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LANCASTER, PA - The Franklin & Marshall College men’s basketball team received 38 votes to rank #26 in the D3Hoops.com Top 25 Division III Men's Basketball poll for the period of February 25-March 4.
The Diplomats (23-5, 10-3 Centennial Conference) are one of two Centennial Conference team to receive national recognition as Ursinus tallied 54 votes to rank 25th. One of the most successful intercollegiate basketball programs in Division III history, Franklin & Marshall defeated Washington (92-62) in the Centennial Conference semifinals but fell to Ursinus (96-88 OT) in the CC title game. On Monday, F&M received the #1 seed in the ECAC playoffs and defeated Moravian College (79-59) in the Mayser Center on Wednesday to advance and host the semifinals and championship game this weekend. On Saturday, #2 seed DeSales will face #3 Penn State-Behrend at 2:00 p.m., with F&M taking to the court in the Mayser Center versus #5 Neumann College at 4:00 p.m. The winners of the semifinal games will then meet at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday in the championship game. In last year's ECAC Tournament, the Diplomats earned the #1 seed and defeated Lebanon Valley (71-59) in the semifinals and Kings College (82-65) in the championship game to claim the title at the Mayser Center. Leading the way for F&M has been guard Asaf Ganot (Sr., Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly) and center Steve Juskin (Jr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park). A first team All-Centennial Conference selection this year, Juskin leads the Diplomats in scoring (15.2 per game) as the 6-6 center also tops F&M in blocked shots with 102, 43 more than his previous school record of 59 established in 2002. He leads F&M in double-doubles with five, as he scored 15+ points 15 times and pulled down 10+ boards six times, including a season best 28 points at Washington College (2/1/03) and 12 rebounds at Lincoln University (1/23/03). He was named the CC Player of the Week on January 13 and earned a spot on the Conference Honor Roll on five other occasions throughout the year. In addition, he earned honors on the January 14 ECAC Honor Roll and was one of five players selected for the January 13 D3Hoops.com National Team of the Week. For his career, Juskin now has 210 blocks, 1,000 points and 528 rebounds as he as he became the 26th thousand point scorer and just the ninth player in F&M men's basketball history to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career with 11 points and nine boards versus Moravian. The Diplomats defensive "stopper" and a member of the All-Centennial First Team, Ganot has been a force on both ends of the court leading F&M in assists (112), steals (50), rebounds (218) and offensive boards (70) while averaging 8.5 points per game. He led the Diplomats in rebounding 14 times this season, including a season high 14 boards in a 82-78 double-overtime victory at 2002 National Championship game runner-up Elizabethtown College on November 26. A member of the January 20 Centennial Conference Honor Roll, Ganot has 492 points, 448 rebounds, 150 steals and 214 assists in his career while ranking second all-time at the College with 120 blocked shots. As a freshman in 2000, he helped lead the team to the 2000 Centennial Conference Championship and the NCAA Final Four. Other Diplomats to watch in the tournament will be guard Jackiem Wright (Jr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) and point guard Duran Searles (Jr., Camden, NJ/Peddie School). A second year transfer from Division I LaSalle University, Wright leads the CC in free throw percentage (.903) making 65-of-72 shots at the line. Wright is second on the team in scoring (14.2 ppg) and field goals (125) and first in three-pointers made (83) and attempted (183).
In only 57 career games in an F&M uniform, he ranks eighth in career three-point baskets with 122, three more than two-time All-America selection Alex Kraft '02. He was named the CC Player of the Week on December 9 and February 18 and garnered spots on the January 6 Conference and December 10 ECAC Honor Rolls. At point guard, Searles has directed the Diplomats offense to an average of 82.7 points per game, the best average in the CC this year. Individually, Searles is one of three Diplomats scoring in double-digits as he has made 95-of-202 field goal attempts and 65-of-82 from the line for 298 points, an average of 10.6 marks per game. For his career, Searles is tied with Jerome Maiatico '00 for third on the all-time list in three-point field goals with 138 and ranks 11th in assists with 244, two short of passing Allen Taylor '83 for 10th. D3Hoops.com is widely considered the preeminent source of information on Division III basketball in the electronic medium. D3hoops has 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 13 Poll)
Rank Team (1st Place Votes) Record Pts.
1 Randolph Macon (18) 27-1 614
2 Washington U. (4) 24-1 600
3 Williams (3) 26-1 566
4. Hampden-Sydney 25-2 535
5. Rochester 22-3 507
6. Wooster 26-2 491
7. Hanover 26-1 475
8. UW-Stevens Point 24-3 447
9. Hope 23-4 405
10. Catholic 24-4 372
11. Amherst 22-4 364
12. Whitworth 23-3 345
13. Illinois Wesleyan 20-5 313
14. Buena Vista 25-3 288
15. UW-Oshkosh 22-6 271
16. Ramapo 24-3 254
17. Carthage 19-6 190
18. Christopher Newport 24-4 176
19. Mary Washington 24-4 143
20. Rockford 24-3 115
21. Capital 22-6 91
22. UW-Whitewater 21-7 78
23. Albion 22-5 75
24. Gustavus Adolphus 21-6 61
25. Ursinus 21-6 54 Others receiving votes: Franklin & Marshall 38; Clark 32; Occidental 32; John Carroll 31; Savannah Art & Design 28; Montclair State 27; Augustana 20; Babson 18; Scranton 18; St. Thomas 13; Rowan 9; Western Connecticut 9; Trinity (TX) 6; St. John Fisher 4; Hamilton 3; St. Joseph's (ME) 3; Southern Vermont 2; Elizabethtown 1; Wartburg 1
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