Siena's dream run ends in Dayton

Siena gave the nation's top team a scare, but ultimately, Louisville persevered and now Marist fans can breath a little lighter.
Siena held a 63-62 lead with a little over five minutes left in regulation, but Louisville's Terrence Williams took over and led the Cardinals to a 79-72 win.
Poughkeepsie product Edwin Ubiles delivered a career performance that is likely to earn him preseason player of the year honors next season. The junior scored 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Fellow junior Alex Franklin poured in 19 points beside Ubiles. Siena's one impacting graduating senior, Kenny Hasbrouck, fought injury late and finished with 11 points. The loss ends Hasbrouck's historic career at Siena.
With Hasbrouck out of the picture next season, it is interesting to see how Siena will replace him. Freshman Kyle Downey took his place in Poughkeepsie after Hasbrouck fouled out late and emerged as the hero that night. That performance alone likely earned Downey a spot on the all-rookie team. Although Downey is tabbed as the team's strongest player in the weight room, he really only stepped up against Marist in the team's miraculous overtime win on Jan. 15.
Siena will still enter next season as the consensus favorite for No. 1 spot in the MAAC and rightly so. Hasbrouck's loss makes the team a little more interesting though. No. 2 Niagara will only lose center Benson Egemonye, but he was a central part of their offense. His presence down low opened up the floor for Tyrone Lewis and the team's two Big East transfers.
Had Siena upset No. 1 Louisville, the rest of the MAAC teams might have been in serious trouble. Siena has brought great attention to the conference, but Marist and the other schools don't want to see Siena turn into the Gonzaga of the east. NCAA Tournament wins will only help Siena's recruiting. On the plus side, Marist has arguably the best recruiting coach in the conference now. Martin was able to secure R.J. Hall late in the signing period last spring and lured Villanova bigman Casiem Drummond away from Boston University and the aforementioned Siena. For the coach of a 10th place team to coax Drummond away from Siena, a perennial NCAA tournament participant, is a major boon to Chuck Martin's resume.