Past Saints root for mark
Alumni hope the team will beat their streak this weekend
Siena stars of past rooting for Saints coach Carmen Maciariello and his team to tie victory streak mark.
Alex Franklin and Ryan Rossiter helped set the Division I standard for winning in the Siena men’s basketball program.
They were starters on the 2009-10 team, which won a program Division I-record 15 games in a row on their way to a third straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship.
Franklin, who now lives and plays professionally in Puerto Rico, said this week he wasn’t aware that team held a record.
“When you’re winning and you’re playing together, you’re not even thinking about that, you know what I mean?” said Franklin, who was the MAAC Player of the Year and tournament MVP as a senior that season. “That’s the stuff I think about now, like when I look back, but in the moment, it’s too hard to even realize because you’re just playing in the moment.”
This year’s Siena team (4-0 overall, 4-0 MAAC) can tie and break the Division I record at Rider (3-8, 3-5) on Friday and Saturday. The Saints have won 14 games in a row dating to the COVID -shortened last season, also the third-longest active streak in Division I.
“It would mean a lot,” Siena sophomore guard Jordan King, a CBA graduate said. “I grew up watching Siena my whole life. I’ve been to a lot of games, and knowing I could be a part of history, it just feels good. So I definitely want to contribute to that.”
With two wins this weekend, Siena can also tie the longest
overall winning streak in program history — 16 in a row from Feb. 25, 1950, to Dec. 28, 1950. Siena upgraded to Division I in 1976-77.
Franklin, who watches Siena highlights on social media, said he didn’t mind the possibility of being leapfrogged by the current Saints this weekend. He encouraged it.
“Man, I mean, to me, records are made to be broken, you know?” he said. “Especially a successful record, I’m all for that. I’m proud of those guys. I’m proud that the program is back on that winning track and can have these records that maybe we would have set in the past when we were on our winning streak.”
Rossiter, who plays professionally in Japan, said then-head coach Fran Mccaffery always preached “never too high, never too low” during the streak. Rossiter praised how current head coach Carmen Maciariello is handling this team.
“Carm has done a great job in his short time as coach and to already be on the verge of breaking records set by Fran and our teams is special,” Rossiter said by email. “I truly hope they achieve more than we ever did and set new standards for the program. Our teams always wanted to elevate the program and if they can surpass our accomplishments and set a new standard for Siena all of us would love that.”
Siena hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2010, though last year’s team won the MAAC regular-season title before the tournament was canceled due to coronavirus.
There are differences between the two streaks. The 2009-10 team did it all during one season, while the current streak overlaps two. The 2009-10 streak included two nonleague opponents — Saint Joseph’s and Mount St. Mary’s. The current one is exclusively
against MAAC teams.
It’s extremely unlikely this Siena streak would have reached 14 if last season hadn’t been cut short. The Saints had won 10 in a row at that point and would have had to win two more in the MAAC Tournament and two in the NCAA Tournament.
Despite the 14-hour time difference, Rossiter said he was able to watch Siena’s wins over Monmouth on Jan. 4 and at Fairfield last Sunday. Siena won that game without MAAC Player of the Year Jalen Pickett (hamstring), whose status is uncertain for Rider.
Rossiter said he speaks with a few current players.
“I think the team is playing well, still working on chemistry with the addition of a few new players playing important minutes, but Jalen and Manny (Camper) have been great leaders and steady hands on the court,” he said. “I think they’ll keep improving as the year goes and they develop a rhythm.”