Ibby Jaaber is not your typical fan favorite. He's soft-spoken and his most impressive statistics this season have come on the defensive end. But ever since Jaaber's first game sporting Red and Blue, the 6-foot-2 long-armed freshman has electrified the Palestra crowd.
Jaaber's first career basket came on an eye-dropping crossover past Wisconsin's elite guard Devin Harris en route to an uncontested layup.
That wasn't the first time Jaaber faced the nation's premier players and finished on top.
Last season at the Peddie School in Hightstown, N. J., Jaaber's squad nearly defeated Blair Academy -- featuring current UConn guard Charlie Villanueva and Duke forward Luol Deng -- losing by just three points. Jaaber posted a game-high 24 points while being guarded by Villanueva.
"Ibby was the best player on the court that night," Peddie coach Chris Potash said.
While Jaaber was a scorer at Peddie -- averaging 24 points per game -- he has emerged as a defensive stopper this season. Jaaber's 23 steals rank second on the team behind junior guard Tim Begley's 30.
Yet Begley insists that Jaaber is Penn's best on-the-ball defender.
"The only reason I lead the team in steals is because I play more minutes than Ibby," Begley said. "Every day in practice, it's the worst thing in the world when you see him lining up opposite you.
"He's got the longest arms of anyone I've ever played against," Begley added. "I don't think anybody realizes that until you go to make a pass and he gets a piece of it, or you try to get by him and he just takes it from you."
Penn head coach Fran Dunphy and assistant coach Gil Jackson agree that Jaaber's on-the-ball defense is his strong point, but both feel his off-the-ball defense needs work.
"Defensively, his strength is getting his hands on balls," Dunphy said. "The next step for him to make defensively is to keep people in front of him."
Jackson noted that Jaaber's athleticism "can sometimes get him out of trouble with a spectacular block or big rebound."
Indeed, this past weekend, Jaaber posted two blocks against Yale.
"I don't bring that out much," Jaaber said. "The coaches would rather see me take a charge."
Jaaber's accomplishments at Penn thus far should not come as a surprise given his history of success.
At Elizabeth High School, he led his team to the Union County Championship in 2002. The 2003 Mercer County Prep Player of the Year also earned MVP honors at the Neptune Jubilee Christmas tournament after leading Peddie to the tournament final.
The year before Jaaber came to Peddie, the team had a dismal 5-15 record. Jaaber turned the program 180 degrees, as Peddie finished 16-7, with three of the seven losses coming by a combined six points.
"Ibby was our number one option and captain," Potash said.
According to Potash, Jaaber turned down a Division II scholarship offer to spend a year at Peddie and bulk up. He earned first-team All-State honors in 2003 and received interest from "virtually every Ivy League team, every Patriot League team, some Colonial League teams and even some Big East schools," Potash said.
Indeed, Penn is lucky to have secured a player of Jaaber's caliber.
"Ibby could play just about anywhere," Jackson said.
The Quakers' coaching staff has high expectations for Jaaber.
"He will get to an All-Ivy level at some point," Dunphy said. "And hopefully sooner rather than later."
When asked about not having recruited Dartmouth freshman phenom Leon Pattman, Dunphy responded, "We put all our eggs in the Ibby basket."
But the Elizabeth, N.J., native isn't at all concerned about the hype surrounding his future. He embraces it.
When asked about the prospect of becoming an All-Ivy player in the near future, Ibby responded, "I have high expectations for myself."
Jaaber is already an important part of Penn's rotation, playing over 12 minutes per game.
"He brings a defensive spark off the bench," Penn senior Jeff Schiffner said.
But it was Jaaber's offensive performances against Columbia and Cornell -- scoring a combined 33 points on 12-for-15 shooting in just 35 total minutes -- that earned him Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Feb. 16.
Yale coach James Jones also spoke highly of Ibby after last Friday's game.
"Jaaber is going to be a very good player in this league," he said. "And if he stops shooting the damn three-point shot, he's gonna be alright."
Indeed, shooting is probably Jaaber's biggest weakness. While shooting 46 percent from the field, which ranks sixth on the team, Jaaber is shooting just 28 percent from three-point land and 57.6 percent from the charity stripe.
But Jaaber more than compensates for this with his athleticism and defensive prowess.
"With the type of guys we have on the team -- some of the best shooters in the nation -- obviously I'm not gonna outshoot these guys," Jaaber said. "But I need to bring something to the table, so I figure, 'Why not defense?'"
Jaaber's defense is a big reason why Penn surpassed the 100-point mark against Harvard. In just 17 minutes, he notched five steals, while also scoring 13 points.
Indeed, in a season already marked by disappointment -- Penn has three Ivy League losses -- Jaaber gives the Quakers a reason to cheer every time he steps onto the Palestra hardwood.
