LOUDONVILLE -- One thing you have to give to Siena basketball coach Rob Lanier: He is an eternal optimist.
With five games left in the Saints' regular season and his future with the program hanging by the thinnest of threads, Lanier comes to work every day, a smile on his face.
On the outside, he is a man determined to try to find a way to make his team better. That in itself has been a chore. Siena is 4-20 and in last place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference at 2-11. Siena faces St. Peter's tonight at 7 at Pepsi Arena.
Unless there is a complete turnaround, Siena will end the regular season in the basement. Loyola is in ninth place, three games ahead of the Saints. The Greyhounds have four games left.
"We still have a lot to play for," Lanier said. "We have five games left, first of all, and potentially some more after that (in the MAAC Tournament). What you're always trying to do is get better. ... We are going to try to do that tomorrow."
Siena has lost 11 of its last 12 games, the most recent a 68-65 defeat at home to Loyola last Thursday.
Things do change. The team no longer gets blown out at home by the likes of Penn and Vermont.
"You guys saw the Vermont and Penn games," Lanier said. "In those games our guys looked like a team that had given up.
"If you look at our games at Rider, Canisius and Niagara (all losses), you saw a team that was not giving up."
After tonight, Siena stays home to play Marist Friday night and then plays its final home game Sunday afternoon against Rider. The Saints finish the regular season at Loyola next Thursday and at Iona next Saturday.
It's official: After a video review of the MAAC Television production of the Canisius-Rider game played Sunday in New Jersey, MAAC Commissioner Richard J. Ensor has ruled that the officials correctly handled the situation at the end of regulation, and the game was correctly sent to overtime. Rider prevailed, 81-74.
With the game tied and Rider in possession of the basketball on its end of the court, the Broncs attempted to in-bounds the ball with 4.3 seconds left in regulation and 2 seconds on the shot clock. The ball went off Rider guard Jerry Johnson, and possession was gained by Canisius guard Chuck Harris, who started up court toward his basket. The clock operator stopped the game clock at 2.3 seconds momentarily and then restarted it. The video replay, however, clearly showed that the game clock was stopped for longer than the 0.2 seconds that the clock showed when Harris released the shot.
With five games left in the Saints' regular season and his future with the program hanging by the thinnest of threads, Lanier comes to work every day, a smile on his face.
On the outside, he is a man determined to try to find a way to make his team better. That in itself has been a chore. Siena is 4-20 and in last place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference at 2-11. Siena faces St. Peter's tonight at 7 at Pepsi Arena.
Unless there is a complete turnaround, Siena will end the regular season in the basement. Loyola is in ninth place, three games ahead of the Saints. The Greyhounds have four games left.
"We still have a lot to play for," Lanier said. "We have five games left, first of all, and potentially some more after that (in the MAAC Tournament). What you're always trying to do is get better. ... We are going to try to do that tomorrow."
Siena has lost 11 of its last 12 games, the most recent a 68-65 defeat at home to Loyola last Thursday.
Things do change. The team no longer gets blown out at home by the likes of Penn and Vermont.
"You guys saw the Vermont and Penn games," Lanier said. "In those games our guys looked like a team that had given up.
"If you look at our games at Rider, Canisius and Niagara (all losses), you saw a team that was not giving up."
After tonight, Siena stays home to play Marist Friday night and then plays its final home game Sunday afternoon against Rider. The Saints finish the regular season at Loyola next Thursday and at Iona next Saturday.
It's official: After a video review of the MAAC Television production of the Canisius-Rider game played Sunday in New Jersey, MAAC Commissioner Richard J. Ensor has ruled that the officials correctly handled the situation at the end of regulation, and the game was correctly sent to overtime. Rider prevailed, 81-74.
With the game tied and Rider in possession of the basketball on its end of the court, the Broncs attempted to in-bounds the ball with 4.3 seconds left in regulation and 2 seconds on the shot clock. The ball went off Rider guard Jerry Johnson, and possession was gained by Canisius guard Chuck Harris, who started up court toward his basket. The clock operator stopped the game clock at 2.3 seconds momentarily and then restarted it. The video replay, however, clearly showed that the game clock was stopped for longer than the 0.2 seconds that the clock showed when Harris released the shot.
