COVID lessens return home
Participants with local ties can’t see family, friends due to protocols
Two head coaches in town for this weekend’s NCAA Division II basketball regional are former Capital Region residents.
Unfortunately for Tobin Anderson of St. Thomas Aquinas and Joseph Clinton of Dominican, there won’t be any opportunity to rekindle old friendships.
Like all participants in the six-team tournament, which begins Saturday night at Albany Capital Center, Anderson and Clinton are sequestered in Capital Region hotels because of COVID-19 protocols.
“That’s the part that stinks,” said Anderson, a Siena assistant coach for two seasons (2011-13) under Mitch Buonaguro. “I can’t see friends. I have a bunch of people saying ‘You’re coming up,’ but they can’t come to the games. There are no fans. You can’t go out to have a bite to eat or anything like that. It’s different than usual.
“We’re stuck in a hotel, and we’re trying to keep things as tight as possible. My family can’t come. My wife taught at Albany Academy, my kids went there for a couple of years. They have friends here, but it really is a business trip. We’re here to play basketball.”
Clinton’s time here was much earlier. In his 30th season at Dominican, he was a 1,270point scorer as a Union College point guard in the early 1980s.
“Those were the best days of my life,” Clinton said. “As you get older, you start looking back and you think about the times. It was so much fun. That’s when Albany was D3, so we always had great games with them with (Union coach) Bill Scanlan and (Albany coach) Doc Sauers. I loved it up here. I loved the area. I ended up going back home afterward, but it was
a great four years.”
One player who shares the frustration of the NCAA quarantine is Daemen’s best player, Guilderland High graduate Andrew Sischo.
“My sister works right across the street from where we’re staying,” Sischo said. “Hopefully I’ll be able to wave outside the window while she’s at work.”
Since leaving Siena, Anderson
has compiled a 155-51 record (.752) and taken the Spartans to six straight NCAA Tournaments, but he hasn’t forgotten his time in Loudonville.
“I loved it, the passion of the fans in Albany,” Anderson said. “Albany’s a basketball city. I love coming back here. People love their basketball here. They love Siena and they want to win. It’s been great to see what coach Carm (Maciariello) has done the last couple of years, getting them back to the top of the MAAC.”
Clinton, who is 416-375 (.526) in his time at Dominican, also has remembrances of the area, but from an earlier era.
“I played at Albertus (Magnus High) in Rockland County,” Clinton said. “In my junior year, we came up and played La Salle or Troy, I can’t remember which, at Union. We ended up winning that game, and (thenunion assistant) Bill Carmody actually saw me. My senior year, we had a great run. We got to the state championship game.
“I was being recruited by Ithaca and a couple of other
schools, but the deciding factor with Union is that Bill Scanlan was there at every single game, from the sectionals on to the states. When it came down to make a decision between Ithaca and them, and Ithaca came to see me twice, it was like a nobrainer. This guy (Scanlan) was there. He was loyal. It was a good choice on my part, a good school and a good program. I do love coming back here.”
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