Hope you all enjoyed my opponent spotlight on Monmouth's John Bunch this morning; there was just one question I neglected to ask him when I interviewed him Monday.
Are you playing?
Bunch made a fool out of me when he missed the game with a knee injury sustained in the final minutes of Monmouth's last game against St. Peter's.
I was disappointed, not just because I wasted all the readers' time this morning, but because I would have really enjoyed watching a 7-foot-2, 320-pounder play.
Now some more notes from Tuesday's game:
While everyone in the crowd seemed disappointed about not getting cheesesteaks after the Florida Gulf Coast game, I was more disappointed tonight.
The Quakers wouldn't have had to run up the score to get there; they just would have had to make layups.
The Quakers missed countless layups in both halves, and nearly everybody was responsible. Most notably, anybody who tried to tip in a rebound rather than catching the ball and going up strong for a layup or a dunk.
Michael Kach looked good in his first action in two years. The junior played five minutes and scored his only points of the game with a putback of a Darren Smith miss in garbage time.
For Ibrahim Jaaber, plays that would have been steals last season are turning into points for the opposition this year.
Jaaber is still aggressive on the defensive end, and it resulted in six steals against the Hawks. But his gambles have hurt from time to time this year when he whiffs on the steal attempt and there's nobody in help defense or it leaves somebody open when someone comes to help.
FINAL: PENN 80, MONMOUTH 66: Mike Kach's deuce is the last basket of the game. The Quakers win comfortably, spurred by a career-best performance from Zoller. Goodbye from the Palestra.
2:40 left, 75-59 Penn: The student section waits for a couple of Ibby Jaaber free throws, and then gives a supplementary verse of Rock and Roll Part 2. It's over.
4:11 left, 73-59 Penn: Monmouth resorts to the press, but Penn beats it easily as McMahon lays in for two. The Hawks call for time, but McMahon burns them again on the next possession.
5:20 left, 69-53 Penn: McMahon makes consecutive assists to Zoller and Grandieri.
7:34 left, 65-50 Penn: This has to be the most vocal (and vulgar) visitors' section I've seen at the Palestra. Despite its chants of "airball" for a wayward Darren Smith shot, the Quakers are in comfortable control.
9:00 left, 62-50 Penn: He wants it, too. Zoller takes a three off an inbounds play and airmails it badly. Luckily Penn corrals the rebound and Grandieri goes to the hoop for two.
11:13 left, 60-48 Penn: Two more from Mark Zoller gives him 25 on the night by my count. 26 (at Harvard last year) is his career high.
12:41 left, 58-43 Penn: A Brennan Votel layup from a Kevin Egee assist adds more fuel to a 15-3 run. Penn is still dominating on the boards, and Monmouth calls for time. If they don't get this stopped soon, it'll be too late.
16:39 left, 51-41 Penn: Mark Zoller puts in eight straight to stem the tide. If a baseline three hadn't rattled out, it would have been 11 in a row.
18:30 left, 43-40 Penn: Monmouth has responded in the second half with a layup and an and-one. They're within three for the first time in a while.
Mike Kach is making his season debut tonight; he's played four minutes but has all zeros on the box score.
Some stats at the break: Mark Zoller leads the Quakers with 15 points and perfect 6-6 shooting from the floor. Ibrahim Jaaber has five assists and three steals, while Brian Grandieri has 10 points.
Marques Alston leads Monmouth with 11.
HALFTIME: 43-35 Penn. The Quakers are crushing the larger Hawks on the boards, 19-10 (9-2 offensive).
Hello from the Palestra, where Penn is looking to extend its record to 4-2 against Monmouth. 7-foot-2 behemoth John Bunch is in street clothes, presumably because of injury, and Penn is leading the Hawks 43-33 with less than a minute to go in the first half.
We had some technical difficulties earlier, but we're OK now so stay tuned to The Buzz for updates.
Fran Dunphy and Glen Miller pieced together a difficult nonconference slate for Penn basketball this year, but the Quakers' biggest matchups will not have the same luster as last year's.
The 2005-06 Quakers played No. 3 Villanova at home and lost by seven. Soon afterwards, they rolled into Cameron and gave No. 1 Duke 40 good minutes.
Each team was undefeated at the time, with the Wildcats sporting a 6-0 mark and the Blue Devils sitting at 7-0.
Penn won't take on a team of this caliber this time around.
The Quakers already lost to Syracuse, ranked No. 20 at the time, but that was far too early in the year for us to know much about the Orange -- or about Penn, for that matter.
So the three toughest '06-07 games remaining are against North Carolina, Seton Hall and Villanova.
UNC just fell from second to seventh after a bad loss to Gonzaga. Last year's Freshman of the Year, Tyler Hansborough, managed just two field goals and prompted a New York Times headline reading: "Tar Heels' Rising Star is Feeling the Pressure."
Seton Hall has the potential to field big-time teams. But right now it is far removed from the No. 10 seed it earned in last year's tourney, with a 76-71 humiliation at the hands of Farleigh Dickinson already on the books.
Villanova, which was busy tearing it up at this time last year, has already lost to Xavier and needed all 40 minutes to beat Navy on Saturday. Despite a boatload of talent, they got no respect in the latest AP poll.
It is likely that Penn's away matchup with the Tar Heels will be its only chance to knock off a ranked opponent. And even then, it is unsure whether UNC will be a top-five team.
Penn will play a powerhouse from the Research Triangle and one from the Main Line, just like last year. Unlike last year, a respectable Big East team is also on the docket. But the biggest games in Miller's first year won't be the same as the biggest in Dunphy's last. The privilige of two top-five contests is out of the question already.
In the spirit of the holiday season, I've reflected on what I have to be thankful for in this young basketball season -- before I go blow some money with the rest of the Black Friday nuts.
Well, maybe I'll leave that last holiday tradition aside. But Quakers hoops season is heating up as soon as Thanksgiving break is over, so I give thanks right now to:
Palestra basketball season being here. After the sagas of the coaching transition, Keenan Jeppesen, David Whitehurst, and three games in upstate, I thought this season would never actually arrive. Praise the Palestra ghosts we're here, distraction free.
Brian Grandieri. Team leader in minutes, assists, and steals? Second in rebounding (7.2) and third in points (13.0)? Who is this guy? Against Drexel, the junior tallied eight assists to a pair turnovers, while Ibrahim Jaaber had one assist and eight turnovers.
With Jaaber being asked to handle the ball drastically more this year, having another reliable guard is incredibly important as a group of newcomers -- Darren Smith, Kevin Egee and Aron Cohen -- try to come into their own.
Unrealized potential, in the form of Michael Kach. After a promising first year, the athletic junior guard missed his sophomore campaign and is now almost fully recovered from a foot injury.
I don't look for Kach to make big contributions right away. But he certainly has a lot to prove and has all the physical tools a coach could want. If his skill set comes together, he could give Penn a serious lift down the stretch.
There is also precedent -- Justin Conway emerged from oblivion last year to lead a freefalling Princeton squad back from the brink. It was those rejuvenated Tigers that dealt Penn a crushing 59-60 overtime loss and doomed it to a 15-seed. And that was a 6-4 center.
The word "respect." Glen Miller could have easily gone without using it in reference to Drexel after Penn's 68-49 whooping of the suddenly inept Dragons on Tuesday. But he employed that most famous of Fran Dunphy-isms: We've got "a lot of respect" for Drexel, he said.
Dunphy spent 17 years of his life saying that, even after a blowout win, and he did alright. That coach Miller is making every effort to continue it is deserving of respect -- and thanks.
If you noticed a drop-off in the frequency of my updates last night as the first half wound down, it was because I felt a pressing need to use the restroom.
After working my way through the halftime line, I got a pleasant surprise. Right above every urinal was a simple sheet of Penn Athletics headlines. Kudos to the athletic department, I thought.
The guy standing next to me had other ideas. Already in the act, he ripped the sheet out of its 50-cent plastic holder and crumpled it up. Deciding that this was not sufficient to convey his anger, he then uncrumpled the paper, tossed it in the urinal, and resumed.
For my purposes, I'm assuming a Drexel affiliation. Call that unfair if you must, but it makes sense to be frustrated with the way the Dragons played last night.
Drexel coach Bruiser Flint certainly was. From where the local reporters were sitting, we could hear every word -- and there were plenty that don't warrant mention anywhere -- directed at the officiating.
One word to describe Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Mel Greenberg's expression during an early tirade: priceless.
Speaking of prices, former blogger Jonathan Tannenwald pointed out to me the other day that, although Drexel started a rousing chant of "Da-ddy's trust-fund!", Drexel president Constantine Papadakis rakes in almost $120,000 more per year than our own Amy Gutmann, according to the Inquirer.
I wonder if giving that much to the basketball program would have even been enough to get Penn's bench to score a single point last night. Last year, the lowest output of Penn's bench was two, which happened in a home loss to St. Joe's and a road win at Hawaii. The latter turned out to be the 2005-06 Quakers' biggest win.
Penn faces off tonight against a dangerous and senior-heavy Drexel squad with a win over Vermont already under its belt. A win here could really help Penn down the road if Drexel has a good season. Refresh this page for live updates.
FINAL: Penn 68, Drexel 49
Penn spent the last five minutes working down the clock and pounding through Drexel's full-court press. First quality win of the year for Penn, with an opportunity for another next week against Monmouth. Not too shabby.
5:15 Second half: Penn 60, Drexel 41
This game is now Penn's to lose. Zoller and Jaaber each hit layups in transition. Steve Danley takes a seat with four fouls.
6:13 Second half: Penn 54, Drexel 39
Drexel has gone to a press with some success. Penn has burned a few timeouts trying to get through it.
6:29 Second half: Penn 54, Drexel 39
Grandieri hit the free throw and will finally get a break. On the other end, Mason hits a three. Drexel's going to need a lot more than that.
Danley also just hit two free throws after being fouled on a fast break.
11:07 Second half: Penn 51, Drexel 36
I take it back. Elegar is back in the game. If I were Bruiser Flint, I'd try whatever I could too. His Dragons do not look good, forcing shots left and right. They've gotten some fortuitous rebounds, but they are giving up easy baskets after working incredibly hard to get theirs.
Wow. Grandieri is on fire tonight. He just hit a strong layup in traffic and will try to convert the and-1 when we come back.
11:07 Second half: Penn 42, Drexel 33
Penn coughed the ball up with the shot clock running low and Rodgers took it the length of the floor for an easy layup, but Penn quickly answered. That has been the story of the night for Flint and the Dragons. Flint, just feet away from this reporter, is about to have a heart attack.
15:03 Second half: Penn 40, Drexel 30
Penn is certainly making it happen on the boards. Mark Zoller and Steve Danley each missed shots, but Penn managed to tip the ball each time and recover, and finally Grandieri got a clean look underneath. Result: a three-point play and a ten-point lead for the Quakers.
15:03 Second half: Penn 37, Drexel 28
Scott Rodgers hits a pretty teardrop floater in the lane. The Penn contingent, though, is concerning itself more with the first rollout of the night. It reads: "Stop coming to our parties."
16:01 Second half: Penn 37, Drexel 26
What toughness by Steve Danley. The senior worked for a solid six seconds under the basket, finally finding just enough room to go up and turn it into the three-point play.
Also, Flint just benched Elegar -- I'm sure for the remainder of this game -- for poor play, especially turnovers. Interesting.
17:48 Second half: Penn 34, Drexel 26
Grandieri drew no less than three defenders on the Quakers' first possession, leaving Zoller wide open at the top to nail an open three.
Drexel has not shaken the turnover bug yet, coughing it up twice on out-of-control drives so far in the half.
Halftime: Penn 31, Drexel 26
Tommy McMahon drained a three after an exceedingly long fight for a loose ball and Brian Grandieri hit two from the line, ensuring that Penn has a small lead heading into the locker room despite a late three by the Dragons.
This game was supposed to be physical and low-scoring. It is certainly the latter, but right now the only thing separating the teams is who has made fewer mistakes.
2:15 First half: Penn 26, Drexel 21
Mejia hit two free throws to bring the margin to four, and Jaaber can only get one of those back on his subsequent trip to the line.
Then Mejia hits a three, and all of a sudden Penn's lead is down to two.
But after Tommy McMahon misses the tail end of a one-and-one, Randy Oveneke commits an inexplicable foul, and Steve Danley hits two more from the stripe to push the margin back to five.
4:06 First half: Penn 22, Drexel 14
Jaaber hits a three, and Drexel's foul total gets pushed to six.
An unexpected advantage for Penn tonight -- they have not allowed the Dragons to get anything going inside.
Mejia hits a three to put Drexel within half of Penn's score, and Jaaber picks up his second foul. Still anyone's game.
8:49 First half: Penn 19, Drexel 11
Stat of the night so far: Drexel's 2-for-6 performance at the line.
Jaaber hit a floater in the lane to give Penn another two, and Darren Smith blocked a three-point attempt by Mason. But he made a bad rookie mistake on the next possession, going up for a horrible shot and costing Penn a possession.
10:37 First half: Penn 17, Drexel 9
Penn has been pushing the tempo when it can, and it results in a Zoller midrange bank shot and a long three from Jaaber.
Bashir Mason answers with a three, but Drexel needs more than that. The Dragons also can't keep picking up senseless fouls, with four already.
12:36 First half: Penn 12, Drexel 4
Grandieri again! He comes up with the ball at midcourt and finds Ibrahim Jaaber open underneath for another layup. Bruiser Flint is forced to call a timeout.
12:55 First half: Penn 10, Drexel 4
Drexel center Frank Elegar has been a force early on, grabbing an offensive board and working his way open for a layup. But while trying to save a possession, Drexel turns it over and Brian Grandieri scoops up the loose ball for an easy two.
On the next possession, Steve Danley shows his versatility, blocking a shot inside and hitting a three-pointer to extend the lead.
15:15 First half: Penn 5, Drexel 2
Both teams need to get it together, or this game is going to be no fun to watch. Nine turnovers and seven points on the board as of now.
Tramayne Hawthorne picks off a pass and takes it coast to coast, putting Drexel on the board and firing up the visiting crowd.
16:54 First half: Penn 5, Drexel 0
Impressions so far: Penn has notched some early turnovers, which they will not be able to count on the whole game. Also, letting the Drexel student section chant "This is our house!" with no one to answer them five minutes before tip-off is embarassing.
Zoller got a strong offensive board and Jaaber hit a layup in traffic for the only scoring so far.
To the swarms of loyal readers out there, I apologize for the delay in posting this, but to paraphrase the great Han Solo, even I have to go to class sometimes.
The men's hoops team takes on next-door neighbor Drexel tonight, and the Dragons will be coming out with some new threads, having also made the switch (like Penn) to Nike.
Drexel may or may not be wearing white tonight, as some years like 2003-04, for example, the Dragons have served as the home team against Penn. But since I cannot locate any pictures of their road uniforms, here's a look at the home whites.
I belive that Drexel actually has the same template as Penn does, but has these stupid shoulder stripes like a bunch of other Nike teams do. However, I like the yellow piping, it makes the jerseys much brighter, and it's definitely an upgrade over the Dragons' previous outfits, which looked like high school uniforms.
How bad was Cameron Lewis' free throw shooting on Saturday night? So bad that after missing both the first time he went to the line, Ibrahim Jaaber tried to help him out. Not by giving him a few tips on the line, but by trying to take the shots for him.
As soon as Lewis was fouled, Jaaber stepped to the line immediately in preparation for the shots. The officials picked up on the six-inch height difference, though, and Lewis promptly missed two more, including one that completely missed the rim.
First look at Drexel: This year's intraneighborhood rivalry game should be a close one and could tell us a lot about both teams.
Drexel returns nearly everybody for a run at the CAA title, which has become much more prestigious in recent years. The Dragons have already shut down the same Vermont team that took it to No. 14 Boston College. Drexel gave up 46 points in that one, nine more than they gave up to Florida Gulf Coast.
Points look like they'll be at a premium in this one.
Number crunching: Here's what the numbers are telling us after four games.
Jaaber is a surprising third on the team in scoring, but that certainly can't be attributed to cold shooting from the field. Jaaber is shooting 60 percent from the floor, but has been looking to pass more. He leads the Ivy League with 5.8 assists per game. Also, his 1-for-7 shooting from the free-throw line isn't helping.
Aron Cohen is now 1-for-10 from the field in his career. He's yet to attempt a two-pointer or a free throw.
Here are the player contributions through four games, as always, using the formula from the book The Wages of Wins. It takes into account points, field goal attempts, free throw attempts, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots, turnovers and fouls.
Interesting to see the big dropoff after the first four.
Zoller 47.5
Grandieri 36
Jaaber 24.5
Danley 23.5
Egee 5.5
Franklin 3
Reilly 3
Schreiber 2
Gill 1
Lewis -0.5
Votel -1.5
McMahon -2
Smith -3
Cohen -4.5
On December 9, 1996, Fran Dunphy led Penn to a 100-58 win over Lehigh at the Palestra. Afterward, he made known his feelings about Abner's and its pledge to give free cheesesteaks to students with ticket stubs from home games in which Penn scores 100 points.
"I don't want to ever get in a situation where you're forcing things to get culinary satisfaction," he said. "When you get kids in the game late, they deserve the opportunity to do the best they can. It's a little embarrassing."
I'll leave aside Dunphy's use of the word "culinary" to describe Abner's cheesesteaks. But almost ten years to the day after his remarks, Glen Miller seems to have turned the page on a new era of cheesesteaking.
At one point, Penn was stuck on 78 points with just over 5 minutes to go and potential cheesesteakee FGCU at the Palestra. Abner's fears were apparently eased. But then the Quakers started hitting their shots, culminating in a 19-3 run.
Not surprising, considering that Miller had left Mark Zoller, Ibrahim Jaaber, and Brian Grandieri in the game. Between 1:29 left and :27 left, Penn picked up 8 more points, for a total of 97 on the night.
FGCU coach Dave Balza, who perhaps had a right to be peeved by this, decided to thwart the mad dash to 38th and Chestnut. Instead of trying to score, the normal strategy for a team that's losing by 23, he opted to pass the ball around, run the clock down, and prevent Penn from getting the ball again.
Miller's response? His players (Zoller, Grandieri, and Jaaber all subbed out at the 27-second mark) decided to push the issue. For the final half minute or so, Penn was pressing, trapping, and generally trying to force a turnover in the hopes of getting the ball back one more time.
I'll leave for the reader the questions of whether Miller's actions (or, for that matter, Balza's) breach the code of sporting behavior. But one thing is for certain -- if this continues, Penn fans might not want to have anything to eat before the game when Dartmouth comes to town on February 9.
Penn opens its home slate tonight against Division II Florida Gulf Coast, and the student sections are reasonably full with Red and Blue Crew members in brand new T-shirts. They have reason to expect a good show. FGCU is a year away from the move to D-I and just a few days removed from a 73-37 whooping at the hands of Drexel. Check out a preview here, and refresh this page for updates.
FINAL Penn 97, FGCU 74
Terrible. FGCU runs out the remaining time instead of playing hard. No cheesesteaks tonight, but Penn had enough flashes of brilliance to take something away from this one. Up next: Drexel on Tuesday, a much more familiar opponent.
:27 Penn 97, FGCU 74
Grandieri hits two free throws! A three-pointer will do it. The crowd is going nuts.
:27 Penn 95, FGCU 74
It's all over. Grandieri hits a layup and Zoller a mid-range jumper. It's just a matter of time. The one remaining question: Cheesesteaks?
Jaaber goes a long way towards that end, throwing down a monster dunk. But it's gonna be close.
4:20: Penn 82, FGCU 71
Danley has fouled out of the game, but Zoller has been stepping up in a big way. He hit two free throws, another trey, and a layup.
Smith has also put in his share tonight too, but has been maddeningly inconsistent. He missed a wide-open layup after a perfect entry pass, but on the next possession he split two defenders to score and then makes a nifty pass to Brennan Votel in the key, which helps restore the lead to double digits.
7:51: Penn 72, FGCU 58
The last few minutes have been an endless trip to the free-throw line for Penn, and it's paying off, apart from Cameron Lewis' four misses in a row.
Some other odds and ends:
Jaaber took it coast-to-coast for the first time tonight, and boy was it pretty. Danley also worked his way open inside and threw down a dunk. But on the next possession, he picked up his fourth foul and will ride the pine for a good while.
11:59: Penn 63, FGCU 48
Danley just corralled an offensive board and made a tough layup out of it. Penn is firmly in control for now, and FGCU already has 9 team fouls.
15:46: Penn 51, FGCU 41
This is more like it. Some nifty passing to cutters has resulted in a couple of pretty layups for Penn, and Brian Grandieri scored in the post and hit a trifecta, his first of the game.
Zoller hits a pair of free throws to put the Quakers up by 10. The five on the floor right now: Grandieri, Jaaber, Zoller, Smith, and Danley.
Halftime: Penn 39, FGCU 35
This has quickly turned into a shootout. Smith hit two more three-pointers iin a row, but FGCU answered with a pair of their own. Turnovers are still hurting Penn as they head into the locker room with a four-point lead, but getting the ball inside has helped open up some shots. We'll see if Penn can make this lead a little more comfortable.
2:40: Penn 33, FGCU 25
That was quick. Freshman Darren Smith hits back-to-back threes and Kevin Egee hits another on the next possession.
Meanwhile, although 5-6 guard Cecil Avant has been giving Penn all sorts of trouble, his teammates aren't backing him up all of a sudden.
7:04: Penn 20, FGCU 19
Calm down, Penn. The Eagles picked off a couple of passes and took them to the house, to go along with plenty of points at the free-throw line. Penn is scoring in transition well too, just not often enough. Airballs by Aron Cohen and Justin Reilly won't help.
My friend Jason Ginsberg, the head of the Red and Blue Crew, told me yesterday that he was having trouble coming up with rollout ideas, but the
first one isn't half bad: "FGCU, Thanks for making us Penn's 2nd worst opponent. --Dartmouth." Funny, but the Quakers heven't proved that statement correct just yet.
11:50: Penn 13, FGCU 8
The Eagles are going to have to get better shots. Forward Landon Adler tried his best Mark Zoller impression on a baseline drive and got rejected by no fewer than two Penn players. Ibrahim Jaaber, who was honored in a brief ceremony before the game for passing the 1000-point mark, has been making life miserable for whoever has the ball in their hands for the Eagles.
But Penn has also played a bit sloppy, with Zoller and Brennan Votel each with an offensive foul to his name. The Quakers have five overall, in addition to a couple of ugly turnovers. No need for that.
Jaaber just scored in transition and was fouled. He will go to the line when this timeout ends.
15:46: Penn 11, FGCU 6
After Tommy McMahon was wide open under the basket for yet another fast-break layup, Eagles coach Dave Balza was forced to call a timeout. FGCU's Casey Whollheb opened the scoring with a reverse layup, but Penn soon went on a 9-0 run to open up an early lead.
The Eagles have shown a full-court press, but Penn has had little trouble working through it so far.
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Penn dropped a tight 28-27 decision to Cornell here on Saturday in the two teams' season finales, as the Quakers fell to 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the Ivy League, tied for fourth in the league with the Big Red.
Penn led 14-7 going into the fourth quarter, but Cornell scored three times, including an 88-yard kickoff return. Penn answered with less than two minutes to play on Joe Sandberg's fourth touchdown run of the game, but tried a fake extra point which failed. The Quakers got the ball back with about a minute to play, but could not advance past midfield, as a big sack with 30 seconds to go sealed Penn's fate.
For full coverage, see Monday's Daily Pennsylvanian.
Penn finishes its football season up in Ithaca, N.Y., tomorrow against Cornell, who look like this at home. The Big Red have another relatively simple Ivy League uniform, but I do think the shoulder stripes are a nice touch. Also, there isn't too much black in the number outline and the helmet.
However, I think that maybe Cornell could have used its bear logo on the helmet, maybe spicing it up a little bit.
Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, the men's basketball team tips off its home season against Florida Gulf Coast. The Eagles, who were pounded by Drexel on Wednesday, look like this on the road. I'm not a fan of the sea colors together, but what I do like is the puzzle-piece stripes down the side of the uniforms. It's a unique thing, but not too gaudy, which is always a strong addition to any uniform.
We can complain all we want about attendance at Ivy League sporting events or the scandals that are affecting major college athletics.
But I don't think we know how good we have it.
A friend sent me this article from the BBC this morning. It gives a fascinating perspective on American college sports from a country that has nothing that compares.
Hope you enjoy, and next time you're thinking about the problems with the BCS, just be thankful that we have the BCS at all.
If you weren't convinced by my sidebar that suggested that Penn's bench was improving, maybe this news will boost your spirits.
Michael Kach, the junior guard who took the last year and a half off before suffering a fractured ankle this summer, is almost back to full health. On Sunday, after the BCA Invitational, coach Glen Miller told me that Kach was shooting around, jogging, riding a stationary bike and making "amazing progress." He was optimistic the doctors would clear him this week.
I'm told that Kach has now been cleared for everything except 5-on-5 play. Don't expect to see him out there on Saturday, but it's good to know the recovery has gone well. No doubt Penn could probably find him some minutes, given the struggles of Darren Smith and unconvincing performances from a couple of the other guards.
--
I was at the Drexel basketball arena (however you spell it) today for the Drexel-FGCU game, and I was really impressed by Bruiser Flint's team. Maybe they looked good because they were towering over the decidedly overmatched Eagles, but I thought their big men, Frank Elegar and Chaz Crawford, were much improved from last year. Bashir Mason and Dominick Mejia might cause the Penn defense some trouble, as well. In any event, I think it'll be a stiffer test than it was last year, and a much better barometer for where Penn is as a team. I won't complain, though, since at least this one isn't smack in the middle of Thanksgiving break.
... who gave Harvard a vote in this week'sAssociated Press hoops poll?
Maybe the same one that gave the Crimson some love in the first two regular season polls last year. (Harvard Athletics is more than happy to point out this fact.) Remember, that was a Crimson squad that was supposed to be a contender and ended up being swept by Penn, Princeton, and Yale.
But I suppose that beating a truly big-time opponent can make at least one voter ignore reality for two years in a row.
Reports of Cornell guard Adam Gore's strained right knee and day-to-day status quickly turned into a torn ACL. Gore will miss the enire season.
The guard was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, averaging 12.9 points and leading the league in three-pointers last year. He scored 20 against Northwestern before blowing out his knee in the final minute.
It's another huge blow for the Big Red, which is also dealing with Jason Hartford's lingering foot injury.
While a title this season looked like a longshot, even for the fast-improving squad, next year looks like the year in Ithaca.
The Ivy League is 6-7 so far, with three of the losses coming to Duke (Columbia), Michigan State (Brown) and Syracuse (Penn).
Defending Ivy Rookie of the Year Adam Gore had 20 points in a win over Northwestern, but strained his knee in the closing seconds of the game. Not to worry Big Red fans, at least if your SID is doing his job. Gore is listed as a probable starter in tonight's home opener against Stony Brook.
Our old friend Ryan Pettinella is off to a good start. The former Quakers forward, who transferred to Virginia via Cincinnati and community college, started at center for the Cavs. He scored four points in 13 minutes in Virginia's win over No. 10 Arizona. Luckily, he never had to take a foul shot.
We introduced the formula that we're going to be using for Ivy Player rankings in the basketball supplement. The formula, based on points, field goal and free throw attempts, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls, comes from the book The Wages of Wins and has a natural, albeit slight bias toward forwards.
After three games, here are the rankings for the Quakers. The raw scores aren't supposed to have much meaning, but a lot about positive and negative contributions can be told from comparisons between players.
Can't imagine why I'd be bringing this up, but it was a big weekend for upstate New York. The 'Cuse went 3-0, Cornell beat Northwestern in hoops and archrival Harvard in hockey. The Sabres took a page from the Penn football team (sort of) and won their third straight OT game. Albany came back to beat Bucknell, and the Bills played within a point in Indy.
But my upstate neighbors also had a big weekend for the Quakers. Matt Herringon (Cambridge) won the 174-pound weightclass at the Michigan State open. Fellow 518 native Chris Ashley (Albany) had two of the biggest plays of the day for the football team. Ashley recovered Cheng Ho's fumble on a kickoff return, and later recovered Chris Wynn's muffed punt to secure possession for Penn.
Clearly they were eating their Wheaties, or more likely, their Freihofer's chocolate chip cookies. The real ones in the brown box, not the crappy ones in the white box.
FINAL: PENN 86, ST. FRANCIS 56
It's over. A deserved win for Penn leaves them 1-2 with their home opener against Florida Gulf Coast looming next week. Goodbye from the Carrier Dome, and thanks for looking to The Buzz for your in-game updates.
2:52 left, 80-56 Penn: Adam Franklin makes his first appearance this year, and promptly drains a three.
3:13 left, 77-54 Penn: Danley for three again. Timeout St. Francis, as the Syracuse band is trickling in for their game against UTEP.
7:35 left, 68-46 Penn: Penn's shooting in the double bonus again. Zoller is probably finished for the day, as he picked up his fourth foul a couple of minutes ago. Miller will probably be looking to the backups in the last few minutes of a blowout.
11:19 left, 67-41 Penn: This is more like it for Penn. Brennan Votel has a good couple of plays, fighting for an offensive rebound before draining a three on the next Penn possession.
13:53 left, 59-38 Penn: Zoller is asserting himself now after his quiet game last night. He's got 22 points, the majority of them from the interior. And he's 6-7 from the line.
15:30 left, 54-38 Penn: My favorite Penn scoring play - a Danley three. Hopefully the first of many.
16:40 left, 51-38 Penn: Offensive foul on Egee, and with four fouls he sits down as quickly as he got up. Glen Miller loses his jacket again, which I'm quickly discovering is Miller's equivalent of saying that he's pissed. Zoller hits a three to stem the Terrier tide.
16:53 left, 48-36 Penn: McMahon throws a careless pass and Miller takes him out in favor of Egee. Penn is losing its grip a little bit here: they could do with a little run.
A few more notes: Brian Grandieri leads all scorers with 13 - his career high is 17. The way he's been shooting (5 of 6), the only way he doesn't make it is if he doesn't play much this half. Grandieri does have five turnovers, though. Meanwhile, Jaaber and Zoller both have 8. And the St. Francis cheerleader/coach, for anyone who's wondering, is Robert Blackwell, who's in his first year.
HALFTIME, Penn 41 St. Francis 25: Ibby just missed a halfcourt buzzerbeater - that one looked destined for the net.
This has been by far the most enjoyable of the three games, if only for the St. Francis bench. Presumably because there aren't a lot of fans, the benchwarmers all chant "DE-FENSE" *clap clap* like cheerleaders. One of the assistant coaches even acts as the Coach Lake of the team, sitting on the bench and coaxing out the cheers from the bench players. Meanwhile, on the court, the Quakers have lost a little of their mojo but still have a comfortable double-digit lead.
5:44 left, 36-15 Penn: Not that the teams aren't into the game. Grandieri gets whistled for a 3-second violation, and Nash (the St. Francis coach) yells "Three seconds? [More like] eight seconds!" Grandieri responds with a very audible "Come on!"
6:58 left, 36-12 Penn: Media timeout. The Terriers have thirteen (13!) turnovers after 13 minutes. The small Penn contingent responds with healthy applause. If this was the Palestra, they'd be on their way to singing Rock and Roll Part 2.
8:06 left, 34-12 Penn: The refs are calling everything and then some, and the Quakers are in the double bonus. Maybe we need the practice, too - Grandieri just airballed a free throw.
9:16 left, 29-12 Penn: Newsflash: Penn is the better team. The Quakers are having their way inside and out, and they're dominating the Terriers more than even Syracuse did. It's been an ugly game, though, as both teams are in the 1-and-1 with more than 9 minutes left in the half.
12:24 left, 24-7 Penn: A layup by Zoller, a steal by Egee, and a short J by Grandieri makes it a 17-point lead. St. Francis coach Brian Nash looks like a child who's lost his favorite toy.
13:13 left, 20-7 Penn: Andreas Schreiber is on for Danley, and Kevin Egee has just relieved McMahon. Will there be a lot of time for the young guys today?
14:19 left, 17-5 Penn: It's not often that Ibby has a 5-inch height advantage on his man, but St. Francis starts a 5'8" point guard, Jamaal Womack. He's got one foul and no points thus far.
15:50 left, 13-3 Penn: Tommy McMahon has had a brilliant start. With the score at 4-3, he penetrated and dished to Brian Grandieri for three. Then he got two threes of his own, with a St. Francis timeout sandwiched in between. McMahon is one guy who seems to have improved with each game this year.
Pregame: We thought for a minute that Jaaber wasn't starting, but the scoreboard was giving us the wrong information. It'll be the normal starting five of Jaaber (or as Jim Boeheim calls him, "juh-BEER"), Zoller, Danley, McMahon and Grandieri.
We're about 10 minutes from tipoff in Penn's third game in three days. They'll take on St. Francis, also 0-2, on the last day of the BCA Invitational. Syracuse doesn't play until 6, so right now the Carrier Dome is holding about 150 fans tops. It's even more pathetic than it sounds when you're playing in an arena that can seat 49,000.
Ibrahim Jaaber looks to be favoring his ankle a little bit - he rolled it late in the first half last night. At the press conference, he told us with a smile that it was "great", and he's participating in the layup lines with the team, so there's no reason to believe he won't be out there this afternoon. Stay with the Buzz for online updates all game long.
Fellow blogger Zachary Levine wrote in Friday's Daily Pennsylvanian about how easily a kid like Malik Alvin -- from Philadelphia -- can end up at a school like UTEP.
It's worth considering how high school seniors are funneled into different programs, especially as Penn squares off against a microcosm of Division I basketball this weekend.
The Miners play third fiddle to Memphis and UAB in the new Conference USA. Syracuse is four years removed from a national title. OK, fine. But who in the world ends up at St. Francis, which needs an "NY" to distinguish it?
It seems to be those left behind by the current system of big-time basketball development.
Of the 14 players currently on the Terriers roster, no fewer than half either took a prep year (or two) or spent time at a community or junior college.
That can help some players get to where they want to be -- look at Penn's Ibrahim Jaaber. But too often, after overestimating their abilities, these players are forced to take more than one year before college, or to go somewhere they don't fit in. I highly doubt that St. Francis was a top choice for some of these players. Investing a year of one's life for the sole purpose of being a big-time recruit down the road doesn't always pay dividends.
Young men go to places like Syracuse because each wants the other.
They go to Penn or UTEP because the school wants them and can at least offer something in return.
Unfortunately, they often go to places like St. Francis because they have nowhere else to turn. That hurts the St. Francises of the world, too, because it's hard to build a stable recruiting base if you're taking kids from different jucos or prep schools every year, as opposed to networking with high school coaches. It can also lead to other problems -- Terriers freshman David Burton ran into serious problems after he took a prep year and still faces questions about his eligibility.
It's a shame that schools like St. Francis are forced to look for the kids that got left behind. Low-majors will not have a strong program unless they can effectively recruit kids straight out of high school, or out of established prep programs, along with the bigger schools. Unfortunately, for those who want more parity in college hoops, that day isn't getting any closer.
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