Mansfield MBB Preview

When I saw Mansfield on our schedule, I thought, WOW, I didn't know there was a university/college in Mansfield.  Turns out there is, but it is Mansfield, PA, located in north central PA and not near anything.  It is 36 miles from Elmira NY and 430-some miles from BG.

It is a public university with 1,600 students. They compete in Division II and are known as the Mountaineers or Mounties.  Former Detroit Tiger Tom Brookens went there.  All-American basketball player Tom McMillan was from there, played at Maryland, later a Congressman. They hosted the first night football game, in 1892, as a publicity student for Edison Illuminating.

They were 5-23 last year and before that 6-21, 4-24, 7-19 and 11-15.  They were picked to finish last (9th) in the East Division of their conference, PSAC.

As far as I can tell, their last D1 opponent was Duquesne in 2016 and they lost by 5.

Their coach is John Szentesy, an alum in his 5th year.

Like every other team in the world, they have 8 newcomers.  They have two brothers (the Ali brothers) one of whom was Class AAA player of the year in PA last year. (That's the 4th largest in a six-classification system).

This is BG's last game before Air Force comes to town on Monday.