College Hoops Season Begins for Siena & UAlbany…and Fans
One coach will take the sidelines for the very first time in the lead chair. The other looks to secure an allusive MAAC Championship that has been snagged from his team's grips the past two seasons. Fans will eagerly return to their seats that have collected dust since March of 2020. Tuesday night, empty basketball venues will be a thing of the past for the Capital Region's two Division I basketball programs.
UAlbany's new men's basketball coach Dwayne Killings will lead his new Great Danes against Towson on Tuesday at 7pm at the SEFCU Arena, on the university's campus. Towson is a strong and physical team that will challenge the first year head coach and his squad right out of the box.
Killings, who replaced 20 year head coach Will Brown in April, returns only 6 players from last year's squad. Look for graduate student transfers Dre Perry, Paul Newman III and Matt Cerruti to lead the Great Danes, at least at the beginning of the season.
Siena will take the floor for their third season under Coach Carm Maciariello on Tuesday at 7pm, as they take on St. Bonaventure in the Brother Ed Coughlin Franciscan Cup. The Saints won the regular season MAAC title the past two seasons. However, after Manny Camper graduated and the other two Saints leading scorers from last season transferred, the Saints were picked 7th in the MAAC Pre Season Poll. Bad mistake on that pick kids.
Maciariello is an excellent game strategy coach. He has recruited some talented student-athletes to fill out his squad this year. Look for Northwestern transfer Anthony Gaines, sophomore Aiden Carpenter and graduate student Nick Hopkins to be the heartbeat of this Saints squad this year. This is a team that will compete for a MAAC championship once again.
Both squads look strong. You can hear Coach Killings on Mondays at 6pm and Coach Carm on Tuesdays at 5:15pm on The Drive with Charlie and Dan each and every week through the basketball season. Good luck to both teams and we all look forward to the next time these two programs meet in a regular season game.