Men's Basketball Moves to 15th in January 27 D3hoops.com Poll

by Sports Information
1/27/04

LANCASTER, PA -- The Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team received 268 votes to rank 15th in the January 27 D3hoops.com Division III Men's Basketball poll.

The recognition marks the highest ranking of the season for the Diplomats as F&M was ranked 29th on December 23, 27th on January 6, 25th on December 2, 22nd on January 13, 19th on December 9, 18th on November 25th and December 16th and 17th on January 20.

Overall, Franklin & Marshall is the only Centennial Conference team to receive votes in the poll and is the highest ranked team from the Mid-Atlantic Region placing two spots better than #17 DeSales University.

Selected as a "Team to Watch" in the 2003-04 edition of Street & Smith's College Basketball, an annual dedicated to highlighting the upcoming college basketball season, the Diplomats are 14-2 following an 81-59 win at home over Haverford College to up their Centennial Conference record to 9-0.

Leading the team last week was forward Bobby Lynch (Jr., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) who was named the January 26 Centennial Conference Men's Basketball Co-Player of the Week with Gettysburg's David Glaser. It marks the second time this year Lynch has been named CC Player of the Week after earning the honor on January 5.

In a 2-0 week, he averaged 21.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game as the Diplomats routed Dickinson (81-42 W) and Haverford to remain perfect in the Centennial Conference and hold a two-game lead in the regular season title race.

Against Haverford, he tallied a double-double with 28 points and 11 rebounds. Overall, he shot 84.2% (16-of-19) from the field and 83.3% (10-of-12) from the line for the week.

In addition, he continued his team best 16-game double-digit scoring streak as he has scored 10 or more points in all 11 of F&M's games this season.

In the latest Centennial Conference statistics, he ranks among the CC leaders in field goal percentage (.631, second), offensive rebounds (3.19 rpg, second), scoring (16.6 ppg, fourth), blocked shots (0.94, fifth), rebounding (6.8 rpg, sixth), free throw percentage (.780, 14th) and defensive rebounds (3.56 rpg, 15th).

Individually the Diplomats starting "five" rank a top the conference as point guard Duran Searles (Sr., Camden, NJ/Peddie School) rates in assist/turnover ratio (1.62, fourth), assists (3.44 apg, fifth), steals (1.75 spg, fifth), three-point field goals (1.75 pg, 11th), free-throw percentage (.741, 14th), scoring (11.6 ppg, 21st).

Guard Jackiem Wright (Sr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) ranks in three-point field goals (2.56 pg, second), steals (1.38 spg, 14th), scoring (12.1 ppg, 16th).

Down low, forward/guard Brandon Smith (So., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) ranks in steals (1.94 spg, second), scoring (11.8 ppg, 20th), rebounding (6.3 rpg, eighth), offensive rebounds (2.06 rpg, 10th), defensive rebounds (4.25 rpg, 10th), blocked shots (0.75 bpg, 12th), three-point field goals (1.50, 13th), while center Steve Juskin (Sr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) ranks in blocked shots (3.94 bpg, first), scoring (14.0 ppg, 12th), assists (3.62 apg, fourth), rebounding (6.6 rpg, seventh), offensive rebounds (2.12 rpg, seventh), defensive rebounds (4.50 rpg, seventh), field goal percentage (.519, ninth), assist/turnover ratio (1.16, ninth)

Off the bench, reserve guard Logan Outerbridge (Fr., Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) ranks fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.464) as the first year player has made 13-of-28 attempts to date.

Franklin & Marshall ranks among the CC team leaders in scoring offense (81.4 ppg, first), scoring margin (+16.9, first), field goal percentage (.493, first), field goal percentage defense (.407, first), rebounding offense (38.8 rpg, first), blocked shots (6.44 bpg, first), assists (17.19 apg, first), turnover margin (+4.38, first), assist/turnover ratio (1.15, first), offensive rebounds (14.12 rpg, first), home attendance (1001, first), total attendance (755, first), scoring defense (64.4 ppg, second), rebounding margin (+7.9, second), rebounding defense (30.8 rpg, third), steals (8.75 spg, third), three-point field goal percentage (.361, fourth), defensive rebounds (24.62 rpg, fifth) and three-point field goals made (7.00 pg, fifth) and free throw percentage (.667, eighth),

On the sidelines, history should be made in the coming weeks as head coach Glenn Robinson is now within five victories of surpassing longtime Illinois Wesleyan head coach Dennie Bridges for the all-time Division III men's basketball record for most career victories.

Robinson, who now holds a career record of 662-233, is the active leader in wins in NCAA Division III men's basketball. However, with five more victories he will surpass Bridges' career total of 666 wins from 1960 to 2001 at Illinois Wesleyan and become the all-time winningest coach on the Division III level.

Historically, he is one of only 41 coaches in collegiate basketball history to have won 600 games entering the 2004 season, led by Dean Smith with 897. Currently, he is three games shy of surpassing legendary UCLA coach John Wooden (664-162) for 25th on the all-time NCAA wins list.

Further, among the top 30 coaches on all levels of the NCAA, Robinson holds the tenth best winning percentage as his mark has been bettered by only Kentucky's Adolph Rupp (.822), UCLA's John Wooden (.804), UNLV/Fresno State's Jerry Tarkanian (.784), North Carolina's Dean Smith (.776), Northern State's Don Meyer (.746), Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (.743), Arizona's Lute Olson (.742), Kansas' Phog Allen (.739) and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (.739) entering the 2004 season.

The Diplomats will return to action on January 28 at home in the Mayser Center versus Johns Hopkins University. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.

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.

D3hoops.com 2003-04 Division III Top 25 (January 27)
Rank Team (1st Place Votes) 2003-04 Record Pts.
1. Rochester (17) 16-0 614
2. Williams (8) 15-1 604
3. Amherst 15-1 577
4. Randolph-Macon 16-1 542
5. Hanover 16-1 527
6. Buena Vista 15-1 486
7. Wooster 14-2 436
8. Hampden-Sydney 14-2 434
9. UW-Whitewater 15-2 398
10. Lawrence 13-1 385
11. Trinity (CT) 15-1 357
12. Wheaton (IL) 14-2 342
13. Hope 14-3 304
14. UW-Stevens Point 13-3 299
15. Franklin & Marshall 14-2 268
16. John Carroll 13-3 261
17. DeSales 14-1 225
18. Trinity (TX) 14-3 223
19. Maryville (TN) 14-3 184
20. Gustavus Adolphus 13-4 115
21. Wittenberg 14-3 96
22. Gwynedd-Mercy 14-1 91
23. Otterbein 13-4 77
24. Keene State 14-2 49
25. Puget Sound 13-2 38

Others receiving votes: Rowan 33, Salem State 28, Penn State-Behrend 22, Kean 15, Plymouth State 15, Hamilton 13, Wartburg 12, Augustana 10, Grinnell 9, Whitworth 7, UW-Oshkosh 7, King's 5, Mount Union 4, Union 4, Virginia Wesleyan 4, Occidental 3, Susquehanna 1, Catholic 1.