits at Siena? That is among one of the many things they talk about in this interview.

Siena fans rush the court as the Saints celebrate their third straight MAAC Championship Monday night.

The MAAC attempted to stop Siena fans from storming the court and instructed the security at the Times Union Center to do their best to stop them.

However the battle between students and security was a petty one compared to the one that raged after the game.

Times Union Center General Manager Bob Belber said MAAC commissioner Rich Ensor was adamant that students not reach the floor while Belber had doubts as to whether or not it would be successful.

“He wanted barricades to be placed across the concourses to prevent the students from filtering into other sections of the arena to gain access to the floor,” Belber said in a statement.

“I told [Ensor] a number of times that the kids just want the opportunity to celebrate,” Belber said. “[Ensor] was determined to try to keep the students off the court, which is why there were security guards trying to keep students from entering the court areas.”

Belber also said that the security guards were trained to let the students go if the pressure was too great. Eventually the students broke through and reached the floor late after Siena’s overtime victory over Fairfield.

A Siena spokesperson said there were no sustained injuries and the Albany police said there were no arrests related to the court storming last night.

MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor fired back at Belber this afternoon. Ensor said his only plan was to want to protect the integrity of the game.

“That was our plan,” Ensor said to keeping the students off the court. “How the arena trains its staff and implements the plan is their business.”

Meanwhile Ensor did not spare taking a shot at the Siena Saints student section either.

“The incidents that occurred where are students aren’t listening and starting interacting with security and started throwing punches is really a reflection on the students,” Ensor said.

“I think there’s a tradition that’s developed at Siena that they want to storm the court and be a part of the action,” Ensor said. “The first time you win a championship, maybe there’s a reason for the spontaneity. At this point, it’s gotten beyond that to a very systematic approach.”

Meanwhile Marist and Rider fans will hope to not be run into the security policy that Siena fans ran into Monday night when they win their first MAAC tournament championships.

Belber said that he hopes the incidents last night will not strain the relationship between the Times Union Center and the community.

“The staff of the Times Union Center worked very hard and put in tremendous hours to host this record-breaking tournament, and it is a shame that there are negative feelings toward them for trying to carry out the directive of the MAAC,” Belber said.

The MAAC broke the attendance record set last year in this year’s MAAC Tournament.