Remembering Chuck Daly

It's hard to pick just one, but the biggest testament to Chuck Daly's time on earth might be the sheer number of places where he left behind a legacy. Penn, which Daly coached from 1971-77, is one of them. I couldn't give him the kind of eulogy he deserves, so below are a few that might come closer.



More on Chuck Daly

I wrote this quick story on Chuck Daly's passing this morning. Sorry that I couldn't include more details on Daly's marvelous career. We're limited in what we can post online from AP stories, and I was working on about 2 hours of sleep thanks to finals.

Here are some thoughts on Daly from other notables in Penn basketball lore, courtesy of Penn Athletics:

Daly's assistant of four years and successor at Penn, Bob Weinhauer: "Chuck was the consummate coach and teacher. For those of us who had the privilege of working with him, it was exactly that -- a privilege. I know that my coaching career would have been nothing without the mentoring and guidance that he gave me at Penn and throughout my career. I was fortunate enough to be able to express that to him about a month ago, and for that I am grateful."

Former hoopster and current Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky: "As long as I knew him, Chuck was the same good coach and good guy. That was true whether he was coaching high school, college, the pros, or at the Olympic level."

Current Penn coach Glen Miller: "I speak for the entire Penn basketball community when I say that we are saddened to hear the news of his passing. He coached this program to some of its greatest successes, and whenever he spoke of Penn and the Philadelphia basketball community he spoke of it fondly. However, such was his stature that this is a loss not just for Penn and the city of Philadelphia, but for the entire basketball world."

Long-time Penn and current Temple coach Fran Dunphy: "Coach Daly was a great representative of basketball throughout his years, from his time at Penn and in Philadelphia right up to his NBA and Olympic success. One particular memory for me is that, following one of my seasons at Penn, he sent me a hand-written note to offer congratulations and words of encouragement. At the time, he was coaching the Pistons. I have that letter framed, and it is in a place where I keep my treasured items"



W. Lax postseason honors

As the only spring sport to win an Ivy League title, it was pretty obvious that the women's lacrosse team was going to pick up some All-Ivy selections.

Well the league announced the All-Ivy teams today, and Karin Brower's squad was well represented.

Junior midfield Emma Spiro shared Player of the Year honors with Princeton's Holly McGarvie, as both were unanimous first-team selections. In addition, Penn had three other first teamers, including unanimous selection Hilary Renna. The senior defense made her third-straight All-Ivy team (two years ago she got first team, last year second). The final two Quakers on the first team were junior midfield Ali DeLuca (who was on it last year) and DeLuca's classmate Courtney Lubbe.

In addition to grabbing a share of the top player award, Penn earned its second Ivy Rookie of the Year in three years as freshman midfield Erin Brennan was unanimously named R.O.Y.  DeLuca also unanimously won it, doing so in 2007. Like DeLuca in her freshman year, Brennan was named to the second team.

On the second team Penn also had senior attack Becca Edwards while junior defense Kaileigh Wright received honorable mention.

The noticeable absence was goalkeeper Emily Szelest who leads the country with 5.35 goals allowed per season and is 23rd in the nation (second in the Ivy) with a .497 save percentage.

Besides the absence of Szelest, the results did a good job of mirroring the DP's All-Penn selections (see page B1).  We gave Brennan Penn Rookie of the Year and debated between DeLuca and Spiro for first team, but in the end went with Spiro, while giving DeLuca a spot on the second team.



Basketball recruit from the land down under

We've heard rumors that Sean Mullan, a 6-foot-6 swingman from Australia, might be joining the Quakers in the near future. Mullan confirmed via e-mail that he visited campus the weekend of April 24 and is very interested in coming to Penn to play basketball. At this point he is still taking more SAT exams, completing his financial aid documents, and finalizing the rest of his application.

Mullan was highly regarded in Australia while playing for the Illawara Hawks in the New South Wales region of Australia. He is a three-time MVP of the NSW State Championships (2003, 05, and 06) and captained Australia's U17 team. We'll keep you updated with more developments as they come in, but in the meantime, here is a highlight video.



Another hoops casualty

Freshman Garvin Hunt confirmed in an e-mail today that he has decided to leave the Penn basketball team.

“It’s no rumor. I have decided not to play Penn Basketball next year,” he wrote.  ”To try to explain why would be like reading a book to you, as there are a lot of reasons and thoughts involved.”

Hunt picked up the sport relatively late in secondary school, and once he arrived at Penn it became clear that he would be a major project. He saw limited action this past year, playing nine minutes in six games with one rebound and no points. The Buzz will have more insights into Hunt’s reasons for leaving the team as they become available.



W. Lax Selection Show Live Blog

W. Lax Selection Show



A Different Selection Sunday

Seven weeks ago I wrote about (M. Hoops)  Selection Sunday and how awesome it is. Well today's another Selection Sunday, albeit one with significantly less hype: Both the men's and women's lacrosse NCAA Tournament brackets will be revealed this evening.

On the men's side, it looks like Ivy League will have three teams, as Inside Lacrosse predicts Princeton will get the four seed, Cornell the eight, and Brown will face No. 7 Notre Dame. The official bracket will be released at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.

(For those that don't know, the men's and women's tournament don't seed all 16 teams. Instead, the top eight are seeded and then the rest are normally paired up based on convenience of travel, as the NCAA tries to limit teams that must fly to games in the first two rounds.)

But of course the more important bracket for Penn is the women's one (in fact, for the last two years this Selection Sunday has been more relevant to the University than the March Madness version).  The bracket will be released on CBS College Sports at 10 p.m. For those of you that don't get CBS College Sports (which I assume is most of you), tonight around 9:45 or so I'll have a live blog detailing the Selection Show. But as for now, join me after the jump for some predictions on what seed Penn will get.

Clearly Penn's loss to Stanford yesterday hurt the team's tournament profile. But how much damage did it really do? 

Northwestern and Maryland are both 19-0 and ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Those two have all but clinched the top two seeds, so it's very unlikely a Quakers win over No. 13 Stanford would've pushed them up to the one or two line. Instead, Penn is one of just two two-loss teams in the country; Fairfield is the other one, but its strength of schedule is 65 (Penn's is 13). So theoretically the Quakers are the third-best team in America. And looking at this week's coaches poll, the coaches agreed, despite Penn losing the previous week to Northwestern.

Meanwhile, there are two teams that are battling Penn for the three seed. Five-loss Duke received 20 fewer points than Penn and was fourth in the coaches poll. Right behind them was North Carolina who only has four losses. However, since then Penn has lost to the Cardinal while the Blue Devils trounced No. 16 Dartmouth, 22-8, today. UNC has finished its regular season, which was actually the toughest in America as measured by SOS. So the $64,000 question is can the Blue Devils or Tar Heels leap frog Penn?  

There is precedent for Penn getting jumped over when the seeds come out.  Two years ago Penn received the four seed despite ending the season ranked second in the coaches poll. In addition, last year Penn beat Northwestern, who had previously been undefeated, late in the season. But despite going into the selection show first in the coaches poll, Penn fell to the two seed behind the Wildcats.  As for this year, in its latest power rankings, updated before the Duke-Dartmouth game, Lax Power has Penn slightly behind Duke (94.47 versus 93.41), though UNC is far behind at nine.

With all of this said, it appears that Penn will still get the three seed. UNC did have a tougher schedule and has more quality wins (it's beaten Duke, No. 8 Georgetown, No. 10 Virginia, Stanford, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 15 Penn State and No. 18 Old Dominion, while the Quakers have beaten No. 7 Princeton, No. 12 Boston University, Penn State, No. 16 Dartmouth and No. 19 Cornell). However, it'll be really hard for the Selection Committee to give Penn a worse seed than UNC, which the Quakers beat 11-2. Duke, meanwhile, has only a slightly better SOS than Penn (11), yet had fewer quality wins: the Blue Devils also beat Princeton and North Carolina in addition to Virginia, No. 11 Vanderbilt and now Dartmouth.  Finally, in its women's bracketology Inside Lacrosse still gives Penn the No. 3 seed.

In the end, does it matter who gets the three seed? The top four seeds are guaranteed home games in rounds one and two before the predetermined Final Four takes place in Towson, Md. So either the Tar Heels, Blue Devils or Quakers will have to travel in round two if the seeds hold up. But more importantly, the three seed would avoid Northwestern in the semifinals, and right now, no one wants to play the Wildcats. That said, it's not like the Terrapins are slouches, so maybe it doesn't matter. But that's the beauty of Selection Sunday, regardless of what sport it is. There are always arguments about seeding, even if in the end it only matters what the Committee decides.



Wait, they lost?

For the first time since 2006, the women's lacrosse team lost at home.  It was a shocking 8-6 loss to No. 13 Stanford that wasn't as close as the score indicates. It was also the first time since 2006 that the team lost back-to-back games, since last week the No. 3 Quakers lost to Northwestern, 11-9. In fact, since the start of the 2007 season Penn has gone undefeated -- except for games against Stanford and Northwestern, who are a combined 6-1 against Penn in that span.

For Stanford, it was a big win. In fact, Stanford Athletics claims its the biggest win in the 15-year history of the varsity program. That's because Stanford had been on the bubble of the NCAA tournament. Despite their  No. 13 ranking, the Cardinal had placed only 18th in RPI entering this week, and only 16 teams make the NCAA Tournament. But this win might've clinched a spot in the tournament bracket, announced at 10 p.m. tonight.

I didn't cover today's game for the DP, but I was there with the Penn Band (so I guess take these observations with a measure of salt since technically I wasn't striving for objectivity).

Looking at the box score, the big numbers that jump out are shots in the second half and draw controls. Penn's second half was one of the worst I've seen, with the 8-0 shutout in the first half against Northwestern in the 2007 Final Four as the worst. True, it was only 2-2, but it was a very frustrating half for the Quakers. Penn gave up two goals in the first 10 minutes of the period. Yet the Red and Blue pretty much dominated time of possession in the next 20 minutes.

However, of their 18 total shots that half, only two went in. Why? Well first off, they did very poorly on free position shots. The team only shot 1-for-6 in the half from eight meters out, and that lone goal occurred with 10 seconds remaining. Many of the free position shots, as well other shots, were too low, easily savable by Stanford goalkeeper Annie Read who had 11 saves.

And of course, if you only win four of 16 draw controls, including just one in the second half, you're not going to win, plain and simple.

After the jump, I have some quotes courtesy of the DP reporter who did cover the match, Jennifer Scuteri, as well as some quotes from the Stanford coach and some players via Stanford Athletics.
Penn Junior Midfield Emma Spiro:
On why the team lost: "We had some bad one-on-one defense. Our slides just weren’t ready in the beginning."
On the team's expectations coming in: "We were expecting to win and we were definitely the better team."
On coming back: "When you are down four goals its hard to come back."
On what went right: "We actually did cause a few turnovers in the midfield ... maybe that was one of the highlights of the game."
Penn Junior Midfield Ali DeLuca:
On why Penn couldn't score: "We were on defense for a good ten minutes, and they we’d get down and we'd just rush the shot. It’s unfortunate because we had a lot of time on the clock to move the ball."
On why the shots weren't going in: "A lot of the shots were going low, and that was something we needed to fix and nobody was really fixing it. Mentally, we should have been more on top of our game."
On the psychological reasons for the loss: "Maybe our minds were in it and our hearts weren’t in it. That was definitely a big part of the game and a big factor in why we lost."
On how the loss relates to the NCAA Tournament which will start next Sunday: "The Tournament is going to make our true colors show and make our true character come out. We just have to work that much harder in the Tournament."
Penn coach Karin Brower:
On overconfidence: The Cardinal "deserve this win. We have to show up and we didn’t show up on either end of the field today. You can never think that you can just show up and beat a team and that’s what it looked like today."

On Stanford's motivation: "They had a lot on the line. I think they believed that if they beat us they would get into the Tournament. They had more to play for and they showed that today."

Stanford coach Amy Bokker:

On her team's tournament chances: "I told the players after the game, we can't say with 100 percent certainty that we're in, but it was a quality win for us and I hope the committee recognizes that. I think we have a really good chance."

On coming out strong: "We wanted to put it all on the line and have no excuses."

On not letting Penn come back: "We wanted to keep attacking," Bokker said. "Especially in beginning of the second half, we had to do what we had done [in the first half] to be in the position we were in."

Stanford Senior Midfield Jamie Nesbitt who had one goal:

On Stanford's attitude coming in: "There was a lot of emotion out there. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that we were going to pull it off."

On Read's performance: "Annie Read was amazing. She gave the defense confidence. That was a huge emotional lift."

On how the game affect's the Cardinal's NCAA chances: "We took care of what we needed to do on the field."

Read, who is just a sophomore:

On how the team was able to win: "It was just a matter of believing in ourselves. It was a collective group effort, working together on both ends."

On whether Stanford should make the tournament: "Our record shows we deserve to be there."



Schreiber's status

Junior forward Andreas Schreiber was just one of many players who could have made a difference for Penn this past season had he been healthy. Now it looks like he might have two more years to make his mark.

In an interview with philly.com this week, coach Glen Miller said that the surgery to correct Schreiber's torn labrum had gone off without a hitch, that he was progressing well and that he has already started the process of petitioning for a fifth season of eligibility, which he could get since he played in fewer than one-fifth of Penn's games this past season.

At 6-foot-9 and 245 pounds, Schreiber is the most imposing of the Quakers' frontcourt options and the most important off-season rehab to keep an eye on outside of Darren Smith.



The politics of basketball

If you haven't yet, take a moment to read Andrew Todres's column from the most recent DP. His thesis is that hoops coach Glen Miller is a poor politician working a job that requires him to be one.

Miller's behavior has been undiplomatic at times, and he alone bears responsibility for that. What's especially baffling is that it represents a departure from how he once approached his off-court obligations.

I'll never forget the first time I met Miller. It was a few hours after news of his hiring had broken, and a press conference was scheduled for the next morning. Our editors quickly found out that he had a room booked at the Inn at Penn, and another reporter and I staked out the lobby. When Miller showed up, suitcase in hand, he (understandably) declined an interview but was as cordial as can be.

The first time I interviewed him was over the phone a few weeks into that summer. He was very respectful and candid, even thanking me for the call. To my amazement, he openly acknowledged that then-Brown sophomore Keenan Jeppesen was looking into transferring to Penn. Two weeks later, he (and Jeppesen) found out from a DP story that Jeppesen's transfer application had been blackballed by the University administration on a spurious technicality. Miller was not at all happy with how I and a colleague handled that story. In retrospect, that was the first step toward him developing a hostile attitude toward any scrutiny, media or otherwise, of the program.

As Todres and I have argued time and again, Miller has been dealt a tough hand. His hiring was met with grumbles from some who felt that the Athletic Department honchos hadn't tried hard enough to keep Fran Dunphy from jumping to Temple. Resentment over that touchy subject has probably contributed to the unrealistic expectations that Miller has faced from Day One. Those expectations rose even more after Penn won the Ivy League title in his rookie year.

Then Ibrahim Jaaber, Mark Zoller and Stephen Danley all graduated, and it became clear that Dunphy had left the cupboard relatively bare. For the next two years, Miller was charged with making something out of nothing. Under different circumstances, he might have. But fate conspired to cripple his roster with injuries at a time when several other Ivies -- most notably Cornell, but also Brown two years ago and Dartmouth to some extent this past year -- found themselves on the upswing.

Predictably, none of this has earned Miller much sympathy. Coaches are expected to produce results. They don't have the luxury of playing the blame game.

Miller's fortunes off the court have been worse. He has taken heat for the team's attrition problems, regardless of whether he is truly at fault. He has been subjected to some ruthless, personal, speculative attacks that he cannot do much to address.

In this regard, though, Miller has hardly helped his own cause. For example, I'm told that he has rubbed certain Penn supporters the wrong way by restricting their access to the team. He has legitimate reasons for doing so, but in the process he has probably alienated some important people who feel they have earned the right to be "insiders." Another example: I know from personal experience that Miller often interprets media reports as insulting or belligerent when they really are not. He thinks that by not playing ball with the media, he is defending his players and himself from unfair attacks. But all that has done is subject him to more bad press.

All things considered, it is easy to see why Miller might feel as though he doesn't have many friends right now. And in some ways, he might be right. Just because he's paranoid doesn't mean no one is out to get him. As Todres pointed out, Miller is a basketball coach first and last.

But that is no excuse to marginalize other aspects of his job. When Miller signed on at Penn, he knew -- or should have known -- what he was getting himself into. Now he needs to reverse course, and a good first step would be to use the media to present himself in a new light, personally and professionally. Next up are reconciling with the team's supporters and alumni, reaching out to Penn students, spending time on initiatives other than coaching and increasing his overall visibility around Penn and Philadelphia.

Ditching his obstinate tendencies alone will not save his skin. With his contract entering its penultimate year, next season is win-or-go-home. But how he acts off the court is something he has complete control over.

Doing so will require effort that Miller would surely rather expend elsewhere. And no one likes to kowtow. But such is the nature of coaching at any decent program. If Miller wants to move up the career ladder down the road, he needs to practice some diplomacy. Brown's coach can get away with certain indiscretions, but this isn't Brown.

It's time to be proactive. Otherwise, go coach intramurals, brother.



Discussion Board on M. Hoops

The following was dreamed up by Andrew Todres, but he would like this to be officially published by an editor for administrative purposes. Hence my byline and photo at the top. -Z.K.

Dear Readers,

It's your turn to write.

I've never really tried this directly before, but here it goes. I would like this post -- specifically the comments section of it -- to serve the sole purpose of providing you with an open discussion board to leave and respond to one another's thoughts, questions, and concerns over the state of the basketball program. Think of it as an extension of the town hall meeting, minus the athletic director and the basketball coach. I know many of you are very opinionated about Glen Miller and now Steve Bilsky in particular, as demonstrated by the comments left for my colleagues and me on the DP's main website. It would be more productive to get an actual discussion going on The Buzz comments section -- it's more interactive and allows me to share my thoughts and respond to you directly as well. Also keep in mind that while the people you want to talk about will likely not be contributing to this discussion board, there's a chance they will read it.

Please, try to keep your comments on point and constructive -- there is no need to smear anyone or bash people simply because you can hide behind the cloak of anonymity. I encourage you all to leave your actual names and emails instead of impersonating people. The goal here is for this to serve as a forum for meaningful and respectful discussion and debate. A civilized, thought-provoking discussion on this blog might be useful both to Penn fans and the basketball program that they support. If this works out well, we can also use this discussion format for other topics. I (and hopefully my colleagues, as well) will try to moderate and offer opinions or clear up confusion as I see fit, but the ball is really in your court.

Thanks,

Andrew Todres



Comic relief

Sports can be crazy stressful. Just ask Glen Miller, who was recently subjected to a basketball coach's equivalent of waterboarding. Or ask any diehard Quakers fan, who is distraught over two straight years of mediocrity.

So here is something to lighten the mood.

First, go to ESPN.com's topic page for the Cavaliers-Pistons playoff series by clicking here.

After the page has loaded, type the following: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, Enter. Hit Enter a few more times, and I defy you to say that your mood hasn't improved.



Penn's biggest rival

Today I wrote a column about the Penn-Northwestern women's lacrosse rivalry. While it's certainly missing some elements of a classic rivalry (namely parity between the schools over a long period of time) it nonetheless has developed into Penn's best team's biggest rivalry.

But has it become the school's biggest rivalry?  Considering the men's basketball hasn't played a truly meaningful game against Princeton since 2004, that rivalry certainly isn't at its height.  Penn-Cornell has fast become a more important rivalry as Cornell has won the last two M. Hoops Ivy titles.  In football, Penn-Cornell historically was a huge game, one that nearly rivaled (no pun intended) Harvard-Yale.

So I ask you, which of the following rivalries is the biggest currently at Penn:

  • Penn-Cornell Football
  • Penn-Cornell Basketball
  • Penn-Northwestern W. Lax
  • Penn-Princeton Basketball
  • Any other one you can think of?



Men's basketball awards

Following the men's basketball program's first annual town hall meeting yesterday, the following awards were handed out at the team banquet.

Best Defensive Player: Rob Belcore Most Improved: Rob Belcore Top Newcomer: Zach Rosen Most Inspirational: Kevin Egee Most Valuable: Tyler Bernardini

I think Belcore certainly deserved the Best Defensive Player award. In fact, the DP wrote a profile of Belcore and his vaunted defense during the season. He was also a good choice for Most Improved. There was good reason why he saw more playing time as the season went on. Not only was he Penn's top defender, but he became one of its most reliable three-point shooters as well. Rosen was an easy choice for Best Newcomer, and likewise for Egee and Most Inspirational.

However, I think the MVP award can be debated. While Bernardini was the Quakers' best shooter and leading scorer, and he did lead the team in its biggest win of the year, his inability to break out as a first-team All-Ivy player was a big reason why Penn struggled.

Rosen's case for MVP is nearly as strong.  He was the on-court leader, and topping the Ivy League in assists is no small feat.



Glen Miller's open forum

The first annual "town hall" discussion of the men's basketball team came and went this weekend. The DP's recap can be found here, and some additional notes of interest are after the jump, most coming from answers given by coach Glen Miller.

Tuesday's paper will have more analysis of what was said (and not said) at the meeting. In the meantime, fire away in the comments section with any initial reactions, especially if you were in attendance.

  • Regarding next year's schedule, Miller said that Penn will not participate in an exempt tournament over winter break, as it did this past December, and that the team has not committed to any tournament at this point. He added that three of Penn's non-conference games have yet to be firmed up, but did confirm that the team will play Penn State, Lafayette, Navy, and Monmouth.
  • The "concerns" that Rob Belcore's father expressed about Penn's commitment to athletics centered on expanded accommodations for student-athletes. He suggested that athletes should be given priority in scheduling classes to allow more flexibility in accomodating practices. He also called for a better nutrition plan for athletes. Athletic Director Steve Bilsky responded by saying Ivy League schools treat athletes like any other students; he added that the new facilities being built would ease students' schedules by allowing more of them to avoid morning workouts.
  • In discussing students' support of the team, Bilsky cited two factors: the ease of getting to games and the quality of the teams. He and Miller acknowledged that Penn's recent troubles have diminished the student-body's interest in the team.
  • The Quakers will take a trip to Europe next year, likely in the early summer months. The NCAA permits one international trip every four years.
  • Lastly, Miller made the interesting assertion that among Ivy League teams, Harvard is the biggest threat to Penn when it comes to recruiting. Not Princeton, not Cornell, he said, but Harvard. Out of all the issues Miller and Bilsky addressed, this one struck me as the most intriguing. I'll be returning to it shortly.



W. Lax at Northwestern Live Updates

EVANSTON, Ill., -- Penn and Northwestern are two of the best women's lacrosse programs in the country.

But tonight they can't handle another opponent: the weather.

A severe thunderstorm has pushed back the game from its 8 p.m. Eastern Time scheduled start. As of now it looks like the earliest this game could start is 9 p.m., with a good chance it'll get pushed back later if not even till tomorrow. I'll try to keep you updated as much as possible.



The biggest game of the year?

Penn-Princeton in basketball, or frankly any sport, is a big game. But perhaps the biggest matchup of the last few years has been Penn versus Northwestern in women's lacrosse.

Today No. 3 Penn (13-0) will travel to No. 1 Northwestern (16-0) in a huge matchup of undefeated teams. The opening draw is slated for 8 p.m., or actually 7 p.m. Central. The Quakers are out for revenge after last year's 10-6 loss in the NCAA final. The Wildcats want to keep dominating, and prove that last year's Penn 11-7 win in the regular season was a fluke (the Quakers are 1-5 all-time against Northwestern according to Penn, 2-5 according to Northwestern).

Here is some reading material before the game. We've got a much more detailed preview (be sure to check out our Game Day extra on page seven of the PDF of the newspaper).  Here's a preview from The Daily Northwestern. For a more statistical breakdown, check out the Penn and Northwestern official press releases. And here's a feature on Penn (as well as the West Chester team).

One interesting thing to note, despite Northwestern's dominance in the last four years, only its 2005 champion team was undefeated. And before that, the 2001 Maryland team was the last to go undefeated. So ironically, the loser of this game might actually have history on its side.

Fortunately, I'm actually going to Evanston, Ill., to cover the game for the DP. (My flight leaves in about nine hours, so maybe I should be asleep now instead of writing this.) I've been told that there's internet in the Northwestern press box, so assuming that works I'll do live updates here on the Buzz.



Spring Sports Coverage

I know this is the second consecutive time I've started a Buzz post with an apology, but I'm sorry that there weren't any new posts between Andrew's on Glen Miller and Krista's coverage of the Penn Relays today. With exams and final papers coming up, as well as Spring Fling and Hey Day, we've all been very busy. And with the Relays, it's also been a very busy week at the DP.

But I'd like to talk about the discussion that occurred in the comments section of Andrew's post, starting with this comment.

For those of you that might be unclear, this site is not the front page of the DPThis is. Specifically here is the sports page. If you're looking for stories on Penn sports, that's your first place to look (especially for sports that are in season i.e. spring sports, currently). The Buzz is here to supplement that coverage.  And I can promise you that there is no specific attempt to under cover spring sports.

As for the four stories that were mentioned, all of them relate to Penn sports. True two of them were about winter sports, but they both were big news items that needed to be covered in a timely manner. The "Phillies" story was about group of Penn athletes who had a symposium that included notable local athletes.

Going on what Andrew said, our marketing does show that basketball is the sport readers care most about. But on a simpler level, basketball is the most well-known sport. If I were to ask the readers of this blog to name as many members of the men's basketball team as they could, I'm sure all of you could get at least a handful. Somehow I doubt there'd be similar results if I asked you to name women's lacrosse players (the most high-profile sport in our coverage this spring), let alone players on a less-covered sport like women's tennis.

And to be honest, "Curious" nailed this on the head. (For those that were asking, "Curious" is not anyone affiliated with The Daily Pennsylvanian, the athletic department, or any group that would have an agenda concerning Penn sports.) Admittedly I'm biased, but I thought I wrote a solid post analyzing a spring sport's game. Yet there was zero comments on it. Why? My guess would be readers either a) don't care about women's lacrosse or b) don't feel they can make an informed opinion on it.

Then again, I could be wrong. So as always, any comments are welcomed.



Friday at the Penn Relays

6:10 p.m.: The Quakers finished second after a good comeback in the men’s Heptagonal 4x400m relay. In second to last place after the first two legs, Ben McKean and Sam Shepherd worked to close the gap and Penn finished in 3:16.14.  Cornell, who won the race in 3:14.65, was out of reach after opening up a decent lead.

5:30 p.m.: In the college men’s Championship of America DMR, Villanova’s Matthew Gibney provided an exciting finish. On the last leg of the 1600m, he reeled in Arkansas, which led for most of the race, to give the Wildcats the win in 9:30.81.

It was the first Villanova victory in the event since 2001. Texas had won the previous three years. Jake Morse of the favored Longhorns made a move to close in on Villanova and Arkansas with just over 400 m to go, but couldn’t maintain the pace, giving the Longhorns a third place finish.

Running in the final heat of the DMR, Penn’s men clocked a 10:09.38, good for a 17th place finish overall.

I also just heard that the Tennessee women’s 4x1500 time of 17:08.34 is a new world record.

Some afternoon highlights:

The Penn women took a respectable 5th in the 4x 1500m relay and set a new school record at 18:11.87. The Sarah Bowman-anchored Tennessee team set a new college record in the 4 x 1500, finishing in 17:08.34.

For Penn, Anna Aagenes went out fast, running a 4:26.6 split to keep the Penn squad near the pack. The Villanova, Georgetown, Tennessee and Washington runners broke off during the second leg, leaving Penn’s Kinjal Parikh and Wake Forest’s Merry Placer to duke out the fifth and sixth positions. Penn’s Leah Brogan open up a lead on Wake Forest and freshman Laura Steel ran the last leg without any threats of being overtaken.

In the men’s 4x200m, the Penn squad of Alan-Michael Hill, Julian Domanico, Willie Harris and Sam Shepard finished second in their heat and 31st overall. Penn’s women’s 4x200 squad finished 32nd with a time of 1:39.42.

Vere Tech of Jamaica won the 4x100 Girl’s Championship of American, after seeing close competition from the girls of Eleanor Roosevelt (Md). This was the15th time Vere Tech has won this event.

Good Morning (or almost afternoon) from Franklin Field, the site of the 115th Penn Relays. I'll be here throughout most of the day, periodically posting updates. Please feel free to add your own comments or let me know if there is an event you'd particularly like to hear about.

Right now there's about another half hour of high school boys 4 x 100 meters heats. Later today, though, I'm looking forward to the college women's 4x1500 Championship (Tennessee looks to add on to its DMR championship yesterday; Penn is competing as well), the shuttle hurdles (a sort-of unique event, as the runners run at each other and each leg is the opposite direction from the one before it), as well as the college men's DMR.



Could Glen Miller leave Penn? (Part III)

There's been no news about hoops coach Glen Miller lately, and no news is usually good news -- or bad news, if you're one of those who wants Miller gone.

Nonetheless, I think it's still possible that he could bolt from Penn in the near future if the right job somewhere else comes along. (Here's why he might, and here are some reasons he might not.)

So what positions are available? Based on this list, the following schools have recently lost an assistant coach who took the head job somewhere else: Villanova, Davidson, Georgia Tech, Hampton, South Carolina, Marquette, Nevada, North Carolina Central, Baylor, Portland State, Auburn, Florida, Xavier. As far as I know none of the vacancies have been filled, and there may be others, from assistant coaches who left a team for a different reason.

The only current head-coaching vacancies are at Appalachian State, Seattle and Texas-Pan American.

Could any of those openings entice Miller? I'm inclined to say no. The head-coaching jobs are unimpressive; plus Miller is an East Coast guy, and the only suitable East Coast option is Villanova, which lost Pat Chambers this month to Boston University.

Incidentally, before Chambers took over at BU, I heard whispers that he would get a hard look if Penn were to find itself needing a new head coach. He's a Philadelphia University alum and former Episcopal coach, well-regarded and on the rise.

Without a miraculous turnaround, it seems likely that next year the clock will run out on Miller. A ways off, yes, but it's never too early for empty speculation.

Your thoughts on any of this?



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