Tydings | It’s time to look up front for Penn basketball

Throughout the 2012-2013 Penn men’s basketball season, there was constant discussion concerning the team’s identity.

But there was never a consensus.

And heading into 2013-14, that is still a question the Quakers must answer.

Even after the team’s biggest win of the year — a 75-72 late-season victory over Harvard — coach Jerome Allen did not know what to expect from his team on a nightly basis.

“That’s the frustrating part in that I don’t know who we are,” Allen said after the Harvard game. “Good teams are consistent in their effort and focus and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

For the first 10 games of this past season, Penn seemed to have some semblance of an identity as they were led by Fran Dougherty in the post, who averaged 15.7 points and 8.8 rebounds during the span. The offense and defense ran through Dougherty, who had stepped up as a team leader after being named captain.

But after he suffered a bout of mononucleosis and later went down with an elbow injury, no one player took the reins for the Quakers. Miles Cartwright, Tony Hicks and Darien Nelson-Henry went back and forth playing the role of go-to scorer with very little overlap.

So for next season, the team needs to know where its offense comes from: the frontcourt or backcourt.

The team seems to have a wealth of guards for next season, with the likes of Cartwright and Hicks joined by strong incoming freshmen Tony Bagtas and Matt Howard.

Yet the team’s guards have not been able to put it together consistently, with a perfect example coming in the final game of the season against Princeton. While Hicks put together a strong 22-point performance, Cartwright struggled, scoring just 6 points on 2-for-8 shooting. Just one week earlier, the junior captain had dominated at Brown.

So maybe it’s time the 2013-14 crop of forwards gets some attention.

Shortly after Dougherty went out in late December, Nelson-Henry picked up the slack in the low post, stringing together seven consecutive games with double-figure scoring.

And while Henry Brooks was consistently plagued with foul trouble, he started to find his touch on offense late in the year, mastering his mid-range jumper while scoring 9.2 points per game in Penn’s final five contests.

So if Brooks and Nelson-Henry can continue their late season success in the post, a healthy Dougherty would give Penn a formidable group of post players to run out against the rest of the Ancient Eight and improve upon its Ivy League-worst rebounding margin.

The wild cards for Penn’s frontcourt — much like its guards — are the two players joining the team via the class of 2017.

While Dave Winfield Jr is the biggest name of the incoming freshman for next season, no one knows how he will adjust to the college game after being plagued by injuries during his senior campaign.

Additionally, Dylan Jones, a 6-foot-8 forward from The Village School (Texas), played against weak competition in high school, so, like Winfield, it is tough to gauge how he fits into next year’s team.

But no matter how the next freshman class performs, Penn’s returning set of forwards — Dougherty, Nelson-Henry, Brooks and Greg Louis — will be an essential part of the Quakers’ success next year.

While there may be discussion over the starting point guard for the Red and Blue next season, the Quakers’ identity might be reliant on their performance in the post.

So in 2013-14, look toward the frontcourt.

STEVEN TYDINGS is a Wharton freshman from Hopewell, N.J., and is an associate sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. He can be reached at dpsports@theDP.com.

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