Siena looks to extend streak, but Saints are already victorious in their approach to this season

Carmen Maciariello has presided over a potential record win streak at Siena, but Saints’ coach insists success is attributed as much to his players’ character as their talent. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

With four straight wins after multiple COVID-19 pauses delayed the start of its season until January 3, the layoff proved to have little, if any, effect on Siena. But for all the success, both in the long and short terms, the belief within the program is that more remains to be accomplished.

“We always talk about coming out of each pause better than we went in,” head coach Carmen Maciariello said as the Saints — winners of 14 straight dating back to last February — look to extend a win streak that can tie or surpass the program record of 15 when they visit Rider for a Friday-Saturday back-to-back series. “Strategically, how we did our preseason, we weren’t caught up in practicing how everyone looks at a practice, with full-court, 5-on-5. We did a lot of teaching, a lot of breakdown drills, and then I think having guys like Kyle (Young) and Jordan (King), and Jalen (Pickett) and Manny (Camper), guys that played meaningful minutes, it’s a key to these guys and their heart and their character. It doesn’t have anything to do with talent, it’s about the type of people we have in this program.”

“I just think it’s a credit to our guys’ will and fortitude, and them believing in each other. I was the one in all of those games having to slow them down and get them to play at the tempo that I thought was best, so offensively, I know these guys — especially Jordan — were shaking their heads sometimes when they wanted to get up and down, and I would have to kind of put the reins on. I think it’s just a credit to these guys understanding how every possession mattered, and we had an opportunity to be thankful to be out on the court with one another playing Siena basketball.”

Siena could be without Pickett this weekend after the reigning Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year left Saturday’s game against Fairfield and missed Sunday’s contest with what Maciariello termed a minor hamstring issue. The coach will check with trainer Greg Dashnaw and the Saints’ medical staff Friday before an ultimate decision is rendered on Pickett’s availability, but if he is indeed unable to go, Aidan Carpenter is a capable replacement in the lineup after a 19-point outing turned heads last Sunday in his first career start and just his second collegiate appearance. Fellow freshman Colin Golson has yet to see the floor after not clearing COVID protocol, but if there are no issues leading into this weekend’s games, Maciariello said he should be good to go.

“Aidan did a great job helping these guys last year, and so he still needed to do some work picking up the plays,” Maciariello said of Carpenter. “He’s always kind of prided himself on working, being a gym rat and staying in shape. We knew he was a little different than Nick (Hopkins) and Jordan and Jalen with the north-south and how he can attack off of a ball screen, but he also proved he can make the outside jumper and read the defense off the high pick-and-roll.”

Regardless of who suits up, Siena has picked up where it left off after the pandemic threw a wrench into what looked to be a special month of March last year. The optimism and the power of belief that both the Saints’ coaching staff and players highlighted in great detail last season has not dissipated, either; in fact, it has cultivated an even stronger life through the travails of a truly unique season that has begun in arguably the greatest way possible.

“We give so much hope for a lot of our fans who aren’t able to come to games,” Maciariello reflected. “We do have some fans that are a little older, and we’re trying to just bring some positive Siena basketball to brighten people’s days up. You have so many people here that can’t have that human interaction that they do need during these tough times, and to have guys that really care about one another to play a great brand of basketball where they show how unified we are and how much we care about the guy next to us as opposed to ourselves, is key. And I think that’s just a product of who we have in this program.”