|
LANCASTER, PA -- Pat Coleman, owner and operator of D3Hoops.com, has announced the Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team remains fourth in the November 27th edition of the website's weekly Division III poll. F&M, which improved to 5-0 on the year with wins over Elizabethtown, Averett and Division II University of the Sciences, has been led by center Steve Juskin (So., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park), who averaged 17.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.0 blocks last week to earn Centennial Conference Player of the Week honors. Against Elizabethtown, Juskin posted a triple-double in the Diplomats' 83-80 win. He made 10-of-13 shots form the floor for 22 points, collected 14 rebounds and blocked a career-high and school record 10 shots. For Juskin, the triple-double was the second of his career as he is the only player in Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball history to accomplish the feat even once. On January 31st, he scored 14 points, ripped down 16 rebounds and dished out 10 assists to record the first known triple-double in Franklin & Marshall history in a 90-48 romp over Western Maryland College in the Mayser Center Further, his tally obliterated the previous best of 8 blocked shots held by Vince Hill from a game against Muhlenberg College during the 1972-73 season as he now has 10 in three games, just 43 behind the single season record of 53 set by Darren Sanborn during the 1995-96 season. As a team, the Diplomats would reset the single game record for most blocked shots with 16 against the Bluejays, Cas Thomas (Sr., Neshaminy, PA/Neshaminy) registered three and Asaf Ganot (Jr., Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly) chipped in two. The performance erased the mark of 13 held by the Diplomats from last season's win over Western Maryland as Juskin blocked six, while Ganot added five for F&M, as the Diplomats denied 13 Terror shots. At the Gallaudet Tournament, he scored 31 points and gathered 20 boards to earn All-Tournament honors as F&M knocked off Averett, 81-51, and Division II University of the Sciences, 67-57, to claim the tournament title. On the year, Juskin leads the Centennial Conference with 9.6 rebounds per game, and is tied with Tony Beers of Dickinson College for fifth in scoring with an average of 17.0 points per contest. Overall, the Diplomats return 10 lettermen and all five starters to a team which finished 18-7 overall, 10-4 in Centennial Conference play last season, but failed to make the NCAA tournament field following a first round Centennial playoff loss to Muhlenberg College in Lancaster. Among the veterans, four F&M players are averaging double-digits as Thomas and two-time Centennial Conference Player of the Year Alex Kraft (Sr., Lansdale, PA/Lansdale Catholic) rank 18th and 19th in the Centennial Conference with averages of 11.5 and 11.4 points per game, while guard Larry Fain (Sr., Crum Lynne, PA/Chester) ranks 12th with 14.6 points per contest. Point guard Duran Searles (So., Camden, NJ/Peddie School) is just off the pace with an average of nine points through the first five games. F&M is now ranked #4 in the nation by both national Division III weekly polls, D3Hoops.com and Basketball America, following a pre-season which saw the Diplomats picked #2 in Street & Smith College Basketball Preview, #12 by D3Hoops.com and among the top 8 in USA Today's Basketball Preview. However, the Diplomats could face some tough competition in Conference, in region and in the Mayser Center. Gettysburg College, the defending Centennial Conference champions, is ranked 29th with 59 votes, while #11 Clark University and F&M could meet in the finals of the 2002 Rotary Tip-Off the New Year Tournament on January 4 in the Mayser Center. D3Hoops.com is widely considered the preeminent source of information on Division III basketball in the electronic medium. D3Hoops.com is the sister publication of D3Football.com, considered the most up to date and thorough information source on Division III college football. D3hoops and D3football have appeared in Sports Illustrated, ESPN Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Hartford Courant and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, among other publications. D3 Hoops.com 2001-02 Division III Top 25
Rank Team (1st Place Votes) 2001-02 Record Pts. Previous Rank
1. Carthage (22) 2-0 622 1
2. Christopher Newport (3) 4-0 592 2
3. Hampden-Sydney 3-0 552 3
4. Franklin & Marshall 5-0 550 4
5. Ohio Northern 3-0 506 7
6. UW-Stevens Point 5-0 466 11
7. Gustavus Adolphus 4-0 449 13
8. Lewis & Clark 2-1 391 5
9. DePauw 3-0 359 16
10. Washington, MO 4-1 349 6
11. Calvin 4-1 317 9
12. UW-Platteville 3-0 305 20
13. Catholic 1-1 296 14
14. Wooster 2-1 275 19
15. Brockport State 2-0 272 17
16. Wheaton 3-0 256 NR
17. Clark 2-1 140 10
18. Chicago 2-2 138 12
19. Mass-Dartmouth 3-0 121 NR
20. Wartburg 2-0 108 NR
21. St. Thomas 3-1 107 18
22. Rowan 3-0 91 NR
23. Wittenberg 2-1 90 NR
24. Wilkes 1-1 86 22
25. Illinois Wesleyan 1-2 84 24
|
