Notebook

¢ Saint Joseph’s, founded in 1851, has an enrollment of 4,250, an increase of 1,500 from a decade ago. Grad school enrollment is 3,200.

¢ The corporate title of Saint Joseph’s University has been in place since the school was granted university status for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1979. The school prefers the abbreviations of SJU or St. Joe’s.

¢ Kansas leads the all-time series, 5-1. The Jayhawks won the last meeting, 91-51, on Nov. 23, 2004 at Allen Fieldhouse. KU has won two straight in the series.

¢ The 2005-06 season marks the 50th anniversary of the Saint Joseph’s Hawk mascot and golden anniversary of Philadelphia’s Big Five.

¢ St. Joe’s returns starters Dwayne Lee, Chet Stachitas and Dave Mallon from last year’s 24-12 squad, which reached the finals of the postseason NIT. South Carolina beat St. Joe’s in the NIT final, 60-57, before 11,555 fans at Madison Square Garden.

¢ St. Joe’s is trying to become the first team in Atlantic-10 history to win six consecutive regular-season titles. UMass also won five straight from 1991 to ’96.

¢ This marks the third straight year St. Joe’s plays in Madison Square Garden. Last year, SJU had its run to the NIT title game, while the Hawks opened the 2003-04 season with a victory over Gonzaga in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

¢ After losing one of the top scorers in school history in Pat Carroll, there was a preseason question as to who would emerge as a top scorer. The Hawks have four players currently averaging double figures. Chet Stachitas is ahead of the pack with his 18.0 average, while Abdulai Jalloh (14.8), Dwayne Lee (12.3) and Rob Ferguson (9.5) round out the group.

¢ The Hawks this season will play KU, Ohio State. Bucknell, Gonzaga, Xavier (twice), George Washington (twice), Charlotte, Pennsylvania and Villanova.

¢ Former St. Joe’s players who have been NBA coaches: Jack Ramsay, Jim Lynam, Matt Guokas, Paul Westhead, Jack McKinney, George Senesky, Jim O’Brien.

¢ Phil Martelli is 206-112 in 11 years at St. Joe’s.

¢ Junior forward Arvydas Lidzius is out first semester to concentrate on academics. His progress will be evaluated at the end of the semester to determine his status for second semester.

¢ SJU ranks 15th among Div. I programs for average amount of victories during the last five years. Prior to this season, the Hawks went 122-40, averaging 24.4 victories a year.

¢ The Atlantic 10 expanded this year to 14 schools with the addition of Charlotte and Saint Louis. The league abandoned a two-division format and is a 14-team entity encompassing eight states and the District of Columbia.