Byline: STEVE CAMPBELL
LOUDONVILLE -- He made chateaubriand out of the stuff that goes into hot dogs and sausage. He turned perception (losing coach) on its head, into an altered state of reality (champion).
Rob Lanier did all that in the first four days of March. Imagine what Lanier can accomplish in a lifetime.
Yesterday's rookie head coach -- suspected of, though never formally charged with, inflicting growing pains on the Siena Saints program -- is today's wise-beyond-his-years visionary. Yesterday's team with a losing record is today's team with a losing record and an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.
The Saints won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament two days after the ``Dump Lanier'' sign emerged at Pepsi Arena during the quarterfinals. Barely two weeks after boos chased the Saints to the dressing room at the end of the next-to-last home game of the regular season, fans were storming the court in celebration.
Four days, four victories, one resurrected Siena season. As accomplishments go, though, all that's nothing compared to Lanier making it to Siena in the first place.
``I know what it's like not to eat,'' Lanier says. ``I know what it's like to look ahead and say, `I don't know what I'm going to eat for the next week.' The adversity of the season, I can deal with that. I've dealt with worse. I was more consumed with: How am I going to get it right, make it …
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