The Siena men's basketball team wrapped up an unsuccessful trip to the Old Spice Classic on
Sunday.

AP

The Saints played well in spurts and would have felt good about coming home, had they closed the door against Purdue.

Siena led by 16 points in the second half, but the Boilermakers scored the game's final nine points, to post a 68-63 victory.

Here is postgame reaction from coach Jimmy Patsos, provided by the Siena athletic department.

It was the second time in eight days that the Boilermakers and Saints had met, with Purdue winning the two contests by a combined 13 points. 

The Saints lost to Memphis, Saint Joseph's and Purdue at the Old Spice and still have never won a game at this event.

In 2008, Fran McCaffery's eventual Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions, lost to Oklahoma State, Tennessee and Wichita State.

This year's bunch of Saints need to regroup quickly, as they open MAAC play on Friday, traveling to the Buffalo area to take on Niagara (Friday) and Canisius (Sunday).

On the other side of town, the University at Albany is back over .500, following Sunday afternoon's 66-55 victory over New Jersey Institute of Technology.

The win is the Great Danes' second victory this season over the Highlanders.

Senior guard DJ Evans led the way with 17 points, which is good since I wrote about him for Sunday's paper. 

UAlbany travels to Holy Cross on Wednesday evening.

AP

The University at Maryland-Baltimore County released a statement today saying that senior Chris De La Rosa is leaving the team, due to personal and family-related matters.

This is a big loss for the Retrievers, who were picked to finish seventh in the America East preseason poll.

De La Rosa was a preseason all-conference selection and last year, was a second team America East player.

"Obviously, we were disappointed to learn of Chris' decision, but understand the personal reasons behind it," UMBC coach Randy Monroe, said in a statement. "I felt he was a Player of the Year candidate in our league this year. We will miss him and wish him nothing but the best."

Back in 2007-08, De La Rosa played at Siena, on a team that finished 23-11 and reached the NCAA tournament, under coach Fran McCaffery.

De La Rosa played in both NCAA games, against Vanderbilt and Villanova, scoring five points in the second round loss to the Wildcats.

The Siena Saints look to start the year off 3-0, for the first time since the 2002-03 season, tonight when they take on the Bonnies, from the Atlantic-10.

I found it hard to believe that Siena didn't start a season 3-0, when they had their incredible run of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles and NCAA tournament success, but here are the Saints' record for the first three games, dating back to '02-03.

2010-11 - 1-2
2009-10 - 2-1 (NCAA tournament & MAAC champs)
2008-09 - 2-1 (NCAA tournament & MAAC champs)
2007-08 - 1-2 (NCAA tournament & MAAC champs)
2006-07 - 1-2
2005-06 - 1-2
2004-05 - 0-3
2003-04 - 2-1
2002-03 - 3-0

That means that coach Mitch Buonaguro has a chance to do something tonight that Fran McCaffery didn't do in his time in Loudonville.

The Saints are also the only undefeated MAAC team remaining -- again it's real early, but that's a step in the right direction.

Siena is coming off of a victory at Mount St. Mary's in which freshman point guard Evan Hymes scored a career-high 30 points, becoming the first Saints freshman to score 30, since Jack McClinton did so, in 2005. Incredibly, Hymes, who is only starting because of the injury to Rakeem Brookins, is averaging 20.0 points per game through his first two collegiate games.

While the first two wins were nice and I'm sure provided a huge boost of confidence for the team, this is the Saints' first real test of the season.

St. Bonaventure sports one of the best big men in the country, in 6-foot-8 Andrew Nicholson.

Here is a link to a ESPN feature from last year, on Nicholson (right), who is a Naismith Watch List and Wooden Award candidate.

Nicholson will be a tough task for O.D. Anosike and Brandon Walters, but it should help that they can switch between two big men.

If Siena wins tonight, watch out.

ALBANY - As Hartford coach John Gallagher prepared to leave the team hotel on Saturday afternoon, he was watching a friend coach his team, on television.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery grew up in the same neighborhood in Philadelphia as Gallagher and the first-year Hawks head coach watched McCaffery's team battle against Indiana.

"They fought Indiana like it was a fist fight," Gallagher said.

Iowa ended up beating Indiana, 64-63, for the Hawkeyes third Big Ten victory of the season.

Putting up a fight is what Gallagher said he wants his team to do, especially without leading scorer and rebounder Morgan Sabia, who is out with a knee injury.

Gallagher's wife, Geneva went to Notre Dame with Margaret McCaffery, Fran's wife.

"I know Fran," Gallagher said. "I know Margaret. I know the whole family. I'm recruiting the boys right now."

LOUDONVILLE - Minnesota coach Tubby Smith made it a point, following Monday's game to ask Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro where he got Rakeem Brookins from.

Brookins scored 12 points, all coming in the final minutes of the game.

"He has had two late stretch runs in games, where he's been almost the best player on the floor," said Buonaguro at his weekly luncheon on Wednesday.

Buonaguro was asked Wednesday if he still wants Brookins coming off the bench and Buonaguro said he needs to get him in there, but the bench is where he will start games still.

"I think for now," he said. "That's a tough question."

Brookins is averaging 10.0 points per game, behind just seniors Ryan Rossiter and Clarence Jackson on Siena's scoring leaders list.

While Brookins is scoring, he also has commited 10 turnovers in two games.

Buonaguro said he spoke with former coach Fran McCaffery recently and they spoke about how Ronald Moore struggled for the first few games of his career (Moore made his first start in the sixth game of his freshman season - against UAlbany on Dec. 2, 2006).

"This kid is a little different than Ronald," Buonaguro said. "This kid can score."

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.

According to The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the University of Iowa paid Siena College $240,000 to buyout Fran McCaffery's contract.

Iowa also had to pay former coach Todd Lickliter $2.4 million to buy out the remaining four years left on his contract.

Here's a link to the story that does a good job of breaking down how their hiring process went.

Former Siena recruit Melsahn Basabe has just tweeted that he has signed on with former Siena coach Fran McCaffery at Iowa.

Here is the tweet:

It's Official... Im an Iowa Hawkeye now

According to this article in the Reading Eagle, Siena recruit Trenity Burdine will honor his Letter of Intent and join the Saints next season.

Burdine said he has been in contact with (Fran) McCaffery, but that the Hawkeyes coach urged him to maintain his commitment to Siena.

"He said the best thing (for me) was go to Siena," Burdine said. "He and Coach Mitch (Buonaguro) are best friends, and he didn't want to step on his toes. It was a hard position for him."

What's your caption for this picture??

Slideshow: McCaffery's time at Siena - The Record News: Serving Troy and its surrounding communities (Troyrecord.com)

LOUDONVILLE - Fran McCaffery was introduced as the new Iowa men's basketball coach on Monday.

Shortly after, life started without McCaffery on the Siena campus.

Athletic Director John D'Argenio and juniors Clarence Jackson and Ryan Rossiter were made available to the media later in the afternoon.

McCaffery stayed five seasons in Loudonville and D'Argenio was asked if this is the amount of time that he can expect a coach to stay at Siena.

“I think to a certain degree that’s a by-product of a mid-major,” D’Argenio said. “What you want is somebody who is going to come in and be successful, like we have been. Whether it’s winning championships and graduating players and if that happens, somebody at the next level is going to be interested in that person. While we want people to stay here forever, we’re also realistic enough to know that you want somebody to succeed and do well.”

Fran McCaffery is no longer the Siena coach.

At 11 a.m. central Iowa introduced McCaffery as their head coach.

McCaffery is getting a six-year deal, that starts out around $1.1 million and Athletic Director Gary Barta said it would escalate up to about $1.35 million.

That works out more than $7 million dollars over the length of the contract.

Some other notes:

McCaffery started out by mentioning Siena and saying it was a place he loved and was a great place.

Barta joked that there would be a seat belt on Margaret's seat over at the Carver Hawkeye Arena.

It was nice to see Barta comment on McCaffery's kids, they truly are the ones who had no decision in this and had to have their worlds changed. Hopefully and I'm sure it will work out for them.

Two stories in today's paper.

Here's a great quote from former Siena guard and current Miami Heat guard Kenny Hasbrouck in today's story about Fran McCaffery, who is headed to Iowa.

“In my opinion, he was the one who got the program to its peak through great coaching and great scouting,” former Siena star Kenny Hasbrouck said. “He put together a team that played together and would be a family on and off the court. Honestly, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have the confidence I have in myself to always prevail and I’m sure the other guys feel the same way.”

McCaffery heads to Iowa

Who's next at Siena??

Siena coach Fran McCaffery is no longer Siena's coach.

McCaffery, who has been making the rounds of schools looking for a new coach, has reportedley taken the job vacated by Todd Lickliter at Iowa.

The Hawkeyes finished 4-14 in Big Ten play this season and 10-22 overall.

Iowa has had three straight losing seasons and the last time the Hawkeyes reached the NCAA Tournament was 2006.

While born in Philadelphia and a northeastern guy for most of his life, McCaffery does have ties to the midwest, as he was a former assistant coach at Notre Dame under Digger Phelps.

McCaffery led the Saints to three consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles and two NCAA Tournament victories, doubling the program's total to four.

He finishes at Siena 112-51 in five seasons in Loudonville. He has career record of 250-178 in 14 seasons at Siena, UNC-Greensboro and Lehigh. McCaffery has taken all three schools he's coached to the NCAA Tournament.

A formal introduction is expected to be made in Iowa City on Monday.

The coaching search now begins for Siena.

If you were Siena Athletic Director John D'Argenio, who would you be looking to hire?

It's been a busy offseason (eight days) for Siena coach Fran McCaffery.

After meeting with Seton Hall brass earlier in the week, the New York Post and New York Times are both reporting that McCaffery is interviewing for the St. John's opening today.

While the question above seems pretty straight forward, I want to know what you think.

If Fran McCaffery leaves or doesn't leave, do the losses of Alex Franklin, Ronald Moore and Edwin Ubiles set this team back a couple of seasons?

Or do the Saints, helped by the newcomers and two remaining starters continue to dominate the MAAC and keep themselves on the national level for years to come?

According to multiple sources, including the New York Post and ESPN, former Siena coach Paul Hewitt has turned down St. John's offer to become their head coach and will remain in Atlanta at Georgia Tech.

St. John's is apparently now looking at Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg or Cornell coach Steve Donahue.

Expect cuurent Siena coach Fran McCaffery's name to get brought up as well.

McCaffery had come forward to say that rumors about the possibility he would be meeting with Georgia Tech to be just that, rumors.

Multiple sources are saying that Fran McCaffery was in New Jersey on Tuesday to meet with the Seton Hall brass.

The longer this kind of stuff goes on, the worse it is for Siena in terms of keep McCaffery as their head coach.

Fran has always been a pretty straight shooter and if he thought Seton Hall wasn't an option, he wouldn't have met with them.

The New York Post is reporting that Seton Hall has spoken with Siena coach Fran McCaffery and has moved forward looking at Robert Morris' Mike Rice.

The Post reports that Seton Hall is looking for a coach at $500-550,000 per year - far below most the contracts most Big East schools currently have with their coaches.

Here part of the story from the Post.

Shopping an approximate dollar figure -- $500-550,000 per year -- that is below Big East standards, Seton Hall personnel, a source said, have already spoken to Siena's Fran McCaffery and Richmond's Chris Mooney.

It is believed, though, that McCaffery, whose Saints lost in the first round to Purdue, is looking for a more lucrative contract elsewhere.

McCaffery will make nearly that much over the remainder of his contract at Siena.