Welcome aboard, Mansfield University of Mansfield, Pa., a town with a population around 3,000 and falling and an average income 14 grand below the state norm.
The Mountaineers are becoming the sixth member of the Collegiate Sprint Football League, the only conference of its kind in the nation, and you can read about it by clicking here.
Do your homework before you write. Clearly I need a refresher course. My last post hinged on the ridiculous assumption that Penn schedules its Ivy League games, which it surely does not -- a fact that most sports fans take for granted. While I've known this all along, it completely slipped my mind when writing the previous post. I certainly feel like an idiot for my unwarranted and sarcastic bashing of the athletic department when I was obviously in the wrong.
Penn's athletic department is not at all at fault for holding senior day over Spring Break; it's just an unfortunate consequence of the way that the Ivy League schedule works. When schools have different vacation dates and all games have to be played on weekends, you wind up with the unavoidable situation of having senior night over Spring Break. It wouldn't make sense to have it any time earlier in the season.
The Ivy League scheduling also alternates home and away dates every season, so you would think that we'd get stuck having a home rivalry game against Princeton over the vacation as well. However, the athletic department realized this situation a few years ago, and the two schools were able to work out a solution in the 2004-05 season where the first game is always played at Penn.
Contrary to what I suggested earlier, the athletic department has worked tirelessly to protect against these attendance issues and should be commended for their efforts. While I'm not sure about the merits of holding "fan appreciation day" over the break, the onus is on me to talk to the marketing arm of the athletic department before bashing the idea. I plan to do so in order to provide a more accurate assessment of the situation.
So to anyone in the athletic department that I offended with my last post, I'm truly sorry. I was the one that made an unconscionable error, and I'll do my homework next time so that it doesn't happen again.
I hear that's a pretty good class for Wharton kids, but I'm in the College, so I wouldn't know. Maybe the class should be required for the people who work in Penn's athletic department that are responsible putting together basketball schedules and promotions. Because you'd have to think that in a Wharton marketing class, they'd teach you not to hold "Fan Appreciation Day" or "Senior Night" on days when fans can't come to the games.
Nonetheless, the athletic department, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that the Red and Blue Crew should be "appreciated" when they're on SPRING BREAK. Better yet, Brian Grandieri -- who has given his heart and soul to Penn basketball and its fans over the past four years -- will play his final game at the Palestra in front of an absolutely empty student section. What a great way to honor the seniors!
I understand that attendance hasn't been good at all this year. But between ordering a ban on the "Hey Song" and scheduling these games during Spring Break, the athletic department is completely failing to ameliorate the situation. In fact, the situation is just getting worse. It is absolutely unconscionable that students have to miss out on the last home games of the season, and even more ridiculous that they'd have to miss out on a promotion designed almost exclusively for them. How could the athletic department be unaware of the fact that the campus clears out after Thursday? Kids that have to travel to get home or go to Spring Break destinations have flights to catch and aren't going to hang around a few extra days at Penn -- it would be unreasonable for anyone to expect as much.
Obviously, when you're not a league title contender for the first time in a while, it's not easy to keep attendance and fan support up. The whole process can get a little frustrating. And I'm sure that the athletic department is trying its best to improve the attendance issues -- it reflects poorly on an institution that prides itself on school spirit to not have the gym packed. But honestly, this is beyond absurd. Shame on Penn's athletic department for this tremendous oversight.
More bad press for Harvard today.
So I was thinking: According to the Times story that set this all off, there is still a question of whether or not the Tommy Amaker recruits in question will get into Harvard. And if one or more of them are below the league's AI floor, as the story also reported, the compliance offices of the other seven Ivy schools must permit them to be admitted.
Should they? With everyone up in arms over Harvard bending and possibly breaking the rules, will they? Leave a comment.
Well apparently, one or two of you would rather read about the upcoming Penn baseball season than about the sub-par football and basketball teams. I expect the number of the hits on this blog to drop off significantly after spring break... But with the very warm weather the past two days, it feels like spring is upon us. The smell of baseball is in the air. So without further ado, a few quick, interesting notes about familiar names on (or not on) Penn's baseball team this season.
Tommy Grandieri, as in the brother of Brian, is the starting right-fielder this season, and you can expect to see the southpaw make a few appearances on the hill this season. He is a transfer from Villanova. Against DII West Chester, he went 1-3 with a walk.
Matty Tellem, as in the son of renowned sports agent Arn Tellem, is a freshman infielder on the team this season. His dad represents Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, and Frank Thomas, among others, and is a local product of Haverford College.
Nick Francona, as in the son of Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, is not on the roster this season. The senior, a lefty starting pitcher, had a rocky relationship with coach John Cole and quit the team last season. The one time draft pick of the Sox will not be back for the Red and Blue.
And a quick alumnus update: Former Penn left-handed pitcher Josh Appell '05, who had spent the past two seasons in the Mets' farm system, was traded to the Houston Astros system during the off-season. He finished up last season playing high-A ball in Port St. Lucie for the Mets, though he spent the bulk of the season with the Brooklyn Cyclones, recording a 3.65 ERA over 24.2 innings.
I hope you got your baseball fix. (Can Zack Rosen suit up for the Cornell game this weekend? Thanks.)
I knew ticket sales were down this year, but wow.
The athletic department has began an auction for what it calls the Men's Basketball Radio Insider Experience, a.k.a. follow Brian Seltzer and Vince Curran around during the Penn-Columbia game.
The auction was started at $50 for one person, which seems like a lot, I guess they're expecting bids to shoot through the roof into the four-figures.
I'm assuming the action started when I got the first of two emails about this last Thursday. So take a wild guess, how many bids have there been as I write this post? One. Yeah, i was kind of surprised too, must have been a bid from within the athletic department to look good.
Maybe this will be an excuse for Amy Gutmann to show up to a game. I haven't been looking for her, but has the President attended more than two games this year? And before you answer in the comments section, by attended I don't mean leave at halftime. I'd venture to say that Governor Ed Rendell has gone to more Penn games this Ivy season than she has her entire tenure. Even Harvard President Drew Faust made it up for the Crimson game.
I'm no member of Obama Nation, as my friends will tell you. But I was sad that he missed a great opportunity when he didn't show up at the Brown-Penn game on Saturday.
True, I don't know for sure if he was in the state, but there was a rumor going around as the fans filed into the Pizzitola Center that Mr. Obama would make an appearance. Could he, should he, would he?, the crowd was whispering. With the Rhode Island polls set to close at 9 p.m. tonight, it made sense. There were 1,727 people already gathered in one place, plus a few hundred more Brown fans watching the hockey game against Union a few hundred yards away. (Ivy Leaguers with deep pockets and liberal inclinations, too.) Plus, as we've been reminded, he has another link to Brown hoops.
No dice, which was too bad. The Bears won the hockey game; no shock. But they also dealt Penn its fifth Ivy loss on the hardwood, by the biggest margin ever, and propelled themselves a step closer to the NIT.
Obama would have been happy. It was change we could believe in.
For you scorekeepers, it's now been two days since Harvard and the entire Ivy League suffered a huge black eye. That makes the Boston Globe and Boston Herald a combined 0-for-4 on even mentioning this story. Get on the ball, fellas, or at least don't drop it too badly.
Meanwhile, the Crimson chimes in today.
Some news on the Penn recruit can be found here.
It was a 40-minute-long coronation.
Lots of good coverage from the Big Red's championship-clinching win against Harvard, and here is some of it:
Just as Cornell is the first team in the NCAA Tournament, Penn is one of the first teams out of it.
Normally Big 5 fans have someone to follow once the Quakers lose, but with three Philly teams in the bottom half of the top 100 in the RPI, there's a very good chance no one from the City of Brotherly Love will be traveling for the Tournament.
Barring a title in the Atlantic 10 Tournament (or at least reaching the final), Temple may have just ended Saint Joseph's tourney hopes. The Owls led for 20 seconds against St. Joe's, but did at the only time that matters, topping the Hawks, 57-56.
Temple was down by as many as 14 in the second half, but Mark Tyndale scored 13 second-half points, and his last two were the most important of the game.
After a flare screen failed, Temple gave the ball to Tyndale for an iso on Garrett Williamson, usually a good defender, and with 25 seconds left Tyndale effortlessly blew past him for the easy layup.
His defense was peculiarly bad, but I would not blame him, but instead Ahmad Nivins and to a lesser extent Rob Ferguson for the final shot that took the lead for Temple.
While Tyndale was at the top of the key, Nivins was hugging his man, Sergio Olmos of all people, on the opposite low block, while Ferguson was at the high post. Tyndale drove past Williamson in an instant, and Nivins was a half-second too late to block or even seriously contest the shot.
“I think I caught Garrett with a good move because he’s a great defender,” Tyndale said after the game. “They did a good job of putting their best defender on me at the time. I just made good move.”
On the next play, the forwards would miss another gimme to help out a teammate after a mistake.
You know when you yell "same team" when two guys go for a loose ball? If someone said that loud enough to St. Joe's, they probably would have won the game.
Ferguson and Nivins both grabbed for the ball with two seconds left, wide open under the basket -- as three Owls left the lane to block Tasheed Carr on his last-second effort from 14 feet away on the baseline -- but the ball squirted up in the air and was slapped away by Temple and the Owls took the victory.
And just like that, the team that had an RPI of 51 before the game may have let its chances of making the NCAA Tournament slip away.
At 4:30 this morning, six hours into the train ride home and 10 minutes outside of Philadelphia, an Amtrak conductor asked our cabin for electrical tape so he could fix whatever was wrong with our suddenly-immobile vehicle. The look on the face of Andrew Townley, our photographer for this weekend's road trip, was priceless. Almost as good as the night before, when he nearly got thrown out of the fraternity house I had us shacked up in. Sigh. Not all of the Quakers' media entourage -- *cough*brianseltzer*cough* -- get to tag along with the team.
Apparently some tape, somewhere, was located. We're back home now, an hour later than we should have been but safe and sound, the last Ivy road trip of the season mercifully in the books. Time to check the wires before catching some shut-eye.
Congratulations to Cornell, which did what everyone knew it was going to do last night, beating Harvard to win the Ivy League title and become the first team in the nation with a ticket to the Dance. Dartmouth won at Columbia and Yale topped Princeton, too, although in terms of newsworthiness, today's report of possible improprieties in recruiting at Harvard is easily tops.
Does this change how Tommy Amaker should be looked at? How much trouble is he in? Post an answer to these questions or any other reactions you might have.
Brown coach Craig Robinson, who was quoted in the story, told me last night that the Times had let him know that the article would run today. I would expect to hear more reactions from the sources who initially declined comment (like Glen Miller) now that the story is out there.
In local action, La Salle's A-10 win streak ended last night, while Temple-St. Joe's, Round Two will have big implications in the conference race tonight. The tip is at 7.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Good evening from the Pizzitola Sports Center at Brown. The Bears(16-9, 8-3) are going for a season sweep of the Quakers (11-16, 6-4) tonight. Penn is coming off a 70-63 win over Yale, and Brown beat Princeton 64-57 last night. Refresh this page for live updates.
FINAL: Brown 75, Penn 43
The Quakers avoided getting doubled up, but this loss was a sign of how far they still have to go if they want to compete for the title again next year. For the second time in a row, Penn couldn't follow up a Friday win the next night.
Good evening from The Buzz.
2:40, Second half: Brown 73, Penn 34
Warm up the bus, the scrubs are in. As they exit the court, Huffman and McAndrew throw themselves a mini-celebration at midcourt. This is their last home game ever, I understand, but do they really have to show up the other team while the game is still going on?
15:30, Second half: Brown 53, Penn 19
The Bears are doing what they've been doing -- whipping the heck out of Penn. Huffman's last three-pointer makes him Brown's all-time leader in that category. The Quakers are trying ever more desperate means to get shots off, and, predictably, that's not working. True, the Bears are scoring virtually at will, but most of the credit for this win should go to their defense. Penn's season-low output of 30 points seems in jeopardy as the year's worst.
Scratch that. The stats are too depressing to post. Instead, stop what you are doing and read this story, which reports on a trend that sportswriters in the Ivy League had heard rumblings about but that I never thought would actually hit the papers.
Halftime: Brown 44, Penn 14
How does a team with an offense as slow, deliberate and measured as this possibly score 44 points in a half? Your guess is as good as mine. Halftime stats coming shortly. I need a break from this. 1:46, First half: Brown 42, Penn 10
Sullivan hit two free throws, Friske banked in a shot-clock-beating three -- the second time that's happened tonight -- and Skrelja cleaned up a miss in transition for the Bears. Not really much more to say. Danny Monckton is in for Penn.
3:50, First half: Brown 34, Penn 8
It keeps getting worse. Peter Sullivan has gotten two more open backdoor cuts, and Huffman hit a three-pointer. Bernardini committed offensive fouls on two straight possessions -- one legit, one phantom in my opinion -- to take away an chance at momentum. Grandieri took a page out of his opponents' book with a backdoor layup of his own, but it's small consolation at this point. A very, very poor showing from the Quakers tonight, especially given how well they played in the first half last night.
7:36, First half: Brown 23, Penn 5
Penn is finally playing some marginally better defense, but now they're giving up offensive rebounds at an alarming rate. Brown is taking more and more three-pointers and getting every long rebound. The Quakers need to push the pace and get some quick baskets. The half-court game is clearly favoring Brown by a huge margin. 9:40, First half: Brown 21, Penn 5
Can anything go wrong for Brown? McAndrew actually managed to bank in a three-pointer.
11:42, First half: Brown 16, Penn 4
There will be no FGCU repeat. Jack Eggleston managed a dunk and Andreas Schreiber cleaned up an Egee miss. Penn is going with a four-guard rotation; Schreiber is the only frontcourt player in right now. Aron Cohen makes an appearance after Gaines picked up his second foul.
13:51, First half: Brown 14, Penn 0
This is quickly getting out of hand. Brown got four more from McAndrew, who broke loose for a patented Princeton-offense-style backdoor cut, then stripped Grandieri and took it coast-to-coast for a layup. Glen Miller calls timeout. I wouldn't want to be in that huddle.
15:35, First half: Brown 10, Penn 0
If anyone forgot why Brown was able to win at the Palestra earlier this year, one word: Defense. The Bears are playing a tenacious 2-3 zone, and Penn has done little to work it so far outside of moving the ball around the perimeter. Only one of Penn's jumpers so far has been uncontested.
16:34, First half: Brown 8, Penn 0
Kevin Egee didn't seem to have it today. He got pulled after two possessions of indecisive play, and Harrison Gaines is in. He missed an open three, Penn's best scoring chance so far.
It's not hard to see why Peter Sullivan is a favorite for Ivy rookie of the year. Tyler Bernardini is having an awfully tough time staying with him. McAndrew also scored in transition, and Brown has raced out to a good lead. Justin Reilly is in for Brennan Votel.
Brown's Matt Mullery, a sophomore center who leads the Ivy League in blocks, will be out tonight with the lingering effects of a concussion. For Penn, senior Michael Kach did not make the trip this weekend, probably due to the back problems that have given him trouble this year.
Here are your starting lineups:
Penn Fr. G Tyler Bernardini Fr. F Jack Eggleston Jr. F Brennan Votel Jr. G Kevin Egee Sr. G Brian Grandieri
Brown Jr. F Scott Friske Jr. F Chris Skrelja Fr. F Peter Sullivan Sr. G Mark McAndrew Sr. G Damon Huffman
NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Good evening from the John J. Lee Ampitheater on Yale's campus, where Penn is almost set to tip off against the Bulldogs. It will be a battle of middle-of-the-road Ivy teams tonight, and we'll see if the Quakers will be able to shake their Lee Ampitheater woes of the past few years.
Final: Penn 70, Yale 63
The curse ends, and the Quakers pull out a victory at Lee Ampitheater. Yale made it too close for comfort, but Miller will take the victory. So long from New Haven, and see you tomorrow, live from Providence, R.I. where Penn will take on Brown.
1.5, 2nd Half: Penn 68 Yale 63
Eggleston hits both FTs, and Caleb Holmes responds with a ridiculous bank three. A gratuitous foul on Eggleston is just prolonging this one.
9.7, 2nd Half: Penn 66 Yale 60
Grandieri drains the first, and misses the second, but it should sew it up. Egee rejects Braswell out of bounds on the other end. Eggleston comes up with a rebound after a missed jumper, and that should just about do it. 24.5, 2nd Half: Penn 65 Yale 60
Flato nearly drains another tough trey, but Grandieri comes up with the board as usual, and is hacked again. He will shoot two, but first Yale calls a timeout.
39.8, 2nd Half: Penn 65 Yale 60
Pinick can't take advantage of a huge mismatch against Egee, as he misses a shot in the post. Grandieri will head to the line, and miss them both. 56.4, 2nd Half: Penn 65 Yale 60
Flato responds with a clutch jumper, and sends Gaines to the line a few ticks later after a reach-in. Apparently a good call, as Gaines hits just one.
1:30, 2nd Half: Penn 64 Yale 58
Brain fart by Morin. He starts backing down in the post but doesn't realize the shot clock is about to expire. Penn ball, and Bernardini drives the lane for a bank shot. 1:57, 2nd Half: Penn 62 Yale 58
The freshman hits both foul shots, pushing the margin to four. Morin finds himself backing down Reilly at the three-point line, causing Yale coach James Jones to call a timeout.
2:23, 2nd Half: Penn 60 Yale 58
Holmes hits them both, and the Bulldogs are fully back in the game. That Lee echo is getting louder in here as Eggleson is sent to the line again to shoot two.
2:42, 2nd Half: Penn 60 Yale 56
Miller and his staff are furious after a bad call by the refs. Gaines is called for continuation after picking up his own loose ball, but he had to have been either fouled or had the ball tipped. Now Yale bangs it inside with Holmes, but he's hacked by Bernardini.
3:35, 2nd Half: Penn 60 Yale 56
Eggleston can't get the call on the next possession, and he sends the sharpshooting Flato to the line. But the guard only hits one. 3:43, 2nd Half: Penn 60 Yale 55
Clutch defense by Eggleston as he takes the charge from a driving Caleb Holmes to quiet the crowd, but the silence doesn't last long. Votel and Bernardini can't connect on the ensuing inbounds.
3:57, 2nd Half: Penn 60 Yale 55
A pair of Flato free throws after a foul on Gaines will cut the lead to five, and a shot-clock violation is called ont he Quakers after a Grandieri bank attempt misses the rim. The Lee Ampitheater is starting to get loud.
5:08, 2nd Half: Penn 60 Yale 53
After Votel couldn't get the ball inbounds, Miller draws up a nice touchdown pass play, but Reilly can't finish. Pinick is sent to the line, hitting one.
Reilly came out for Eggleston while some sort of discrepancy between referees and coaches went on during a long break between free throws. Apparently they were trying to figure out who the foul was on. Let's get it together, zebras. 5:39, 2nd Half: Penn 58 Yale 52
Reilly responds with a turn-around jumper, but a couple of free throws by Morin brings the margin to eight again. On the Penn end of the floor, Grandieri is hacked, and makes one of two from the line.
Morin will go to the line for the second straight possession, converting on an and-1 to bring the Bulldogs even closer.
6:45, 2nd Half: Penn 55 Yale 47
Eggleston hit them both, but was abused by Morin on the other end. Morin hit two of two after a Grandieri foul.
7:16, 2nd Half: Penn 53 Yale 45
Boy does Flato love that step-back three. He just swished one from the corner to make this a single-digit game. Eggleston is going to the line to shoot two to try to bring the margin back to 10 for the Quakers. Reilly and Gaines are also back in.
8:30, 2nd Half: Penn 53 Yale42
After Votel and Gibson match baskets, Grandieri misses the front end of a one-and-one and Yale's Caleb Holmes is fouled on the floor.The Bulldogs might be clawing their way back into this one.
10:10, 2nd Half: Penn 51 Yale 40
A Jordan Gibson bucket just cut Penn's margin. But before that, another three from Nick Holmes from the exact same spot came after Gaines hit one of two free throws. He's been great running the offense tonight, but another missed jumper from the freshman point guard is showing that he needs to take a few more in practice. 11:24, 2nd Half: Penn 50 Yale 35
Gaines will go to the line after a questionable call on Yale; a Bulldogs defender (I didn't catch who) seemed to get all ball after the Penn guard pulled up in the lane. Nick Holmes had hit a huge three from way downtown on the other end, but Gaines will have a chance to extend the margin for Penn.
Meanwhile, the Yale cheerleaders continue a mediocre night, as their pyramid crumbles once again.
12:33, 2nd Half: Penn 46 Yale 30
An unusual Reilly-Votel frontcourt was on the floor for Penn before Eggleston returned to the game, and they seemed to be doing a good job of boxing out and playing defense. This rotation has been evolving and developing all season, as two earlier favorites of Miller, Aron Cohen and Cam Lewis, have yet to see a minute of action tonight.
14:39, 2nd Half: Penn 46 Yale 29 Some more Grandierian efficiency, as he hits his fourth trifecta in four attempts. When are the Bulldogs going to start stepping out on that?
15:19, 2nd Half: Penn 43 Yale 27
There's that efficient passing again. Grandieri passed up a three to feed Votel for a lefty lay-up. Before that, though, Flato drained a fall-away trey, but missed two on the next two possessions. A scrum on Penn's end that ended up with Votel and Eggleston on the floor turned into a 5-on-3 break for Yale, but it couldn't convert. Gaines is about to come in after a media timeout here. 18:14, 2nd Half: Penn 39 Yale 24 Penn looks a little bit out of sorts here to start the half. Schreiber and Grandieri each turned the ball over on bad passes, and Votel will return to the game to replace the big Swede. Pinick will open the second-half scoring with a free throw, followed up by a Flato lay-in. Halftime Thoughts:
The Quakers are really hitting their jump shots right now, which has really been the difference, and what's more, you can tell they're really trying to push the ball any chance they can get. Yale, on the other hand, is trying to pound it inside on most possessions, but the Bulldogs haven't had too much success. Give Schreiber and Votel some credit for knocking people around down there and staying out of foul trouble. Bernardini leads the way for Penn with 12 points, while Grandieri and Eggleston aren't far behind with nine and eight, respectively. But try this stat on for size: On 18 field goals, the Red and Blue have 16 assists. They really are moving the ball well, and it has shown up on the stat sheet, especially for Gaines and Grandieri, who have 5 and 4 assists, respectively.
Morin and Holmes are practically the Bulldogs' only scorers--they each have nine. 0:00, 1st Half: Penn 39, Yale 21
Gaines takes his sweet time at the end of the half, and his short jumper doesn't count. But Bernardini hit a jumper with a minute to go, so Penn will go into half time with an 18-point lead. And the sparsely-populated Lee Ampitheater isn't posing too much of a problem for Penn, apparently. 1:09, 1st Half: Penn 37, Yale 21
A nifty little scoop-under is finished by Eggleston as he works around a Bernardini back screen, butCaleb Holmes responds on the other end with a pair of free throws.
After that, Gaines finishes a break-away layup a few seconds after throwing up an ugly shot in transition that caught nothing but backboard. Then, Bernardini drains another two-pointer. 5:12, 1st Half: Penn 29, Yale 17
I guess I jinxed them. Votel, Bernardini and Schreiber all missed jumpers over the past few possessions, and Miller is going to go with a line shift: Grandieri and Eggleston will check back in after a Morin free throw for the Bulldogs.
7:44, 1st Half: Penn 29, Yale 14
Salient question: Can the Quakers miss? Bernardini just hit a nice jumper off the dribble. Meanwhile, Penn isn't giving up much on defense, and is running the transition offense well, to boot (Votel put in another bucket on a fast break a minute ago).
8:57, 1st Half: Penn 25, Yale 14
Wow, Grandieri has hit two more threes since we last checked in. As usual, he's moving really well around screens and putting himself in position for Gaines to find him open. Add to that a top-of-the-key three from Votel (2007 NCAA Tournament, anyone?) and Penn has really taken control.
11:48, 1st Half: Penn 17, Yale 12
Pinick can’t throw down a driving dunk, and on the other end Gaines puts up an ugly jumper in the lane. On the other end, Yale keeps banging away down low, going to Morin now that 6-11 Matt Kyle is out of the game. Grandieri hit a trey to push the Penn advantage to five.
Here’s a pleasant surprise: Brennan Votel, who hasn’t seen many minutes this season, will make a first-half appearance. Let’s see if he can quell the Bulldogs’ big men.
13:23, 1st Half: Penn 14, Yale 10With Justin Reilly and Harrison Gaines making their first appearances, Penn has taken the lead with a couple of trifectas from Tyler Bernardini; one on a nice in-bounds play, and the other with a hand in his face. An all-too-easy Eggleston bucket in transition forces Yale to call a timeout.
16:00, 1st Half: Penn 6, Yale 10
Penn can't seem to get in the flow of its offense right now; they all seem to be getting in each other's way. But after a nice take by Schreiber to the hoop, Egee pulls a classic pick-up move and throws it off of a defender and out of bounds. Eggleston hit a couple of layups, and Pinick nailed a three. Holmes and Kyle followed that up with buckets.
17:40, 1st Half: Penn 2, Yale 3
Andreas Schreiber opens the scoring with a nice turn-around jumper with the shot clock winding down, but Yale did some clock-mliking of its own on the other end, with big man Ross Morin stepping out to drain a three. Meanwhile, Kevin Egee launches an ill-advised three on the other end.
The starting lineups tonight:
Penn: G Tyler Bernardini, C Andreas Schreiber, G Kevin Egee, G Brian Grandieri, F Jack Eggleston
Yale: F Ross Morin, F Travis Pinick, C Matt Kyle, G Eric Flato, G Caleb Holmes
With Penn's first spring practice less than a month away, it's time to start keeping an eye on the gridiron. First item of business: Robert Irvin's balky shoulder.
Quakers coach Al Bagnoli said that Irvin will be on the field in a limited capacity throughout the spring.
"We're not going to have him throw very much," Bagnoli said. "But he is going to be in the huddle, he is going to be able to hand off, he's going to be able to do some footwork stuff. I doubt he'll be cleared to throw all out."
The junior quarterback, who may end up taking a ninth semester, had surgery last March, then tried to come back for the 2007 season. It remains unclear to his coaches if he never fully recovered from that operation or if he took a hit in one of the first two games, but he was shut down after the loss to Villanova and went under the knife again in October.
"He's in much better physical shape, including arm strength, at this time of the year than he was last year," Bagnoli said. "One of the better things we've done is that once we saw the real state of his shoulder, we really shut him down very early. ... So now he's had from September virtually until [the coming] August [for] what should be a 3-to-6-month recovery time.
"Long-term, the prognosis should be outstanding. Short-term, we've got to be careful, because we don't want a setback"
To my surprise, the Drexel men's lacrosse team added a third color to its uniforms, donning neon green laces. This would look ridiculous, but neon green (not to be confused with neon yellow) is a pretty sweet color.
But looks aren't everything.
Drexel wears the bright laces to support "Laces for Lymphoma," a part of the Headstrong Foundation, which is raises money and awareness for blood cancers. It was started in honor of Nick Colleluori, a former Hofstra lacrosse player who was diagnosed with Lymphoma.
"We wear them in his honor, and we have a senior next year, Matt Miller who's got cancer," Drexel coach Chris Bates said. "It's a brother-hood support, and just to raise awareness for cancer"
Former Penn baseball player and current Chicago Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa has left Spring Training in Arizona after complaining of a rapid heartbeat during some drills on Saturday. He will undergo tests at a hospital in Chicago. You can read more about it here. A bat that DeRosa gave the DP years ago still sits in our sports office, and we obviously all wish him the best and hope that he'll be back out on the field for the Cubs soon.
FINAL: HARVARD 89, PENN 79
Penn played a nice final ten minutes, but in case you haven't heard there are 40 minutes in a college basketball game. Looks like Cornell has locked up the league with a win over Brown tonight.
2nd Half, 55.3: Harvard 83, Penn 72
Now this one is over, the last minute is a formality. Glen Miller has called his last timeout and Penn is in full-court press/foul mode. We want a Cem Dinc appearance!
2nd Half, 2:39: Harvard 76, Penn 66
A Bernardini 3 made it a single-digit game, but Kyle Fitzgerald stopped the Penn momentum with a huge basket inside, after Harvard worked the shot clock all the way down.
2nd Half, 4:04: Harvard 74, Penn 63
WAIT! It's not over just yet.
The Quakers have put together a very nice offensive stretch and a Schreiber put-back three-point play made it an 11-point game. Dan McGeary just turned it over with a carry, forcing a Tommy Amaker timeout.
2nd Half, 7:44: Harvard 67, Penn 48
The margin hasn't changed much, but at least Penn is starting to look respectable on offense. It's going to be much too little, much too late though.
2nd Half, 10:50: Harvard 63, Penn 44
Every time Penn has shown signs of life Harvard has answered with some baskets. Bernardini finally got back on the board with some FTs, but he then missed short on a 3, which led to a Crimson fast-break score.
2nd Half, 13:44, Harvard 57, Penn 40
Much of the same. Penn is forcing it on offense. The effort is there, but when they have put together some good possessions, it seems Harvard is getting all the breaks and bounces.
Earlier, I forgot to mention that Harris went up for a monster throw down that would have torn off the glass roof here, but a Quaker got in his way and he went crashing to the floor. I don't know how there was no foul on the play.
By the way, Bernardini only played six minutes in the first half due to 2 fouls. He hasn't scored since his game-opening 3. Could be a major reason Penn looks so bad on offense.
2nd Half, 15:55, Harvard 52, Penn 33
The teams started where they left off in the first half. Lin has already gotten inside twice for easy layups and Penn continues to struggle from the floor. Unger is killing the Penn D; he just hit another 3.
1st Half Stats:
Leading Scorers: Penn - Grandieri (12), Harvard - Unger (16), Harris (14)
FG%: Penn - 12-36 (33.3%), Harvard - 16-27 (59.3%)
Points in the Paint: Penn - 12, Harvard - 24
FT-FTA: Penn - 1-2, Harvard - 10-11
Rebounds: Penn - 14 (9 offensive), Harvard - 22 (6 offensive)
Assists/Turnovers: Penn - 5/4, Harvard - 9/6
Halftime: Harvard 45, Penn 28
Yeah you read that right. Penn is down 17 at the half against a 2-and-7 league team.
Did they have some bad clam chowder on the way here from Hanover??? After putting up 88 last night, the Red and Blue look like they're going to give up that much or more tonight. The offense is struggling, but the Quakers' interior defenders don't look like they could guard me right now (then again, I am a beast on the low block).
1st Half, 2:58: Harvard 41, Penn 25
Things are getting uglier for the Quakes on both sides of the court. Reilly missed two open 3's and besides that, they have really struggled to get good looks. They finally put in a nice defensive possession, but Pusar gobbled the rebound and put it in for a new biggest lead.
1st Half, 6:17: Harvard 34, Penn 23
Harvard looks like a well-oiled machine on offense so far. I can't count the amount of layups they've had. Unger, though, just gave the Crimson a double-digit lead by stepping outside for a 3.
1st Half, 7:46: Harvard 29, Penn 22
Penn is doing a better job stopping penetration than they did in the first matchup between these two, but the Crimson are finding other ways to score inside. They extended their lead thanks to and-one buckets by Unger and Harris. Harvard is also winning the free throw battle so far as the Quakers hit the penalty before the 10-minute mark.
1st Half, 11:57: Harvard 14, Penn 12
The Crimson have been working the pick and roll well, the latest time coming when Harris got a mismatch inside and scored on Egee. Justin Reilly, Harrison Gaines and Brenna Votel have all made early appearances for Penn.
1st Half, 13:51: Harvard 12, Penn 9
Penn started it off with a Bernardini three, which is a great sign for the team. Harvard has taken over since, the best highlight coming on a Harris three-point play.
Penn Starters: Egee, Bernardini, Grandieri, Eggleston, Schreiber
Harvard Starters: G Jeremy Lin, G Drew Housman, G Andrew Pusar, F Evan Harris, F Brad Unger
Early Cofield Update: Remy is in street clothes.
Early Band Update: The Penn Band played “I’m a Barbie Girl” and the Harvard band played “Boom Boom Boom Boom, I want you in my room.”
Penn Band: 0, Harvard Band: 0
Hey it's Rob Gross here in Cambridge (I think it's Cambridge, it could be Boston or Allston or Brighton all of them at the same time). Anyway I'm hereto bring you live updates of tonights Penn-Harvard game. Refresh this page for updates throughout the night.FINAL: Penn 88, Dartmouth 62. Comprehensive and convincing. Not much more to be said. Good night from New Hampshire and see you tomorrow from Hahvahd.
25 seconds left: And then he chucks an even deeper shot off the top of the square on the backboard. Er...oh well. 1:03 left: JOE GILL FROM WAY OUTSIDE. Literally, two-three steps behind the line.
3:08 left: Hearty applause for the starters as they come out. Aron Cohen comes in for (I think) his first action. Penn's up 29. Joe Gill set to come in with 2:29 left! That's when you know it's a real blowout, Joe Gill is set to log multiple minutes. Let's see if he gets on the scoresheet.
3:53 left: No Rock and Roll part 2, but then again, there doesn't appear to be any Penn fans under the age of 50 in attendance. I'm told alumni aren't the biggest fans of that...
7:04 left: Finally, a miss (Justin Reilly), the first of the second half. There's an audible groan from press row. That's the sound of a great lede slipping out of reach. Not that Glen Miller's complaining.
9:25 left: 11 of 13.
10:21 left: 10 of 12. Even the Dartmouth PA announcer betrays a chuckle as he calls out Justin Reilly's name.
11:47 left: 60-38 Penn. The Quakers are 9-11 from three. Yes, you read that right.
14:06 left: 55-34 Penn. A Dartmouth fan behind me yells that Harrison Gaines needs a shave. Meanwhile, Terry Dunn needs a timeout.
15:48 left: 49-32 Penn. Penn's hitting at will, this is a 10-2 run.
18:47 left: Terry Dunn's not happy either, but that has less to do with the band than with Penn draining yet another 3 (Schreiber this time). The Quakes are 7-9 from outside.
SECOND HALF TIPOFF: The Dartmouth band is redeeming itself with what I thought was the Lord of the Rings theme (A commenter corrects me...hey, I never even saw the movie!). Still a little heavy on the percussion. One of the refs agrees. "I've come to my conclusion," he tells me with a wince. "The band is just...loud."
I just got handed a stat sheet with Steve Danley's name on it. Apparently Tyler Bernardini has graciously given up his No. 3 jersey back to the Marshall Scholar for the second half. The Danley/Bernardini combo has 8 points. Kevin Egee and DeVon Mosley lead all scorers with 11.
Penn's 6 of 8 from downtown, 43.8 percent from the field. Dartmouth's shooting at 35.3%. The Quakes are also outrebounding Dartmouth 27-14.
HALFTIME, PENN 39 DARTMOUTH 30: Harrison Gaines is putting on a clinic. He's getting penetration at will to the basket. Meanwhile, Kevin Egee has thrown a few questionable passes and if Aron Cohen's played, I haven't noticed. As the halftime buzzer sounds Penn takes a deserved 9-point lead into the locker room.
The Dartmouth version of the Quaker Girls dance team doesn't even wear matching uniforms. Also...not all of them are girls. It might be time to hit the media room. Back in 10 minutes for the second half.
1:28 left: 34-25 Penn. Penn's shooting poorly from the line, and after Harrison Gaines misses the first of two Mike Martin looks particularly miffed. Play cards can't help you now!
2:54 left: 30-25 Penn. Just as I say that, Grandieri takes the ball off Barnett. A minute later he hits an open 3 when Barnett can't fight through a screen quick enough. Looks like the injury is still bugging him. He's frequently the last guy up the floor on offense. Meanwhile, the stands have filled out a little more. 1,000 it ain't, though. Blue is better is still safe.
5:45 left: 22-19 Penn. Grandieri on Barnett is a serious mismatch. Thankfully Penn gets a switch and Alex clangs a jumper with Bernardini in his face.
7:50 left: 19-18 Green. A kid who looks no older than 12 just made the layup-free throw-3 pointer combination that frustrates so many media timeout giveaway contestants at the Palestra. Cool as you like.
11:44 left: Apparently, the Dartmouth band just plays drums. Pretty sure I haven't heard a song yet.
12:35 left: 14-12 Green. Brennan Votel seeing early action. Glen Miller calls timeout. He's completely stoic as his players gather around him. That's gon' change.
Penn SID Mike Mahoney tells me that Cam Lewis is sick, and didn't make the trip up north.
15:38 left: 10-6 Penn. Penn's cooled off. Bernardini just made the awkward pass of the century and Schreiber couldn't catch up.
19:09 left: 5-0 Penn after a Bernardini three. Timeout Dartmouth. To the commenter blue is better: You would have won. There are fewer than 500 people. Not that the DP condones gambling, or anything. Also, you are right about Cam Lewis, I don't see him. I'll try and find out what happened. 10-2 Penn now, 8 for Bernardini, including a three right in Barnett's face.
Lineups: For Penn: Egee, Schreiber, Eggleston, Bernardini, Grandieri. For Dartmouth: Fitzgerald, Sanders, Mosley, Barnett, Ball. So Johnathan is playing after all. Very shrewd, Terry Dunn, very shrewd.
8 mins to tipoff: Forgot there's a hockey game today. My over/under is off the board now. A few Dartmouth band members are here, though. There's also a healthy group of Penn alumni (is there a Penn club of Hanover)?
20 mins to tipoff: I'm putting the over-under for attendance at 1500 (the building seats about 2000). It's pretty slippery out there but quite a few people are already here. No sign of the Penn Band...leave a comment if you can shed any light. Did they make the trip?
Hello from Hanover, N.H., where Penn's about 40 minutes away from tipping off against Dartmouth. The internet's spotty here, but we'll see what we can do.
Quick injury updates: Remy Cofield is sitting on the bench with his Brady boot on while his teammates are warming up. Looks like he'll have to just watch tonight. He doesn't look happy about it, either.
For the home side, Dartmouth coach Terry Dunn told the Valley News that Johnathan Ball would be doubtful for tonight, while Alex Barnett should be good to go. Haven't seen Ball yet but Barnett is shooting around. Stick around for lineups when we get them.
Freshman guard Remy Cofield was still wearing a protective boot on his injured foot as he left campus today, but leave campus he did, with the rest of the team. That's not to say Cofield will be available against Dartmouth or Harvard, but he could well be if he got good news from the medical staff. Coach Glen Miller had said on Wednesday that he would know more today. One thing's for sure -- if the injury were season-ending, he wouldn't have made the trip. At least we know that much.
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