Men's Basketball Notebook: Kreitz may have been overlooked in preseason

With 24 points Tuesday night, Garett Kreitz showed he can and will be a team leader. Seldom is the leading returner scorer overlooked on a team which loses most of its starters. Yet the preseason talk about the Quakers rarely centered around guard Garett Kreitz. There was the hype surrounding Penn's freshman class, the anticipation of Rice transfer George Mboya donning a Penn uniform and the eventual returns of Jamie Lyren, Paul Romanczuk and Frank Brown following injuries. But Kreitz, who scored 9.0 points per game last year, was able to quietly go about his business. All that changed on Tuesday, when Kreitz put on a long-range shooting demonstration at the Palestra against Towson State. He hit 6-of-10 shots from downtown on his way to 24 points, 17 of which came in the first half. Suddenly, it seemed as if the junior guard could not only be Penn's biggest outside scoring threat, but also the top overall scorer. While much of his success against Towson State was due to the fact that the Tigers dared Penn to shoot the three, Kreitz showed his 40 percent three-point shooting last year was not an aberration. It appears the Quakers will once again have the perimeter scoring option so vital to coach Fran Dunphy's offense. · For the Penn freshmen, the long wait is finally over. All of the first-game jitters were forgotten a few minutes after they took the floor against Towson State. The game marked the first meaningful on-court test for the young Quakers, and, by all indications, they earned passing grades. Matt Langel drained the first of what will most likely be many three-pointers of his college career. He finished with seven points, while also showing the ability to distribute the ball as evidenced by his five assists. Michael Jordan showed a poise well beyond his collegiate experience by sinking 6-of-7 free throws late in the game. Center Geoff Owens scored nine points with a variety of low-post moves, as he used his 6-foot-11 frame as an advantage over shorter defenders. · The performance of the freshmen in their first game was even more impressive considering the lack of production from virtually every other newcomer in the Ivy League. Princeton has another highly-regarded recruiting class, featuring forwards Mason Rocca and Nathan Walton, son of NBA Hall-of-Famer Bill Walton. Rocca appeared in one game and, in just eight minutes, went 0-for-5 from the field, committing two turnovers and being called for four fouls. Walton's stats are almost as dismal, as he committed two fouls without taking a shot in five minutes. Throughout the league, freshmen have been relatively silent. Most of the newcomers, including Brown's Oggie Kapetanovic, brother of former Quaker Vigor Kapetanovic, have spent most of their time on the bench. In fact, the Quakers freshmen's only challenge for rookie supremacy appears to be Harvard's Donnie Dean, who has averaged 5.5 points in two games and is an emerging long-range threat. · Although the season has just begun, it is never too early to begin the Ivy League Player of the Year hype. Penn has had a stronghold on the award in recent season. A Quaker has garnered top honors for four straight season. But this year, it appears as if the top challengers will come from other schools. Dartmouth's Sea Lonergan almost claimed top honors last year and is once again one of the most prolific scorers in the league at 17.3 points per game. His chances of winning will increase if the Big Green compete for the league title as expected. Lonergan is shooting for a third straight conference scoring title. Princeton was thought to have two candidates in Sydney Johnson and Steve Goodrich, but both have struggled so far this season. However ,their teammate Brian Earl has shown signs of living up to his potential, averaging 13.5 points per game to lead the Tigers. Harvard's Kyle Snowden continues to pile up impressive stats, averaging over 19 points and 8 rebounds per game. His chances are buoyed by an improved Harvard team that includes sophomore guard Tim Hill (14.7 points, 7.3 assists per game). A dark-horse candidate could be Cornell's John McCord. The senior transfer from Monroe College has come from nowhere after sitting out last season to concentrate on academics. He has averaged 21.7 points and 10 rebounds per game on an incredible 74.3 percent shooting to help lead the Big Red to a 3-0 start.