Kotloff | Fitting end for Ivy title hopes

So many words can describe Penn basketball’s 2010-11 season, depending on whether your highball is half-full or half-empty — thrilling or heartbreaking, a step in the right direction or a missed opportunity, inconsistent or intermittently great.

Add to that list, after another tough-to-swallow defeat Saturday against Cornell, the dreaded, two-word label inflicted on teams who fall short this time of year: ‘mathematically eliminated.’

With the 74-72 loss to the Big Red, along with Harvard and Princeton’s wins this weekend, the Quakers’ chances of taking the Ivy crown officially went from slim to none. So uncross your fingers, cancel your NCAA tournament plans and quit watching those scoreboards — if you hadn’t done so already.

For a hopeful handful of minutes Friday, things were looking up for Penn. As the team clamped down on the Lions, Brown was taking it to Harvard and Cornell was giving Princeton a run for its money.

Zack Rosen’s long-distance, halftime-buzzer-beating three provided the brightest glimmer of hope. When the horn sounded, the Ivy scoreboard showed Penn up five, Princeton up four and, most notably, Harvard down 11.

Surely, the Quakers have been salivating over the chance to avenge those awful early February losses to Harvard and Princeton that sent their season into a tailspin, no matter what the stakes. For that brief period, though, it appeared the most enticing scenario would present itself — Penn’s March games might actually have title ramifications for both sides.

But when Harvard roared past the Bears and Princeton held off the Big Red, even Columbia coach Kyle Smith’s “advanced statistical program” couldn’t have calculated an outcome that had the Quakers taking the trophy.

No banner will be hung at the Palestra this season.

Instead, Penn has been relegated from longshot contender to bitter spoiler.

That’s not a role coach Jerome Allen enjoys playing.

“It’s like taking your sister to the prom — you’ve both got to go home at the end of the night,” Allen said Saturday without breaking from his down-to-business tone. “At this point, I’m focused on getting the team better and getting ready for our next opponent.”

At this point, that’s all Allen can focus on. The Quakers’ title shot truly escaped them what feels like months ago, when they painfully fell in overtime to the league’s frontrunners — when Rosen’s double-overtime floater couldn’t climb over Harvard forward Kyle Casey’s outstretched arm; when, in Jadwin Gymnasium, Jack Eggleston took the timeout he didn’t have and Fran Dougherty’s gimme, game-tying layup proved no gimme.

Some time between then and Friday, players and coaches likely accepted the fact that they blew their chance. After the relatively stress-free win over Columbia, Rosen denied that the title was on his mind, instead snapping back: “Cornell’s on my mind. Tomorrow night, that’s it.”

“Tomorrow night” concluded with the Quakers dejectedly walking off the court as their rivals rejoiced. Another valiant comeback had fallen short and really, the scene summarized the season better than any words could.

“I’m so tired of that,” Allen said. “People say, ‘you guys are resilient, you guys battle.’ It gets to a certain point where is that what we’re gonna be about or are we gonna be about winning ball games?”

BRIAN KOTLOFF is a junior communication major from Elkins Park, Pa. He is Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His email address is kotloff@theDP.com.

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