Per Gym Mom...
Marywood has picked up the top 2 players from Keystone as transfers.
No idea who they are & no interest in doing even a brief search.
With the kids they have returning & then picking up some veteran players plus a few freshmen, M-Wood may finally have a shot at their conference crown before departing for the MAC.

Based upon the press conference yesterday, it looks like Lackawanna is moving from junior college power to D II and the PSAC.
The move will take place next year & then the typical NCAA rules kick in regarding championship procedures etc.
It will be interesting to see how a little school of barely 1,500 full time students will stack up and be able to recruit against long established programs and campus environments at Bloomsburg (7,000) students, Kutztown (7,400), West Chester (17,000) and Millersville (7,000).
Clearly the move had to be to D2, as their coaches are far too used to handing out free tuition & they were not going to be encumbered by D3 rules regarding financial aid.
Duda's football connections throughout the Delaware Valley, Baltimore & Northeast may play out really well for an upstart program that is used to playing at a very high level.

Looks like Drew, coming off their best season in a long, long time will be looking for a new coach yet again.
McSloy is off to Ithaca.
Money must be better because the NYC/Philly/Jersey talent pool was heading to Drew under his watch.
Thought he'd be at the top of the pack for as long as he was there.

Ronk:
That period is exactly when recruiting(?) went stale.
Not sure if Mike thought he no longer had to make the effort & the best would still come but regardless, that period of time was most reflective of an overall lack of talent.
Thankfully, those years are just a blip on the overall history of success. 

Augie, I hope you're right about this incoming class.
However, as we all know, the ability to put up great high school numbers does not always translate to the college game.

Just took a look at Lady Royal rosters going back 40 + years to see which years brought in at least 2 players that made a significant impact.

Here we go...

1983/84'
Patty Fulton
Shelly Ritz
Grace Hickey
Sharon Barone
Una Espenkotter
This group got great experience as freshmen & then the following year, aided by transfers Shelly Parks & Deanna Kyle went on to win the National Championship.

1989/90'
Another great year adding future stars:
Jackie Dougherty
Katie Geiger
Anne Gooley
Lynn Kempski (Mom of current Lady Royal Liz Halligan)

1995/96'
Erin Hurleman
Kate Dougherty #1

1996/97'
Kelly Halpin
Shannon Milder

1997/98'
Lisa Harris
Jaime Eilbacher

2000/01'
Katie Dougherty #2
Kate Pierangeli

2001/02'
Eileen Webster
Tara Gemmel

2003/04'
Taryn Mellody
Allison Matt

2007/08'
Jenn King
Courtney Roselle
Megan Kopecki

2011/12'
Lindsey Fluehr
Meredith Mesaris

2012/13'
Noelle Alicea
Jackie Gantz

2013/14'
Sarah Payonk
Alexix Roman
Denise Rizzo

2014/15'
Katie Broderick
Katie Feehery

2016/17"
Sophia Recupero
Mackenzie Mason
Lily Warhaftig
Emily Sheehan...(by their junior year, the class was in the Final Four)

2018/19'
Danielle McCurdy
Emily Shurina

2019/20'
Hannah Angelini
Bridget Monaghan
Kyra Quigley

2020/21'
Maddie Hartnett
Maddy Ryan
Jenna Larrabee

2022/23'
Kacy Kranson
Jenna Sloan

2023/24'
Katie Gorski
Elizabeth Bennett
Megan LaManna
Natalie Stoupakis

The 2024/25' kids all played about as expected but thus far, no one has emerged as a dominate player from that class.

A number of years there were multiple incoming freshman but only 1 emerged from the group as an impact player.

Those would be, as an example, the following years:

1992/93'-Mary Strasser
1993/94'-Current All-Time leading scorer Jen Nish
1998/99'-Gillian McGovern
1999/2000-Ann Marie Russo
2002/03'-Kelly Lewendowski
2005/06'-Kathleen Daly
2010/11'-Allison Sweeney
2015/16'-Bridget Mann

I'm sure there are others I may have missed but I think this gives Royal fans a trip back in time to the kids that made this program one of the most consistent Top 20 teams in the nation year in and year out.

What this next group brings to the table is yet to be seen but chances are, at least one of them will will make some serious contributions and keep the deep runs coming.

Well, Moriah Murray has entered the transfer portal at Penn St.
Is she coming home to play for Ben once again this time at the UofS ( ) or heading to UConn to play alongside Azzi Fudd in the backcourt??
Another possibility is North Carolina.
She would be reunited with former HS team mate Ciera Toomey & the Tar Heels need serious help in perimeter scoring which Moriah can provide with ease.
Should be a fun month as kids find their new homes.
Meanwhile, Kreiger is killing the Penn St. program one player at a time.
Every day someone new is departing & it's not going to get better.
No idea why they are sticking with her.

They do have quite a bit of talent returning & incoming.
Should be another deep run.

Agree Tim...
This was NYU's tournament all the way...everyone else was playing for second place.
Hopefully, after doing the Elite 8 thing for 2 straight years, Ben has gotten a real good sense of what type of players it takes to hit the next level.
Congrats to Kaci as well.
Also, if Kaci is allowed to play more than 20 mpg, she has an outside shot at becoming the Lady Royals all time scoring leader. 

I'm going to apply the Pappa John's principle to NYU & Smith...
Better ingredients = better pizza.   

Quote from: Pat Coleman on March 19, 2025, 01:02:35 PMTo continue the group's general conversation about how disappointing they find the Scranton MBB team to be?

Truer words have never been spoken.

Some final thoughts on the Lady Royal's season.

Congrats to Ben, his staff, all the players from 1 through 17, their parents, family, friends & UofS students that supported them all year.

Not quite getting to the Final 4 is a letdown but never let it diminish all that was accomplished again this season.

Trust me, there are over 400 plus teams in D3 that would trade places with you in a heartbeat.

In particular, I would like to thank the men's LAX coach & his team for showing up in force for both Sectional games as they were the only athletic team still on campus during the break.

One suggestion for the future...if baseball, softball & women's LAX are heading to Florida, they don't get to fly out until Sunday so they can be on campus to support the women's basketball team in the Sweet 16 & Elite 8 games going forward.

Regarding the game itself...it was a pretty epic battle between 2 very good teams.
Scranton only got to shoot 7 free throws (7 for 7) although they were getting hacked, bumped, and on the receiving end of push offs all night.
Meanwhile, Stout got to the line 22 as in 22 times!
One category the Lady Royals led in uncharacteristically was turnovers with 18 while Stout had just 8.
Between 15 more foul shots for Stout & 18 chances to score lost via turnovers, it just goes to show how hard Scranton played to only lose by 4 points.

Again, fantastic year by the Lady Royals & wishing the 2 Seniors & 3 Grad. students all the very best as they get set for some new adventures in a world filled with additional challenges & uncertainty.
If they tackle the future as they did the past 4 to 6 years, we'll all be better off.

Thanks again ladies!
Enjoy...

I'm referring to the scores section on this site not the NCAA site.

Go to women's NCAA scores, find the Hopkins/Scranton game & click on video.
It works as I watched the game again last night when I got home from it.
Enjoy!

Not quite sure why LeMoyne would be practicing at the Long Center unless the pictures were taken earlier in the year as they were traveling somewhere south of Syracuse.

Buzz off...I never once said or implied their enrollment was "A big damn deal"...ever!
The reference is that its got a ton of resources most D3 schools don't have because of that total.