Obviously Siena did graduate a lot with the departures of Ronald Moore, Edwin Ubiles and Alex Franklin all 3-time NCAA tournament participants and 2-time NCAA tournament game winners. Coach Fran McCaffery is now at Big 10 member Iowa. His head assistant Mitch Buonaguro will take over the reigns in 2010-2011.
The cupboard certainly isn't bare by any means.
Siena returns 6'9 senior center Ryan Rossiter the best big man in the MAAC and a strong choice for POY in the league. Rossiter averaged 14 points and 11 rebounds last year.
Also returning from the starting line-up is Clarence Jackson a 6'3 SG who also should be a POY contender. Jackson averaged 13.6 and is a streaky scorer. Jackson hurt his ankle and did not play in Siena's narrow loss to Purdue in the NCAA tournament. Injuries certainly are a part of the game but many believe Siena might have very well won the game had Jackson played.
Brandon Walters a 6'9 transfer from Seton Hall will be eligible to play as a junior.
OD Anosike is a 6'8 PF and a budding sophomore poised for big things.
Siena also brings in two highly regarded freshman in Trenity Burdine (6'6 SF - 87 grade on ESPN) and Rakeem Brookins (5'10 PG/SG - 90 grade on ESPN)
Other role players include the super athletic Owen Wignot along with guards Kyle Downey, Kyle Griffin and Jon Breeden.
Siena will be young and no doubt be a pretty decent dog in this game. But make no mistake Siena should win at least 20 games again and have a top 100-110 RPI potentially a top 60-75 RPI if the young guys are ready to go. This game will help Minnesota's RPI and if you beat us, as expected, it will be a good win for your resume in March.
I know Minnesota will be good because Tubby Smith's teams usually always are. What do you guys expect from your team? Top 4 or 5 in the Big 10? Top 25 nationally?
This will be Siena's second game of the year as they host Vermont the Saturday before. I'm glad they'll have one under their belts. Minnesota opens with Wofford so both teams will have a game before hand.
These are the types of games Siena needs to do well in to become an elite mid-major like a Butler or a Gonzaga. So far we've only beaten Stanford from a BCS league in the regular season but have two biggies in March (Vanderbilt in 2008) and Ohio State in 2009). And almost took Louisville down in the second round in March of 2009.
Should be a fun game!
