A few hours from now, we'll be able to dispatch with all the speculation and wonder surrounding the NCAA slate. Until then, here's my last bit of prognostication.
As David points out, the Quakers look locked into a 15 seed. Maybe if Wyoming could have held onto its four-point lead with a minute to play in overtime last night, things would be different. Then again, guarding Scott Greenman of Princeton as he streaked up the floor and dished off the game-winner a week ago would have made that irrelevant. Here's a look at some potential 2-15 matchups in order of most to least favorable (RPI in parenthesis):
No. 2 UCLA (8): Ben Howland's crew deserves a two for winning the Pac-10 Tournament in dominant fashion. The Bruins are a good matchup for Penn because they are small and guard-heavy. Aaron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar make up one of the finest backcourts in the country, but guard defense has been Penn's biggest strength this season. Also, the Pac-10 champs are thin inside. Sure Luc Richard Mbah A Moute (say that 10 times fast) will have a field day with Mark Zoller and Steve Danley, but he can't carry the team by himself.
No. 2 Gonzaga (9): Plenty of pundits have dropped the Zags to a three, but it's hard to deny a team that's won 17 straight and lost to only Connecticut (by two) Washington (by four) and Memphis. I've watched just about every Zags game this season and can tell you they are vulnerable, but extremely deep. Their ninth man off the bench (Josh Heytvelt) could start for most teams in the country. Point guard Derek Raivio has been in a funk of late, but Adam Morrison and J.P. Batista are the one-two punch that keeps this team winning. Penn lacks the personnel to contain either of them -- certainly not both.
No. 2 Ohio State (5): The Buckeyes should be a two regardless of what happens today against Iowa in the Big Ten title game. I saw them at the Palestra earlier this season against St. Joe's, and while they have improved greatly since then, they are beatable -- But not by Penn. If Thad Matta's team has an off night shooting, they will struggle against a team with good guards. Indiana had a chance yesterday when Ohio State shot 5-of-27 from three, but the Buckeyes have too many long-range weapons (Shillinger, Foster, Butler and Sylvester) who would all have a significant height advantage over any Penn guards. Throw in Terrance Dials down low, and Penn doesn't have a shot.
No. 2 Texas (7): The Longhorns beat Kansas (one of the best defensive teams in the Big 12) by 25 two weeks ago. This team can be as dominant as any in the country, but it can also play down to its opponent -- just ask Texas A&M. Penn, however, doesn't match up well with anyone here. Rick Barnes' gang is big, quick and very physical. They are capable of beating the Quakers by 40 even if they are not at 100 percent.
A few more two-seeds: North Caroina (12) see Texas above -- Tar Heels at 100 m.p.h. present an impossible task for Penn. Illinois (14) is beatable if Ibrahim Jaaber can stay on top of Dee Brown and the Quakers can rebound with James Augustine. Pitt (11) with seven losses doesn't deserve a two-seed, and would dominate Penn down low.
One last case: A handful of teams ahead of Penn in the RPI may not be guaranteed a spot ahead of the Quakers on the S-curve. Here are a few with less than stellar credentials:
- PENN (98): 19-8 vs. 173 SOS, 0-3 vs. top-50, 1-3 vs. 51-100, 6-2 vs. 101-200, 12-1 vs. 201+, 7-6 vs. 55 non-conf SOS
- Murray State (64): 23-6 vs. 192 SOS, no top-100 wins, 3-3 non conference
- Montana (60): 21-6 vs. 186 SOS, 1-1 vs. top 100, 228 non-conf SOS
- Northwestern St. (67): 21-7 vs. 201 SOS, 1 top-100 win, 4-6 non-conf
- Winthrop (73): 21-7 vs. 193 SOS, win over Marquette (36), four losses vs 100+
Considering Penn's history in the NCAAs (appearances in six of the last eight) there's a chance of moving up on any of these four, but that's a stretch. Sure, Princeton AD Gary Walters, who is on the selection committee, saw Penn's putrid first half last week at Jadwin Gym. But he also saw the Quakers' 18-point comeback, indicative of what they are capable of. We'll see what happens tonight at six.
Selection Sunday is here and Penn is all but locked into a No. 15 seed. That is because there have been a dearth of upsets in many of these mid-major conference tournaments this year. The top seeds all seemed to pull it out (which bolsters the argument that an Ivy League tournament might not be such a bad idea).
Here's who you should root for today if Penn is going to have any chance of boosting its seed:
Penn's projected seed: 15
Conference leaders/winners behind Penn in the RPI: 6
Penn's RPI ranking: 98th
America East Conference Tournament
Congrats to No. 1 Albany, who won its conference tournament last night to earn a trip to the Big Dance. The Great Danes will likely be a No. 16 seed.
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
No. 1 Duke -- a Penn opponent from earlier this season -- plays No. 3 Boston College today for the ACC crown. Root for the Blue Devils to give Penn a little RPI boost. If you're interested in scouting possible first round opponents today don't look here. The Quakers are not allowed to play either team in the first round.
Atlantic 10 Tournament
St. Joe's dropped a heartbreaker last night, losing 62-61 to Xavier. That means that the Hawks aren't going to the NCAA Tournament. Xavier will definitely be seeded ahead of Penn.
Big East Tournament
Congrats to No. 9 Syracuse, who made an improbable run through the Big East Tourney to win the automatic bid. They are the lowest seeded team to ever win this tournament but they will certainly be seeded well above the Quakers.
Big Sky Tournament
No. 2 Montana beat No. 1 Northern Arizona tonight to take the conference title. The Grizzlies should be ranked ahead of Penn in the field of 65.
Big Ten Tournament
No. 1 Ohio State plays No. 2 Iowa today for the title. Check out the Buckeyes if you have time because they are a likely opponent of the Quakers in the first round. Root for anyone to win this one.
Big 12 Tournament
No. 1 Texas plays No. 2 Kansas today in the finals. Again, check out Texas here. They are another likely Quakers opponent for later this week. You can cheer for either team.
Big West Tournament
Pacific held on to defeat Long Beach State last night. Had Pacific lost, that could have bumped Penn up to a 14 seed. Now it seems that Penn will be seeded a bit lower than the California school in the field of 65.
Conference USA Tournament
No. 1 Memphis beat No. 2 UAB last night for the conference title. The Tigers are a likely No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Mid-American Conference Tournament
Another team Penn needed to win, No. 7 Toledo, fell to No. 1 Kent State last night in the title game. Ranked 50th in the RPI, Kent State is certainly going to be seeded higher than the Quakers.
Mid-eastern Athletic Conference Tournament
No. 6 Hampton upset No. 1 Delaware State last night for a trip to the Big Dance. Unfortunately, that wasn't one of the upsets Penn was looking for. The Pirates can book their tickets to Dayton already because they are definitely going to be in the play-in game.
Mountain West Conference Tournament
San Diego State held on to beat Wyoming in overtime last night for the conference title. The Aztecs will definitely be seeded ahead of the Quakers.
Pac-10 Tournament
No. 1 UCLA won the tournament last night, beating Cal. The Bruins might be a Penn opponent in the first round.
Southeastern Conference Tournament
Florida plays Cinderella team South Carolina today for the title. Root for either team but check out the Gators. There's a slim possibility Penn plays them in the first round.
Southland Conference Tournament
Root for No. 2 Sam Houston State to upset No. 1 Northwestern State today. If that happens, Penn could get bumped up to a No. 14 seed (though that's still unlikely).
Southwestern Conference Tournament
Southern beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff last night for a trip to the NCAA Tournament. They will be seeded behind Penn in the field of 65.
The last two Penn games I attended - the men's basketball game at Princeton and this afternoon's men's lacrosse home game against UMBC had almost everything in common.
Something to prove: For the cagers, already in the NCAA tournament, it was their ability to win away from home and their case for a 14 seed. For lacrosse, it was backing up its new No. 20 national ranking against the No. 17 Retrievers.
Slow starts: The basketball team was without a point for the first 6:40 and managed five field goals and 11 turnovers in the first half. At Franklin Field today, the Retrievers dominated in all aspects of the game, winning five of six faceoffs in the first quarter and thoroughly dominating time of possession en route to a 7-2 halftime lead.
Big comebacks: For the second straight season, the basketball team erased an 18-point lead to take Princeton into overtime, with Ibrahim Jaaber's two free throws with 24 seconds left tying the game. The lacrosse team reversed every early game trend, outshooting the Retrievers 16-2 in the final period, dominating time of possession and scoring the last four regulation goals to send it into OT.
But I said that they had almost everything in common. The one big difference -- the lacrosse team finished the job.
After losing the faceoff of sudden death OT and surviving two UMBC shots, the Quakers called timeout and worked the ball to James Riordan who buried it unassisted to send the Penn bench spilling onto the field.
But for the hoopsters, there was no magical ending for the Quakers, as the entire right side of the court opened up for the Tigers' Scott Greenman, who drove the length of the court and dished the ball to Justin Conway for an easy winning layup.
And while the basketball team will learn its destination for the NCAA tournament tomorrow and the lacrosse team is ranked in the middle of the Ivy pack, they had the week to remember.
Nothing seems to be breaking Penn's way. The team seems to be locked into a 15th seed and there are few chances for the Quakers to move up. Moreover, with La Salle and Hawaii both bounced early from their conference tournaments, Penn stands to lose both of its top 100 wins in the RPI. And it wasn't such a great day for Penn opponents either yesterday. Colorado, Villanova, Fordham and Temple all went down. The one good piece of news, however, is that Princeton seems to be moving up in the RPI thanks to wins by teams like Wake Forest. That makes the loss to the Tigers at the end of the season look a little better on Penn's tournament resume.
Here's who you should root for if Penn is going to have any chance of boosting its seed:
Penn's projected seed: 15
Conference leaders/winners behind Penn in the RPI: 6
Penn's RPI ranking: 97th
America East Conference Tournament
No. 1 Albany plays No. 6 Vermont today for the automatic bid. Root for either team because both will be seeded behind Penn.
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
No. 1 Duke -- a Penn opponent from earlier this season -- survived a scare yesterday against No. 8 Miami. Root for the Blue Devils again today when they take on No. 12 Wake Forest.
Atlantic 10 Tournament
Congrats to St. Joe's. The No. 5 Hawks beat their Big 5 rival, No. 9 Temple, to earn a spot in the A-10 championship game. Another Penn opponent, No. 6 Fordham, couldn't join St. Joe's in the final. The Rams lost to No. 10 Xavier yesterday in the other semifinal. Root for St. Joe's today in the title game.
Big East Tournament
No. 2 Villanova was upset by No. 6 Pitt last night. That's not good for Penn's RPI. Root for anyone in tonight's final between the Panthers and No. 9 Syracuse.
Big Sky Tournament
No. 2 Montana beat No. 1 Northern Arizona tonight to take the conference title. The Grizzlies should be ranked ahead of Penn in the field of 65.
Big Ten Tournament
This tourney moves into the semifinals today in Indianapolis. Root for anyone here because every team will be seeded ahead of Penn.
Big 12 Tournament
No. 5 Colorado (a Penn opponent) fell to No. 4 Texas A&M today. You can root for anyone from here on out.
Big West Tournament
No. 1 Pacific refuses to lose, beating Cal Poly last night. If Penn wants any chance at a 14 seed it needs Pacific to lose tonight in the conference championship game.
Conference USA Tournament
No. 1 Memphis plays No. 2 UAB tonight for the conference title. Root for anyone here, as either team will be seeded ahead of Penn.
Mid-American Conference Tournament
No. 7 Toledo keeps rolling through this tournament, beating Akron last night to earn a spot in the conference title game. Based on RPI, Penn should be seeded ahead of the Rockets. Root for them tonight against No. 1 Kent State.
Mid-eastern Athletic Conference Tournament
No. 1 Delaware State plays No. 6 Hampton tonight for the conference title. Root for anyone, as both teams will be seeded behind Penn in the field of 65.
Mountain West Conference Tournament
This finals are tonight in Denver. Root for anyone because any team that wins this is going to be seeded higher than Penn.
Pac-10 Tournament
The winner of this conference is definitely going to be seeded ahead of Penn. Root for anyone.
Patriot League Tournament
No. 1 Bucknell won the automatic bid tonight, keeping its perfect conference record in tact. The Bison will certainly be seeded ahead of the Quakers.
Southeastern Conference Tournament
Root for anyone here. Whoever wins this will be seeded higher than Penn.
Southwestern Conference Tournament
No. 1 Southern plays No. 7 Arkansas-Pine Bluff tonight for the conference title. Cheer for either team here. The winner of this conference will be seeded below Penn in the field of 65.
Four years ago, longtime college basketball writer John Feinstein published a book called The Last Amateurs which dealt with the Patriot League and its lack of athletic scholarships, specifically in basketball. As of this week, though, that title no longer applies.
Yesterday, Lafayette College became the last Patriot League school to offer athletic scholarships. In a press release yesterday, Lafayette said it would give three scholarships each to men's and women's basketball starting with this fall's incoming class, and then give scholarships in men's soccer and women's field hockey a year later. This will happen without cutting other sports, which is good for Lafayette's compliance with Title IX regulations and of course for its program generally. Now that the entire Patriot League has athletic scholarships, the Ivy League is officially the only conference in Division I that offers no athletic merit-based aid.
The Patriot League began offering scholarships in 1998 when Holy Cross joined the Patriot from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, because Holy Cross had previously been able to do so in the MAAC. When American University joined the Patriot League in 2001, it was allowed to continue spending the same amount of money on scholarships that it did in the Colonial Athletic Association, but had to spread that money out over a wider range of sports than it did in the CAA.
Since then, four more Patriot League schools -- Lehigh, Colgate, Bucknell and now Lafayette -- have added athletic scholarships as each has seen fit (the other two Patriot League schools, Army and Navy, offer free educations with a five-year service requirement). That has meant scholarships for wrestling, soccer, field hockey, and a range of other sports except for football, in which there are no scholarships.
By far, though, the biggest beneficiary of scholarships has been men's basketball. Not because of the financial commitment per se, but because Bucknell was able to put a team together that knocked off Kansas in last year's NCAA Tournament. I remember Bison coach Pat Flannery saying on CBS last year that his team would have not have been able to pull off that historic upset, the first ever Patriot League win in the tournament, without athletic scholarships.
So what does this all mean for Penn and the Ivy League, beyond the dubious designation of being the only conference without athletic scholarships? It means a lot. On a small scale, it means that Penn's games with Lafayette are going to get a lot more competitive. Don't expect the Leopards, coached by former Penn assistant Fran O'Hanlon, to be on the wrong end of a cheesesteaking anymore.
On a wider scale, it means that O'Hanlon will now have a big recruiting advantage against his former boss. Yes, Penn still has the Palestra and the Big 5, which are enormous assets when recruiting in the Philadelphia area. But after losing to Penn this past season, O'Hanlon said something that now becomes a lot more profound. Referring to Mark Zoller, Brian Grandieri and Ibrahim Jaaber, he said that Penn "got all the guys that we wanted ... We recruited them [and then] Dunph comes in after I recruited them all year."
That won't happen as much now, and if Flannery continues his sucess at Bucknell -- which opened a sparkling new arena, Sojka Pavilion, in 2003 -- Penn will be at an even bigger disadvantage. But the rest of the Ivy League will be hurt just as much as Penn. We have often heard about recruits, especially in men's basketball, that Penn and other Ivy schools have wanted but who have not been able to get the right kind of financial aid package and have thus gone to other schools. La Salle's Paul Johnson is a great example, and depending on who you listen to, Villanova's Will Sheridan and Chet Stachitas of Saint Joseph's could also have been Quakers if the setup was right.
Heck, I'm sitting here watching the Big Ten tournament on TV, and the play-by-play crew just said that Wisconsin center Kevin Gullickson "got some interest from Ivy League schools." He decided to go to Madison for other reasons, including that his dad also played for the Badgers, but if the playing field was more level, perhaps we would have seen him in the Ancient Eight.
Now I do not think that the Ivy League needs to have athletic scholarships specifically in order to compete better with scholarship conferences both on and off the floor. But Lafayette's decision is another sign of the fact that the Ivy League is at a serious competitive disadvantage right now. With the Academic Index and the many other complex recruiting restrictions, the chance of the Ivy League making a national name for itself in sports instead of just academia decreases by the year.
It doesn't have to be this way. And it doesn't have to harm the Ivy League's academic excellence either. It could be something as complex as reworking the financial aid rules, or something as simple as making sure the Penn-Princeton basketball game gets on national television every year. The Ivy League's brands are second to none in this country, and if athletes really wanted to come and play here I suspect there would be ways to get the finances worked out. Honestly, all of us who write for the Buzz could write long pieces about how to improve Ivy League sports. I think I've written enough for now.
Except to conclude by notifying the media that it would be nice if someone in the professional ranks wrote more about the real "last amateurs" of college sports.
It was a good day yesterday for Penn and a great day for Penn's opponents. Quakers opponents Temple, St. Joe's, Villanova, Colorado and Fordham all won yesterday. That gave Penn a little bit of a boost in the RPI. That's not going to be enough for the Quakers to get a 14 seed, however. They need some key upsets. So here's who you should root for today:
Penn's projected seed: 15
Conference leaders/winners behind Penn in the RPI: 8
Penn's RPI ranking: 95th
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
No. 1 Duke -- a Penn opponent from earlier this season -- plays today against No. 8 Miami. Root for the Blue Devils to further boost the Quakers' RPI.
Atlantic 10 Tournament
As mentioned earlier, No. 9 Temple shocked No.1 (and No. 6 in the country) George Washington. Also, St. Joe's and Fordham won. That gives Penn a 75 percent chance of playing against the A-10 winner this year. Root for anyone in the Big 5 semifinal matchup of Temple and St. Joe's. Root for No. 6 Fordham to beat No. 10 Xavier.
Big East Tournament
No. 2 Villanova killed No. 10 Rutgers yesterday. The Wildcats play No. 6 Pitt tonight. Root for 'Nova, who is now the favorite to win this tourney after No. 1 UConn went down yesterday.
Big Sky Tournament
No. 2 Montana beat No. 1 Northern Arizona tonight to take the conference title. The Grizzlies should be ranked ahead of Penn in the field of 65.
Big Ten Tournament
This tourney moves into the second round today in Indianapolis. Root for anyone here because every team will be seeded ahead of Penn.
Big 12 Tournament
No. 5 Colorado (a Penn opponent) beat No. 12 Baylor yesterday. Root for the Buffs to beat No. 4 Texas A&M today.
Big West Tournament
This is the big one. Root extremely hard for No. 1 Pacific to fall tonight at 9 p.m. Should that happen, Penn will likely slide back into a 14 seed.
Conference USA Tournament
With no upsets yesterday, the winner of this conference will now certainly be seeded ahead of Penn. Root for anyone from here out.
Mid-American Conference Tournament
Root for No. 7 Toledo to beat No. 3 Akron tonight. The Rockets are the only team left in this tourney who could be seeded behind the Quakers.
Mid-eastern Athletic Conference Tournament
You can cheer for anyone from here out. Nobody's going to be seeded ahead of Penn in the field of 65.
Mountain West Conference Tournament
This semifinals are today in Denver. Root for anyone because any team that wins this is going to be seeded higher than Penn.
Pac-10 Tournament
The winner of this conference is definitely going to be seeded ahead of Penn. Root for anyone.
Patriot League Tournament
An automatic bid is on the line tonight as No. 1 Bucknell (the only team in America who hasn't lost a conference game this year) plays No. 2 Holy Cross. Root for the Crusaders in this one. If they win, Penn might slip ahead of them in the field of 65.
Southeastern Conference Tournament
Root for anyone here. Whoever wins this will be seeded higher than Penn.
Southland Conference Tournament
No. 1 Northwestern State plays No. 2 Sam Houston State tonight. Root extremely hard for Sam Houston State. Should they win, that might be enough to bump Penn up to a 14 seed.
Southwestern Conference Tournament
Cheer for anyone here. The winner of this conference will be seeded below Penn in the field of 65.
Western Athletic Conference Tournament
Penn opponent Hawaii missed an easy shot at the buzzer, as it lost to New Mexico State last night, 58-57. That's not good for Penn, considering that the Rainbow Warriors represent the best win by the Quakers this season. Now you can root for anyone from here on out in the tournament.
I hate to say it, but I think Penn has fallen to a 15 seed. They are only ahead eight other conference leaders/winners in the RPI. That means that the Quakers will have to jump ahead of two other teams in the eyes of the selection committee if they hope to get a 14 seed. The only team even close to Penn in the RPI, however, is Pacific (they're 98th). Still, Pacific has a better tournament resume than Penn with a better quality win (Texas A&M) and fewer bad losses.
That loss at Princeton is really going to come back to hurt this team in the seeding, even if it was a meaningless game. Still, a 14 seed is certainly not out of the question. Here's who you should root for if you want that 14 seed to become more of a possibility:
Penn's projected seed: 15
Conference leaders/winners behind Penn in the RPI: 8
Penn's RPI ranking: 99th
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
Who are we kidding? This is the ACC. Whoever wins this will be ranked well ahead of Penn, even if No. 12 Wake Forest wins the automatic bid. Root for anyone in today's opening round games.
Atlantic 10 Tournament
It was a great day for Penn opponents St. Joe's, Temple and Fordham. They all won in yesterday's opening round games, giving Penn a slight boost in the RPI. Root for No. 9 Temple to shock No. 1 George Washington and No. 5 St. Joe's to beat No. 4 St. Louis. Unfortunately, at least one Penn opponent will lose today, as No. 6 Fordham plays No. 3 La Salle. Root for anyone in that game.
Big East Tournament
Cheer for No. 2 Villanova to beat No. 10 Rutgers tonight. That will help give Penn's RPI another boost.
Big Sky Tournament
No. 2 Montana beat No. 1 Northern Arizona tonight to take the conference title. The Grizzlies should be ranked ahead of Penn in the field of 65.
Big Ten Tournament
This tourney kicks off today with opening round games in Indianapolis. Root for anyone here because every team will be seeded ahead of Penn.
Big 12 Tournament
The Big 12 Tourney starts today in Dallas. Root for No. 5 Colorado (a Penn opponent from earlier this season) to beat No. 12 Baylor. A win by the Buffs could give the Quakers another little RPI boost.
Big West Tournament
Root for anyone in today's second round games. The big game comes tomorrow when No. 1 Pacific plays. If they go down, that could give Penn the bump up to a 14 seed.
Conference USA Tournament
Root for No. 10 SMU to beat No. 2 UAB, No. 11 Southern Miss to beat No. 3 UTEP, No. 8 Tulane to shock No. 1 Memphis and No. 5 Central Florida to beat No. 4 Houston.
Mid-American Conference Tournament
Penn fans should root for three upsets today: No. 7 Toledo over No. 2 Northern Illinois, No. 6 Western Michigan over No. 3 Akron and No. 8 Buffalo over No. 1 Kent State.
Mid-eastern Athletic Conference Tournament
Gil Jackson's Howard team fell to No. 1 Delaware State last night. Now you can root for anyone for the rest of this tournament.
Mountain West Conference Tournament
This tourney gets back under way today in Denver. Root for anyone because any team that wins this is going to be seeded higher than Penn.
Northeast Conference Tournament
Congrats to No. 3 Monmouth, who punched a ticket to the Big Dance tonight with an upset of No. 1 Fairleigh Dickinson. They will be seeded behind Penn in the field of 65.
Pac-10 Tournament
Root for the two Oregon schools today. No. 7 Oregon takes on No. 2 Washington today and No. 9 Oregon State plays No. 1 UCLA.
Southeastern Conference Tournament
Root for anyone here. Whoever wins this will be seeded higher than Penn.
Southland Conference Tournament
Root extremely hard for No. 1 Northwestern State to fall to No. 6 Lamar tonight. Should Northwestern State go down, that will also really solidify Penn's chances for a 14 seed.
Southwestern Conference Tournament
Cheer for anyone here. The winner of this conference will be seeded below Penn in the field of 65.
Western Athletic Conference Tournament
Root for No. 8 Idaho to upset No. 1 Nevada, No. 7 San Jose State to defeat No. 2 Utah State and No. 7 Boise State to beat No. 3 Louisiana Tech. Also, cheer for No. 4 Hawaii (a Penn opponent) to beat No. 5 New Mexico State.
I had the pleasure recently of interviewing Andrew Baratta, a former Penn basketball player who has just published a novel called What Color Justice. There will be a review of the book next week in the DP when the print edition comes back from its Spring Break hiatus, though I will say here that I greately enjoyed reading it. If you are thinking about going to the NCAA Tournament to watch Penn, you should buy the book to read on the plane -- and do so now, because you may have to get it off Amazon.com since it's very hard to find in stores.
Before the review gets published, though, I thought I would share Baratta's thoughts on this year's Penn team, because I think they are quite interesting. Baratta was a member of the 1994 Quakers team that beat Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament, so he knows plenty about how to succeed at this time of year.
"This team seems to have overachieved," he said. "I don't know if it's because the rest of the league is down or if they're that much better at playing as a team, but I've been real impressed at the way this team has used its component parts most effectively."
I would agree: this team as a whole really is better than the sum of its parts. Indeed, the strengths and weaknesses of every player currently in Penn's rotation with the possible exception of Ibrahim Jaaber are pretty well known. Yet even though the scoring hasn't been there the way it has been in years past, Penn's ballhandling and defense have carried it to another Ivy League title and another 20-win season, even if beating BYU-Hawai'i doesn't count to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.
Now is that overachieving? It might just be. Because of Tommy McMahon's injury and the lack of minutes given to the other reserves, this year's team ended up being almost exactly the same as last year's but without Tim Begley and Jan Fikiel. In other words, Penn tried to do what it did last year -- when it also finished the season 20-8, though without the Division II win and with a 13-1 conference mark instead of 12-2. This year, though, the Quakers basically did it with seven players instead of nine.
Add to that a stronger non-conference schedule than last year's, and things become even more difficult. With the possible exception of Fordham, all of Penn's non-conference losses came against better teams, and it shouldn't surprise anyone that the Quakers struggled against the far more physical Rams. That doesn't necessarily excuse the result, nor does it excuse the manner in which Penn lost to Temple and Saint Joseph's. Still, that's worth keeping in mind, as is the fact that Penn beat two RPI Top 100 teams. That's more than Iona, Murray State, South Alabama, Winthrop, Montana and Davidson can say, and all those conference tournament champions have better RPIs than the Quakers.
As for Ivy League play, RPI guru Ken Pomeroy predicted that Penn would go 12-2 in the Ancient Eight, and look what happened. And those two losses are only there because of ten seconds out of the 85 combined minutes of basketball in those games.
So maybe this year's Penn team did what it was supposed to do. And maybe, as the talking heads like to say, Penn's "body of work" is like the whole of its team -- better than the sum of the parts of this season. If that's true, then Penn should get a 14 seed on Selection Sunday.
And if that happens, maybe Quakers fans will have at least some reason to daydream about a first NCAA Tournament win since Baratta wore Red and Blue.
Another season of Ancient Eight basketball is in the books. Later this week, the results will be announced from the coaches voting for league honors. Here are my picks a few days early:
ALL-IVY FIRST TEAM:
C Dominick Martin, Yale senior -- Most dominant big man in the league and a league-best 56.9 percent shooter. Averaged roughly a double-double in eight of last nine games.
F Matt Stehle, Harvard senior -- Leading rebounder, third in scoring and second only to Jaaber in steals. Even on a team as underachieving as Harvard, Stehle was impressive.
F Mark Zoller, Penn junior -- A little hometown bias here, but Zoller has been reliable as anyone can by for the Ivy champs. He carried the team to five wins over the last six games and ranks second in rebounding and seventh in scoring.
G Scott Greenman, Princeton senior -- He doesn't have statistics to match with the other four, but he's the one and only reason Princeton won 10 games in the Ivy League. Greenman hit game-winners in four contests, and without him, the Tigers go 4-10 -- that's worth something to me.
G Ibrahim Jaaber, Penn junior -- Scored 114 more points than any other player, shot a third-best 53.9 percent and broke his own Ivy record for steals with 95.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Ibrahim Jaaber, Penn -- Couldn't be a more obvious choice. No player changes the game more than Jaaber, and he as the title to prove it. No need to bother with a separate defensive player of the year category.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:
Adam Gore, Cornell -- Who's the best three-point shooter in the league? I'll give you a hint, he doesn't play for Princeton. Gore hit 83 threes at a 41.9 percent clip. No wonder he was named Rookie of the Week eight times.
COACH OF THE YEAR:
Steve Donahue, Cornell -- Donahue put together a winning season with mediocre talent and had to pull his team together after losing guard Khaliq Gant with a career-ending neck injury in practice. Throw out the 40- point loss at the Palestra, and Donahue had his team competitive night in and night out. Joe Scott at Princeton deserves a lot of credit for 10 Ivy wins, but it's hard to overlook that 2-12 start. Penn's Fran Dunphy did another fine job, but he had so much talent he could have gone on a month-long vacation and still won the title.
ALL-IVY SECOND TEAM:
F John Baumann, Columbia sophomore
F Steve Danley, Penn junior
G Eric Flato, Yale sophomore
G Jim Goffredo, Harvard junior
G Eric Osmundson, Penn senior
HONORABLE MENTION: Keenan Jeppeson, Brown sophomore; Mike Lang, Dartmouth senior; Lenny Collins, Cornell senior
Well, last night was not good for Penn's chances of boosting its NCAA Tournament seed. Now, the question is whether Penn will fall to a 15 seed. I say no. The Quakers only fell to 100th in the RPI. Still, Penn could use a few upsets in the coming days to solidify that 14 seed. Here's here you should root for:
Penn's projected seed: 14
Conference leaders/winners behind Penn in the RPI: 9
Penn's RPI ranking: 100th
Atlantic 10 Tournament
Penn can boost its RPI a bit this week if the Big 5 fares well at the A-10 Tournament. Therefore, root for No. 9 Temple to beat No. 8 Rhode Island tonight. However, the Quakers would get more help from a bad team winning this conference tournament. So root for No. 12 Dayton to upset No. 5 St. Joe's. No. 7 UMass is actually well behind No. 10 Xavier (as well as Penn) in the RPI, so root for them. Finally, root for No. 6 Fordham to fall to No. 11 Richmond. I know Penn played Fordham earlier in the year, but you have to apply the same thinking as the St. Joe's game.
Big East Tournament
All of these teams will be seeded higher than Penn in the NCAA Tournament. Root for any of the teams playing today and keep an eye on the Battle of New Jersey (No. 7 Seton Hall vs. No. 10 Rutgers). The winner of that game plays No. 2 Villanova.
Big Sky Tournament
No. 1 Northern Arizona plays No. 2 Montana in the conference finals. Too bad Montana didn't lose in overtime last night to No. 3 Eastern Washington. That would have given Penn a good shot at being seeded ahead of the winner of this conference. Now it seems like either team that wins will be seeded higher than Penn. Still, root for Northern Arizona here. Montana has an RPI of 69, much higher than the Quakers. The Lumberjacks, however, are ranked 115th, which is much closer to Penn.
Big West Tournament
This tourney gets underway today in Anaheim, Calif. Root for anyone in the opening round because they'll all be seeded lower than Penn.
Conference USA Tournament
Root for any of the teams playing in the opening round today in Memphis. These guys will all be ranked lower than Penn in the field of 65.
Horizon League Tournament
No. 1 Wisconsin-Milwaukee won the automatic bid last night with a win over No. 2 Butler. They'll definitely be seeded ahead of Penn.
Mid-Continent Tournament
No. 1 Oral Roberts also punched a ticket to the Big Dance last night. They will certainly be behind the Quakers in the tournament field.
Mid-eastern Athletic Conference Tournament
Longtime Penn assistant Gil Jackson won his first ever conference tournament game last night as No. 9 Howard upset No. 8 North Carolina A&T. Root for the Bison to keep it rolling tonight as they take on No. 1 Delaware State. Regardless, the winner of this conference will be seeded behind Penn.
Mountain West Conference Tournament
No. 9 TCU (the worst team in this conference) won't win the automatic bid, as they lost tonight to No. 8 Colorado State. Now Penn fans should root for No. 7 Wyoming to win it all. The Cowboys are the only other team left in this conference that would be seeded behind the Quakers. They start their conference tourney tonight when they take on No. 2 Air Force.
Northeast Conference Tournament
Another battle of New Jersey takes place tonight as No. 1 Fairleigh Dickinson takes on No. 3 Monmouth tonight for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Root for either team because both will be seeded behind Penn.
Pac-10 Tournament
Root for any of the teams in today's opening round games in Los Angeles. They're all pretty bad and have little chance of winning this tournament.
Sun Belt Conference Tournament
South Alabama won the automatic bid tonight with a win over Western Kentucky. They will be seeded ahead of Penn in the tournament field.
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Follow the game live by continuously updating this page!
Final: Princeton wins 60-59. Conway hit a layup with three seconds remaining. Whitehurst airballed a three to win it at the buzzer. Tough loss for Penn. The team came all the way back and was up two possessions late in overtime. In the end, however, they could not overcome that horrible first half. That doomed Penn not just in this game, but now likely in their seeding for the NCAA Tournament as well. Not good, not good at all.
:9 (overtime): Penn leads 59-58. Princeton has the ball. Jaaber only made one of his two foul shots, setting up a potential game winner for the Tigers.
:20 (overtime): The game is tied at 58. Penn has the ball with 14 seconds on the shotclock after this timeout. Interesting call to use the timeout here. That's Penn's only one of the overtime period.
:49 (overtime): Penn leads 58-56. Princeton has the ball after this timeout. Whatever they do, the Quakers cannot give up a three here. That would set the Tigers on fire.
1:38 (overtime): Penn leads 58-54. Kuchinski has been great in overtime. Making a big layup and grabbing a huge board. Remember, this is a guy who had to walk onto the team earlier this year.
4:02 (overtime): Penn leads 56-53. Grandieri just hit a huge and-1, giving Penn the lead. Credit Ebede. He may not be playing but he is the most vocal guy on the entire Penn team. He is cheering from his knees on the sideline.
End of regulation: We're headed to overtime. Greenman's shot rattled out and we now have five more minutes to play. Just to recap -- Penn was down three points with 37 seconds to play. Penn stole the ball and Jaaber made a layup to cut the score to 49-48. Danley then fouled Savage, fouling out of the game. Greg Kuchinski replaced him. Savage made only one of his foul shots, making the score 50-48. Jaaber was fouled on the next possession, setting up the two free throws. He made both, tying the game at 50. Princeton was unable to score as time expired.
:17 (second half): The game is tied at 50! Jaaber made both clutch free throws. Princeton has the ball with a shot to win it after this timeout.
:37 (second half): Princeton leads 49-46. Penn got the basket, an acrobatic shot from Jaaber. Now they need a steal or a quick foul.
:44 (second half): Princeton leads 47-41. Penn gets a stop, as Osmundson stole the ball from Greenman and called a timeout. They need a basket here -- and quick.
1:12 (second half): Princeton leads 49-44. Penn needs to get a couple of stops here.
2:18 (second half): Princeton leads 47-41. Things don't look good for Penn. Owings hit a shot as the shot clock expired (he questionably got it off) and then drew an offensive foul call on the other end. Penn must get a stop here or they are pretty much finished.
3:25 (second half): Princeton leads 45-40. Jaaber was fouled on a three and will shoot his shots after this media timeout. Princeton has been much better against the press this year. They have not turned the ball over like they did with frequency last year. WAIT... the refs reviewed the play and now Jaaber will just shoot two.
4:40 (second half): Princeton leads 43-38. Penn now has 10 fouls, putting Princeton in the double bonus. Osmundson missed a layup that would have tied the game, then Princeton turned around and hit a three wit the shotclock expiring. That may have been the game.
7:17 (second half): Princeton leads 40-46. Zoller has fouled out, recording a silly foul as Owings drove to the basket and made a layup. Whitehurst will replace him in the lineup, although he also has four fouls. On a better note, Jaaber hit Penn's first three of the game and scored his 1,00th career point.
8:01 (second half): Princeton leads 38-33. Zoller was just called for his fourth foul. Dunphy keeps him in the game. This could be dangerous. Penn already has seven team fouls.
8:38 (second half): Princeton leads 36-31. Technical foul on Scott Greenman. It seems as if he has mouthed off to the refs.
9:01 (second half): Princeton leads 36-31. Holy cow! Jaaber just hit a nice and-1 (missing the free throw), as Owings has recorded his fourth foul. Here comes Penn!
10:49 (second half): Princeton leads 36-29. Penn is on a 13-2 run and they are now employing the full court press. That defense certainly helped them come back last year against Princeton at the Palestra. The problem is that this is an exhausting defense to play with only six men in the rotation.
11:51 (second half): Princeton leads 36-26. Penn has cut the lead to ten, and they have the opportunity to if Jaaber hits his and-1 free throw coming up. Jaaber, by the way, is just nine points away from his 1,000th career point with the Quakers.
12:29 (second half): Princeton leads 36-24. It's worth noting that Friedrich Ebede is not playing tonight. Apparently he is still hampered by a groin injury. That means Penn is going with its six man rotation again tonight.
13:47 (second half): Princeton leads 36-22. Penn has eclipsed the 21-point mark. Good for them. The team is looking better on the offensive end. On the defensive end, they are pretty streaky but Danley has two nice blocks already. One was on an Owings backdoor layup attempt. Princeton is still shooting 50 percent from three. Penn? Well they're shooting 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. Thanks to ace Penn statistician Stu Stuss, who has fed me some nice stats all game. Also -- Tim Flynn has kept the information coming. He noted that Onyekwe is "tearing it up" for Bnei Hasharon in the Israeli league. We have an interview with Ugonna that we'll post later tonight.
Halftime: Princeton leads 28-12. Well, the only good thing to happen is that Penn pulled ahead of Princeton's 21-point pace. Besides that, Penn deserves to lose this game and get a 15-seed in the NCAA Tournament. There are few good things you can say about this team of late. Fran Dunphy better get his team in shape... and fast.
A few more celebrity sightings -- the best player I've ever seen in a Penn uniform, Ugonna Onyekwe, is in the audience tonight. Also, Gary Walters -- Princeton's athletic director and a member of the NCAA Tournament selection committee -- is also in the house, sporting a Final Four vest. What a great guy to stink it up in front of.
A correction -- Tim Flynn, a member of the Penn athletic communications staff, pointed out that Yasser El-Halaby was actually not undefeated in collegiate play. He simply did not lose in championship play. Thanks for keeping me honest Tim!
1:22 (first half): Princeton leads 26-10. Awful, awful, awful. Penn looks absolutely horrible in this game. What happened to the Quakers team that used to win Ivy League games with ease? Even likely Ivy Player of the Year Jaaber has been terrible. He has missed all three of his layup attempts and has no points. At this point, Penn is going to beat Princeton's record for the fewest points in a game (21).
3:48 (first half): Princeton leads 20-10. There are a few celebrities in the audience tonight. The biggest is Bill Cowher, who came to see his daughter play in the Penn-Princeton women's game earlier tonight. Meagan was named player of the game, scoring 20 points. The public address announcer also just recognized another sports star, Princeton squash phenom Yasser El-Halaby, who is in the crowd. El-Halaby is probably the greatest player in collegiate squash history. He won four straight national titles at Princeton.
3:59 (first half): Princeton leads 20-10. Zoller seems to be the only Penn player who has come to play today, and even he hasn't been great. The junior forward has seven of the team's 10 points, but also has two turnovers. Every other player on this team has been flat at best on offense.
7:48 (first half): Princeton leads 15-8. Princeton has been hot from three tonight. They are 3-for-6 so far from beyond the arc.
11:27 (first half): Princeton leads 10-3. Well Penn got its first field goal of the game, a Zoller layup. Still, this team looks absolutely awful. Don't expect them to win (or get a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament for that matter) if they keep this up.
13:20 (first half): Princeton leads 5-1. Penn got on the board with Brian Grandieri foul shot. Still, Penn looks awful on offense tonight. They have no type of flow and they can't get an open look.
15:40 (first half): Princeton leads 3-0. Penn has looked pretty awful against this 2-3 matchup zone (surprise, surprise). The Quakers have only taken three shots in the game, two of which have been bad three-pointers. A quick aside -- Penn has unveiled a new version of the new-look mascot. The face is not as troll like and the mouth is all white. It's a much better costume.
Pregame: The arena is about 60 percent full, and it's hard to tell the ratio of Penn to Princeton fans. One thing's for sure, there sure aren't a lot of Princeton students at this game. It's sad, because you could be sure that the Palestra would still be full of students even if Penn was in a similar situation. After all, this is one of the greatest rivalries in college basketball.
Starting lineups:
Princeton
F Justin Conway (6-4, Jr, 11 ppg)
F Luke Owings (6-6, Jr, 8.5 ppg)
F Kyle Koncz (6-7, So, 7.5 ppg)
F Noah Savage (6-5, So, 10 ppg)
G Scott Greenman (5-9, Sr, 11 ppg)
Penn
G Ibrahim Jaaber (6-2, Jr, 18.1 ppg)
G David Whitehurst (6-3, So, 5.9 ppg)
G Eric Osmundson (6-5, Sr, 10.2 ppg)
F Steve Danley (6-8, Jr, 9.3 ppg)
F Mark Zoller (6-7, Jr, 12.7 ppg)
PRINCETON, N.J. -- It's nothing new for Penn and Princeton to be meeting at Jadwin Gym at the end of the basketball season with the Ivy League title in the balance. This year, though, it's the women's game that will affect the championship race, not the men's game. If Princeton beats Penn and Dartmouth beats Harvard, there will be a three-way tie atop the Ancient Eight standings for the first time ever.
As it stands, Brown is currently alone in first place at 12-2. If either the Big Green or Tigers win but not both, the winning team would face the Bears in a playoff on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Yale. If both teams win, there would be a coin flip to decide who would get a bye to the final. The first game would take place Friday at 7 p.m. and the second game would take place Sunday at 2 p.m.; both would also be played at Yale.
There have been six two-way ties in the 31-year history of Ivy League women's basketball, with the most recent coming last year between Dartmouth and Harvard. Penn has never been involved in a first-place tie, but it has forced another team into one. In the final game of the 1998-99 season, the Quakers beat Princeton at Jadwin, 73-65, forcing the Tigers into a playoff against Dartmouth. The Big Green won that game and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The circumstances are different this year, because Princeton has to win to have any shot at the post-season. I'm sure Penn would like nothing more, though, than to salvage a bit of pride from this disappointing season by denying its arch-rivals a shot at the Big Dance.
Will it happen? Princeton is definitely the better team. But as I write this post, the Tigers are only up by a point, 21-20, with 5:46 remaining in the first half.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE: It's halftime, and while Penn was able to keep it close for much of the first 20 minutes, Princeton has pulled out to a 35-29 lead at the break. Penn had a chance at a last-second shot, but center Jen Fleischer airballed a hook shot. The Quakers are clearly giving it everything they have; the only question is whether they can keep up that intensity through the second half.
FINAL: Princeton wins, 67-55. Penn fought pretty valiantly, but a four-minute dry spell in the second half allowed the Tigers to put the game out of reach. Joey Rhoads led all scorers with a heroic 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range. Meagan Cowher was Princeton's leading scorer with 20 points, and her father, Bill -- also known as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers -- was there to witness the effort. Senior center Becky Brown scored 16 points, making her the Ivy League's leading scorer for the season. Jessica Berry and Katy O'Brien also recorded double digits in scoring for the Tigers.
I'll have a longer recap on our main site soon.
Another day of conference tournament action is in the books and things are looking pretty bleak for Penn's chances of moving up to a No. 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That being said, here's all you need to know for today's games:
Penn's projected seed: 14
Conference leaders/winners behind Penn in the RPI: 11
Penn's RPI ranking: 93rd
Big Sky Tournament
Root for No. 3 Eastern Washington to upset No. 2 Montana and No. 5 Sacramento State to beat No. 1 Northern Arizona.
Colonial Athletic Association Tournament
No. 1 UNC-Wilmington won the automatic bid yesterday, beating No. 3 Hofstra. With an RPI ranking of 27th, you can rest assured that the Seahawks will be seeded ahead of Penn.
Horizon League Tournament
No. 1 Wisconsin-Milwaukee plays No. 2 Butler tonight in the conference finals. Root for either team here because both squads will be seeded ahead of Penn in the NCAA Tournament field.
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament
No. 5 St. Peter's was unable to help Penn out by upsetting No. 2 Iona last night in the championship game. Instead, the Gaels won the automatic bid. With an RPI ranking of 62nd, they will be ahead of the Quakers in the field of 65.
Mid-Continent Tournament
No. 1 Oral Roberts takes on No. 6 Chicago State in the conference finals tonight. No matter who wins, the Mid-Continent champion will be seeded behind Penn in the NCAA Tournament. Root for either team.
Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
No. 2 Southern Illinois beat No. 5 Bradley last night for the automatic bid. The Salukis will definitely be seeded ahead of Penn in the NCAA Tournament.
Mid-eastern Athletic Conference Tournament
The tourney kicks off tomorrow in Raleigh, N.C. The winner of this conference will definitely be ranked behind Penn in the field of 65, but root hard for No. 9 Howard in this one. Why? Because the Bison are coached by Gil Jackson, who is in his first year as head coach after spending over a decade next to Fran Dunphy on the Penn bench. Coach J takes on No. 8 North Carolina A&T tonight at 9:30 p.m.
Mountain West Conference Tournament
This tournament kicks off today with the opening round game between No. 8 Colorado St. and No. 9 TCU. Root for the Horned Frogs to not just win this game, but also to mount an improbable run for the conference championship. At 6-23, they're the only Mountain West team that could end up winning this tournament and still wind up seeded behind the Quakers.
Southland Conference Tournament
Root hard for No. 1 Northwestern State to fall to No. 8 Texas-San Antonio in the opening round tonight. If the Demons go down, Penn will certainly be seeded ahead of this conference winner.
Southern Conference Tournament
No. 3 Davidson earned a ticket to the Big Dance yesterday with a win over Chattanooga. With an RPI of 101, the Wildcats will likely be seeded behind Penn in the NCAA Tournament.
Sun Belt Conference Tournament
Again, Penn fans didn't get any of the upsets they needed yesterday. Now, the No. 1 seed in the west, South Alabama, will take on the No. 1 seed in the east, Western Kentucky, for the automatic bid tonight. Both teams will likely be seeded ahead of Penn, but root for South Alabama here, because they are much closer to Penn in the RPI and record vs. the top 100 RPI. Western Kentucky's tournament resume is a flight above both teams.
West Coast Conference Tournament
Loyola-Marymount's inability to make a layup gave No. 1 Gonzaga its second nailbiting win in as many days and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Had the Lions pulled the upset they would have likely been seeded behind Penn in the field of 65.
Saint Peter's and Loyola Marymount all lost this evening, the latter of the three coming in excruciating fashion on a missed layup with a second to go. So it is tempting to think that the door is closing on Penn's chances to move up the S-Curve from a projected 14-seed to a 13-seed.
But the Quakers still have the best way possible to give themselves a boost in the eyes of the selection committee, and that is the one in their own hands: beat Princeton. It may not be enough, but it would likely boost Penn's RPI from the 90's into the 80's, which would help quite a bit. So while there may be some out there who think the big work is done just by getting to the NCAA Tournament, let there be no doubt that this is far from the case.
It might not be easy for the Quakers to get up for the game if they aren't running out in front of a full house, and Jadwin Gym hasn't been sold out for Penn's visit since 2002. Given Princeton's struggles this season, I suspect that trend will continue tomorrow. So it might just be worth remembering a comment that senior guard Eric Osmundson said before the season started: "I know we say it every year, but I truly feel in my heart that we can make it a couple games in the tournament, at least."
If Osmundson wants to have even a tiny chance of making those words come true, Penn had better win tomorrow night. That would be the easiest way to improve Penn's standing on Selection Sunday, no matter what you think of cliched slogans.
I admit that I'm not the RPI guru that David is, but I will be paying close attention to the Atlantic 10 Tournament when it gets underway Wednesday at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. Four of Penn's opponents from this season are participating, including three of the Quakers' Big 5 rivals. If they advance, that could have a slight effect on Penn's RPI, or at least how the selection committee sees Penn's non-conference strength of schedule. There's also a chance that another A-10 team, George Washington, could line up against the Red and Blue in the NCAA Tournament.
Three of the first round games include teams Penn played this season: Temple-Rhode Island in the first game at noon, Saint Joseph's-Dayton at 2:30, and Fordham-Richmond in the last game of the day at 8:30. If the Owls beat URI, they would face top seed George Washington in the second round. It would be a big upset if Temple could beat the Colonials, but I somehow would not put it out of the question -- especially because star Colonials center Pops Mensah-Bonsu will miss the A-10 tournament due to a knee injury suffered last month against La Salle.
It would take stellar games from Temple guard Mardy Collins and forward Antywane Robinson, but it could happen. Just ask GW's neighbors in College Park, Md. about that possibility, as the Colonials and Owls both beat the Terrapins this season.
St. Joe's has been on fire of late, and rides a five-game winning streak from Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse into Cincinnati. Then again, those victories came at Rhode Island, Xavier, and Duquesne, and at home against Fordham and Richmond. Except for the trip to Xavier, who won on Hawk Hill earlier in the season, those teams are all cream puffs. Playing Dayton in Ohio won't be easy, as the Flyers will be well-supported in Cincinnati. Still, the Hawks should advance to face Saint Louis in the second round.
Fordham should have no trouble whatsoever with Richmond, considering that the Spiders scored 69 points combined at St. Joe's and Temple this season. The second round will be a different story, though, as the Rams would face La Salle. I said at the beginning of the season that La Salle was my dark horse favorite to make some noise in the A-10, and that they would go to the NIT. I didn't think the Explorers would be good enough to beat Temple and St. Joe's to a first-round bye, though.
Yet here they are, and they have a legitimate shot to make it to the tournament championship game. La Salle would face Charlotte, Xavier or Massachusetts in the semifinals, and while the 49ers and Musketeers would be tough, I think the Explorers could pull off the win. No, I did not mention the Minutemen in the last sentence, and yes, that means I think they have little to no shot of beating Xavier just a few miles from the Musketeers' campus.
GW's Karl Hobbs won A-10 Coach of the Year honors, but La Salle's John Giannini did something truly extraordinary up at 20th and Olney this season. Of course, Steven Smith had a lot to do with that, and he has been rightly rewarded with his second straight A-10 Player of the Year award. Still, a lot of credit goes to the backcourt of Darnell Harris and Tabby Cunningham, as well as the rest of the Explorers.
Having said all of this, I still think GW has too much talent, and that even without Mensah-Bonsu the Colonials will win the tournament. That could make things very interesting for Penn on Selection Sunday, because with a 28-1 record George Washington would probably be a four seed. If Penn is able to get up to the 13-seed line on the S-Curve -- and a win tomorrow against Princeton would go a long way towards making that happen -- the Quakers might just be drawn against the Colonials in the NCAA Tournament.
Among other things, such a matchup would pit current Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky against the school where he was AD before coming back to his alma mater. But on the court, the game would not be as appealing, because I don't think Penn can keep up with GW's high-flying offense for 40 minutes. It would greatly improve Penn's chances of pulling off the upset, though, if Mensah-Bonsu was out.
GW hasn't been playing its best basketball of late, either. In their final regular season home game this past Saturday against Charlotte, the Colonials needed a buzzer-beating tip-in to win the game in overtime. Their other two games after losing Mensah-Bonsu were 11-point wins at Fordham and St. Bonaventure.
All in all, the Atlantic 10 tournament is definitely worth watching for Penn fans. Heck, it's probably the closest the Quakers will come to having a conference tournament of their own, considering how many of their opponents are in it.
Well, first off, happy 100th post on The Buzz. Now, here's what you need to know about what's going on in conference tournament action and how it impacts Penn's seed in the NCAA Tournament:
Penn's projected seed: 14
Conference leaders/winners behind Penn in the RPI: 11
Penn's RPI ranking: 93rd
America East Tournament
No.1 Albany and No. 6 Vermont won yesterday, and they will meet up in the finals later this week. Either team will be ranked behind Penn in the NCAA Tournament, so root for either one.
Colonial Athletic Association Tournament
No. 1 UNC-Wilmington plays No. 3 Hoftstra in the finals today. With both teams ranked in the RPI top 40, Penn will certainly be seeded lower than the conference winner. You can cheer for either team here.
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament
Penn got some big help today when No. 5 St. Peter's beat No. 1 Manhattan. If the Peacocks can pull another upset tonight in the championship game against No. 2 Iona, the Quakers will slip ahead of another team in the field of 65. If the Gaels win, however, they will be ranked ahead of Penn.
Mid-Continent Tournament
Cheer for anyone here. Every team is well behind Penn in the RPI.
Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
No. 2 Southern Illinois beat No. 5 Bradley last night for the automatic bid. The Salukis will definitely be seeded ahead of Penn in the NCAA Tournament.
Northeast Conference Tournament
Two New Jersey schools, No. 1 Fairleigh Dickinson and No. 3 Monmouth, won yesterday to make it to the championship game. Either team will be seeded lower than Penn.
Patriot League Tournament
No. 1 Bucknell and No. 2 Holy Cross won yesterday to make it to tomorrow night's conference championship. Penn fans should root for Holy Cross in this matchup, who will likely be seeded behind the Quakers in the field of 65. It will be close though, as the Crusaders have an RPI of 113.
Southern Conference Tournament
No. 3 Davidson earned a ticket to the Big Dance yesterday with a win over Chattanooga. With an RPI of 101, the Wildcats will likely be seeded behind Penn in the NCAA Tournament.
Sun Belt Conference Tournament
Penn fans didn't get any of the upsets they needed yesterday. But today is a new day. The No. 1 seed in the west, South Alabama, needs to fall to the No. 3 team in the west, Denver. Also, the No. 1 seed in the east, Western Kentucky, needs to be upset by the No. 2 team in the west, Louisiana-Lafayette.
West Coast Conference Tournament
Boy, oh, boy did Penn almost get some huge help yesterday in the WCC Tournament. Almost. No. 1 Gonzaga barely beat No. 5 San Diego last night, winning 96-92 in overtime. Penn needs to hope that the 'Zags fall tonight in the conference final. That would likely put another team behind the Quakers in the field of 65.
Another sloppy win for Penn tonight, but at leat the team won. Here's your daily dose of who to cheer for if you want Penn's seed in the NCAA Tournament to get a boost:
Penn's projected seed: 14
Penn's RPI ranking: 94th
America East Tournament
Root for anyone here. Nobody's going to be ranked ahead of Penn.
Atlantic Sun Tournament
Belmont won last night to earn a trip to the Big Dance. With an RPI ranking of 117th, they will certainly be behind Penn in the field of 65.
Big South Tournament
Coastal Carolina almost pulled a big upset last night, but Winthrop (71) pulled out a 51-50 victory to win the Big South's automatic bid. Winthrop will definitely be seeded ahead of the Quakers.
Colonial Athletic Association Tournament
The four teams left in the tourney (No. 1 UNC-Wilmington, No. 2 George Mason, No. 3 Hofstra and No. 5 Northeastern) will all be ranked ahead of Penn in the tourney. Root for anyone here.
Horizon League Tournament
No. 1 Wisconsin-Milwaukee and No. 2 Butler won last night to make it to the finals. Either team will be ranked ahead of Penn in the NCAA Tournament.
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament
Penn fans need to root hard for No. 5 St. Peter's to upset No. 1 Manhattan and No. 3 Marist to beat No. 2 Iona. But Marist will likely wind up being ranked ahead of Penn in the RPI if it wins the tournament, so Quakers fans need to hope that St. Peter's wins the automatic bid.
Mid-Continent Tournament
Cheer for anyone here. Every team is well behind Penn in the RPI.
Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
No. 2 Southern Illinois takes on No. 5 Bradley tonight for the automatic bid. Both teams will definitely be ranked ahead of Penn in the field of 65.
Northeast Conference Tournament
Any team that wins this tournament will certainly be ranked behind Penn.
Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
No. 2 Samford couldn't help Penn out by beating No. 1 Murray State last night. The Racers won, 74-57, in the championship game to earn a trip to the Big Dance. They will be ranked ahead of Penn.
Patriot League Tournament
Root for No. 4 American to shock No. 1 Bucknell tonight. If that happens, the Patriot League champion will be ranked behind Penn in the field of 65. The odds aren't good, however, as the Bison have not lost a Patriot League game all year.
Southern Conference Tournament
No. 3 Davidson plays No. 5 Chattanooga tonight in the finals. Penn will likely be ranked ahead of both teams, but Davidson is much closer to the Quakers in the RPI (111th). Therefore, to be safe, root for Chattanooga.
Sun Belt Conference Tournament
Penn fans have to root for two upsets in this tournament if they want to boost their team's seed. The No. 1 seed in the west, South Alabama, needs to fall to the No. 4 team in the east, Arkansas-Little Rock. Also, the No. 1 seed in the east, Western Kentucky, needs to be upset by the No. 4 team in the west, New Orleans.
West Coast Conference Tournament
Penn fans should root hard for No. 3 St. Mary's to upset No. 1 Gonzaga tonight. That win, however, would likely boost the Gaels' RPI (currently ranked 116th) close to our ahead of Penn. Therefore, Quakers fans should then root for St. Mary's to lose in the conference finals, should they make it.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Today is a good day to be traveling with the Penn basketball team. The Ivy title is secured, and the mood is definitely upbeat. But there is still business to tend to.
Penn needs a win tonight in order to coax the NCAA committee into a seed better than 14. Quakers are again wearing home white jerseys for this game. I really think that Ivy League rule is silly.
Check back with The Buzz for continuous updates throughout the game.
FINAL: Penn 74, Brown 68 in overtime That's it for the rest of the Ivy League except for Penn at Princeton on Tuesday. We'll have more later tonight on dailypennsylvanian.com.
:05.9 overtime: OK, Jaaber and Grandieri share player of the overtime. He's on the ball for every play. Jaaber to the line again. He hits both to ice it. Penn 74-68
:15.9 overtime:Jaaber hits both foul shots. Penn 72-68
:18.1 overtime: Grandieri is the star of this overtime so far. Brown missed a long three and Osmundson batted the rebound up for grabs. Grandieri came up with it and was immediately fouled. He missed both shots. Jeppesen gets a dunk on a clear lane to the basket. Jaaber is fouled. He hits first misses second but gets rebound. Penn 70-68
1:00 overtime: Friske is called for an offensive foul. Penn grabs the lead on a bank shot from Danley. Penn has the ball with a 67-66 lead.
2:45 overtime: Zoller wants to win this one. He gets the tip and converts a layup. After Becker hits another three he answers with one of his own. Jeppesen gets a pair at the line. Tied at 65.
End regulation: Jaaber gets a steal and goes coast-to-coast where he gives it up to Grandieri. His shot is blocked by Becker who goes all the way and takes a 20-footer with a second left. It goes and this place goes nuts. Tied at 60
:21.2 second half: Grandieri gets a steal from Huffman who chases him down at commits a foul by grabbing his jersey. That was an intentional last night. Apparently not here. Grandieri hits both shots. Penn 60-57
:35 second half: After two Jeppesen foul shots, MacDonald gets a steal from Jaaber and feeds Jeppesen who calls time. Penn 58-57
1:07 second half: A 25-footer from Osmundson gets the Penn fans on their feet. Miller calles time. Penn 58-55. Yep, that's the biggest lead of the game for the Quakers.
1:58 second half: Friske's layup ties it again. Miller calles time. Tied at 55
2:55 second half: Whitehurst takes a charge from Huffman. He comes up favoring his right shoulder. His foul shots put Penn in front 55-53.
3:59 second half: Dunphy calls timeout. Previously MacDonald was called for a travel and threw the ball down in disgust. Normally, that's a technical foul, but it was not called. Perhaps as a make-up, they allowed Whitehurst to get away with a clear travel. Tied at 53
4:23 second half: Refs confer after having Penn inbound the ball in the wrong place. Do not reset the shot clock from 32 to 35. Osmundson missed a three, but Zoller followed with a jumper and one. Tied at 53.
5:56 second half: Aforementioned six Brown students try to pull off Kansas' famed "waving wheat" swaying motion to distract foul shooters. It's worked somewhat well so far - Grandieri is 2-for-4 at the line. Brown 49-47
7:02 second half: Penn is doing a better job of penetrating Brown's zone. Grandieri hit a big three from the corner after the Quakers went four minutes without a field goal. Kuchinski has taken over for Zoller who has four fouls. Brown 48-46
9:51 second half: A layup and foul on Zoller lets Brown extend the lead. The fouls were Brown 5 Penn 1 five minutes ago. Now it's Penn 7 Brown 6. Zoller was just called for his fourth. Brown 46-39
12:24 second half: Osmundson puts the Quakers ahead for the first time, 39-38, with a three on a great high-low pass from Danley. Foul shots off of two questionable calls, which looked like blocks to me, give the Bears the lead back 41-39.
14:28 second half: Whitehurst gets Penn even at 34 with a layup off a Danley steal. Jeppesen answers for Brown. The Quakers still have not led in the game. Jaaber's two foul shots make it even again. Guy behind me shouts "safety school" before each free throw. Tied at 36
15:22 second half: Jaaber three from the wing opens the second half. Danley feeds Zoller underneath for a reverse layup. Whitehurst pass to nowhere somewhat quells the Penn momentum. Brown has had four straight empty trips which have allowed Penn to get back in it. Jeppesen finally scores for Brown to end Penn's spurt, but the last four minutes have been ugly. Three by Osmundson cuts it to two-point game, but Penn really should have the lead by now. A pair of turnovers by Whitehurst has really hurt. Brown 34-32
Halftime: Brown 32, Penn 24. This is about the least inspired first half I've seen Penn play this season. Brown is shooting 56 percent to Penn's 31.
HALFTIME STATS: Penn - Danley 6pts; Zoller 7pts 6reb; Grandieri 5pts 5reb. Team shooting 9-29, 3-9 from three. Quakers have 10 offensive rebounds and 18 total. Eight turnovers is not that bad, but Brown has scored 11 points off of them.
Brown - Jeppesen 11pts; Friske 10pts. Team shooting 15-27, 2-5 from three.
3:36 first half: Every time Osmundson or Jaaber advance the ball on the far side of the court they are immediately double-teamed. That led to a steal by Becker and an easy running layup. Penn shooters have been too strong on a handful of short shots. Brown 30-20
7:53 first half: Glen Miller apparently watches tape. Brown employs 2-3 zone, which has been like kryptonite on the Quakers offense so far this season. Kuchinski comes in for Penn. It's been a while since Penn has been able to work the ball inside. Brown 23-15
11:36 first half: Brown's ball pressure so far kept Penn from running its offense effectively so far. They are doubling Jaaber on most touches. Grandieri grabbed a big rebound which Penn turned in to a three point play with a made foul shot and a rebound and layup on the second shot. Jaaber picks up his second foul on a push off. Bears on 6-0 run. Brown 16-10
15:57 first half: Grandieri in at 16:16. Quakers offense looks flat, and Brown is having some success with three-quarter court pressure. Six students have arrived with B-R-U-N-O-! spelled out across their chests. Brown 8-2
17:50 first half: Quakers miss on three of first four and Fran Dunphy calls a frustrated timeout. Brown 6-2.
20:00 first half: Slightly delayed start as Brown recognizes its lone senior, Luke Ruscoe. The 6-foot-7 forward will not be playing tonight because of an ankle injury. There are no students here, but a decent number of Brown fans. Call it 150 or so Penn fans plus band.
STARTING LINEUPS:
Penn:
g Ibrahim Jaaber - junior, 18.6 ppg
g Eric Osmundson - senior, 9.8 ppg
g David Whitehurst - sophomore, 6.2 ppg
f Steve Danley - junior, 9.1 ppg
f Mark Zoller - junior, 12.5 ppg
Brown:
g Damon Huffman - sophomore, 11.1 ppg
g Marcus Becker - junior, 6.7 ppg
f Keenan Jeppesen - sophomore, 10.7 ppg
f Scott Friske - freshman, 8.0 ppg
c Mark MacDonald - sophomore, 7.4 ppg
So that's the season. Penn squeaks out a win after letting an inspired Yale team get back in it, while Princeton finally gets blown out - something I've been expecting for some time.
For the first 30 minutes tonight, Penn looked like the dominant team it has been in this league. Yale picked up some momentum on what I thought was a terrible call against Ibrahim Jaaber midway through the second half. Yale's Dominick Martin intercepted a high-low pass from Steve Danley and fed it to Eric Flato who was already on a fast break at the center circle. He had about two steps on Jaaber, and tripped over his own two feet.
However, the officials said Jaaber grabbed Flato, and they called an intentional foul. Flato made both foul shots and Yale scored on the following possession to cut Penn's lead to single digits for the first time in the second half. It was all down hill from there.
Penn didn't score in the final six minutes with the exception of Danley's two foul shots. But it was some great efforts from Jaaber, Mark Zoller and Brian Grandieri to snag a few key rebounds that kept Yale from coming all the way back. Zoller's board with 13 seconds to go was probably the game-saver.
Grandieri's ill-advised inbounds pass with 1.7 seconds to play almost gave it back. Fran Dunphy said Grandieri made "an interesting decision," in trying a long lob to Eric Osmundson. It ended up in the hands of Martin and Yale had a shot to tie. Everyone says they were without a timeout, but I swear there was one left. It should have been called. That last two seconds looked far too much like two years ago here when Yale won 54-52.
Yale's crowd -- which mostly filled in around halftime -- certainly gave the team a boost. It got legitimately loud in there. It was nice to exhale as Flato's last-second jumper arced far short of the basket as the buzzer sounded.
Now it's on to the Big Dance. But now is no time to be complacent. Penn needs to win its last two for the NCAA selection committee. One loss could drop the Quakers to a 15 seed.
Stat of the game: Penn's shooting percentage - 51.9 first half, 37.5 second half. Yale's shooting percentage - 32.1 first half, 56 second half.
Star of the game: I'm tempted to pick Zoller, especially for his two big three-pointers early on which really stuck it to Yale. But I'm going with Martin. When he was on the floor, his defense really made Penn force the issue. The six minutes he wasn't on the floor, Penn dominated. He was the difference maker.
Well, Penn is now officially in the NCAA Tournament. Here's who you need to root for if you want the Quakers to boost their seed:
Penn's projected seed: 14
Penn's RPI ranking: 99th
America East Tournament
Root for anyone here. Nobody's going to be ranked ahead of Penn.
Atlantic Sun Tournament
Again, both teams left, Lipscomb and Belmont, will be ranked behind the Quakers.
Big Sky Tournament
The four teams playing the opening round games today will also be ranked behind Penn. Root for anyone.
Big South Tournament
No. 1 Winthrop will take on No. 2 Coastal Carolina tonight in the finals. Penn fans should definitely cheer on Coastal Carolina, because if they win, that will put the Quakers ahead of another tournament team.
Colonial Athletic Association Tournament
Penn opponent Drexel went down last night at Delaware (where I happen to be right now). Penn fans should root for the No. 9 Blue Hens to upset No. 1 UNC-Wilmington and No. 10 Georgia State to upset No. 2 George Mason. The other two matchups feature four teams (Old Dominion, Northeastern, Hofstra and Virginia Commonwealth) that will all be seeded ahead of Penn.
Horizon League Tournament
Hope for No. 4 Loyola-Chicago to upset No. 1 Wisconsin-Milwaukee and No. 3 Wisconsin-Green Bay to top No. 2 Butler. If the No. 3 or 4 seeds happen to win the tourney, that will put another team behind the Quakers in the field of 65.
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament
Penn fans want No. 7 Niagara to beat No. 2 Iona. Also, root for No. 4 Siena. After all, they're coached by a Penn grad and they were the Red and Blue's first opponent this season.
Mid-Continent Tournament
Cheer for anyone here. Every team is well behind Penn in the RPI.
Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
With No. 1 Wichita State, No. 2 Southern Illinois, No. 5 Bradley and No. 6 Northern Iowa winning yesterday, the winner of the Valley will definitely be ranked ahead of Penn. Therefore, you can root for anyone tonight in the semifinals.
Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
If No. 2 Samford can beat No. 1 Murray State tonight, it will most likely put another team behind Penn in the field of 65.
Southern Conference Tournament
No. 1 Georgia Southern was upset last night by No. 8 Appalachian State, but that should have little effect on Penn's seed. No. 11 The Citadel, who played the Quakers earlier this season, also fell tonight to No. 3 Davidson. Penn will likely be ranked ahead of Davidson should the Wildcats make the tournament, but it will be close. Therefore, root for Davidson to fall to No. 2 Elon (the old home of former Penn standout Andy Toole) tonight.
Sun Belt Conference Tournament
Penn fans have to root for two upsets in this tournament if they want to boost their team's seed. The No. 1 seed in the west, South Alabama, needs to fall to the No. 4 team in the east, Arkansas-Little Rock. Also, the No. 1 seed in the east, Western Kentucky, needs to be upset by the No. 4 team in the west, New Orleans.
West Coast Conference Tournament
None of the four teams in tonight's second round will be ranked ahead of Penn in the tournament. Still, No. 1 seed Gonzaga looms in tomorrow night's semifinal.
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