THIS ONE COUNTS

What: Millersville Marauders @ Kutztown Golden Bears
When: Tuesday, March 4, 2008 @ 7 p.m.
Where: Keystone Hall on the campus of Kutztown University

One year later, they get another chance.

The Golden Bears will certainly be thinking about last year’s disappointing first-round exit when they play host to the Millersville Marauders in the PSAC East Quarterfinals at Keystone Hall on Tuesday. Like one season ago, KU heads into the postseason as the number-two seed and will play at least one playoff game at home. Last year, the Cheyney Wolves came into town and knocked the Golden Bears out of the playoffs by a score of 79-63. This year, KU will hope to escape a first round collapse and will be looking for a PSAC Championship. The challenge will not be any easier, however, with a talented Marauder team looking to pull off the upset.

The teams enter the game with identical 19-8 overall records—the top record in the division. The Golden Bears went 10-2 in the East, which tied them with top-seeded Cheyney for a share of the PSAC East regular season title. Millersville held onto the three seed with an 8-4 divisional record.

The teams have already met twice this season, with each winning on their home court. On Jan. 23, KU came away with the 78-60 victory at Keystone Hall. Led by Andre Woodlin’s 17 points, KU shot just under 50-percent en route to the win. Only four different Marauders scored in the game. The game was extremely competitive and MU head coach Fred Thompson was ejected late in the second half.

The Marauders got their revenge on Feb. 20 when they knocked off KU 80-67 at Pucillo Gymnasium. Dave Ben scored 29 points, but the Golden Bears committed what would prove to be a costly 26 turnovers.

The Golden Bears enter this contest fresh off Saturday’s 82-74 home win against East Stroudsburg. Woodlin notched a career-high 28 points to carry KU to the victory. ESU, who will face Cheyney in the first round of the playoffs, actually outshot the Golden Bears, but hit 15 less free throws and committed 26 turnovers.

After dropping back-to-back games to ESU and Cheyney, Millersville enters this game coming off a regular-season finale shellacking of West Chester on Saturday. The MU defense held the Golden Rams to 18.6-percent from the field en route to the 67-37 win.

Probable Starters:
Millersville:
G - #3 - Charlie Parker – 16.1 PPG
G - #20 - Cory Bray – 6.1 PPG
G - #22 - Reggie Bates – 19.3 PPG
F - #42 - RayQuan Miles – 6.0 PPG
F - #44 - Bernard Brown – 10.1 PPG

Kutztown:
G - # 14 – Stephen Dennis – 17.1 PPG
G - # 32 - Andre Woodlin – 13.5 PPG
F - # 34 - Dave Ben – 17.0 PPG
F - # 52 - Ryan Washington – 8.9 PPG
C - # 55 - Jeremy Coombs – 6.1 PPG

Scouting Report:
The Golden Bears and Marauders enter this game as two of the top scoring—and possibly the top two most exciting offenses—in the league. You can bet that this will be an intense and fast-paced game. Both teams enjoy pushing the ball and letting their skill players make things happen. The Golden Bears sport a much deeper team than the Marauders and a bad day by one of KU’s top scorers generally does not mean certain loss. Meanwhile, MU relies on Bates and Parker to carry a significant workload and a poor outing from one of them is usually fatal. On the other hand, if those two have a big day, it is almost certain that the Marauders will come out on top. They are two of the most talented players in the league, but they will need to be at the top of their individual games if MU has a chance in the PSAC.

As has been the case all season, KU will continue to rely on top-off-the-line scoring threats Ben, Dennis, and Woodlin. Each has had their moments as the team leader in scoring this season, but all three will need to play stellar basketball in the postseason. Washington and Coombs have done a respectable job in the front court, but need to find ways to avoid foul trouble. Washington, only a redshirt freshman, has proved he can contribute at this level and his services in the paint will be requirement towards KU’s title run. Guard Nate Edwards and center Kevin Hafera will a significant workload off the bench. Edwards has a knack for making big plays and will be counted on to do the same in the playoffs. Hafera, the team’s lone senior, will look to man the front court in relief of Washington and Coombs. Center Mark Bower and guards Mike Connolly and Steve Coffey will each see a few minutes off the bench.

Millersville will, as mentioned, rely on Bates and Parker to make the big plays in this game. Combined, they have scored almost 1,000 points this season, recorded 117 steals, dished out 193 assists, and grabbed 10.3 rebounds per game.

Brown leads the team’s rebounding effort, hauling in seven boards a game. He also chips in just over 10 points a game, making him a serious double-double threat. Bray and Miles will both play near 30 minutes, assuming they stay out of foul trouble. Bray is a threat from beyond the arc, while Miles averages near seven boards a game and will keep the KU forwards busy.

In conclusion, KU head coach Bernie Driscoll will no doubt be focusing on stopping Parker and Bates in this game. The Golden Bears struggled the last time this team’s met, but it is a very rare occurrence for the entire team to struggle. With that said, there is no reason to doubt the Golden Bear offense will show up. That means stopping the Parker-Bates duo is the key to the game. Can they do it? We’ll see.

Prediction:
What fun is a preview without a prediction? I feel like this game will either be a dogfight until the finish or a complete blowout. Millersville tends to be Jekyll and Hyde and a poor day from a top scorer will make their chances to win almost impossible. KU sports and great defense and will give the Marauders their share of problems. There is also no reason to believe that the big time players in this game will come to play on Tuesday. With all that said, I think Bates and Parker will have decent days for Millersville, but they won’t get quite enough help to upset the much deeper Golden Bears. It will be close until the late stages, but KU will take care of business.

Millersville 70
Kutztown 79

Senior Day!

Rachel Weidensaul, Molly Brown, and Mercedes Van Wagner each played their final game at Keystone Hall on Saturday afternoon. As always, photos by Tony Vasquez.

Golden Bears win share of PSAC East

East Stroudsburg Warriors 74
Kutztown Golden Bears 82

Recap:
The KU men’s basketball team is the PSAC East champion! The Golden Bears defeated East Stroudsburg on Saturday to improve their divisional record to 10-2, which ties them with Cheyney for a share of the PSAC East regular season title. By virtue of a tiebreaker, the Wolves will be the number-one seed for the playoffs, but the Golden Bears will still get at least one home playoff game. On Tuesday evening, KU will play host to third seed Millersville, while ESU will head to Cheyney. The Golden Bears finish the regular season 19-8 overall.

Key Stat:
The Golden Bears hit 15 more free throws than the Warriors, which proved to be the difference in the game. KU was 35-of-51 from the charity stripe, while ESU was 20-of-26. There were a total of 61 personal fouls and 41 turnovers in the game

Key Moment:
ESU’s Josh Wentz hit a three pointer with 40 seconds to play in the game, cutting his team’s deficit to five. That would be as close as the Warriors would get, as KU outscored them 5-2 in the final seconds to close out the game.

Golden Performance:
Andre Woodlin was in the zone—to say the least. He was 8-of-13 from the floor and scored a career-high 28 points. The junior was also 12-of-16 from the free throw line, grabbed 10 rebounds, recorded two steals, and dished out a pair of assists.

Not-So-Golden Performance:
If you were at this game, you should already know where I’m going with this. The refereeing was abysmal at best. Okay, fine. It sucked. My partner on the air Jason Ogle and I could not believe our eyes on several occasions and vehemently voiced our displeasure to the listening audience. I lost count of how many phantom calls were made, how many incorrect calls were made, and how many easy calls were missed. I suppose even referees have their bad days, and this was sure one of them. 61 fouls were whistled and seven players fouled out. Ridiculous.

Impact:
The Golden Bears win means that Millersville will be in town for Tuesday’s playoff game. Meanwhile, Cheyney will host East Stroudsburg at Cope Hall.

If Cheyney wins, the rest of the PSAC playoffs will be held at Cope Hall. If Cheyney falls and KU wins, the rest of the tournament will be at Keystone Hall. If both KU and CU fall, the remainder of the playoffs will be at Pucillo Gymnasium in Millersville. In the PSAC West, Edinboro will be the top seed and will play either IUP or Slippery Rock in the first round. Meanwhile, California (Pa.) will take on Clarion.

Check back in the next two days for a full playoff preview.

Softball teams tunes up at Catawba Tourny

The KU softball team has been playing some early season non-conference ball in the shadows of the tail end of the basketball season. The team is in Salisbury, NC this weekend for the Catawba Tournament.

The ladies started the tourney on Friday with a 9-0 win over Glenville State and a 7-3 loss to Catawba. On Saturday, the Golden Bears knocked off Coker 6-0 before falling to Lincoln Memorial 3-2. On Sunday, KU defeated Fairmont State 4-3.

KU is now 7-3 overall this season. The Golden Bears next action will be a trip to Florence, SC on Friday for the Francis Marion Patriot Invitational.

Loss overshadows Senior Day

East Stroudsburg Warriors 83
Kutztown Golden Bears 72

Recap:
Despite already knowing they were eliminated from the PSAC playoff race, the women’s basketball team gave it their all in the team’s regular season finale. Unfortunately for them, playoff-bound East Stroudsburg played an outstanding game and was able to come away with the 11 point victory.

Key Stat:
838. The game was meaningless with both team’s postseason fates already set, so why not focus on some history. Mercedes Van Wagner will one day be a member of the Kutztown University Hall of Fame and she added to her already outstanding resume today. In her last game as a Golden Bear, the senior center hauled in 11 rebounds to give her 838 for her career, a new KU career record. She is also KU’s all time block leader and one of 11 ladies to score 1,000 career points.

Key Moment:
As much as I’d like to ignore the disappointing end to the season and focus on the positives, the moment of the game that really turned the tables was pretty clear. KU trailed by 20 with 9:16 left in the game before they went on an 8-0 run that stole them the game’s momentum and got them to within 12 with 7:00 to play. Right when it seemed like the Golden Bears were about to wheel in the Warriors, a timeout was called. It is officially listed as a media timeout, but the referee appeared to gesture as though KU coach Janet Malouf called for it. Regardless of who called it, the timeout proved to be costly as ESU came out of the timeout strong with a 5-0 run that put the game away for good.

Golden Performance:
As mentioned, Van Wagner was stellar, hauling in 11 rebounds. She also scored 12 points, which marks yet another double-double, one of dozens in her successful career at KU. Van Wagner was 6-of-6 from the free throw line and also recorded a steal and block. She will be missed.

Not-So-Golden Performance:
No one on KU played a particularly poor game, so there aren’t many negatives to point out in that regard. The most disappointing thing about the game to me was the fact that Molly Brown played just 8 minutes. Playing in her final game, the senior center managed 3 boards and 4 points on 1-of-4 shooting. It was unfortunate that coach Malouf didn’t allow her more minutes, especially since it was a meaningless game. Brown struggled with injuries throughout her four-year career and never saw consistent minutes because of that. However, she stuck with it and has done a decent job off the bench for KU when she has been healthy. It was really upsetting to me to not see her play more than 8 minutes. Even though they are both centers, Van Wagner and Brown certainly could’ve played at the same time, similar to how they did last year.

Impact:
ESU will head off to Millersville for the playoffs, while the Golden Bears will begin planning for 2008-09. KU will lose Mercedes Van Wagner, Rachel Weidensaul, and Molly Brown to graduation, so they will need to find a way to replace that size. Rachel Wisemiller will likely step into the starting lineup for Weidensaul and Coach Malouf apparently has at least two freshman forwards set to step into significant playing time. Chauntelle Schroeder and Claire Sitarz will also be expected to step into significant minutes in the front court in an attempt to replace the production of Van Wagner. KU will return 3 starters in Meredith Starr, Lara Dellegrotti, and Melissa McQuade. McQuade was superb as a freshman and will be expected to be the top scoring threat for KU in 2008-09. Dellegrotti will enter her senior season looking to carry the torch in the back court and will be counted on to distribute the basketball and hit three point buckets. Starr did a decent job handling the ball as a freshman and will need to improve in her sophomore campaign. Wisemiller, Melvin, and Dovey will also likely be big parts of the KU rotation next year.

The Golden Bears finish the season with an 11-16 overall record. They went 4-8 in the PSAC East, the worst divisional mark put up by a Janet Malouf team since her arrival in 1994-95. In Malouf’s first eight years at KU, her team’s posted a 64-32 record against PSAC East opponents. Since that point, KU has gone 32-40 over her last six years.

Men win PSAC East, women fall against ESU

The men's basketball team knocked off East Stroudsburg 82-74 at home this afternoon, which clinched them a share of the PSAC East Championship, their first PSAC East title in 20 years. The Golden Bears finish the regular season 10-2 in the division, which ties them for first in the East with Cheyney. KU will take on Millersville at Keystone Hall on Tuesday in the first round of the playoffs. The game will start at 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, the ladies fell to ESU in their regular season finale by a score of 83-72. KU has already been eliminated from the playoffs so their season has come to a close.

Check back for full recaps of the games and for an extensive preview of Tuesday's playoff game.

Gameday

Both basketball teams are set to do battle against East Stroudsburg today at Keystone Hall. The action kicks off with the women's game at 1 p.m. and the men will follow at 3 p.m. Kutztown will be celebrating senior day today prior to both games.

The women have already been eliminated from the PSAC playoffs, so this will be the final game of their season.

Meanwhile, the men win a share of the PSAC East regular season crown with a win. A victory over ESU would also mean that Millersville will come to Keystone Hall on Tuesday for a first round playoff game. A loss by KU, coupled with a MU loss to WCU today, would mean that KU would host ESU for the second time in 4 days on Tuesday for the first round game.

You can listen to myself and Jason Ogle as we bring you all of today's action live on the Golden Bear Network. Coverage starts at 12:50 p.m.