Siena Basketball: GMAC / Blackwell / AO

[sufandu]

Did we play Siena when Louis Orr coached them? And he was one of JB's favorite players and a fan favorite as well. And I don't see anyone wanting badly not to play them. It appears to me just the opposite. People want to play them and the rest of us don't care. We haven't played them in years and years.

We didn't do it when Orr was there, yet we played Eastern Michigan 5 times in 7 years after Rob Murphy went there. We had nothing to gain and the fanbase had no reason to care about that game, so it's not all that crazy a thought to bring in a GMac team.

Man, for so many people not caring, I've seen a lot of posts stating we shouldn't do it.

I just don't get how scheduling them is any worse than the scrubs we have on the schedule every year. The GMac piece just adds a little fun.

 

[dasher]

We didn't do it when Orr was there, yet we played Eastern Michigan 5 times in 7 years after Rob Murphy went there. We had nothing to gain and the fanbase had no reason to care about that game, so it's not all that crazy a thought to bring in a GMac team.

Man, for so many people not caring, I've seen a lot of posts stating we shouldn't do it.

I just don't get how scheduling them is any worse than the scrubs we have on the schedule every year. The GMac piece just adds a little fun.

The reason you see me responding is quite frankly because you keep responding to posts that I write. The only one that seems to really care about this is you. And for the record, I haven't said we shouldn't do it. Just that it doesn't do anything for us. You keep saying that we would have a little fun with it. Until this thread, I haven't given a second thought to Siena. And now I am done with the subject.

 

[FloridaCuse]

It may reflect our offseason boredom that this discussion of whether we should play Siena has gone on for 70+ posts over 3 pages. But it's been a fun discussion.

 

[Newhouser]

It will never happen but I want us to stop playing all these lower league teams. What helps us in our bubble battle a loss against a P4/BE team or beating a MAAC school? It's not SU's job to help fund Gerry's program.

We get nothing out of these games except (as we know all too well recently) embarrassment.

 

[Cusefan0307]

It will never happen but I want us to stop playing all these lower league teams. What helps us in our bubble battle a loss against a P4/BE team or beating a MAAC school? It's not SU's job to help fund Gerry's program.

We get nothing out of these games except (as we know all too well recently) embarrassment.

Yeah, we should never schedule lower level teams like the Big 12 does to try and blow them out to help our metrics.

 

[sufandu]

The reason you see me responding is quite frankly because you keep responding to posts that I write. The only one that seems to really care about this is you. And for the record, I haven't said we shouldn't do it. Just that it doesn't do anything for us. You keep saying that we would have a little fun with it. Until this thread, I haven't given a second thought to Siena. And now I am done with the subject.

You're right. I do care. Not so much about whether we specifically play Siena but the idea that we should avoid low level teams for fear that losing to them hurts us. I just hate that we entertain the idea of losing to scrubs because we have to have such a specifc strategy to barely be on the right side of the bubble. Good teams don't worry about the bubble. They kill lower level teams that are used as tune ups and fight with other good teams for seeding. Those are the discussions I want to have. Every good team schedules teams that can't help them with getting into the tournament, so schedule a few of Cornell, Colgate, St Bonny, Buffalo, Siena, etc. If we struggle against them, the writing is on the wall.

Let's get good again and stop being the after thought we've been for nearly a decade.

 

[sufandu]

It will never happen but I want us to stop playing all these lower league teams. What helps us in our bubble battle a loss against a P4/BE team or beating a MAAC school? It's not SU's job to help fund Gerry's program.

We get nothing out of these games except (as we know all too well recently) embarrassment.

We're not embarrassed because we schedule low level teams. We've been embarrassed because we've sucked. Stop sucking and those games become the dunk contests that we saw in the late '80's.

 

[Cusefan0307]

You're right. I do care. Not so much about whether we specifically play Siena but the idea that we should avoid low level teams for fear that losing to them hurts us. I just hate that we entertain the idea of losing to scrubs because we have to have such a specifc strategy to barely be on right side of the bubble. Good teams don't worry about the bubble. They kill lower level teams that are used as tune ups and fight with other good teams for seeding. Those are the discussions I want to have. Every good team schedules teams that can't help them with getting into the tournament, so schedule a few of Cornell, Colgate, St Bonny, Buffalo, Siena, etc. If we struggle against them, the writing is on the wall.

Let's get good again and stop being the after thought we've been for nearly a decade.

The issue this all those games are buy games. I think we should play low and mid majors to try and enhance our metrics as well, but there’s a cost and some schools may have a higher cost for buy games than others. In this era we need to be spending our money elsewhere.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Let's get back to Siena Basketball. Gavin Doty worked all off season with Brandon Triche.

Doty, Triche team up

Doty, Triche team up

eedition.timesunion.com

 

[Irishsecra1]

Let's get back to Siena Basketball. Gavin Doty worked all off season with Brandon Triche.

Doty, Triche team up

Doty, Triche team up

eedition.timesunion.com

Great kid. And born right here.
I would love to see how this kid does against SU in a game.

 

[djcon57]

Seems like 50 year old dudes is a solid percentage of our fanbase... Fire the buses back up down in Scranton?

Think we need to gain some buzz with the younger fanbase...and that would mean winning seasons and getting into the tourney, so that should be our priority.

 

[Domedog84]

Think we need to gain some buzz with the younger fanbase...and that would mean winning seasons and getting into the tourney, so that should be our priority.

Totally agree. Was just poking fun at our demographics.

 

[sufandu]

The issue this all those games are buy games. I think we should play low and mid majors to try and enhance our metrics as well, but there’s a cost and some schools may have a higher cost for buy games than others. In this era we need to be spending our money elsewhere.

If cost is the issue, I agree, we should spend our money wisely. Until now, that was not what I had seen expressed.

 

[sufandu]

Think we need to gain some buzz with the younger fanbase...and that would mean winning seasons and getting into the tourney, so that should be our priority.

We need to do more than just make the tournament. Buzz isn't created by just squeaking in on the right side of the bubble. We need to return to relevancy by getting back into the rankings and staying there. That gets media outlets talking about in season matchups against other good teams and puts us in the discussion for confrence titles and FFs come March.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Red’s a coward. Playing Siena would generate eyeballs and buzz in the capital region. It would help Gerry’s program by giving them a marquee game. Have we fallen that much that we are scared of a buy game with little ole Siena? He’s already ditched Colgate and Cornell. Red’s scared to lose these games. Playing Binghamton isn’t going to build our brand. Adopt the Izzo mindset. Any team. Any place. Credit to Gerry for needling Red and the school via the press

What cares about the capital region. The capital region couldn’t care less about CNY.

 

[Zooper]

FWIW, ESPN Bracketology has Siena in the tournament with an automatic bid. Likely? Idk, but some good preseason buzz for the program.

 

[djcon57]

We need to do more than just make the tournament. Buzz isn't created by just squeaking in on the right side of the bubble. We need to return to relevancy by getting back into the rankings and staying there. That gets media outlets talking about in season matchups against other good teams and puts us in the discussion for confrence titles and FFs come March.

agreed on all count. Siena isn’t one of those matchups

 

[sufandu]

agreed on all count. Siena isn’t one of those matchups

Nope, but neither are the other scrubs that we and every other team play. Which is why I don't consider them when thinking about the tournament or our perception. Do you think Tennesee scheduled Montana, Austin Peay, UT Martin, Western Carolina, or Middle Tennessee with their resume in mind?

We need to handily beat whatever scrubs are on our schedule, win our fair share of games against the top 25, and finish in the top third or fourth in the conference. That is what will bring buzz. If we don't suck, the tune up games are meaningless, which is why it wouldn't bother me one bit if Siena was one of them.

 

[djcon57]

Nope, but neither are the other scrubs that we and every other team play. Which is why I don't consider them when thinking about the tournament or our perception. Do you think Tennesee scheduled Montana, Austin Peay, UT Martin, Western Carolina, or Middle Tennessee with their resume in mind?

We need to handily beat whatever scrubs are on our schedule, win our fair share of games against the top 25, and finish in the top third or fourth in the conference. That is what will bring buzz. If we don't suck, the tune up games are meaningless, which is why it wouldn't bother me one bit if Siena was one of them.

We’re going in circles. It wouldn’t bother people if we played Siena. It just isn’t necessary nor will do anything for our season

 

[Irishsecra1]

FWIW, ESPN Bracketology has Siena in the tournament with an automatic bid. Likely? Idk, but some good preseason buzz for the program.

I give Gerry a lot of credit. He analyzed what was wrong with his team and tried to go out and get those missing pieces.
Big big get that he got Doty to stay.
Would not be that shocked if they do get to the NCAA tournament. Made solid improvement last year in his first year, so the next leap shouldn't be a surprise.
Wish him all the best.
Who knows maybe we both make the tournament and end up playing each other in the first round.

 

[LAorange44]

What cares about the capital region. The capital region couldn’t care less about CNY.

Some folks in the local media had the bonehead opinion that playing teams like Albany and Binghamton were important for growing our brand in different markets and were thus more important than playing against our old buddies Colgate and Lemoyne. Just parroting the party line straight from the university through their local mouthpieces.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Some folks in the local media had the bonehead opinion that playing teams like Albany and Binghamton were important for growing our brand in different markets and were thus more important than playing against our old buddies Colgate and Lemoyne. Just parroting the party line straight from the university through their local mouthpieces.

When attendance was king, many people would do an annual trek to the Dome. Now, only the diehards still go. Hopefully, sometime soon, more people from Albany, Binghamton, Rochester, will want to go.

I will say, that when the BET ruled the world, many Capital Region residents would hop on that Amtrak to Penn Station.

 

[sufandu]

We’re going in circles. It wouldn’t bother people if we played Siena. It just isn’t necessary nor will do anything for our season

You're the one that mentioned Siena when replying to my comment that had nothing to do with them.

You misunderstood everything I've been saying.

When people suggested playing them, some people objected with at least part of the reasoning being losing to them hurts us whereas beating them doesn't help us. What I think is that losing to them shouldn't enter out minds. We're going to have a certain number of scrubs on the schedule. We have them every year. Every school has them every year. Why does anyone care one way or the other which scrubs they are? And if we lose to the scrubs, we have bigger problems than tournament metrics. It means we still suck and then I don't care if we squeak in on the right side of the bubble.

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[OrangeXtreme]