[Update] I just talked to Brian on the phone. We had a bad connection so I don't have too many direct quotes, but I got some more very interesting details on this absurd story.
First, his one-line reaction: "That was the coolest thing I have ever done." He said he'd never imagined he could pull that off.
The play happened in the middle of practice after they ran drills and before they were going to scrimmage. They were just shooting around and Carson Sullivan told Fitzpatrick to go up for an alley-oop.
"I just caught it and dunked it. I didn’t dunk it hard. I didn’t hang on the rim. The minute I dunked it the whole thing just shattered and I fell to the ground with the rim in my hand," Fitpatrick said. "I didn’t know what happened. It took me like five seconds to realize… I was kind of a little confused at first, then I got up and I was bleeding a bit."
He couldn't tell me what the other players' reactions were because he was in such shock himself after the play, and then realized he was bleeding and wanted to get it taken care of. Jack Eggleston - the team's big brother figure - walked him to the training room to get him cleaned up.
"I was all confused. I was sitting there, glass everywhere, the rim right next to me, and I’m like ‘What the f*** happened?’"
There was actually a downside to the whole situation. Fitzpatrick said yesterday was his first day practicing fully for the last six weeks or so. He had been out with tendinitis in his knees. It got cleared up and then this happened, and he'll be out for another couple of days because he actually went to the emergency room and got four stitches in his elbow. (So much for the Twitter feed saying "Everyone is ok".)
More sad developments for all the fans and regular attendees of games: Fitzpatrick said he doubts he could ever pull this off again in a game. "I doubt it... That'd be really cool, but it doesn't happen very often." He said the hoops in Weightman Hall are really old (maybe they should fix all of them?) and the ones in the Palestra, as I mention below, are really well supported.
Because of the bad connection we only talked for a few minutes and I didn't get a chance to ask him about a nickname for the dunk. What are some of your ideas?
[Original post]
Most of you probably already heard from the Penn Basketball Twitter about freshman Brian Fitzpatrick's ridiculous dunk at practice yesterday that tore down the rim and shattered the backboard. I found out today that it was actually in the gym in Weightman Hall, not in the Palestra. I mentioned yesterday in a comment on my last post that I thought it probably was in the Palestra, since that is the team's normal practice venue. I actually learned today that it is nearly impossible to shatter a Palestra backboard because they are reinforced with a special type of glass to prevent that from ever happening. Anyway, here are some pictures of the aftermath of Fitzpatrick's freakish power. Forgive the poor quality; I took these with my cell phone.
I was working on confirming that Penn basketball got another verbal recruit today, but the Cornell Basketball Blog beat me to the punch. While I can't vouch for the accuracy of their report, all signs do seem to indicate that 6-foot-3 guard Dau Jok from Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa visited Penn over the weekend and gave the coaches a verbal commitment sometime this afternoon. I'll continue working on confirming this information myself, but until then, here are some very interesting tidbits I came upon while digging up this story:
- Jok is considered a supremely talented shooter, a true three-point specialist. This blog entry by a Montana basketball blogger mentions a report that says Jok "has almost unlimited range" and "has never met a 3 point shot that he didn’t like." ESPN called him "the best catch-and-shoot player at the Hoop City Classic" this past July. From what I've read, Jok's stock soared over the summer as he tore it up in AAU ball. I haven't found any definite numbers for his high school stats yet but I'll keep looking and post them when I do. I did find one blog post that said he was 54-for-138 from three (39.1%) last year.
- That last post by Jared Todd on Illinoishsbasketball.com presents some very interesting info about his recruitment and the rest of his game. He says "Dau is not a one-dimensional player, as he is also a very good passer and defender. He also consistently displays great leadership qualities, and is a very vocal player on the court." As far as recruiting, Jok had a very long list which included a number of Ivies, but the interesting thing that Todd mentions is that Dau was looking for a school with “good education, coaching staff, a great fan base and basketball family, good tradition, and a chance to play for championships, either conference or NCAA.” Penn obviously seems to fit the bill. That article was posted Sept. 16, and Todd says "Dau doesn’t plan to make his decision anytime soon, as he wants a chance to take a strong look at all the schools recruiting him." Either he got that opportunity within the last two weeks, or Miller, Gallagher and Co. were able to convince him that Penn perfectly fit his criteria.
- Perhaps the most interesting fact about this kid is his basketball pedigree. That same story mentions that he is the nephew of former 7-7 NBA center Manute Bol and the first cousin of current Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng. And the good Jok genes extend to his brother Peter, who is a 6-4 high school freshman guard that numerous sites list as one of the top talents in the country for the Class of 2013 (some even have him No. 1).
And just before finishing the writing of this post, I found more confirmation on the twitter feed for Kingdom Hoops, an AAU program started by Jake Sullivan, who used to coach Jok's AAU team. The post says "Congratulations to Dau Jok for signing with Penn! Awesome to see him go to an Ivy League school."
It looks like Penn has its sixth recruit for the Class of 2014 in the bag, and a very promising one at that. Maybe even better if his brother follows him a few years from now, or anyone else in his family for that matter.
This is Eli Cohen welcoming you to beautiful Easton, Pa., for tonight's conquest between the Penn Quakers (0-1) and the Lafayette Leopards (1-1). The Quakers are coming off a 14-3 loss last week to No. 2 Villanova. Lafayette boasts a powerful offense, scoring 20.5 points per game, but Penn hopes its revamped run defense can stop it. Lets see what happens.
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Pat Knapp -- the former Penn women's basketball coach of much wit but not enough wins -- has signed on as an assistant with the University of Hawaii.
"He will provide an increased geography base in the recruiting department as he is well respected on the East Coast," first-year coach Dana Takahara-Dias told the Honolulu Advertiser. "He comes with skills that can help us off the bat."
Penn decided in March not to renew Knapp's contract. In his five years at the helm, the Quakers were 48-90 (.348) overall and 28-42 (.400) in the Ivy League. Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said in a press release at the time that "We are disappointed that we did not attain the levels of success we anticipated." Knapp declined comment upon his departure.
Still, Knapp's latest stop comes as a bit as a surprise. No doubt the weather is beautiful down in the Aloha State. But Knapp was a head coach for 26 seasons, including 18 at Georgetown. He won two Big East championships and was the 1992-93 Big East Coach of the Year.
Now he'll be sitting second-chair to someone with no collegiate coaching experience. And, at least to my knowledge, Hawaii is not a step up on the ladder. The school was 300th in last year's year-end RPI rankings -- 20 spots below Knapp's 9-19 Quakers.
Meanwhile, the Penn program -- now led by Mike McLaughlin -- announced its 2009-10 schedule today.
Knapp is set to begin his new job on Monday.
(HT: Brandon Moyse)
And it's coming with the same controversial season-ticket policy that the Athletic Department introduced last season.
We reported earlier this week that Penn was likely to stick with the 2008-09 policy. But at the time, senior associate director of athletics Allanna Shanahan said that there would be an "internal battle royal again in the next week or two" as the internally-divided Athletic Department made a final decision.
Now that decision seems even more set in stone; earlier today, Penn offered its first official announcement about The Line. The student-ticketing policy is bolded within the release:
Students must participate in "The Line Announcement" and "The Line" in order to sit in the lower-level Red & Blue Crew sections. ...
The student sections are at the end court on the western side of The Palestra. The section will be split into two general admission areas, a lower level (sections 119, 120, 121) section and an upper level (sections 219, 220, 221).
* * *
Some of you have asked in the comments section about Penn's contract with Nelligan Sports Marketing. For a bit of background reading, you may want to check out the DP's story from when the deal was first announced last year.
I unfortunately have to interrupt all of the good discussion about marketing, the line, recruits etc., to bring some sad news.
At today's local football coaches luncheon, Jonathan Tannenwald was told that Dan "Coach Lake" Staffieri is in bad health and there's a chance he will not return to the sidelines at all this year.
Staffieri's official title is "game-day coordinator" which boils down to the emotional leader of the team. During every game he wears the 12 Ivy championship rings he's won in his 32 years at Penn as he leads the student section in cheers such as "Ivy what?", "Champs!" and "How you doing? Oh very well!"
The Villanova game this past Saturday felt weird without him. It's a real shame he wasn't there, since the jam-packed student section would've gone crazy with him leading the chants. (On that note, I'd like to apologize for joking that he didn't attend since it was past his bedtime. Obviously if I had known the real reason I wouldn't have made that comment.)
From all of us here at the DP, let's hope this Penn legend recovers.
UPDATED at 7:20 p.m. on Sept. 23.
Today's story on Penn's new Athletic marketing initiatives pointed out that the founders of the Fire Glen Miller blog are working with the Athletic Department to revamp the Red and Blue Crew.
Today, Fire Glen Miller offered its take on the ironic situation. Interestingly, as originally written this morning, the post expressed an uncertain future for the blog. Yet by later in the day, the final paragraph was altered to all-but-announce the disbandment of Fire Glen Miller. Justin Chang wrote in an e-mail that "the paragraph was later changed after careful thought and discussion about whether the blog was actually needed now that we were representatives of Penn Athletics." He also said that there was never any discussion of trying to merge the blog and the Red and Blue Crew.
Full text of the Fire Glen Miller post, as it stands now, after the jump.
Well...There Goes The Whole Secret Thing
It was probably the worst kept secret within the Red and Blue Crew and the offices of the DP, but someone wrote it out anyways. I was really digging the fact that people called me Magnum in person...
Hopefully David's article in the DP today will get more students and alumni informed about what my friends and I have been doing to try to get Penn's student fans relevant again. Regular readers of FGM know that we've focused much more on criticizing Red and Blue Crew affairs from the past year, rather than keep harping on the poor ol' ball coach. Everything we've commented about on the lack of RBC student leadership, our complaints about lack of student support, the confusing policies, and the loss of historical rivalries... we are now in a position to change that as the leadership of the Red and Blue Crew. So, in that sense, I believe "Fire Glen Miller" was a success, not because we canned anyone, but because these efforts turned into an opportunity to put in the changes that we saw fit last year.
From here, I think that the need for this blog is unnecessary. The blog had been inactive for a while, but at this point, there's no need to write about things when we can go out and change them. We've entertained a lot of people and stepped on a lot of toes along the way, but I think now it's time to be more than just a blogger.
Along with the story about the Athletic Department's marketing initiatives that I wrote for today's paper, there was an important but brief sidebar that did not make it online. (As always, PDF here.)
The Athletic Department is likely to continue the controversial season-ticket policy it introduced last season. Student seats behind the west-end basket are general admission, with the lower level reserved for participants in The Line.
“We still occasionally have internal discussions,” senior associate director of athletics Alanna Shanahan said, “but at this point, we’re still holding to the fact that hopefully, long term, this will pay dividends."
Shanahan added that the Athletic Department is internally divided into two opinions. She declined to say where Athletic Director Steve Bilsky fit, or if he straddled both.
“There’s always a camp of people that say, ‘Lets set the standard and hold to it, and if our basketball program is as successful as we all hope, then we’ll be happy that we did this,’” Shanahan said. “Then there’s the other camp that says, ‘Wow, isn’t it painful? We have only maybe 50% of that section filled. Wouldn’t it be nice to allow, maybe five minutes into the game, studnets who are sitting in the upper level down to fill that section.'
“I think there are merits to both. And we’ll probably have that internal battle royal again in the next week or two. And that’s why I say it’s always a tough discussion.”
For now, though, it looks like the policy isn't changing.
"If you had to ask me today," Shanahan said yesterday, "I think we would hold to the protocol that we put in place and hope that the interest grows once again, the team success grows and once again, we have that section packed."
Expect more coverage on The Line as the date -- Oct. 9 -- draws nearer and as Penn makes its decision final.
* * *
My colleague Noah Rosenstein reported last night on men's basketball recruit Cameron Gunter. The 6-foot-8 forward/center has spoken with the Philadelphia Inquirer and confirmed to them that he is, in fact, headed to Penn.
According to NJhoops.rivals.com, Glen Miller and the Penn basketball program have nabbed another nice name for the Class of 2014. The player is 6-foot-8 forward/center Cameron Gunter from Ridley High School where Kevin and Steven Egee attended.
I have not yet confirmed the information myself with anyone in the Penn basketball program, though NJhoops tends to be a reliable source. And the PennBasketball twitter definitely lends support to the report. A post from this morning reads: "It was a very good night last night in the Penn Basketball Recruiting world...we were thrilled with the phone call we received..."
Here's what I've gathered so far about Gunter. First, there is this story from Aug. 25 on recruitrecon.com (another pretty good recruiting site) which says that Gunter had a very strong summer in AAU playing for the Jersey Shore Warriors. It also mentions Penn as a team with interest in him. Other schools with interest included Holy Cross and Northeastern, though NJhoops says he cancelled trips to those schools after committing to Penn. He is apparently a more defensive player at this point with good size and athleticism, but the reports on his strong summer seem to indicate his offense is improving rapidly. Overall he may be a bit of a project, but he is more developed than Garvin Hunt was as a freshman.
In other recruiting news, CBB reported that 6-foot-9 big man Daniel Edwards committed to Princeton. Penn was apparently interested in him as well.
Gunter is the fifth name we've heard surface as a verbally committed Penn recruit. The others are California players Austin Kelly, Casey James and Kevin Panzer, along with another local product in St. Joseph's prep point guard Steve Rennard. And there's no telling if the Quakers are done reloading. Stay tuned.
Hopefully you've noticed that we have a new header here on The Buzz at the top of the page. I've got to give credit to Andrew Gardner who's helping design our new website which will be fully operational in about a week or so.
So any thoughts on the new design? Also, feel free to leave any other design (or content) comments below, whether in regard to our Twitter site, our live blog of the football game or even questions about our actual newspaper content (which now has a recap, sidebar and column on the Villanova game).
Hey all, Matt Flegenheimer here at Franklin Field for Penn's season opener tonight against No. 2 Villanova. Stay with the Buzz for live game updates on all the action...
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It's not often that we link to 34th Street, the DP's weekly entertainment magazine. But Thursday's "Ego of the Week" was basketball forward Justin Reilly. We've already written about (and parodied) his poetic talents. But Street's Q&A provides a nice glimpse of his personality. It's a quick but good read.
UPDATE: Here's the link to the pdf of the football supplement.
Tomorrow begins the 133rd year of Penn football. Unlike Harvard and Princeton -- which both mention how long they've been playing football in the headlines of the athletic releases linked above --- Penn rarely flaunts the fact it's played football for over 130 years. (For example, in the equivalent press release it's mentioned in the seventh item.) I'm sure some of our readers might consider it good marketing, but personally I think it's snobbish to say "Finally, 141st Football Season Arrives ..."
That said, for the annual DP football supplement (which prints today), our centerpiece story by Neil Fanaroff covers the last six score and 13 years of Penn football history. It's a long, long piece, but a must read for any Penn football fan. Actually it's a must read for any college football fan, since you'll come across well-known names such as Bednarik, Munger and of course Heisman.
(I should add that this story is best seen in the actual paper and not online, since it's been beautifully put together by our design editor Michael Gold. So if you're on campus I strongly encourage you to pick up the paper for the double truck spread. If not, check out the pdf file linked to at the top of the post.)
But while Neil's story is definitely the longest, that doesn't mean the other stories aren't important. My favorite non-centerpiece story was one Noah wrote on Bradford Blackmon's dad who hasn't missed one of his son's games -- since he was in fifth grade! David also wrote a very interesting piece on the politicking and economics behind television packages for Ivy football. Perhaps the best part of the story is that we're breaking the news that Penn's game with Dartmouth was picked up by Versus just yesterday.
There's also a position-by-position breakdown of the freshman class; a feature on former defensive back Jordan Manning who is back as a football operations assistant director; and a Penn bettor's guide (I have to admit not one of my best pieces).
If you're focused more on tomorrow's opener versus No. 2 Villanova, here's our advance of the game as well as a look at the other contests with Ivy teams this weekend.
Enjoy the 2009 football season Quakers fans.
So we've mentioned Twitter a few times here on The Buzz. But we'd like to announce that we've finally launched our own account (user name Daily Penn Sports). To be honest, we're still working out exactly how to use it. Don't worry, the Buzz will still have an important role. In fact, since Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters, expect shorter, succinct posts on Twitter instead of the more analytical posts here on the blog.
We're also experimenting with posting live score updates from games we cover, as well as in-game updates from football and eventually basketball games. What's cool about that is that if you follow us on Twitter (you'll need your own free account), you can get texted updates from us with these live scores. In addition, Twitter posts will probably be less like hard-news and more like random musings about Penn, Ivy and NCAA sports in general (see for instance the entry about Glen Miller.)
But ultimately twitter is a social networking site, and thus we're certainly open to suggestions. In fact, we really want to make our twitter all about you, our loyal readers. Would you sign up for our live score updates via text? Will you follow along if we tweet during games? We want your ideas, so let us know in the comments section.
Villanova announced its men's basketball schedule earlier today, with the Wildcats hosting Penn on Monday, Nov. 16.
As Zach Klitzman previously reported, it's the first time since the 2000-01 season that this matchup will take place outside of December.
The rest of Penn's City Six schedule was already known. All games are at the Palestra:
- Drexel, Nov.24
- Temple, Jan. 13
- La Salle, Jan. 20
- Saint Joseph's, Jan. 25
Without playing a game, and six months before its season begins, the Penn baseball team picked up a few extra victories.
If only it were always that easy.
On Wednesday, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions announced the first major infraction in Georgetown history. The school's baseball program paid $61,000 in federal work study grants to 26 players from 2000-01 through 2006-07 for work that the athletes did not complete. The NCAA committee's full report is available here [pdf].
And as a result of the violation, which was self-reported in 2007, the Hoyas will forfeit all baseball games during those years in which any of the improperly paid players participated. Georgetown has said that it will not appeal the penalty. (The program will also be placed on probation for three years, have its number of permissible grants-in-aid capped at five through the 2011-12 academic year and be required pay a $61,000 fine to the NCAA.)
Schedules and box scores prior to the 2002-03 season are not available online or in either of the school's media guides. But the Quakers were 0-2 against the Hoyas in '03-'04 and 1-1 in '06-'07. The NCAA report does not say which players were involved, so it's impossible to determine if they participated in those games. It seems, however, that the Quakers could have three victories coming their way -- more if they played Georgetown in 2000-01 or '01-'02.
* * *
My colleague Zach Klitzman detailed the M. Hoops schedule in yesterday's Welcome Back Issue. (If you haven't seen the print edition, I would check out the pdf, if for no other reason than to see the paper's dramatically different layout.)
Since then, two more scheduling notes, leaving Villanova as the only City Six opponent without a confirmed date:
- Drexel will play the Quakers at the Palestra in a pre-Thanksgiving Break tilt on Nov. 24.
- Saint Joseph's will play the Quakers at the Palestra on Jan. 25.
This post was updated on Sept. 4 to correct Georgetown's nickname.
Monday was Penn football media day down at Franklin Field, and there seemed to be a renewed sense of optimism as Penn was voted second in the preseason media poll.
I wrote a feature in the Welcome Back issue of the DP on the new rushing-focused offense centered around quarterback Keiffer Garton. Meanwhile, fellow editor/Buzz writer Noah Rosenstein did a complementary story on the offensive line, possibly the only thing slowing down the new offense heading into the season. (We also have some other good stories on second-tier sports, so be sure to check out the new issue.)
But as always due to space limitations we couldn't fit everything into the print edition (coach Al Bagnoli spoke to reporters for roughly 20 minutes, after all). So here are some extra thoughts/tidbits I got from the team. (You can get partial audio for Bagnoli's interview and Garton's over at Soft Pretzel Logic.)
1) According to Bagnoli, senior quarterback Kyle Olson has fully recovered from his knee injury he suffered against Brown last year, and has participated in all of the team's practices. "It’s kind of an added bonus," Bagnoli said. While he could see some snaps at quarterback as the No. 2 -- "There's no doubt, Keiffer's our starting quarterback," Bagnoli said -- Olson's most important contribution will be as the punter. Last year he averaged 38.5 yards per punt, including a team-high 57-yard boot.
2) Speaking of special teams, I was very impressed with junior kicker Andrew Samson. He's gotten a lot of preseason attention after an All-American year (16-for-19 on field goals and 20-for-20 PATs). When asked if he paid attention to all the hype, he replied that "it's great to be recognized for what I did last year, but I'm not really looking into it since it's what I do during the season that matters." That might seem like he's being modest for modesty's sake, but he seemed sincere.
In short, I got the impression he was very calm, cool, collected and mature. Just the attributes you want in a kicker when the game's on the line.
3) The Quakers will be tested right off the bat. They open with Villanova, who was ranked fifth with two first-place votes, in the Football Championship Subdivision preseason media poll. "I can think of easier games to open with," Bagnoli laughingly said. At the same time, he did mention that in five of the last six seasons the rivalry game (if you want to call it that) went down to the wire, though 'Nova won them all. It'll be interesting to see if this year's game is similar to the five (average margin of defeat five points) or if it's closer to the 34-14 Villanova beating in 2007.
4) Chalk it up to his offensive line coaching experience at Penn, but new offensive coordinator Jon McLaughlin definitely seemed like a no-frills, blue-collar (as much as I hate that expression in sports) coach. He emphasized technique and fundamentals, saying "more teams lose games than win games" due to as few as "one or two mistakes." The offense he'll run as play caller won't be finesse as much as hard-nosed physical running, but I can definitely see why the players are buying into his philosophy. Looks like Bagnoli made a smart choice hiring from within.
5) Though Garton believes the possibilities for the offense are endless, they'll be ended quickly if Garton doesn't progress as a passer. Last year he was 41-for-68 with a 1:5 TD-INT ratio, though Bagnoli seemed very pleased with his improvement in the vertical passing game. While I'll believe that, if opponents stack eight in the box or shut down the perimeter let's see just how well Garton can stand in the pocket and zip in a ball 30 yards downfield.
H0wever, it seems that Garton does have the intangibles down. "He's got some of those instinctive leadership qualities that you want, that competitive people have," Bagnoli said of the junior.
Note: I got to give credit to Noah who attended media day with me and transcribed Bagnoli's, Garton's and McLaughlin's interviews.
OK, so maybe I'm recycling headlines. But as part of its College Football Preview supplement, The New York Times profiled Penn quarterback Keiffer Garton, calling him "one of the rare dual-threat starting quarterbacks in a league in which pocket passers are about as standard as ivy-covered walls."
Weak simile aside, Garton's story is pretty familiar to anybody who followed the Quakers closely last season: He began the year as an afterthought, the No. 3 QB; was thrust into the spotlight when starter Rob Irvin and ostensible No. 2 Kyle Olson both got hurt; and in his first start, led the Red and Blue to a dramatic 14-9 win over Princeton. He used his legs -- 54 attempts, 316 net yards (5.9 per carry), three rushing touchdowns -- and right arm (41-for-68, 388 yards, 1 touchdown and five interceptions) effectively enough to be annointed starter heading in to the 2009 campaign.
To anybody who has ever met Garton, the Times' reference to his "clear blue eyes" is spot on. And the last few paragraphs reveal a little more of the rising junior's personality; apparently, he nearly committed to Air Force and is at time envious of his close friends playing at the University of Colorado and Pac-10 schools.
In a brief sidebar which, best I can tell, is not available online, the Times says the Ivy League race is "wide open," predicting that the Penn's trip to Harvard on Nov. 14 "could go a long way to determining this year's Ivy champion." Also a nice dig at the Big Green: "[A]t Dartmouth, it will take very little to view this year as a step forward. The Big Green was 0-10 in 2008."
Meanwhile, in other Ivy QB news, Chris Pizzotti -- the elite Harvard signalcaller who graduated from this spring -- saw his first NFL preseason action last night. The boxscore does not show it, because he did not throw a pass, but Pizzotti played one series (a three-and-out) for the Jets against the Giants at the Meadowlands. The Jets had signed Pizzotti as an undrafted free agent, cut him on Aug. 15 and re-signed him on Aug. 21 after first-year coach Rex Ryan felt he did not give the 23-year-old a sufficient opportunity to claim the third-string job. Still, Pizzotti is a very long shot to make the team out of camp.
1) Cornell officially released it's M. Hoops schedule, and the Big Red certainly do have their work cut out for them. They play at least four "BCS" schools: at Alabama in the season opener, versus Seton Hall in the home opener, then at two of the most well-known stadiums in the country in Syracuse's Carrier Dome and Kansas' Allen Field House (the potential fifth team is St. John's in the Holiday Festival). They also play three City Six teams beside Penn: at Drexel, versus Saint Joseph's and at La Salle. However, their schedule isn't all tough games, as they play Division III schools Clarkson University and Penn State Erie, Behrend College (yes that's one school) as well as Bryant University and University of South Dakota, both of which joined D-I last year.
Over at Cornell Basketball Blog, some Big Red fans are scared the team will start 0-4 (@ Bama, @ UMass, vs Seton Hall @ 'Cuse) while others believe "we are good enough to win all four of those games."
This now makes Penn one of just three Ivy schools not to have released their schedule yet ( Harvard, Yale, Brown and Princeton previously released theirs). I guess Glen Miller's still trying to find the one more team.
2) Over on SB Nation they've listed the top five metropolitan areas that care more about their college hoops teams than their NBA franchise. And unsurprisingly Philadelphia is ranked, coming in second to Tobacco Road/Research Triangle/North Carolina Piedmont area. Yet I don't know how fair it is to rank them since the "local" NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats, play over two hours away. Actually of the top five (NC, Philly, Cincinnati, Louisville and Washington-Baltimore) only two areas have local NBA teams.
Regardless, the site calls the Big 5 "the most unique tradition in college basketball" (the editor in me cringes at "most unique"). And sorry St. Joe's fans, but the Holy War "is sort of an inferior vs. superior match-up. St. Joseph's is a smaller school who would love to shake the mid-major label, while 'Nova is in the Big East...and frankly a notch higher on the academic hierarchy." (Via VU Hoops, which I'm sure loves that last part.)
3) Lastly, turns out the Quaker mascot is one of the creepiest in Division I. Though to be fair, he was tortured.
Just a day after a few more recruits were unofficially announced, Penn's getting another newcomer.
Well, he's not so new.
After playing in the NBA and Europe, Jerome Allen (Class of 1995) will return as an assistant coach, the team's Twitter feed announced earlier today. Allen -- who was enshrined in the Big 5 Hall of Fame back in February -- most recently participated in the Delaware County Pro-Am League. In addition to playing, he also coached a team stock full of Quakers: Zack Rosen, Jack Eggleston and incoming freshmen Carson Sullivan, Brian Fitzpatrick, Malcolm Washington and Jack's younger brother Tommy all were on Allen's Trad Jazz team.
Back in June, Rosen said Allen's "really kind of taken me and the other guys under his wing and taken it upon himself to make us better." Good news for Quakers fans.
Allen is one of the all-time greats at Penn, as he owns the all-time Penn assists record (504) and was first all-time in steals (166) before Ibby Jabber shattered his record with 303. He also was the last Ivy League draft pick, as Minnesota selected him 49th overall in 1995.
You can read some classic Allen stories as well as FGM's reaction to the hiring.
But perhaps this ode to Allen best sums it up. The 2,100-word reflection on Allen's career ends with the line "Here at Penn, he will always have a home." Looks like he's returning home.
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