MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - The buzz in Pucillo Gymnasium is noticeable. The noise from on-court communication is constant. The play is physical and fast. There is Day Waters, clapping, encouraging, directing, correcting, grabbing rebounds, and defending, helping to set the tone for an energetic Millersville men's basketball practice.
 
It's a different Day—not just for Waters but also for a program that is enjoying its most successful four-year run in 30 years. Waters' example is emblematic of a culture and style of play that Coach Casey Stitzel is adamant about maintaining. Stitzel's Marauders have won 18-plus games in each of the last four seasons, boast winning records against every other team in PSAC Eastern Division, and are the only team in the East to advance to the PSAC Semifinals in at least three of the last four seasons.
 
Despite the success, Stitzel recognized following the 2025 PSAC Semifinal overtime loss to eventual PSAC champ Gannon that the grit and toughness that had pulled the program to the status of perennial contender had dissipated. They lacked hallmarks of championship basketball like half-court defense, defensive rebounding, and the ability to overcome adversity. Inexplicably, the only team that ranked in the PSAC's top five in scoring offense, scoring defense, and scoring margin went 3-11 in games decided by fewer than 10 points and 0-3 in overtime games.
 
"When our season was over, I realized that we needed to get back to the identity we had when we started this rebuild, which is toughness," said Stitzel. "I know that's a cliché word, but we have to be more mentally tough, physically tough, better on the defensive end, and with rebounding."
 
In the Transfer Portal Era, creating year-to-year consistency with culture is a challenge. Four-year players are a threatened species. There isn't one on the 2025-26 Millersville roster. At the end of last season, three of the team's five starters were first-year players in the program, all transfers who had only experienced sub-.500 seasons at the collegiate level.
 
With that in mind, it was an intentional offseason for Stitzel. First, he brought back Dexter Harris as the team's lead assistant after Harris spent a season as a head coach at Wilson College. Five of Stitzel's Millersville assistants have landed head coaching jobs, but calls Harris "one of my favorites" because of his values, basketball intelligence and work ethic. Then, the coaching staff sought players with winning pedigrees, attitudes and habits. Cesar Tchilombo, a 6-9 center, played for an NCAA Tournament team at Division I Northern Kentucky. Malcolm Dread, a grad student and son of Millersville alum Aaron Dread, was part of a Mount St. Mary's team that played Duke in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. E.J. Matthews-Spratley was the leading scorer for a Stockton team that won 19 games and reached the NCAA Tournament. And there was Waters, a player who was a starter on Millersville's 25-win NCAA Tournament team in 2024. Waters left the program after that season and ended up at Slippery Rock. After one season, he was back in the portal, looking to finish his career back at Millersville, positively contributing to a culture that he once took for granted.
 
"Getting a player back after he transferred is one of the craziest things that has happened in my career," said Stitzel. "What Day did for me personally was that he made me realize that if you stick to your guns and create a culture, and yes, they may not like it at first, but at the end of the day, he came back to the program because of our values. That was important for us to get back one of the top shooters and defenders in the league who has played in big games guarding some of the best players. But to see someone who wanted to be coached hard, be held accountable, and step up as a leader of the program meant a lot to me."
 
Waters gives Millersville the rugged wing player it lacked last season. Waters has been a PSAC East and West Defensive Athlete of the Week award winner. He often draws the assignment of matching up on the opponent's best scorer. He rebounds. As a sophomore in 2024, he was a lethal 3-pointer shooter, ranking third in the PSAC in 3-point shooting. Last season, he expanded his game to incorporate more shot creation off the dribble and scored 20 or more points in six of Slippery Rock's final nine games, including four in a row to end the season.
 
"Day knows the standard," said Stitzel. "He knows what works and what doesn't. His mentality is the biggest difference. There were days when he'd look like an all-league player and then days when he didn't value the practice. Now, every day he is locked in. He's holding himself and his teammates accountable. He's gotten a lot better off the bounce. Now, what you are seeing is an improved post-up game and his ability to get into the paint. When he left here two years ago, he was a shooter, but now he is more of a scorer. Day can guard. He's a high-level defender. He's transformed his body, and he's grown from his experiences.
 

MBB: Day Waters is a flamethrower! Three straight threes! pic.twitter.com/oZclUcfGfM

— Millersville Marauders (@VilleMarauders) January 30, 2024

 
Stitzel says the habits of the newcomers "are contagious" and have pervaded the locker room. And after a year in the program, the top returners, Saraj Ali, Dante Weise and Aamir Hurst, have bought in and emerged as leaders.
 
"It's night and day with the expectations," said Stitzel. "It's different when every possession and every game matters. If you look back at our season last year, we made a nice late run. We lost the game to Gannon, and the season is over. What I made them realize in the offseason is that we should have kept playing. The problem was that we lost two, three or four games we shouldn't have lost because we didn't show up. We didn't have the intensity on defense, the effort in rebounding, and the focus on the scouting report. The details of what it takes to win 20-plus games and be nationally ranked, there's a difference when you come from a program where you are an underdog in most of your games. It's different when you play a game in November and losing that game might keep you out of the NCAA Tournament. I've heard these guys saying in the huddle that we can't let games slip because we don't show up. They recognize the mentality that it takes.
 
"Saraj has made a big improvement in leading by example through habits," said Stitzel. "Dante has some natural leadership. Aamir Hurst has natural leadership abilities. He's talked about his accountability and holding teammates accountable. That's the difference between being a talented basketball player and a winning basketball player. I hope that experience makes a difference."
 
The right people, right skillsets, and most importantly, the right attitude are in place to put Millersville in the mix for another PSAC East title.
 
"You feel good about your culture going into each season if you've been honest with your student-athletes about what the expectations are," said Stitzel. "You are starting to see some of that paying off early in the season."
 
Millersville has experience, and Millersville has talent. Waters is closing in on 1,000 career points and will most certainly crack Millersville's top-10 list for career 3-pointers by the end of the season. The floor spacing he provides is ultra important as it gives Millersville's two post players plenty of room to work.
 
Ali is as decorated as it comes. He was the PSAC East Freshman of the Year and an All-PSAC East Second Team selection at Mansfield before becoming a first team pick with the Marauders last year. He averaged 14.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game for the Marauders while playing next to Drew Stover, the PSAC East Athlete of the Year. Stover's low-post game served as the fulcrum to Millersville's offense, but the uber-athletic Ali will be much more of a focal point this season. He can play with his back to the basket and can punish defenders off the dribble. While Stitzel admits they didn't always put Ali in a position to utilize his strengths last season, Ali still scored 20 or more points five times and dropped 23 on Gannon in the playoffs.
 

Marauders are on the board first with a slam from Saraj Ali!! pic.twitter.com/WZvn0AMkfZ

— Millersville Marauders (@VilleMarauders) January 30, 2025

 
"I will give Coach Harris a lot of credit," said Stitzel. "He came to me after he was hired with an offensive suggestion for how we use our bigs, and he was 100% right. We've tweaked our offense to get the fours and fives more involved equally. Saraj is really good from 15 feet in and has improved his jump shot. We want to give him more opportunities to be successful."
 
Tchilombo slots in at center next to Ali. He is not the offensive savant that Stover was, but he gives the Marauders a no-nonsense enforcer who will patrol be a rim-running demon and deterrent at the rim on defense. He gives the Marauders defensive versatility because he can switch on to any player on the court. Offensively, he didn't have many post-up opportunities in his two seasons at Northern Kentucky, but Stitzel sees that as an underrated part of his game that continues to develop.
 
"Cesar personifies toughness," said Stitzel. "We've been blessed to have some good bigs, but his motor is as good, if not better than any. He's always crashing the glass, blocking shots. He should be a defensive player of the year candidate. He ducks in and seals well. At this level, at 6-9, physical and strong, he's going to score the ball."
 
Millersville has plenty of depth in the front court. Dread, at 6-4, gives Millersville a pick-and-pop four who has been a part of winning teams. Stitzel lauds Dread's shooting, high basketball IQ, passing and ability to handle the ball, which will be prized when the Marauders play pressing teams like Gannon and East Stroudsburg.
 
Amir Cunningham is new to Millersville but no stranger to the Millersville coaching staff. For two years at Kutztown, the 6-6 Cunningham put up numbers. He averaged 10.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game as a freshman and 9.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore, closing the season with back-to-back 20-point outings against East Stroudsburg and West Chester. He scored a career-high 33 against Bloomsburg, and as a rookie, playing against Stover and fellow Marauder great Matt Dade, Cunningham averaged 14 points in two match-ups.
 
"Two years ago, we had some really good bigs, and he was a true freshman out there going through their chests in transition and finishing," said Stitzel. "He has almost 600 career points in the PSAC already. He hasn't had that team success yet, but we are building the right habits defensively and getting him to play with structure."
 
Stitzel also commended freshman Jase Holland. At 6-8, Holland has range to the 3-point line. More times than not, the physicality and motor required to compete in the PSAC just isn't there for freshmen. But that hasn't been the case with Holland.
 
"Jase is going against our guys, and he's physical, and his motor with rebounding and shot blocking is as good as we've had in a freshman," said Stitzel. "It will be interesting to see if he can get to a point where he can help us win games."
 
With the loss of Jahme Ested, Millersville needed to find more ball-handling and scoring production at guard. That's the calling card of Matthews-Spratley. In 2024-25 for Stockton, he averaged an NJAC-leading 22.9 points per game while shooting 36.4% from three. Matthews-Spratley ranked in the nation's top 20 of eight offensive categories, including fifth in points and 3-pointers and seventh in free throws made. He torched York and Gettysburg for 34 and 41 points in back-to-back games, scored 38 against Montclair State, and topped the 20-point mark 18 times.
"We ran a lot of ball screen continuity in the past, and we had a lot of teams going under the ball screen because of the bigs that we've had," said Stitzel. "You can't go under on E.J. We watched a ton of film on him. He can really pass. His IQ is really high. He had to work so hard to get his shot last year because he was the focal point of every scouting report. Now he is playing with three or four other guys who can score 20 points. It's unleashing other parts of his game. He's also a dog defensively. His ability to score the ball at all three levels is as good as we've had, and he has a chance to be one of the better guards in the league. He's a grown man. When he's got it going, he's got it going. He's a weapon."
 
Hurst will play next to Matthews-Spratley as the team's two-guard. He started 14 games after Montell Cooper's season-ending illness in 2025. He immediately gave the Marauders a spark, scoring double-digits in four consecutive games in February. He's a slasher, excellent in transition, and an active defender, who will pester opponents with his length. Hurst made 35 threes but shot 28% from behind the arc last season. Stitzel sees that improving.
 
"Aaamir had a really nice stretch for us late in the year," said Stitzel. "You know you will get effort from him all the time. He's a top defender. The biggest thing for him was that I thought he shot under his potential last year. I had him pegged as a mid-to-upper 30s shooter. He had some games, but if he can get to where he should be, this will be one of our best shooting teams. He's got to be good with the ball and be a second playmaker. We expect him to take another step forward."
 

What a way to start overtime, Aamir Hurst with a reverse #RollVille pic.twitter.com/WWu73UlYJZ

— Millersville Marauders (@VilleMarauders) November 26, 2024

 
Millersville has no shortage of ball-handlers with Weise also in the mix. He was a full-time starter at Saint Rose as a freshman but it took him some time to find his niche with the Marauders. Once he did, he was invaluable. Weise is smart and rarely turns it over, finishing with more assists than turnovers in all but one game last season. He was dynamite in the playoffs against Lock Haven and West Chester, totaling nine assists and 14 rebounds and four steals off the bench. He does the dirty work, crashes the glass and draws charges. Stitzel is looking for Weise to increase his scoring output.
 
"Dante has all the intangibles," said Stitzel. "He's come back bigger and stronger. He's always going to get the ball where it needs to go. For him, the next step is to make the open three, make foul shots, because you want him in the game at the end with his defense and ball-handling. You see improvement on all of that. He's a plus defender who can harass defenders, and he's good off the ball. He's really good at taking scouting reports into the game."
 
The coaching staff is also high on freshman Carnell Henderson, who played for Imhotep Charter, among the best programs in the state of Pennsylvania. It has been some time since a freshman played meaningful minutes for the Marauders, but Henderson has played his way into the conversation as Stitzel calls him, "one of the best freshmen we've had here in a very long time."
 
Henderson was the MVP of the Public League All-Star Game and helped Imhotep Charter to a 26-6 record and a trip to the PIAA Semifinals.
 
"He can handle the ball and really shoot the ball from deep," said Stitzel. "He's one of our best defenders. He comes from a program where he was held accountable and values winning basketball. He's played with NBA guys. Most high school kids value if they are playing well and value if they are scoring. When we spoke to Carnell in the recruiting process, he talked about rebounding and defense. One of his goals was to be the defensive player of the year. Freshmen don't talk like that. You watch him play, and that's what you see right off the bat. He's going at our older guys. He's the first freshman we've had in a long time that when you watch him play, you don't know he's a freshman. He picks up structure well. He's been coached really well before we got him. He'll make a big impact and I usually don't talk about freshmen like that."
 
Jaylen Bernikow is another talented freshman guard who could see minutes. Stitzel calls him a "freak athlete and one of the best shooters on the team." Bernikow was a scoring point guard in high school and is learning how to run a team and also play off the ball. Freshman Kyle Benjamin, a 6-4 guard, is also battling for some minutes, and there is returning guard Murray Grant who played in 15 games last season, scoring eight points and hitting a pair of 3-pointers against Mansfield when the Marauders were short-handed.
 
The season begins at home in the Ron Wilson '79 Classic on Friday at Saturday against Virginia Union and Charleston, two teams who routinely contend for conference championships and regional bids. But that's only the start of a long season that the Marauders intend to push into March with what Stitzel calls "Millersville basketball," a renewed resolve to lean into the attributes of winning habits for all 28 regular-season games and every practice in between.
 
"There will be teams that beat you and play better than you, and those are good losses," said Stitzel. "But if you want to play in March, you have to have a sense of urgency that matters, and you are seeing that in our practices right now."