Just as the football team did, the men's lacrosse squad has now played three straight overtime games. And also like the gridiron Quakers, the lacrosse team hasn't had too much success in the extra session.
The Quakers lost to Harvard yesterday in overtime, as the Crimson netted the golden goal about one minute in. Penn lost at Maryland Baltimore County 11-10 in 2OT, then beat Yale at home in the Ivy opener 10-9 in 2OT, and now drops its second league game, 7-6. The football team dropped all three of its overtime games, to Yale, Brown and then Princeton.
Up until the split against Yale and Harvard, the Quakers had only played two overtime games in their last 23, both against UMBC.
When Joe Scott got fired, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
I'll admit it; I was worried about not having summer employment.
At least now I have something to fall back on, right? No way they could turn me away from the Princeton job, which now has the reputation of turning Tournament-caliber coaches into hoarse chain-smokers.
Then, I visited Princeton's post on the NCAA's job site: apparently you actually have to have "a successful background in coaching basketball." And what's more, you have to certify yourself in CPR.
Damn. Looks like I'm out.
But that's nothing compared to the requirements at Harvard**, which seems awful picky for a school that's never been to the Dance. Here's a dealbreaker if I ever saw one:
"Ability to work in accordance with Harvard, Ivy League and NCAA rules/guidelines. Nights, weekends and travel required."
Ouch. Nights AND weekends? No wonder they got stuck with the same guy for 16 years.
So now that the Crimson and Tigers are out, I'm down to my last hope: the Big Ten. Specifically, the University of Michigan. And I'm optimistic, because the comprehensive "minimum qualifications" are as follows:
1. Bachelor's degree required.
Well, I almost have it...that counts, right?
**(I printed it out, but in the past few days, Harvard's taken down its ad. You'll have to take my word on this one. Or as Norries Wilson put it: "If you want me to send you the clip, I'll send you the clip.")
It's been a tough week for speechwriters around the college basketball world.
In three places, coaches have had to act like they'd just gone from Southeastern State U. to UCLA when they switched jobs.
In reality, they'd gone from Princeton to Denver, Iowa to New Mexico and Kentucky to Minnesota. Not because they were going to have a better job, but because they were still going to have a job.
Joe Scott, Steve Alford and Tubby Smith may have had just days or weeks before they were going to be fired. I can't be sure; I'm not close enough to any of the programs.
But if not, they might have all made the right move, going to places where they weren't yet a tired act to avoid an axe that was getting closer and closer to their heads. All three went to lower-pressure jobs where they can build a program instead of having to uphold high standards.
It's an interesting trend that I can't remember seeing too many examples of before the coaching carousel spun three of these revolutions in two days. But if somebody can help me out, please post and enlighten me.
First off, congratulations to Penn guard Ibrahim Jaaber, who has been invited to play at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. If you're not familiar with the event, it's a showcase tournament for college seniors to show off for NBA and foreign scouts, held in Portsmouth, Va., early next month.
The last Penn player to play there was Tim Begley two years ago. Hopefully Jaaber can impress enough to get a shot to make an NBA roster over the summer.
Now, for the irrelevant, but good stuff:
Much has been made about Penn's nine-game NCAA Tournament losing streak. Last year, we figured out that Fran Dunphy's eight-game slide is the longest for all coaches. But are the Quakers in possession of the longest slide in history?
Not quite, but they're close. Here are the top 12 losing streaks of all time (with 11 of them happening to be current)...years of the streak are in parentheses:
1- Murray State: 11 -- 1 2nd round, 10 1st round (1988-present)
2t- North Carolina A&T: 9 -- Never won a game, including seven straight years from '82-'88 (1982-present)
2t- Holy Cross: 9 -- 1 Elite 8, 8 1st round (1953-present)
2t- Penn: 9 -- 1 2nd round, 8 1st round (1994-present)
5t- Louisiana-Monroe: 7 -- Never won a game (1982-present)
5t- Eastern Kentucky: 7 -- Ditto. (1953-present)
5t- Davidson: 7 -- 1 Elite 8, 6 1st round (1969-present)
9t- Nebraska: 6 -- Never won a game (1986-present)
9t- BYU: 6 -- 1 2nd round, 5 1st round (1993-present)
By the way, BYU has just passed Princeton for the worst record to .500 in NCAA Tournament history, at 11-25. The Tigers are 13-27. Penn, meanwhile, sits in third worst at 13-25.
9t- Northeastern: 6 -- 1 2nd round, 5 1st round (1982-present)
9t- Winthrop: 6 -- Broken this year! 6 1st round (1999-2006)
Next up, we have the title of "Worst Team Ever." Every tournament in all sports, I like to see who is the "worst" team, in that it lost to a team that lost to a team that lost to a team, etc., until the champion. For example, last year's team was Iowa, which lost to Northwestern State, which lost to West Virginia, which lost to Texas, which lost to LSU, which lost to UCLA, which lost to Florida.
Since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939, the team that has done this more than any other, and thus is "The Worst Team Ever," are your Wyoming Cowboys! Here are all the teams to have done this at least twice (Don't worry Penn fans, the Quakers can't do it this year since Texas A&M beat Louisville):
Wyoming, 4: 1941, 1947, 1948, 1953
BYU, 3: 1950, 1957, 1979
Kentucky, 3: 1945, 1955, 1964
Princeton, 3: 1952, 1969, 2001
St. John's, 3: 1978, 1984, 1988
Arkansas, 2: 1949, 1958
Bowling Green, 2: 1959, 1968
Furman, 2: 1973, 1975
Louisville, 2: 1974, 1977
Rhode Island, 2: 1961, 1966
Temple, 2: 1944, 1967
Incidentally, Penn has only done this once, in 1970.
Finally, we have an Anything but Uniform special edition. You may have noticed that Nike decided that four teams needed radically different uniform designs just for the postseason, so they unveiled The "System of Dress" for Syracuse, Arizona, Florida and Ohio State.
I don't normally like to comment on national uniform issues, but when we were in Lexington last week I couldn't resist asking an Ohio State player about it. Also, it doubled as a legitimate excuse to go to the Buckeyes' locker room to see the Man-Child.
So I asked Ivan Harris what he thought of the uniforms, and I got an interesting answer. First, he liked the fact that the OSU unis, as opposed to all the other System of Dress teams, have the LeBron James logo on them. What's funny about that, of course, is that when I say LeBron, I'm sure college basketball is exactly what you think of. But he is from Ohio, and maybe would have been at OSU for a year if the NBA age limit was in effect then. Never mind, it's still ridiculous.
Harris also said he likes the look of the tight jersey and huge baggy shorts.
"It's a nice fit. It's a nice style," he said.
The best thing he said though, was specifically about the tight jerseys.
"Not much to grab, that's good for the jersey," Harris said.
That's a pretty good point, and goes along with football players having tighter and tighter sleeves to reduce holding. It is probably annoying to be constantly getting grabbed when playing. I think all Princeton opponents would benefit from this kind of jersey.
Anyway, that's it for me. Enjoy Bill Raftery.
You know what they always say. Stuff happens. But some stuff happens all the time, and some stuff hasn't happened in a while.
Here's some stuff that just happened and when else that stuff happened.
The event: The Ivy League went nine straight years without winning an NCAA Tournament game.
The last time: 1985-1993
The details: Just those two. With one more loss, the Ivies will break the collective consecutive record for futility.
The event: A Penn player (Ibrahim Jaaber) has scored 15 or more points three times in his Tournament career.
The last time: Ugonna Onyekwe 2000, 2002, 2003
The details: The always-consistent Jaaber went 15, 15, 16 in 2005, 2006 and 2007, while U dropped 17 as a freshman followed by 16 and 30 in his final two seasons.
The event: No team in the lower half of the seeds made the Sweet 16
The last time: 1995
The details: In fact, '95 was the only year since the tournament seeding began that no 9-seed or below (or 7-seed or below back when there were only 48 teams) has made it to the round of 16.
The event: Two Penn starters went without a field goal in a Tournament game.
The last time: Paul Romanczuk and Geoff Owens in 1999.
The details: This year it was Steve Danley, who gets an asterisk for his injury and the 0-for-6 Darren Smith who did the trick. Back in '99, Romanczuk went 0-for-3 and Owens didn't attempt a field goal, although he went 3-for-6 from the line in the loss to Florida.
The event: The same pair of Quakers players (Jaaber and Mark Zoller) reached double figures in three straight Touranament games.
The last time: Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney (4 straight games from 1993-95)
The details: Maloney and Allen combined for 53 points in Penn's OT loss to Alabama in 1995.
The event: No Ivy hockey team made the NCAA hockey tournament.
The last time: 2001, back before the field expanded from 12 to 16.
The details: Down year for the usually powerful Ancient Six. Since '01, Cornell and Harvard have each made it, with both making the field the last two years.
The event: Two players have combined for more than two-thirds of Penn's points in a Tournament game (Jaaber and Zoller 35/52)
The last time: Onyekwe and Andy Toole in 2003
The details: Ugonna's 30 and Toole's 14 were just over two-thirds of the Quakers' 63 against Oklahoma State.
The event: Eight Penn players scored in an NCAA Tournament game.
The last time: 2002 against Cal
The details: For the last time more than eight got their names in the points column, go all the way back to the consolation game loss to DePaul at the 1979 Final Four in Salt Lake City when nine did it.
The event: No team from the Northeast (and I make the rules on this one) made the Sweet 16.
The last time: 1986
The details: I don't count Washington (Georgetown) or Pittsburgh as the Northeast. Actually 1986 is the only time other time in the 69 tournaments that this has happened. That is, unless you're counting 1986 sweetheart Navy as being in the Northeast. Then it's never happened.
I can't believe what I have just seen in the last two hours. First, Clemson beat Syracuse after nearly blowing a 17-point second half lead and its students rushed the court.
Then Air Force held on in a tight game against De Paul and the Falcons fans stormed the court.
In case you're not aware, this was the QUARTERFINALS OF THE NIT!!!!!!! Both home teams were favored (at least by the NIT committee) and while this was the last home game of the season for these schools, it is absolutely inexcusable to rush the court in the quarters of the NIT. First of all, it's the quarterfinals, and second, it's the NIT! I can't even say this any other way.
And Clemson was up 17 in the second and almost blew the game! What if they won by 20? Still rushing?
And there's no way this happens if these games aren't on TV. So you may have disagreed with me about the Penn-Temple game, but this is what I'm afraid of. If court rushing becomes so casual, then it's no longer special. It's just like singing the Red and the Blue after Penn games.
I find it hard to believe, and I'm sure many other people do as well, that it was former Princeton coach Joe Scott's decision to leave Princeton to become the head coach at the University of Denver.
You might think that it had to be because Princeton (11-17, 266 Pomeroy RPI) is so bad, but that is not the case. Well, the Orange and Black are, indeed, horrible, but they aren't as bad as Denver. The Pioneers went 4-25 overall and 3-16 in the prestigious Sun Belt Conference. In Ken Pomeroy's RPI ratings he has Denver at 335 of 336.
When it got to play good teams, Denver lost to Stanford 82-39, to Wyoming 91-59, but the showing was worse in-conference.
The Pioneers somehow beat West division winner Arkansas State (11-7 Sun Belt), but lost to both Middle Tennessee and Arkansas Little Rock by 26, and Louisiana Monroe by 36. What's even worse is that Northern Colorado -- the only team lower than Denver in the RPI -- beat Denver, 74-59.
Here's what Scott said today.
"The head coaching position at the University of Denver represents a great opportunity for me both professionally and personally," Scott said today. "DU showed a real interest, a genuine commitment and a high level of understanding of what it takes to be competitive in Division I basketball. We're going to work hard every day to build our program and define the Denver brand of basketball. I think the way we do things matches up really well with the vision and mission of the University of Denver."
Did Princeton not have that same commitment to basketball? That seems like the only real reason he gives for leaving his alma mater for the Pioneers. But if there's a team with a commitment to basketball it's got to be the one with the second-worst RPI.
Here's what Scott said following his team's loss to Penn.
"I'm extremely disappointed in the outcome of the games, extremely disappointed in the record. It hurts a lot, but at the same point in time I see promise. I see young guys with the ability to get better, and I see us in those games with numerous chances to win those games.
"I'm confident in our younger guys because they're workers," Scott said. "The level of their love to play -- we're going to find all that stuff out. But if you combine the love to play with the work ethic plus the experience that they just went through, that's how you make a jump and do get better."
Sure sounds like a coach itching to get out.
In this morning's paper, we gave you the best of the best. Our four-year All-Ivy, All-Big 5 and All-Penn-opponents teams. Now it's time for that list that didn't quite make the print edition starting lineup.
The four-year Penn all-bench team.
Before we get started with the best of the bench, let me first tell you how important this role is to me. Simply because this was me. In high school, I was the guy who scored five points all season, the guy who would only see the floor if we were up 20 or down 20. So on a personal level, here's to the guy who's the first one at practice, the guy who lightens the mood and the guy who busts his butt for that few minutes a game when he does see the spotlight.
Here are the four categories by which we scored the nine nominees from the last four years on a scale of 1-5.
1. "Captain of the bench" -- A term coined by my high school volleyball team (the one sport where I wasn't a scrub), captain of the bench refers to the guy who seems to really want to be there. He embraces his role and doesn't let 40 minutes of pine get to him. Automatic 0 if you quit the team.
2. Fan support -- Is he the guy who everybody in the crowd cheers for when the Quakers are wiping the floor with Dartmouth? Or is he the guy that makes the fans hold their breath every time he comes in? Or is he the guy who sends everyone in the crowd leafing through their program?
3. Memorable scrub moments
4. Bonus points at our discretion
Thanks to Matt Meltzer and Josh Hirsch for their input on this list.
Your candidates in alphabetical order.
1. Aron Cohen
Captain of the bench: 1
Fan support: 1, Doesn't seem to receive that much love from the Red & Blue Crew.
Scrub moment: 5, He lived every bencher's dream when he took the shot to take the lead in the final seconds against UTEP, but he missed on the 23-footer.
Bonus points: 4, Big bonus points for never having attempted a two-point field goal in his career.
Total score: 10
2. Adam Franklin
Captain of the bench: 3, Always seems to be having a good time down there.
Fan support: 5, Has gotten the most chants during garbage time since Solomito.
Scrub moments: 1, His seven-point outburst in two minutes up in Syracuse gets him a well-earned point.
Bonus points: 5, A handful for being able to touch the ceiling of the Palestra on the broad jump.
Total score: 14
3. Joe Gill
Captain of the bench: 5, The undisputed captain of the bench. We wish we could have given him more for his role of patting down and directing Brian Grandieri in every pregame handshake. And for being the team's social director. Embraces every bit of what being a bencher is all about.
Fan support: 5, The people's champion.
Scrub moments: 1, for never having made a field goal in his career. But the team-first guy does have some assists.
Bonus points: 2, for his excessive lank.
Total score: 13
4. Eric Heil
Captain of the bench: 2, got a bit of a late start with the transfer
Fan support: 2
Scrub moments: 1, Not too many memorable ones.
Bonus points: 5, Another full handful awarded. This one for being engaged while playing on the team.
Total score: 10
5. Greg Kuchinski
Captain of the bench: 4, Was only on the team one year, but was certainly one of the guys right away.
Fan support: 1, Didn't have much time to develop a relationship with section 115. He was the "who's that" guy.
Scrub moment: 4, Barely played all year until he was put in the Princeton game in overtime. Welcome to Penn basketball.
Bonus points: 1, for checking my ID at Blarney's.
Total score: 10
6. Pat Lang
Captain of the bench: 0, Automatic for defecting.
Fan support: 5, Automatic for hitting the cheesesteak shot against Harvard back in 2004.
Scrub moment: 5, Ditto. The moment that can turn any bencher into a hero.
Bonus points: 2, One for being jacked. One for being attached at the hip to Conor Tolan.
Total score: 12
7. Cameron Lewis
Captain of the bench: 3, Always a hard worker. Always has a smile on his face.
Fan support: 3, Gets his fair share of cheers as the crowd hopes for that big garbage time block.
Scrub moments: 4, Every time he steps to the line, it's a great moment.
Bonus points: 1, For being able to send a shot into the upper deck.
Total score: 11
8. Nameir Majette
Captain of the bench: 4, Another guy with a smile on his face all the time.
Fan support: 3, Not the fan favorite, but always got a good cheer.
Scrub moment: 5, For perhaps the greatest moment by a scrub of all-time. Majette had the entire crowd cracking up when he went up for a dunk, bounced it 15 feet in the air off the front rim and watched it go back down for the deuce.
Bonus points: 3, For the height alone.
Total score: 15
9. Lorenz Manthey
Captain of the bench: 0, Automatic for quitting the team.
Fan support: 0, Lorenz who?
Scrub moments: 0
Bonus points: 3, For being German.
Total score: 3
10. Conor Tolan
Captain of the bench: 0, Automatic.
Fan support: 5, Who wouldn't want to see a 7-foot-tall Irishman in the basketball game?
Scrub moments: 1, for never making a field goal in his career.
Bonus points: 5, for being able to do pull-ups at the gym starting from his knees.
Total score: 11
So here are your top five totals, making up the four-year all-bench team:
Majette: 15
Franklin: 14
Gill: 13
Lang: 12
Tolan: 11
Lewis: 11
To break the tie in a very scientific manner, we declared Tolan the fifth. Frankly, we'd be scared not to.
ESPN.com's Andy Katz has reported that the University of Denver has hired Princeton's Joe Scott as its new head coach.
Scott leaves Princeton after three seasons that saw Princeton's first sub-.500 conference record and a 2-12 mark this year.
Denver fired six-year coach Terry Carroll after a 4-25 finish this season.
The University of Denver's Sports Information Director would not confirm to The Daily Pennsylvanian that Scott has been hired, but confirmed that a press conference will be held at 5 p.m. EDT tomorrow.
Look in tomorrow's DP for much more.
When I woke up this morning, I already had two emails about my column so I decided I had better put this up now.
In addition to what I wrote, I wanted to share a couple more examples of what I was talking about. On ESPN from Sunday to Wednesday, there was this little scroller with facts about all the teams in the Tournament. Penn head coach Glen Miller was displayed as bandleader Glenn Miller. No fact-checking there, for four days.
On the other hand, CBS color man Dan Bonner called Penn's opponent, Texas A&M "Oklahoma" (same colors) and Texas Tech (same state) once each. The Aggies are not known for their basketball, and have barely been in the Tournament before Billy Gillespie took over three years ago. However, with a deep run this year and some more successes in the future, Texas A&M will be on the map and no one will confuse it with anything else.
I don't think Penn needs to make that kind of run, though. Again, this is one of the top 10 schools in the country. In academia, everyone knows what Penn is. But in sports, people seem to have no clue (and I'm not talking about some non-revenue sports where there are few schools competing and those people know what Penn is).
A few years ago, it appears that the school made a concerted effort to get people to stop calling it "Pennsylvania" and go to the more modern (I guess) "Penn." But the media cannot quite catch on to this, which I think adds to the confusion. In the beginning of all Penn athletics media guides, there is this little paragraph:
"It's Penn, Please:" The first time you mention us on-air or in columns, please use our full name -- the University Pennsylvania. After that, we ask that you refer
simply as Penn. We would ask that you refrain from calling
Pennsylvania at any time. Thanks for your cooperation!
If you've watched Penn coverage recently, you know that this is not the case in the national media. Half the time it's "Penn," sometimes it's "Pennsylvania," and there is not much consistency (although in games, it's usually "Penn" for most of the game).
I personally think that "Penn" sounds better than "Pennsylvania," but it does lead to the confusion with Penn State, which "Pennsylvania" probably does not. I'm not really sure what the answer is there, except to somehow make people know that "Penn" is not Penn State by making everyone know what "Penn" is.
Part of that, I think, can be accomplished by selling more merchandise. Except for Penn's Web site and a very limited number of items on some obscure sites, you really can't get Penn merchandise outside of Penn's campus. Especially in Philadelphia, I think that the school can do a better job of creating a fan base. No one knows who Penn is because there are essentially no Penn fans who have no connection to the school.
I am planning to try to talk to the Penn marketing department to see what they think about this and how they think their rebranding has gone, as a whole. And if that fails, maybe this can be a project for some Wharton marketing students.
A surprising non-factor in the Penn game and the Aggies' close win over 6-seed Louisville was Texas A&M's Josh Carter. After I got to praise him as the nation's number one three point shooter (51.6%), he goes out and hits 1-of-6 against the Quakers, and only went 1-of-2 in limited time in the foul fest a day later.
And it wasn't like he was getting blanketed - the Quakers started the game in a zone. Penn was more focused on stopping Acie Law's drives and Joseph Jones in the post, so Carter was left wide open from the right corner, he just couldn't hit anything. He kept gunning, and time after time was off. He didn't even attempt a shot after his five first-half misses.
To state the obvious, Texas A&M wins more often when he hits threes. But he's so valuable to a team with such a good point guard and such a solid man on the inside that if Carter is automatic from three, a defense must either let Law and Jones tear them up, or let Carter drop eight threes like he did at Nebraska last month.
If Carter gets out of his slump, you have to believe A&M is going to Atlanta.
Note:
Carter's 16.6% against Penn was his worst shooting day since he shot 0-for-3 in a two-point loss to Texas Tech in January.
LOUISVILLE LEXINGTON, Ky. -- What a day of basketball.
First, The OSU wakes up with about three minutes left and wins a thriller in overtime. Then ATM overcomes Louisville's home crowd and wins a 51-foul affair when Edgar Sosa's last-second shot fails.
Although I'm kind of glad that there were 51 fouls called. On a day when tickets were going for north of $300, I'm sure they were all there to see Curtis Shaw, Gary Maxwell and Terry Wymer.
Most of those who purchased tickets were Louisville fans, who overran the city of Lexington, just 80 miles away or so.
However, if you asked them where they were from, they wouldn't say "Louisville," rather something that sounded a bit like "Luh'l"
It's part of the great tradition that I've noticed in many three-syllable cities. "Toronto" becomes "Trono." Baltimore is "Balmore." And Rochester is just "Roch-ster." But Louisville takes it a step farther by kicking two syllables to the curb.
I asked my brother Ethan, a Penn linguistics major, why this happens, and here's his response.
Weakening and/or loss of unstressed syllables, as in Baltimore, Toronto, and
Rochester, especially during casual speech, is a hallmark of many dialects of
American English. The phonetic process by which this occurs is known as
elision. The pronunciation of Louisville, however, requires a bit more complex
of an explanation: The people who live there are retarded.
Well said.
Other than the games, our last day in Lexington was pretty uneventful. But we'll miss it here. miss making mint juleps in our hotel room coffee maker. And Fred will miss the sweet tea. And most of all, we'll miss the man-child, who we finally saw today.
Greg Oden was a man among boys, who can't really play offense. But he does enjoy talking with young people, according to the media guide. Talking with young people? What is this guy, 40? Wait, yes he is.
He must enjoy going into his son, Kevin Durant's, class and speaking with the young people.
Basketball games watched final total: 43
It's been fun. see you back in Philly.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- So the team's long gone by now, but optimists that we are, our flight back's not until Sunday.
So, what do you do when you have a couple of days to kill in Central Kentucky? One word: bourbon.
The Woodford Reserve distillery about half an hour outside of Lexington was our destination this afternoon as we left our hotel around noon. Three hours later, we showed up just in time to for the last tour of the day. To say the trip there was an adventure, would be one heck of an understatement.
Before we left Lexington, we had to grab food. Hirsch grew up on Long Island and had never experienced Waffle House. Thus, for lunch, we hit up the South's favorite greasy spoon. After making a full circle around downtown Lexington in Shafer's rental, we found the restaurant all of a mile from the hotel we left at least twenty minutes earlier. Waffle House was exactly what you would expect. Behind the counter the cooks were cleaning the floor with a hose spraying water throughout the restaurant. At the counter, a potential Waffle House line cook filled out an application while donning a cap which noted, "I Love Jesus."
When our waitress heard we were in town to watch Penn she lamented the Quakers defeat informing us she had Penn in her bracket because in her words, "they sometimes win in the tournament." When we informed her the Quakes had just run their losing streak in the first round to eight she said she just had to go with the underdog. Anyway, Waffle House was exactly what you would expect. The food was greasy, the service friendly, and most importantly, the tea very sweet (fulfilling my self-proclaimed goal of finding my beloved sweet tea in Kentucky). Our waitress kept the tea coming throughout lunch and on the way out even gave me a cup for the road.
With lunch out of the way our sights were set on bourbon. The road to the distillery took us through the town of Versailles, Kentucky. You (and I) probably pronounced the town's name the same way you'd pronounce the Sun King's palace. Apparently we're wrong. For some reason the proud residents of Versailles pronounce it ver-SAILS. When I first heard the name during a traffic report, I burst out laughing. Anyway, Shafer and Hirsch decided to trust the GPS on Jeff's cell phone instead of following the road signs marking the direction of the distillery. Great decision.
Instead of turning down the road to the distillery, we took a road that would soon shrink to one lane. Quickly the scene turned into something out of Deliverance. Over the course of a couple miles the road's scenery changed from smaller houses to decrepit and abandoned distilleries along the Kentucky River. These buildings were literally falling apart. Then came trailer homes, a small brush fire, and two vultures feasting on roadkill. Not quite chamber of commerce material.
After that experience, the road that actually led to the distillery was like a slice of heaven. Wide green pastures, horses, a creek, and thankfully the Woodford Reserve distillery, our original destination. Honestly, after all that, the distillery was pretty forgettable. We walked around a bunch of machines and then they gave us shots of bourbon.
Basketball games watched: 35 Including Big 5 member Villanova's loss to Lexington's finest. We also listened to the Nevada-Creighton OT thriller and UNLV-Georgia Tech games on the radio during our excursion.
Quotes of the day:
"I'm gonna whoop you like your mom whooped you." -- Our waitress at Waffle House to the cook spraying the kitchen floor clean.
"You sure you want it medium rare? It'll still be mooing." -- That same waitress commenting on my hamburger order.
"I can't believe that was a decision made by two responsible adults." -- Shafer, on my existence.
Stats of the day:
10: Number of glasses of sweet tea drank by yours truly over the course of lunch and dinner at Joe Bologna, an Italian joint recommended by Kentucky native Brennan Votel.
6: Dead animals seen while driving to and from the bourbon distillery, including one unspecified animal which two buzzards were gnawing in the middle of a one-laned road.
4: Number of wrong turns Shafer made on the way to Waffle House, the distillery, and back. And that's using a very generous definition of "wrong turns".
I was all set to catch an afternoon flight out of Philly to Detroit for the semifinals of the NCAA wrestling championships, but unfortunately nature intervened.
So as I instead spent the day watching tourney games, defending national champion Matt Valenti advanced again to the finals at 133 pounds.
Valenti will face Coleman Scott of Oklahoma, who scored an upset in the semifinals over Michigan State's Nick Simmons, the No. 1 seed.
Matt Herrington, who was knocked out of title contention in the quarterfinal round, had to forfeit his wrestleback match against Steve Luke of Michigan after suffering an ankle injury. It was a disappointing finish for the All-American in his last collegiate match.
So contrary to the mention in today's DP that I would have a live report for Monday, I'll be watching from my living room - the match will be broadcast live on ESPN starting at 8 p.m.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- What makes me convinced Texas A&M is maybe the best defensive team in the country is the way it stuffed Penn's backdoor cuts. Maybe they just watched UCLA's 41-43 loss to 13-seed Princeton in the Tournament (a game that, like Penn's this year, started 7-0 in favor of the favorite), in which the Tigers won on a backdoor cut.
And you might think that it's not too hard to stop a cut to the basket, but the Quakers torched UNC earlier this season through their passes into the high post and then sharp cuts to the hoop.
But Texas A&M did a superb job of not only knowing the cuts were coming, but sticking like glue to guys like Brian Grandieri and Darren Smith trying to find their way through the man defense. As a result Penn didn't get a single free layup thanks to their motion offense in the half-court, they scored virtually all of their inside points off of drives from Ibrahim Jaaber and Mark Zoller.
"All our guys really helped defend pretty well today, and I can't recall a backdoor that they got," Aggies coach Billy Gillispie said.
"I thought the best defender of the game was maybe Joe Jones. Not taking anything away from Marlon [Pompey] or Dominique [Kirk], or Acie [Law] or anyone who played, Joe did the best job he's done probably in his career helping against a really tough team to help against"
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The man-child has eluded us yet again.
We're now 0-for-2 in our quest to take in Greg Oden up close, missing Wednesday when we lost track of time and yesterday when we were too busy writing to attend his game against Central Connecticut High School.
Sorry to pick on the Blue Devils. They're actually really hard not to root for. They have only nine players on their team and had unreal height disadvantages at every position.
But that wasn't even the most lopsided game of the day. Whatever the final score was, the Louisville-Stanford game was 10 times worse.
Stanford looked like it had never seen a full-court press before, the way they were throwing the ball around.
Speaking of Stanford, in the "you can't blame the genetic lottery for this" category, what's up with the Lopez twins?
Brook, who Wheeling correctly pointed out about an hour and a half into the game, does not have an "e" in his name, is one of the best big men in the game. He was the only guy who could do anything right against U of L.
Brook's twin sister brother Robin, is a foul machine who couldn't really do anything on offense.
How is this possible? Didn't they have the same coaches all along? I mean, my brother played in high school, and I suck, but we have different bodies and had different coaches all through our careers. Shouldn't these guys with the same genes and the same drills under their belts not be so different on the court?
I'll never understand this one.
Basketball games watched: 25, including all 16 Tournament games yesterday.
Vital correction: Loyal Buzz reader Steven J. Bilsky pointed out that the Daily actually asked 11 questions during Wednesday's press conferences, not 10 as reported in the Day 2 post.
Moment of the day: Watching the aforementioned Bilsky get kicked out of the media buffet.
The ever-clever Bilsky used a classic line of "I'm with the cheerleaders," as he breezed past the guard who was checking that his pass said "M" for media, which it did not. Then after the guard tracked him down in the buffet line, he said he would go seek a higher authority from the NCAA to get him in. No word on how that turned out. But a nice job by Bilsky not to play the "Do you know who I am" card.
Quote of the day:"That's the first thing I thought of when I woke up today." -- Josh Hirsch on our morning discussion of us not putting this up last night.
Since he's not a senior, we'll blame it on Wheeling.
When the buzzer sounded, the pressure was all gone.
On me, that is.
For those of us 'lucky' DP staffers who held down the fort at 4015 Walnut this week, Penn's loss at least had the benefit of relieving us from another few days of NCAA Tournament coverage.
Can't imagine why we wouldn't want that. I mean really, who wants to spend more than 20 minutes awake and in your own room every day.
But now that I'm back here, sitting at my desk with my shoes off, after a week of endless phone calls, redesigns, edits, pizza and proofing, I'm starting to realize that maybe the job that had seemingly taken over everything was not so much a chore as an opportunity. A sports editor around March is like kid in a candy shop, even if the kid is sweating vigorously under deadline.
It's easy to neglect the rest of your life as a DP editor. But what makes the Tournament week special is that, for once, it's completely justified. This is what the people in the business wait all year for. And no amount of arguments over headlines or sleepless nights can make it any less worthwhile.
So when the buzzer sounded, the fun was all gone too.
And to those responsible for giving us the chance to cover the NCAA Tournament in the first place -- the players themselves -- thanks for a great year. And many thanks, as always, to our readers.
Incidentally, you can find that coverage here, here, here, here, here and here, and in much more aesthetically pleasing form in the print edition.
Texas A&M 68, Penn 52 (Final)
Jaaber, Zoller and Danley end their careers on the bench as the clock ticks down to zero. It's been a good four years for this group, which won three Ivy League titles but never had that Tournament win to punctuate it.
Next year should be an adventure for Miller with new guys having to go from role players to primary options. But we'll have plenty of time to discuss that in the next eight months.
It's been a pleasure keeping you updated this season on The Buzz. Stick with us for more commentary on this one and throughout the offseason.
Texas A&M 61, Penn 48 (2nd, 1:36)
The 13-point spread appears to be the only thing in danger now as Miller calls timeout down by just that margin. Since the Quakers took a two-point lead, it's been a 24-9 run by the Aggies.
It's going to be hard to point to one specific thing that Penn did wrong in this one. The shots just didn't fall (4-for-20 from three-point range). They got the looks they wanted and played reasonably good defense. A&M was just too strong and Law too good off the dribble.
Texas A&M 57, Penn 47 (2nd, 3:03)
This play just proves what we already knew. An Acie Law-Justin Reilly matchup won't turn out well for Penn. Law's blow-by and easy layup gives the Aggies another 10-point lead.
Texas A&M 55, Penn 45 (2nd, 4:08)
Sixth man Marlon Pompey has to exit after Zoller catches him with an arm while taking a layup. It's time for somebody like Zoller to take this game on his shoulders, but that airball on a three won't help.
A backbreaker from Kirk, who nails a three in the final seconds of the shot clock.
Texas A&M 49, Penn 43 (2nd, 5:49)
Zoller ends the nearly-six-minute drought with two straight baskets to give him 15 points for the game. But the Quakers, now losing the second chance points battle 13-2 just sent Law to the line when they couldn't come up with a rebound.
Texas A&M 47, Penn 39 (2nd, 7:28)
Miller finally calls timeout after watching his team endure five minutes of scoreless basketball while A&M has gone on a 10-0 run. Six second chance points and two isolation buckets by Law. It's pretty clear which of the two routes this game took at the critical juncture.
Texas A&M 43, Penn 39 (2nd, 10:04)
The prayer wasn't answered yet as Jones throws down two vicious dunks for A&M to give them the lead back. Quakes back to getting killed on their defensive glass.
Penn 39, Texas A&M 37 (2nd, 11:42)
The band couldn't have picked a better time for Living on a Prayer.
Penn 39, Texas A&M 37 (2nd, 11:42)
This is make or break time in any upset bid. We saw Oral Roberts tie the game with a huge run against No. 1 Memphis last year around this time. But they couldn't continue the run. This game could go either direction. A&M could come out of this timeout refocused and go on a run of their own. Or Penn could keep playing inspired basketball.
Now the Quakers have every Louisville fan on their side, and A&M looks a little rattled. These next few will be critical possessions.
Penn 39, Texas A&M 37 (2nd, 12:16)
Rupp Arena explodes as Ibrahim Jaaber lays it in following a brilliant save by Grandieri.
But at the other end, Zoller commits his third, and Kavaliauskas continues his free throw anti-clinic.
Texas A&M 37, Penn 37 (2nd, 13:26)
Now the fans are into it as Zollers three touches every piece of the rim and drops. Jaaber follows that with an acrobatic layup and conversion of the three-point play.
All new ball game, baby.
Texas A&M 37, Penn 31 (2nd, 14:14)
As Kavaliauskas bricks a pair of free throws, the Penn fans serenade him with the U!S!A! chant. Don't think Andreas Schreiber liked that one.
A Grandieri bucket brings the Quakers as close as they've been since 11-7, but Law ends the 11-1 run with two free throws.
Texas A&M 35, Penn 28 (2nd, 15:31)
A three by Reilly from the top of the key and a short jumper by Zoller give Penn som life early on in the half. The Quakers now have the crowd going and have to keep this momentum going after the media timeout. It's an 8-1 run.
This is Penn's chance to make some major noise with Smith going to the line.
The Penn fans are pleading for the Louisville faithful to get into the game. And if they're a fraction as loud as they were during UL's romp over Stanford, it could make a big difference.
Texas A&M 34, Penn 23 (2nd, 18:15)
And as soon as I say that, he converts a three-point play, making Penn's first free throw.
Texas A&M 34, Penn 20 (2nd, 18:32)
Zoller really having a rough time out there, as the big man is 1-for-6 from the floor, had a tipped pass slip through his hands and just got manhandled inside by Kavaliauskas. Meanwhile, Penn finally makes one from long distance, but Danley's three is well after a whistle for a foul.
Texas A&M 31, Penn 18 (Still Halftime)
This is why you have to love the NCAA Tournament. How is it still halftime?
Texas A&M 31, Penn 18 (Halftime)
Quakers finish the first half without attempting a free-throw, although A&M has only taken two. These officials can't wait to get out of Lexington. Maybe they couldn't find an open restaurant either.
Penn shooting 8-for-27 so far, while the Aggies have cooled off, going 13-for-26. But a cooldown doesn't seem to matter as much when they're leading 17-9 on the glass.
Jaaber leads the Quakers with 6 points, while Zoller is shooting 1-for-6 from the floor. And Kirk, who averages just 6.5 points per game for the Aggies, already has 10.
This is easily Penn's lowest-scoring first half of the season, breaking the mark of 24 set against Syracuse. The halftime deficit is tied for the largest of the season with the games at Syracuse and Seton Hall.
Texas A&M 31, Penn 18 (1st 0:39)
Smith and Lewis miss layups within a span of 20 seconds, and Carter finally heats up with a three on A&M's third shot of the possessions.
Penn fans getting very whiny, and the band has resorted to the "athlete-students" chant just as A&M gets more second-chance points.
Danley did return at the 2:17 mark. We'll see if he's feeling better or if this was desparation given the lack of strength on the defensive glass.
Texas A&M 26, Penn 13 (1st 3:57)
Still no sign of Danley since he's gone out. Looks like his back just couldn't hold up. Sad way to end a career if this really is the end for Penn.
Texas A&M 26, Penn 13 (1st 4:03)
The frontcourt carousel continues to spin as Votel picks up his second and is replaced by Cameron Lewis. None of the options seems to work as Jones and Kavaliauskas are having their way inside despite Penn's getting away with some serious jersey grabbing. Miller calls timeout as A&M capitalizes on two steals for easy layups.
Quakers now shooting 6-for-21 and 1-for-9 from three-point range, and the Aggies are on an 11-2 run.
Texas A&M 16, Penn 11 (1st 6:54)
The Quakers seem to have shaken the early jitters as they're taking some smart shots. Law is standing with hands on knees but still hits a big three on the next possession and an acrobatic driving layup the following time. That's why this guy will be an All-American.
Texas A&M 11, Penn 7 (1st 9:30)
The platoon of big men has begun to get some minutes with Justin Reilly taking the place of Votel. Penn is really getting away with something time after time as Carter has missed some wide open threes. Baskets by Jaaber and Egee keep Penn close.
Texas A&M 10, Penn 3 (1st 11:57)
Now one of Billy Gillispie's biggest fears is realized as Antanas Kavaliauskas picks up his second foul. Penn works it inside on offense, but Zoller misses an easy layup and travels on his next touch. Can't be doing that if you're trying to pull the huge upset. The only thing keeping Penn in the game is that the nation's top three point shooter, Josh Carter, keeps missing open shots from downtown.
Quakers now 1-for-12 from the field. No use having all these Louisville fans around if you're not going to give them anything to cheer about.
Texas A&M 10, Penn 3 (1st 13:03)
OK, raise your hand if you had a Brennan Votel three-pointer more than five minutes in as Penn's first field goal. But after missing their first seven, the Quakers are finally on the board. A&M executing well on offense, though, except for a couple of wayward passes.
Texas A&M 7, Penn 0 (1st 15:20)
Great news for Penn fans! When Princeton upset 4-seed UCLA in the Ivy League's last tournament upset in 1996, they also trailed a touchdown to nothing at the first media timeout. Just trying not to make it sound so bleak.
Danley goes out three minutes in, so we'll have to watch him carefully given the condition of his back. He missed badly on a three-pointer, but doesn't look terrible moving. The Quakers meanwhile can't buy a bucket, even thought they've gotten some good looks.
Texas A&M 2, Penn 0 (1st 18:20)
One of Penn's biggest fears realized early after Dominique Kirk gets a second-chance bucket. That's one area where Penn can't be dominated. Airball from Smith on the other end. Looks like a mismatch early on.
Penn 0, Texas A&M 0 (1st 20:00)
Penn looks focused as they take the court. A&M just looks enormous.
The Aggies band has already played "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and done a song, probably their alma mater, during which the fans held their arms around each other and swayed. A little like Cornell hockey without the "Deep in the Heart of Texas" part.
Pregame
We're just minutes from the tipoff as 14-seeded Penn is set to take on No. 3 seed Texas A&M at Rupp Arena.
The Quakers are trying to break an eight-game losing streak in the NCAA Tournament and advance to the second round. If they do, they'll take on No. 6 Louisville, which demolished Stanford in the opener.
Here are your starting lineups.
Penn (22-8)
G Ibrahim Jaaber (Sr. 6-2, 170)
G Darren Smith (Fr. 6-4, 200)
G Brian Grandieri (Jr. 6-4, 190)
F Mark Zoller (Sr. 6-7, 220)
F Steve Danley (Sr. 6-8, 225)
Texas A&M (25-6)
G Acie Law (Sr. 6-3, 195)
G Dominique Kirk (Jr. 6-3, 180)
G Josh Carter (So. 6-7, 195)
F Joseph Jones (Jr. 6-9, 250)
F Antanas Kavaliauskas (Sr. 6-10, 250)
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Steve Danley is going to give it a try, at least.
We were just handed the starting lineups for the Penn game, which as usual feature Grandieri, Smith, Jaaber, Zoller and Danley.
Danley was a question mark with back trouble that has plagued him for a couple of week.
Stay tuned to The Buzz for live updates once we get going at approximately 3:10.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Some good news for Penn today: at least they wont be distracted by the absurd stripes on Texas A&M's jerseys. Why? Because they've seen this style before -- on Yale. Twice. Now Penn is only 1-1 against these unis this season, but the Quakers are on a one-game winning streak.
A&M's uniforms are different than the Elis' because they have an additional color, with the thin stripe being silver instead of the same color as the other one. But come on. These stripes just end in the middle of the back of the leg. They make absolutely no sense. Penn has played against some nice looking outfits in the last two years in Boston College and Texas, but I think this year there is no doubt who the better-looking team is.
The Aggies also were wearing these practice uniforms. As were many other teams around the country yesterday. But the Quakers stuck with their usual practice uniforms -- except Andreas Schreiber, who seems to have lost his, and was wearing a No. 31 jersey from last season (he normally wears 13).
But Penn has won 10 in a row, so you gotta stay with the streak. No new uniforms for that. Although, they do have new sneakers, which seems to be a trend at the last couple Big Dances for the Quakers.
Also worth mentioning is something that was removed from today's Gus Johnson story.
After spending 12 years at FOX, James Brown returned to CBS this year, and he will be calling games in the Tournament as well. Brown, who happens to be a DeMatha High School (same as Steve Danley) and Harvard grad, happens to be the man who called Penn's last NCAA Tournament win, in 1994 against Nebraska. He left CBS for FOX that summer, and the Quakers are 0-for-their last seven trips since then.
Enjoy the game.
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