J.S. Carras/The Record

LOUDONVILLE - For all of the bad news Siena fans have received this season, it's possible the new year has brought something positive the Saints' way.

Sophomore Rakeem Brookins was back on the practice floor on Thursday, not ready for live action, but dribbling and shooting.

"It's definitely a step in the right direction," said Brookins, who averaged 9.0 points and 4.3 assists per game last season, as a freshman. "I'm happy to be back and anxious to be playing, but the coaches are babysitting me a lot. I just have to take it one step at a time."

Brookins traveled with the team down to New York, for Tuesday's game against Iona.

"It's great that we have him back, supporting the team," said Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro.

Brookins hopes to be back practicing with the squad, at some point at during the second semester.

"I hope so," he said. "I believe I'll be able to practice with these guys."

Brookins spent much of his time back home, trying to stay busy. He would go watch his friend, Maalik Wayns, play for Villanova or go watch former Siena guard Jonathan Breeden, playing for Division II West Chester, where Brookins' cousin goes to school. .

"It was just different back home," Brookins said.

He still has some therapy sessions to finish and had been rehabbing twice a week at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, but it's been a long road so far.

"It's been frustrating me a lot, especially in the beginning," Brookins said. "It was hard for me. I was watching the guys play and I wanted to be on the court with them so bad."

Brookins did have positive words for the guy who has been filling his spot on the squad, freshman Evan Hymes.

"Hymes is doing a great job and I'm proud of him."

Brookins is eager to return to action, so that he and Hymes can combine for a speedy backcourt.

"It's going to be a very quick and interesting backcourt and I can't wait," he said

As we do when all years come to an end, we look back at the best performances and try to figure out what was the best.

I've covered Siena and UAlbany basketball for five seasons and put together what I think are the Top 10 moments of 2011.

See what you think...and let me know if I'm wrong (I'm not).


10. EVAN HYMES SCORES 30 (Nov. 19)
Siena point guard Evan Hymes has burst onto the scene this season. In just his second game, the diminutive point guard, who is starting because of a season-ending injury to Rakeem Brookins, went off. Hymes scored 30 points in a 65-53 victory that started the Siena 2011-12 season with back-to-back victories. Hymes was 9-for-17 from the floor and 9-for-14 from the free throw line.

9. MIKE BLACK DROPS CAREER-HIGH 26 ON MAINE (Feb. 27)
UAlbany's point guard is known more for distrubuting, but in the season finale last year Black torched Maine for a career-high 26 points in a 81-77 overtime victory. Black hit five 3-pointers, but also finished with five assists in the win, while playing 40 of the 45 minutes in the game.

8. CLARENCE JACKSON COMES OFF BENCH TO LIGHT UP MARIST (Jan. 14)
Clarence Jackson dealt with a long list of injuries during his senior season, but on this night he put the setbacks behind him and gave a clutch performance. Jackson finished with 19 points and hit five 3-pointers at the McCann Center as Siena took down rival Marist 66-59. Jackson finished 5-for-7 from beyond the arc.

7. UALBANY CLOBBERS BINGHAMTON 76-37 (Jan. 20)
The Great Danes and Bearcats have a good rivalry, both being SUNY schools. On this night, UAlbany let their state rivals have it, setting new Division I win margin, winning by 39, 76-37, over Binghamton. Mike Black led four Great Danes in double figures with 15 points. The Bearcats made just 12 field goals and shot 21 percent (12-57) from the floor.

6. ARONHALT & AMBROSE GO 20-20 on UMBC (Jan. 26)

Logan Aronhalt really burst onto the scene last season, overcoming a lot of injuries to have a breakthrough campaign. In this game, Aronhalt lit up University of Maryland-Baltimore Country for 28 points, while senior Tim Ambrose finished with 25 points in the 66-63 victory, down in Baltimore. Aronhalt and Ambrose combined to shoot 19-for-35 (54.3%) from the field in the game.  

5. UALBANY TAKES TALENTS TO MADISON SQUARE GARDEN (Feb. 11)

While this game wasn't a victory for the Great Danes, the UAlbany players got the thrill of a lifetime, as the team took the floor to play at the world's most famous arena. Boston University picked up the 63-44 win, but it's a moment that the Great Danes and Terriers both will remember forever. Tim Ambrose led the way for UAlbany with 13 points. 

4. RYAN ROSSITER BECOMES SIENA'S TOP REBOUNDER (Feb. 7)

Ryan Rossiter broke a lot of records and had a terrific senior season for Siena. On this night, Rossiter only put up 23 points and 20 rebounds in a 76-69 loss to Loyola (Md.). In the process, Rossiter became the Saints all-time leading rebounder, passing Lee Matthews ('93). Rossiter, who ended his career with 1,151 boards, finished with nine offensive rebounds on this night. 

3. GERARDO SUERO DROPS 31 ON SYRACUSE (Nov. 15)

Gerardo Suero really burst onto the scene this season, proving that he is one of the top newcomers in the America East and possibly the country. UAlbany lost on this night to Syracuse, 98-74, but Suero scored a game-high 31 points against the Orange's vaunted zone defense. Suero was 9-for-16 from the floor and 11-for-12 from the free throw line, in just his third game for the Great Danes.

2. O.D. ANOSIKE LETS HIS PLAY DO THE TALKING (Dec. 5)

Siena junior center O.D. Anosike caught the attention of nearly everyone in the Captial District when he said he thought Siena was still the favorite, heading into the Albany Cup matchup. Anosike backed it up, scoring 21 points and grabbing 18 rebounds as the Saints regained the bragging rights with a 64-60 victory. Following the game, Coach Mitch Buonaguro said he hoped Anosike would tweet less, while Anosike who hadn't tweeted the original statement, was just happy with the victory.

1. RYAN ROSSITER GIVES HOMETOWN CROWD ONE LAST THRILL (Feb. 27)

Ryan Rossiter gave the hometown Albany crowd one more thing to cheer about, in the final home game of his career. Rossiter finished with a career-high 34 points and 11 rebounds in a 81-73 victory over Marist. There's not much more you can say about Rossiter, as a week later, he was honored with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year award.

Honorable Mention:

• Ryan Rossiter 26 pts. 15 reb. in victory over Iona – Jan. 3 (Siena 1,000^th win)
• Siena's Jonathan Breeden scores 24 pts vs. Iona in loss – Feb. 11
• UAlbany's Jayson Guerrier 28 pts, 10 reb. vs. Monmouth – Nov. 21
• Gerardo Suero 29 pts. vs. Colgate – Dec. 7
• Ambrose 15 pts 14 reb. 52-50 @ Stony (3^rd double-double, career-high rebounds) - Jan. 17
• Luke Devlin 11 pts & 11 reb. In victory over Hartford – Feb. 5
• Ambrose 22 pts in victory over Stony (past 1,500 career pts) – Feb. 14

Multiple reports are surfacing on Saturday evening that 6-foot-2 guard DaVonte Beard has verbally committed to Siena College.

Rivals.com is reporting that Beard has verbally committed to play for the Saints and coach Mitch Buonaguro.

A tweet from Rodger Bohn, a Senior Writer for SLAM Magazine, later said he hasn't yet committed to Siena and cited a family source.

Beard is from Akron, Ohio and played for the same school as LeBron James, St. Vincent-St. Mary's.

Beard did visit Siena this weekend and FOX23 caught up with him, while playing with some of the Siena players.

This would be a big get for Buonaguro and the Saints, especially with the recent news that both Jonathan Breeden and Kyle Griffin won't return to the team.

Buonaguro can't comment on a recruit until a signed Letter of Intent has been sent to the school.

Beard would join a freshman class of Lionel Gomis, Imoh Silas and Robert Poole.

If Beard does commit, Siena would have two scholarships remaining.

LOUDONVILLE - It took Jonathan Breeden just one week to go from reserve to key player.

Breeden scored a combined 44 points over the weekend, in losses to Iona (Friday) and Manhattan (Sunday).

The sophomore led the Saints in scoring, in both games, playing for the injured Rakeem Brookins, who was out with a rib injury.

“I was happy for Jon,” said Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro. “He’s been through a lot his first two years. Last year, he didn’t get a chance to play with Ronald (Moore). This year, I’ve played him and have confidence in him. I had a good meeting with him before we left for the trip and he responded with two great outings. It’s a real positive we took out of the weekend, with him playing that way.”

Buonaguro called Breeden a "key player" on Tuesday, at his weekly luncheon.

He said that Breeden should start Wednesday against Saint Peter's and Brookins will likely come off of the bench.

Breeden's play didn't surprise any of his teammates.

“I don’t think that was any surprise to me,” said senior Clarence Jackson. “Jon has shown flashes. When he gets an opportunity, he makes the most of it.”

With Siena dealing with so many injuries this season, the younger players have received a chance to step up and play big minutes, something that could really help the team down the stretch.

“I think that was a great step for Jon in building his confidence,” Jackson said.

ALBANY - Ryan Rossiter was breaking program records and single-handedly outrebounding Loyola (Md.).

Siena was cruising along, again playing without key pieces, but somehow maintaining a lead and then something happened.

Just like that the Saints fell behind and fell into sixth place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings, losing to the Greyhounds 76-69.

The Saints didn't play their best game on Monday night, but they played all right - until the final five minutes.

The Greyhounds snatched the lead on back-to-back 3-pointers from Justin Drummond and it seemed like the game ended just as quickly.

“We have to a better job of pushing our leads and building on them, as opposed to giving them back up,” said senior Ryan Rossiter.

Rossiter scored 23 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, but the rest of the team struggled.

Siena shot okay without Rossiter's 9-for-20, going 19-for-47 (40.4%), but again, when it came time for someone else to make a basket, no one did.

“It's frustrating watching, sometimes, Ryan do it by himself,” said fellow senior Clarence Jackson, who shot just 2-for-12.

Still, the Saints led 58-50 with 12:12 remaining and scored just 11 points the rest of the way.

“It's very frustrating,” Jackson said. “We had the game right on the ropes.”

After falling behind 69-65 with 3:21 to play, the next points didn't come until 36 seconds remained, after Siena finally fouled.

“Instinctively, we should have fouled,” said sophomore Jonathan Breeden, who played a season-high 23 minutes, after Rakeem Brookins went down with an injury. “I think we were trying to gamble for a steal first.”

The Greyhounds avenged a 17-point loss to the Saints, which was probably Siena's best all-around game of the season, only a 11 days ago.

“They had the loss in their mind,” Rossiter said. “They wanted to come out and prove something tonight and they definitely did.”

LOUDONVILLE - Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro met with junior Kyle Griffin for an hour on Friday night at the team's hotel in Boston.

Buonaguro explained to him that he would be starting freshman Rakeem Brookins at point guard, the next day and that Griffin still had an important role with the team.

The Saints went on to demolish a good Northeastern team on Saturday, so the move seemingly paid off.

"I made the decision based on, we weren't running that well," said Buonaguro at his weekly meeting with the media on Monday afternoon. "It was nothing against Kyle Griffin. Kyle Griffin actually has pretty good stats."

Brookins played 27 minutes against the Huskies and although he didn't make a field goal, he finished with five assists and four points.

"I thought Rahk added some running to our offense," Buonaguro said. "We run the ball better when he's in there."

Brookins will remain the starter when Siena takes on Butler Tuesday night in downtown Albany. The game can be seen locally on Time Warner-3.

"I think he played well (against Northeastern)," Buonaguro said. "He ran the team well."

Griffin came off the bench for the first time this season and played 18 minutes, scoring four points and dishing out four assists.

"I was happy he bought into the role and responded," Buonaguro said.

Coach B said it was a little easier of a move, knowing that Griffin is a mature player, who will do anything for the team to succeed.

"When you have character people like Kyle Griffin, they understand when a coach makes a decision, you have to buy into it," Buonaguro said. "He understands, still, that he's a key player."

Griffin is averaging 3.0 points per game and leads the team with 13 assists on the year.

Buonaguro also addressed why he put sophomore Jonathan Breeden into the game as his first substitue at the point guard position.

"I wanted to get a look at Jon," Buonaguro said. "I played him a little at the point. He came in and I just had a hunch that it wasn't his day."

The victory over Northeastern was Buonaguro's first head coaching victory at Siena and his first head coaching win in 20 years.

"Beating a really good, quality opponent on the road is always a great feeling," he said. "To get my first win, was obviously a great moment for me."

LOUDONVILLE - The Siena men’s basketball team has already had to deal with more injuries than coach Mitch Buonaguro would like.

Before Saturday’s season opener against Vermont, there is another one to overcome.

Junior guard Kyle Downey strained a ligament in his knee and will be out for at least three weeks, according to Buonaguro.

Downey fell over sophomore forward Davis Martens, while diving for the ball last week in practice.

"That hurts a lot because he’s our sixth man and has the ability to score in double figures," said Buonaguro.

Downey averaged 5.0 points per game in 15.0 minutes last season, as a sophomore.

It’s just another injury for Downey, who has been hampered by injuries throughout his career.

In 2008, he missed most of the offseason with a back injury.

This past January, Downey broke his right foot and missed most of the rest of the regular season, returning to play in the season finale against Marist and into the postseason.

The injury to Downey is just another for the already walking wounded Saints.

Seniors Ryan Rossiter (Achilles) and Clarence Jackson (ankle) have already missed practice time, as has freshman Trenity Burdine (foot).

The injury bug has also bit sophomore Jonathan Breeden.

Breeden, who averaged 8.0 points per game in the team’s two scrimmages, has had some swelling in his foot and ankle.

While it doesn’t seem to be seri¬ous, Buonaguro is still concerned.

"I think Breeden will go (on Saturday)," he said. "I just hope his foot and ankle injury doesn’t persist."

Breeden played in just 16 games as a freshman and averaged just 3.4 minutes per game, but his good start to this season, had him likely seeing more game action.

"I plan on playing him in the Vermont game right away," Buonaguro said.

The injuries leave Siena a little shorthanded, with the season opener just three days away.

NOTE: The Trentonian's Ben Doody and I will be co-hosting a MAAC chat at 11 a.m. tomorrow. We're hoping to make this a weekly thing. Please stop by the blog.

ALBANY - While senior Edwin Ubiles was warming up earlier, he is not on the court right now as the team goes through their final warmups before tonight's game against Loyola (Md.).

Ubiles missed the team's last game, Monday against Manhattan, with spasms in his back.

Kyle Griffin is on the floor and looks like he will play.

Jonathan Breeden is out with migraines.

Update: Ubiles came out about 20 minutes before tip and is in the starting lineup for tonight.

It'll be interesting to see how long he plays and if his back acts up at any point.

*****

Loyola has had issues of their own.

Brett Harvey is not in the starting lineup for the Greyhounds, but Harvey is dressed.

Loyola is without junior Jamal Barney, who is no longer with the team.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Here at the Arena at Harbor Yard for a first place MAAC showdown between Siena (6-0, 13-4) and Fairfield (5-1, 12-4).

The story so far besides the crowd, which looks to actually have more Siena fans, is Saints big man Ryan Rossiter.

While listed as a starter, Rossiter has done very little in warmups and didn't look very good.

While Rossiter may be sick, freshman Jonathan Breeden is home sick and didn't make the trip.

We'll see.

Big game for both teams.

ALBANY - Starters 51, Bench 39.

Clarence Jackson and Ronald Moore: 2 points. Just-in'Love Smith and Conner Fenlon: 6 points.

That clearly won't happen every night, but it showed just how much of a team victory Tuesday's 90-56 victory over Delaware really was.

Every player played at least two minutes and everyone took at least one shot for Siena.

“It feels good to see everyone in motion and everyone in the rhythm of the game,” said sophomore Kyle Downey.

While coach Fran McCaffery said he doesn't consider Downey and fellow soph Owen Wignot young anymore, he was pleased with his freshmen's play, for the most part.

“Denzel (Yard) and Jon (Breeden) in particular were up and down like a lot of freshmen will be and they have to take better care of the basketball,” McCaffery said. “I’m not happy about that at all.”

McCaffery was very happy with O.D. Anosike's 10 rebounds, something he pointed out in the postgame talk to the team.

“I knew I was grabbing some, but I was surprised when (McCaffery) told me I had double digits,” said Anosike, who also had three points and two steals.

Everyone seemed pleased with the young guys' effort.

“They played well,” said senior Alex Franklin. “They stay composed, they did what they were capable of doing, they stuck to their strengths and I thought they really played hard.”

“As you can see, they can contribute,” Moore said. “They put a lot of hard work in at practice and for everybody to get in and contribute is a good thing.”

Downey was happy to get back on track as he scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds on 4-for-7 shooting.

“I think it was just more of a confidence booster for me,” said Downey.

With their next three games on the road, it was a solid team win.

“It’s always good to have a team win for reliance on the road, so we don’t depend on Ron and Eddie (Ubiles) and Alex and Clarence, just those guys,” Downey said. “It’s good to get our whole team involved.”

While Siena coach Fran McCaffery said it was great for the crowd and Tay Fisher to be back to unveil last year's championship, he's foucsed on the new season.

"Last night, it was time for business," McCaffery said.

The Saints took care of business in Game 1 and now are looking ahead to Saturday's date with Cornell.

First, Siena annouced Tuesday that O.D. Anosike, Jonathan Breeden and Denzel Yard all have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Saints in 2009-10. Siena has one more scholarship to give.

Here's what McCaffery said about the new class.

"I'm really excited about these three," said McCaffrey at Tuesday's media luncheon. "I feel like we've addressed some of our needs."

Anosike is a 6-foot-8 205-pound forward from New Jersey, who averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds a year playing for Saint Peter's High School for Boys' in Staten Island.

"He's 6-8 and long, very versitale and can handle the ball extremely well for a 6-8 player," said McCaffery, who added the staff saw O.D. play probably 30 times this summer. "He can really play the three (small forward) if we need him to."

Breeden is a 6-foot-1 point guard from Harrisburg, Pa.

"Breeden's a pure point, get in the lane, great pick-and-roll player, solid body and very athletic," McCaffery said.

Breeden didn't play this summer due to an ankle injury, but McCaffery said he's had lengthy discussions with his high school coach at Central Dauphin East, who McCaffery knows well and so he knows what he's getting.

Yard is another guard from Philadelphia, Pa., who played for Team Philly AAU.

"Denzel Yard can play point, he can play two (shooting guard)," said McCaffery, who added that he's seen Denzel play 15 times already. "He's a phenomenal athlete, really competitive and great basketball instincts."

Overall, McCaffery is happy with how these players will fit with his team.

"For a team that likes to go up and down and press the way we do, we have three guys that can play exactly that way," McCaffery said.

According to ESPN, Siena's basketball team landed their third recruit on Monday as Oderah Anosike committed to Fran McCaffery. Anosike joins Jonathan Breeden and Denzel Yard.

Here's what ESPN says about the 6-foot-8 Anosike, who plays AAU for the New Jersey ShoreShots.

April, 2008: This active "face-up 4-man" has a great feel for the game and an extensive arsenal of moves. Anosike has great genes as his sister Nicky helped lead Tennessee to two National Titles, and she was recently drafted 16th in the WNBA Draft. His 6'10" wingspan helps him defensively as he has a great knack for blocking or altering shots. He should be an A10 or CAA starter by his junior year.

Also, here is a link to a story from ESPN's Andy Katz, who apparently made a trip to Loudonville recently.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=3614256

If you notice, down near the bottom, there's a picture of "Kenny Hasbrouck," but it's actually Alex Franklin. (I bet Kenny would love to dunk like that)