In 1829, a German immigrant to the United States opened up a small brewery in the anthracite country of central Pennsylvania. Since then, the fortunate among us have managed to make the pilgrimage to the small brick brewery nestled among the seven hills of Pottsville to witness the creation of, and perhaps quaff some pints of, Yuengling Traditional Lager, known in some parts as "Vitamin Y" and unquestionably the greatest beverage the world has ever known.

And tonight, there will be another to journey to Pottsville--although this one, because it features high school kids, will likely not include a trip to the brewery...That's right! It's time for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AAA boys' basketball quarterfinals!

Specifically, we have District III champion York Suburban (24-5) taking on District II champion Crestwood (26-3). York Suburban, as has been documented in this space, won their first district championship two weekends ago on Mitch Kemp's last-second three-pointer against Wyomissing and then knocked off Abington Heights and Strath Haven to reach the round of eight. Kemp, leading the team with 15.7 points per game, has stayed consistent, scoring 16 in each of those two state-tournament games. The Trojans have averaged a robust 66.75 points per game this season but have needed (and scored) far less than that for much of this postseason, advancing on the strengths of their offensive efficiency and their defense, which has held opponents to a paltry 40.6 points per game over the last five games.

And the defense will certainly have its collective hands full with Crestwood star Adam Fazzini, a 6'5" forward averaging 17.5 points per game for the Comets. And unlike Suburban, playing in their first state tournament in recent memory, Crestwood is an old hand at this, having won five of the last six Class AAA District II championships. The Comets have rolled through the competition this year, winning their postseason games by an average of 14 points, including an impressive 54-42 win over Eastern York, alma mater of former Penn State and Pittsburgh Steeler fullback Jon Whitman and former Drexel hoops star John Raab, known in some circles as "Mr. Sue Dellinger" or "Stoooooooooor's brother-in-law."

Tip-off in Martz Hall tonight is at 7:30. Go Trojans!

But enough about the PIAA Class AAA boys' basketball quarterfinals. Let's talk college hoops! That's right....the NCAA Division III men's and women's octavofinals are tonight! And two schools from south-central still have teams playing! Has the fertile Susquehanna Valley ever seen such an exciting night?


First things first: the NCAA doesn't got to neutral sites for Division III until the national semifinals, and so a coven of presumed dark arts experts are heading south--hoping, most likely, to get to Burkittsville but being sidetracked in Lancaster for a game at Mayser Center against the Franklin & Marshall men's hoopsters.

Salem State head coach Chris Harvey calls a play.

Salem State reached the round of 16 by cruising past Rochester Institute of Technology, 83-71, and then eking out a 69-67 thriller at Widener. Dylan Holmes was the star for the Vikings (how can a team from Salem, Massachusetts not be called the "Witches"? This is an outrage!) in the second-round game, pacing the team with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Holmes, the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) player of the year, has been the star all season, leading the Vikings with 18.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. But the Vikings are balanced: three others (Nick Lenear, Ricky Obgoin, and Stevie ["Stevie"? Really?] Celestin average in double figures (13.1, 10.7, and 10.2, respectively) and three others chip in with at least 6 per game. The Vikings are a deep team, too, with nine players averaging at least 13 minutes per game as the team has rolled to a 23-6 record and the MASCAC regular-season and tournament championships.

However, apparently the simple folk of Salem are still scared of witches, because nobody goes to their games: average attendance for home games has been a paltry 154 people. So will they be ready for the raucous Mayser Center crowd? Will the keg-throwing meatheads from Pi Lam storm the court, hogtie the visitors, and haul them off to throw them into the broad and majestic Conestoga River to see if they float? And if there's a game, what can I tell Buffet readers about the team they'll be facing?

Not much, really, except that the F&M men's cross country team finished nineteenth in the country in Division III in 1995, and so by reaching the round of sixteen, this year's basketball team has already done better. Damn.

The Diplomats are actually in their twelfth D3 sweet 16, although their first since 2004. Much like Salem State, they crushed their first opponent of the tournament (Wesley, 93-69) before holding off a late charge from Brandeis, 65-63, to get to this point. The Brandeis game was the twenty-fourth win of the year for F&M, against just five losses--although three of those losses came in the four games before the NCAA tournament, as the Dips closed out the regular season with losses to hated Little 3 rivals Gettysburg and Dickinson and then lost to Gettysburg again in the Centennial Conference tournament finals. (Gettysburg went on to lose to Wooster in the first round of the NCAAs.)

Much like Salem State, F&M is a balanced offensive team, with all five starters averaging in double figures, paced by the 16.3 from sophomore forward James McNally, who also leads the team with 7.4 rebounds. The Dips also get 5.5 assists per game from freshman point guard Georgio Milligan. F&M only goes 7 deep, so we'll see if fatigue plays a roll in this game.

The winner will go on to play the winner of the opening game at Mayser Center tonight, UMass-Dartmouth versus DeSales. Tip-off for that game is at 6 p.m., with the Salem/F&M game following 30 minutes after. Live video of the game is available for those of you with personal computers and internet access. Which, presumably, describes all of you.

In other F&M news, senior Jen Pritchard has been named the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Division III player of the week for the third-ranked women's lacrosse team, who were national runners-up last year after winning the national title (just the second in school history, after the 1985 women's cross country team) the year before. Pritchard tallied seven goals--to move within 15 of the 222 she needs to become the the school's all-time leader--an an assist in the Dips' season-opening wins over Cabrini and seventh-ranked Washington & Lee. Go Dips!

The fertile and bucolic Susquehanna River Valley.

And finally, of course, we have one more game of interest tonight, as the York (PA) College women's basketballers make the drive up US Highway 15, trying to avoid nuclear meltdowns on the way, traversing the famed folded Appalachians by cutting through a couple of minor water gaps, heading past the ballfields of Williamsport and the glass factories of Corning, avoiding the Finger Lakes and any associated gorges and dorky trumpeters, and winding up in possibly the only place worse than Syracuse to spend a late-winter weekend: cold, windy, and film-strewn Rochester, New York, where the Spartans will square off against the University of Scranton Royals.

And talk about the noveau-riche versus the blue-bloods. This is Scranton's seventeenth appearance in the round of 16; they won the national title in 1985 (the same year as the F&M women's xc team!) under coach Mike Strong, who has over 700 career wins--many of them coming on the way to the Royals' seven other final four appearances since the national championship.

The Royals--reputedly the favorite D3 women's team of George Brett but not Dan Quisenberry, who has avidly followed YCP since an appearance at an Orioles' off-season charity basketball game on the campus of Penn State-York in 1980--are led by Megan Kopecki, a 5'9" sophomore guard out of Millington, New Jersey averaging 16.9 points per game. It seems like if you can stop Kopecki, you might be able to stop the Royals; nobody else averages more than 7.3 points per game. The player charged with getting the ball to Kopecki is point guard Ryan Mooney, allegedly no relation to famed Brophy Prep and University of Arizona alumnus Ryan Mooney, a.k.a. Moons over my Hammy. Odd, though, that a University of Scranton guard stole MoonDogg's name, not unlike ex-Baylor shortstops now trying to work their way through the minor leagues from the pitching mound. Mooney (the Scranton hoopster, not the cheerful Brophy grad), the only Royal other than Kopecki averaging more than 30 minutes per game, has a stellar 2:1 assist:turnover ratio.

And Scranton, by the way, is 24-3, 13-1 in the Landmark Conference (the "Landmark Conference"?), and both regular-season and tournament champs. They demolished Keuka, 73-42, and then Iba-balled their way past central New York's Cortland State Dragons, 51-45, to reach the regional semifinals.

And now we're on to the party-crashers--not because they haven't had a great season, because they have, but because they've never made it here before. And by "here," I don't mean the D3 octavofinals; I mean the NCAA D3 tournament: this is the first appearance ever by the York College women's team. But led by six seniors (three of whom start), the Spartans have rolled to a 27-2 record, including a perfect 16-0 regular season in the Capital Athletic Conference (although they did lose to Mary Washington in the conference tournament finals). All-American candidate and nursing major Keli Ward has, as documented in this space before, has just straight filled up the stat sheet, averaging 16.7 points (and shooting over 50% from the field, even though she's a guard, and 40% on three-pointers), 7.9 rebounds, 7.2 assists (to just 2.4 turnovers), and 2.9 steals per game.

Giving Chanel Perez some pub, just because Keli Ward gets most of the ink around here. Although why anybody would ever want to shoot left-handed is something I still can't figure out. Could anything possibly look more awkward?

Amanda Andrews and Chanel Perez are the other two senior starters for the Spartans. Andrews, an elementary ed major, averages 10.9 points per game, and Perez, a nursing major with a part-time job at York Hospital (the same hospital at which was born noted non-stripper Jasmine, not to mention bluegrass greats Ronnie and Rob McCoury, Susquehannock High School alumni who play mandolin and banjo, respectively, for their father in the legendary Del McCoury Band). Rounding out the starting five for coach Betsy Whitman (who played collegiately for James Madison; no word on whether she was there when Lefty Driesell drew up and former Terp Steve Hood and his teammates executed to perfection the "picket fence" to send the Dukes dancing in, I think, 1990) are sophomores April Sparkman (15.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game) and Jaimie Sapp (7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game).

Tip-off tonight at the Louis Alexander Palestra is at 6 p.m., and the game will be followed by the College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State; alma mater of Illfelters' daughter's grandmother) taking on host Rochester. Both games can be watched or listened to online. Go Spartans! Until then, enjoy the Del.