17-for-32

That's how Penn did from the free throw line yesterday in an 87-79 loss at home to Yale.

Unacceptable. When the offense is designed to get inside looks and is running reasonably well, you are going to go to the foul line a lot. The Quakers did just that last night, as they have quite a bit lately, but they just can't finish. Penn has had its struggles from the line in the past -- even in its better, championship seasons. But this team simply does not have the talent to afford that many misses at the free-throw line, especially when working the ball inside is the focal point of the offense.

This is the second straight game in which the number of free throws Cam Lewis alone has missed has equaled the number of points by which Penn lost. I'm not putting the loss on one guy, especially a senior that's working as hard as he can and getting good position and touches inside and hustling on defense. But when you only convert 6 of your last 20 free throw attempts, as Lewis has done going back to last week's game against Harvard, even Shaq can call that unacceptable. Harrison Gaines played well last night -- but 2-of-5 doesn't cut it either. Penn cannot win a game if it barely goes 50 percent from the line.

Obviously this season is lost and really has been since the very first home Ivy weekend. I still maintain that in a year or two, this team could be a very good one. But in order to be truly successful down the road, Glen Miller absolutely must bring in quality big men to this program that can play defense inside and finish around the basket or make free throws if need be. So far, Penn has locked down Brian Fitzpatrick, a 6-foot-7 forward who can hopefully come in and make an impact right away, but there's certainly no guarantee of that. And since no recruit is a sure thing, as Penn fans know all too well from the past several years, the forward/center position should be at the top of priority list. Penn needs at least one or two more in this coming recruiting class.

I have faith in Zack Rosen and Rob Belcore and Harrison Gaines and Tyler Bernardini, and they're all still young. Jack Eggleston needs help down low; he's been shaky during the Ivy stretch, in part because I think the pressure of having been the only steady inside option for a while finally caught up to him. Conor Turley can give you energy, but I don't think he's true starter material -- just not skilled enough. The jury is still out on Mike Howlett, and Garvin Hunt is definitely a project. Who knows how he'll turn out.

Certainly this team could have used Andreas Schreiber and will have him back at least for next season, so (barring further injury) he should help to stabilize Penn next season as the younger players develop. And if Justin Reilly returns healthy, he could give Penn a boost as well. That's the one advantage the Quakers have not had this year -- reliable seniors to stabilize the growing process for the freshmen and sophomores, who are erratic and prone to bad games every now and then.

But if Miller plans to stick around for the long haul and continue to run the offense that he's running -- which really is getting very good inside looks night in and night out -- he needs the right horses for the system. Steve Danley has referred to Miller as an "offensive genius," while Phil Martelli has said two years in a row that he "wishes" he could "coach offense like Glen Miller." Those statements may be true and are all well and good, but now the onus is on Miller to bring in and develop the right players to fit into that offense and make it work. He can get a pass on Lewis and Votel and even Schreiber and Reilly, but everyone from Eggleston's class and on is Miller's responsibility.

The truth is that Penn's offense has run so much more smoothly in recent weeks than it did earlier in the season, but based on the end results, it's hard to acknowledge that fact. And if the offense can't finish, then who cares how many good looks it can produce. If Miller gets the right guys in there and the coaching staff develops them correctly, the Quakers should be the team to beat in a season or two. If not, then Miller will punch his own ticket out of town.

One final, unrelated note: Tonight is Penn's last home game of the season for students that won't be around during spring break. Not that there have been many students at the games at all this season, but this will be the last chance for most students to see Kevin Egee, Cam Lewis, and Brennan Votel on the floor at the Palestra. I'll be the first to tell you that Penn suffered this season because it lacked consistent and reliable seniors, but those three players are not at fault. They were brought into this program to play basketball as best as they could -- to give it their all -- and they've done just that. So if you're around and not going to Girl Talk, or even if you are, at least show up for a while to support them. They've earned it.

Checking in on the Atlantic 10

Temple, Saint Joseph's and La Salle have all clinched spots in the Atlantic 10 tournament, which starts on March 11. They all have three regular-season games left, and Temple has the most to lose from them.

The Owls have a 4 p.m. game at Dayton today, and they're hanging on for dear life to a top-four spot in the conference rankings — and the first-round tournament bye that comes with it. As luck would have it, they currently share third place with the Flyers, but that will change one way or the other in a few hours.

But the Owls are on shaky ground for another reason: They need to finish strong if they are to have any shot at an at-large bid, assuming they don't win the conference's auto-bid. After Dayton, they face St. Joe's at home and George Washington on the road.

As of this morning, ESPN's Bracketology has Oklahoma State, Florida, Michigan and Penn State as the last four bubble teams in the NCAA Tournament, with respective RPIs of 32, 41, 46 and 63. The first four teams in the 'out' column are Minnesota, Cincinnati, Maryland and Providence; they're sitting at 36, 50, 57 and 70. The  next four after that are Texas A&M, San Diego State, New Mexico and Kansas state, at 35, 54, 71 and 76.

Temple's RPI is 45 before today's game, and their strength of schedule is the nation's 54th-toughest.

The Owls took a big step backwards in their last game, a 70-63 loss to La Salle on Thursday. That defeat came after they had beaten the Explorers by the same margin on Jan. 11. Those wins over Tennessee and Penn State have started to look more and more like aberrations. A loss today — or worse, to St. Joe's or G.W. next week — might mean that Temple's only route to the Tournament is winning the A-10 title. And those aren't good odds.

Another addition to the football staff

I reported last week that Jon McLaughlin has been promoted to the offensive coordinator position after three years coaching Penn's offensive line. That story also said that a new tight-ends coach had been added, and I've since learned that the job went to Mark Fabish, a former Quakers wide receiver who graduated in 1997. He was a four-year letter winner and won two Ivy League championship rings. He holds the school records for punt return average and kickoff return yards.

Penn hired him away from Rhode Island, where he served as quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator for one year, according to his bio. Prior to that, Fabish worked at Division III Monmouth for ten years, six as offensive coordinator.

An official announcement on both hires should come as soon as all the paperwork is finalized.

Final: YALE 87 PENN 79

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all of our loyal Buzz readers from the Palestra. It's David Bernstein here for tonight's contest between the Quakers and the Yale Bulldogs. It's not a great day to be a Red and Blue hoops fan--and an even worse one to be a Penn fan at the Palestra. The Quakers haven't won an Ivy contest at home yet (4-5 overall), but will look to push themselves back up to .500 in conference play tonight. They fought Yale to a narrow victory up at John J. Lee Amphitheater in Connecticut, and we'll see if Penn can notch its first season sweep of the year.

FINAL Yale 87, Penn 79

Gaines hits a three-pointer, and it's Andrews to the line yet again. He bricks the first and bounces the second one home.  Gaines' next three gets nothing but backboard. Call it.

Penn has not yet won at home in the Ivy slate, and it's five games in. Do I need to say any more than that?

:29.8 Second Half; Penn 76 Yale 84

It's Andrews to the line after another foul on the in-bounds. He clanks the first, but makes the second. Belcore can't hit a three, and Rosen is called for another foul. Zampier is at the line, and he will convert on both FTs.

:38.5 Second Half; Penn 76 Yale 83

Pinick's free throw is followed by another Gaines lay-up, which is in turn followed by a timeout by Miller.

The NCAA has officially deemed this the slowest and most boring game in the history of college athletics, and indeed, mankind.

Just kidding. But not really.

1:02 Second Half; Penn 74 Yale 82

Rosen finds Belcore open underneath, and Morin's foul will send him to the showers. Belcore hit the basket and the free throw. Yet another foul is called on Penn during the in-bounds, this time it's on Rosen. Chris Andrews will head to the line, where he can only hit one.

1:12 Second Half; Penn 71 Yale 80

Penn's press looks about as tough as the tortilla warmer at Chipotle--it's not doing any real damage at all. Zampier finds his way to the hoop after driving coast-to-coast, converting the ensuing free throw as well. Gaines responds with a take, but it might be too late for the Quakers to stage any sort of a comeback.

2:01 Second Half; Penn 66 Yale 77

Morin finds himself all alone after Eggleston's missed FT, and extends Yale's lead yet again. Gaines was fouled taking it to the hoop on the other end, and he knocked down just one of two. Pinick was fouled on the rebound. Sheesh. He air-balled the first one, and the hit the second.

2:26 Second Half; Penn 65 Yale 74

Bernardini hesitates on a pretty good look from three, instead dishing to Rob Belcore, who can't pick it up. Zampier drains a trey after the turnover, and the Quakers are in dire need of a spark, and quick.

Eggleston will head to the line after he is fouled by Morin under the hoop. He hits just one.

3:27 Second Half; Penn 64 Yale 72

More of the same here: Fouls, fouls, fouls. And for the Quakers at the stripe, bricks, bricks, bricks. Lewis misses two more, while Yale's Zampier responds by making one of two.

4:07 Second Half; Penn 64 Yale 71

It's a battle of the charity stripe now. Braswell hit one of two, and Cam Lewis did the same. Penn is going to the press every time out now.

4:41 Second Half; Penn 63 Yale 70

A baseline drive by Egee, followed by a nice sequence by Gaines, cut the lead to six. Gaines hit his first free throw, and came up with the loose ball after missing the second, converting a floater in the lane. Yale answered by beating Penn's full-court press for a transition basket, but Egee was subsequently sent to the line--where he made one of two.

5:49 Second Half; Penn 57 Yale 68

Bernardini is called for his fourth in transition ("A good call" says Mr. Campo), and Jordan Gibson sinks the bucket and the free throw. The momentum is back to Yale.

6:52 Second Half; Penn 57 Yale 63

As he has been known to, Gaines gives Penn some fire out of the break. He made a nice take right at the rim, and then broke the defender's ankles en route to a banked lay-in. Coach Jones calls for time.

7:56 Second Half; Penn 53 Yale 63

A pretty uneventful minute as we're taken to a media timeout. During the break, a strapping blond fellow (the P.A. announcer tells me that his name is Adam Magee) takes the Chili's Free Throw Challenge. Godspeed, young man.

8:45 Second Half; Penn 53 Yale 63

It's a very tightly-called second half here, just as it was the last time these two teams met. There's a lot of cycling in and out on the Yale bench, as they've already committed 11 fouls in the frame. Another Bulldogs bucket pushes their lead to double digits, and causes Miller to call for time.

10:00 Second Half; Penn 53 Yale 59

There's the Tyler we know and love. Bernardini just hit a long baseline jumper as he was fouled (perhaps questionably, judging by the scribbling I'm seeing nearby), but he can't hit the free throw.

A Votel foul sends Lewis back into the game and Zampier to the line, and the Bulldog connects on them both.

11:22 Second Half; Penn 51 Yale 55

As the Bulldogs bench is livid over a non-called kicked-ball (save that five times fast), my neighbor Bill Campo explains that it isn't a kick if the player's foot is on the floor. It was Rosen's footwork that led to the steal and Votel free throws.

Morin answered to extend the Yale lead to four, and the Bulldogs will have the ball when we return from the media break.

12:59 Second Half; Penn 48 Yale 53

Reilly is not looking so hot right now. After committing a turnover that led to a Yale score, he lost his man in the paint, leading to another bucket. Glen Miller just called a timeout, and it's doubtful we see Reilly back on the floor after the break.

13:39 Second Half; Penn 48 Yale 49

Eggleston wound up hitting both free throws. After a long Bernardini jumper, Penn came out in a two-three zone--it will be interesting to see if we see that again. Meanwhile, Lewis is called for his third foul, and is pulled in favor of Reilly. Miller doesn't look happy--a Zampier jumper won't make him any happier.

15:38 Second Half; Penn 44 Yale 43

Gaines flicks a beautiful no-look dish to Eggleston under the hoop, but he can't hit the basket as he is fouled. He will head to the line for two shots after the media timeout.

16:20 Second Half; Penn 44 Yale 43

A defensive lapse by Pinick allows Bernardini to get an easy lane to the hoop for a layup and the foul--the sophomore hit the free throw to put the Quakers on top.

16:45 Second Half; Penn 41 Yale 43

Ross Morin opens the Bulldogs' second-half scoring, and then an intentional foul on Bernardini is called after he blocks the path of Travis Pinick. But Pinick doesn't go to the line at first--a FT by Zampier is waved off after the zebras realize it was the wrong shooter.

Cam Lewis' lay-in near the basket ties the game back up, but Yale goes back on top after a strong bucket by Morin.

Halftime Stats

Ross Morin: 12 points, 4 rebounds

Harrison Gaines: 9 points, one assist

Yale FT%: 41.7% (5-12)

HALFTIME; Penn 37 Yale 36

Braswell is sent to the line after an Egee reach-in, but he can't connect on either free throw. Meanwhile, the Quakers offense is still sputtering, with Bernardini forcing up a shot with about half a minute to go. Travis Pinick lays one in to end the half, and to cut the Bulldogs' deficit to one.

Stats will be here as we get them.

2:00 First Half; Penn 37 Yale 34

On a pair of one-and-ones, Cam Lewis hits three free throws--that should be good for the confidence of a guy who usually struggles from the charity stripe.

A Ross Morin up-and-under spurs Miller to call for time--Reilly and Votel have really struggled down low (on both ends) so far, but he leaves them both in.

3:31 First Half; Penn 34 Yale 28

After Eggleston fouls Yale's Ross Morin (who would miss both free throws), Penn coach Glen Miller sends in junior forward Justin Reilly, who fed Cam Lewis for a layup on his first possession. Morin, however, answered with a trifecta shortly after.

4:44 First Half; Penn 32 Yale 25

The Bulldogs are really hounding (pun intended) Tyler Bernardini. Jordan Gibson is guarding him, and after the two fell hard to the floor as Rosen brought the ball up, Bernardini was forced to travel after some really physical defense. They looked like fouls to me, but what do I know.

Gibson just fouled Eggleston on the baseline after an in-bounds pass, and the Quaker forward hits both.

7:43 First Half; Penn 28 Yale 18

Sparkplug much? After a whole lot of nothing on a Quakers' offensive possession, Gaines makes something out of nothing andconverts a loose ball (after he lost control) into a bucket off the backboard (he missed the free throw after being fouled). Gaines followed that up with a short jumper in transition, and then a baseline jumper.

The whole sequence has Yale coach James Jones a little bit irked, but Alex Zampier did drill a three-pointer to quell the Penn rally.

11:44 First Half; Penn 20 Yale 11

Yale's Porter Braswell and Harrison Gaines trade threes, and reserve forwards Conor Turley and Rob Belcore convert on a nice backdoor cut (with Belcore scoring the bucket). Moments after, Belcore is called for a foul, and the Bulldogs will have a pair of free throws waiting for them after the media timeout.

A sidenote: I'm sitting next to Bill Campo, who is observing tonight's officiating for the NCAA. He's scribbled a few notes already, but he told me tonight's crew--like most Friday night crews--is solid, because few other leagues in the NCAA plays on Fridays. He's a former ref himself, and he knows the ins and outs of the unspoken officiating code: For example, after the ball clearly went off a Yale player, he didn't mark the ref down because, otherwise, it would have meant a cheap foul called on Cam Lewis. But Campo doesn't overestimate the sway he has: When I asked him if he held the lives of the three refs in his hands, he responded with a chuckle and a definitive "No."

16:16 First Half; Penn 13 Yale 4

Ross Morin hits jumpers on Yale's first two possesstions, and Tyler Bernardini responds with two three-pointers. Zack Rosen followed those up with a nifty dish in transition to Jack Eggleston, who finished strong.

A trey by Kevin Egee pushed the lead to seven, but it was Zack Rosen's steal and layup that has pushed the Penn lead to nine.

Tonight's Starting Lineups

Yale:F Ross Morin, F Travis Pinick, F Garrett Fiddler, G Chris Andrews, G Alex Zampier

Penn: F Jack Eggleston, F Cam Lewis, G Zack Rosen, G Tyler Bernardini, G Kevin Egee

Pregame reading

M. Hoops Tidbits

Don't be surprised if you see Tommy McMahon back on campus next fall. After McMahon missed the 2007-08 season with an injury, he paced out his courses so he could return to Penn for a fifth year, according to his father. However, since he's no longer on the basketball team, McMahon will still be back at Penn  -- keeping  content playing intramural ball.

------

After practice yesterday, coach Glen Miller gave his thoughts on junior Justin Reilly. After undergoing surgery for a double hernia, Reilly has seen limited time this year but earned one start when Miller decided to shake up the lineup against Cornell.

"He practices everyday, but he practices on a limited basis," Miller said.  "He’s never really been through a full practice all out. He does as much as he can for as long as he can."

Miller hopes he will "be at 100 percent" for next season, but acknowldeged the healing process can take "from that surgery two years to get back"

Even more links

To further make up for my lack of links, here's a few more to chew over.

1) ESPN's Dana O'Neil -- who did this piece on Saint Joseph's playing at the Palestra --  has a profile of former Princeton coach Pete Carril. Princeton recently honored him by naming the court at Jadwin Gym after him. The ESPN article is worth a look just for the picture of Carril.

2) I know the non-revenue sports don't often get covered here on the blog, but here is a video Penn Athletics produced on senior Carrie Biemer, who just scored her 1,000th career point.

Updated: Return of Links!

As a sports editor I've been too busy to post Ivy/Big 5 notes, so I'm back to do a little bit of that.

1) Of course with few "Notes" entries, I haven't posted any Schuylkill 16 polls in a long time. You can catch up here. HERE'S THIS WEEK'S.

2) Speaking of Soft Pretzel Logic, Tannenwald has a really interesting post where he takes an in-depth look at RPI numbers for the Big East, ACC, Atlantic 10, CAA and Ivy League.

3) Fire Glen Miller has a take off on Stephen Colbert's Tip of the Hat/Wag of the Finger segment. To be honest, it's basically a summary of stories that ran in today's DP -- though as a point of clarification Krista wrote a column, not a feature. So what appears in that article is her opinion.

The one thing that is not DP based is the discussion of the seating policy.  Although today there was not an article about it, next week we are planning to run a follow up on that policy as well, so stay tuned for that.

Penn vs. Harvard Live Updates

Greetings from the Palestra, where Penn will take on the Harvard Crimson for the second time this season. Both teams are coming off of tough losses -- Harvard to Princeton, and Penn to Dartmouth. The Crimson, at only 2-7 in the league, are hungry for a win to salvage this road trip, while the 4-4 Quakers need a win to remain a somewhat legitimate longshot to contend for the league. Stay tuned to The Buzz for live coverage throughout the night.

Reactions from the Dartmouth game

An ugly game for Penn, which simply did not have the right energy from start to finish to beat an obviously improved Dartmouth team last night at the Palestra. Penn's only defense is that it played Friday night and Saturday night on the road, practiced Sunday and Monday, went to Princeton on Tuesday night after class, had off Wednesday (mandatory day off), practiced Thursday, and then a fresher Dartmouth team faced them one night later. It's not an excuse for what was a total off night for this team, especially coming off of three wins, but perhaps it is an explanation.

For more analysis, continue reading after the jump.

The key storyline here was the Quakers' complete ineptitude around the basket, coupled with the tremendous presence of Alex Barnett on both sides of the court. There were countless missed layups by forwards and guards alike for Penn, while Dartmouth managed to record nine blocks on the night. Cam Lewis had a nice game on the boards, but also showed again how raw he is around the basket, committing five turnovers. The Quakers had plenty of open looks inside and shunned the three-ball for almost the entire game. Many more baskets should have fallen, but clearly Penn just didn't have the energy or skill to finish off those open looks inside against strong defenders in Barnett and even Elgin Fitzgerald, who played nicely for the Big Green off the bench.

Barnett was an absolute beast tonight, dropping a game-high 20 points and recording 4 blocked shots. His presence alone was enough to thwart many more opportunities for Penn offensively, and he came up with a few very key assists as well. Barnett makes his teammates much better players. As Miller noted after the game, he is clearly a first-team All-Ivy player, and the type of person that you really can run a successful team around. There is no question that he is an elite player at this level.

Penn also suffered from some untimely missed free-throws, and every time the Quakers mounted a comeback, Dartmouth had an answer. Credit definitely goes out to Terry Dunn, who has done a great job turning that program around. He coached his team very well tonight -- his players were very well disciplined in what was a tightly-officiated game. They got out to the early lead and never allowed Penn to knock them out of the driver's seat.

A few other thoughts...

• I really do think that a fresher Penn team wins this game. The Quakers just didn't have it at all tonight, but still managed to keep the game close throughout. Dartmouth also hit some pretty lucky shots, or at least shots that wouldn't normally go in. I don't mean to take anything away from how well the team played, but there were a few "bad" shots that managed to find their way into the basket. Case and point: the Big Green's first bucket came on an NBA-range three from Barnett as the shot clock was expiring. There were several baskets of similar difficulty that fell for them throughout the night. You have to chalk that up to skill as well, no question about it. But when it comes down to it, Penn had many more quality scoring opportunities tonight, and it outrebounded Dartmouth as well. The Quakers were just very rough when it came to finishing around the basket. The gameplan was there, the execution was not.

• Not that this is in any way newsworthy, since it's really the case almost every weekend, but the officiating tonight was very bad. At the very least, there was a pattern to it -- excessive whistleblowing on both ends of the court. In addition to that, the refs definitely botched a couple of out-of-bounds calls. I won't say whether the calls favored one team more than the other; it was hard to tell. But the officiating was noticeably bad.

• Jack Eggleston's offensive woes continued, as he went 2-for-9 from the field. But one of those baskets, a three-pointer late in the game to keep Penn in it, should be a nice pick-me-up for him going forward. The basket didn't wind up mattering in terms of the game, but it was a very big shot at the time. Eggleston needs to regain confidence in his shot, and a big three in a tight spot can go along way towards helping him.

• Zack Rosen, despite some poor play early on in the first half -- including an inexplicable brick by the lefty on a layup with the right hand -- was extremely good for the majority of the game. He really demonstrated his quickness, going coast-to-coast on scoring drives several times, in which he beat half of the Dartmouth team down the floor, including Jabari Trotter and Barnett. He also had several nice dishes to set up baskets for Penn. Very strong play overall from the freshman, who continues to get better as the season progresses.

• With all of the emphasis on taking it inside, Rob Belcore saw very limited action tonight. He is Penn's most reliable three-point shooter in my opinion, but when Penn is constantly trying to pound the ball inside, his role is naturally reduced. In his place, Kevin Egee did not have a good game offensively, but his defense was solid. He hustled very well and set the tone for the Quakers defensively, and he proved very versatile as well. He even got a few nice stops against a bigger and stronger player in Barnett.

• Finally, tonight's game really demonstrated Penn's greatest weakness, which is inside presence. It's been Penn's achilles' heel all season long, and we've seen the playing time of Lewis and Brennan Votel seesaw quite a bit throughout the season. At the end of the day, Lewis gives you better defense and rebounding ability, while Votel gives you a more versatile and dependable offensive threat. Neither give you the full package, which Penn really needed tonight against Barnett and Dartmouth, especially with Eggleston still on the fritz.

FINAL: Dartmouth 69 Penn 59

Evenin' from the Palestra, where Penn (8-13, 4-3 Ivy) is looking to avenge an early-season nail-biter loss to Dartmouth (6-16, 4-4 Ivy), the program's first in 23 straight meetings.  The Quakers have a little more spring in their step this time around, coming off of a three-game win streak, all of them on the road.  Penn will be keeping a wary eye on forward Alex Barnett, who averages 19.5 ppg and dropped 24 on the Quakers the last time they met. - Ashley Humienny

FINAL Penn 59 Dartmouth 69

Another heartbreaker for the Quakers.  With a Cornell loss to Yale this evening, this win would have been momentous for their standing in the Ivy League.  Barnett was solid if not dominating for the Big Green, and his backcourt and bench gave him substantial support.  No one on Penn could claim to be on the ball tonight, though Rosen put in an immense effort in the second half, leading the inside drives.  Kevin Egee played solid defense, but the combined team effort was not enough to keep the Quakers' late rally alive.  Again, Penn's weakness in the low post and inconsistency on the perimeter shine through.

0:10 Penn 59 Dartmouth 69

Eggleston sinks two free throws and Barnett is fouled immediately.  His two free throws give Dartmouth a comfortable lead, and the game becomes stop-and-go as the Quakers keep on fouling, and the Big Green keep on converting.

0:24 Penn 57 Dartmouth 65

Barnett sinks four FT attempts in a row with under a minute left to put the score at 65-57.  Eggleston goes for a long three and misses, and Rosen gets the rebound and looks for a shot, not finding it.  Rosen passes to Gaines, who misses his three.

0:47 Penn 57 Dartmouth 63

Rosen seems to not know whether to drive or dump the ball, and his hesitation costs him a shot.  Bernardini can't follow up, and Dartmouth takes possession at half court.  Penn fouls three times in a row to put Barnett on the line to shoot one-and-one.  Barnett makes both.

2:18 Penn 57 Dartmouth 61

Barnett was just called for a rare travel, and Gaines draws a foul outside of the arc.  He misses his first, makes the second. Penn is pressing hard.

2:52 Penn 56 Dartmouth 61

Dartmouth is taking its sweet time with possessions, and Elgin Fitzehgeald is doing a good job of resetting the shot clock after missed Big Green jumpers.  Cam Lewis just hit one of two from the line.  Rosen is pushing the ball - but it won't matter if Lewis doesn't post some major paint points.

3:51 Penn 55 Dartmouth 61

Jack Eggleston injected major momentum into Penn with a surprise three - the Big Green's Jabari Trotter attempts a response with his own trey, air-balling it and bringing the Palestra to their feet.  Tyler Bernardini  followed up with another three, bringing the score within three.  It's becoming a duel at the arc, however - Dartmouth's David Rufful just sunk another perimeter shot to put the deficit at six.

7:00 Penn 48 Dartmouth 56

Kevin Egee comes down hard on a foul from Dartmouth’s David Rufful after a missed jumper from Gaines.  Cam Lewis negates any possible Penn benefit, however, by notching a lane violation on Egee’s trip to the line.  Barnett has cooled down a bit, missing his last two jumpers.  Egee makes up for his missed chance by sinking Penn’s first three of the game...  Annnd the Dartmouth fan continues to expound on Penn's defense with his poetry.

9:01 Penn 45 Dartmouth 54

Bernardini is still putting in significant bench time, with three fouls. Penn's Rosen is bringing out the best in everyone, giving Cam Lewis the opportunity to answer Barnett's dunk with one of his own.  The Palestra's modest - but decently raucous - crowd makes their feelings known. 11:31 Penn 40 Dartmouth 52

Penn’s Harrison Gaines is going inside with varying success, but it’s nothing like the show that Barnett is putting on.  The star forward just dunked hard on the Quakers' Brennan Votel, sending the Dartmouth bench to their feet.  Forward Kevin Egee is providing the Quakers with some paint points, and Bernardini is following his lead.  Zack Rosen has also been doing his best to get the missed layup he had in the first half off of his shoulders, notching a few layups in the past couple minutes.  Eggleston was just fouled going back up on a rebound, and he misses one of his FT attempts.

15:43 Penn 32 Dartmouth 42

Penn is starting to press, but backing off quickly, and the Big Green is taking advantage of the space on the perimeter.  Dartmouth's Jabari Trotter sinks a three, keeping the point cushion in double-digits until Tyler Bernardini makes a jumper.  On the press, however, Bernardini fouls the Big Green point before he reaches the half-court line.  Cam Lewis is still having some trouble underneath - he was just called for his third travel of the game.

HALF Penn 26 Dartmouth 35

One of the more interesting halfs we've seen in Penn basketball.  Zack Rosen really started showing up for the Quakers in the last couple minutes, making a flashy layup on an even flashier takeaway.  The perimeter has seen little to no action on the Penn side, while the Big Green has been keeping up a formidable shooting percentage, ending the half at 48.4%. Barnett still seems to be the Big Green's sole go-to guy for offensive streaks, and he's biding his time on shots and making them when it counts.  Dartmouth has been spreading the scoring, though, with six guys on the stat sheet.  Penn needs to step up the D to throw some water on Barnett.

STATS

Penn - 8 turnovers, 43.5 FG%

Rosen - 6 points

Lewis - 3 turnovers

Dartmouth - 7 turnovers, 48.4 FG%

Barnett - 12 points, 3 blocks

Penn is 8-0 when leading at the half this season, and 0-13 when trailing at the half.

2:15 Penn 22 Dartmouth 33

Freshman Rob Belcore makes Penn's first three attempt of the game, but it's a miss as he fails to balance himself before the release.  Dartmouth is shooting at a pretty high percentage, taking far fewer shots than the Quakers.  Jack Eggleston just drew a foul on the perimeter, making both FT attempts.

3:26 Penn 19 Dartmouth 28

Up until the 5 minute mark, we were stuck on the same score for a while here - a little more than three minutes without a basket on either side, even after Cam Lewis drew another foul, missing both FT attempts. Harrison Gaines just stripped a Dartmouth guard for another takeaway basket, but Barnett answered with a jumper.  Bernardini is riding the bench with two fouls, and hasn't been in since 13:20.

7:39 Penn 17 Dartmouth 22

"It's almost as if Miller knew the refs were going to call this game tightly." - DP's Andrew Todres

The focus of Miller's playcalling has been dumping it to Lewis, who's been doing a good job of keeping the ball alive underneath, with help from Egee and Eggleston.

8:38 Penn 17 Dartmouth 22

A young frumpy Dartmouth fan is waxing poetic Dr. Seuess-style behind the Penn bench during the Quakers free throw attempts.  He hasn’t seemed to faze Cam Lewis, who just drew a foul and made good on both shots.  Gaines is still pushing the inside with good results, scoring his second basket of the game.

10:13 Penn 12 Dartmouth 20

Most Penn points have been coming fro the low post, with Eggleston and Egee maneuvering around Dartmouth's slow-footed Kurt Graeber.  Zack Rosen stripped Dartmouth guard Robby Pride and converted on a nice takeaway.

14:59 Penn 4 Dartmouth 11

If Penn's strategy was to keep the touch away from Barnett tonight, they aren't starting off on a good foot - Barnett opens the score with a trey.  Penn freshman Zack Rosen and sophomore Harrison Gaines are pushing the middle, but the Quakers are having big trouble in transition, with a few turnovers that the Big Green have capitalized on.  Barnett has been all over the court, completing a fadeaway and another three leading into the timeout.  Only Jack Eggleston and Cam Lewis have field goals for the Quakers.

Starters

Penn

G - Zack Rosen

G - Tyler Bernardini

G - Harrison Gaines

F - Jack Eggleston

C - Cameron Lewis

Dartmouth

G - Marlon Sanders

G - Jabari Trotter

F - Alex Barnett

F - David Rufful

C - Kurt Graeber

The Prince's response

The DP and the Daily Princetonian have a tradition of exchanging columns the day of the first Penn-Princeton men's basketball game.  This year I wrote one for the DP, but unfortunately the editors at the Prince had forgotten.  However, they have now responded with their own column.

I thought in the interest of fun -- and since we at the Daily Pennsylvanian have a legitimate blog on which we can do it, unlike the Daily Princetonian -- I'll respond to selections from their column in the style of former baseball blog, Fire Joe Morgan.

Read along after the jump (as a nod to our esteemed colleagues in New Jersey, all text from their column is in orange).

To the sports editors of The Daily Pennsylvanian:

You're supposed to italicize the names of publications.

The sports editors at The Daily Princetonian sincerely apologize.

Again, it should read "The Daily Princetonian."

It is customary for our papers to exchange columns on the eve of the first Penn-Princeton basketball game of the season, and Tuesday we were unable to keep that tradition alive. Please accept our deepest regrets.

But when we politely said we did not have room in Tuesday’s paper for your rants on the one sport that your university still holds dear, we were not lying. Had we told you that your basketball team’s 74-63 loss to Columbia was impressive, we would have been lying.

Just to clarify, Columbia is second in the league standings right now.

No, we had a national title for women’s squash and an undefeated season for swimming and diving to cover, and that makes for a busy day for a sports page, doesn’t it?

Hmmm, interesting. The women's team won the Howe Cup -- which is the equivalent of the national championship in women's squash, though squash is not officially sanctioned by the NCAA -- on Sunday. So I don't understand why the Prince had to cover it on Tuesday instead of Monday. We at the DP always cover matches the next day, especially big events.

Similarly, men's swimming finished their season on Friday. So why no coverage in Monday's paper?

In addition, why I can understand not putting in our column, it should be noted that The Prince failed to even write a preview of the Penn-Princeton game. I guess their policy is to not cover events in a timely manner. (Disclaimer: I did not read Tuesday's print edition, just looked at the website. So if they failed to upload a story, but did print one, then I'm wrong).

We would not expect you to empathize of course — your current managerial board has not had to deal with such an issue — but if you are curious, just ask the Pennsylvanian editors from 1986. They covered Penn’s last NCAA title — in women’s fencing, in case you were curious. They might understand.

Again, for clarification, women's squash is not an NCAA sport, so don't think you won any NCAA titles this past weekend.

You claim we don’t care about tradition, but pick a sport and have our athletic tradition go 12 rounds with yours. We win championships; you throw toast. You disagree?

Wrestling.

Penn has 60 first-team All-Ivy selections, 61 EIWA champions, 23 All-Americans and 5 NCAA champions in its 103+ years of existence. It also has the nation's oldest booster club for a collegiate wrestling team.

Princeton is too ashamed of its wrestling tradition to even have a page dedicated to its history or media guide on the athletic department's website. (On the Ivy League's official website I did find out that Penn has won 11 Ivy titles to Princeton's 10, but the Tigers haven't won it since 1985-86.) Also, Princeton last beat Penn in 1991.

(We can call men's basketball a toss up even though Penn dominates the series record.)

Travel up to Princeton the next time your men’s hockey team battles our 12-player coed club team, and we can discuss it in further detail.

This is the Mid Atlantic, not New England, the Upper Midwest or Canada. We don't play hockey.

But instead of trash talking, we are taking the high road. We are apologizing and congratulating you for squeaking out an ugly overtime victory against our Tigers last night.

Thanks, though to be honest after beating you guys for the fifth straight time/8th out of 9/13th out of 15 it is getting a little boring.

After years of Penn playing Roy Horn to Princeton’s Tigers,

Are you implying Penn:Princeton::owner:animal? (Oh and I got an 800 on the SAT verbals if you want to make a joke about my analogies skills.)

If you're talking about when the Tiger mauled Roy, first off shame on you for making fun of a gruesome injury. But secondly, to which years are you referring?  Certainly not recent ones (see above). Certainly not in the past (Penn's all-time record against Princeton is 122-97).

it’s nice to finally share the wealth (pun intended).

Read this please. Also see my comment later re: "please stop with the tax evasion" etc...

Princeton went up 11 points early, and then it left the door open wide enough for Ben Franklin and his pet turkey to waddle through.

I could make a back door joke but I won't.

Penn couldn’t hold its nine-point second-half lead,

Just like you couldn't hold your 11-point lead.

but the Quakers did outscore the Tigers in a sloppy overtime period. Congrats. Drink a Highball to this victory, you’ve earned it.

After watching your boring offense we do deserve a drink.

In your column Tuesday, you snidely called Jadwin Gymnasium a “Space Mountain,” an allusion to the aesthetically unpleasing indoor Disney World rollercoaster. We love the analogy. For 40 years, opposing Ivy League teams have been coming to “Space Mountain,” and, more often than not, the results are the same: They enter wide-eyed and excited, spend their time here getting uncomfortably pushed around and stagger home nauseated and defeated.

Except for Penn. Overall Princeton leads the series 55-53 at home, but Penn leads 22-16 since Jadwin opened. (By comparison, Penn's home record overall is 61-23, and 45-12 in the Palestra).

Plus, I loved Space Mountain in Orlando. I definitely didn't feel defeated after I left it.  In fact, it was a very easy and enjoyable ride.

Last night was not one of those nights, but it did feature stomach-churning inconsistency and unnerving carelessness from both teams. Your website last night called the game an “overtime thriller.” This begs the question: Did you watch the same game we did?

"Begs the question" Really?  Plus, just because a game is sloppily played doesn't mean it isn't exciting.

Also, please stop with the tax-evasion, silver-spoon and trust-fund jabs: They are as played out as they are unoriginal. After all, do you see a safety-school joke anywhere in this column?

Right there?  But seriously, I'm all for getting rid of all of these stupid cliched jokes -- thanks for no Oatmeal references. But if you don't want us to use these jokes, then why did you say you wanted to share the wealth as noted above?  Come on!

And if Bill Bradley ’65 is fat, as you claim, consider him the fattest man in history who was an NCAA Player of the Year, who was twice named an All-American, who was a presidential candidate, who was a captain for a gold-medal Olympic team, who was a Rhodes Scholar, who was a congressman for 18 years, who was a Truman Award winner, who was an NBA champion, who was the subject of a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, who was a distinguished Eagle Scout, who was a champion of impoverished children, who was named to basketball’s Hall of Fame. The fattest thing about Bradley is his resume.

Listen, I said "Bill Bradley is fat." I didn't say "Bill Bradley was fat." So his playing days aren't relevant. But come on, you can't look at this photo and not tell me he is fat?

You write that we at Princeton have a lot to be embarrassed about, but we just don’t understand why. Did you mean our constant appearances in Time’s list of “Strongest College Sports Teams?”

My column was about the basketball team, not every Princeton sport. So yes you made that list (although I think you mean Sports Illustrated and not Time). However, Penn's basketball program ranked 34th in ESPN's most prestigious schools since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1984-85. Princeton did make the list. At No. 40.

Or the popular basketball offense named after our institution?

BO-RING BO-RING. I'd rather have Glen Miller's nameless offense rather than your precious one that scores less than 49 points multiple times a season (three so far this year).

Or how about the fact that Princeton’s football team has more national championships than any other program in the nation?

Listen, you guys played in the first college football game ever. That's impressive, not going to lie. But just because you beat Rutgers and nobody else in a given year doesn't mean you really can claim to be "national champions." All self-respecting football fans know that legitimate national championships don't start till 1936 when the poll system was introduced. Since then Princeton has a whopping zero national championships.

As for Penn, we also have zero legitimate national championships. But that doesn't mean we don't have a good tradition. In fact, Also, Penn's 1897 team that went 15-0, and won the national championship, has the second best record of any college football team ever. Again, that's not really a "legitimate" national championship, but that's still an impressive record.  By comparison, Princeton's most wins in a season is 13, though seven of those victories were against schools that no longer have football teams.  Also, Penn beat Princeton, 6-4, that year. Finally, even though Princeton started playing football seven years before Penn, we still have more wins, as our 792 wins are 10th all-time. Princeton, at 781, is not in the top 10.

But in conclusion, thanks a lot for writing a column, editors. (Though next time you might want to double check some of your facts.)

Penn O-line coach promoted to offensive coordinator

There had been whispers going around for a while that third-year offensive line coach Jon McLaughlin would take over the offensive coordinator position for Penn. According to a one very reliable source, whose name I am withholding out of courtesy, the decision has indeed been made. Other football insiders I subsequently spoke to, including a couple of graduating seniors and an athletic department source, confirmed that account.

I'm told that head coach Al Bagnoli told the team of McLaughlin's promotion at the team's annual banquet, which was held on Friday. An official announcement from the athletic department could also come very soon.

If you need a refresher, the coordinator spot opened up about three months ago when Bagnoli decided to replace the beleaguered Bill Schmitz after two seasons.

I'll have much more on this development soon, but to satisfy you hungry readers for the moment, here is a story from two years ago on one of McLaughlin's initiatives.

I invite you to leave any initial reactions about McLaughlin's promotion in the comments section.

More from last night

I hope you were all able to catch last night's monumental Penn-Princeton thriller, either in person or on ESPNU. After the jump, I have some more thoughts and interesting notes on a game that will be talked about for quite some time.

1. Zack Rosen came up huge last night. Not only did he do a great job of distributing the ball and setting up teammates for open looks, but when the Quakers had their backs to the wall, he bailed them out time and time again. On a few possessions, with the shot clock winding down and options dwindling, Rosen took matters into his own hands, creating space and nailing jumpers. He obviously had the big three in overtime which was in effect the game's winning field goal. The two consecutive layups he had to put Penn ahead early in the second half were enormous, as well.

Stu Suss, Penn's statistician, pointed out to me a very interesting statistic on Rosen last night during the game. There is a statistic called "Pure Point Rating (PPR)," which is basically a better, adjusted version of assist-turnover ratio. I'm no statistician by any means, so bear with me and my pedestrian analysis ... The main idea behind PPR is that turnovers are more detrimental to a team than assists are valuable. That makes enough sense if you think about it -- if you don't agree, let me know in the comments section. The stat ultimately adjusts for this by weighting turnovers more heavily. So the end formula is: (Assists x 2/3) - Turnovers, and then you divide by minutes played and move the decimal in the result to places to the right to make the number readable. The stat is obviously designed as a better way to evaluate point guards. How accurate is it? The top two players by PPR in the country right now are Pitt's Levance Fields (10.22) and UNC's Ty Lawson (8.25). Zack Rosen? He's 32nd nationally with a rating of 3.51, and 4th nationally among freshmen. Wow. (Statistics are courtesy of www.draftexpress.com -- a great website if you're unfamiliar with it.)

2. Make no mistake about it -- this was an ugly game from start to finish.

Princeton ran a fine-tuned Princeton offense -- think a faster-paced version that swings the ball out for three-point shots more than normal, with fewer backdoor cuts. This was more in the style of the offense that John Thompson III ran when he was at Princeton; clearly his former assistant at Georgetown, current Tigers coach Sidney Johnson, picked up on it. The offense has its benefits -- Princeton found itself open from three-land time and time again.

In the first half, the Tigers were red hot from downtown, as the three-ball helped to ignite their initial comeback and build a double-digit lead. They were cold in the second half, however, and the offense was obviously much less effective. The problem with this less methodical version of the Princeton offense is that, evidently, it is more prone to turnovers. Penn's defense deserves a lot of credit for its great effort -- there were more forced errors than unforced errors, to be sure -- but there were also a few times when the Tigers simply threw the ball away out of bounds.

On the Quakers end, several layups and short-range jumpers that should have been very easy buckets didn't manage to fall, and throughout the night Tyler Bernardini could have built a house with some of the bricks he threw up. There was one mid-range attempt that barely grazed the rim -- the Princeton fans interpreted it as an air-ball and serenaded Tyler with the "air-ball" chant for the rest of the game. There was another deep two-point attempt from a few feet right of the top of the key late in the second half on which he missed the rim completely, shooting the ball directly off left corner of the box on the backboard. Jack Eggleston had a few open looks from three-land that he clanked, and he also missed an easy baseline jumper at one point off a nice set up from Zack Rosen late in the 1st half. Penn had enough open looks to net 80 points last night.

Bernardini also tried to force way too many plays down the stretch. Late in the game, he drove baseline and tried to pass down the baseline to Rosen, who was waiting for a three in the corner, but the pass was intercepted. There were a few instances in which he tried to shoot over double-teams and missed, and a couple of times where he tried to make something happen in the paint and was stuffed. To be perfectly honest, I think that Bernardini -- who played all but three minutes of last night's game -- should have been given a breather at that point; he must have been gassed. Belcore, a good shooter and defender, might have been a better option late in the second half, and Tyler could have still been brought back in for the final two minutes of regulation.

The final ugly play worth mentioning was the last one in regulation, which Glen Miller took the blame for after the game. With the shot clock dead, Rosen dribbled the game clock down and waited for Tyler to come off a screen to start the play. Tyler took the pass and then dribbled straight into traffic at about the foul-line and forced up a low-percentage shot that rimmed out, sending the game to overtime. Miller said after the game that he had called for a play that the Quakers hadn't worked on in quite a while -- that it wasn't the right call for that particular spot. That may be, but Tyler should have realized he didn't have anything when he dribbled into traffic and looked to pass or at least tried to drive the lane and maybe get fouled. He was a very clutch free-throw shooter yesterday. He certainly had time to adjust the play -- not a lot of time, but enough time to pull it back out and pass the ball off quickly for a better look. I can't argue putting the ball in Tyler's hands for the final play no matter how bad he had been shooting -- I admire the faith Miller has in his guy. Fields -- the Pitt PG -- couldn't do anything Monday against UConn until the final moments, when he drilled a three and helped seal the win. But either way, that play demonstrated poor judgment all around in a game that was otherwise -- perhaps with the exception of playing Tyler too many minutes -- very well-managed by Miller.

3. Cam Lewis definitely has his weaknesses around the basket, but he has gotten a lot better inside and become a viable scoring threat. But more importantly, his interior defense has been most valuable. Penn had so much trouble countering teams with a good inside presence earlier in the season, but Cam has really stepped it up lately and given the Quakers a chance against teams with good big men. Granted, Princeton's forwards aren't great, but between last weekend and last night, Cam is getting the job done down low for Penn. If only he could hit free throws ...

4. Finally, though Penn as a team had an off-game offensively, you can't say enough about how this team hustled and fought through adversity all night long. Andrew Scurria did a great job of highlighting this today in his article. For a team that had problems with toughness and physicality a few weeks ago, last night's game was a most impressive turnaround, continuing from this past weekend's successes. Worth noting was that, despite Tyler and Jack's offensive struggles, they were instrumental in pumping up and energizing the team throughout the game. After Conor Turley was ejected, both of them fired up their teammates in the players' huddle. Miller kept his discussions during media timeouts relatively brief -- Penn's players were back on the floor much earlier than Princeton's were. The players were very motivated and very confident last night, and that's a credit to great leadership and great coaching.

As I indicated in my column, this was a huge win for the program. I'm not sure whether the fact that all of Penn's league wins this season have come on the road is a funny coincidence or perhaps a sign of something more significant. The real answer should come this weekend. All I have left to say at this point is this: A lot of you have been enormously critical of this young team throughout the season and in my opinion too hard on Miller. I questioned him on The Buzz before winter break because I didn't think he was getting everything out of his players that he could have. This team has since responded, in large part due to coaching. That doesn't mean Miller deserves a free pass or your automatic respect or accolades; he should always be questioned and evaluated in an appropriate context.

The headline in the DP today read, "Back on track." That may be, or it may not be. This is still a very young team with clear problems on both ends of the court that won't all get resolved overnight, or even this season. That's no one's fault -- it's just part of the learning process for these underclassmen. But, if Miller and his players didn't prove themselves to you with last night's win, then they never will. The win wasn't about skill. It was about grit, determination, coaching, and a stubborn refusal to let the game slip away. And these guys earned it on the road, against a talented arch rival. You don't tend to see that from such a young team. If Penn can win this type of game on the road, then it should certainly be able to do the same at home. But at this point, the players and Miller deserve a little bit more respect and patience from the fans at the Palestra. After last night, they sure as hell should have earned it.

Questions? Thoughts? Ideas? Your comments are always welcome.

FINAL: Penn 62, Princeton 55

Greetings from Jadwin Gynmaisum at Princeton University, where Penn and Princeton get ready to write another chapter of this age-old basketball rivarly. Penn leads the series 121-97, though the Tigers have the edge at home, 55-52. Both teams are coming off of very different weekends -- Penn earned a weekend sweep at Brown and Yale, while its travel partner, Princeton, dropped their first two league games of the season to the same teams. Stay tuned throughout the night for live updates, or tune in to ESPNU for live television coverage of the game. -- Andrew Todres

FINAL: Penn 62, Princeton 55

That's all from The Buzz this evening. Read more about why this was a classic Penn-Princeton tussle in tomorrow's DP.

0:27, OT: Penn 60, Princeton 55

Gaines hit two free throws. Warm up the bus.

0:38, OT: Penn 59, Princeton 53

Princeton's Douglas Davis made a huge mistake by committing an offensive foul trying to take a hand-off from a teammate. Penn got the ball back and Davis was forced to foul Jack Eggleston, who stretched the lead to six with two free throws. That might just do it.

1:47, OT: Penn 57, Princeton 53

Gaines hit two free throws, then Mavraides brought the defecit back to one by burning through the Penn defense in transition for a layup. But they Rosen, who is looking like Penn's man of the hour, buried a long three to make it a two-possession lead. Penn has two time-outs left, and the Tigers just used their last one. The Quakers come back on to the floor with Bernardini, Lewis, Eggleston, Rosen and Gaines.

3:27, OT: Penn 52, Princeton 51

After a long and harrowing possession filled with numerous almost-turnovers, Bernardini finally got inside, missed an easy layup, got the rebound, was fouled, and hit one of two free throws. Princeton missed a long three at the other end.

END OF REGULATION: Penn 51, Princeton 51

To overtime we go! Zach Finley hit two free throws on Princeton's last possession, to tie the game. The Quakers had the last shot and it was their game to win, but all they could muster was an off-balance 15-foot Tyler Bernardini jump shot.

0:36, Second half: Penn 51, Princeton 49

Rosen responded with a pull-up jumper, then Mavraides hit a three to make it a two-point game. Bernardini made another poor play, throwing a baseline pass away, and although Mavraides missed an open three, Princeton got the rebound and will have a chance to tie things up when we come back from this timeout.

2:14, Second half: Penn 49, Princeton 46

They don't. Instead, Bernardini tried an ill-advised drive into two taller defenders and had his shot blocked. Egee committed a brain-dead foul 80 feet from the basket, and a free throw cut Princeton's deficit to three.

2:20, Second half: Penn 49, Princeton 45

Penn responds. Eggleston and Bernardini both hit a pair of free throws, and Eggleston just forced a turnover as Saunders was bringing the ball up the floor. If Penn scores on this possession it will be pretty hard for the Tigers to come back.

5:30, Second half: Penn 45, Princeton 45

A crazy turn of events has let Princeton retake control of the game. The Tigers hit a three to bring the deficit to 45-39, but the and on their next possession Conor Turley committed a foul on Patrick Saunders. The refs spent a good five minutes deciding that Turley threw an elbow, and they ended up assessing a flagrant and ejecting Turley from the game. It was a dubious call, in my opinion. Princeton hit both free throws, and then a Harrison Gaines turnover and a conversion at the other end let Princeton tie things up. Penn needs to do something quickly, because they have zero momentum right now.

9:06, Second half: Penn 45, Princeton 36

Lewis comes up with another field goal, this one a dunk off a feed from Conor Turley. The Quakers look like a well-oiled machine with one exception -- field goals. They've missed the front end of three straight one-and-ones. If their effort from the stripe was even average tonight, they would be up by 15 right now.

The Tigers, though, has problems of their own. They have nine team fouls already, and their starting center, Pawel Buczak, just fouled out of the game. (I, for one, can't understand why he wasn't pulled from the game after he picked up No. 4.) Now it looks like Princeton's only strategy for defending Lewis will be to hack him, which, judging by his free-throw shooting so far, might not be that bad of an idea anyway.

11:01, Second half: Penn 43, Princeton 35

Penn's perimeter defense has been much improved so far -- they've had a hand in the face of every Tigers player who receives a pass near the three-point line. But the big surprise from the last five minutes has been Cameron Lewis, who showed great touch on two close-range field goals in Penn's last three possessions. The Quakers bench is fired up, but that's nothing compared to assistant coach John Gallagher, who's been sprawled out on the floor like a Marine, shouting instructions with his face next to the hardwood. If that doesn't get you listen, what will?

16:17, Second half: Penn 36, Princeton 33

The Quakers came out of the gate strong in the second half with three layups in transition, one by Bernardini and then two from Rosen on consecutive possessions, each after he picked off a Tigers pass. Bernardini also got to the free-throw line and hit one of two, and Cameron Lewis missed a pair from the line, so Penn could be up by six right now. But still, an encouraging start to the half for Penn, forcing Princeton to take a 30-second breather.

Halftime stats:

Score: Penn 29, Princeton 31 FG-FGA: Penn 10-32, Princeton 10-18 3-pt FG-FGA: Penn 3-7, Princeton 6-8 FT-FTA: Penn 6-7, Princeton 5-6 Rebounds (Off.-Def.): Penn 16 (9-7), Princeton 16 (2-14) Assists: Penn 6, Princeton 7

Halftime, Penn 29, Princeton 31

Out of the timeout, Penn features Rosen, Bernardini, Reilly, Egee, and Belcore. Rosen and Bernardini set up a half-court trap that Princeton beat, but Princeton lost it and Reilly managed to get his hands on a loose ball with Finley to get the jump and the possession arrow. Questionable call there, but Penn will take it. Rosen dribbled down the game clock as Penn held for the final shot, with Egee nailed at the buzzer to give Penn a huge boost going into the locker room, down only 2. That shot was huge for Penn -- and Egee, who had been very cold until that point. It looked as though this game was starting to get out of hand, but Penn clawed back into it late in the half. We'll be back shortly with the stats, but keep this great stat in mind:

Penn is 7-0 when leading at the half this season, and 0-13 when trailing at the half. Stay tuned.

0:58.8 to go in the 1st half, Penn 26, Princeton 31

Eggleston goes to the line for a 1-and-1 to the tune of "meningitis" chants from the Princeton band, but he makes both to draw Penn to within 7. I'd personally expect Princeton students to be a bit wittier and more creative than this. Then Schroeder is whistled for a palming violation at the other end. Turley was then whistled for a charge attempting to drive the lange and lay it in. Finley posted up Turley on the next possession but was called for a travel. Then Turley missed a layup on a great feed inside from Bernardini and was whistled for a blocking foul on Finley at the other end. Justin Reilly checked in for Turley -- Reilly's first minutes of the game. Finley hit both free throws to give Penn a 9-point lead. Reilly than took a feed from Eggleston in front of the free-throw line and knocked in a jumper off the back rim that probably would have clanked out nine out of ten times. Then an interesting sequence -- off a turnover, Egee ran the floor but his attempt hit the side of the backboard. He got the rebound and dished to Rosen behind the three-point line, whose attempt missed, but Bernardini cleaned up the rebound and went back up to draw the foul. He hit both to bring Penn to within 5 with a minute to go. Sidney Johnson calls a 30-second TO.

3:59 to go in the 1st half, Penn 20, Princeton 29

Miller kept his discussion with his team brief during the media timeout, as the Quakers' starting lineup -- with Votel in for Lewis -- headed back out onto the court well before Princeton did. Both teams exchanged some free throws, and then Penn got several chances on the offensive end with a few good bounces off of rebounds. Gaines picked up one rebound and went back up with it, getting fouled but missing his free throw. Bernardini made a nice strip on the defensive end but missed his layup attempt and subsequent two put-back attempts on the break, and then Saunders was fouled and went to the line for a 1-and-1. He hit the front end, putting Princeton up 11. A good no-look pass from Rosen set up Eggleston for a baseline jumper, which he missed, but Penn kept it alive with a good offensive board from Bernardini and then another loose-ball recovery after a failed inside attempt from Gaines, and Rosen stuck a 2 from the wing. Rosen is passing the ball very well, but Penn can't seem to convert at all. The Quakers are getting a lot of second and even third-chance opportunities -- they just can't seem to put the ball in the basket. Good interior defense by Princeton can be credited to a certain extent.

Finally, while I have a minute, the crowd here filled up reasonably well, though Princeton's student attendance is pathetic, and Penn's is virtually non-existent. The few insults exchanged between bands and students are uniformly stupid, with Princeton's students frequently resorting to the meningitis card. This is Ivy League nerdiness at its absolute worst.

6:56 to go in the 1st half, Penn 17, Princeton 26

Out of the timeout, Rosen threw a dangerous boucepass to the perimeter for Eggleston, who missed the 3. Then Princeton's ridiculous string of threes continued, with Saunders drilling another. This is a modified Princeton-offense that has been living on the perimter -- not the traditional methodical offense we're used to out of this Princeton team. Penn will need to do a better job guarding the three coming out of this media timeout.

8:34 to go in the 1st half, Penn 15, Princeton 23

Out of the media timeout, Howlett checks in for the first time, along with Turley, Rosen, Bernardini, and Egee. On the first play out of the timeout, Penn attempted to work an inside handoff from Turley to Bernardini, but Bernardini was whistled for the charge. Finley scored an inside bucket at the other end, and then Egee missed a three and a subsequent put back attempt to continue Penn's scoring drought. Then Mavraides stuck another three to give the Tigers a 15-9 edge. Rosen finally broke Penn out of it serendipitously -- as the shot clock was expiring, he created a bit of room for himself off the dribble and drained a 3. Princeton responded in kind with a 3 of its own at the other end, but then Bernardini worked inside to score a basket and draw the foul -- he convered the attempt for a three-point play to bring Penn to within 3, 18-15. The Tigers continued their hot shooting from the perimeter, with Schroeder delivering a 3. Then on the other end, Saunders was left wide open backdoor and Schroeder found him for the easy 2. Timeout Penn.

11:40 to go in the 1st half, Penn 9, Princeton 10

Eggleston was worked in the paint by Buczak following a Mavraides three to get Princeton back to within two points in a flash. Then Miller subbed in Belcore, Votel, and Egee, joining Gaines and Turley -- the unit immediately forced a turnover. Gaines took it coast-to-coast the other way but couldn't convert the layup. Then a sloppy pass at the other end from Douglas Davis gave the ball back over to Penn. Votel tried to feed Turley in the post, but he couldn't convert the left-handed baby hook and was then subbed out for Lewis. At the other end, Votel drew a charge on Finley, who attempted to drive the lane and knock down a floater. The few Princeton students in attendance here have taken to calling the red-headed forward "Ginger Princess," but he just proved them wrong with his toughness in the paint defensively. But then Saunders, the 6-foot-7, 185-pound forward, knocked in a 3 with Votel contesting to give the Tigers their first lead of the game. Off a baseline inbound for Penn, Bernardini caught a pass and barely grazed the rim on the shot attempt, giving the ball back to Princeton, which is on an 8-0 run.

15:25 to go in the 1st half, Penn 9, Princeton 2

15:25 to go in the 1st half, Penn 9, Princeton 2

Gaines started off the scoring with a tough inside layup, and then Penn worked the offense well, with Rosen finding Bernardini in the corner for a deep 2. On the defensive end, Lewis swatted a layup attempt by Zach Finley, establishing some inside presence defensively. But Princeton managed to get three opportunities offensively on its next possession thanks to fouls on Lewis and Eggleston, and then a missed box-out by Lewis, resulting in an easy layup putback. The second Miller caught that, Turley checked into the game immediately, then he knocked in a turnaround layup in the post at the other end on his first touch just seconds after entering the game. Good substitution, I'd say. Then Bernardini capitalized on some lazy perimeter defense, nailing an open 3 to give Penn a 9-2 lead. The three is currently under review by the officials to see if Bernardini's foot was behind the line. The ruling is confirmed.

Starting Lineups

Penn

G Zack Rosen

G Harrison Gaines

G Tyler Bernardini

F Jack Eggleston

F Cam Lewis

Princeton

F Zach Finley

C Pawel Buczak

G Douglas Davis

G Marcus Schroeder

G Dan Mavraides

Quick reactions from the weekend

I didn't make the New England roadtrip this weekend, so I'll leave it to my colleagues to describe Penn's play in more detail in the DP tomorrow. Here are a few quick reactions to help you put the weekend in perspective from listening to Brian's radio calls, following stats, and reading recaps.

• Penn took care of business this weekend against two teams that they should have beaten. You could make the case that Yale and Penn are evenly matched and that the game was a tossup, but Brown is surely going through major struggles right now and couldn't seem to even put in a layup on Friday. Nonetheless, Penn's performance against both teams was very encouraging, as the Quakers continue to move in the right direction in this rebuilding process.

• Many of the issues that have plagued the Quakers in recent weeks worked themselves out this past weekend. Penn gave up only 52 points to Brown, playing very strong team defense across the board. Penn completely shut down big men Ross Morin and Garrett Fiddler against the Bulldogs -- the two of them combined for an atrocious 3-for-15 from the field. All of the work Glen Miller and his team put into team defense and guarding the post paid off. The Quakers even limited the effectiveness of Brown's Matt Mullery, who is arguably the best center in the league. So on the whole, Penn really made strides with its interior defense, an encouraging sign going forward.

• From three-land, Penn went 8-for-15 against Brown and 6-for-12 against Yale -- over 50 percent for the weekend. That's certainly a huge step up from the 4-for-21 performance against Cornell last Saturday. Against weaker teams in Brown and Yale, I'm sure it was easier for Penn to find better looks and get in a rhythm. But these statistics are encouraging in that the Quakers didn't attempt as many threes, and the ones they did attempt were higher-percentage shots. Penn didn't live and die by the three-point shot -- instead the team used it to its advantage. The Quakers' offense always runs best when the players play an inside-out game and look to attack the basket first. They did just that, with good results, this weekend.

• Jack Eggleston, who had been struggling offensively heading into this weekend, picked himself up against Brown, netting 13 points and recording four assists in 24 minutes. This had to be a good confidence boost for Eggleston, who really needed to get over a mental block with his problems on offense more than anything else. Miller trusted him and stuck with him for a full 29 minutes against Yale, where his significant contributions came at the defensive end, getting two steals, a block, and eight rebounds. Eggleston's toughness is a real benefit to a team that is so focused on defense right now. He'll regain full confidence on offense eventually -- no need to lose faith in him.

• It is important to highlight the recent success of the backcourt tandem of Harrison Gaines and Zack Rosen. When I first saw Rosen play in November at Chapel Hill, I figured Gaines' career in a Penn uniform was doomed. In reality, Rosen's arrival in Philadelphia might be the best thing that could have happened for Gaines, even if it's taken a few months for everything to play out. The size disadvantage of having both Rosen and Gaines in the backcourt at the same time doesn't work so well in non-conference play. But in the Ivy League, the combination is great because it allows both players to do what they do best. Rosen, the pure point guard, can focus on distributing -- he has been at his weakest this year when he tries to force shots and make too much happen. Gaines has always been at his best when attacking the basket and creating off the dribble, which he can do freely without having the burden of running the point. The end result: Penn's offense runs much more smoothly, and everyone on the floor gets better opportunities to score and play within their comfort zone. When these two players are clicking, they can really make the offense go.

• At the same time, just because Penn is back to .500 in a wide open Ivy League and earned a weekend sweep does not mean that this team is going to have a realistic shot at a league title. It's very easy to raise your expectations of this team after seeing how it played this weekend, but you need to remember that this is still an inexperienced squad that Miller is rebuildling. For as many steps forward as the Quakers might have taken this weekend, they are liable to regress a bit in any given game as well. I think the Ivy League picture became a bit clearer this weekend, confirming more or less what everyone figured at the outset: Cornell is a cut above everyone else in the league right now -- even with the occasional hiccup here and there -- and no one is likely going to catch the Big Red. I wouldn't be shocked if Penn snuck into second or third place in the league -- there is tremendous parity among teams two thru seven in the league right now. But the Quakers still aren't ready to keep up with Cornell yet, even if by some miracle they win out. So keep your expectations tempered as the season progresses, while maintaining a quiet confidence in this young team as it continues to improve and correct its problems from week to week. They're not there yet, but they're getting there. Just give it time.

Live Game Updates: Penn at Yale

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Hello from Yale's John J. Lee Amphitheater, this is David Bernstein and Hannah Gerstenblatt in a tag-team effort from the Buzz tonight. The Quakers will get a chance to notch their first undefeated Ivy weekend tonight, but it might not be as easy as it seemed a week ago--the Bulldogs thumped Princeton last night, and this has been a historically tough place for Penn.

Tonight's starting lineups:

Penn:F Jack Eggleston, F Cam Lewis, G Harrison Gaines, G Zack Rosen, G Tyler Bernardini

Yale: G Chris Andrews, F Travis Pinick, G Alex Zampier, F Garret Fiddler, F Ross Morin

Penn 68, Yale 63 FINAL

Bernardini misses a three, but Eggleston tips the ball back out and Gaines grabs it. WIth 21.3 seconds left, the Bulldogs are forced to foul, and they send Rosen to the line. He misses the first shot and Yale takes a timeout.

Penn has its starting lineup--except for Lewis--in to finish the game as Rosen drains the second foul shot.

A missed layup by Zampier sends the ball flying between tips, and the Quakers regain possession with just 1.8 second left to play. Yale has no choice but to foul, and Bernardini is the next one to earn a trip to the line for Penn. He drains both shots and the Quakers eke out a win here in New Haven.

Penn 64, Yale 63 1:16 Second Half

After Zampier hits another three to bring the score within three, Eggleston takes it to the bucket against Morin, causing him to commit his fifth foul. Eggelston hits one of two free throws.

Rosen, lauded for having great vision on the court, makes a bad pass to Bernardini that Pinick picks off and takes to the other end for a layup. He misses the free throw (Rosen's fourth foul). Egee checks in for Rosen.

Zampier, after an obvious travel, dishes the ball to Sands down low, who slams it in with two hands.

Penn 65, Yale 63 29.8 Second Half

Eggleston wants to get in on the dunk action, and gets fouled in the attempt. He hits one of two free throws, but Bernardini comes up with a big rebound to keep the ball for the Quakers. Gaines drives it to the bucket and puts it up, but is denied by a huge block by Mangano that sends Gaines sliding off the court.

Penn 62, Yale 56 3:19 Second Half

The Bulldogs bring in their two go-to scorers, Pinick and Morin, and Lewis and Eggleston check back in for Penn. It appears that fouls don't matter anymore, as both coaches are playing their stars regardless of their four personal fouls.

Lewis hits two free throws, but then picks up his fifth foul on a call that has Miller and his coaching staff up on their feet. Votel comes in for Lewis.

Rosen pulls up and drains a three form the top of the arc. Yale timeout.

Penn 57, Yale 52 6:29 Second Half

Mangano brings the Bulldogs within two with a jumper from the foul line, but Rosen drives the lane, gets the basket, and draws a foul on the other end--with an emphatic fist pump to boot. The point guard completes the three-point play.

Morin checks back in, hoping to get a score--or at least not to get a foul. He finds at least a little groove, making a layup before missing the foul shot.

Harrison Gaines pulls up and drains another floater in the lane. On the other end, the Quakers defense leads the Bulldogs to throw up a hasty airball as the shot-clock expired.

Penn 52, Yale 48 9:25 Second Half

Eggleston, Gaines and Bernardini check in for the Quakers and Eggleston quickly picks up fouls number three and four. Lewis comes in for Eggleston and Fidler comes in for Sands. But the fouls keep on comin'--Lewis picks up his fourth, spurring Miller to send in Votel. The Bulldogs are logging a lot of time on the charity stripe.

Penn can't seem to get ahold of a rebound right now, and the Bulldogs are back, scoring on their third try for a tip in the paint.

After a back-and-forth chase of the ball, Bernardini sets up in the corner, gets a pass from Rosen, takes his time and drains a three to get the Quakers back on track.

Penn 47, Yale 42 12:10 Second Half

Zampier continues his hot shooting and Rosen gets in on the action by exchanging threes of their own. Bad pass from Turley inside to Votel leads to a Yale steal, but Yale can't capitalize on the opportunity as Fidler gets called for a foul.

Yale star Ross Morin, who hasn't scored a point tonight, comes back in and just as quickly goes back out, picking up his fourth foul.

Pinick and Mangano come in for Yale and Belcore checks in to replace Bernardini.

Penn 44, Yale 38 14:18 Second Half

Bernardini jumps above the pack and finishes a Rosen three-point attempt that bounced off the rim. In a fight under the boards, Eggleston grabs a huge offensive rebound off of a Bernardini miss and then falls to the floor, losing the ball to the Bulldogs, who take it the other way where Bernardini commits his second foul.

Garrett Fidler gives the crowd a boost with a three-point play --Lewis with the foul. Penn answers with an Eggleston three from the top of the arc, but before celebration, Zampier matches Eggleston's three on the other end.

Penn 37, Yale 32 1:19 Second Half

Alex Zampier hits a jumper for the Bulldogs to give them their first points from outside the paint on the night. After two points from Bernardini, Zampier comes back to complete a three-point play on a layup.

Garrett Fidler hits a shot and Eggleston drains both foul shots on the other end.

Halftime Stats:

Leading scorers: Penn--Harrison Gaines 14; Yale--Travis Pinick 10.

Point guard Gaines is also leading the Quakers in rebounding, with four. Pinick and Michael Sands both have grabbed four boards for the Bulldogs.

Penn has shot 48 percent from the floor on 12-for-25 shooting, and 66.7 percent from behind the arc. Yale has been held to 37 percent shooting from the floor went 0-for-2 from three-point land.

Penn 33, Yale 25 HALFTIME

An Egee three-pointer will be Penn's last bucket of the half, as Gaines can't convert a lay-in near the basket with 4.5 seconds left. Eggleston is called for a foul on the rebound, but Michael Sands can't hit a free throw. An offensive board by Yale goes unconverted, and that will do it for the first half. We'll hit you all with some halftime stats when we get them.

Penn 30, Yale 23 1:19 First Half

Pinick is called for goal-tending an Egee layup in transition (he pushed it up out of the cylinder)--one that was started by an Eggleston block and rebound.

Gaines gets big once again, too. He bodies his man in the post, and hits a jumper from point blank. On Yale's end, big man Greg Mangano scores a bucket from inside, but is called for traveling the next time down.

Penn 26, Yale 19 3:05 First Half

Braswell sank one (on what was actually a one-and-one), and Bernardini will hit two of his own from the line (after a wild drive to the hoop) on the other end.

Penn is now in full-court trap mode, and it gets Yale a little flustered. After a missed layup, Egee will head to the line for two (Yale is in the double bonus). He misses the first, but drains the second.

Penn 23, Yale 18 3:31 First Half

Tyler Bernardini is on the board. He scoops in an up-and-under after he hauls in a Gaines miss.  Other than that, it's been pretty quiet. After the media timeout, Braswell will head to the line for two.

Penn 21, Yale 16 6:33 First Half

Some more hard-nosed playing by Gaines. He grabs a pair of offensive boards in one possession, eventually going to the line for two, nailing both.

Penn 19, Yale 16 7:22 First Half

Travis Pinick (no relation to G.W.'s Danilo) scores his tenth point of the game on a baseline drive-turned-two-handed-slam. Gotta love those hyphens. He also laid out for a loose ball on Penn's end of the floor, but Rosen picked it up just in time to get numbers the other way. Belcore is at the line for a one-and-one, and he hits just one.

Penn 18, Yale 14 8:15 First Half

Sands wound up hitting both FTs, but Penn forward Brennan Votel promptly answered with a bank shot close to the basket.

In perhaps the play of the game so far, Pinick elevated through the lane and slammed home a put-back. On the other end, a nice drive on the right side by Gaines for two.

Penn 14, Yale 10 11:27 First Half

Gaines has resumed his slice-and-dice act from the first half last night. He scores on consecutive possessions--first on a nifty jump-stop in the lane, and then on a baseline drive with the shot clock winding down.

Yale, however, has answered with reserve forward Michael Sands. Sands put back an offensive board, and was fouled on the next possession. He will head to the line after the media timeout.

Penn 10, Yale 6 14:57 First Half

Since we last checked in, we've seen a jaw session between Glen Miller and a ref (over a travel that went uncalled),  a pair of Travis Pinick baskets, and some nifty moves in the post by Cam Lewis. First, he rattled home a hook in the paint over a double team, and then he laid one in in traffic as he was fouled, but couldn't convert on the free throw.

Penn 5, Yale 2 17:33 First Half

Harrison Gaines opens the scoring with a three-pointer from the top of the arc, but Yale's Travis Pinick answers with a decisive slam on a strong drive to the hoop. On the other end, Cam Lewis makes a nice put-back off the glass.

A steal by Jack Eggleston turns into a Penn fastbreak and a Gaines drive--he's fouled, and makes the second FT.

Live Game Updates: Penn at Brown

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--Good evening ladies and germs, it's David Bernstein reporting from the Bay State for Penn coach Glen Miller's third homecoming at Brown. The Quakers are two-point underdogs to the woebegone Bears tonight, and respectability is certainly on the line for the Red and Blue. In the smallest state in the union, the storylines are anything but: Brown guard Adrian Williams (the son of former NFL great Doug Williams), Bears center Matt Mullery, and the ever-changing Penn rotation.

Tonight's starting lineups:

Penn: G Zack Rosen, G Tyler Bernardini, G Harrison Gaines, F Jack Eggleston, F Cam Lewis

Brown: G Adrian Williams, F Peter Sullivan, F Matt Mullery, F Chris Skreljia, F Scott Friske

Penn 9, Brown 5; 17:00 First Half

Jack Eggleston opens the scoring for Penn as Zack Rosen draws the double team, but the Bears respond in kind with a layup and a three-pointer by Williams. I'm not one to critique officiating, but they've already blown two calls--the Bears' first score was off of a clear travel, and Eggleston was mugged in the lane on the next possession.

Tyler Bernardini nailed a three and hit a free throw (on separate possessions) to give Penn the lead. There are also a few mismatches on Penn's end, as Brown is running a four-forward set.

Penn 11, Brown 7; 15:50 First Half

The Quakers draw a pair of fouls, one of which sends Bernardini to the line again--he hits both.

Gaines is pulled in favor of Rob Belcore, which looks like a smart move. Rosen had been guarding the much bigger Chris Skreljia, but now Belcore is on him (with Rosen on the smaller, quicker Williams).

Penn 13, Brown 14; 13:28 First Half

Williams hits a layup on the right side on a nice bounce pass from Scott Friske. Meanwhile, Cam Lewis is yanked in favor of freshman Mike Howlett. It seems clear Lewis was in the game to D up Matt Mullery, but he wasn't doing a great job (falling for a headfake on a nice take by Mullery), and has shown why he is an offensive liability.

Conor Turley also just entered the game, and hits a running bucket in the lane, but Williams answers with a trifecta. On the other end, Miller yells "Shooter!" pointing furiously at Williams. And not a moment later, the NFL heir is fouled by Rosen taking a three. He hits two of three, and Gaines (along with Kevin Egee) is back in for Penn.

Penn 16, Brown 14; 11:19 First Half

While Williams is the only true guard at any given time, most of Brown's offense runs through the 6-foot-6 Skreljia, truly a point forward.

Rob Belcore's three-pointer puts Penn on top, as a media timeout takes us to a break.

Penn 19, Brown 17; 9:34 First Half

Forward Brennan Votel, usually a mainstay in the starting lineup, has checked into the game for the first time. While he hasn't been a dominant force in the paint, I'm glad he's in the game--he has improved his touch around the rim and is always good for a few rebounds.

As I write, Adrian Williams nails a triple for the lead--he's found his sweet spot, right between the top of the key and the right corner.

Gaines answers with authority as he converts a strong and-1 near the hoop.

Penn 21, Brown 19; 7:34 First Half

As the game wears on, it becomes clear that the refs are really just going to let them play out there. There's a lot of hacking and slapping going on (on both ends), but the officials aren't calling much. I like it.

As we speak, however, the refs call a clear foul--on Lewis, who just checked in. He hacked Mullery, who converted the bucket, but missed the free throw.

Penn 21, Brown 21; 7:04 First Half

WIlliams--from his patented sweet spot--is fouled again on a three-point attempt. He hits two to tie the game.

Penn 26, Brown 21; 5:49 First Half

Votel hits a big three for a little bit of Vomentum. Sorry, I couldn't help it. But seriously, a big play for Penn, who also stops the Bears on the other end. Next possession, Bernardini is called for a charge--good call by the zebras.

But the Quakers will get it back after an effective full court press causes Brown to toss it out of bounds. This time, Bernardini's drive nets points for Penn.

Penn 30, Brown 21; 3:57 First Half

Who said Cam Lewis was an offensive liability? Oh right, I did. Well, he just slammed one home on a nice entry pass. Then one possession later, he puts on a nice spin move in the paint and banks one home. I haven't eaten dinner yet, but my foot looks to be on the menu. It's now a nine-point game in Penn's favor.

Penn 32, Brown 25 2:27 First Half

Mullery has been Brown's only source of offense since we last checked in (a pair of free throws and a layup), but Gaines hit a nice floater in the lane for Penn.

Penn 36, Brown 27 :59.0 First Half

Forward Justin Reilly checks in for the Red and Blue, in a rare appearance. Eggleston is fouled on the block, and he converts on both tries from the charity stripe. On the other end his rebound gets the Quakers going in transition, with Gaines finishing with yet another floater.

However, Skreljia answers with a nice dribble-drive and layup for Brown.

Penn 39, Brown 29 Halftime

A Chris Taylor layup is answered by another (!) beautiful take by Harrison Gaines. A spinning layup off the glass--and the foul! He hits the free throw, and that will do it for the first half.

Nice Vomentum (I like that phrase) for Penn going into half; we'll post some stats as they come.

Halftime Stats

Leading Scorers: Penn--Bernardini with 13; Brown--Adrian Williams with 15

Penn shot 56 percent from the field in the first half (14-for-25) and an amazing 80 percent from three-point land (4-for-5).

The Bears were 1-for-24 from the field for 41.7 percent and 42.9 percent from behind the arc (3-for-7). All of their threes came from Adrian Wiliams, from the same exact spot along the arc.

Penn 43, Brown 34; 16:57 Second Half

It's the same starters on the floor for Penn to start the second frame.

Lewis makes another nifty dropstep in the paint for a bucket, and subsequently smacks away an entry pass on the other end. And after a Scott Friske hook shot, Lewis slams it home again! He's fouled on the play, but can't connect on the FT.

Penn 45, Brown 34; 15:37 Second Half

Votel and Egee check back into the game.

After a bobble-prone Penn possession, Eggleston finally converts on a baseline jumper. On the other end, Eggleston beautifully draws a charge on Peter Sullivan. Timeout on the floor.

Penn 43, Brown 34; 16:57 Second Half

Egee gets himself a trip to the line  and converts one of two. On the next Penn posession, a bad pass is picked off by the Bears' Matt Mullery down low. After many fouls on both teams, Eggleston resumes the scoring with a jumper from the foul line.

Penn 48, Brown 36; 11:45 Second Half

The Bears are on the move--literally. They have traveled on two straight offensive posessions, but Penn can't capitalize with scores on the other end.

Meanwhile, Penn is still having trouble containing Mullery down low; he just hauled in an offensive rebound and put it back for a bucket. He's fouled in the process, and after a media timeout, is headed to the line.

Bernardini can't seem to find the stroke he had earlier after missing a three from the corner.  Cam Lewis checks back in after Eggleston picks up his third foul. Both Bernardini and Eggleston have three.

Rosen hits a three from the top of the arc, giving Penn its biggest lead yet. To top of the fun, Conor Turley finishes a missed Bernardini layup to give the Quakers a 20-point lead.

Penn 56, Brown 36; 9:39 Second Half

Penn now needs to watch its hands as Turley commits the team's 10th foul. Gaines comes in for Egee.

Peter Sullivan brings a little life back into this sparse crowd with a three from the corner. The Bears have only scored 10 points this half--and it's more than halfway over. Timeout on the floor.

Penn 56, Brown 39; 8:11 Second Half

Eggleston and Bernardini come in for Howlett and Belcore, and Eggleston immediately drains a three. Gaines commits a foul--he now has three to match Eggleston and Bernardini, and the Quakers are over the limit still with almost seven minutes left to play.

On the other end, Cam Lewis gets another two points down low, and Bernardini comes back on the next posession with a three.

Penn 64, Brown 43; 5:25 Second Half

Eggleston makes an easy layup on a head's-up pass from Rosen. After a Sean Kane three for Brown, Miller calls a time-out.

Penn 66, Brown 46; 4:09 Second Half

Williams does it again--same spot, other end of the court to give the Bears another three points. On a fast break on the other end for the Quakers, Rosen takes an Eggleston pass for a layup and hits the free throw.

Mockton, Turley and Garvin Hunt (!) check in for Penn as Miller lets his bench finish off the game.

Penn 73, Brown 52 FINAL

The Quakers ran away with it in the second half. Nice win for the Quakers, but let's see if they can regain some semblance of relevance in this race with a win tomorrow night at Yale. That's it from the Buzz tonight. We'll be live from New Haven, Conn. tomorrow night, and we hope to see you then.

Ibby Jaaber update

Ibrahim Jaaber's stock on the internationl basketball circuit appears to be ascending. So far, he's gone from an obscure conference in Greece to a pan-European competition in Italy and, most recently, added Bulgaria too, where he holds official citizenship and suits up for the national team.

His first international gig after graduating Penn in 2007 landed Jaaber with Elegao BC of the Greek League. By midseason, he was leading the conference with 22.4 points and 2.8 steals per game. But after 15 games Elegao traded him to Lottomatica Virtus Roma, a Euroleague mainstay located in, you guessed it, Rome.

His initial contract was set to expire in June 2008, and reports at the time suggested that Panionios, another Greek League team, wanted to steal him away from Roma at the end of the season and bring him back to Greece with a multi-year deal.

But Jaaber is with Roma still, according to both Eurobasket.com's listing and the team's own site, so I assume he got a new contract there last summer. This year, he's started 11 of 12 games, averaged 27 minutes and 9.6 points, shot 46.5 percent from the floor and hit half of his 22 free throws. Full stats are here.

Euroleague is one of three major international basketball circuits in Europe and is more prominent than the other two, Eurocup and Eurochallenge. The Barcelona-based Union of European Leagues of Basketball runs both Euroleague and Eurocup. Every year it selects which teams — 24 for Euroleague, 54 for Eurocup — to give invitations to. The selection process is influenced by money and is not a pure meritocracy, but each domestic-league champion of the ULEB's 13 member-states usually gets a Euroleague bid. Here are this year's participants.

Roma competed for the third year in a row for the first time in club history, 25 years after its first and only Euroleague crown. Of course, it would benefit Jaaber's standing on the international scene and the NBA radar if Roma made it four in a row next season, assuming he continued to play there. Interestingly, Panionios, the Greek League team I mentioned earlier, was a selection this year for the first time since 1996.

Euroleague's postseason is a weird, four-round playoff system, where teams are divided into divisions and the field is pared from 24 teams to 16 to eight to four to two. Roma went 6-4 in conference play, which was good enough to squeeze into the six-game round of 16. That round is ongoing, and Roma is 0-2 so far.

As for his diversion in Bulgaria — I'll have to read up on that some more.

Guest Blog: Interviuesday - Fire Glen Miller's Staff Writers

On December 5, 2008, the blog Fire Glen Miller was born.  As an inheritor of the provocative turn of phrase employed by websites such as Fire Ron Zook and Fire Joe Morgan they stirred up controversy.  Now, a little over two months into their blog life, they've truly made it to the big time, an interview with The Buzz.

Join us after the jump as we discuss the Red and Blue crew, Penn Athletics and of course, Glen Miller.

The Buzz: At various times through the life of the blog you've described it as "a hate blog," "an inside joke between Penn basketball fans to blow off some frustration," and you claim that "the intention of this blog was not to start a campaign for Miller's removal," so what is your ethos, what is your goal, what do you actually want to see happen to Penn basketball?

Magnum: Quite honestly, the blog really did start out as a big joke between student fans. There was naturally a tendency among the students (whether fair or not) to blame the most visible figure, Coach Miller, for the problems and losses of our team. The blog was only supposed to stay between close friends. I mean, really, how serious could you take a site that equates Miller with Darth Vader? We ended up choosing the name “Fire Glen Miller” as a play off of similarly named sites, and because we thought the name was enough of a “shock” that it would get attention.

But there was some real frustration behind the blog. We wanted change in the direction of the program, and that one goal has been the only thing that has remained constant these two months. The transition toward being a more serious site came after the initial wave of publicity and criticism, because we saw that fans really cared about our message, regardless of whether they agreed with it. The comments and feedback we get on the blog is what keeps us going.

Ethos-wise, we aren’t journalists or Penn basketball insiders, so our goal is to try to write from the student’s perspective to provide a more unique story. A lot of alumni and older fans are interested in what the current incarnation of the Red and Blue Crew is up to, and we get a lot of e-mails from alums suggesting rollout ideas and ways to increase student attendance. So we’ve become sort of a de facto sounding board on the student fan side of Penn basketball, and the key now is to use that to increase the appeal of Penn basketball on campus.

Sebastian: In the end, we’re all students, and all we want is for the program to be successful. That requires success on the part of the team and the coach, and for basketball to remain an important cornerstone on campus. Since that success has deteriorated over the past two years, we just want change to happen.

Buzz: One of your most commented on posts is about how to fix the Red and Blue crew. You've also spoken about a power vacuum in the Red and Blue crew. Are you trying to fill this vacancy that you see or just commenting on it?

Magnum: There is definitely a power vacuum in the student section. All you need is couple of students coordinating the entire section to be successful. That was possible in the past, and a few diehard students have tried to organize this season. A couple of Line Leaders have repeatedly e-mailed the [athletic] department asking for a mailing list of Crew members to try to coordinate game events, rollouts, road trips, etc., and Penn Athletics has not responded. If Penn Athletics wants more students to go to games, the least they could do is listen to them.

Sebastian: Penn Athletics could be doing so much more to get students more involved. They should be offering discount tickets to away games, organized trips to away games, events where the Red and Blue crew comes out to different sporting events. They wanted to charge us 15 bucks to get a ticket to the La Salle game, it’s a good thing we went on our own because we were able to buy one there for 6 bucks. They just aren’t very student friendly.

What they don’t seem to understand either is that the leadership has to come from the students themselves. Sure it’s great that Penn Athletics wants us to come out to a wrestling match by giving us double Quaker Rewards points but so many more students would turn out if the Red and Blue Crew had some student leadership that coordinated things.

Finally, everyone was legitimately disturbed by the change in student ticket policy. The Line announcement was looked forward to by students all over campus and was a Penn tradition like throwing toast at the football games. Last year people were running down Walnut Street to secure their place in The Line, this year people trickled into Pottruck for two hours; the entire scene was depressing. Penn Athletics tried to cling to The Line while changing the ticket policy, claiming there were still benefits to being a season ticket holder. The reality is they effectively got rid of any benefit to getting tickets. They need to make a decision to either maintain general admission and let any Penn student in who buys a ticket, or go back to The Line format everyone knew and loved.

Ralphie: I speak on behalf of the other dedicated fans when I say that I would rather have a student section packed into one section, than half our fans having to sit up top … even if I get a free taco before every game.

Magnum: There is a core group of about 10 or 12 students who show up to every home game early (foreign concept, I know) and they are the biggest Penn fans I know. We use the blog to comment and criticize student apathy; but in real life, we’re really trying to change it. In the end, it’s the only part of our basketball experience that we can change.

Buzz: All of your contributors write with pseudonyms or incomplete names, yet you list your Penn basketball seats. Is there any specific reason for the online anonymity? Do you think it affects your credibility? Do you want/think you have credibility?

Magnum: We removed our actual names from the site after the initial criticism from the DP and other sites, because a lot of us were uncomfortable with being in a negative spotlight. We were also legitimately worried that Steve Bilsky would try and ban us from the Palestra. Now that our blog has been around and people have gotten used to it, there’s not really much need to remain in the dark, but we still do it because it’s cool to have an alternate identity.

As far as credibility goes, people who read us should just know that we are students. We aren’t a news source, and as far as we know, we haven’t gotten Glen Miller fired yet. If you journey down into the student section and manage to figure out who we are, we’ll tell you that we write for FGM. More than a few students and alumni have figured it out, and personally tell us that they enjoy our writing and encourage us to keep going. But I mean, its not hard to figure out, because only 20 students show for the games anyway. So you’ve got like a one in four chance in finding us.

Buzz: Has running the blog been more difficult than you've expected?

Magnum: Yes, much more difficult. We started the blog during final exam season, so that presented its own challenges as we tried to deal with the initial wave of attention that hit us while studying yield curves and T-accounts. We are not writing bland press releases, so it takes time to come up with creative ways to present news in a way that is creative to Penn students and fans ... I thought that a blog would allow me to freely write my opinion on my own time without deadlines and editors over my shoulder. But I’ve discovered that blogs have their own challenges, because our readers directly interact with us. If I stop writing, people stop reading. The blog’s kind of turned into a part-time job, except that I get no work-study out of it.

Buzz: Did you expect the early rush of attention you received?

Magnum: No. Like I said, the blog was just a big inside joke. One of the writers leaked the site out to several people, including the DP sports editor, and it just so happened that we had written an entry “inspired” by a DP writer. We were just finding our voice, and many readers, including the DP, misread our satire. I wasn’t sure if I wanted the blog to be more public at the time, but the decision was made for me. We were very fortunate to have pissed off Andrew Todres, because he drew Penn fans to us, bad publicity was definitely beneficial.

Buzz: What did you think of the attention?

Magnum: We were very surprised by how much positive feedback we received. Many people liked the idea of a student blog, if only to reassure them that there were still students out there that cared. A lot of the attention to our blog was negative at first, but some of our readers stayed and started to agree with us as the season went on. What really legitimized our blog in the eyes of many fans was Stephen Danley’s guest post. He might not have agreed some of our writing, but I think he really wanted to help us whip up student interest.

Sebastian: It seems, however, that anyone can have the negative attention we get by yelling at Miller during a game. He has taken up challenging fans, both students and others, who he hears yelling disparaging remarks at him during the game. This is just unprofessional behavior. The reality is Miller is a coach who is paid to win. When he doesn’t win, he isn’t doing his job and is subject to removal. We don’t feel sorry for the guy who gets laid off because he isn’t making any money for his company, so why the violins for Miller?

Buzz: What is the most misunderstood aspect of the blog?

Magnum: Being called a “hate blog”. I know we were the ones who coined it, but now I think readers now take our word in the context of our extreme passion for Penn basketball. If you’re crazy enough to be a Penn basketball fan in these times, you’re going to be pissed off after some of the garbage we’ve seen this season. Actually at this point, we probably have a pretty moderate tone compared to some of the alums leaving the Palestra after games this past weekend.

Buzz: Do you watch/listen to the road games other than the games you viewed in person?

Magnum: Not really. I just read the ESPN recap, the Penn Athletics recap, and the DP article, in that order. That would explain my tendency to focus more heavily on home games. But I think that’s fine for our blog, because we are a student blog and a lot of our discussion focuses on the lack of student attendance at the Palestra.

Ralphie: Speak for yourself, Magnum. I listened to the North Carolina game online, and watch any Penn game that is shown on TV (which isn’t many because the Penn Video Network doesn’t get Comcast). I have great memories of sitting in a sports bar with my dad and watching Penn play Princeton or any other Ivy League foe. True fanaticism means traveling to every road game … and though we aren’t the band, we have set a goal of attending every away stadium at least once over our four years at Penn.

Buzz: Who should be the head coach of the Penn men's basketball team next year?

Magnum: I knew this would be the last question. I wish I could say “not Glen Miller,” but I actually do want to see how the season ends up and then let it go from there. The Ivy season has just started, and we’re really not in a rush to judgment now that our championship hopes are gone. The paradox is that we’re really enjoying writing for the blog, and if Miller is ultimately fired, our blog goes as well. We might be able to continue it, however, as Penn fans won’t soon forget the Glen Miller era. In the meantime, we’ll just continue blaming Miller for anything that goes wrong on campus.

Ralphie: Whether it is Miller or it is not, I just want to win. There is nothing more frustrating than going to a game and leaving with your head down … especially at a school with Penn’s basketball tradition. I am not expecting another run to the Final four, but I don’t want to be the first graduating class since 1992 to go through Penn without an Ivy League title.

Sebastian: Bob Knight would be pretty cool.