Siena at Vermont 11/12/13

I went to a fight and a game broke out.

This is the best way to describe what happened last night at Patrick gym. UVM pulled out a 77-66 win and Clancy Rugg was tremendous for a second game in a row. Unfortunately the story was not about the score or the statistics of the game. As a result I am going to get on my soapbox and rant about how the game was played. .

The Siena men's basketball team and their coach Jimmy Pastos are an embarrassment to college basketball. I have never seen a worse basketball game in my life and much of it was due to the tactics and play of the Siena team. This game was not about basketball, it was about physically bullying an opponent into submission. There is nothing exciting about watching inferior players make non basketball related moves for an entire game. I enjoy watching a team that has a lack of ability but plays their hearts out with class and dignity. Unfortunately class and dignity are not part of Pastos' philosophy. The Siena men's team was undisciplined and out of control. While watching the game unfold, I found myself being more concerned with the safety of the players than the results on the scoreboard and that should never be the case. Many people will look at the box score and brush it off as a game that became ugly due to the new rules in college basketball. Anyone who was there watching the game will be able to say otherwise. Of the 63 combined fouls in Tuesday's game, about 6-8 of them were due to point of emphasis plays. This game was not out of control due to the new rules. Rather, it was the lack integrity that both the players and coaching staff from Siena displayed. With any team it starts with the coach and clearly Pastos is comfortable with allowing his players to play reckless and undisciplined. I sincerely hope that Pastos has a change of heart and begins to teach his players to play the game the right way or he is going to cause injury to opposing players this season. Now some of the UVM players lost their cool as well and I hope Becker makes them think twice before they get involved in any further ridiculousness during the rest of the season. All in all the game was atrocious and I hope that someone in the Siena athletic department speaks to Pastos to ensure that a display like that will not happen the rest of the season.

I will close with a thought about the officiating as well. They lost control of the game. Early in the second half they needed to pull the coaches together and tell them to clean up the game. They did not and by the time they tried to get the game under control it was too late. In my mind they are lucky that no one got hurt because they did not do their job. Officials are there to make sure that the game is played the right way, not the way a coach wants it to be played. They allowed Pastos to impose his will on the way the game was officiated and it resulted in a dangerous situation. An embarrassing game for the NCAA and college basketball.