Siena basketball coach remembers Senior Day snub

Christian said he will play the four seniors and Bayer, a graduate student, though he's not sure who will start. Fisher and Degnan have started all season with Smithen a key cog off the bench. Bayer, a transfer from Syracuse, and walk-on Morastoni have seen little action.

Christian doesn't want his players to have the experience he had under then-Mount St. Mary's coach Milan Brown.

"Senior Day has always been particularly important to me to make sure that I didn't do that to others,'' Christian said. "Just understand the importance of the day for them and having great respect for them and their journey as a way to really say thank you."

But it's more than just a career achievement honor for this group. In their final season, the quintet has helped Christian, in his first year, lead the Saints from a predicted last-place finish in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to a tie for second place with three regular-season games left.