F&M Ranked 31st in Week 1 D3Hoops.com Men's Basketball Poll

by Sports Information
12/3/02

LANCASTER, PA - The Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team received 37 votes to rank 31st in the D3Hoops.com Top 25 Division III Men's Basketball Poll for the first week of the 2002-03 season.

The Diplomats are one of two Centennial Conference team to receive national recognition as Johns Hopkins picked up 57 votes to rank 29th. Defending Centennial Conference Champion Gettysburg College failed to receive a vote.

Locally, national runner-up Elizabethtown College, a team which the Diplomats defeated 81-78 in double overtime at Elizabethtown on November 26, slipped from ninth in the preseason poll to 15th in the first regular season poll conducted by the website.

One of the most successful intercollegiate basketball programs in Division III history with a 1,076-776 record (.581 winning percentage), Franklin & Marshall is off to a 3-1 start following an 80-75 upset loss in the opening game of the 36th Annual S. Woodrow Sponaugle Basketball Classic.

Currently, F&M is on a three game winning streak, including victories over Widener (93-68), Elizabethtown and Wesley College (72-64)

Through four games, center Steve Juskin (Jr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 19.5 points and 7.8 boards per game.

The team's top returning career scorer (653 points) and rebounder (351), he holds the F&M career and single season blocked shot records with totals of 115 and 56, respectively. Last year, Juskin led the team in blocks (56), rebounds (188) and scoring (360) to establish himself in the program and lead F&M to a 24-5 record and the 2002 Eastern College Athletic Conference South Region Championship.

Last season marked the 12th time in the last 24 years that F&M has won 24 or more games in a season, as the blue and white tallied 24 or more wins in 1979, '88, '89, '90, '91, '92, '93, '94, '95, '96 and 2000 prior to the 2002 team. The Diplomats concluded the 2002 season ranked 25th in the final D3Hoops.com poll.

The Diplomats will continue the 100th season of intercollegiate men's basketball at the College at home in the Mayser Center on December 7 versus Muhlenberg College to open the Centennial Conference regular season. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m.

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 2002-03 Division III Top 25 (Week 1 Poll)
Rank Team (1st Place Votes) Record Pts.
1 Washington U. (19) 5-0 610
2 Rochester (2) 5-0 573
3 UW-Oshkosh 4-0 538
4 Catholic 3-0 531
5 Randolph-Macon 3-0 510
6 Hampden-Sydney 2-0 475
7 Capital (3) 3-1 463
8 Carthage 1-1 426
9 Hope 4-0 423
10 Williams (1) 4-0 410
11 UW-Stevens Point 4-0 389
12 Amherst 3-0 308
13 St. Thomas 2-1 271
14 Illinois Wesleyan 3-0 244
15 Elizabethtown 2-1 212
16 Hanover 5-0 153
17 Wartburg 2-0 151
18 UW-Whitewater 2-1 139
19 Wittenberg 3-1 133
20 Wooster 4-0 129
21 Gustavus Adolphus 1-0 118
22 Christopher Newport 3-1 98
23 Otterbein 2-2 86
24 Buena Vista 4-0 81
25 Savannah Art & Design 3-0 76

Others receiving votes: Babson 73; Brockport State 73; Clark 73; Johns Hopkins 52; Mississippi College 49; Franklin & Marshall 37; Lewis & Clark 35; Whitworth 34; Wabash 25; Ramapo 24; North Carolina Wesleyan 23; Calvin 21; DePauw 16; Augustana 10; UW-River Falls 9; Ripon 8; Ohio Northern 4; UW-Eau Claire 4; Wheaton (Ill.) 3; King's 2; Mount Union 2; Grove City 1; Rockford 1.