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Salem

Coverage of the men's Final Four

Posted March 16, 2000

Inside the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats

By Mark Simon
D3hoops.com

The memories of three previous Final Four appearances didn't fully hit Franklin & Marshall (25-5) men's basketball coach Glenn Robinson until Monday morning, two daya after a win against Catholic sent his team to Salem.

"I had forgotten what it was like," said Robinson at the end of a 13-hour day of work. "This is the day. You have the conference call. You have to plan for a bus. You have to plan meals. You have to get practice times set. In the meantime, you have to find time to get ready for the game."

The Diplomats will be ready for No. 1-ranked Calvin on Friday, bank on that. Robinson, who has 581 career victories in 29 seasons, ranking him second among active coaches, has guided his team through a 15-game win streak in which the team has found ways to win games it shouldn't have.

"We've been down double-digits a lot," Robinson said, "but we've gotten points in bunches. We've been capable of scoring nine points a minute."

Franklin & Marshall trailed each of its sectional opponents by double-digits at one point in the game.

The Diplomats fight back because they have so many capable three-point shooters, including top-scoring sophomore swingman Alex Kraft.(16.1 points per game) who was named Centennial Conference player of the year. Kraft and senior guards Mike Ritacco (12.6 ppg) and Jerome Maiatico (12.1 ppg) all have hit at least 30 3-pointers this season. There is plenty of poise in this group. Both Kraft and Maiatico have come up with long trifectas to snare a win or tie at the buzzer during the streak.

Up front, a key contributor has been sophomore power forward Cas Thomas, who has keyed the defense primarily by forcing turnovers and blocking shots.

"He's one of our best defensive players," Robinson said. "He has such quick hands that he gets a lot of deflections. He also has one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios on the team."

Scary to say, but Franklin & Marshall might be even better than its 25-5 record indicates. Four of the five defeats came during a stretch in which the team was without both of its point guards. Starter Mark Sadowski has since returned from a broken finger and has picked up his play during this postseason run, scoring 19 points in the quarterfinal defeat of Catholic. That was another one of those games where the Diplomats dug themselves a hole and snuck out quickly. It seems they are capable of doing that against anyone.

Still, Robinson knows that it will be anything but easy going up against the Knights.

"They are obviously a very good team," said Robinson, whose teams finished third in 1979, second in 1991 and fourth in 1996. "They are on a roll right now, having just demolished two great teams. They are a lot bigger than we are and they have a lot more depth just by looking at the minutes shared and the shots taken."

He does know that his team is a good team -- maybe even a great team. One thing is for sure. It is one definitely worth remembering.

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