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LANCASTER, PA -- Street & Smith Sports Group has announced the selection of Franklin & Marshall College as the #2 team in its NCAA Division III pre-season poll presented in the 2001 edition of Street & Smith's College Basketball, an annual dedicated to highlighting the upcoming college basketball season. The Diplomats return 12 lettermen and all five starters to a team which finished 18-7 overall, 10-4 in Centennial Conference play last season. Wilkes, picked third, and Catholic University of America, the #10 pick and the defending national champions, should challenge F&M for the region title. Tops among the returning players is two-time All-America selection Alex Kraft (Sr., Lansdale, PA/Lansdale Catholic). In 2001, Kraft repeated as Centennial Conference Player of the Year, was named to the Eastern College Division III Men's Southern Basketball First Team and the NABC Middle Atlantic Region All-District Team for the second consecutive year. A 2000 First Team and 2001 Honorable Mention All-America pick by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), Kraft averaged 16.9 points per game, a team best, in 35 minutes per game as F&M captured the Centennial Conference Western Division title. Selected a pre-season All-American by D3Hoops.com, Street & Smith, Columbus Multimedia and Preview Sports magazine last year, Kraft has been selected a 2002 pre-season First Team All-American by Street & Smith following an Honorable Mention nod as a sophomore in 2000. He shot 47.3 percent from the field (142-300), 38.2 percent from three-point range (26-68) and 75.8 percent at the foul-line (119-157) while registering 7.2 rebounds per game during his junior season. In the final 2000-2001 Centennial Conference statistics, Kraft ranked sixth in scoring (17.2), eighth in rebounding (7.2), 12th in assists (2.56), eighth in free-throw percentage (75.8%), 14th in three-pointers per game (1.04), seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.25), seventh in offensive rebounds (2.48) and 10th in defensive rebounds (4.72) per game. Overall, Kraft would record eight twenty point games, including a season high 28 point outburst on January 6 versus Western Maryland in a 86-71 road win for the 1,000th point of his collegiate career. Historically, Kraft has scored 1,269 points and needs 16 to overtake Swarthmore's Tim Schofield, who posted 1,284 from 1996-99, for seventh place on the all-time Centennial Conference scoring leader board. In addition, Kraft became only the eleventh player to collect 500-plus career rebounds and now has 551, nine away from surpassing Hopkins' Greg Roehrig for 10th place in the all-time records of the conference. In school history, Kraft is quickly closing in on several records, including the all-time scoring record of Don Marsh '79 who registered 1,695 points. Currently, Kraft is 12th in career scoring, three points behind F&M Hall of Fame member Dave Jannetta '95. He has a chance to become the first player in school history to be named a three-time All-American, as seven other F&M players - Charlie Detz '96, Chris Finch '92, Jeremiah Henry '97, Jannetta, Will Lasky '92, Mike Mehaffey and Marsh - were honored twice. In addition, he can become the first Diplomat since Marsh was named the Middle Atlantic Conference Player of the Year in 1976, 1977 and 1979 to earn a conference's highest honor. In the Centennial Conference, he is now tied with Jannetta for the most Player of the Year nods as an F&M has garnered the award. The Diplomats will return to the court against Springfield College on November 16, 2001 in the 35th Annual S. Woodrow Sponaugle Collegiate Basketball Classic at the Mayser Center. Scranton and Salem State, selected as a "possible breakthrough" team by Street & Smith, will meet in the other opening round game. Street & Smith 's College Basketball is a publication of Street & Smith's Sports Group, a division of American City Business Journals, Inc., Charlotte, North Carolina. It is available on newsstands across the globe.
Street & Smith 2001 Division III Top 10
1. Carthage
2. Franklin & Marshall
3. Wilkes
4. Christopher Newport
5. Hampden-Sydney
6. Calvin
7. Wooster
8. Maryville
9. Mississippi College
10. Catholic Division III Pre-Season All-America First Team
Devon Downing, Alfred
Alex Kraft, Franklin & Marshall
Derek Reich, Chicago
Jeremy Veenstra, Calvin
Jason Wiertel, Carthage
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