By Justin Zackal
Tom Kromka and preseason favorite Saint Vincent looks to return to the top of the PAC.
Two men’s basketball coaches in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference referred to the league as “wide open” this year and the coach of the team predicted to win the PAC, Saint Vincent’s D.P. Harris, mentioned the word “retooling” multiple times when assessing his team’s offseason.
Yep, the only thing that is for certain in the PAC this year will be uncertainty, with only a combined four returning starters on teams with winning PAC records last year. To be fair, two-time defending Thomas More left the conference in the offseason, but there will still be some serious “retooling” with second-place Bethany returning only five players total, one of which is a starter; third-place Saint Vincent returning one starter; and fourth-place Westminster bringing back two starters despite losing three second-team all-PAC selections.
“We return a lot of players with quality game time experience, so we are excited to see them step up and fill in the spots left open due to graduation” said Westminster head coach Kevin Siroki. “It will be an exciting season (…) and I believe the PAC championship is wide open for anyone to win.”
The following is a blurb on each team listed in order of predicted finish in the preseason coaches’ poll with last year’s overall record and PAC record in parenthesis:
SAINT VINCENT (16-10, 13-5)
The Bearcats have won the PAC four times since 2013 but none in the last two seasons after being upset in the PAC quarterfinals last year. Saint Vincent will rely on senior F Tom Kromka, who led the team with 11.3 ppg last year, but not as much on Harris’ in-game coaching.
“We want to play as fast as we can,” Harris said. “We played too slow the last two years. I’m not a good enough coach to call plays and do all that. I want to trust our players more and allow them to get up and down and make decisions. They don’t need to look over at the bench. We have good players and we want to trust them more as we go through the year.”
WESTMINSTER (19-9, 12-6)
Deontay Scott (10.8 ppg) and Jarret Vrabel (11.4) graduated after each scoring 1,000 career points, and Cameron Kane-Johnson (15.7) transferred to Division I Youngstown State, but the Titans have starters Austin Armwood (11.2) and Marco Delorenzo (6.8) back from a team that advanced to the PAC semifinals for the second time in the last three years.
“We have a lot of expectations to build on the last couple years and to exceed what we did last year,” Siroki said. “Second place (in the preseason poll) is the first loser and you always want to try to come in first, but on the other hand the coaches in the league give us a lot of respect that we earned the last couple years.”
GENEVA (12-15, 7-11)
The Golden Tornadoes, seeded sixth in the PAC tournament last year, upset Saint Vincent in the quarterfinals before losing to Thomas More in semifinals. That was the GTs highest finish in the PAC and this year’s third-place prediction in the preseason poll in their highest since they joined the PAC in 2011.
Junior G/F Ethan Moose joins Saint Vincent’s Kromka as the only returning first-team, all-PAC selections from a year ago. Moose led Geneva with 15.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game last year.
GROVE CITY (16-10, 9-9)
The Wolverines have one senior but they return three starters in junior G Nate Peters, sophomore G Justice Rice and junior C James Wells. Neither of their returning starters averaged double-figure points last year; however, Grove City makes up for its lack of scoring punch with a stingy defense (63 ppg) that led the PAC last year.
BETHANY (17-13, 14-4)
Bethany was a PAC finalist last year, but as mentioned the Bison return five players total from that team, including junior F Aiden Albert (3.8 ppg), the lone returning starter.
THIEL (7-17, 5-13)
Junior G Nyric Gosley (9.2 ppg) is the lone returning starter for the Tomcats, who placed eighth in the league last year after finishing third in 2017.
WAYNESBURG (10-16, 6-12)
Sophomore G Matt Popeck is the top returning scorer in the PAC from last year, averaging 15.4 ppg, which ranked sixth in the league and second on his Waynesburg team, behind Jon Knab (16.5), who graduated. The Yellow Jackets placed seventh in the PAC last year and as recently as 2015 when they were a PAC finalist.
CHATHAM (7-18, 4-14)
Four returning starters will ease the transition for new head coach David Richards, who played at Westminster in the late 2000s. Among the returning starters are senior guards Isaiah Brown (11.2 ppg) and Alex Schoppen (10.1).
WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON (5-20, 4-14)
The Presidents have added some size with freshmen forwards Alexander Skowron (Quaker Valley) and Kike Agbale (Shaler). Freshman guard Primo Zinni (Trinity Christian) earned PAC Rookie of the Week honors by averaging 9 ppg last week. W&J has posted back-to-back seasons with 4-14 PAC records after consecutive seasons with just one conference victory in 2015 and 2016.
