2008 NCAA Tournament Capsule: Siena

Metro Atlantic (22-10, 13-5)

Big Wins: 11/17 Stanford (79-67), 2/8 at Marist (97-88), 2/23 at Boise State (93-70)

Bad Losses: 11/9 at James Madison (88-100), 2/16 Loyola Maryland (76-83), 2/18 at Manhattan (72-73)

Last NCAA Appearance: 2002, First Round loss to Maryland

Coach: Fran McCaffery (0-2 in 2 NCAA appearances)

Probable Starters:

Ronald Moore, Sophomore, Guard, 8.7 ppg, 5.3 apg, 4.1 rpg

Kenny Hasbrouck, Junior, Guard, 15.6 ppg, 2.2 apg, 2.3 spg

Edwin Ubiles, Sophomore, Guard, 17.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg

Josh Duell, Junior, Forward, 5.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg

Alex Franklin, Sophomore, Forward, 15.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg

Key Roleplayers:

Tay Fisher, Senior, Guard, 7.7 ppg, 1.2 rpg

Clarence Jackson, Freshman, Guard, 3.8 ppg, 1.4 rpg

Chris De La Rosa, Freshman, Guard, 2.5 ppg, 1.5 apg

Ryan Rossiter, Freshman, Forward, 2.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg

Corey Magee, Sophomore, Forward, 1.5 ppg, 2.7 rpg

Why They Can Surprise:

A few teams will hit more three-pointers than Siena, but not many will knock them down with more consistency. Tay Fisher is a sharpshooter off the bench, but he leads the team with two long balls per contest. Edwin Ubiles is the team’s leading scorer and he hits 44.2 percent of his attempts from behind the arc. Ubiles does not do most of his damage from behind the arc and has a nice mid-range game and can get to the basket with ease. His main scoring mate in the backcourt is Kenny Hasbrouck. Hasbrouck hits almost 40 percent of his shots from long range, but he is by no means a one-dimensional scorer.

The backcourt, led by point guard Ronald Moore, also creates a ton of turnovers. The team will almost garner ten steals per game and that is a very impressive number. That leads to a ton of easy buckets for the guards on the other end of the floor. Even better than creating turnovers is not giving them up and the Saints only commit about 11 turnovers per game.

Why They Can Disappoint:

Unfortunately Siena gives up a lot of their possessions with missed rebounding opportunities. Alex Franklin is a solid rebounder, but he does not get much help from fellow forwards Josh Duell, Ryan Rossiter or Cory Magee in that department. The lack of rebounding is one reason why the Saints defense is not so heavenly. The team gives up over 72 points per game and allows the opposition to shoot over 45 percent from the floor.

Who To Watch:

Moore is more than just a point guard. Although it is his leadership that keeps the turnovers down, he will do a little bit of everything that his team needs. He can hit the mid-range jumper and occasionally the three-pointer, but usually he will get a bulk of his 8.7 points per game around the basket. Moore is also a decent rebounder for his size and will spearhead the defensive effort.

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