Congratuations are in order for the Siena Saints, who blew past Rider 74-53 last night and secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the win. Siena is a local college who has shown off their plethura of talent this season. The scary thing is, they only have one senior. That senior, Tay Fisher, led Siena with 6 3-pointers on his 22nd birthday last night. This isn't the first time this season that Siena's shown it could be this year's Cinderella.
Early this season the Saints started gaining some exposure for a 79-67 upset of Stanford here at the TU Center in November. They used a team effort, led by all-out hustler Josh Duell's 16 points in that win.
Siena didn't have too much trouble during the MAAC regular season, finishing up in a tie for first with a 13-5 mark in the league, and earned the #1 seed through a tiebreaker. Siena was selected to participate in the BracketBusters weekend, and they traveled to Boise State for that one. Siena blew Boise out 94-78, with Alex Franklin shining behind 30 points and 18 boards.
Great guard play is always needed to succeed in late March. Siena's strength is their guards. Ronald Moore, Kenny Hasbrouck, Tay Fisher and Edwin Ubiles are four of the top five Saints. All of these guys are players who star on the perimeter. Alex Franklin and Josh Duell do work underneath as well. It's the guard rotation that could help Siena upset a team like Xavier in the first round.
Considering Siena is only losing Tay Fisher, who's to say that Siena won't be one of the top mid-majors next season? Bringing back their 5 starters and 4 of the top 5 scorers won't hurt them. Just imagine Jack McClinton didn't transfer to Miami (FL).
Way to go Siena and Davidson as well, for taking care of business. As for Gonzaga and South Alabama, Thad Matta and Jimmy Boeheim want your heads.
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