Colin Zavrsnick leads a senior class that has Chapman coming into SCIAC play undefeated. Chapman athletics photo by Larry Newman

Ask anyone in the Chapman men’s basketball program about the records being set and the personal achievements being acquired, and you’re likely to get a shrug of the shoulders.

“We’re just happy that we’re winning games,” leading scorer Colin Zavrsnick said.

But even the rate that the Panthers are winning is record-breaking. Chapman is off to a school-record 10-0 start thanks to the efforts and leadership from Zavrsnick and the rest of his senior classmates.

“It’s a big deal to have senior leadership. But you have to be able to coach them to become leaders,” Chapman head coach Mike Bokosky said.

Zavrsnick is averaging a team-high 18.8 points per game during his senior season. Fellow seniors Taylor Hamasaki and John Joyce are chipping in an average of 16.6 and 10.9 points per game, respectively.

Those three make up just half of the senior group responsible for the majority of the team’s minutes.

“We have quite a bit of offensive threats this year. We have a lot of senior leadership too,” Zavrsnick said. “It always makes it easier when you have experience on the court.

“Going through four years of college basketball with the same guys really bonded us together,” he added. “We’re all good friends off the court too. It’s not like we only see each other once a day at basketball.”

That tight relationship has materialized into 10 straight victories to start the season, bettering the 2009-10 team’s eight-game winning streak to start the season.

“We’ve been in the NCAA Tournament as an independent as a power team – low post bangers, high-low, more of a halfcourt defensive team,” Bokosky said. “This team is more finesse and giddy-up and go. We’re not as big and we’re not as strong, so we’ve kind of gone with more perimeter play.”

Two of those perimeter players have hit personal milestones along the way.

Zavrsnick recently surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career.

He scored 26 points in an 89-72 win over La Sierra on Dec. 13 to eclipse the mark and joined teammate Taylor Hamasaki, who hit the 1,000-point milestone one game prior in a 85-65 win over Bristol.

“I don’t think (1,000 points) really mean much to me or Taylor because we mainly want the team to win,” Zavrsnick said. “We just try to give as much as we can for the team.”

Additionally, Bokosky earned his 400th career win in an 81-58 victory at La Sierra on Dec. 22. It was the Panthers’ seventh win of the season.

“It’s always a pleasure to do something like that,” Zavrsnick said. “He gives so much to us with all his experience – not just on the court, but off the court.”

Although Chapman has enjoyed its non-conference success and started the SCIAC season with an 82-68 win at Whittier, the team knows it will face a number of challenges during the conference season.

“Nothing’s better than winning. I don’t think there’s a substitute for it,” Bokosky said. “But no matter what your record is, when you start conference, it starts all over again.”

“It’s pretty much a clean slate for conference. Every team can beat every other team,” Zavrsnick said. “Conference is just a whole new level of competition with everybody knowing everybody’s strengths and weaknesses.”

But the Panthers believe they have enough talent to emerge from a balanced league to win their first conference title since joining the SCIAC.

“We could really do well in conference if we take every game individually and don’t look past any teams,” Zavrsnick said.

If the team plays to its potential, Bokosky think his team could win the conference tournament and reach the NCAA tourney for a second year in a row.

“I’m a realist. I’m not an optimist and I’m not a pessimist. I’m a realist,” Bokosky said. “I think we have a good enough team to make the NCAA Tournament.

“We have enough players in all of our positions with enough experience to get to the top-four spots in our conference (to qualify for the SCIAC tourney) and make the NCAA Tournament.”

1,000 points

Alyssa Krajco became just the ninth woman at UW-Platteville to break the 1,000-point mark. Krajco surpassed the milestone by scoring 15 points in the Pioneers matchup with FDU-Florham Dec. 30 during the D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas. She now has 1,011 career points.

K.J. Evans scored his 1,000 point during UW-Whitewater’s matchup with Kalamazoo Dec. 20. He finished the game with 14 points, becoming the 28th layer in program history to reach 1,000. He now has 1,030 points.

Coaching milestones

UW-Whitewater head coach Pat Miller became the fastest active coach to win 300 games when the Warhawks topped Beloit Dec. 31. Miller hit the 300-win mark in 385 games and is now 301-85.

Jeff Berkhof won his 100th game as UW-River Falls’ head coach when the Falcons defeated UW-La Crosse on Dec. 10. He is now 100-121.

Tim Cleary won his 50th game at Pacific when the Boxers topped Linfield Jan. 3. He is 50-60 in his fifth season at Pacific.

Where they rank

Eight women’s programs were represented in the Week 5 Top 25.

St. Thomas is up two spots to No. 6 to lead teams in the Region. George Fox, UW-Oshkosh and Wheaton (Ill.) all jumped one spot to Nos. 10, 11 and 13, respectively.

Whitworth will spend another week ranked No. 17 and Transylvania slid three positions to No. 19. North Central (Ill.) enters the Top 25 at No. 24 and Puget Sound falls one spot to No. 25.

St. Mary’s (Minn.) dropped out the Top 25 while Wartburg (16), Luther (11) and St. Norbert (9) received votes.

A total of seven teams in the Region were ranked in the men’s Top 25.

Augustana and UW-Whitewater remained ranked Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, with the Vikings receiving three first place votes. St. Thomas is up one spot at No. 5.

North Central (Ill.) made a huge jump from No. 21 all the way to No. 10. UW-Stevens Point rose one position to No. 19 while St. Norbert fell two spots to No. 20. Illinois Wesleyan checks in at No. 22 while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps fell out of the Top 25.

Chapman (76), St. Olaf (60), Dubuque (17) and Cal Lutheran (1) received votes in this week’s poll.

Check in

Do you have a story idea for the Around the Region column? Contact me about approaching milestones, broken records, break-out players or any other storylines in the area’s conferences. Or just drop me a note and let me know what you like or don’t like about the column. All ideas and feedback are welcome. Email me at josh.smith@d3sports.com or follow me on Twitter @DU_Josh_Smith.