FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
S-054-07-08
Thursday, November 15, 2007

Men's Basketball Picked Sixth in Commonwealth Conference Preseason Coaches Poll

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- The Elizabethtown College men's basketball team was picked to finish sixth in the Commonwealth Conference during the upcoming season, as voted upon by the league's head coaches and released Thursday.

The Blue Jays, who went 9-15 overall and 4-10 in the conference last season, return three starters for 18th-year head coach Bob Schlosser and tip off the 2007-08 season on Friday night at 8:00 p.m. against Penn State Berks in the opening round of the Days Inn East Blue Jay Classic at Thompson Gymnasium.

Senior guard Mike Schatzmann (Paradise, PA/Pequea Valley) was the Blue Jays' top scorer last season at 11.0 points per game, with senior swingman Chad Piersol (Elverson, PA/Owen J. Roberts) averaging 9.6 points per contest.

Voting on the preseason poll was extremely close, as four of the six teams received at least one first-place vote and the spread from top to bottom was just nine points.

Widener University, which won the postseason title last season, earned 19 points and one first-place vote to capture the top spot in the poll, followed by Albright College (17 points, 3 firsts) and Lebanon Valley College (17 points, 1 first), Messiah College (15 points), Lycoming College (12 points) and Elizabethtown (10 points, 1 first).

The Commonwealth Conference was realigned following the conclusion of last season, with the departure of Juniata College, Moravian College and Susquehanna University to the newly-formed Landmark Conference and the addition of Lycoming from the Freedom Conference.