The Siena Saints are Going Dancing!

That's right folks, the mid-major I have been pimping since November just punched their ticket to the dance with a 77-70 victory over game, but mighty sloppy, Niagara last night at the The Arena Formerly Known As Knickerbocker. Back-to-back MAAC Champions, the Saints now turn their attention to Selection Sunday, with doofus bracketologist Joe Lunardi already predicting them as a #10 seed. Some middling big conference school (West Virginia? Purdue?) is in for a rude awakening come Round 1.

Know your first round upset winner

Despite the tremendous budget quagmire I am wading through at work, I am throwing this up because I can't deal with rob bothering me every 30 minutes for a post. So, I thought I'd help everyone out a month early and give you a surefire first round upset winner:
Siena from the MAAC

Currently 17-5 (11-0 in conference play), Siena will most likely be a 12 or 13 seed. Sagarin actaully has them ranked #57, ahead of quite a few big conference teams on the proverbial "bubble". Now, you might recall I was all over the Saints last March as well, and if you listened, you too got their first round upset (thrashing) over Vanderbilt correct. Don't doubt me this year - this team is actually better than last year's team. Some Big 10 or ACC school will be pissed when they draw Siena on Selection Sunday.

The Saints have a deep, veteran squad, with any of five guys capable of leading them on a given night. Senior guard Kenny Hasbrouck has Cassell-sized cajones and has no qualms about taking the big shot. For a mid-major school Siena possesses surprising athleticism throughout the roster. Coach Fran McCaffrey commendably put together a brutal non-conference schedule, especially for a school out of the MAAC. Sure, they lost every bigtime non-conference game they played, but losing by 13 to Pitt and 7 to Kansas ain't too shabby. Those kind of early season road games can only help the Saints come March.

Of course, now that I've written this, Siena will lose in the first round of the MAAC tourney and I'll be crafting a "Know you first round NIT upset winner" post weeks from now, but oh well, this should at least keep rob at bay for a few hours...