After taking a road trip to Connecticut and a long first week of basketball, here are some extra thoughts on the two conferences I cover for Big Apple Buckets, the MAAC and the America East. In addition, Ryan Peters shared his thoughts on UMBC, who stunned Mount St. Mary’s on Sunday afternoon with a come from behind victory. Continue reading “Weekend MAAC and America East Observations”
Last season was an up and down year for Siena’s Rob Poole, after impressing in the first two months he was derailed by a flu bug that not only cost him four games but caused him to lose weight and strength. Before missing 10 days in January with the flu Poole averaged 12.7 points per game. He averaged just 10.6 points per game in the team’s final 13 games. Continue reading “Rob Poole Taking On Leadership Role At Siena”
The toughest player to guard in Siena practices this preseason is still waiting to get a waiver. Junior Rob Poole said that the toughest player to guard during the Saints’ practices has been Coppin State transfer sophomore Pat Cole.
Continue reading “Siena’s Pat Cole Waiver Status, Hymes Injury Update”
Throughout the last four months at Siena with new head coach Jimmy Patsos have been an adventure, but Patsos and his staff have been up to the task of rebuilding a roster which went 8-24 last season.
Despite losing a commitment and a few upperclassmen, the new Siena staff has built a roster filled with young players ready to play Patsos’ up tempo style. Patsos changed Siena’s scheduled foreign trip, originally scheduled for Italy, to a trip to Montreal so he can feel out his new team.
“We’re happy, the trip to Canada was excellent,” Patsos said. “Thank God John D’Argenio our athletic director let us go on this foreign trip because we learned a lot.”
Freshman Marquis Wright, Patsos’ first commit as Saints head coach, led the way in most statistical categories and will be the starting point guard Patsos said. In their first two games, Siena played with a 24 second shot clock which put the ball in Wright’s hands with a winding clock. Patsos also said he was pleased with the play of junior Rob Poole and sophomores Ryan Oliver and Rich Audu playing in their fast, pressing style. The Saints lost Evan Hymes in their second of five games with a broken hand, Hymes is expected to be ready by the start of practice.
Patsos said that winning was not the most important part of the trip and that the experience in evaluating his group in game situations was invaluable.
“You’re just trying to play. We do a lot of different stuff, we press, we run, we run different sets,” Patsos said. “The trip was invaluable for us. It probably turned us from a rebuilding program, believe me our schedule is going to be really tough early, but I thought that the trip showed us that we’re not rebuilding that we can contend in the MAAC. Look I know Iona, Manhattan, Canisius and all that, but I think after the trip we can contend this year in the MAAC and that’s important for confidence.”
The Saints schedule, after opening up with the Albany Cup rivalry game against America East tournament champion Albany, is a gauntlet of tough games that include visits to Purdue and LaSalle as well as an opening game of the Old Spice Classic against Memphis.
The new coach at Siena is in familiar ground in the MAAC and his style of using an eight to nine man rotation will stay the same. Patsos has been looking for his group in Siena colors this year and believes the Canada trip helped shape the type of depth his team will have this season. Lavon Long will play “a ton” at the small forward and power forward spots while he is happy with the inside depth of Brett Bisping, Imoh Silas and freshman Javion Ogunyemi. Despite the injury, Patsos’ expectations for Hymes remain the same to be a fast player in his quick offense.
“I want to see when Evan comes back from his broken hand,” Patsos said. “I think he can do a lot of different things, play the one and two for us.”
“We got eight or nine guys they’re really a good group. I’ve always felt successful teams got along off the court, because they’re not afraid to talk and talk on D, have each others back, but the first month of the schedule is going to be brutal so we’re going to have to survive that and from there we’ll move on, but it’s all about the MAAC. I’m excited about the MAAC.”
Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.
Jimmy Patsos might be a wizard. How else to explain the fact that Siena went to Montreal this summer and the offense improved dramatically. You might say competition, but Sacred Heart played a similar schedule and struggled to score. While Siena lost a game, the Saints were also much more efficient offensively. Continue reading “Wright Shows Superstar Potential For Siena In Canada”
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference will be moving back to its most popular arena site for their conference tournament beginning in 2015.
The Times Union Center will host the 2015, 2016 and 2017 MAAC Basketball Championships, commissioner Rich Ensor announced in Albany. Ensor said the council of 11 presidents, the nine current members and presidents of Monmouth and Quinnipiac who will join the league on July 1, voted unanimously to move the tournament to Siena’s home court. Continue reading “MAAC Tournament Moves Back to Albany from 2015-17”
Jimmy Patsos got to know Siena for the first time as an assistant at Maryland under Gary Williams scouting the Rob Lanier led 16-seeded Saints for a first round matchup. The Terps run to the national championship began by dispatching Siena 85-70 in the Verizon Center behind Juan Dixon’s 29 points. Dixon would be named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, bringing home Maryland’s first national championship.
Soon after Patsos sought out his own opportunity to be a head coach in the MAAC at Loyola (MD), he began to learn more about the Siena program in New York’s capital region. After coaching nine years in the MAAC against them at Loyola (MD), losing to eventual champion East Carolina in the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, within one week Patsos was called, interviewed and hired as the 16th head coach in Siena history. Continue reading “Jimmy Patsos’ Journey From Loyola to Siena”
A source said that sophomore guard Evan Hymes will be leaving the Siena program to be closer to his family in North Carolina.
Hymes, who hails from Durham, averaged 10.6 points per game and started 30 of the 31 games he played in for Siena this season. He will be leaving school to be home to help take care of his mother, a source close to the situation said.
The guard, who made the MAAC All-Rookie team and was second all-time in scoring for a freshman in Siena history with 13.4 points per game.
Hymes met with new Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos when he was hired Wednesday and his exit has to do only with helping his mother, a source said citing that it had taken a turn for the worse since the hiring.
Ryan Restivo covers Stony Brook, Hofstra and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo.
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.
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.
NYC Buckets Archive 