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CoBL-Area D-III Power Poll: Jan. 6, 2020

01/06/2020, 11:00am EST
By Josh Verlin


Vinny DeAngelo (above) and Swarthmore remained at No. 1 in our power poll. But there was a ton of movement below them. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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It’s time for our next in-season update to our D-III Power Poll! 

In case you forgot, unlike our old D-III Power Rankings, this year’s rankings are voted on by a panel of 15 area Division III coaches and SIDs, then compiled by the CoBL staff. This week’s voting revealed a few tiers: a clear No. 1, six teams behind them who were included on just about everybody’s ballot –– and then a free-for all, with seven teams getting serious consideration for those last three spots, and a couple more picking up votes as well. 

Look for the next update to this Power Poll on Mon., Jan. 20.

This year’s voting panel: John Baron (Head Coach/Gwynedd Mercy), Justin Baxter (Head Coach/Bryn Athyn), Pat Doherty (Head Coach/Haverford), Andy Edwards (SID/Ursinus), Scott Guise (SID/York), Robert Hughes (Head Coach/Rosemont), Tim McDonald (Head Coach/Cabrini), Casey McGarvey (SID/Elizabethtown), Mike McGarvey (Head Coach/Lycoming), Laurence Messler (SID/Immaculata), Dan Mouw (SID/Eastern), Jason O’Connell (Head Coach/Cairn) Alan Seretti (Head Coach/Dickinson), Jon Tanous (Head Coach/Penn State-Abington), Adam Van Zelst (Head Coach/Arcadia)

Next to each team's name is their Power Points ranking (PP) in parenthesis. We took the average of their votes with an assigned point scale (10 points for 1st, 9 for 2nd, etc.). So a team with a Power Point rating of 6.5 was picked on average between 4th and 5th; a team with a power point rating of 3.1 was picked on average just above 8th place, etc.

Receiving Votes: Lycoming (9-4, 2-2 MAC Commonwealth), Messiah (8-4, 1-2 MAC Commonwealth), Albright (8-5, 3-1 MAC Freedom)

Dropped Out: Lycoming (9)

10. Ursinus College (8; 2.07)
Record: 7-4 (2-2)
Standout Stars:
Update: Hughes played hero in the Bears’ overtime win over Manhattanville (N.Y.) on Sunday, hitting the game-tying triple with four seconds left in regulation and then scoring all but one of Ursinus’ 13 points in the 86-82 OT win, finishing with 26 points on 16 shots, while McTamney added 26 and five boards. That made it two wins in three games since our last update, having beaten Washington College (84-73) in December and losing to Hobart (77-53) on Saturday down at Catholic’s tournament. Nothing but Centennial play left, starting at Gettysburg (Jan. 9), vs. Dickinson (Jan. 11), at Muhlenberg (Jan. 15) and at Hopkins (Jan. 18).

9. DeSales University (RV; 2.60)
Record: 7-4 (0-0 MAC Freedom)
Standout Stars: Timmy Edwards (13.5 ppg/4.9 rpg), Matt Kachelries (9.2 ppg/4.7 apg)
Update: The Bulldogs have won four straight, beating Montclair State (86-74), Bryn Athyn (90-60) and William Paterson (62-60) at home before New Years’ Even before going on the road to beat Arcadia (84-76) on Saturday. That helps erase the memory of a three-game losing streak at the right time, with MAC Freedom play starting against FDU Florham at home on Wednesday before road games at King’s (Jan. 11) and Wilkes (Jan. 15). Kachelries, a junior guard out of Emmaus (Pa.), scored in double figures in all four wins, including 19 against Arcadia and 18 against Montclair State, raising his scoring average from 5.7 ppg to 9.2 ppg in that span.

8. Gettysburg College (10; 2.80)
Record: 8-3 (2-2 Centennial)
Standout Stars: Alex Leder (14.5 ppg/4.3 rpg), Nick Antolini (15.5 ppg/6.0 rpg)
Update: Gettysburg bounced back from losses to top-15 squads Johns Hopkins and Swarthmore with wins in two of three games since our last update, losing to Washington & Lee in their tournament on Dec. 30 but winning against St. Mary’s (Md.) and most recently at McDaniel (63-52) to restart conference play. There won’t be much room for error from here on out if the Bullets want to stay in the Centennial race, especially with games against fellow contenders Ursinus (Jan. 9) and Haverford (Jan. 11) coming up next. Leder, a junior out of Bullis (Md.), led the team in scoring in all three games, including 25 against McDaniel and 21 against St. Mary’s.

7. Susquehanna University (7; 3.40)
Record: 8-4 (1-0 Landmark)
Standout Stars: Lukas Yurasits (13.8 ppg/4.8 rpg), Danny Frauenheim (11.8 ppg/5.1 apg),
Update: The River Hawks captured the F&M tournament over the holidays to run their win streak to four, but it was snapped by Wilkes on Saturday, in a game that Susquehanna led the first 30 minutes or so but saw Wilkes come back in the last few to hold on for the 86-84 decision. It’s Landmark time now for Susquehanna, beginning with Goucher at home on Saturday, followed by trips to Drew (Jan. 15) and Elizabethtown (Jan. 18). 

6. Gwynedd Mercy University (4; 4.00)
Record: 8-4 (0-0 Atlantic East)
Standout Stars: Rich Dunham (16.1 ppg/3.5 rpg), Jeff Segiafuse (11.5 ppg/3.5 rpg)
Update: The Griffins had a tough pair of games in Miami during the holidays, shooting below 33% in a pair of losses to SUNY Cortland (69-60) and Wesleyan (66-50). They then returned to the Philadelphia area and took out their frustrations on PSU-Abington, forcing 29 turnovers in a 75-60 win. Dunham, a senior guard from Pope John Paul II who continues his rise up the school’s scoring list (currently 11th), dropped 26 against Cortland, 15 against Wesleyan and 22 against PSU-Abington. They get Rutgers-Camden at home on Monday before starting the second season of Atlantic East play with a trip to Marywood on Jan. 11.

5. Muhlenberg College (6; 5.33)
Record: 9-2 (2-2 Centennial)
Standout Stars: Dan Gaines (13.5 ppg/4.5 rpg), Spencer Duke (12.4 ppg/5.4 rpg)
Update: As of our last update, the Mules had just lost their first two games of the season; they only played once since then, a 95-85 win over Sarah Lawrence College on Jan. 4, which saw sophomore forward Dallas Hoffman pop in 29 pointes off the bench along with 15 each from Gaines and sophomore guard Nate Henty Brown as the Mules shot 15-of-31 (48.4%) from deep. They alternate road and home games for the next few, starting with No. 1 Swarthmore at home on Thursday, then at McDaniel (Jan. 11), home for Ursinus (Jan. 15) and at Franklin & Marshall (Jan. 18). 


Pat Doherty (above) has guided Haverford to a 9-1 start to the season, including 4-0 in the Centennial. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

4. Haverford College (5; 7.57)
Record: 9-1 (4-0 Centennial)
Standout Stars: Jesse Turkson (14.0 ppg/8.9 rpg), Jonathan Lang (13.1 ppg/3.7 rpg)
Update: The Fords ran their win streak to seven in their only game since our last update, a 70-61 win over Del-Val on Jan. 3 that saw them outscore their visitors 17-0 to close out the first half. It’s been a breakthrough season for Pat Doherty’s group in his third year as head coach, but there are some big tests coming up –– none moreso than a trip to No. 1 Swarthmore on Jan. 15, but before that they get Immaculata (Jan. 6), Washington College (Jan. 9) and Gettysburg (Jan. 11). Coming off the bench to score a career-high 17 on 5-of-7 shooting from deep was freshman wing Dhruv Mehrotra, a freshman guard from Pune, India.

3. York College (2; 8.07)
Record: 10-4 (0-0 Capital Athletic)
Standout Stars: Jared Wagner (17.6 ppg/5.3 rpg), David Giuliani (15.0 ppg/7.4 rpg)
Update: Since our last check-in, York first destroyed Cabrini (107-67) and then beat Ohio Wesleyan (87-77) before losing to Marietta (92-86) at the Wooster tournament; in their own holiday classic, they lost to Albertus Magnus (76-73) and then got back on the right side of things with an 85-62 win over Marymount (Va.) on Sunday. Wagner extended his string of double-digit outputs to nine with his sixth 20+ outing, scoring 23 on 11 shots against Marymount, after dropping 35 (on 19 shots) against Marietta; Giuliani’s hit double figures in all but the third game of the year. They start CAC play with three on the road against Christopher Newport (Jan. 10), St. Mary’s (Md.)(Jan. 15) and Southern Virginia (Jan. 18).

2. Widener University (3; 8.20)
Record: 10-2 (3-0 MAC Commonwealth)
Standout Stars: Elijah Boyd (12.1 ppg/4.8 rpg), Kenny Lewis (11.9 ppg/6.7 rpg)
Update: The Pride’s unbeaten start to the season came to an end since our last update, first with a loss to D-I Lafayette but then with their first D-III loss, which came to a strong Christopher Newport squad at home on Saturday (92-81), their final non-league game of the regular season. Widener’s chase for the Commonwealth championship resumes with Messiah visiting Chester on Wednesday, followed by trips to Stevenson (Jan. 11) and Albright (Jan. 15). But if they can’t shake off the hangover from the losses, their early lead in the Commonwealth could quickly disappear. 

1. Swarthmore College (1; 10.00)
Record: 11-0 (4-0 Centennial)
Standout Stars: George Visconti (12.7 ppg/3.1 rpg), Zac O’Dell (11.5 ppg/9.5 rpg)
Update: There won’t be any change to the top of this poll as long as Swarthmore remains unbeaten –– and it might even take more than one loss to knock them off, with the impressive-but-somewhat-expected start that Landry Kosmalski’s bunch has had to the year after a national championship runner-up season in 2018-19. Their last three games have been decided by a total of 11 points, though, after a 74-71 win over Stevens on Sunday and 59-56 over Rochester on Thursday. The Centennial gauntlet starts now, beginning with trips to Muhlenberg (Jan. 9) and F&M (Jan. 11) before fellow unbeaten Haverford makes the trip through Delco on Jan. 15.


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