SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) — The Susquehanna University women's basketball team is picked second in the MAC Commonwealth Conference this season, while the men are picked fifth in their conference according to the Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Both will take those rankings into the season-opening Susquehanna University Varsity Club Basketball Tournaments for Men and Women this weekend. The event will feature one team ranked in the NCAA Division III men's preseason poll by D3hoops.com, and two ranked in the women's poll. This is the 11th-straight season this tournament is being conducted, with the Varsity Club once again picking up sponsorship after area Kiwanis Club sponsored this event the past three seasons.
The Crusader men will be playing in a classic format since there are only two teams in addition to themselves. Susquehanna (9-14 in 1998-99) will open the season hosting Richard Stockton College (23-6 in 1998-99) — a team ranked 18th in Division III after coming within a last-second shot of making the NCAA Final Four last season — Friday at 7 p.m. Richard Stockton will play defending Pennsylvania Athletic Conference champion Gwynedd-Mercy College (18-9 in 1998-99) Saturday at 7 p.m., with Susquehanna playing Gwynedd-Mercy in the classic finale Sunday at 7.
In the women's tournament, a pair of Division III heavyweights will square-off in Saturday's 1 p.m. game when New Jersey Athletic Conference power William Paterson University (15-10 in 1998-99) plays defending PAC champion Gwynedd-Mercy (24-5 in 1998-99). Gwynedd-Mercy is ranked 18th in the D3hoops.com preseason poll after advancing to the NCAA Tournament second-round last season with a 66-63 overtime win at Susquehanna in the opening round. The Crusaders (17-10 in 1998-99) might meet the Griffins in a rematch of that game Sunday, but will play Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference foe the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg (3-20 in 1998-99) first in Saturday's 3 p.m. contest. The winners will meet in the tournament championship game Sunday at 3 p.m., with the consolation game scheduled for 1 p.m.
The Men's Tournament Preview
The Susquehanna men are trying to rebound from just their second losing season under 11th-year head coach Frank Marcinek (146-107, .577). They return 10 letterwinners, but just one regular starter from that team, which also missed the MAC playoffs for just the third time in Marcinek's tenure. Ironically, Susquehanna has only won its own tournament three times, with its last championship coming in 1994.
Senior co-captains Rob Makarewicz and Garrett Thompson will lead the squad from the starting backcourt.
A second-team Commonwealth League All-Star as a sophomore who was second on the team in scoring (13.7 ppg) and seventh in MAC three-point percentage (40.8%), Makarewicz slumped last year (6.4 ppg) as he lost his starting job. He appears to have his confidence back and will be surprisingly starting at point guard after being a two-guard in his first three years.
Thompson started 12 games last season, including each of the final nine, as a swingman. He averaged 4.5 points and 2.2 rebounds while shooting nearly 50.0 percent from the field. Thompson transferred to Susquehanna from the Division I University of Delaware.
Richard Stockton was second in the New Jersey Athletic Conference last season under legendary 14th-year head coach Gerry Matthews (263-94, .737), who nearly guided the Ospreys to their second Final Four appearance — losing to NJAC rival William Paterson, 50-49. Richard Stockton downed MAC champion and 1999-2000 favorite Wilkes, 60-50, in the opening night of NCAA sectional play to get to the quarterfinal.
While they have graduated two 1,000-point scorers and guards, the Ospreys will look to go inside this season to their senior co-captains in 6-4 forward Will Turner (13.6 ppg) and 6-5 forward Jon Mol (3.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg).
Gwynedd-Mercy won the PAC championship last season while dressing just six players for its final 15 games — going 12-3 during that span for third-year head coach Kevin Newsome. The Griffins have just eight players on their 1999-2000 roster.
A pair of All-PAC players return to lead the team in 6-5 junior forward Will Carter (18.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and 6-6 senior forward Percy Herring (18.7 ppg, 8.7 rpg). Carter earned first-team honors last season.
The Women's Preview
Three starters and seven letterwinners return for Susquehanna and 13th-year head coach Mark Hribar, who needs one win to become just the second coach to win 200 games at the school. Already the program's winningest coach with a record of 199-104 (.657), Hribar has guided his teams to 11-straight winning seasons and 10-straight trips to the MAC playoffs. He has directed teams to the championship in this tournament five times, but had a string of four-straight titles snapped last season with a loss to Holy Family (57-67) in the title game.
His biggest returnee comes in the 6-2 frame of senior captain and post-player Karyn Kern. A Preseason All-American who has been a MAC Commonwealth League All-Star in each of her first three seasons — earning first-team honors last season — Kern led Division III in field goal percentage last season with a MAC record 65.0 percent. She was second on the team and fifth in the conference in scoring (15.7 ppg), ranking second on the squad in rebounds (8.6 per game). Kern has been on the All-Tournament Team in this event all three seasons of her career.
Saturday's opponent Pitt-Greensburg doesn't figure to be in the same class as the Crusaders, although it is counting on a group of six freshmen and new head coach Carol Gelet to begin turning around its fortunes from last season's 3-20 campaign.
The Bobcats lost just one starter from last season's team, but it was their best player in Amy Schmuck (17.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg), who has transferred. Second-leading scorer and junior guard Brianne Krebs (9.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg) is back to lead a team which has five players with starting experience, but no centers on its roster.
Gwynedd-Mercy should be quite familiar to the Crusaders as it returns all five starters and nine letterwinners from last season's school record 24-5 team. Under fifth-year head coach Keith Mondillo (68-35, .660), the Griffins have a lineup featuring four six-footers. That group ousted the home-standing Crusaders in an NCAA Tournament thriller last season, losing a close game at MAC champion and 1999-2000 preseason favorite Scranton in the second-round.
Topping the returning six-footers is 6-1 senior and Preseason All-American center Michelle Costa (16.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg), who was the PAC Most Valuable Player last season. Six-foot All-PAC senior forward Rachel Pearson (11.7 ppg) also teams up front with Costa.
This is William Paterson's third trip back to the Susquehanna Tournament, winning it in 1993 with a five-point decision over the Crusaders (63-58), but losing in the title game to the Crusaders (60-75) in 1995. Eighth-year head coach Erin Shaughnessy (147-45, .766) returns five letterwinners and three starters from last season's 15-10 squad.
The Pioneers will be led by their tri-captains in 5-10 senior forward Dana Feltz (7.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg), junior guard Meg Renna, and 5-9 junior forward Wendy Kane (12.0 ppg, 9.1 rpg). Renna missed all of last season with an injury. William Paterson has no six-footers on its roster.
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