GREENVILLE, S.C. – The nation watched in shock
Thursday afternoon. All except for a few guys wearing green and gold.
You see, there was nothing shocking to Siena about any of
what took place. They knew what Duke had. More importantly, they knew what they
had. For nearly 40 minutes, what they had was the top seed in the NCAA
Tournament staggering, just waiting for the knockout blow.
Unfortunately for the Saints, they could never land it.
Duke got a 71-65 win to advance to the round of 32. Siena
got respect.
“G-Mac had his guys way more ready to play than I did,” Duke
coach Jon Scheyer said of his counterpart, Gerry McNamara, after the game. “He outcoached me. He outcoached us.
That’s one of the hardest moments in sport for me, period. Credit to Siena,
just for their readiness and the way those guys played. They did a great job.”
Scheyer wasn’t done. When he was asked about where this game
ranked among the games in which he’s played and coached, he quickly responded.
“Toughest one – not close,” Scheyer said. “Toughest moment.
Toughest game. Toughest position I’ve ever been in in the tournament – no question
about it.”
“I think the thing you can say about (McNamara)’s guys today is that they weren’t afraid at all. We knew that going
in. There’s a reputation in their league. They were the aggressors, and that’s
a reflection on him and his coaching staff.”
McNamara’s Saints kept fighting. Siena led by 11 at the half,
booking over 1.43 points per possession. The five starters – who would play 39
minutes and 50 seconds without leaving the deck – made shots. They got stops.
They had the Blue Devils in a spot to blow up almost every bracket before the
sun came close to setting on the first day of the tournament.
Two-and-a-half minutes into the second half, 20 seconds
changed the game.
Riley Mulvey had an attempted dunk spin out. Francis Folefac
had a putback attempt also spin out. Twenty seconds later, Isaiah Evans threw down
a dunk on the other end. The bucket – Duke’s first fast-break points of the day
– changed everything. The Blue Devils went on an 11-0 run and cut it to two.
Siena ducked the punch for a while, pushing its lead back to six. Evans broke a
tie with 4:25 to play, and the Saints never again led.
Whatever the scoreboard said, however the stat sheet read,
McNamara wasn’t changing his stance.
“I’ve been doing this a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever
been more proud of any group of kids I’ve ever been around,” McNamara said. “I
think the world and college basketball saw what I’ve been so grateful and
thankful to be around all season. (They’re) a group of kids that love each
other, that compete at the highest level, and play for each other.”
“(Duke) is a tough group. They’re the number-one seed for a
reason. They’ve got a lot of talent, a lot of heart, and a lot of pride. I’ve
got all that right here, too. I’m devastated for (my team) because we didn’t
have fear in this. We wanted to accept this.”
Sophomore Gavin Doty was one of those fearless Saints. Doty
scored 21 points and hoisted 20 shots in the game, making continual key plays
that kept Siena in the game. Doty reflected after the game on the season and
those 40 minutes in which he and his teammates put the fear of God in the Devils.
“I had full confidence that we were going to win the game,”
Doty said. “If you’d told me we (would be) up by 10 at halftime, I would have
believed it. That’s how much faith I have in these guys. Seeing our coaching
staff getting us ready for the scout – they did an unbelievable job. It sucks
that we came up short, but I’m proud of the fight we had.”
Forward Brendan Coyle was more succinct in his remarks.
“Obviously, we poured our hearts out, but close doesn’t
count for much,” Coyle said. “We talked all season about no moral victories. We
came into the game wanting to win and ultimately, we fell short of that.”
McNamara sat at the podium with a pained look on his face at
times. He appeared both happy and sad. His face told the tale of the 40 minutes
he just lived and all the work he and his staff put in to get Siena to this
point.
“I thought last year we put together a group that was ready
to compete right away. We lost a lot of close games. This offseason was focused
on the frontcourt. You watch Riley Mulvey play, Francis Folefac, Tazzy (forward
Tasman Goodrick)’s been hurt, and (forward) Antonio (Chandler) didn’t play. We’ve
got one of the best frontcourts in our league.”
“Listen, your kids in a lot of ways are the reflection of
you as a coach. I couldn’t be prouder of how hard they play. That gives you a
chance. The support from the alumni, from the students, and from the fans – it’s
real. We’ve got a real thing going in Albany and Loudonville, and I wanted it
to feel and look a certain way in the locker room – a brotherhood, a family. I
wanted it to look a certain way on the court, in terms of the fight and the
grit, and these kids have done all of it.”
McNamara’s name has been referenced with the Syracuse
opening ever since it was announced. This is understandable, of course, given
McNamara’s ties to the school. On this day, though, the only ties he was
interested in discussing were those he had created in Loudonville.
“When I got the job, I couldn’t have scripted a better group
of young men and young student-athletes to put together that would represent
this place as (well) as they have,” McNamara said.
Whatever the next week holds for McNamara’s future, it’s
pretty clear that the Saints couldn’t have found a better leader to take the
program to the level that saw them go toe-to-toe with the best team in the
nation and serve notice to the country about the school of just over 3,600 students
from the town with just over 10,000 residents.
Folefac said it best when the media mentioned after the game
that Siena showed it belonged on this stage.
“I feel like we take every game – we treat every game the
same way,” Folefac said. “We just come out and try to have extreme focus,
energy, and effort. We pour our hearts out in every minute of every game. We
play together. We hold each other accountable.”
“Obviously, we fell short today, but I love these guys. If I
could do it all over again, I would.”
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