Diplomats Ranked 10th in January 15th Basketball America Poll; Sixth in NCAA Region Poll
by Sports Information
1/15/02
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LANCASTER, PA -- The Franklin & Marshall men's basketball team moved to tenth in this week's Basketball America poll as the Diplomats finished the week 1-1 with a win over Urinsus (52-46) and a loss to Gettysburg (79-69) in a pair Centennial Conference road games. The ranking is F&M's second top-15 pick of the week as D3Hoops.com selected Franklin & Marshall #12 in the nation on Monday. The Diplomats, who started the year 12-0, have now gone 1-3 over their last four games, including a 62-56 overtime loss at Lebanon Valley College on January 14 which dropped the team's record to 13-3, 3-1 in Centennial Conference play. Overall, center Steve Juskin (So., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) leads the team in scoring and rebounding with an average of 13.4 points and 7.3 boards per game. In addition, is just off pace to reset the single season blocked shot record at the College as he now has 33 through 16 games, an average of 2.06 per game. Through 25 regular season games, Juskin will finish with 52 blocked shots, four short of surpassing the school single season record of 53 set by Darren Sanborn in 1995-96. Two-time All-American forward Alex Kraft (Sr., Lansdale, PA/Lansdale Catholic) is tied guard Larry Fain (Sr., Crum Lynne, PA/Chester) for second in scoring with 11.6 points per game. Kraft, who raised his career total to 1,455 points is now 48 points away from surpassing Jeremiah Henry '96 (1,502 points) for fourth on the all-time scoring leader board at the College. With seven boards versus Lebanon Valley, Kraft ranks 11th all-time in rebounding at F&M with 631 boards, three shy of moving past Dave Fabricant '69 (633 rebounds) and into 10th place. Historically, he will become the fifth F&M player to rank in the top ten in both major categories, joining Chris Finch '92 (1,287 points, 638 rebounds), Phil Hoeker '89 (1,333 points, 661 rebounds), Dennis Westley '81 (1,357 points, 669 rebounds) and Terry Scott '88 (1,663 points, 964 rebounds). Elizabethtown College, which fell to F&M 83-80 in the Mayser Center on November 20 for their only loss of the year, jumped to #9 in this week's D3Hoops.com, but remained behind the Diplomats at 13th place in Basketball America's poll. In the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Regional rankings, Elizabethtown and Catholic University are tied for #1 in the region, followed by Neuman, Gettysburg, Alvernia and a tie at sixth place between the Diplomats and Goucher College. Ironically, F&M's season is eerily similar to the one experienced by the 1999-2000 Diplomats who started the year 9-1 before suffering four losses immediately following the Rotary Tip-Off the New Year Tournament, including three straight games. F&M would rally to win their next 12 straight games, claim the Centennial Conference title and advance to their fourth Final Four appearance in school history following a 75-61 win over Dickinson College on January 22 in the Mayser Center. Franklin & Marshall will look for its 14th win of the year when the Diplomats host Dickinson College on Saturday, January 19 in a women/men's double-header. Opening tip for the women's game is set for 2:00 p.m., with the men's game immediately following at 4:00 p.m. Admission is free.
Basketball America is available online at www.basketballamerica.com, while the NCAA Mid-Atlantic rankings are available at www.ncaa.org. NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Men's Basketball Rankings
Place Team
1. Catholic
Elizabehtown
3. Neumann
4. Gettysburg
5. Alvernia
6. Franklin & Marshall
Goucher
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