Was it really that bad?

While the recap told the tale of Penn getting blown away, I was really impressed with the way the Quakers fought last night against No. 1 North Carolina. For a team that lost to Howard and Drexel at home, Lafayette, Sacred Heart and Colgate in scrimmages, and started the game against Villanova down 28-4, being down 27-24 a third of the way through the game (7:30 left) against the best college basketball team in the United States, that's just about all you can ask for.

The final score wasn't that horrible, even though Roy Williams didn't put the scrubs in until they were up by 39 with 2:31 left, and Williams was coaching hard the enitre time, yelling at his players to play defense in the middle of the half up by 30.

Penn's offense looked miles ahead of any other performance this year, I haven't seen guys cutting anywhere near hard as they did against UNC, and Tyler Bernardini was unreal.

Still, they certainly have a whole lot to learn from this game. The entry passes were still atrocious, the passing along the perimeter was terrible, the transition defense leaves a lot to be desired and Penn still can't rebound.

The boxing out factor I would say is the biggest negative coming from this game. In Penn's last two games now the opponent has grabbed more boards on the offensive glass (41) than Penn has on the defensive end (39). This could be a real concern come time for Ivy play, especially against a team like Columbia with two good big men, or Cornell who sends quick guards to the glass.

In other random notes, the celebrities were out in full last night. Not only was Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell at (what I believe is) his sixth-straight home of the year, Amy Gutman finally made an appearance, La Salle grad and the best college basketball announcer Bill Raftery called the game for ESPN and of course, so was Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson. It was a nice crowd, but last year's game at the Dean Dome featured Presidential candidate and Chapel Hill grad John Edwards. Although until he wins, the Guv is more important.