New look for the blogs

Notice: If you are experiencing problems viewing the blogs, please refresh the page, then report any difficulties that persist in the comments below.

Well, if we did our job, you may notice that things look a little different today. In an effort to continue pushing full speed ahead into the blogosphere, we at The Daily Pennsylvanian have just completed the first major overhaul of the DP's blogs since their introduction more than a year ago.

Our blogs have come a long way in only a year. Four blogs are now frequently updated, becoming the DP's major source of original online-only content. But as the blogs have grown, so too has the demand for additional features, creating the need for today's overhaul. Some of the changes are internal, making the site easier to manage and post to. But many, many more of the changes are external, seeking to improve your experience and expand the interactive capabilities of the blogs.

For starters, there has been a subtle reshaping of the blog site's design, as can be seen in the photos above. The blog logo has been merged with the rest of the page, and a number of new features have been added to the site's sidebar. First and foremost, we have added an "About this blog" box to every DP blog. These boxes will help convey the purpose and aim of each blog, which wasn't always clear with the old design. Contact information has also been added, where appropriate, to allow you to communicate better with blog editors.

Other new boxes have been added as well. Some blogs now feature a "Recent comments" box, a common feature on many modern blogs. This will allow runnings conversations, even on old posts, to remain near the top of the page. It will also allow frequent commenters an easier way to view comments. A similar "Recent posts" box has also been added to allow users to quickly see the most five most recent posts on their current blog, without having to scroll down the page.

Another common feature of many modern blogs is a "blogroll," or list of links, to other blogs and Web sites around the Internet. StreetEats' links will help hungry blog readers find the best dining guides in Philly and the best recipes on the Internet. If you can't find the sports news you're looking for on The Buzz (which is doubtful), you are sure to find it on of the sites it links to.

Last of the major changes, we have made it easier for you to find an author's old stories. Now, when you click on a headcut, you will be taken to the story author's bio page, which contains his e-mail address, brief bio and every blog post written by that author.

It's all a work in progress, to be sure. But we've been working long and hard on these changes, and we hope they improve your experience on the DP's blogs and keep you coming back. Keep in mind, there is just not one, but four great blogs to keep up with: The Buzz, The Spin, Emmy Watches and Street Eats. Most important, please let us know of any suggestions you have for additional ways to improve the blogs, as well as any buys you run into. Simply leave a comment on this post or send an e-mail.



I'm smarter than you and you...

Note: This post was written for the DP's annual joke issue.

Remember back when I told you about why I get all the interviews. About how I was a Rhodes Scholar finalist and the second-most-famous White House intern of all time.

I don't mean to brag, but I was just getting started.

In addition to my skills on the court, few people know that I have written several best-selling novels. Ever hear of John Grisham? It's just my dog's name followed by my street name.

Remember Fermat's last theorem. The proof that won a million dollars? Steve Danley's fifth-grade science fair project. Think Al Gore invented the Internet? No, that's just what happens when you leave your doors unlocked and there are vice presidents hanging around.

And don't believe all that stuff about how I got a 1570 or whatever on my SATs. Give me a break. They don't let the guy who wrote the tests take the tests.

When our team breaks bread together to watch an NBA game, all the Mr. 1050s on our team can thank Mr. 1570 that they even get to watch. Not only did I negotiate all the TV contracts for my man D-money Stern, but he checks with me on everything he does right down to the ban on those flaming tights the guys wear.

So next time you use a cable modem, need a favor done at the UN or for some reason, read one of my seven doctoral dissertations, you'll know exactly why I get picked to write this stuff.

And that's the marinara sauce on your spaghetti.



Yale coach suing rapper for identity theft

Note: This post was written for the DP's annual joke issue.

Rapper Jim Jones says he's "Ballin'", but Yale men's basketball coach James Jones claims he's just "Frontin'"

With the immensely popular song We Fly High Jim Jones, who's legal name is Brewster Stanislaw, has reaped millions, and James claims that he is the one that deserves the credit and cash, and is suing "Jim" Jones for identity theft.

The coach, who led the Elis to their first Ivy League title (a share in 2002), says he met the rapper five years ago because James was friends with Jim's father, an engineering professor at Yale.

Jim, a struggling young rapper, didn't want to openly admit to being a wealthy 20-year-old from northern Connecticut, so he, according to James (a New York native), stole the identity of the successful Ivy coach.

"His lyrics were so dreadful I at first didn't care," James Jones said. "But once he started to pretend he was ballin' like I am, I knew he'd gone too far. He came to a practice one time and overheard me explaining to Eric [Flato] and our athletic swingman Casey [Hughes] how high our team was flying above the others in the Ivy League. That's where the phrase came from."

James says he will sue for "$10 million from the settlement, including a Bentley ridin' on 22s," as well as full services from Jim's main ho, Kristal.

Jim Jones could not be reached for comment, but friend and rapper Juelz Santana (aka Tristan X Nadal) defended Jones. "I've known Jim Jones for-DIP SET!-nine years now, and-Ay!-Ay!-Ay!-he's always been ballin'."

Penn assistant coach Chris Sparks had a mutual connection to a well-known rapper, but the two have since parted ways. For the album "Deliverance by Bubba Sparxxx, the current Penn coach produced and wrote eight of the songs, including the title track, and "Back in the Mudd." But money disputes broke the two up, and Sparxxx's material has been lackluster since.

Penn head coach Glen has no relation to the "Glenn Miller Band" but former Penn assistant coach Shawn Trice is the older brother of local rap artist Obie Trice.



Talkin' baseball

Good evening. Just got back from Long Island's sympathy vigil for Darcy Tucker and the rest of the Leafs. But for some reason, nobody showed up.

Anyway, I wanted to talk a little baseball this evening. Actually, and I don't have much practice saying it, a little first-place baseball (sort of). The Quakers are in a virtual tie with Cornell atop the Lou Gehrig division with Penn at 6-4 going into a makeup doubleheader against Brown and the Red at 5-3.

Here are some things to think about as Penn chases its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1995.

Stat of the weekend: 4-1, as in 4-1 in conference games started by freshman pitchers Jim Birmingham and Todd Roth. Roth will try to make that 5-1 in one of today's games in Providence.

Player of the weekend: Matt Toffaletti. A great replacement for Jim Farrell at third, Toffaletti had a 5-for-10 Saturday against Yale, including his first homer and five RBIs in the nightcap.

Wimps of the weekend: Baseball players. It's cold outside. Football players play. Soccer players play, I think. From the majors to the college game, there's been a lot more sitting around by the fireplace than playing ball this weekend. So cover up like B.J. and play ball.

Spring Fling forecast: I'm tired of the usual forecast sites, so I'm going to my new favorite, the Magic 8 Ball. Here goes:

Magic 8 Ball, will it be above 55 degrees on Spring Fling Friday?
My sources say no.

Magic 8 Ball, will it be above 52 degrees on Spring Fling Friday?
Ask again later.

Magic 8 Ball, will it be above 52 degrees on Spring Fling Friday?
Absolutely.

Magic 8 Ball, will it be sunny on Spring Fling Friday?
No way.

Magic 8 Ball, will it rain on Spring Fling Friday?
Definitely.

So we have low 50s and rainy. Beautiful. One more question, Magic 8 Ball. Will the Pistons cover a seven-point spread in New York tonight?
Don't push your luck, Levine.



Relays Hype

Today would have been a horrible day for Fling, and an even worse day for the Penn Relays, which happen three weeks from now.

The men's and women's track teams hosted the Penn Invitational this afternoon, battling schools like Cornell, Army, Navy and the weather. The high today was in the low 40s, but by the day's end at around 4:30, it was around 30 degrees and violently blowing snow horizontally. Beautiful conditions for wearing running shorts and a 0.5-ounce tank-top-jersey (spandex if you're lucky).

Penn sprinter Grafton Ifill was probably thinking about the temperature in his native Bahamas, or finally remembering why he originally went to Clemson. One Cornell runner was overheard saying "I can't feel anything, it's so effing cold," and that was while it was still partly sunny.

However, if somehow it was this cold (or even close) at the Penn Relays, it could be an advantage for Penn. Not only is Penn a northern school, but unlike a Northwestern, we have no indoor track so all the training is outside.

"A lot of Southern schools can't run in the cold," said Quakers junior mid-distance runner Tim Kaijala, who beasted the competition in the 800-meters at 1:50.3. "A lot of people are just used to running inside and running when it's warm, but I'm used to running in the snow. We run outside all the time so we're kind of used to it, so it's kind of an advantage to us"



More on the search

Good afternoon. Just got back from 1920 Commons retail store, where I was dismayed to see that the milk shelves were replaced by a giant display of Red Bull. A sad commentary on college if you ask me.

Last week, I talked to three of the brightest minds in Ivy League basketball about coaching searches and Harvard in particular.

I only gave you a few quotes from Jake Wilson of basketball-u.com, Penn assistant AD Mary DiStanislao and color commentator Vince Curran. So here's what else they had to offer.

Wilson said that former disgraced Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien was a candidate for the Harvard job. Add his name to that of Mike Jarvis, who faced scandal at St. John's and you have an interesting pair for candidacy at America's most prestigious university.

"Both guys would come in with some baggage," From their end, I'm guessing they're looking at Harvard as an opportunity to scrub their images a little bit and maybe do some atonement "[Jarvis] had a pretty squeaky-clean reputation prior to St. John's."

As for what would happen if Harvard took on a coach with a name like Jarvis' or O''Brien's, which was the subject of my column this week, here's what DiStanislao said. And I wholeheartedly agree with both parts:

"It would be interesting. They may get a lot of mileage at first from someone with a lot of name recognition. Use all the cliches you want about the rubber hitting the road and the end of the day, it's all about getting the right people in your program and coaching them up the right way."

Curran agreed and expounded on Harvard's history of underfunding the men's basketball program, which has still never won an Ivy League title: "It comes down to what tools the university is going to give the coach. The big-school coach is not as big a deal as the big school commitment."

Today's Spring Fling forecast comes from NBC-10 via Philly.com:

Friday: Partly sunny. Highs in the upper 50s.
Saturday: Unlisted

That bad, huh?



Trivia answer

Good evening. Just got back from trying to buy a seat on the women's lacrosse bandwagon, but they were sold out.

As for yesterday's trivia question, correct, correct, correct.

Nice job by kb, Bob J. and JBP to remember that in 1970-71, the Quakers beat Villanova 78-70 on Jan. 23 before getting beaten 90-47 in the Elite Eight.

That was the last time the Quakers beat a "Final Four team."

Where does the catch come in? According to the records and the banners, the disgraced Wildcats weren't a Final Four team that year. Apparently, the NCAA didn't look favorably upon Howard Porter's having a professional contract while he was still in school.

At the request of senior sports editor Andrew Scurria, today's edition of the Spring Fling forecast is brought to you by weather.com:

Friday: Mostly sunny, High 59
Saturday: Cloudy, High 59



Licking their wounds

It's rare to have to face the number-one team in the country, but it's even rarer to let up 20 goals -- in this case a 20-5 beating from No 1 Cornell.

However, two years ago the 2-11 men's lacrosse team did get walloped by an equal margin, 21-6, at the hands of Maryland. Other than that, Penn hasn't allowed more than 16 goals in the last four years (or as far back as the record books go).

The thing is, Terps game was the season finale in 2005: this year's team must rebound from the 20-goal shellacking. There are two approaches to turning around after a bad loss -- either talking about it and using it as motivation, or just forgetting about it and coming out strong the next weekend.

While the Quakers want to put the loss behind them, they have taken the former route. The Red and Blue had a meeting on Monday to break down game film, saw what they did wrong and are now fired up to be the aggressor this time.

"I think it's definitely motivating looking at [the box score] and seeing how bad we actually played in that game," senior middie David Cornbrooks said. "We can take that and use it, and maybe do that to a team on Friday."

While I didn't make the trip up to Cornell for the Ivy matchup, from reading recaps and taking a look at the boxscore it seems as if the Big Red just plain bullied the Quakers.

Cornell held Penn to only 14 shots on goal (half of what it got off), and out-muscled Penn for 14 more ground balls. As a result, the Big Red took nine penalties for a whopping 7:00 of power plays. Meanwhile, the Quakers sat in the box for 2:30, right on their season average.

They did score two goals while a man up, but that wasn't nearly enough, as the more physical Cornell squad coasted to a victory in the second half.

Clearly the negatives of taking penalties didn't come close to outweighing the positives. As a team which draws over a minute more in penalties than it commits, all Penn needs is for the NCAA to NHL-ise lacrosse, so that the Broad Street Bullies no longer rule the league.



Playing with chains

Good afternoon. Just got back from my job interview over at Au Bon Pain, and I think I got Question No. 1 correct.

Anyway, I've been fooling around with one of my favorite games. The old "Penn beat UIC who beat Butler who beat Tennessee who beat national champion Florida" game.

This four-game chain is the shortest chain from Penn to the champs this year, but not the shortest ever.

The 2004-05 season was the last time Penn beat a team that beat a team that beat the champions. (Penn-Yale-Santa Clara-North Carolina)

To find the last time the Quakers beat a team that beat the national champions, you'll have to go all the way back to a pair of one-point games 1978-79. On March 11, 1979, the Final Four-bound Quakers knocked off No. 1 seed North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, 72-71. Those same Tar Heels came away with a 70-69 win over Earvin Johnson and eventual national champion Michigan State back on Dec. 16.

As for the last time Penn beat a national champion "directly," well, that's never happened. In fact, the Quakers have only beaten three teams that would go on to make the Final Four.

The Quakers beat eventual national runner-up Dartmouth in 1941-42 and Final Four-bound Iowa in 1954-55. The most recent one, I'll leave up to you.

It's not terribly difficult but requires a bit of a loose interpretation of "Final Four team."

Answer coming tomorrow.

Since we at the Buzz know that this is where you turn for your weather coverage, keep checking back with us for the Spring Fling forecast. We'll change up the sources as we get closer.

But today, SF-minus-9-days, we start with Accuweather.com.
Friday: Mostly sunny, high 51
Saturday: Sunny, high 60

Could be worse.



A name for Relays, two names for Harvard

Great story from ESPN.com this morning. And while some of you may read it because it's about a likely first-round NFL Draft pick, I'll read it because it's about one of the biggest names in the field at the upcoming Penn Relays.

Further pulling headlines from other news organizations, one of the three candidates the Boston Globe listed for the Harvard coaching vacancy took a job. Stan Heath, former Arkansas coach will spend the next five years at South Florida.

That leaves Mike Jarvis and Tommy Amaker as possibilities, according to the Globe story. Don't expect much more from that publication on this issue, since we're now in Day 1 of official Red Sox panic.

But seriously, look for more on the search and the racial element (all three aforementioned men are black) in the coming days on The Buzz and in the pages of The Daily Pennsylvanian.



Shift in the standings

Last year, the Ivy League baseball season played out a lot like that of their professional counterparts.

One side, the American League or the Red Rolfe Division thoroughly dominated the other in interleague play. For instance, the team that finished last in the Rolfe (Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale and Brown) had the same record as the team that finished first in the Lou Gehrig division.

Except nobody told St. Louis, the 83-78 NL Central champion or Princeton, the 11-9 Gehrig Division champion, that they weren't supposed to have a chance, and the weaker division took the title in both cases.

But this year, the balance of power has shown some early signs of a shift. With the first of the two interdivisional weekends nearly complete (Brown and Cornell play a makeup this afternoon), Penn's division has already surpassed its win total from all of last season's 32 interdivisional games.

After going 6-26 against the Rolfe in 2006, the Gehrig is 9-6 this season, led by Penn's 3-1 effort against Harvard and Dartmouth.

And while this is good for Penn from a standpoint of balance of power, don't expect to be able to make the championship series with 11 wins.



Ivy League stalemate

When it comes to the possibility of pushing the three-point line back, a discussion that will happen this weekend in Atlanta, the Ivy League representatives have come to a split decision.

Well, by Ivy League representatives I mean the four people who called me, three of which not in time for an article today describing the common feelings about the possibility of extending the three-point line from 19-feet 9-inches to 20-feet 6-inches, as well as widening the lane a foot on either side.

Cornell coach Steve Donahue and Brown guard Damon Huffman believe something needs to happen with the three-point shot, while Brown coach Craig Robinson and Yale coach James Jones are starkly opposed to any changes.

With their positions, each is speaking from the stance which will first benefit the Ivy League and their respective teams, and after those priorities focus on the bettering of the game of college basketball in general.

Donahue expressed concern that the three is too easy now -- that it is just in the flow of the offense instead of being a shot that is simply harder to make than others. As for the effect on the Ancient Eight, he thinks that since the conference gets guys who are more on the skillful shooter side than the athletic side, they will generally still be able to hit form the longer distance. This means that for a team which has everyone on the court attempt wide open threes, some of these guys might be discouraged.

Notable quotes:
On three-point line: "I think for teams that shoot the ball well it would help, and obviously we utilize that here. I think in general our league would be helped by it. When we play major teams, higher level teams, with more athleticism and size ... that would spread the floor and allow us to utilize our abilities there, and obviously we'd be more competitive against more athletic teams."

On widening the lane: "it takes people away from the rim and stops the continuing pounding of the ball inside. I don't necessarily think our game has gotten to that point. "If you don't widen the lane and continue to move the three-point line out, there's some spacing that the offense can generally use better, that can continue the flow of the game, because you're going to either have to go out on that guy or not."

On decision two years ago: "It was really close two years ago, almost to the point that we all approved it. And then all of a sudden everyone couldn't agree on it, and they dropped it."

Damon Huffman, a rising senior guard for Brown and a 45.5% shooter from downtown, was in Europe so he wasn't able to do a full phone interview, but said in an e-mail that he too believes the line should be moved back.

Robinson is against the adjustments, for one, because the change is not that big, saying that only a half-step won't be enough to discourage mediocre shooters, and people will easily adjust. He also believes that the lack of a semi-circle to denote where taking a charge is possible is an issue that should be addressed as well.

Notable quotes:
On the three-point line: "I like the three-point line how it is. If they move it back to the international line then everybody will adjust and I don't think it will make that much of a difference, it's not like they're moving it back to the NBA line, which would make a huge difference."

Difficulty of a three for his team: "We're not making every shot from there, so it's not too close, if you know what I mean. It's still assured that it's hard to make."

On widening the lane: "I think widening the lane is a negative for teams who have big, imposing centers. So I'd be in favor of it."

Jones thinks the game is working fine how it is; if it's broken don't fix it. He wants to maintain a true post presence, and not just shift to play the international style, which could happen if the line was pushed back and the lane was widened. It all depends on the team's style of play, and unlike some Ivy teams, Yale is less guard-heavy and wants to maintain the current balance between inside and outside.

Notable quotes:
On the changes to be discussed: "I don't like them. I like the way the game is right now, and to me it's not broken so we don't need to fix it."

On the difficulty of a three: "If you look at the percentages around the country, it's not easy for many guys."

On widening the lane: "It becomes more of a European-style game and there's no true post presence anymore, and [that] is something I particularly like in college basketball."

Total roundup:
Three-point line moved to international length (nine inches further out):
Donahue - Yes
Huffman - Yes
Robinson - No
Jones - No

Lane widened (either one foot on each side, or the European trapezoid):
Donahue - No
Robinson - Yes
Jones - No, but perhaps Yes if three-point line is moved back

If I was Penn coach Glen Miller (who did not wish to comment on the hypotheticals), I would probably be against moving the line back, because the Quakers give so many of their players (and by so many I mean all) the green light from deep. If the line was extended, this might be enough to discourage the Brennan Votels and Justin Reillys from launching three-balls.
However, with all of the backdoor cuts Miller utilizes, opening up the court - and especially widening the paint area - would make those cuts a little bit easier, making the decision that much harder.

As for me, personally, I think the shot is way too easy. Three points are supposed to be rewarded for a tougher shot, but a hard layup or a post move is often more difficult than hitting a three. Widening the lane I think is unnecessary, because the game has not gotten to the point that the physicality should be toned down through keeping forwards further from the basket.



Acting professionally

Last week, our sister paper the Columbia Spectator ran a fun column comparing the Ivy League basketball programs to Rock & Roll bands.

I'm not going to try to agree or disagree with him since music isn't exactly my subject. (Although I can tell the difference between good music and bad music if that counts for anything.)

So I figured I'd go with something a little bit more in my neighborhood and offer up my comparisons with professional sports teams.

Brown: Oakland Athletics
What do Mulder, Damon, etc. have in common with Glen Miller? Start to get a good thing going in the small market town and then leave for the titles and the $$.

Columbia: New York Knicks
Not just because they both happen to ball in a city that produced exactly zero of the ESPN 150 basketball recruits. Talking about the Knicks pre-Zeke, both have fans that are the biggest trash talkers around, and both have a nice round number of championships in the last three decades. Also considered: Ottawa Senators for the perennial "this is their year" talk and the perennial "this isn't their year" results.

Cornell: Pittsburgh Penguins
How could you not use a pucks comparison at Hockey U.? Both have struggled for what's seemed like an eternity, have all the young pieces in place, but might be just a year away.

Also considered: Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who might be a little more than a year away.

Dartmouth: Kansas City Royals
They used to be great, but anybody of my generation (or in Dartmouth's case, the previous generation) would have to read that glory in a book. If people of my generation still read books.

Harvard: Seattle Mariners
Have been the homes of some of their league's best individual talents recently, but have done absolutely nothing as a team.

Also considered: Detroit Lions for, until this month, the "How does he still have a job?" reaction for Sullivan/Millen.

Also also considered: Colorado Rockies, Seattle Mariners again, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks (for the next two months), Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Ottawa Senators, Atlanta Thrashers, Nashville Predators, Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks, Phoenix Coyotes, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, San Diego Chargers, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans, Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions again, Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, Phoenix Suns, New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets and Minnesota Timberwolves for never winning a league title.

Penn: Atlanta Braves
And we're talking about the 1991-2005 Braves. Always get there, never win in the playoffs. But the big difference is that if they played NCAA Tournament games at the Palestra, Penn might sell them out.

Also considered: New York Yankees, Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, New England Patriots for their sheer dominance of their divisions.

Princeton: New Jersey Devils
And not just because that's what Penn fans call the Tigers regularly. While nobody's accusing Princeton of ruining basketball the way people have the Devils, the similarities are too plentiful to ignore. Both have been extremely successful with a gimmicky system, trying to slow the game down. In the process, both have made their sports nearly unwatchable -- Princeton to a much lesser extent. And other than one player (Zach Woolridge/Scott Gomez) both are total whitewashes.

Also considered: Boston Celtics and Oakland Raiders -- Historically great franchises that have fallen on some hard times lately.

Yale: Boston Red Sox
If only the Ivy League had a Wild Card spot too.



More from Danley

OK, Steve Danley, this isn't funny any more.

I never tried to take your job when you were on the basketball team, so any time you'd like to stop trying to take mine, that would be OK.



Ask and ye shall receive

Several of the DP's columnists have been critical of the University's marketing efforts, often bemoaning that non-revenue sports are marketed poorly or not at all.

This afternoon, I found an email in my inbox from "Quaker the mascot" inviting me to the W. Tennis match on Saturday. "Quaker" and the athletic department are bribing fans with free t-shirts and free Lorenzo's Pizza.

Now, we sit back and see whether that little extra effort that the columnists have called for is enough to bring fans to a game they wouldn't otherwise attend.



JTIII trivia answer

Pencils down, here's the answer.

Yesterday, I asked you who was the only Ivy League graduate other than Lou Rossini, Butch van Breda Kolff and soon to be John Thompson III to coach in the Final Four. I also told you he's been one of the most influential people in the history of basketball.

In fact, he's a Hall of Famer, and his name is Dave Gavitt.

Gavitt, a 1959 Dartmouth graduate coached the Green and led Providence to the 1973 Final Four. He then went on to be the strongest force behind the founding of the Big East Conference and its commissioner during the height of its dominance in the 1980s.

When that tenure was over, Gavitt went on to preside over the establishment of the Dream Team during his leadership of USA Basketball.



Firing back at Scott

The Daily Princetonian, publishing yesterday for the first time since Joe Scott's departure, gave a couple of former players a chance to fire away at the coach who turned a 13-1 Ivy champion with four starters returning to a 6-8 nightmare.

The full text of the article is here but I'll give you a few exerpts, starting with the gem from one of said starters.

"For the last three years, I've tried to maintain a degree of class when referring to Joe Scott despite everything inside me telling me to expose the type of person he was toward me," [Judson] Wallace said, adding that the news of Scott's hasty departure did not strike him as being out of character for the coach.

"Knowing the type of person he is," Wallace added, "I can easily see how Joe Scott could talk and talk about having guts and character and always be talking down to people, then run like a scared child from the pressure of a tough situation."

And perhaps the only one relevant to today's team comes from one of Scott's numerous defectors, Noah Levine (no relation).

"I will definitely consider asking for a tryout, but I left the team for many reasons, and those reasons still hold true, regardless of the coach," Levine said. "However, with such a significant change in the program, I would consider asking for a tryout."

As I wrote in this column, Joe Scott's regime was threatening the health of Princeton basketball.

Now that he's gone, don't be surprised to see many more healing steps like the one Levine is asking for.



6-0 Cornell? No problem

To re-use the old cliche, when Penn plays Harvard, you throw out the records.

Last year, the Quakers lacrosse team came in with a 6-0 (1-0 Ivy) mark, and lost to the Crimson. This year it was switched though -- Harvard was 0-4 coming in, but managed to come away with a 7-6 win in overtime.

The Red and Blue are hoping that this trend continues, just with Cornell. Last year, the Quakers dumped No. 2 Cornell (6-0, 1-0) in a huge upset, and this Saturday face an undefeated Cornell squad with the exact same record as last season, and now boast the No. 1 overall mark in the InsideLacrosse.com poll.

It was hard for the Quakers to pinpoint a central area of the game as the key in the loss to Harvard, but time of possession may have been that silver bullet. The offense produced only six goals, but it's difficult to score when the other team has the ball.

"Our offense played well, it's just giving them a chance to get on a roll," said senior middie Matt Kelleher. "It was really time of possession." We were on defense the whole game and couldn't get it out of our own end."

While that stat was not directly kept, the time of possession is evidenced by Harvard's 36 shots (to Penn's 26) and +9 turnover margin (20-11).

After benching veteran goalie Greg Klossner, who was far too inconsistent, freshman Chris Casey has kept more balls out of the net each game since his first start in net.

All in overtime games, he allowed 11 goals in the 2OT loss to Maryland-Baltimore County (10 saves), allowed 9 goals in the 2OT win over Yale (eight saves) and by far the best of all, allowed seven goals (with 12 saves) in the overtime loss to the Crimson.

And he'll most certainly have to keep his improvement streak going if Penn wants to beat the top-ranked Big Red.



JTIII trivia

Yesterday was a day to remember for any Georgetown or Florida fans, but it was also a big day in the history of the Ivy League.

Hoyas coach John Thompson III became just the second man to reach the Final Four with a different team after taking an Ivy League team to the Tournament (Princeton in 2001 and 2004)

The first was Lou Rossini, who led Columbia to the Tournament in 1951, technically pre-Ivy League. Rossini followed that up by taking New York University to the Division I Final Four in 1960.

Thompson will also become the fourth Ivy League grad to coach in the Final Four. Rossini, a Columbia alumnus is one. Butch van Breda Kolff, a Princeton man, who led the Tigers to the 1965 Final Four, is another.

The list of Ivy graduates to coach in the Tournament runs a dozen names long and includes Joe Scott, Fran McCaffery, Craig Littlepage, Dick Harter and the disgraced Dave Bliss (Cornell -- 65).

But none of those guys has reached a Final Four.

The only other one to pull off that feat is arguably one of the most important figures ever to grace the world of college basketball. Any guesses?

Answer to come tomorrow.



The stakes get higher

Oh, to be a Division I basketball recruit.

Jeff Peterson, a sought-after 5-11 point guard from Dematha Catholic in Maryland, was so flush with interest that he de-committed from Princeton in January, then stirred up interest from Iowa, Xavier, and St. Louis, where he visited recently. Maybe he saw that rising Princeton sophomore Marcus Schroeder was leading the nation in minutes per game at the PG spot. Or maybe, like many of us, he sensed that Joe Scott's days with the Tigers were numbered.

But Peterson's coach was quoted as saying that the young man's plans were thrown into whack a bit by Steve Alford's move from Iowa to New Mexico last week. And Peterson himself was quoted about a month ago that he "could still go to Princeton" if things didn't work out elsewhere. So now Princeton might have the slightest of openings to steal away what might have been the centerpeice of the Tigers' Class of 2011.

And if you're Gary Walters, the stakes of your search for a new hoops coach just got a little higher.



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