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.

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.

The New York Post is saying that current St. John's coach Norm Roberts' time is numbered.

The Post is saying that Siena coach Fran McCaffery is on a short list of possible replacements.

McCaffery has seven years left on his contract in Loudonville that runs through the 2006-17 season.

The Saints played the Red Storm this season at The Palestra, with St. John's winning 77-68 on Nov. 27.

Fellow MAAC coach, Iona's Kevin Willard, who won the conference's coach of the year, is also on the list.

Here's what the Post said.

Highly placed sources said that Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, a Long Island native with ties to St. John’s, tops their list of realistic candidates. Greenberg is a two-time ACC Coach of the Year.

Several sources at St. John’s said the university was prepared to offer a long-term (six years), lucrative ($1.5 million annually) deal to the right candidate.

Hofstra coach Tom Pecora, who is highly respected by high school and AAU coaches in the metropolitan area, also is on the Red Storm’s wish list as is Siena coach Fran McCaffery, Iona coach Kevin Willard and Harvard coach Tommy Amaker, the former Seton Hall and Michigan coach.

Sources told The Post that former St. John’s and Knicks star Mark Jackson has reached out through third parties to gauge if there is interest on the university’s behalf. Although he has name recognition, he has no head-coaching experience.

PHILADELPHIA - Siena coach Fran McCaffery voiced his displeasure with the officiating at the end of the game Friday against St. John's by not saying anything at all.

When asked about his team's shooting percentage in the second half, McCaffery responded.

“There’s a lot of reasons for that. None of which I can repeat right now.”

McCaffery went on to sit silent for three of the next four questions asked, none totally focused on the officiating.

In my opinion, it did seem late in the game as though St. John's got more of the calls and even though the fouls were even 17-17, it did look like one of the officials that will go nameless was trying to goad McCaffery into a technical foul (which was never called).

The Red Storm turned a 5-point halftime deficit into an 9-point victory, thanks in large part to their transition game.

“Our defensive intensity let down,” said senior Alex Franklin. “We weren’t getting back in transition defense. They were getting quick shots and getting lay-ups.”

St. John's shot 63 percent (17-27) in the second half.

“They definitely outhustled us,” said junior forward Ryan Rossiter. “They ran on us all night. We like to run, but we have to know that we have to get back defensively.”

Rossiter scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

“He’s terrific,” said St. John's coach Norm Roberts. “He’s exactly what he told our guys he was. He doesn’t make mistakes, he makes lay-ups, he always around the ball, he’s got terrific hands. He’s a big time player.”

While Rossiter was good, nobody else for Siena really had a good game.

“Everyone else has to be able to follow (Rossiter) and get on the scoreboard as well,” said point guard Ronald Moore.

Moore rolled his ankle with 2:2o to go, when he stepped on the foot of a Red Storm defender.

He told me it didn't feel too good after the game, but McCaffery said he was okay.

Roberts gave Siena a ton of credit saying this is the type of game his team will face night in and night out in the Big East.

“These are the types of battles we’re going to have every single night in the Big East and that’s one of the reasons why we tried to up our non-conference schedule,” he said.

Roberts called it a "terrific" win.

“Give Siena a lot of credit, they’re a terrific team,” Roberts said. “They get it up so fast, they get it up and down the court so quick. They have a lot of guys that can make plays.”

The Saints have to come out playing better tomorrow as they take on Brown.

“Hopefully we can make a quick turnaround and make the corrections by tomorrow at 4 o’clock,” said Moore.

Siena led for all but 20 seconds of the first half and take a 5-point lead to halftime.

Ryan Rossiter leads the way for Siena with 14 points, while Alex Franklin and Ronald Moore each added six points.

It looked like Franklin cut his right wrist when fouling D.J. Kennedy early in the first half, but it didn't seem to bother him once it was wrapped up.

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The Red Storm played a good second half, getting a big effort from Kennedy to pull away and post a 9-point victory.

Rossiter finished with a career-high 24 points in the loss and St. John's took the lead for good with him off the court as they went on a 11-2 run after he picked up his third foul to take a 52-49 edge.

Brown just defeated University of the Science in Philadelphia and the Siena/St. John's game is less than an hour away.

Come back here for observations during the game and a postgame wrap-up.