Press Release

It’s been quite a long time since we’ve covered the Saints here on Siena Saints Blog, as we’ve moved onto other things. We know you’ve been getting great coverage from our friend Pete Iorizzo and the Times Union Blog along with 4guysinblazers.

Also on Friday, Troy High senior Javion Ogunyemi officially declared his intention to join the Saints in 2013.

More after the jump…

Siena 53, Vermont 54 Friday 11/12

The Saints ran out to a 20-4 lead early in the contest, but poor shooting from the field and the free throw line doomed the Saints as they could not hold on to the lead down the stretch.

Evan Hymes and Rob Poole both picked up where they left off after their freshman campaigns.  Hymes was the leading scorer for the Saints, scoring 15 points on 4-12 shooting and making 5 of 6 from the charity stripe.  Poole continued doing a little bit of everything, scoring 13 points and grabbing 6 boards, while chipping in an assist and a steal.

Senior big man OD Anosike put up another trademark double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, but only made 2 of 11 attempts from the free throw line.

The Saints were able to get a lot of minutes for some of their freshman, including Ryan Oliver starting in place of Rahkeem Brookins, and Rich Audu and Brett Bisping.  Bisping was the most productive of the bunch, scoring 7 points.

Hymes had to leave the game in the second half, being carried off on a stretcher because of cramps, and was replaced by CBA grad and walk-on freshman Chris Leppanan who contributed productive minutes in place of the starting point guard before Hymes was able to return to the game.

While the offense was rolling early, inexperience and poor free throw shooting cost the Saints.  And while Vermont only scored 54 points, the Saints had difficulty protecting the lane and allowing penetration by the Catamounts, culminating in a driving layup by Vermont guard Sandro Carissimo to take a one point lead with 9 seconds left in the game.  The Saints drew up a play to try and get the ball inside to Anosike, but an entry pass by Audu was off the mark, and the Saints couldn’t get a shot off for the win.

Siena 54, Navy 49 Sunday 11/14

The Saints had a reversal of fortune two days later – while the team continued to struggle offensively, the defense continued to keep points off the board, and the Saints – still showing their youth, were able to hold on for a close win on the road.

OD Anosike posted yet another double-double in the win, scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, missing only one shot from the field and making 5 of his 8 free throw attempts.  Rob Poole had another characteristic outing, scoring 10 points, grabbing 9 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals.  The breakout performance on the team was highly touted recruit Imoh Silas, who sparked the team coming off the bench scoring 5 points, corralling 12 rebounds, and blocking 3 Midshipmen shots.  Evan Hymes scored 9 points, but did not shoot as well this contest, making only 2 of 16 attempts from the field, though he did chip in 4 of 5 free throw attempts.  Freshman Britt Bisping contributed well once again, scoring only 5 points and grabbing 3 boards, but provided quality minutes.

The Saints took a 6 point lead after two made free throw attempts by Hymes with 1:00 to go, but could not lock down the Midshipmen in the final minute.  Jerome Alexander sank a jumper with :20 left, and the Saints couldn’t find the net for the win, taking both teams to overtime.  Both teams struggled to score in the final period, but Anosike was able to sink the only field goal in OT for both teams, and the Saints converted on 5 of 6 free throws to secure the win.

Ogunyemi Commits

The Saints’ top recruit for 2013 commited to the Saints on Friday.  The 6’8″ Troy High senior fills out the Siena recruiting class for 2013, and was the main player recruited by coach Buonaguro and staff.  Ogunyemi chose Siena over James Madison, but also had interest from Buffalo, Delaware, and Iowa State.

Looking Ahead…

The Saints will travel to San Diego this weekend to compete in the NUCDF tournament.

This season begins with great anticipation as the Saints return the bulk of their offense and starters from a decimated team that went 14-17 last year.  Hopes are high as the team welcomes a deep and talented incoming freshman class, as well as having Imoh Silas and Lionel Gomis now eligible after sitting out a year due to eligibility issues from the NCAA and a host of other bodies returning from injuries.

Two of those players, however, will have to sit out 3 more games because of violating team rules.  Sophomore guard Rahkeem Brookins, who missed last season because of a herniated disc, and sophomore wing-man Trenity Burdine, who missed last year because of chronic foot injuries, will both have to wait to rejoin the team because of having to sit out a team mandated spell after unspecified rules violations.  Brookins is slated to start as the lead two-guard in the Saints offense, but the debut of the new, speedy and explosive back-court tandem of Brookins and sophomore point guard Evan Hymes will be put on hold for just a while longer.

Saints fans will be excited to welcome back the senior leadership and potent abilities of pre-season MAAC conference Player of the Year senior OD Anosike as he begins his last campaign in the green and gold.  OD led the nation with 13 rebounds a game last year and was second in the nation with 23 double-doubles, and as the only senior on the team he will be asked to continue to be the go-to player of the program.  Projected to join Anosike and Hymes in the starting lineup will be sophomore Rob Poole at the three, junior Davis Martens returning from injury at forward, and possibly freshman Ryan Oliver at shooting guard.  Oliver was recruited as a sharpshooter, and as the last recruit of the class he will be a dynamic and exciting scorer who will be one of many freshman asked to see a lot of action in a season of elevated expectations.  Rob Poole has added some bulk in the off-season, and will be asked to not only improve upon the shooting that he was recruited to provide, but also develop the all-around game that he displayed last year filling up the stat sheet.

The Catamounts come to Albany prepared to build on another successful season last year that saw them go 24-12 overall and win their opening First Four game in Dayton, Ohio against Lamar in the NCAA tournament.  Vermont has 9 20-win seasons in the last 11 years, and the defending America East conference champions look forward to winning yet another conference championship and go dancing again.  The projected starting lineup is full of juniors, and there is balanced size throughout the lineup.  They return about 47% of their scoring, but with size in their starting lineup and in the bodies they are bringing off the bench they are returning 72% of their rebounding and 77% of their assists and should continue to be difficult to contend with on the boards.

Vermont will provide a difficult test for the Saints who are trying to start a much anticipated season in front of their fans at home with a big ‘W.’  Look for 6’6″ junior forward Brian Voekel to step up and take a bigger position of leadership this year – Voekel only scored 5 ppg last year, but the former conference Rookie of the Year and All-Conference performer last year grabbed 9 boards and dished 5 assists per game.  His shooting percentages across the board were not great, but like Siena sophomore Rob Poole Voekel is going to be expected to do a lot of things and step up his game for the team to succeed.  6’7″ junior forward Luke Apfeld is the returning leading scorer, averaging 10 ppg last year.  Apfeld averaged 54% from the field last year, and 44% from three, and will be a tough test for the Saints to contain.  Voekel and Apfeld started all 36 games for the Catamounts last year, so they will be the one-two punch that Vermont is looking for to lead the team this year.

Head coach Mitch Bunoaguro is tasked with continuing to progress the success that the program has seen in years past, but to also helm the process of combining the skills and inexperience of the large freshman class with pieces that he did not have last year.  The out of conference slate is not the toughest the team has ever faced, and should provide the necessary time to allow the team to gel in regards to both chemistry and game plan.  The Saints will face Navy on Sunday in Annapolis before heading out to San Diego on the 16th for the NUCDF Basketball Challenge tournament.  There will be no let-up throughout the non-conference, though, as the team will try to put all the pieces in place getting ready to be competitive for a strong MAAC conference run this season.

Notes

• The Saints have won 21 of 28 meetings against Vermont, but have lost the last two.
• The Saints are 38-33 in season openers, but have lost 5 of their last 8.
• 11 of 14 team members are freshman or sophomores – the Saints have a 4 player freshman class which includes CBA grad Chris Leppenan as a walk-on, who may see action with Brookins on the sidelines the first three games.
• The Saints are looking to avoid their third consecutive losing season for the first time since 1994-1997.
• Siena has won five MAAC conference championships since joining in 1989-1990, the most in the conference in that time.  The Saints have also made it to more postseason tournaments in that span, getting to the NCAA tourney 4 times and the NIT three times, highlighted by first round wins over Vanderbilt and Ohio St. in the NCAA tournament, and a third place finish in the NIT in 1994.

After opening at home on November 9th against Vermont, the Saints will take to the road to return their 2011 home opener in a road game at Navy on Veterans Day.

Siena will play seven games in November, highlighted by the 2012 NUCDF Basketball Challenge in San Diego, California. Processed from the tournament will be used to raise awareness and support for the National Urea Cycle Disorders Foundation.

The Saints will play three games from November 16th to 18th against Cal State-Northridge, Northern Kentucky and the host University of San Diego. The Saints first game will be against Cal State-Northridge, a team that went 7-21 last season. Northern Kentucky, in their first season in Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun Conference, will face the Saints on November 17th in their second game. The Norse went 23-7 last year competing in Division II’s Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Saints will wrap up by taking on the host Toreros, a team that went 13-18 last season in the West Coast Conference. It will be Siena’s first meetings with each of their three opponents as part of the NUCDF Basketball Challenge. The only team in the five-team field that the Saints will not play will be Tulsa.

The Saints will travel to take on the University of Maine on Sunday November 25th as part of their return game from their 2010 BracketBuster game. Siena beat Maine 71-60 in the home BracketBuster game and hold a 13-4 record all-time against Maine. Following that game they will return a game at home against UMass, a team that made the NIT Semifinals last season.

Siena will host the Albany Cup Game on Saturday December 1st at 7:30pm. The Saints hold a 32-19 advantage in the all-time series.

Following the Albany Cup the Saints will play three straight Atlantic 10 teams. On December 4th the Saints will travel to St. Bonaventure to play the Bonnies for the third straight season for a chance to win the Franciscan Cup. St. Bonaventure has won the last two meetings and owns a 27-6 advantage in the all-time series. Following that game, the Saints will resume non-conference play on December 23rd with a road trip to Fordham, a team that beat Siena 74-59 in their first ever meeting at the Times Union Center last season.

Following a Holiday Break, Siena will host LaSalle in their final non-conference game of the year. The Saints will play the Explorers for the first time since the 1991-92 season when both competed in the MAAC. LaSalle finished 21-13 and appeared in the NIT last season.

The Saints will host a BracketBuster game against a To Be Determined opponent on Sunday February 24th at the Times Union Center. Last year, the Saints traveled to Hofstra and lost 81-69 to the Pride. As part of BracketBusters, teams must return their game in either of the following two seasons after the contest.

Siena is 9-13 combined in their first two seasons of non-conference play under Head Coach Mitch Buonaguro.

2012-13 Non-Conference Schedule
November 9th vs Vermont 7:30pm
November 11th at Navy 2pm
NUCDF Basketball Challenge – San Diego*
November 16th vs Cal State Northridge * TBA
November 17th vs Northern Kentucky * TBA
November 18th vs San Diego * TBA
November 25th at Maine TBA
November 28th vs UMass 7pm
December 1st vs Albany 7:30pm
December 4th at St. Bonaventure 7pm
December 23rd at Fordham 7pm
December 29th vs LaSalle 7pm
February 24th vs BracketBusters TBA 

SienaSaintsBlog: How would you evaluate the first MAAC Basketball Championships in Springfield?

Rich Ensor, MAAC Commissioner: We actually just went through that with the athletic directors, coaches and the presidents over the course of the last month in league meetings. The general sense is the neutral site was well received. The coaches unanimously supported the neutral site format. We’re looking at a couple of tweaks going forward as far as times of games and things of that nature, most likely in the next bid cycle which will be from 2015-18. The fan turnout was very strong from out of the region which was one of our concerns going in. The wrap on the MAAC was that fans wouldn’t travel to a neutral site but that didn’t seem to hold out and in fact we exceeded our room blocks in the region by a significant percentage and the presidents specifically asked me to get some more hotel rooms for their fans so we’re working on that.

So generally good, a couple of things the arena needs to do better. The number one critique from the coaches and administrators was  the  scoreboard there is a bit out dated to be kind and needs to be replaced. There was a general sense that the MassMutual Center did not activate locally ticket sales to the extent we were expecting. Some of that was driven by decisions they made relative to price point and promotion in the local market. We’re working with them on that, and we’ll come up with a few different strategies as it relates to local fans.

SienaSaintsBlog: What future tweaks to the tournament are you thinking of making?

Rich Ensor, MAAC Commissioner: There’s some format changes we’re looking at and we’ll have for the presidents in December. Generally on Saturday when we had the six games, I think we’re going to move to a format that splits the women to Thursday/Friday [First Round/Quarterfinals] and on the men, perhaps on Thursday [First Round] and then Friday off. And then Men’s quarters would be standalone games and that way we wouldn’t have to start quite as early or end quite as late. And then Sunday we would just have both sets of semis and Monday both sets of finals. So, nothing has been concrete at this point but that is probably the general direction of where we’re probably headed.

SienaSaintsBlog: Any concern, when you met with the Presidents and Athletic Directors, about the recent round of Conference realignment (CAA movement & Boston University to the Patriot League)?

Rich Ensor, MAAC Commissioner: We’ve been talking about it for over two years now with the presidents and have spent a lot of time and effort in terms of both examining internally what we look for in terms of member schools if opportunities present themselves and also how would we to react if we lose some schools for some reason. Not just doing the due diligence in today’s environment, obviously there’s been a lot of changes, so you don’t want to be caught unprepared. So we’ve done a lot of that work and we came in to the presidents with some suggestions, in terms of different strategies, and what the presidents have basically told me is that they’ve met separately and that they’re committed to each other, full disclosure,  and a general commitment that nobody is actively seeking membership in any other conference. With that type of stability, which has typically been the case in the MAAC, the 10 schools are so similar in terms of size, budget, academic focus and mission. That they’re very very comfortable with each other. That’s good in terms of stability and continuity and when we look at other possible members – because we’ve said over a decade ago that we would go to 12 if the right schools were available. Well that list is relatively small because our average enrollment is about 4,000 undergrads and we have a bunch of ranges we work within as well, overall budget for athletics, and then there’s the academic filter as well. When we start looking at schools that fit our mold, there aren’t that many of them out there frankly. We did do some scenarios looking at member schools from a wide range of conferences, and if you look for instance at America East schools – by and large they’re all public and we want to stay private, so right off the bat you eliminate those that don’t fit that criteria. If you look at any of the privates, they’re typically much larger than us. Boston University, who just decided to go to the Patriot League, their undergraduate population is in the 8,000 range. The reason why that is so important is because, typically in private schools budgets are driven by enrollment. It’s just a fact of life. You’re only going to be able to spend a certain percentage of your revenues on athletics based on the number of students you can have that help fund the enterprise. So at the very basic level enrollment dictates a lot of what any school can do in terms of athletics.

Most of the schools that are readily available right now or at least in transition, those in the Colonial or the America East, are much much larger than us or are publics. So the list becomes fairly finite. And then some schools that we have typically been interested in; it’s no secret we’ve always been interested in LaSalle, for instance they were in the league at one point and were a good member, is not interested right now.

Those schools aren’t available for us to look at so at this point, we’re just sitting pat with our 10, knowing we have a pretty good league and pretty satisfied with each other and see where that leads in the short term and the long  term but I think we’ll be successful.

SienaSaintsBlog: What sort of expanded commitment should fans look forward to with ESPN3? 

Rich Ensor, MAAC Commissioner: We’re going to have a 43-game package between the U and ESPN3 this year. Dan Shoemaker the Vice President for ESPN that we deal with out of their Charlotte office was at our meetings and told the coaches and AD’s that. We’re doing to do a slightly different format on our preseason awards show. This previous year we did it in Springfield as part of our opening of the MAAC experience at the Basketball Hall of Fame and we did a fairly extended broadcast as part of that show. This year we’re going to take it to a whole other level. We’re going to move it to the opening games for the two previous years winners – so the opening game at Marist for the women’s side and the opening game at Loyola on the men’s side.

We’re going to do a half-hour pregame show that does all the award winners and such, has some features in it from last year and some predictions about this coming year. Then after we do our show, we’ll do a banner unfurling at each of the schools for the previous year, and then we’ll have a non-conference opponent matchup and broadcast it on ESPN3. So we’ll do a show, the awards ceremony and then a game and they will be backed up on each other so one game will start at 6pm and the other will start at 9pm.

SienaSaintsBlog: Is this year’s tournament result, Iona losing but drawing an at-large bid thus increasing the NCAA tournament shares for the conference, the optimal scenario?

Rich Ensor, MAAC Commissioner: The optimum is that we get multiple bids regardless of who wins or loses. I don’t necessarily think that it’s optimal that the in-season champion loses in the tournament, it just happened this time around that that worked out for us with the at-large selection. That was because Iona made a major commitment to scheduling and won quite a few of those games. Whether that was down in Puerto Rico or during the season, and then they had the BracketBuster game two weeks before our tournament, we know the NCAA Men’s Basketball committee was watching because they told us. I think when they won that game going away, given what else they had done during the course of the year, I think that weighed heavily on the committee’s mind when they selected them as an at-large.

We’ve had many scenarios in the past where our regular season winner could have lost and could have gotten an at-large just because their schedule wasn’t tough enough and they didn’t have enough requisite wins that you need. We do have the failsafe there that you get an NIT bid automatically if your team doesn’t get an at-large to the NCAA, so you do know you’re going to get multiple teams in postseason in that scenario but I think we’d rather see us getting at-larges regularly because of our strength of schedule and our ability to win those games.

And then just the general commitment the league has made to postseason play, we don’t talk about it a lot but we now fund eight postseason home games that a school is able to secure through some of the other events; the CBI and the CIT for instance. We also give support to away games in those tournaments. Our coaches, both the men and women, have told us that the funding has really helped them because a lot of schools at the mid-major level when they get to the point where they’re invited to the tournament and get an option to host a home game, they’ll pass  on it because there’s an expense associated with that you have to fund the home game

The MAAC really stepped up two years ago and decided to fund those through our operating budget.  So the question wouldn’t be you have to go to your President and ask for additional funding in order to have postseason success. We want our schools to have postseason success, it helps the next year, that helps with our profile and it helps with our broadcasting. That has turned out to be a successful and well-received program.

SienaSaintsBlog: Thoughts on the outcome of the court case: Marist v. Matt Brady, their former Coach and Siena alum?

Rich Ensor, MAAC Commissioner: It was a difficult situation, obviously Matt Brady is also a Siena grad and he just hired Mike Deane as an assistant coach so we’ve known Matt for a long time. When he left Marist, Marist as I understand it, was fine with him leaving there were provisions in the contract that allowed that. The problem became with Marist was that the allegation that he also, in making the move to James Madison, took recruits with him and players that were on the team, in effect damaging Marist’s ability to have a competitive team for a number of years. I think that is an important issue.

There should be an honesty between a coach and a school that says I appreciate the fact that you’ve given me the opportunity to succeed here – I have an opportunity to go to the next level, and we’ve had that in many number of instances – but I’m not going to raid your team to field the next program I have to operate. I think the President at Marist, Dr. Murray, felt strongly that it was underhanded to move in that direction and felt it was important enough to litigate. In effect, it was successful, because James Madison who was a party to the suit at some point had both apologized for what occurred acknowledged they weren’t’ aware of it and paid some damages and then the court did rule that Matt did violate his contract. While they didn’t award damages and Marist didn’t appeal that, I think there is a principle that you can’t just walk away and take everything with you and have no consequences.

SienaSaintsBlog: Does it concern you that one of your member schools would sue their former coach?

Rich Ensor, MAAC Commissioner: Not generally. Frankly, the MAAC has had to file lawsuits against schools itself. We filed against LaSalle 20 years ago because they didn’t want to pay their exit fee when they left the MAAC. You see that happening in a number of cases nationwide right now. While nobody likes to do it, occasionally it happens and for the right reasons it’s justified.

“One of the things I identified is I thought we needed a head coach on the staff, a guy who had head coaching experience,” Siena Head Coach Mitch Buonaguro said. “We were very lucky to get him, we put together a good package for him. And obviously [Athletic Director] John D’Argenio recognized the importance of getting a coach of his caliber and we were able to get him here and certainly was a big addition.”

On May 4, 2011 the Saints officially hired Tobin Anderson, who previously was a head coach at Division III’s Hamilton and Clarkson.

Anderson was a player at Five-Star Basketball Camp when he first met Mitch Buonaguro, who was coaching at the clinic. Anderson played at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT where he holds the record for best three point shooting percentage in a season at 48.1 during the 1992-93 season. He currently ranks 10th on the all-time scoring list at Wesleyan with 1,129 points. From there the two established a relationship once Anderson joined the coaching ranks as an assistant at Clarkson in 1996 and continued to work together at Five-Star.

“He’s a great coach and more importantly a great person,” Anderson said of Buonaguro. “We’ve been good friends all through the time I got started in coaching.”

“I’d pick his brain about stuff,” Anderson said when he was coaching with Buonaguro at the Five-Star Basketball Camps in the past. “I’d watch him teach and coach, I was always very impressed.”

Anderson, having compiled a 118-63 record at Hamilton for seven seasons, said he was looking to make a move and step outside his comfort zone to move up to Division I at Siena. However, his comfort with Buonaguro made Siena a challenge he was willing to take on.

“I wouldn’t want to go out and work for a guy that I didn’t know. Having a prior relationship with him made me comfortable coming to Siena,” Anderson said. “It’s a great school. There’s a lot of similar values that I’m used to that made me feel comfortable.”

Anderson said the biggest difference between the coaching at Division III and at Division I is the amount of resources committed at Siena.

“At the Division I level, you have the resources and staff that allows you to focus on more of the basketball-side of things,” Anderson said. “As a Division III head coach, you do everything. You book the hotels, you schedule the facilities, you run the study hall. It leaves you with a limited amount of time to focus on what I truly love: basketball, spending time with the players, and recruiting. The staff we have at Siena is excellent and very experienced; Craig [Carter], Ben [Davis], and Tyler [Simms] are fun to be around and we all work well together.”

During his first season as a Division I assistant coach, Anderson said he learned a lot and has become a better assistant coach than when he first started his coaching career as an assistant.

“I’m a much better assistant now than I was 12-15 years ago because I’ve learned what a head coach wants, Anderson said. “What I want to do is help Mitch be the best head coach he can be. The goal as an assistant is to let Coach B do his thing and be the best head coach he can be, make his life easier, make his job easier, take care of the details and let him be the head guy. It worked out well this year and I think it will work out well going forward too.”

Buonaguro said that he likes Anderson’s suggestions for the program from his prior head coaching experience.

“What I really like about him is that he’s very proactive, he’s constantly looking at things from an assistants perspective but also from a head coaches perspective,” Buonaguro said. “The suggestions that he makes are very good. He’s had to deal with these situations himself, so he gives me a real good experienced person who’s been through a lot of stuff you go through as a head coach. I value what he says, I think he gives a lot of input in terms of every aspect of the program.”

The experience of going through a season in which Siena played as few players as they did, being a team that had its starters play 83.3% of its minutes and finished 14-17, Anderson said that he learned that it reinforces building strong team chemistry.

“I think it reinforces to you that if you have guys that work hard and believe in what you’re doing and work together you can be successful no matter what the situation is,” Anderson said. “It reinforces to me, it’s not about the talent, it’s about having guys who are on the same page and who are together and will fight for each other and if they do that we’ll have some success.”

Anderson hit the ground running on the recruiting trail, helping Siena secure their three-man recruiting class. Anderson was able to use work from a strong base of northeast connections which included connecting with Northfield Mount Hermon coach John Carroll to learn about and close in on Siena’s spring signee Ryan Oliver.

“Tobin has a lot of connections with our coaching staff and it was familiar territory for him, I think that helped with Ryan,” Carroll said of Anderson’s recruitment of Oliver.

The key to recruiting this class, Anderson said, was being able to establish personal relationships with the players.

“A lot of guys make phone calls and its all about how’s your team doing, how are you playing, how’s the recruiting process – what’s more important is to get to know them on a personal basis because I think at the end of the day, that is the part that is going to come through,” Anderson said. “A kid makes a decision, they get down to two or three schools, and they have a good relationship on a personal level – that kid is going to feel comfortable to play for your program. I think that’s what we try to do at Siena, we do a good job of selling the personal relationship.”

Oliver said his relationship with Anderson is solid.

“I just kind of felt like he wasn’t trying to say ‘hey go to Siena’ but he kind of guided me, not pressuring me or calling me all the time,” Oliver said. “He give me room.”

Anderson said that his connection with Oliver as well as Buonaguro’s pitch sold the most recent recruit on Siena.

“Knowing that the kids getting probably 10 phone calls a night from coaches from all different levels, it’s important for us to try to be the guy that connects with him,” Anderson said. “Me and Ryan, we had a really good connection which was important and Coach B had a great connection too which really paid off.”

Buonaguro went to California and sold the Oliver family on Siena during a home visit. Siena had four players come for official visits this year, three of them committed.

Not only did Anderson connect with Oliver and helped him commit to Siena, he was able to connect with Brett Bisping. Anderson grew up in the small town of Truro, Iowa and said he was able to use his midwestern roots to connect with Bisping and his family to bring the Illinois recruit to Siena.

“Being from Iowa, I think I have a pretty good feel for those kids and the values that are important to them,” Anderson said. “With Brett, he has a strong bond with his family and his hometown. For him to choose Siena, we had to make him feel comfortable on a personal level with our coaches, players, and the community.”

Buonaguro said that Anderson was very valuable in the recruiting process.

“Everybody did a good job of getting these kids here and certainly Tobin was at the forefront,” Buonaguro said.

Buonaguro, who worked under Rollie Massimino when he came up as an assistant coach, said that he learned that all assistant coaches must be able to do everything.

“When I came up in the business the coach I worked for, Rollie Massimino, always said that the better coaches are the guys who are well rounded,” Buonaguro said. “I don’t want to pigeon hole a coach. He’s got to be able to do everything, and I think Tobin certainly fits that bill.”

Siena Head Coach Mitch Buonaguro said that the top three weaknesses Siena addressed in the offseason were perimeter shooting, mistakes with turnovers and overall depth. Buonaguro said that it was key to address the depth issue in this years recruiting class.

“We need to make sure that we have enough guys that if somebody goes down that we can sustain a good level of play,” Buonaguro said. “I think now we’re now a deep team we have 12 scholarship kids right now and if they all stay healthy I think that’s enough to compete pretty well in the league.”

The additions of Audu, Bisping and Oliver were key to Siena whose roster will be bolstered by returns from injury by Rahkeem Brookins, Trenity Burdine and Davis Martens as well as getting Lionel Gomis and Imoh Silas eligible to play this coming season.

Another priority Siena worked to fill in recruiting was their weakness in perimeter shooting. Siena shot 31.2% from three point range in conference play, ranking last in the MAAC last season.

“They’re all guys that can make shots that definitely fills a hole we’ve had the last two years, we haven’t been a great three-point shooting team,” Buonaguro said. “That was one of the things we wanted to address.”

Siena assistant coach Tobin Anderson said that the class of incoming Saints will help shore up the roster.

“They’re definitely going to fill some holes and what we’re looking for from a basketball standpoint,” Anderson said. “All three guys can shoot and know how to play with high basketball IQs.”

Buonaguro said that he expects Oliver to get a lot of open looks when he plays with the combination of Evan Hymes and Brookins at the point and shooting guard spots, respectively.

“He’s not really a guy that’s going to blow by you on the dribble but I think he knows how to play, get shots, get open and with the two guards that we have he’s a valuable player because I think he’s going to get some open looks with Rahk and Evan penetrating,” Buonaguro said. “What I really like about him is his ability to make threes.”

Anderson said that Bisping will have the opportunity to take pressure off of likely MAAC Player of the Year candidate O.D. Anosike with his versatile play.

“I think Brett’s really going to help from the standpoint of taking pressure off of O.D. because he can really shoot the ball and he knows how to play,” Anderson said. “With him you have to guard him out on the perimeter a little bit which is going to help open the floor up for us.”

Buonaguro said that, with the current constructed roster, Siena’s starting five would consist of Evan Hymes, Rahkeem Brookins, Rob Poole, Imoh Silas and O.D. Anosike. Buonaguro said they key roster battle will be for the starting small forward spot in the fall.

“Evan and Rahk at the one and two, and at the three I’d have to say Rob Poole because he’s coming off a year where he played a lot of minutes but we’ve got a lot of depth at that position,” Buonaguro said. “I’d say off the top of my head: Hymes-Brookins-Poole-Silas and Anosike.”

Buonaguro said he thinks a combination of Hymes and Brookins, at the point and shooting guard spots respectively, will work very well.

“People have said well defensively we’re going to be small but you also have to look at the problems they’re going to create, guarding them,” Buonaguro said. “Both of them can go off the dribble, score and make threes. They can be a nightmare for teams guarding them also, and our other three guys are pretty big. I think they’re going to work well together.”

Brookins played the shooting guard spot in high school when he was teammates with point guard Maalik Wayns who now plays at Villanova.

Buonaguro and Anderson both said that fans will be watching a team that plays at a significantly faster pace than last year’s team.

“The backcourt will be fun with Rahk and Evan playing together,” Anderson said. “We’ll be a unique team from the standpoint of having two really really good post players and two really quick penetrating guards and a bunch of guys on the wings, like Rob Poole and Trenity and the guys that are coming in that could make plays.”

Siena has one scholarship available, which Buonaguro said they are considering using it if the fit is right.

Buonaguro said the Saints roster, which will have have 7 players in their sophomore season during the 2012-13 school year, would be a factor in any other players they are considering adding to the team via transfer or later in the recruiting season.

“Right now we’re a little unbalanced,” Buonaguro said of a group that will include 10 players in their freshman or sophomore year next season. “Maybe a transfer in that senior class but I don’t want to burden that one class with eight kids, I want to be careful.”

“We’re evaluating,” Buonaguro said. “I think we’re considering using it.”

Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com has linked Pitt transfer Isaiah Epps and Hawaii transfer Shaquille Stokes as potential transfers that have interest in Siena.

“If he’s going to transfer to Siena he better be pretty good and he better be able to help the team and be productive,” Buonaguro said about the prospect of taking on a transfer with Siena’s final scholarship.

The Siena staff said that with such a young roster and so few scholarships to give out next season, the Saints will be able to be selective in who they bring in for the recruiting class of 2013.

After playing a prep season to prove he’s healthy and ready, Oliver committed to the Siena Saints on April 10th with a verbal commitment; choosing Siena over 17 other offers.

The journey for Oliver, who committed to the Saints by signing a National Letter of Intent on April 12th, almost ended in an AAU game the summer entering his senior year.

“I heard the pop in my leg and I just fell to the ground. I was grabbing my knee screaming in pain,” Oliver said. “It was horrible, I thought that was it.”

Oliver went on to find out that the injury he sustained during that AAU game was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The injury, which required reconstruction of the ACL using a graft taken from his patella tendon, cost Oliver his entire senior season at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, California.

Being unable to play with his teammates, Oliver found a way to help out when his coach asked him to stay as a part of the team during practice and at games.

“He wanted me to still sit on the bench at games and travel but also stay with the coaching staff before a game and we’re watching film and scouting he wanted me to be a part of that,” Oliver said. “I learned a lot from the coaching staff.”

After his senior year Oliver went for a prep year at Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts. Oliver said he felt fully healthy one year after his surgery and went to Northfield Mount Hermon to prove his health. When Oliver reached Northfield Mount Hermon, head coach John Carroll and his coaching staff put him on a program to gradually ramp up his practice time. Oliver eased into practicing and did not miss a game until the end of the season.

“He was great, he was healthy and he looked phenomenal,” Carroll said of Oliver’s season. “He’s a very, very fluid player.”

According to MaxPreps.com, Oliver averaged 13.9 points per game and shot 42.2% from three point range during the season.

“He can score in bunches,” Carroll said. “He makes big time plays. So I think [Siena fans] can expect a lot of really good things from him next year.”

Siena’s staff closed in on Oliver throughout the season. Carroll said that Assistant Coach Tobin Anderson established a great connection with Oliver.

“Tobin has a lot of connections with our coaching staff and it was familiar territory for him, I think that helped with Ryan.” Carroll said. “He’s seen a bunch of his games, had a lot of good conversations [with Ryan] and developed a relationship that was obviously impossible to beat.”

Siena was watching Oliver early and often at Northfield Mount Hermon during the season. Oliver said the key to his commitment was establishing a relationship with Anderson.

“Tobin is just a really good guy,” Oliver said. “When we had conversations, it wasn’t always about Siena basketball. I just kind of felt really comfortable with him.”

Carroll said he remembered a game where Oliver helped lead Northfield Mount Hermon to a win over South Kent (CT) which featured Ricardo Ledo, a Providence commit and the #21 prospect on the ESPNU 100 prospect list, as one of his best performances of the season.

“Ricky [Ledo] is considered probably the best offensive player in the country,” Carroll said. “He wasn’t that night – that night it was Ryan.”

“[That game] was probably a turning point for our season where we started knocking off anyone who beat us, we beat them the next time we played them,” Carroll said. “I think that was due to the kind of confidence Ryan brought to us that day.”

Carroll said that Oliver will be an impact player for Siena right away.

“He has real poise with the ball in his hands,” Carroll said. “He really believes in himself as a scorer and as a teammate and I think he’ll contribute with an outside presence immediately.”

Oliver said he plans to major in marketing at Siena and said he looks forward to having an impact in the community.

“I met a lot of people during my visit,” Oliver said. “they’re all good people so just meeting more people and getting to work with the team and start achieving our goal.”

Oliver is the first Siena player in their Division I history to come from California. Oliver’s brother, Vince Oliver, played for UC-Davis and finished as the third leading scorer in school history with 1,523 points. Oliver holds the scoring record in UC-Davis’ Division I history. UC-Davis was certified as a Division I member in July 2007.

Siena reached into Illinois to grab Brett Bisping during the early signing period. Bisping’s journey began with a battle with iron deficiency issues, to emerging as a top player in high school to building his game in AAU ball. Bisping got discovered and signed by Siena’s staff and comes in as a capable player who can play inside and be a sizable three-point shooter.

Bisping said to SienaSaintsBlog that his iron deficiency issue, which was first reported when he committed, began to effect him as early as his sophomore year at Morton High School. Bisping said he had been diagnosed with mono during his sophomore year. During his junior year he said he couldn’t get enough sleep, being constantly tired, and was then diagnosed with an iron deficiency. He was put on a regiment of pills which gave him energy; energy enough to lift his game to new heights.

Bisping played AAU basketball with the Illinois Wolves in 16 and Under and 17 and Under games and Roy Schmidt, Editor and Publisher of Illinois Prep Bulls-eye which covers Illinois high school basketball, attributed his development with the Wolves as a crucial element to earning his scholarship offer from Siena.

“It was during the spring and summer in traveling team competition that Bisping was able to develop his skills to the furthest, especially being used as a spot up shooter offensively and being able to face up at the 3 spot,” Roy Schmidt said. “On his high school team Bisping is unable to play the 3 because he is more needed in the post.”

From there he got discovered by the Siena staff. Siena assistant Tobin Anderson and Head Coach Mitch Buonaguro came out to see him and Bisping said he visited and loved the school on his official visit. Bisping said he got along with the guys very well and he and his dad were able to watch Siena’s scrimmage against Cornell. Bisping committed to the Saints 0n November 14th.

Bisping said he’s not sure if he will get playing time early but he will continue to work to impress his freshman year.

“I don’t know that I have expectations as far as my playing time,” Bisping said. “I’m just going to try to work as hard as I can to improve my game and help out the team as much as I can.”

After committing to Siena, Bisping turned in a great senior season, knocking down threes and playing hard in the post; averaging about 17.5 points per game. Bisping took to improving his game playing heavy minutes for Morton. Playing in the second largest class in Illinois, Class 3A, Bisping has had to play inside for Morton. Listed at 6’8″, by the time the Potters reached the postseason, he had grown an inch and listed at 6’9″ according to Peoria Journal Star reporter Lonnie Schwindenhammer, who covered Morton during the season.

“Brett’s met or exceeded expectations coming into this season,”  Schwindenhammer said about how Bisping played after committing to the Saints. “He had a great year.”

Not only was he a focal point but Bisping said he sometimes had to bring the ball up against teams that pressed because it was easier for him to take it up against a big man.

After missing the start of the season with a left knee issue and watching Morton lose their first game. Bisping returned Morton went 4-0 behind his 18.5 points and 7.5 rebound average in November’s Lincoln Tournament. Morton also appeared in the Pekin Holiday Tournament in December, going 3-1 and finishing in third place. Bisping turned in a 25 point game in the third-place game, a 65-53 win over Normal West, making 9 of 11 shots from the field. Bisping earned spots on the All-Tournament team in both tournaments Morton played in this season.

Morton Potters Head Coach Jarrett Brown said that Bisping’s performance in tournament play reflected his consistent play all season.

“Brett’s performance in the Christmas tournament was no different than anything all year long,” Brown said. “He will stretch the defense with his shooting, he’ll get into the post, he gets to the foul line, runs the floor. He does a little bit of everything and then he dominates the glass, normally most every night.”

The second-year coach Brown said that Bisping improved throughout the year, getting stronger with continued work in the weight room.

“He’s not a afraid of work and he’s confident enough to look at weaknesses and not take that kind of criticism or coaching as a personal attack but as an opportunity to get better,” Brown said.

Behind Bisping Morton went to the regional finals on March 2nd where they fell to Peoria Manual 54-32. Brown said he credits Bisping’s unselfishness to help the team in the post as aiding to their terrific season.

“He’s just so unselfish,” Brown said. “[He's] a tremendous shooter and as the season wore on for us I asked him to sacrifice that part of his game and just be down in the post and stay down there. A lot of kids would really mock at that but he just did what was best for the team.”

Bisping improved as a player who can step out and shoot the three pointer as well as play physically inside, being the focal point of the Potters. Bisping said that he has been working on his shooting and ball handling on his personal time to make the move from playing inside to being a wing player.

“He can move around the perimeter – he’s got good footwork both inside and out,” Schwindenhammer said when he saw Bisping play this season. ”I think he can get on the floor right away as a college player shooting shots from the outside and if you can do that you can get in rebound at 6’9” too he’s tough enough to do that.”

While most of Siena’s players tweet or own twitter handles, Bisping said that he does not have a twitter account. Morton’s Brown said Siena is getting a quality player and teammate.

“You need to surround yourself with good people and there’s no better person and no better family than Brett Bisping and his family,” Brown said. “He’s a tremendous player and a better person and I’m anxious to continue to build that relationship with him and be there for him in whatever capacity I can be to help him out in the future.”

“He’s a real level headed kid, not a lot of highs and lows in terms of emotions or anything he’s real level-headed,” Schwindenhammer said of covering Bisping. “I think he’s probably matured a bit as a player, just being the focal point of everybody else this year.”

Bisping profiles as a combo small forward/power forward according to Roy Schmidt of Editor and Publisher of Illinois Prep Bulls-eye.

“[Bisping] is a face up big man who can step out and consistently knock down shots ranging beyond the 3-point line,” Roy Schmidt said. ”He is also more athletic than people give him credit for, as he can run the floor and has the ability to play above the rim.”

Roy Schmidt said he expects Bisping to be an immediate contributor for the Saints. Editor and Publisher Harv Schmidt said his concern about Bisping is his ability on defense.

“He is athletic, but not enough to guard the ’3′ wing spot consistently,” Harv Schmidt said.  ”He may need more strength to guard the ’4′ power forward spot.”

Roy Schmidt said that his concern with Bisping on defense is whether or not he will be better defending the interior or perimeter.

“While he is athletic, he lacks the physical strength to be able to consistently seal off bigger and stronger defenders and doesn’t sport the natural quickness and lateral movement to be able to guard on the wing,” Roy Schmidt said. “There are also times when he needs to be more aggressive with respect to attacking the glass.”

Brett is among candidates for the Player of the Year award along with being likely to receive all-conference and potentially all-state accolades. His sister, Brooke, will be a senior on the Bradley Women’s Basketball team when Brett enters Siena as a freshman in the fall. He said he is undecided on a major at Siena.

This isn’t the first time Siena has received a commitment from the Illinois area. During the late 90s, Siena signed Micah Ogburn (Class of 2000), who committed from nearby Chillichothe, IL. Ogburn played two seasons for the Saints, appearing in 43 games.

Bisping will be welcomed to the league by Niagara rising junior Marvin Jordan, who plays for MAAC rival Niagara and hails from Peoria Manual, the same high school that ended Bisping’s senior season.