Saints’ men’s MAAC schedule is revealed
Opener at Rider Dec. 8; Home debut on Dec. 11
The Siena men’s basketball team will open its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference schedule at Rider on Tuesday, Dec. 8, the league announced Tuesday in releasing its schedule.
The Saints will make their MAAC home debut against Saint Peter’s on Friday, Dec. 11 at either Times Union Center or Alumni Recreation Center on campus. The Saints aren’t currently allowed to have fans under state guidelines.
The Saints will play their MAAC games on Tuesdays and Fridays, allowing two days in between for coronavirus testing.
“I got (the schedule) last week, and it’s fine,” Siena head coach Carmen Maciariello said. “Every Tuesday-friday. So, nothing really to talk about. You’ll have two-day preps for Tuesday and two-day preps for Friday and you’ll have Saturday off. And Sunday will be a day to get ready for your Tuesday game.”
Game times are also to be announced.
Maciariello said he would prefer to play home games at the much
larger TU Center, Siena’s usual homecourt, even if fans aren’t allowed. He said no decision has been made on which venue will be used. MAAC guidelines call for no fans through at least Dec. 23, subject to review as state and local guidelines change.
“I love the TU Center,” he said. “I think that’s what differentiates us from a lot of schools in our league. We have an arena that is an Nba-style arena. It’s a place where our players like to play and I think it differentiates our program from a lot of other programs is the fact we can play in it. We’re still working on that.”
Even without ticket sales, Maciariello said Siena and the TU Center could still make money with large sponsor signs covering the empty seats when the games are livestreamed or televised, like what’s seen at professional games during the pandemic.
Siena will play a 20game league schedule
— 10 home and 10 away — that includes an open week from Feb. 21 to 27 to hold any makeup games postponed because of COVID-19.
Maciariello said he expects Siena to do more game-day travel this year, rather than staying overnight in some places, to reduce the COVID-19 risk. He said obvious exceptions are the western New York trip to Canisius Jan. 12 and Niagara Jan. 15, as well as the opener against Rider and at Monmouth Dec. 15, which are both about 400 miles roundtrip.
“I think it’s probably safer not to be in a hotel and to have your players in their rooms where they can know things are clean and whatnot,” Maciariello said.
Fans or not, Iona and new Gaels coach Rick Pitino are scheduled to visit Siena on Jan. 19.
Siena has yet to announce its nonconference schedule as Maciariello adjusts those games to account for the college basketball season starting on Nov. 25, two weeks later than planned. The Saints have nonconference windows available from Nov. 25 to Dec. 4 and Dec. 22 and 23.
“We’ll continue to work through that, but I’m hoping by the end of this week or next week, we should at least have a lot more clarity on those situations,” Maciariello said.
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