Siena Saints: A Stanford Fan's Worst Nightmare

The Siena Saints.

Mention these three words to any Stanford basketball fan and you will see a look of horror cross his or her face, perhaps followed by fingers thrown up in the shape of a cross.

Keep back! Bite your tongue!

Flashback

March, 1989, my sophomore year at Stanford.

For the first time in living memory, the Cardinal had a formidable men’s basketball team. They rolled into the NCAA tournament, making their first appearance since 1942, when they won the whole thing (no, I’m not kidding—you can look it up).

Led by senior All-American Todd Lichti and a supporting cast that included future NBA forward Adam Keefe, Stanford was seeded third in the East Regional. The seeding was great. Flying to Greensboro, North Carolina, and playing an early game? Not so much. Their opponent: the 14th-seeded Siena Saints.

The game started in the morning on the West Coast. Bleary eyed (remember, this was college), I got up to watch the game in my dorm on the Stanford campus.

Of course we were going to win—the only question was by how much. Nobody had ever even heard of Siena, a small Catholic college just outside Albany, New York. I’m sure the Cardinal players and young coach Mike Montgomery were already thinking about their possible second-round matchups.

BIG mistake.

Siena came out running and gunning, led by guard Marc Brown, who was just unconscious from the three-point line.

One play stands out in my mind—Brown getting a steal and racing downcourt all alone. Instead of going in for the easy layup, he pulls up and hits a three. That’s when we all knew that something very weird was happening.

It was a tight game right down to the end, which came not with a bang, but a whimper.

Brown (of course) hit two free throws with three seconds left and that was it.

Siena 80, Stanford 78.

Crushing doesn’t begin to describe the reaction on campus and among the Stanford players. I’ll never forget it. If any of you Stanford fans have, you can refresh your memory. Isn't You Tube wonderful? Sure it is.

Flash Forward 18 Years

November 17, 2007.

Stanford makes another trip out East, this time to face Siena on their home floor in Loudonville, New York. (Who scheduled this game? What were they thinking?)

Stanford was ranked 20th in the country and led by seven-footers Brooke and Robin Lopez (although a helpful reader told me Brooke was hurt and didn't play--as if that's any kind of an excuse). Siena was 1-2 on the year, having lost to James Madison and Syracuse, and beaten mighty Farleigh Dickinson.

I don’t even have to tell you what happened. Siena, which hadn’t beaten a ranked team since that fateful 1989 game, won by 12 points.

Twelve. Can you say “curse”?

The lightning-strikes-twice angle was such a great story that it made the New York Times, which I doubt provides regular coverage of Siena basketball. You can find the ugly details here.

Flash Forward Five Months

March, 2008.

Siena is back in the tournament again this year as champions of the Metro Atlantic Conference. The Saints are seeded 13th in the Midwest Region and will play their first round game in Tampa, Florida, against fourth-seeded Vanderbilt on Friday.

Stanford, meanwhile, is (get this) a number three seed in the South Region. The Cardinal will play Cornell, an Ivy League school located in, ahem, upstate New York.

Nobody expects much from lowly Cornell, in the tournament for the first time in 20 years. Sound familiar? (The Cornell nickname, Big Red, is eerily similar to Stanford’s Cardinal moniker. I have no idea if this means anything, but… let’s not go there.)

Mind you, the Siena squad of 2007-2008 is a legitimate tournament team. The Saints are 22-10, 13-5 in conference, and winners of six straight. (Did I mention that Cornell also has 22 wins? And that Stanford also went 13-5 in their conference? No? Good.)

Siena crushed Rider, 74-53, in the Metro Atlantic championship game. In that blowout, diminutive guard Tay Fisher, a 5-foot-9 reserve, hit six three-pointers on his way to 21 points. (Hey, how tall was Marc Brown?) Sophomore forwards Edwin Ubiles (17.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 45.8% from behind the arc) and Alex Franklin (14.7 ppg, 8 rpg, 56.8 FG%) can be a handful if they get going.

Of course, the Saints have no player in their rotation taller than 6-foot-7. Vanderbilt (26-7) features 6-foot-9 forward Ross Neltner (8.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and 6-foot-11 Australian center A. J. Ogilvy (16. 7 and 6.8), who was written up in Sports Illustrated a few months ago. Sort of a David-and-Goliath scenario, minus the slingshot.

My prediction: Vanderbilt won’t even know what hit them. Siena wins by two, 80-78. Don’t be surprised if Marc Brown shows up to perform some sort of weird voodoo (wait, it’s a Catholic school—make that a blessing and laying on of hands).

Meawhile, all the Stanford fans—safely watching the Cardinal play 3,000 miles away in Anaheim—say a prayer of thanks that their team isn’t in Siena’s bracket. Because we don’t event want to think about a trifecta of miracles. Thanks for not bringing it up.