LANCASTER, Pa. – Fresh off its first playoff appearance in seven years, the Ursinus College men's basketball team was picked fourth in the Centennial Conference preseason poll.
Defending champion Swarthmore earned 14 first-place votes and 157 points to top the projections of the league's head coaches and sports information directors, who were not permitted to vote for their own schools.
Franklin & Marshall was second with 137 points and two first-place votes, Dickinson was third with 131 points and three first-place ballots, and Ursinus garnered one first-place vote and 116 points. Johns Hopkins rounded out the projected playoff field with 104 points, followed by McDaniel (68), Gettysburg (67), Muhlenberg (58), Haverford (33), and Washington College (29).
An experienced and talented Bears squad is ready to take the next step following a breakthrough campaign that included the first playoff victory since 2008. That was also the last time Ursinus won the CC championship, but with a veteran core featuring four returning starters and a number of key reserves, head coach Kevin Small and company carry high expectations with them into the 2017-18 season.
Despite losing leading scorer Matt Knowles to graduation, the Bears bring back two three-year starters (seniors Brian Rafferty and Remi Janicot) to pair with two All-CC selections in senior Zach Quattro and junior Eric Williams Jr.
Quattro was a second team all-conference performer in his first season as a transfer from Division II Le Moyne, averaging 12.4 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds to go with a 44.4-percent touch from 3-point range, which placed him second in the CC. The stretch forward was fifth in the conference with 30 blocked shots and registered six double-doubles.
Williams gives Ursinus one of the CC's most deadly outside shooters. He was third in the conference with 76 made 3-pointers a year ago, giving him 140 through his first two seasons. Williams, who averaged 12.6 points on 42.2-percent shooting from beyond the arc, made at least four triples in ten different games and racked up several big-number performances, including a career-high 30 points in a win at F&M and 29-point efforts against Dickinson and Muhlenberg.
Rafferty is back for his fourth season as the Bears' starting point guard. The two-year captain, who has started all 76 games since his arrival on campus, has led the CC in assists per game each of the last three years; his 338 career dimes are already good for sixth in school history and 13th in conference history. Rafferty, who handed out 4.0 assists a night, was a sparse but efficient scorer last season, averaging 5.1 points per game on 54.9-percent shooting from the floor.
Janicot, meanwhile, has averaged 8.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game over his career, which has spanned 74 starts. The Paris native has nine double-doubles in his time with the Bears and elevated his free-throw accuracy to 75.4 percent a year ago.
The Bears have plenty of depth at their disposal, both in the backcourt and the frontcourt. Junior Zack Muredda gave Small highly productive minutes off the bench in his first year of action, putting up 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 15.1 minutes per game a season ago. Junior co-captain Matt Williams averaged 4.2 points per game.
Ursinus expects a big leap from sophomore Ryan McTamney. The swingman, who averaged 4.7 points per game, came on strong down the stretch of his rookie season, scoring in double figures in each of the Bears' playoff games, including a career-high 14 points in the semifinal loss to Swarthmore.
In the frontcourt, senior Joseph LoStracco started every game of his first two seasons before thriving in a reserve role last year, shooting 58.3 percent from the field while recording 4.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
Sophomore Shane Stark, a high school teammate of McTamney, was hyper efficient in his first season of collegiate hoops. Stark produced 5.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest despite averaging just 15.6 minutes, and shot a robust 62.1 percent from the floor thanks to a steady diet of put-backs and ferocious dunks. The athletic forward should continue to improve after adding muscle to his frame in the offseason.
Sophomore forward Jake O'Neill appeared in four contests a year ago and could see an increased role, while junior guard Matt Margolis averaged 2.4 points in seven games.
The Bears will also hope for contributions from a four-man freshman class that includes Bruce Edwards, George Gordon, Lucas Olshevski, and Matt Paulus – who played with McTamney and Stark at La Salle College High School.
Having returned to the playoff picture, Ursinus plans to back it up with a deeper run in the always tough Centennial Conference. In addition to annual doubleheaders with nationally ranked Swarthmore, perennial power Franklin & Marshall, and CC runner-up Dickinson, the Bears will also take on a tough non-conference schedule that includes a road date with Scranton, which is ranked No. 24 in the D3hoops.com preseason poll and reached the NCAA Tournament second round last season.
The Bears tip off the new season at Lebanon Valley's Rinso-Marquette Tournament with a contest against Staten Island – an NCAA Tournament qualifier a year ago – on Friday, November 17. Ursinus opens up league play at home against Haverford on Tuesday, November 21.