Category: MAAC

Fairfield’s Amadou Sidibe Named Team Captain

The Fairfield Stags named MAAC co-Rookie of the Year and rising sophomore Amadou Sidibe team captain for the 2013-14 season.

Sidibe averaged 5.7 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game as a freshman, sharing Rookie of the Year honors with Manhattan’s Shane Richards.

Fairfield head coach Sydney Johnson said he expects Sidibe to fill the leadership void left by the exiting senior class of Derek Needham, Colin Nickerson and Desmond Wade.

“Your leaders in many ways come from those who were the best followers,” Johnson said. “Amadou Sidibe is a guy who quickly comes to mind. He followed everything that Derek, Des and Colin tried to be about in terms of getting good grades, taking pride in their basketball game, competing hard.”

“He was one of the best guys in following that lead and so it’s natural to think he’s going to be one of the best guys to be a leader. Amadou is a name that comes right off the top of my head because of how good he was following our seniors. I think he could be a great leader of other guys.”

Sidibe was one of the five man freshman class that aided the Stags to their fourth straight postseason appearance. The Stags will return one rising senior and the only remaining player from the Ed Cooley era in Mo Barrow.

Fairfield adds two transfers for the 2013-14 season from the Big East that will likely have an impact early on. Seton Hall transfer Sean Grennan will be eligible to start the season. Johnson said that Fairfield will apply for a waiver so that Pitt transfer Malcolm Gilbert can play with his brother Marcus right away.

“We are pushing for him to be eligible in the fall,” Johnson said of Gilbert who has two years of eligibility remaining. “He’s got a pretty substantial case for having a waiver granted by the NCAA, but we just have to submit all the paperwork and hope for the best.”

Gilbert transferred to Fairfield over mid-semester break and practiced with the team for the first time on January 7. Johnson said he recruited Malcolm when he was at Princeton and was notified over the break that he wanted to join his brother Marcus at Fairfield.

Ryan Restivo covers Stony Brook, Hofstra and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo.

Ranking the Best Jobs in the MAAC

The MAAC is losing a school (Loyola (MD)) and adding two new ones in Monmouth and Quinnipiac this offseason and it has the potential to greatly alter the conference landscape. While some of these schools have advantages over their conference peers, it hasn’t stopped teams at the bottom of the list from competing for conference championships. Joe Mihalich won the regular season title with Niagara this past season and John Dunne won the league tournament with St. Peter’s in 2011. The teams at the top though are poised for continual success. Continue reading “Ranking the Best Jobs in the MAAC” →

MAAC Coaches, Commissioner Ensor on Jimmy Patsos’ Hiring at Siena

Jimmy Patsos, formerly of Loyola (MD) will be announced as the 16th Siena men’s basketball head coach this afternoon.

For Patsos whose Greyhounds were about to exit the MAAC for the Patriot League on July 1, it’s as if he never left the conference he has publicly supported throughout the year.

As Patsos was exiting what could have been his final MAAC game at Loyola (MD), a 55-52 Quarterfinal loss to Manhattan, he praised commissioner Rich Ensor and the league at the podium of his postgame press conference.

“Rich Ensor’s been nothing but a friend and a good guy and a mentor,” Patsos said. “The MAAC is a great league and we’re really going to miss you.”

With the hire complete at Siena, the MAAC appears it will never be without Patsos’ presence.

Commissioner Rich Ensor said that hiring Patsos was a terrific hire for the Siena program.

“Tremendous hire by Siena,” Ensor said. “He rebuilt the program at Loyola from the ground up and ended up a perennial contender including a championship in 2012.”

“He’ll energize their fan base, he’ll find the recruits they need to be competitive at the top of the MAAC. He will lead them back into a position to challenge for the championship on a regular basis.”

Patsos said earlier in the year that he thought he would’ve been fired at Loyola (MD) four years ago if it wasn’t for Ensor, while Ensor wouldn’t endorse that telling of history he is happy that Patsos will remain an asset to his conference.

“I’m happy to have some influence on him,” Ensor said. “He’s a great coach and he’s a great asset to the MAAC.”

Around the conference coaches have been buzzing about Patsos’ return. Coaches around the league have said they are not surprised that the 46-year-old coach wanted to stay in the conference.

“You knew he wasn’t going to try and do the Patriot League thing,” one MAAC coach said yesterday on Patsos’ situation.

Former Siena assistant and St. Peter’s head coach John Dunne said via text that it was a good hire for Siena.

“He knows the league well and has had very good success,” Dunne said via text. “He also know what it takes to build a team. Good get for them.”

Fairfield head coach Sydney Johnson said it was not a surprise to him that Patsos took the job since rumors of an on campus visit to Siena surfaced.

Rider head coach Kevin Baggett said yesterday upon hearing the news that he’s happy to have Patsos.

“Good to have him back in the league,” Baggett said via text.

It turns out he never left.

Ryan Restivo covers Stony Brook, Hofstra and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo.

Fairfield’s Keith Matthews Transferring from Program

Fairfield junior Keith Matthews will transfer out of the school and look to pursue his senior season closer to his home in Florida, head coach Sydney Johnson confirmed today.

Matthews, the Sebastian, Florida native, will look to transfer to a school closer to home after averaging 5.1 points per game and starting 21 of the 35 games he appeared in this season.

“It was tough for Keith not to play this year,” Johnson said. “He did play for the first half of the year and I personally thought some other guys emerged. I think it’s hard when you’re an upperclassmen and you’re not playing as much.”

“He was honest with it. He’s an outstanding young man, he was honest and forthright about it and I also feel just the desire to be closer to home was a pretty big draw too.”

Johnson said that he and the staff will help to find Matthews a place closer to home in Florida. Matthews had offers from Youngstown State and Winthrop, but picked Fairfield over them when Ed Cooley was head coach.

“I can’t say enough good things about him,” Johnson said. “Anything that we can do, we will do.”

Matthews is the second player to transfer out of Fairfield under Johnson’s watch. Jemel Fields transferred to St. Peter’s after Johnson’s first season leading the Stags.

“We don’t expect anyone else to transfer out,” Johnson said. “That has been something that has happened an incredible amount across the country. So can never say never, but right now I really don’t expect anybody else to transfer.”

Ryan Restivo covers Stony Brook, Hofstra and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo.

Source: Siena, Jimmy Patsos Finalizing a Deal

A source said Siena is working on a deal to bring Loyola (MD) head coach Jimmy Patsos in to be their next men’s basketball coach.

Patsos has been working on “finalizing” a deal to become the next head coach at the school and a source said that a deal may be imminent.

The former Maryland assistant is 145-135 in nine seasons in Baltimore, appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 2012. Loyola (MD) went 1-27 the year before Patsos arrived and he leaves having recorded consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in the school’s Division I history.

This season the Greyhounds finished 23-12 with the second most wins in school history after achieving the school record 24 wins the previous year.

Ryan Restivo covers Stony Brook, Hofstra and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo.

In Defense of Momo Jones

This is weird… Because earlier this season I said that I thought Juan’ya Green should be the MAAC Player of the Year. Then it went to Momo Jones of Iona. I’ve actually come around. I think if you really look at Jones the positives of his game at the collegiate level outweighed the negatives. He was an accurate shooter that obviously wanted to win. Yes, he used possessions in bunches, but his assist rate was decent and he wanted to win. While Iona didn’t win the regular season MAAC title, the Gaels turned things around and won the tournament title.

Continue reading “In Defense of Momo Jones” →