More from Danley

He steps away from the NBA to talk about elite high school camps and their impact on players.

One in, one out

As many people know by now, former Penn fullback and current New York Giant Jim Finn had rotator cuff surgery and is now on injured reserve. There were rumblings that it is serious enough to possibly end his career.

But just as Tiki Barber's lead blocker is out for this year at least, another Penn man is making moves to enter the NFL.

Former Penn guard and co-captain Sean Estrada is working out with the San Francisco 49ers, and has made enough noise to warrant a Q & A with the team Web site a few days ago.

In it, he talks about his time in, as the question notes, the many "Ivy Leagues", and calls going to Penn and getting his degree "one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life."

Estrada got to play in his first Monday Night game this week, in a 17-13 loss to the Broncos. Hard to say how he did (busy watching the Eagles get crushed in Baltimore), because there's no obvious way of telling when he was in the game. The team ran for 144 yards without starter Frank Gore touching the ball, but then again the 49ers didn't score in the second half.

In other news, former Penn standout cornerback Duvol Thompson, who has seen stints with St. Louis and Baltimore since graduating in 2005, no longer seems to be in the NFL. He did play in the Arena Football League last year, notching nine tackles with the Austin Wranglers, but got released in March, five months after he was signed. Now the only Penn grad in the league is wide receiver Rob Milanese of the Philadelphia Soul.

When searching for "players by school" on the league's Web site, the dropdown box, to my shock and delight, actually said "Penn" and not "Pennsylvania". It's taken long enough, but finally a glimpse of marketing success for the Quakers.

DeVore in as M. Tennis coach

The Penn athletic department announced that Nik DeVore, of Loyola Marymount in California, will take over the men's tennis job.

At LMU, DeVore inherited a lackluster program and made his mark, getting the Lions to respectability in the West Coast Conference. The Penn opening was created by the departure of Mark Riley, who left for Kalamazoo College.

Preseason football poll reaction

The Ivy preseason 'media' poll came out this morning in New Haven. Not useful for much except eating up time until kickoff, but here are some of my thoughts on the rankings, and I would like to hear yours -- leave a comment or email me at scurria@sas.upenn.edu.

1) Yale (14)
2) Penn (1)
3) Harvard (1)
4) Princeton
5) Cornell
6) Columbia
7) Brown
8) Dartmouth

Jaaber's Big Fat Greek Career

Will start soon enough.

Looks like Ibrahim Jaaber has signed with Egaleo, a pro team in Greece, for the coming year at least.

Can't say much for the league's Internet presence; none of their websites were working as of tonight, but he was definitely announced as a signee. Look for updates in the near future.

Edit, Friday, 1:30 p.m.: Eurobasket.com's tech glitches seem to be gone, and you can find info about Jaaber's new team here.

Two player observations

ASTON, Pa. -- I headed out to a Media Summer League playoff game tonight expecting to be impressed by incoming forward Jack Eggleston; instead I was impressed by Joe Gill.

Gill sank three of five from deep by my unofficial count as his Trad Jazz team that also featured Mark Zoller and Brian Grandieri got clobbered. (Those are decieving numbers, though -- threes aren't exactly in short supply when players are chucking them up left and right.) Eggleston was invisible, although I understand that playing in two summer leagues, as he is, is twice as many as the average frosh takes on.

Gill was mentioned to the DP by more than one teammate as being much improved this past year. No matter to the coaches; he only saw garbage time in '06-'07. If he improves again, perhaps that could change in his senior campaign.

Eggleston needs to put on a lot of weight before he can think about PT in the Quakers rotation. The only attempt I saw him take was an airballed three, but it was put back by a teammate, so let's call it an assist.

No respect for The Dunph

Penn track coach Charlie Powell would be defensible, but in this vote, my write-in candidate is none other than Fran.

Reached by telephone today, Dunphy commented on the poll: "We've got a lot of respect for the other mustache choices. They're very good sports figures, with very good facial hair, and more importantly they're very good people"

Big sports news in College Hall

Penn golf may be in for a sea change, Al Bagnoli has an interesting pair of incoming DBs and a lifelong Quaker will soon start his career on the mats. But by far the most important Penn sports news today is the departure of admissions dean Lee Stetson after three decades.

Like it or not, the future of Penn athletics will depend in large part on whether his replacement has a reservoir of goodwill towards the University's coaches. Here's hoping that Amy Gutmann can pick someone who won't do their best to make admitting quality athletes difficult for Steve Bilsky's underlings.

Trouble at Villanova

Uh-oh. I heard the "R" word dropped on the air by my employer, Comcast SportsNet, in a blurb about three Villanova football players and an unnamed "incident."

Terrible news for Andy Talley, and not good for the Quakers either. Penn has the Wildcats on the docket until 2011, and judging by the rape scandals at La Salle and Duke, being able to play in the midst of one is not a safe bet.

The Delaware County Times had this to say about the investigation, barely a week old, and the Inquirer had a few other details this morning. Stay tuned to the papers; more is sure to come in the next few days.

Could Vaughn take over M. Golf?

Maybe the new men's golf coach won't be doing any sharing at all.

This is only an educated guess based on the facts that have emerged, but it wouldn't shock me if current women's coach Francis Vaughn were in the hunt, at least, to take over the men's team too.

That would explain why the athletic department is hiring one assistant to work for two programs. It's not as strange a move as it sounds, if both programs have the same coach. (Men's and women's swimming coach Mike Schnur's assistants, for example, all work for both teams.)

It would clear up why the job posting says the assistant has to report to the Director of Golf (Vaughn), but doesn't make any mention of the men's coach.

And it might also would tell us why, after all these years, the golf programs are finally getting an assistant. If Vaughn does end up doing two jobs, that might encourage Penn to crack open the piggy bank and pay for someone to help him out.

It would be strange in that no Ivy League school currently has the same person as its men's and women's golf coach.

But Vaughn has done it before; he held both the men's and women's jobs from 1996-2002.

And it seems even more strange for a school to be searching for an assistant coach before it's even announced the head one.

See tomorrow's DP for more analysis.

Note: Strangely, you can't see the post by browsing the NCAA's job site anymore -- you have to use the URL I linked to above.

Zoller update

Trying to do what so many Penn basketball players in the recent future have done -- Eric Osmundson, Tim Begley, Jeff Schiffner, Michael Jordan, Ugonna Onyekwe, Koko Archibong to name a few since 2000 -- Mark Zoller has taken his first steps toward starting a basketball career overseas.

Zoller participated in a camp in Italy a couple weeks ago, preceded by the four-day, four-game, eight-team Union of European Leagues of Basketball summer league there. In the league starting June 28, Zoller's Euroleague Basketball squad fought to a 3-1 record and a fifth-place finish.

In case you weren't following his every move, Zoller scored 49 points in the four games, playing a total of 87 minutes. In all, he did pretty well, averaging 21:45 minutes (out of 40), shot 20-for-41 from the field (3-for-11 from three), averaged 12.25 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.75 steals, 2.25 turnovers and two fouls.

The only players I immediately recognized playing against Euroleague Basketball were former Indiana forward Marco Killingsworth and ULEB Cup's Osmundson, who played against Zoller in the final game. Oz had a disappointing finale, shooting 4-for-13 in the loss. And yes, he still shoots as many threes as twos. He went an impressive 14-for-22 from inside the arc, and 3-for-18 outside of it.

So, now, Zoller will wait and see what offers come his way. He says he will likely hear from some teams in the next few weeks, so by the beginning of August he should know where he's going.

Name to watch for '12

Keep an eye on Andrew McCarthy in the coming months. He's a forward out of Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, and his coach there told me that Penn has been in play since "early on" in his recruiting. Internet buzz has several Boston-area schools, including BC, on the radar.

McCarthy was listed as 6-7 and lanky a year ago, but who knows how good that description is now.

My guess is that with underclassmen Justin Reilly, Andreas Schreiber, Danny Monckton, Jack Eggleston, Tyler Bernardini and Conor Turley already on hand -- all over 6-6 -- Glen Miller won't feel a pressing need to get four-spot players for the Class of 2012, so it will be very interesting to see what big men he feels he can't pass up.

McCarthy's coach also said Columbia has shown interest, and if that's not an endorsement, then I don't know what is.

Requirement for M. Golf job: Must have graduated kindergarten

A Division I coach has to be adept at recruiting, fundraising, and scheduling, among others.

For the new men's golf coach, add that seminal skill for five-year-olds -- sharing -- to the list.

As in, sharing a coach, which is what the new hire will be doing. Penn is looking to hire a paid golf assistant, but the assistant will split time between the men's and women's programs, while reporting to Director of Golf/women's coach Francis Vaughn.

It's the first time since at least 2001 there's been any kind of assistant coach for golf, and probably earlier than that, although I'm having trouble finding records. I think women's squash is now the only sport that competes without an assistant coach (or half of one, at least). Assistants can come and go fairly frequently though, so my guess (and Penn's athletic directory) could be off.

Call it a step forward for the golf programs, but not a huge one. At just $12,000 per year with no benefits, this new coach will be a footnote on Steve Bilsky's budget. And like many assistant positions, it's only a 9-month gig, so no guarantee the golf teams will get the same arrangement next year.

As for programs sharing coaches? As far as I know, there are only two other arrangements like that at Penn. Men's and women's fencing is one. Men's and women's swimming and diving also share, although it's probably easier for them. They have three assistant coaches, if you count diving coach Julie Van Deusen.

Speaking of vacancies, Penn's post for men's tennis head coach went up but has since been taken off. Apparently the athletic deparment has found its candidates...but who knows whether that means Penn's actually close to announcing a hire. There's also no post up for the head men's golf job, so Penn could be coming down the home stretch on that one as well.

Brief glance at the wires

In recent Ivy League news:

Sorry I missed it (OK, not really)

I hear CSTV replayed last year's Penn-Brown football game yesterday (Tuesday) as part of some kind of "Fantastic Finishes" package.

You probably remember it; no need to hash out the painful details in this space. Others may disagree, but I think this was the lowest of the special teams lowlights (honorable mention to the botched 2-point play at Cornell). Unless the worst is yet to come. Impossible...right?

The game did, however, produce the year's weirdest victory celebration by an opponent. After Brown's game-winning kick went through, Bears linebacker Zak DeOssie sprinted at full tilt toward the student section. He found a piece of thrown toast that was spray-painted pink to support breast cancer research, took a massive bite, and followed it with a hearty yell.

Brown went 0-3 after that song-and-dance, with the latter two losses coming against Dartmouth and Columbia. Coincidence? I doubt it highly.

Still, give me a choice between that and the sack dance his new NFL teammates have, and I'll take DeOssie eating tainted toast any day.

Two NCAAs

I don't like getting riled up over something on a blog, and I don't like criticizing other sportswriters. But Mike Farrell of The Sporting News got under my skin with his column about why the NCAA's text messaging ban should be repealed, so pardon me if I break my own rules.

"The ban on text messaging was suggested by the Ivy Group, citing the invasive nature of sending messages to recruits on an unlimited basis," he wrote. "How could kids study if their phones were constantly buzzing or chirping with text messages? Listening to the Ivy League schools on a matter like this is like turning the NFL into a two-hand touch league because little Jimmy got hurt playing Nerf football in the front yard."

Farrell is entitled to his opinion on texting, although I think he's wrong. There are certainly good arguments to be made on both sides.

What he's not entitled to do is insult the Ivy League's intelligence because its athletes come to school for more than playing time and don't get paid along the way.

Let's see the argument through. The Ivies are among the best lacrosse conferences in the country. The Metro Atlantic doesn't compare. According to Farrell, that means any lacrosse rule changes the MAAC suggests ought to be disregarded.

John Edwards talks about two Americas; I think it would be terrible if we had two NCAAs -- those who are listened to and those who are purposefully ignored.

Philadelphian Roulette

Whether or not you're like me and don't consider card playing a sport, no one should feel good about this decision. From the Associated Press:

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The state's highest court on Tuesday upheld the decision of state regulators to allow groups led by a Connecticut Indian tribe and a Chicago billionaire developer to build slot-machine casinos on Philadelphia's riverfront.

The Supreme Court rejected the challenge by a rival applicant that lost out on a license, and sped Philadelphia toward becoming the nation's largest city with downtown casinos.

On Dec. 20, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board chose the two casinos, Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia and SugarHouse Casino, from among five suitors. The winning projects were backed by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which runs the huge Foxwoods Resort Casino on its Connecticut reservation, and Neil G. Bluhm, a billionaire developer from Chicago who is the biggest investor in SugarHouse.

Both slots casinos could open as early as next year.

I know plenty of people who want to go to college somewhere fun. I don't know half as many who want to go somewhere best known for bilking people out of their retirement savings.

Odds and ends

Penn's coup of Zack Rosen got a mention in the New York Daily News today, from none other than the legendary Dick "Hoops" Weiss. He had already referred to Rosen as an "upperclass gem" about a week ago, in reference to his appearance at the Eastern Invitational camp.

(Weiss is one of those rare people whose nickname is so good, sportswriters from other publications always use it, even when they're going to say his full name anyway. He's constantly being called Dick "Hoops" Weiss. There's probably an entry in the AP's style book under "Dick Weiss," which simply reads: "Always include 'Hoops'.")

I'm a fan of 1 p.m. kickoffs in football, college or otherwise, admittedly because they fit my sleep schedule and I'm a creature of habit. Looks like I'm out of luck this year again, though. The times for Penn's football games are trickling out. They are as follows:

Sept. 15 -- LAFAYETTE -- 6 p.m.
Sept. 22 -- @ Villanova -- TBA (actually at Villanova this year, likely at night?)
Sept. 29 -- @ Dartmouth -- 12:30 p.m.
Oct. 6 -- GEORGETOWN -- TBA
Oct. 13 -- @ Columbia -- 1:30 p.m.
Oct. 20 -- YALE -- 12 p.m.
Oct. 27 -- @ Brown -- 12:30 p.m.
Nov. 3 -- PRINCETON -- 12 p.m.
Nov. 10 -- @ Harvard -- 12:30 p.m.
Nov. 17 -- CORNELL -- 1 p.m.

Congratulations to women's lacrosse's Karin Brower, who was named National Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association. I may be missing someone, but I think Brower is Penn's first national coach of the year in 10 years; Dave Micahnik took the honor from the U.S. Fencing Coaches Association in 1997.

Pan Am roster

This morning, USA Basketball announced its final roster for the team that will represent the US in the Pan American games later this month.

The squad, headed by Villanova coach Jay Wright (who did not make the final roster selections himself), includes a couple of guys with local connections. Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds and UNC guard Wayne Ellington, formerly of Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pa, made the final 14. St. Joe's forward Ahmad Nivins was on the trials roster, but didn't make the last cuts.

Click on the link above for audio from the players and more information. The Pan Am basketball games will be played in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from July 25-29.

EB's breakdown

I may be the only one who gets it, but thanks to our purchase of Fox Soccer Channel, I also get NBA TV at home as well. I was away last week, but thankfully my DVR caught me up on Ibrahim Jaaber's work for the Pistons' summer league team.

Watching him play against Memphis on Monday, Jaaber looked pretty good overall. He was not mistake-free, but I was certainly impressed. Here's the box score, though as Andrew pointed out earlier this week, it is not very trusty because it says three players played over the game's length of 40 minutes.

In just over 14 minutes, Jaaber scored four points on 2-for-4 shooting, and added two assists, two rebounds, three fouls, two turnovers and three steals.

He started off the game with a foul two seconds in on Kyle Lowry, and a turnover short after. He settled down after that, playing the aggressive, yet controlled game we're used to seeing him play at Penn.

On offense he looked pretty good, making solid passes into the post and taking a shot when he was open. He saw a long two rattle out, missed a short jumper while trying to draw a foul, but immediately after intercepted a pass (the camera was not on the play, no idea what happened) and drained a jumper to follow. Jaaber's highlight of the night came in the second quarter when he blew by Mike Conley Jr., jumped and pump-faked in the air while splitting two defenders, and layed it up for two.

His defense was sharp as well. Jaaber was guarding Conley, the fourth-overall pick in this year's draft about 75 percent of the time he was in, the other 25 percent of the time defending 2006 first-round pick Lowry, who he also got a chance to play against while the Grizzlies' point guard was at Villanova. Jaaber did well against these two young sensations, allowing what I roughly noted as six points the whole game, mostly off of free throws.

Jaaber posted three steals, all of which off of passes, not picking the pocket of opposing guards. His nicest steal was off of a careless pass from Rudy Gay that Jaaber turned into a transition layup to teammate Arron Afflalo. He did struggle on communication defense, though. When he was being screened he often lost track of his man, who would almost always get into the lane as a result. This was, however, not all Jaaber's fault -- the hedging was particularly bad by his teammates.

Other highlights: