Siena University Is Headed To March Madness For The First Time In 16 Years

It's March. You know what that means. The NCAA Basketball Tournament (Lovingly known as March Madness) kicks off on March 17th, and will run through early April. It's a single-elimination, cutthroat, one-of-a-kind tournament that sees the best of the best rise above.

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Currently, teams are finally getting their bids to the tournament, and one of the Capital Region's biggest programs is back in the dance.

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Siena Wins The Conference

Okay, so to get a bid into the tournament as a smaller program, you have to win your conference tournament. The Siena Saints (located in Loudonville), play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and were the 3-Seed in their tournament.

The Saints blazed their way to the Championship game, when, on Tuesday, March 10th, they defeated Merrimack 64-54 to clinch not only a MAAC Championship, but a guaranteed spot in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. This gives them the chance, no matter how unlikely, to win a Division I National Championship (the school's first).

Siena's Path to a Championship

Siena, as one of the lower rated schools in the tournament, will likely end up as a 16-seed, the lowest on the chart. Unfortunately for the team matched up against them, 16-seeds beating 1-seeds in their first game is nowhere near impossible (See UMBC/Virginia 2018), and Siena has a fire lit underneath them right now.

According to the current Bracketology, Siena is expected to be the 16-seed in the West region, putting them up against Arizona in their first round. Even if Siena can upset the Wildcats, they have a daunting path ahead of them. They'll have to win six straight games in order to hoist the national title trophy, with juggernauts like Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia, and Illinois standing in their way.

The Saints will have their official position in the bracket on Selection Sunday (March 15th) at 6p.m. This will be Siena's first tournament appearance since 2010.