Methods and structure are provided for “spoofing” an active connection between a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) initiator and a SAS target. The structure includes a SAS expander, comprising multiple physical links with associated transceivers (PHYs), switching hardware, a memory, and a control unit. Each PHY is operable to receive incoming Open Address Frames (OAFs) from SAS initiators that request connections with target devices. The switching hardware is operable to selectively link PHYs of the expander with each other to enable connections between initiators and target devices. The control unit is operable to determine that a connection requested by a received OAF cannot be completed, is operable to transmit an OPEN ACCEPT to the SAS initiator that transmitted the OAF responsive to making the determination, and is operable to store I/O received from the SAS initiator for the requested connection in the memory, responsive to transmitting the OPEN ACCEPT.