Siena Preview

Saturday, 7pm
Knickerbocker Arena/Pepsi Arena/Times Union Center
Albany

My prediction, as part of the Times Union contest:
Albany 79, Siena 69
Jamar scores 26. Haddix scores 15.

Re: the idea of the two teams playing twice a year, as suggested in Friday's Times Union.
I don't like it. Personally, I would rather play another OOC school than play Siena twice. This year's OOC schedule is a very good one, and there's no reason to believe that UA cannot continue to schedule games against other quality opponents.

I do not mind the the game is always held at the Pepsi, either. Per Siena's website, however, the team averaged 6,500 a game in their heyday. In recent years, that attendance has slipped a bit. Albany is a program on the rise and the team's improvement has helped spark attendance figures for this game in recent years. The university should be justly compensated.

Thanks largely in part to Albany's recent success, more than 10,000 seats have already been sold for this highly anticipated matchup between Albany and Siena, as the two schools battle it out for the TIAA-CREF Albany Cup. I mean, of course there has to be a corporate sponsor. In football, Union and RPI play for the Dutchman Shoes Trophy. Siena and Albany play for the TIAA-CREF Albany Cup. If its any consolation, at least TIAA-CREF provides "financial services for the greater good."

As a point of reference, 8,641 fans attended last year's meeting between the two schools.

I have yet to see Siena play this year, but I still follow the team. A few things just from reading the paper and looking at the boxscores:

1. Siena has a tough time rebounding
Through 5 games:
v. Stanfraud, outrebounded 44-22
v. Holy Cross, outrebounded 43-22
outrebounded Dartmouth, 36-28
outrebounded New Jersey Institute of Technology, 39-33
outrebounded Hofstra 37-26

2. Siena does not shoot the "3" well. Same 5 games:
'Fraud: 5-14
HC: 3-8
Dartmouth: 3-12
NJIT: 3-18
Hofstra: 2-11

Hopefully these are weaknesses that UAlbany will be able to exploit. Michael Haddix is a fine player and has returned strongly from two bad injuries. However, listed at 6'6", Haddix is not particularly big. Maybe UA will collapse on him in the post and force Siena to try and hit a few shots from the perimeter. Siena will have to hit their perimeter shots to keep Albany honest on the defensive end. Despite Haddix's proven ability, Siena also gets significant contributions in the frontcourt from 6'7" freshman, Edwin Ubiles (G/F, 9.4 points, 3.2 rebounds), 6'5" freshman, Alex Franklin, (11.2, 5.8), and 6'7" senior, David Ryan (8.4 points, 4.2 rebounds).

Siena also features a host of young guards, and a big key for Siena is seeing how will they respond to the atmosphere of a near-sellout this evening. Last year as a freshman, Kenny Hasbrouck had 14 points on 6-12 shooting in 39 minutes. However will the aforementioned Ubiles, Will Franklin and Ronald Moore, all freshmen and each averaging over 20 minutes of action a game, all remain as composed? Either way, I like our chances with Jamar, Siggers, Lillis-- and maybe some defensive help from Ross-- to disrupt their youngsters.

Siena does a good job of forcing turnovers and getting steals. Albany has allowed 53 points off of turnovers in their last two games. To win this game, Albany is going to have to do a much better job of protecting the basketball against Siena than they have done in their last two losses.