Feb. 21, 2003

By Gary Rubin

Kentucky Wesleyan College head men's basketball coach Ray Harper picked up his 200th career collegiate win on Feb. 15 when his No. 4 Panthers defeated Ken Shields' No. 12 Northern Kentucky Norse 71-68. The win propelled Harper into the record books as the fastest NCAA basketball coach to reach 200 wins, breaking the old mark held by Hall of Fame coach Clair Bee.

Harper, the winningest active NCAA Division II coach with an 89.3 winning percentage, reached 200 wins in 224 games, all at KWC. Bee, who coached Rider and Long Island, reached the 200-win milestone after 234 games in 1938.

In seven seasons with the Panthers, Harper has won two NCAA championships (1999, 2001); has taken the Panthers to five consecutive NCAA championship games (second only to UCLA's John Wooden seven ); posted a NCAA best five consecutive 30-win seasons (passing Kentucky's Adolph Rupp's three straight); and has received seven NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year awards in the last five seasons.

During Harper's tenure, KWC has been ranked in the NABC/Division II Bulletin Top 5 for 55 weeks and the Top 10 for 67 consecutive weeks.

Musical Chairs at No. 1
Another Great Lakes Region team is the new owner of the No. 1 ranking in the NABC/Division II Bulletin Top 25. Kevin Luke's Michigan Tech men's basketball team assumed the top spot on Feb. 11 after Larry Gipson's Northeastern State squad upended previous No. 1 Tarleton State on Feb. 8.

"It's quite an honor," said Luke, now in his ninth year with the Bulldogs. "This is unbelievably exciting for our program and I¹m really happy for our players because they've put in the hard work to make it happen."

The top ranking is the school's first in men's basketball and its first in nearly 30 years since the men's ice hockey team was No. 1 in the mid-1970s. Michigan Tech is the fourth team to hold the top spot this season, following Kentucky Wesleyan, Humboldt State and Tarleton State.

MTU is currently riding a school-best 15-game winning streak. The only team to beat them this year? Scott Nagy's South Dakota State Jackrabbits, who were ranked No. 3 at the time. Another impressive Bulldog stat is their 3.47 cumulative grade point average.

Gipson's Northeastern State team is also riding a 15-game winning streak and sits atop the Lone Star Conference North Division standings. Another showdown with Tarleton State next month could have conference and regional bragging rights on the line.

New Haven Aims at League Crown
Jay Young, in his third season as the head men's basketball coach at the University of New Haven, is getting the job done this year and could be looking at postseason play. His Chargers are coming off their first winning season in 10 years and have kept the momentum going this campaign.

After playing as an independent last year, the Chargers are in their first year as members of the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference and are in position to win the league title. Young's team is 16-2 in their past 18 games and are tied with Tom Galeazzi's C.W. Post team atop the standings.

Schlagel Keeps St. Cloud in Race for NCC Title, NCAA Berth
In one of the tightest conference races in the country, Kevin Schlagel has his St. Cloud State Huskies clinging to a one-game lead in the North Central Conference. The nine-team league has six teams still in position to challenge for the regular season crown, including two Top 25 squads.

Now in his fifth season as the Huskies' head coach, Schlagel has been on the coaching staff at SCSU since 1980. He started his association with the SCSU program in 1972 as a player and as a senior helped guide SCSU to a Northern Intercollegiate Conference title in 1975-76. Following his graduation in 1976, Schlagel was the head basketball coach at Shellsburg (Iowa) High School from 1977-80. He returned to SCSU as an assistant in 1980 and has been there ever since.

"I have had a great experience at St. Cloud State," Schlagel said. "I have learned a lot about basketball from the coaches I have worked with and one of those things is to have fun within the game. Our goal this season, as it will be for every season, is to win the NCC title and qualify for the NCAA playoffs. I want our players to know that when we walk into the locker room after the game, we gave our best effort."

Milestone Maker
Lenoir-Rhyne head coach John Lentz gathered his 300th career win when his Bears defeated Catawba on Feb. 8. Lentz, the school's all-time winningest basketball coach, has L-R atop the South Atlantic Conference and in line to gather the most wins for the program since the 18 won during the 1994-95 season.

Lievense Enjoys Homecourt Advantage
Barton head coach Ron Lievense would schedule every game at home, if he could. And who can blame him? The Bulldogs have been virtually unbeatable at home in Wilson Gym, referred to locally as "The Dog House," during Lievense's seven seasons. Including this year's 10-0 home mark, Barton is 72-11 in their friendly confines on the Wilson, N.C. campus since he took over the program.

Perfect Streaks End
It's official, no Division II team will be undefeated this season. Mark Johnson led his Fort Hays State Tigers to an 89-75 victory over Tom Kropp's No. 2 Nebraska Kearney squad on Feb. 18. in Hays, Kan. The loss ended UNK's 23 game win streak this year and its 19-game road win streak dating back to December of 2001.