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.

LOUDONVILLE - Siena is calling on its fans to wear gold shirts for the Gold Rush game against Iona on Friday.

It will be a matchup of the two hottest teams in the league as the Saints (12-0, 19-4) have won 13 games in a row, while the Gaels (9-3, 17-6) have won eight straight.

According to the school, only 160 tickets remain for the game.

“It’ll be a good atmosphere,” said junior forward Ryan Rossiter. “Hopefully we’ll get a bunch of people in gold and we’ll get out there and put on a good show for them.”

While the players are supposed to block out everything off of the court, the Siena players said t

“We thrive off that,” senior point guard Ronald Moore said. “Hopefully it is a great crowd for tomorrow night, everyone is in gold. It makes it a lot easier for a player to play in an atmosphere like that, you got your adrenaline going and I think we play better the higher the stakes.”

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In case you didn't see it, a story on Tay Fisher who returns to Albany on Sunday with the Harlem Globetrotters.

'Firefly' lighting it up for Globetrotters

Nice story in our sister paper The Daily Freeman today about former Siena guard Tay Fisher and his life with the Harlem Globetrotters

Here's the link.

Former Siena guard Tay Fisher has been asked to join the Harlem Globetrotters training camp which starts Thursday, Sept. 24.

Fisher is one of six rookies who will be joining the veterans for spots on the team.

Here's what they say about Tay, whose nickname is "firefly."

Joining Coley will be Tay “Firefly” Fisher, a 5-9 sharpshooting dynamo out of Siena College. A 2008 Globetrotters draftee, he helped lead the Saints to the 2007-08 MAAC regular season and postseason titles and a stunning 83-62 upset of SEC power Vanderbilt in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Fisher, who hails from Kingston, N.Y., shot a blistering 44.4 percent from three-point range his senior season.

The training camp wraps up on Oct. 5.

Good luck to Tay.

The Saints used a big second half to defeat Niagara 77-70, win their second consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament on Monday night. 

"I wasn't going to lose," said senior co-captain Kenny Hasbrouck, who played through a calf injury to score a team-high 19 points. 

It's will be the program's fifth trip to the "Big Dance."

"I'm so happy for them," said former Siena player Tay Fisher, who added that he would try to make the trip to the NCAA Tournament. 

The Saints will find out their dancing partner this Sunday. 

I'll start off by saying that this will probably be the only time betting is discussed on this blog and it's because sports are so unpredictable.

Hopefully you didn't bet on tonight's game and if you did bet on Siena, my condolences.

Jamal Barney's swipe and slam with 2.7 seconds to go was the last play in what was a very interesting 73-60 Siena victory.

Here's what Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos had to say about Barney's play.

“He’s in tears, he’s upset back in the locker room,” Patsos said. “He didn’t know if there was 20 seconds or two seconds. He’s just a competitive kid from Baltimore. He was frustrated we lost and I told him never to do that again.”

Patsos said he is probably the gold medal winner for mistakes and that Barney will not do something like that again.

“I don’t think he’ll ever do that again and as teachers, that’s all we can do,” Patsos said.

While Siena coach Fran McCaffery said the play was just a mistake made by a kid, senior co-captain Kenny Hasbrouck (who is from near Barney's hometown in Maryland) and who was the one who had the ball stolen from him called the play "real ignorant."

"He just made Loyola look bad," said Hasbrouck, who added that he didn't shake hands with Barney following the game.

Hasbrouck played all right on this night, but it was the duo of Alex Franklin and Ryan Rossiter that really guided Siena to victory.

“They got every rebound over them," Hasbrouck said.

Rossiter, whose father Steve played for Loyola, killed the Greyhounds inside, scoring 14 points and grabbing a career-high 18 rebounds.

“Rossiter’s a funny guy,” Patsos said. “He’s one of those guys who just works.”

Rossiter said he wasn't recruited by Loyola and is happy with his decision to come to Siena.

“The kid’s just been unbelievable,” McCaffery said.

Rossiter's reward for having such a good night - well McCaffery got into him about blowing a rotation near the end of the game when Loyola sunk a 3-pointer.

“I appreciate that he’s getting on me because it’s when he stops yelling at you that you have to be worried,” Rossiter said.

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Patsos also had some comments about keeping the MAAC Tournament in Albany, something that has been up for debate this year.

“I’m the guy in the league that says the tournament should be here every year,” Patsos said. “I’m going to stick to my guns. If some people don’t like that, I’m sorry. I think this is the best arena, I think you have the best fans.”

He continued on about Albany and Siena's home arena when asked about Rossiter.

“Rossiter’s father went to Loyola,” Patsos said. “Isn’t that nice? We don’t have 6,000 season ticket holders and a video board. The video board goes off and I’m like wow, I would have come here too.”

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Siena honored Hasbrouck, Franklin and Edwin Ubiles before the game - Hasbrouck for reaching, 1,500 career points and both Franklin and Ubiles for surpassing the 1,000-point mark for their careers, all this season.

It's only the second time in 68 years that three players have played together after having scored more than 1,000 points in their Siena careers.

(Tom Killips - The Record)
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Siena alum Tay Fisher was at the game signing autographs and it was nice to catch up with him for a while.

I talked to him about Senior Night and also for a Five Questions segment that will probably run sometime next week in our print edition.

ALBANY - Tay Fisher didn't even need to be back on the floor to inspire his former Siena teammates. 

"We all love Tay to death," senior captain Kenny Hasbrouck said following his 20-point performance on Monday night in the Saints 30-point victory. "It gave us energy when we saw him."

In fact, Fisher, who was back on Monday night to help unveil the 2007-08 championship banner, sent text messages to a couple of his teammates earlier in the day. 

"It felt like last year when he would give us those pre-game speeches," junior forward Alex Franklin said. 

I got to catch up with Fisher during halftime and he said he was impressed with this year's club. 

"This is the year," Fisher said. "You can just tell by how that first half went."

He went on about what he like while apparently he was waving a Siena finger in the crowd. 

"Everything looks good about them right now," Fisher said. "I'm really excited to be watching them. They really worked hard and you can tell by they way they look. They look quicker, look more confident. I'm real happy that the freshmen are looking good and Clarence is out there looking good."

Fisher said he was unsure of how to act, since he was in the crowd and not on the court or on the bench. 

"Should I go crazy like I would be on the bench or just stay chill, act like a normal person" Fisher said. "This is only my first game, so hopefully next time I come I'll know how to act."

Fisher was happy to be invited back, especially after the crowd serenaded him with "Tay Fisher, Tay Fisher." 

"It still shows that Siena is there for you no matter what," Fisher said. "It really doesn't matter how long it is."

Fisher still would like to play professionally, but he's still hearing he's not tall enough. 

"It's 2008, that height stuff (should be) over with," Fisher said. "If you can play, you can play."

Fisher might begin graduate school coming up in January and he's had some interviews in Troy and Albany for student teaching and teacher's assistant positions.

He also said he will continue with his basketball camps and just finished his website www.tayfisherfbc.com 

Fisher did get into the locker room after the game, I'm sure to provide some words of encouragement. 

They had some words for him too. 

"We told he needs to suit up," Franklin said. "Put that No. 4 jersey on, we've got the headband and shoot some three's for us."

In today's paper I mentioned how Hasbrouck's miss of a lay-up, six seconds in to the game was about the only thing Siena did wrong on Monday night. 

He tried to explain what happened on that play. 

I'm going to tell you honestly what happened," Hasbrouck said. "I'm open and I was going to try and dunk it. I wasn't warmed up yet and I'm not that athletic, so I'm going to try and lay it up and I messed up. Whatever I got another lay-up right after."

I also have to say I was shocked with how dominant Siena was on Monday night. They dominated for the opening tip until the final buzzer.   

Another side note is that Boise State coach Greg Graham revealed that he was one of the coaches who voted for the Saints in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll. 

The Siena men's basketball team will unveil its 2007-08 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference banner at halftime of its season opener against Boise State.

The lone senior from last year's club, Tay Fisher will be on hand to assist with the ceremony.

The Saints won 23 games and went on to defeat Vanderbilt in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, thanks in part to six 3-pointers from Fisher.

Fisher, who finished second on Siena's 3-point career list with 299 treys, celebrated his 22nd birthday with the MACC Tournament victory over Rider in Albany.

If Saturday night was any indication of the type of nights sophomore guard Clarence Jackson can have then Siena opponents beware.

Jackson scored a game-high 27 points and shot 7-for-10 from beyond the arc to lead Siena past Union College 99-47 on Saturday night at the ARC.

"I felt like I played really well," Jackson said. "I got really comfortable in there."

Siena coach Fran McCaffery was happy with Jackson's defense and getting on the glass as well as his scoring and even wanted to keep him in longer.

"He hasn’t played extended minutes," McCaffery said. "He has to understand he’s going to play extended minutes. When he’s playing well offensively, I’m going to leave him out there, so he’s got to play through that little bit of fatigue and not break down."

Jackson told me following the game that he's hoping to fill part of the void missing from Tay Fisher's graduation - either providing a spark off the bench or starting if need be.

Jackson's confidence seems to be high and that's good for Siena.

"I just try to shoot it with confidence and it’s going to go in," Jackson said.

Senior captain Kenny Hasbrouck thinks that with consistency Jackson will be able to have some big nights this season.

"Him and Ryan (Rossiter) are basically the future of Siena right now," Hasbrouck said.

Rossiter didn't play because of injuries in the legs (knee) - neither did Josh Duell (foot) or Cory Magee (concussion).

Because of that, freshman Owen Wignot got a start, which he said he was surprised about when he found out two hours before tip-off.

"I was shocked, but I just tried to go out and do my best," Wignot said.

Wignot scored 11 points and was a positive according to McCaffery as was fellow freshman Kyle Downey, who scored 19.

"It really wasn’t anything I did," Downey said. "I just hit open shots. Everyone found open shots for me, so it was my teammates that helped me do that."

If that's not doing anything then I'm not sure what I did on the sidelines really doing nothing.

Downey said he was happy to get the nerves out in an exhibition game, but very excited that there were plenty of people there and there was a game atmosphere.

"That’s one thing I love about Siena, our support is amazing," Downey said. "Even for an exhibition game we had probably three of four thousand people there. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like during the season."

I'll give Downey a pass since he's a freshman...the crowd was good, but it was only 1,622.

Speaking of the crowd, it was lively, especially at the beginning.

"That’s the first time I’ve ever played in the ARC in front of a crowd like that against another team," Hasbrouck said. "It was a fun time. It was a great time for everybody, for the Siena community."

McCaffery said afterwards that they would consider doing this again and he much prefers this to a intrasquad scrimmage like the Green/Gold game that Siena has had in years past.

"I don’t like the Green/Gold game," McCaffery said. "It really serves no purpose whatsoever. I like exhibition games because it serves as a dress rehearsal."

Edwin Ubiles also scored 19 points and Ronald Moore had seven steals in 17 minutes.

The first game is only nine days away though and Boise State will look much different than Union.

"We have some work to do with the schedule that we have coming up," McCaffery said. "I think we’re making progress."

I'll have some more notes from the scrimmage tomorrow.