Jeff Couch - The Record

LOUDONVILLE - Trenity Burdine may be No. 2 for the Siena men's basketball team, but coach Mitch Buonaguro is looking for him to be No. 5.

The Saints have gotten solid contributions from four starters, when healthy, but that fifth spot has been an issue, especially from an offensive production standpoint.

"If we can Burdine to get double figures consistently or even eight-nine points, now we're a much different team," said Buonaguro, at his meeting with the media Tuesday afternoon.

Burdine, who has missed time this season due to an athletic department suspension and an academic suspension, provided a huge impact this past weekend for Siena. 

"Trenity offers a different dimension," said Buonaguro.

When Buonaguro recruited Burdine two years ago, he thought the first team all-state player from Reading, Pa., could be a dynamic player. While Burdine's career has been hampered by injuries and off the court issues, he could play a big role down the stretch. 

"Now, if he comes into his own the last nine-ten games, he's only going to make us a lot better," Buonaguro said. "He can score."

Burdine scored 11 points on Friday against Niagara and followed that up with a 13-point game against Marist. In the two games, he combined to shoot 10-16 (62.5%) from the floor, as the Saints posted two of their three highest scoring games. When Siena fell behind Marist on Sunday, they went on a huge 31-10 run to end the first half, what Buonaguro called his team's best offense of the season. 

"We're going to start doing some different things with him," said Buonaguro.

Buonaguro also likes using Burdine at the top of his three-quarters court pressure defense, similar to the position that Edwin Ubiles played a few seasons ago.

"He's 6-6, he's long and he's athletic," Buonaguro said of Burdine. "In that press that I use, that's what you need up there. Yeah, he makes the press better."

Burdine has also only turned the ball over eight times, or just 0.67 turnovers per game, while the team averages 14.9 turnovers per game.

"He doesn't turn the ball over and we've been struggling with turnovers," said Buonaguro.

AP

Edwin Ubiles got a shot to play in some NBA games, but his 10-day contract expired on Monday.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Ubiles, who averaged 3.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in four games for the Wizards was headed back to the Dakota Wizards, of the D-League.

According to the Washington Post, Ubiles will be replaced on the Wizards roster by Cartier Martin. 

Ubiles averaged 13.0 minutes per game for Washington.

He became the first former Siena College player to appear in a NBA regular season game, when he played in the Wizards' 108-89 victory over New Jersey, on March 21.

Ubiles also scored a career-high 10 points in 18 minutes against the Atlanta Hawks.

Edwin Ubiles was part of a lot of Siena College history, when he suited up for the Saints.

On Wednesday, he made some more, when he became the first former Saints player to appear in an NBA game.

Ubiles signed a 10-day contract with the Washington Wizards on Sunday and finished Wednesday's victory over New Jersey, with four points on 1-for-4 shooting, while also grabbing four rebounds.

Ubiles is third on the all-time Siena scoring list (1,939) and was a part of three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship teams and two victories in the NCAA tournament.

Ubiles was called up from the D-League where he was averaging 20.4 points per game for the Dakota Wizards (Bismarck, N.D.), and was selected to participate in the league’s All-Star game (Feb. 25). He scored 41 points in a game vs. Iowa Feb. 27.

AP

Edwin Ubiles has made a lot of splashes this season.

He got a tryout in Golden State, before the NBA season began, participated in the NBA D-League all-star game and now the former Siena Saints star has been called up to the Washington Wizards.

Ubiles was averaging 20.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists, while shooting 50 percent from the field for the Dakota Wizards.

Ubiles burst back onto the scene over the summer, winning a gold medal as a member of the Puerto Rico national team, at the Pan-American game. He had been recovering from a stress fracture in his right tibia.

Ubiles was part of three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships at Siena and helped the Saints win two games in the NCAA tournament.

J.S. Carras/The Record

Edwin Ubiles will be participating in NBA All-Star weekend.

The former Siena star has been selected as an all-star in the NBA Developmental League. Playing for the Dakota Wizards, Ubiles is averaging a team-high 20.7 points, 5.7 rebounds 3.3 assists and 1.0 steals in 22 games.

The game can be seen on NBATV, on Saturday, at 2 p.m., from Orlando, Fla.

Ubiles spent time in NBA training camp, with the Golden State Warriors, prior to the start of the season.

Big Siena basketball fans have something scheduled for their summer vacation already.

The Saints will be playing their first Legends game, scheduled for July 19, at the Alumni Recreation Center, on campus.

AP

There are plenty of players who have confirmed that they will play in the game, including recent stars from the past three MAAC titles like Edwin Ubiles, Kenny Hasbrouck, Ronald Moore, Ryan Rossiter, Clarence Jackson, Alex Franklin and current Harlem Globetrotter Tay Fisher.

Siena Athletics

Other players like Michael Haddix, Dwayne Archbold, Marc Brown, Marcus Faison, Tom Huerter, Antoine Jordan and Prosper Karangwa will also participate.

Tickets can be purcahsed for $12/7 in advance or at the door $15/10.

Check out Siena's release for more information.

J.S. Carras/The Record

LOUDONVILLE - Senior Kyle Downey has played 74 minutes over the past two games.

Siena's senior captain has been the leading scorer in both games, combining for 45 points.

The back-to-back solid performances have his scoring average up to 12.7 points per game.

"I thought he looked fresh in the two games, when other players looked tired," said Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro, at Tuesday's meeting with the media.

Buonaguro knew he would get a solid senior campaign from Downey and the Fairport native is showing what he's capable of.

"I think it's a byproduct of his conditioning, his work ethic and how he came into the season," Buonaguro said. "I thought the other night, against UMass, he played terrific and he followed it up with a really good effort last night. We're going to need that moving forward against Princeton."

BURDINE UPDATE: If you've been at the Siena game recently, you've noticed that sophomore Trenity Burdine is warming up with the team.

Coach Buonaguro said that is a positive step, but he still hasn't seen Burdine do much cutting.

The talk on Tuesday was that Burdine could be back with the team, but Buonaguro really wants him back for the Iona game (Jan. 3). 

"We don't want to push him into something where he's going to regress."

WIGNOT NOT HIMSELF: Senior Owen Wignot was held scoreless on Tuesday, in 23 minutes against Fordham.

It certainly seemed like a step backwards, following an 8-point performance against UMass, on Friday.

"He's certainly not playing with the same level of confidence," Buonaguro said. "I think you can see that. We need him to produce."

Buonaguro just finished by saying that Owen isn't playing like he's shown he's capable of, in the past.

TIME OFF: The Saints have one of their longest layoffs of the year now, due to finals and Buonaguro said he'll take the time to work on things he thinks the team needs improvement in.

He also said that it will be important to get the young players some rest, heading into the next portion of the schedule.

"Maybe these freshmen have hit a wall," Buonaguro said. "They've been through a lot and we need to get them refocused, reenergized and be positive with them in these nine days."

Having lost seven of their last eight games, Buonaguro said it's vital that he keeps the younger player's confidence up.

"I think freshmen have to be resilient, but you have to keep reminding them to move on," he said.

MITCHELL JOINS UBILES WITH WARRIORS: The Golden State Warriors have signed another former Siena player, in Tommy Mitchell ('05).

He joins Edwin Ubiles ('10) in training camp with the Warriors, as both players will try to make the squad for opening day.

Former Siena star Edwin Ubiles is getting closer to realizing a childhood dream.

Record File Photo

On Thursday, Ubiles was called up from his team, in the developmental league and will report to the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.

Ubiles was playing for the Bismarck Wizards, in the NBDL, averaging 16 points and 7.3 rebounds in a team-high 37 minutes per game.

WFYR's Joey Whelan quoted Ubiles as saying: "I felt like I was talented enough to come here, play well and hopefully get a call-up as soon as possible. Now that the lockout is over, I started off the season playing well and now I've got my opportunity."

Ubiles played for his native Puerto Rico at the Pan American Games in Mexico this fall, winning a gold medal. .

Ubiles finished his career, third all-time in Siena school history, with 1,939 points and sixth in points per game (14.8). He helped Siena win three MAAC titles and earn two NCAA tournament victories. Following his senior season with the Saints, Ubiles learned of a stress fracture in his right shin, which kept him out of action for nearly a year.

No Siena player has ever appeared in a NBA game. Most recently, Ubiles' former teammate, Kenny Hasbrouck, was on the Miami Heat roster, back in 2010.

Mike McMahon/The Record

J.S. Carras/The Record

LOUDONVILLE — The Siena men’s basketball team has another former player playing professional basketball.

Clarence Jackson has decided to bring his talented overseas, signing a contract to play in Ukraine.

Jackson made his decision public on Facebook, writing, “Ukraine it is. Making my professional start and excited about the opportunity.”

Jackson joins plenty of former Saints teammates, also playing pros overseas.

Ryan Rossiter (France), Ronald Moore (Poland), Kenny Hasbourck (Spain) and Alex Franklin (France) have all turned their basketball talent into a profession.

Another former Siena player is currently in the National Basketball Developmental League. Edwin Ubiles, another former teammate of Jackson’s was chosen in the most recent draft and currently is with the Dakota Wizards.

Jackson is the 27th all-time leading scorer at Siena, scoring 1,164 points in his career, while helping the Saints win three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles and two games in the NCAA tournament.

Jackson will be playing for the SK Dnipro Azot, of the Ukrainian Superleague.

ALBANY - Kyle Downey didn't do much sitting around, during Monday night's game, so while I talked to him in the locker room, I figured I'd give him a break and let him sit, rather than standing.

Downey didn't come out of the 64-58 loss to St. Bonaventure, playing all 40 minutes.

"I don't think it's going to be like that for the rest of the year," he said, seated in front of his locker.

It was the third straight game Downey has played more than 30 minutes and has to at least bring up the question that the Saints may eventually get worn down.

With the injuries to Owen Wignot (head) and Trenity Burdine (foot), Siena is only suiting up seven scholarship players and all of them are playing a ton of minutes.

Downey (37.3 min/gm) and Brandon Walters (38.0 min/gm) are both nearly playing entire games.

"I've always said tired is just a mindset," Downey said. "You're only going to be tired, if you allow yourself to be tired. If you're mentally strong, you'll be fine."

By comparison, last season Ryan Rossiter averaged 37.4 minutes per game, less than Walters is playing now.

The season before no player averaged more than Ronald Moore's 36.0 minutes per game, including Edwin Ubiles (30.9), Alex Franklin (32.9) and Rossiter (32.9).

Those teams certainly had more players, so I decided to look at Fran McCaffery's first season, when the team was very short on depth.

During the 2005-06 season, Antoine Jordan (36.4) and Kojo Mensah (35.1) averaged the most minutes.

While Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro doesn't have many other options than to play the guys that are healthy, I'm just beginning to wonder if these players will get worn down before the season is over.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Siena men's basketball team is a middle of the road team.

So say the coaches of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which voted them sixth in the preseason poll on Tuesday, in Springfield, Mass., the new home of the MAAC basketball championships from 2012-14.

Iona is the No. 1 team, followed by Fairfield, Loyola (Md.) and Rider.

The Saints were picked to finish second in last year's preseason poll, but struggled to a 13-18 finish, including an 8-10 record in league play, despite having player of the year Ryan Rossiter.

Junior forward O.D. Anosike was selected to the third team all-MAAC, but was the only Siena men's player honored on the preseason list.

It marked the first time in four years that the Saints haven't placed at least two players on the preseason first team. In 2008-09, Kenny Hasbrouck, Edwin Ubiles and Alex Franklin were chosen, while in 2009-10 Ubiles and Ronald Moore were selected and last season Rossiter and Clarence Jackson represented Siena on the preseason first team.

Siena has also had the last three MAAC postseason Players of the Year recipients in Hasbrouck ('08-09), Franklin ('09-10) and Rossiter, last season.

The preseason first team included Scott Machado and Mike Glover of Iona, and Ryan Olander and Derek Needham of Fairfield and Rider's Novar Gadson.

After a terrific end to last season, the Siena women's team in fourth place and pushed six-time champion Marist to the edge in a semifinal matchup.

Surprisingly, the Saints were selected to finish in seventh place in the preseason poll.

Gina Castelli's club lost leading scorer and rebounder Serena Moore, but have a nice core group of players, including seniors Maja Gerlyng and Cristina Centeno.

Centeno was chosen to the all-MAAC preseason second team, while Gerlyng was placed on the third team.

The Sneak Preview, hosted annually by Siena College, is a good way to get people thinking about the upcoming college basketball season.

Below freshman Marcus Hopper meets with Jack and Mary Ryan of Waterford.

This is my fourth time at the event and this year was quite frankly a lot different than the past few seasons.

This will be my fifth season covering Siena and in years past there were high expectations.

While those are the same expectations the players have year in and year out, this is certainly a different season for the Saints.
In the past three years Siena has seen Kenny Hasbrouck, Alex Franklin, Ronald Moore, Edwin Ubiles, Clarence Jackson and Ryan Rossiter come and go.

Those six players all scored 1,000 points in their careers and represent six of the top 34 scorers all-time in Siena history.

Here's how they stack up.
3rd - Ubiles, 1,939
4th - Hasbrouck, 1,917
5th - Franklin, 1,730
10th - Rossiter, 1,457
26th - Jackson, 1,164
34th - Moore, 1,070

This year, the leading returning scorer is senior Kyle Downey, who has 379 career points.

Obviously, this is a new-look team, especially with six freshmen.

Two of those players (Imoh Silas and Lionel Gomis) have been declared ineligible for this upcoming season by the NCAA.

Siena did win a small battle on Tuesday though, when it was ruled that both Gomis and Silas will have three years of elgibility, when they begin their careers in 2012-13.

"I’m really excited that Lionel Gomis will be able to get two years back," said Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro. "A lot of credit goes to our administrators at Siena. They did a lot of work."

The original decision where Gomis and Silas and an injury to Davis Martens means that the other four freshmen (Rob Poole, Marcus Hopper, Evan Hymes and DeVonte Beard) will have to step up.

"With the unfortunate circumstances that we have, we’re going to need the freshmen to grow up quick," said junior forward O.D. Anosike. "Frankly put, we need them to step in and play right away."

Buoaguro indicated that he hopes Hopper will step up, given the lack of big bodies up front.

MARTENS UPDATE: Buonaguro indicated that he knew the decision was coming to hold out Martens for the entire upcoming season.

Martens struggled with pain this summer and needed a specialized surgery, which should be totally solved if rehabbed properly.

This is a big loss for Siena because Martens had showed positive steps in flashes and needed more big bodies up front.

"I thought he made a jump last year," Buonaguro said. "That hurts. He has experience, too."

Martens will have to rehab for three months.

I also bumped into Just-in'love Smith at the event, who said that Martens is the godfather to his little girl.

Here are the stats for those named to the Lou Henson mid-major All-America team, with one addition.*

*Siena's Ryan Rossiter who ranks 9th in scoring and 1st overall in rebounding, of the 25 players chosen, was left off of the team.

If Rossiter, isn't chosen as an All-American by another publication, that is a mistake, in my opinion.

What else could he do (his team's average record notwithstanding)?

Edwin Ubiles (15.3 points per game) was named to the team after the 2009-10 season.

Kenny Hasbrouck (14.6 points per game) was an Associated Press honorable mention All-American after the 2008-09 season.

Ubiles (17.0 ppg) and Hasbrouck (16.1 ppg) were named to the CollegeInsider.com's mid-major All-America team after the 2007-08 season.

Points per game
Devon Beitzel, Northern Colorado - 21.5
Orlando Johnson, UC Santa Barbara - 21.1
Kevin Foster, Santa Clara - 20.7
Cameron Jones, Northern Arizona - 20.1
Dominique Morrison, Oral Roberts - 19.5
Gilberto Clavell, Sam Houston State - 19.3
John Holland, Boston University - 19.2
Casper Ware, Long Beach State - 19.1
Ryan Rossiter, Siena - 18.7
Mike Smith, ETSU - 17.9
Mike Glover, Iona - 17.9
Denzel Bowles, James Madison - 17.6
Matt Howard, Butler - 16.8
Mickey McConnell, St. Mary's - 16.4
Kwame Morgan, Hampton - 16.1
Kyle Weems, Missouri State - 16.0
D.J. Cooper, Ohio - 15.8
Shelvin Mack, Butler - 15.6
Demonte Harper, Morehead State - 15.5
Justin Greene, Kent State - 15.4
Cam Long, George Mason - 15.1
Frank Hassell, Old Dominion - 15.1
Keith Wright, Harvard - 14.8
Kwazdo Ahelegbe, Northern Iowa - 14.1
Juan Pattillo, Western Kentucky - 13.7
Scott Machado, Iona - 13.4

Rebounds per game
Ryan Rossiter, Siena - 13.2
Mike Glover, Iona - 10.1
Frank Hassell, Old Dominion - 9.4
Juan Pattillo, Western Kentucky - 9.1
Denzel Bowles, James Madison - 8.8
Justin Greene, Kent State - 8.3
Keith Wright, Harvard - 8.3
Matt Howard, Butler - 7.8
Gilberto Clavell, Sam Houston State - 7.3
Mike Smith, ETSU - 6.9
Kyle Weems, Missouri State - 6.9
Orlando Johnson, UC Santa Barbara - 6.2
John Holland, Boston University - 5.8
D.J. Cooper, Ohio - 5.0 (7.5 assists per game)
Demonte Harper, Morehead State - 5.0 (3.4 assists per game)
Dominique Morrison, Oral Roberts - 5.0
Cam Long, George Mason - 4.7 (2.9 assists per game)
Cameron Jones, Northern Arizona - 4.6 (3.2 assists per game)
Kwame Morgan, Hampton - 4.5
Shelvin Mack, Butler - 4.3 (3.6 assists per game)
Scott Machado, Iona - 3.8 (7.5 assists per game)
Devon Beitzel, Northern Colorado - 3.3
Kwazdo Ahelegbe, Northern Iowa - 3.2 (3 assists per game)
Kevin Foster, Santa Clara - 2.8 (3.6 assists per game)
Mickey McConnell, St. Mary's - 2.5 (6.1 assists per game)
Casper Ware, Long Beach State - 1.8 (3.5 assists per game)

LOUDONVILLE - There was a familiar face at Siena practice on Thursday afternoon.

Former star Edwin Ubiles was suited up and mixed in with the current players looking at something assistant coach Craig Carter was drawing on a dry-erase board.

With the Spring semester starting (I know it's too cold for it to be called spring), Ubiles is back in school trying to finish up his degree.

He's just a few classes shy of picking up his bachelors in Creative Arts.

"I thought it'd be good, while I'm out to get that done, have that paper," he said.

Ubiles' pro career has been put on hold as he rehabs a stress fracture in his right tibia.

"I took a little bit longer than I expected to get back," he said. "The best thing for me, right now, is to be patient and keep working."

Ubiles, who was part of three MAAC title winning teams at Siena, said he's not sure exactly when the injury occurred.

"It didn't bother me until towards the end of my career, here at Siena," he said. "Fortunately I caught it when I did."

Ubiles, who said he's in "decent shape," said he is trying to rehab to possibly make a run at playing in the NBDL, or overseas.

"I want to make sure I go in there ready to go, so I can perform at my best," he said.

Ubiles also has twin girls, Laila and Thalia, who are growing up fast and will turn two in April.

"The kids are getting big now and running all over the place," he said.

Bring around the program and seeing some familiar faces are two things that Eddie has missed.

"It's fun," Ubiles said. "I definitely miss it. It's an experience to remember."

Siena freshman Trenity Burdine talks about how he's fitting in with the Saints, the tradition of playing at Siena and a possible comparison to Edwin Ubiles.

It's the eve of the NBA Draft.

Former Siena standout Edwin Ubiles is ranked No. 98 by ESPN draft insider Chad Ford.

He is listed just ahead of Michigan State's Raymar Morgan and Rider's Ryan Thompson.

There are only 60 picks in the draft. Just looking at those numbers, it doesn't look like Ubiles will get chosen, but he's been confident, as has former Siena coach Fran McCaffery, that he will be selected.

Former Siena star Edwin Ubiles' name has been thrown around regarding Thursday's NBA Draft.

While I haven't seen his name in really any mock drafts (in fairness, most mocks are just first round and Ubiles is projected as a second rounder if anything).

I did see his name on this mock draft by NBAdraftdepot.com. Ubiles is listed at No. 53, going to the Houston Rockets.

Of course, Ubiles helped Siena win three consecutive MAAC titles and appeared in five NCAA Tournament games.

Last summer, Ubiles particpated in both skills academies hosted by LeBron James and Paul Pierce.

Ubiles' former Siena teammate Kenny Hasbrouck wasn't drafted, but has caught on with the Miami Heat and was with the team during the 2010 NBA playoffs.

If Ubiles doesn't get drafted, he stands a good shot of hooking on somewhere like Hasbrouck did after playing in the NBDL.

In the first blog entry not about Fran McCaffery in about two weeks, Siena senior forward Alex Franklin will replace West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler at the Portsmouth Invitational this weekend.

Franklin will join former teammate Edwin Ubiles as one of the 64 seniors invited to the three-day workout.

Here's part of the press release from Siena.

Each year for 57 years the P.I.T has invited 64 of the best college basketball players (seniors) from across the nation to participate in a four-day, twelve game tournament in front of representatives from every NBA team. The tournament drew the attention of NBA Scouts and General Managers in the mid-70’s when players like Dave Cowens, John Lucas, Walt Szczerbiak and Bobby Cremins came to Portsmouth to play. Soon the word spread and approximately 200 Scouts, General Managers and Representatives of all 30 NBA teams began to come to see players like John Stockton, Dennis Rodman, Tim Hardaway, Scottie Pippen and others. Today scouts from numerous international leagues have joined in on the annual April pilgrimage to Portsmouth. Over the years the P.I.T. has been a showcase for five of the 50 greatest players in NBA History (Rick Barry, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, Dave Cowens, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen) and for many others who have gone on to NBA stardom.

Siena senior Edwin Ubiles shot 2-for-5, scored four points and grabbed three rebounds and dished out two assists at the senior all-star game today at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Ubiles' Hershey team was beaten by the Reese team 106-101.

Former Albany City Rocks player Lazar Hayward (Marquette) scored a game-high 23 points for Hershey.

Houston's Aubrey Coleman led the Resse team with 14 points.

According to reports from the Associated Press, former Siena star Kenny Hasbrouck is close to signing on with the Miami Heat.

"It’s great for him especially and great for our program," said senior Edwin Ubiles.

The rest of the team felt pretty much the same way as did coach Fran McCaffery.