Friday night #1 took on #2 in a MAAC conference showdown in Albany.  Second place Iona took on first place Siena at the ’skld out’ Times Union Center.  I was the radio color analyst, along with Gary Stanley from CBS Radio on play by play. As great a story as Iona is this season….the Saints showed there is a considerable difference between number 1 and the rest of the league.  Siena can beat you in so many ways.  It should not shock anyone if the Saints beat Butler on the road for Bracketbuster in two weeks.  The Gaels lost by 20 points Friday night after being down 10 at the half.  Kevin Willard’s club bounced back strong yesterday with a solid road win at Marist.  Iona is in 2nd place by themselves and have some very winnable conference games coming there way.  The next two home games are against Manhattan and Loyola who have a combined MAAC conference record of 8-20.

On Saturday I was the TV color analyst for the ‘Battle of Brooklyn’ as St. Francis took on LIU on MSG.  The game went three overtimes as St. Francis won 88-84.  Junior Ricky Cadell played 52 minutes and scored 21 points - 6 of them coming on his two huge three pointers in the extra periods.  LIU coach Jim Ferry was faced with a decision on Saturday afternoon at the end of the 2nd overtime….play solid 3 point defense or foul them so they can’t get the 3 pointer off?  Ferry chose to play it straight up and Cadell hit a 3 point bomb to force the final, and winning overtime period for the Terriers.  I still don’t understand why coaches don’t foul late in games more to prevent this from happening.  But if they’re not doing it in games….they’re probably not practicing it.  And coaches do not like to gamble with what they haven’t practiced.  But every coach should be practicing this!  It was also a big game for NEC standings.  St. Francis is now in a three way tie for third place with LIU and Fairleigh Dickinson.  Speaking of FDU….now that the Knights are 7-5 in the league….the talk of who will replace interim coach Greg Vetrone has calmed down a little bit.

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