Conference call day is here! The annual chat with the MAAC coaches the Monday before the MAAC tournament.
Sometimes humorous, often tedious, here's a read on what the coaches had to say on a variety of topics.
Canisius – Tom Parrotta(9th seed vs. Loyola)
*We did come out(of the regular season) thinking we can compete with teams in the upper echelon of the league
Ed Cooley - Fairfield(5th seed vs. Manhattan)
* Interested to see our man Rossiter from Siena who is one of the best big men not there(on the all-MAAC team). I definitely voted for him, first team to be honest with you. He’s one of the most improved players in our league. Love the kid. He’s a tremendous player and an asset to the MAAC.
*With the year we’ve had, we’re excited to play anybody.
Kevin Willard – Iona(7th seed vs. Marist)
*We’ve had 2 really tough games with Marist, we won one and lost one. I think Chuck (Martin/Marist coach)has done such a great job of teaching defense. They’ve given us fits trying to score. It’s going to be a good matchup.
*We’re really doing well academically. That’s the best thing I like about my team right now.
*Gary Springer has been playing well over the last 4 or 5 games. Scott Machado has played flawlessly with the amount of responsibility he’s had to take on. We just need someone to make an outside shot for us.
Jimmy Patsos – Loyola(8th seed vs. Canisius)
*ON THE TOURNAMEN BEING IN ALBANY - They earned it because they sell 5 thousand season tickets. It’s a great tournament atmosphere. It’s great for our league. If people tune in on TV, you want a full building. I like the city of Albany. The tournament is for everyone. I think Albany is a great place for it.
*A guy like Frank Turner, he scares you. He can go for 30 and 10. He’s like Tiny Archibald, who played for the Buffalo Braves. He’s hard to stop.
Barry Rohrssen – Manhattan (4th seed vs. Fairfield)
*ON PLAYING A TEAM THE JASPERS JUST PLAYED - Maybe helpful to both coaching staffs that we played them so soon. One and done for most of us here in this tournament, so that’s motivation for all of us.
*When we guard some people, we’re okay. We’ve held a few teams under 40 points, and that’s pretty good. We had a shot to finish the regular season with double digit wins. Our offense let us down on Friday night and Sunday, not finishing off on defense is what shot us in the foot.
Chuck Martin – Marist (10th seed vs. Iona)
*We’ve got a lot of respect for Iona. We had two great games with them this season.
*David Devezin’s status – Dave’s going some good things. He missed 6 games this season due to injury. He’s having a solid, not great, but solid year.
*The mood has been great all season long These kids could have packed it in, but they didn’t. They continued to fight and let us coach them. I think the fact that we played well against Iona at their place, even though we lost there and beat them at our place gives us the feeling we can compete against them. We’ve got to do a better job of recognizing their changing defenses.
Joe Mihalich – Niagara (2nd seed vs. Iona/Marist)
*For finishing 2nd, we were rewarded by having to play Iona or Marist. Iona beat us on our home court, and Marist beat us in Poughkeepsie. It’s great to finish 2nd, but you look up and see who you’re going to play and it brings you right back down to earth.
Tommy Dempsey – Rider (3rd seed vs. Saint Peter's)
*I’m proud of the way we played this year. To lose a lottery pick and come back and go 12-6 in a league that is so strong this year is a good testament to how well our guys have played.
*To only have one all-league player in a year where we went 12-6 in the league. If Ryan(Thompson, 1st team pick) is our only all-league player, he must have had a special year. I’m biased. I think he’s the best player in the year. But you could make a case for all 5 players to be player of the year.
John Dunne – St. Peter’s (6th seed vs. Rider)
*I think we had lost a lot of games last year and we kept preaching to try to give ourselves a chance to win late. See what happens there. As the year progressed, we were closer and closer to that. We did that(got close) a handfuls of time early. We finally got one at home against Loyola where we won late. That gave us confidence that we could win a close game late. We got some breaks through this 5 win streak in the league. We gave ourselves a chance. We made some big shots down the stretch. Once you make a couple, you have the confidence that anything can happen.
Fran McCaffery – Siena (1st seed vs. Loyola/Canisius)
*We are very pleased with how we’ve played to date. This is the most challenging our conference has been in the 4 years I’ve been in it. We recognize what this weekend is going to be, a lot of intense close games. One of the team we may play, we played yesterday right down to the last possession. We recognize the talent in this conference. We’re looking forward to what will be an exciting tournament for the fans as well.
*To me the quality of the conference is not just what’s at the top. When you have your hands full with every team in the league every night…
*Everybody says you want to go in on a high note…sometimes it’s the right mixture, sometimes it’s not. What I would have liked to have done is go to Buffalo and win 2 games by 20 points. That didn’t happen. What we’re going to see this weekend is much like what we saw last week, hard fought games by both teams.
*Anytime you lose, it gets your attention a little bit more. When you win tight games, sometimes you forget why the game was tight. We had both experience this past weekend, we lost and had a game where we were trailing much of the game and had to dig out of it. I think the loss does help you refocus the way you play.
*I think we have to do a better job on the glass. We’ve done a better job this year, just not this weekend and we have to defend more consistently, which we have also done this year.
*I think Ryan Rossiter is one of the best 15 player in the league, but in fairness, if you put him on the team(all-league), who do you take off? Can’t say any of them don’t deserve to be on there. Ryan Rossiter has a had a fabulous year.
*You can’t dismiss any team(from competing for a MAAC title). Even Marist,(the 10th seed) with their ability to hit three, and with an excellent point guard, they’ve got a shot
*This is a fun team to coach. We work hard, they work hard. You tell them something, they do it to the best of their ability.
Kenny Hasbrouck – Siena senior captain
*We have to practice the same way we play in the games and I don’t think we’ve done that past few weeks.
*No one in the league likes Ryan Rossiter. I think it’s his boyish looks. He doesn’t do anything wrong, he just plays hard and when people say things to him, he just laughs it off. He’s gotten death threats 3 different times (by players on the court).
*We have a lot of confidence in our home gym. Our confidence is high When your confidence is that high, it’s hard to knock you off. The other thing is that other teams in our league don’t play in big gyms. It’s hard for other teams to adjust to that in the first half.
*Kyle Downey on all-rookie team – He deserves it. He’s in the gym all the time. He works so hard. He seems like he’s very experienced on the floor.
*Team to watch – Canisius. They’re on a roll. They’re playing great. Stinks we’re going to probably have to play them.
