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By STEVE SEMBRAT
Thursday, January 19, 1995 Page: 1B
Times Leader Assistant Sports Editor
WILKES-BARRE — The Wilkes University men’s basketball team got a couple of
messages through to the NCAA Division III Middle Atlantic Region’s rankings
committee Wednesday.
Perhaps the biggest one came in the form of a 79-63 victory over cross-town
rival King’s College.
So if the Colonels can beat Upsala Saturday, they should move up. If not,
start asking questions. Actually, Wilkes head coach Jerry Rickrode did just
that Wednesday after learning of his team’s regional ranking.
The top two teams in the regional rankings make perfect sense — undefeated
Franklin & Marshall and defending national champ Lebanon Valley. It was the
logic behind ranking the University of Scranton (10-4 after Wednesday’s loss
to Lycoming) and Beaver College (11-1) ahead of Wilkes (11-2) that perplexed
Rickrode.
F&M coach Glenn Robinson, chair of the regional committee, said the
decision was based on the Colonels’ strength of schedule (or lack of it, in
this case).
Rickrode made a few calls and found out the committee’s reasoning, but also
discovered it had been misinformed about a few things. He said the committee
was unaware that two of the teams that Wilkes defeated — Utica and
UMass-Boston — have winning records.
“Somehow, some of this stuff is not getting through,” Rickrode said.
After Rickrode made that point, the Colonels scored some more with a member
of the regional ranking committee — King’s coach Ken Atkins.
“They’re a very good team,” Atkins said. “Very athletic. They have a good
rotation of eight or nine people.”
The regional rankings are critical since they determine which teams go to
the NCAA Division III tournament. This year, the tournament has been expanded
from 40 to 64 teams. Eight teams from each region qualify, some getting
automatic berths by winning conference championship.
Any team in the top four in the region is a virtual lock to get an NCAA
bid. With a few upsets in conference tournaments, fifth could turn out to be a
tenuous position, which is why Wilkes is a bit uncomfortable there.
Wilkes sat on the bubble last season then watched it burst. The Colonels
missed the NCAA Division III playoffs with a 20-5 regular-season record. The
losses that hurt most were a pair of defeats against King’s — and Atkins, who
was on the regional rankings committee last season..
That, however, was different season and a different Wilkes team.
“There’s a couple of guys back, but there’s a lot of new personnel,” said
junior forward Matt LaBuda, who scored 24 points in the victory. “We had five
guys graduate.”
LaBuda, who sat out last season with a knee injury, is one of the new
faces. Two others are junior transfer Jason Turner, who dominated the inside
with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and freshman point guard Jay Williams, who
dominated the back court along with junior Dave Macedo.
“We showed whatever the game plan, we can come out with the W,” Turner
said.
Want to know the scariest thing about the Wilkes victory? Junior Chris
Parker, the best player for the Colonels in the first 12 games, had an off
night.
“The other players picked him up,” Rickrode said. “I have confidence that
Chris is going to bounce back for us Saturday against Upsala.”
And if Wilkes can defeat Upsala at the Marts Center, look for the Colonels
to move up in the regional rankings.
“If we win Saturday,” Rickrode said, “we’ll see what happens.”