Notes from Penn's first win, Alumni reception, and more

After a decisive 82-71 win, Penn (1-10) is finally off the schneid with its first win of the season, snapping the worst start and longest losing streak in program history. I'm sure this was a big win for the team from a mental standpoint. As Zack Rosen said, "I think it's huge for everybody in that locker room for their mental [standpoint], just believing, and knowing that when we go out there there's a possibility of us winning a game."

But let's also make sure we're clear about what this win wasn't. It wasn't really evidence of a turnaround, or a sign that brighter things are necessarily ahead for the rest of the season. Tonight's opponent, UMBC, is now 1-13 on the year. By most available measurements, such as RPI and Sagarin ratings, this was a matchup between two of the worst 15 teams in Division I this season up to today. As Rosen also correctly stated, it was the first time the team really executed a gameplan and controlled the game, but that is more of an indictment of the team's play up to this point. There's no question that this win was orders of magnitude less impressive than Cornell's 71-66 loss to national No. 1 Kansas, a game the Big Red led most of the way and was decided in the final two possessions.

To be fair, though, a win's a win, however uninspiring the matchup, so congratulations to coach Allen for his first victory as head coach, and also to the players, who have all worked very hard.

On a separate note, my parents are both Penn alumni ('76 and '78) and were invited to a Penn basketball alumni reception at Michaels 1600 restaurant before the game. In an attempt to increase my investigative acclaim, I followed along to see what, if anything, I could observe.

I took a copy of the Penn basketball alumni news flash, which appears to have been written before the season, and for all I know contains information that is immediately publically available. But I didn't know some of the things inside, so I figure some other people don't either. For one thing, in order to stimulate more donations, the club started a "Penn Hoops Player Experience" and a new level of giving called the "Palestra Court Club" for those alumni who graduated before 2000 and pledge $5,000 a year for four years.

As for the total numbers, last year 321 donors gave a total of $343,129 to the Basketball Annual Fund, split between Travel Fund, Palestra Floor Renovation, and the Men's Coaching Endowment. A lot of the biggest donations apparently went to the Palestra Floor Renovation. This year, the club's goal is to raise numbers by 10% -- up to $375,000 and 353 donors.

Last year, eight donors gave $25,000 or more, nine gave between $10,000 and $24,999, 20 gave between $5,000 and $9,999, and 45 gave between $2,500 and $4,999. Of the donors who gave $5,000 or more and who had a graduation date listed, the average graduation was in 1971, which puts the average "big donor's" age at roughly 60 years old. Obviously a lot of that is explained because older people generally are more established financially and may have more discretionary income if they had prosperous careers. But it will be interesting to see whether the demographic will become even more skewed or if it will prove difficult to pick up younger donors.

It would be interesting to see how these numbers compare to other Ivy League schools and schools from major conferences.

Those who spoke to the whole group of 60 to 70 alumni at the reception included Athletic Director Steve Bilsky, Penn star Corky Calhoun (class of '72), who was on teams that totaled a 99-6 record, and prominent alumnus Rick Rockwell.

Calhoun, who is now a successful businessman at Exxon-Mobil, spoke at length about how as a kid growing up in a factory town in the Midwest, Digger Phelps convinced him that Penn was a special opportunity beyond what some Big 10 schools like Wisconsin were offering. He emphasized that at Penn, the program is about catering to people as a whole, whereas at some other programs he got the feeling that they were only interested in people in terms of how they can be used as basketball players. He also stressed the importance of the "Penn family" and alumni base, and how even though the team is struggling on the court now, the community's support is still vital to the program's future.

The most noteworthy piece of news, though, was that head coach Jerome Allen made an appearance at the reception at 6:30, an hour before gametime, and spoke very briefly. People seemed very impressed that he would make such a gesture, and as a point of comparison, one of the event's organizers said that she did not ever recall Glen Miller making an appearance at such a function, and that an appearance an hour before tipoff was, as far as she knew, an unprecedented outreach effort.

Personally, I was impressed with the gesture, and it certainly plays into Bilsky's comment about creating an atmosphere of a Penn "family." Allen is certainly more personable than Miller, even in interviews. Hopefully he can also get the team to continue to play better for the rest of the season.

After the game, I asked him about his appearance, and he gave me a very thoughtful and lengthy answer that I thought the readers would appreciate:

"Well, I'm a Penn Quaker at heart, first and foremost. We have such a tremendous amount of support from the alumni, and the extended families, and all that stuff matters to me. Sometimes it's not just about the game itself, it's about the people and the lives that are affected by how the team does, or the people who make sacrifices for us to have the opportunities that are afforded to us. One of the things I learned from coach [Fran] Dunphy is that, even the ones you don't see, people matter. Things just don't happen because they're supposed to happen. And I'm really appreciative. We had Corky Calhoun in the locker room after the game, and I talked to the guys on the team about just the success that he had and the tradition that he helped establish long before a lot of these guys were born. That means something. The fact that they're able to put this jersey on, and people really respect it, has a lot to do with the things he was able to accomplish. It's more than basketball, you know, it's about life and just trying to develop young men to be productive citizens and making sure they do things the right way. So I knew we had a game tonight, but the fact that this reception was set up and I knew all these people were going to be there, I just wanted to say 'hey from the bottom of heart, I really appreciate the things that you've done to support this program.' And it's a small gesture, but I think that it's the right thing to do."

Other notes from the game:

Junior Tyler Bernardini, senior Andreas Schreiber, and sophomore Larry Loughery were all wearing suits on the bench. Coach Allen characterized them as having "long-term" injuries. Sophomore Mike Howlett, whose development has been one of the few bright spots this season, was in crutches and is scheduled to have an MRI shortly. Reading between the lines, I would be surprised if we saw Bernardini, Schreiber, or Loughery in action for the rest of this season, but we should see Howlett back at some point, barring any setbacks. In the last press conference with Glen Miller after the loss to Monmouth, Miller (and Howlett himself) said that Howlett was especially focused on developing a back-to-the-basket offensive game, which is currently unpolished. It's too bad that development has seemingly been delayed, especially since someone is going to have to go against Cornell's 7-foot center, Jeff Foote.

On that note, Conor Turley did a great job inside tonight and was especially solid from the charity stripe, where he went 8-for-10. Kudos to him, and hopefully he can carry some of that over to Penn's next game against Temple.

Penn also has a new addition to the roster, senior Drew Godwin from Yadley, Pa., who was finally promoted from the Junior Varsity team in his final semester. This is potentially another great gesture by coach Allen, and I'm sure it's a great story as well, so I look forward to speaking him and trying to write an article about it (or if it's not me, I at least look forward to reading about it).

Penn utilized a lot of different looks, featuring a 1-3-1 zone with Rosen under the basket and a lot more set plays than were seen under Glen Miller. For seemingly the first time all year, Penn was able to slow it down some and dictate the pace a little bit against a running team.

Penn still isn't good enough defensively to stop guard penetration. UMBC guards Chris De La Rosa and Chauncey Gilliam combined to shoot 16-for-25 for 46 of the Retrievers' 71 points. That isn't likely to change, as Penn simply doesn't have the guns athletically to play great defense.

Finally, Penn continues to rely on the three-point shot. Of the Quakers' 48 field goal attempts, 24 were from beyond the arc. Tonight, good ball movement led to some open looks, so I don't necessarily have a problem with so many attempts. It doesn't hurt when 13 of those 24 three-point shots are successful. It was probably Darren Smith's best game of the year, especially in the shooting department, and Rosen is really learning to become a scorer, albeit by necessity, and his jumper looks much improved compared to earlier in the season. He had 28 points, was 8-for-12 from the field, 4-for-7 from three-point range, and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. Great line for him.

If you have any questions or comments, leave them here. While the biggest story in the Ivy League tonight was Cornell's great game, and even though Penn will likely get trounced by Dunphy's Temple Owls next week, I was encouraged by the fact that coach Allen really seems to get it.