After luring away Brown's head basketball coach, Penn has elected not to do the same with its star player.
Keenan Jeppesen, the second-leading scorer in the Ivy League last season and a candidate for Ivy Player of the Year, had submitted a transfer application to follow his former coach to the Quakers. But Undergraduate Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson said yesterday that the University will not be considering Jeppesen's application.
"He started his application, but we have made a decision not to" entertain it, Stetson said. "We feel badly about taking students from Brown, a member of our league. Also, it was late in the process -- we just didn't feel it was appropriate."
Stetson stressed that the decision had nothing to do with academic standards. Rather, he cited a desire for fairness and a concern for the integrity of a fellow Ivy League institution.
President Amy Gutmann "and I talked, and we just don't think it's fair to take someone from the other Ivies," Stetson said. "It just isn't fair. He is a Brown student, he chose to go to Brown, and we're hoping he flourishes there.
"He made his choice, and Brown is his place, just like we would not want to have students taken out from underneath of our program at Penn."
Before Stetson revealed Admissions' decision, it seemed certain that Jeppesen would make the move to Philadelphia. Speaking to The Brown Daily Herald, newly hired Bears coach Craig Robinson had seemed to accept that he would lose the rising junior for his first year in charge.
"He sounded pretty resigned to leaving when I spoke to him," Robinson told the Herald. "As I told the rest of the team, I would love to have him with us, but with or without him we are going to be successful."
But all speculation on Jeppesen's future, along with that of the Brown program, was put to rest by the Penn Admissions Office. And with the end of the speculation comes a setback to Miller's efforts to build up the program in his early years.
Jeppesen's 16.1 points per game last year were second only to Penn's Ivy Player of the Year, Ibrahim Jaaber, who averaged 19.1. After sitting out a year due to transfer restrictions, the Brown guard would likely have been a top option on a 2007 team without the likes of Jaaber, Mark Zoller or Steve Danley.
Instead, Miller will now have to search for talent in the more conventional realm of high school recruitment.
The circumstances of Jeppesen's bid to transfer to Penn differed sharply from those surrounding other, more commonplace transfers.
First, and most notably, the proposed move would have involved two Ivy League institutions. Such a transaction could have bred ill will between the Ancient Eight schools -- something that officials at Penn would like to avoid.
Second, Jeppesen's motivation to seek a transfer was not based on a lack of playing time, but rather a desire to follow his former coach.
And the proposed move would have taken place late in Jeppesen's career at Brown, long after he had established his role in the Bears' system.
All of these factors combined to kill what could have been a massive power shift in the Ivy League.
Eric Osmundson's moved from Utah to Penn in 2002 represents a more typical transfer.
"That was an earlier process, and he ... was hoping to get more playing time," Stetson said. "At Utah, he was not getting the opportunity to be on the floor. ... I think all of the coaches at Utah agreed that it was a good move for him."
So when Miller's Quakers face Jeppesen and the Bears this coming season, both player and coach may feel a pang of regret for what might have been. But by then, they may just be focused on winning.
