SLIPPERY ROCK — Second-year Slippery Rock University men's basketball coach Kevin Reynolds has no problem with setting the bar high.

In fact, he's trying to raise it.

The Rock is coming off a 21-8 season — two wins shy of the school record — that ended with a 103-90 loss to Kutztown in the PSAC semifinals.

"We have unfinished business," Reynolds said. "It was disappointing not getting into the NCAA playoffs last year. That's still a step we want to take."

SRU hasn't qualified for the NCAA Division II playoffs since 1991. To get there this year, The Rock must do so without the services of PSAC West Player of the Year Denell Stephens and point guard Kyle Camper, who graduated.

"Stephens was the second-best player in school history, behind Myron Brown, and Camper led the nation in assists and was arguably the best point guard in Division II last year," Reynolds said. "You can't replace players of that caliber.

"You try to do it by committee. The guys we're bringing in here are capable of getting the job done."

SRU plays Pitt in an exhibition game at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Petersen Events Center. Another exhibition is slated for Friday at Penn State. The Rock opens the regular season Nov. 15 against Ohio University-Eastern at Morrow Field House.

The Rock, which doesn't have a freshman on its roster, welcomes back these starters: guards Michael Evans Jr. (12.6 ppg.) and Maurice Douglas (12.0 ppg.), along with center Maron Brown (12.3 ppg., 9.2 rpg.).

Brown is one of the six All-PSAC West preseason selections.

"Down the stretch last year, there wasn't a better player in the PSAC East or West than Maron Brown," Reynolds said. "We need him to elevate his game even more this year.

"Maron needs to go from being a complementary player to being a primary player."

Six other players return: guards Bryen Spriggs, Tommy Kelly and Rashiid Coleman, and forwards Jade Burka of Butler, R.J. Rush and Gary Satterwhite.

Burka, a junior, averaged 3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds per game in a reserve role last season.

"With Maron, Jade and Gary at center, we combined to get 17 points and 15 rebounds per game from that position," Reynolds said. "Only Gannon got more production at center in our league."

Reynolds is bringing in four newcomers with Division I playing experience: Jabril Bailey from Campbell, Cecil Brown from Morehead State, Andre Tarver from Iona and Stevy Worah-Ozima from North Carolina Central.

Bailey is a wing player who can shoot the 3-pointer. Brown played guard at Morehead State for three years. The team won four games his first year there before winning 20 games and playing in the NCAA Tournament last season.

Worah-Ozino is a 6-foot-9, 220-pound post player.

"Stevy is coming off a broken arm last year and he's had some health issues with the flu," Reynolds said. "He's the farthest behind at this point."

Reynolds described the 6-foot-3 Tarver as a scoring point guard. He scored 21 points in a game against national champion North Carolina.

"He'll be a tall point guard like Camper, but he'll score more than Kyle did," the coach said.

Two other newcomers, 6-1 junior John Bayardelle from Northern Virginia Community College and 6-2 Claude Chalk of Bucks County Community College, are battling NCAA eligibility issues.

SRU is picked fourth in the coaches preseason poll. Indiana (Pa.), which returns three starters and has three players on the preseason all-conference team, is picked first.

"IUP is the clear favorite to win our division," Reynolds said. "But there's not much difference from one through four, four through six."

<B>PSAC West</B>1. Indiana (Pa.) (5)2. California (Pa.) (1)3. Gannon (1)4. Slippery Rock5. Mercyhurst (1)6. Edinboro7. Clarion8. Lock Haven<B>PSAC East</B>1. Kutztown (5)2. West Chester (2)3. Mansfield (1)4. Cheyney5. Shippensburg6. East Stroudsburg7. Millersville8. Bloomsburg(First-place votes in parenthesis)<B>Preseason All-PSAC West</B>Jordan Armstrong (Mercyhurst), Maron Brown (SRU), Julian Sanders (IUP), Darryl Webb (IUP), Kelsey Williams (California [Pa.]), Thomas Young (IUP)<B>All-PSAC East</B>Yuseff Carr (Mansfield), Stephen Dennis (Kutztown), Ralph Hegamin (West Chester), Tamir Smith (Cheyney), Kenny St. George (West Chester), Ryan Washington (Kutztown)