The Quakers have been absolutely dominant at home this season, only dropping one game last Saturday to Dartmouth. Their dominance at home came after a disappointing showing in Florida, but coach Leslie King and her staff inspired confidence and consistency into this Penn squad. So in this non-conference showdown, who will be up and who will be down?
Three Up —
Alexis Borden: Borden has been ‘striking’ fear into opponents this season. She’s currently second in the Ivy League with 91 strikeouts and her ERA of 1.94 is good for fifth. She pitched her second career no-hitter in Penn’s home opener against Lafayette and hurled seven shutout innings against Lehigh. She’s been on fire and there’s no sign of her slowing down.
Penn’s defense: Leslie King has built an intimidating defense, led by seniors Samantha Erosa and Stephanie Caso, who have performed well in their defensive and offensive duties. This defense has gotten Penn out of some frightening situations, including a few scenarios against Harvard in which freshman pitcher Linda Li needed some help getting out a few jams with runners on base. Luckily for the newcomer, though, she was able to escape with little damage thanks to the work of all eight other Quakers on the field.
Confidence: As aforementioned, the Red and Blue have only lost once since they’ve been home. They’ve racked up 59 runs and only allowed 20 (including three shutouts). Every team member talks about how this is “Penn softball,” and that’s the kind of confidence that comes in handy at this point of the season.
Three Down —
Hitting: Despite the number of runs Penn has racked up in this stretch of home games, the inconsistency the team struggled with in Florida could always rear its ugly head. If the Quakers lose the ability to connect and connect often, they will have to rely on their defense heavily, which can really drain energy from such a recently offensively explosive team.
On-Base execution: While this hasn’t been a glaring issue for the Quakers, it has the tendency to come up every now and then. Mental mistakes and lack of communication have cost the Red and Blue a few runs throughout the last few games. Penn must make sure it consistently moves runners around the diamond.
Getting behind: Monmouth has an excellent record (11-1) when leading in any inning after the third. If Penn struggles as it did in its game against St. Joseph’s when the Quakers fell behind, 4-0, after the first three innings, Leslie King’s squad could find itself in a bind quickly. Penn needs hitters like freshman catcher Korinne Raby, senior second baseman Samantha Erosa and senior outfielder Jessica Melendez to score and score early. Penn’s defense has proven itself this season, but relying too heavily on that ‘D’ again could spell trouble.
In this week’s roundtable discussion, our editors ask who should be Penn basketball’s starting point guard in 2013-14:
Associate Sports Editor Steven Tydings: This one is tough. While Tony Bagtas told me he is going to “run the team” next year, I think this is a two-man race between Miles Cartwright and Tony Hicks. When Cartwright was running the point effectively, the team played some of its best basketball, and I’d have to think that coach Allen will give the soon-to-be senior the first opportunity to win the job.
That being said, Penn’s best player in the second half of the season was clearly Tony Hicks. His performances at Cornell and at home against Harvard showed he has the potential to be one of the next great point guards in Penn history. But at the same time, I don’t think he should be the point guard to start the year. Cartwright should be given the chance at point guard to start the year. He may not stick. And that’s why it’s important that Hicks is there.
Former Sports Editor Mike Wisniewski: Jerome Allen needs to put the guy there who runs the offense best. My guess is that guy will end up being Miles, at least in the beginning of the year. But if they start the Ivy season and begin losing games, and at that point it becomes clear to the team (because it will probably already be clear to everyone else) that Penn will not win the Ivy League, it will be time to once again look to the future, something Miles will not be a part of.
In that situation, why not give Hicks or Bagtas the bulk of the work to better develop the team for 2014-15? Realistically, Penn won’t be in it next year, but with the young crop of guys they have — if developed properly — they could be in contention the year after next.
Associate Sports Editor John Phillips: I think we’re forgetting about Cam Crocker, who started every game going down the stretch at the point. He had the highest assist to turnover ratio on the team and showed the true passing skills that Cartwright and Hicks don’t naturally have.
But the reason that he should run point over Cartwright or Hicks is really due to what Cartwright and Hicks can do when they are not running the point.
Hicks thrived when he moved without the ball, and Cartwright performed better during the season when he could ease into a contest. When he has the ball in his hands from the opening tip, he tries to do things too quickly. What started to work as the season progressed is that three-guard lineup, with Cartwright, Crocker and Hicks all out on the floor at once. If Cartwright started heating up, then he would start taking the ball up as the game went along.
Former Associate Sports Editor Kenny Kasper: Cartwright needs to let his game do the talking — and Jerome Allen needs to listen carefully. Penn played 13 games prior to conference play in the 2012-13 campaign but still had no answer to its point guard problems by the time Ivy League play rolled around.
Early on, Allen should give opportunities to Cartwright, Hicks, Crocker and Bagtas to run the show and then narrow the field for conference play based on their performance. Though we haven’t seen Bagtas play college ball yet, the rest of the crew all have their deficiencies at the position. Cartwright is wildly inconsistent but was occasionally an excellent distributor. Hicks is not a pass-first guard.
That said, he was effective in the second half of the season driving to the basket and having the option to score or dish to Darien Nelson-Henry or to Penn’s three-point specialists in Dau Jok and Patrick Lucas-Perry. Crocker has a pass-first mentality, but perhaps lacks leadership intangibles. Ideally, Cartwright rises to the occasion and performs at the position. But he’ll have to dispense with the attitude that he needs to score in bunches for Penn to win.
Associate Sports Editor Mars Jacobson: Everybody saw this season that Miles was forced into a role he was not ready for, so Jerome shouldn’t make the same mistake next year. That being said, Bagtas shouldn’t come in as a freshman and “run the team.” I haven’t seen anything from him that tells me he has the talent needed to handle that responsibility.
Through the first half of Ivy play, Cam Crocker would been my pick to be the starting point guard. He is the best passer on the team and is always looking to get his teammates involved.
But after the last few weekends, my choice for next season has to be Tony Hicks. Hicks is at his best with the ball in his hands, slashing to the basket, so it makes sense to give him the ball as much as possible. However, he will need to take care of the ball better and improve his passing during the off-season in order to make the rest of his teammates better too.
If the turnovers start to pile up and Hicks isn’t getting Fran, Miles and DNH involved enough, then go with the three-guard lineup that John suggested, with Cam Crocker handling the ball and dishing off to the other guys on the court.
In this in-depth piece on the culture of coming out for LGBT Penn athletes, I examine what Penn Athletics has and hasn't done for the Quakers' LGBT athletic community.
But five varsity programs have stepped up for that community with the Team Respect Pledge put forth by the GLSEN Sports Project, an education and advocacy program focused on addressing LGBT issues in K-12 school-based athletic and physical education programs. Those Penn programs are volleyball, women's tennis, men's tennis, women's soccer and men's soccer.
We [insert team name] pledge to commit to respect, safety and inclusion for all members of our team and school community. We pledge to take leadership by setting an example of respectful interactions for all. We pledge to:• Avoid using language,name-calling or slurs that put others down because of such differences as race,sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or religion.• Remind teammates who use “putdown” language that "that’s not ok on our team.”• Treat all teammates with respect.• Believe that Team Respect is a winning strategy: When each team members feel safe and respected,they can play their best for the team.• Take leadership to set an example of respect for students in our school as well as opposingteams and fans.
Only 11 college teams in total are listed on the website as having taken the college, with Penn teams comprising almost half and Brown offering three varsity programs of their own. Not surprisingly, no college football or men's basketball teams are listed.
The strong Penn contingent here can no doubt be partly attributed to Anna Aagenes, the 2010 Penn grad and former captain of women’s track and field and cross country team who now serves in the GLSEN Project's advisory group.
But we also talked about the upward trajectory of Penn basketball from his freshman year of 1991-92 to his senior year of 1994-95, and how a program that had single-digit wins before the Class of '95 came on the scene won the final 43 Ivy games of Kegler's Quakers career. Here's the '90s rise of Penn basketball as "Kegs" remembers it:
"When we showed up, the team wasn’t very good. The year before they were 9-17. It was coach Dunphy’s either second or third year, I can’t remember. And so it was intense. The team wasn’t any good, we weren’t any good. We wanted to be good, we didn’t know how or if we’d be any good. And the first year, it was just a struggle. We all were competing against each other for playing time. Our freshman class was Jerome [Allen], Eric Moore, Shawn Trice, and me. All those guys wanted to play. We were just beating each other up in practice. Jerome was playing, Shawn was playing, Eric was playing, I was playing a little bit. And we got better.
We beat Penn State that year in Hershey [87-86 2OT on Jan. 25, 1992]. It was a funny game because we won the game in regulation, we went into the locker room, we were celebrating, changing our clothes. The referees came in and said the game’s not over. Something happened, there’s still time left on the clock, you’ve gotta come back out and play. So we had to come out on the floor and play a couple of seconds to win. But that was a big win for us because it was a Big Ten team, a scholarship school and we win, let’s build on that. We were in the Ivy League hunt until we played at Yale, and Yale had this guy named Casey Cammann, and we lost and that really put us out of contention.
We lost to Princeton and we lost to Yale, so we knew we couldn’t win. We watched the game video - coach Dunphy was so mad - we watched the video all the way from New Haven to Brown. He’s slamming the overhead bins. And we practiced the next day at Brown hard. He lined us all up on the sideline, rolled the ball out on the floor and it was a game of if you could dive on the floor and get it first. We were running sprints, we won that night.
So anyway, we finished the season 16-10, but we still didn’t know. We were okay, we knew we wanted to win but we weren’t anything special yet. The next year Matt Maloney transferred. So Matt made an immediate impact. That was a nucleus of the team for the next three years. Matt, Jerome, Barry Pierce, Shawn, Eric and Tim Krug we had as a freshman. We still didn’t really know, but all of a sudden, [we're] better. I don’t really remember who we beat outside the league that year, but we went undefeated in the league, won a championship and it was great. But we still didn’t feel that special. There was some excitement, more people at the games, more fired up, but everybody kept working and working.
Then the next year, we had a transfer, Ira Bowman. He was amazing. For the next year coming back, Barry Pierce’s senior year and my class was juniors, we knew we were special.
So we won some games and I can’t remember who some of our big games were that year, I think we played at Ohio State and lost. We might have beat USC that year, I can’t remember whether it was my junior or senior year [note: it was his junior year, a 77-62 win at USC to open the '93-94 campaign]. But we went undefeated again. And now we knew we were good. We beat Nebraska in the tournament that year and that was amazing. And we cracked the top 25 at some point, and I don’t remember if it was the end of that year or beginning of senior year. But the crowd to play Nebraska, we played at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, was a Penn crowd. It was filled and they were cheering for us. We had games where we felt like we shouldn’t have won, but in that game we just played well. And we won [90-80 on March 17, 1994]. We weren’t going crazy like it was a Cinderella kind of feeling, it was just, okay. We belong there. And then the next game was Florida, we lost [70-58 on March 19]. A close game, we lost.
So then coming back we were losing Barry Pierce which was a big loss, but we had Ira Bowman, and we had the basic nucleus back, which was great. Although we lost to Canisius in the preseason NIT…hated that. But then we won the ECAC Holiday Festival in Madison Square Garden, beat St. John’s when they had Felipe Lopez. I remember vividly standing at center court at Madison Square Garden, waiting for some ceremony. And I remember consciously making an effort to soak this up because I knew that’s not gonna happen again.
And then we beat Michigan at Michigan [62-60 on Dec. 13]. A little extra special for me and Shawn Trice because Shawn’s from Detroit, and that’s why coach scheduled that game. My family drove up from Columbus, Ohio, so they drove up. I think my dad chartered a bus and brought a bunch of friends and family. But at some point, people were excited and crowds would fill. Princeton games, Big 5 games, it was a sellout, loud as can be. Super-fun. So I don’t know, culture-wise, everybody bought in, worked hard, moved toward the same goal, good guys."
And that's how a nine-win team became the class of the Ivy League relatively quickly.
Brandon Parker of AllMet Sports (The Washington Post's source for high school sports) reported this afternoon that Nigel Johnson has decommitted from George Washington after orally committing there in September.
Why does this matter to Penn? Johnson is a senior point guard at Riverside Baptist in Upper Marlboro, Md., and he has who has stood out as one of the best As a junior, Johnson led all Virginia Group AAA players in scoring last season with an average of 29.5 points per game, and he's certainly one of the area's top point guards.
And Johnson had offers from American, Bucknell, Cornell, William & Mary, Northwestern, Brown, Princeton, Lehigh, Robert Morris, Delaware, Drexel, UNC Greensboro, Florida International and Quinnipiac before originally committing to GW. That's three Ivies and another City 6 rival who have another shot at nabbing Johnson, who remains ESPN's No. 8 Maryland state recruit.
Alcohol, drugs and sex – these are the problems we expect people to be confronting when they enter rehab. But this Thursday, Buzz Bissinger, the author of Friday Night Lights and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, checked himself into rehab for a far lesser-known addiction: shopping. His location remains undisclosed.
Bissinger, a former Daily Pennsylvanian Sports and Opinion Editor graduating in 1976, announced his shopping addiction – primarily clothing shopping – in a statement to NBC as well as in an article in GQ. In the article, Bissinger claims that since his addiction started in 2010, he has spent nearly $600,000 on clothes alone.
The candid GQ article reveals that he owns 81 leather jackets, 75 pairs of boots, 41 pairs of leather pants and 115 pairs gloves, among many other things. The 58-year-old, who currently resides in Philadelphia as a columnist for The Daily Beast, chronicled his all-expenses-paid trip as a special guest at a fashion show for Gucci – the brand he has spent most of his clothing budget on.
Bissinger also made sure to confront the notion held by many that shopping addiction is not a true problem, or a lesser addiction. His descriptions of the feelings that came with purchasing clothes mirror those described by drug addicts: “The futile feeding of the bottomless beast and the unavoidable psychological implications, the immediate hit of the new that feels like an orgasm and the inevitable coming-down.”
The fiery and opinionated sports journalist left his short-lived radio program in December amidst reports that his outspoken personality was causing problems at the radio station. In the GQ article, he revealed that some of these problems may have been due to his addiction.
Class of '17 commit Matt Howard won the Carolinas All-Star Classic Friday night at Myrtle Beach High School in South Carolina. Howard averaged 26 points per game this season for A.C. Flora.
Howard may be a flashy dunker, but his work ethic has also been documented here and we'll get another glimpse of him at the inaugural City vs. State All-Star Classic at Benedict College on March 30.
We haven’t even seen the Class of 2017 step onto the court for Penn basketball, but it's already time to start talking about the Class of 2018.
Jack Williams, a junior at Chaminade (CA) High School, will make his first official visit to Penn beginning May 3.
Williams is a 6-foot-8, 185 pound power forward from West Hills, CA and has already received offers from Arizona State, Colorado and Rice.
He was originally being recruited to Arizona State by then-Sun Devils assistant coach Scott Pera, who has since become an assistant under Jerome Allen.
Williams averaged 16.4 points and 16.1 rebounds per game during his junior season and was a large part of the Chaminade squad that made it to the CIF southern section regional final.
Additionally, Williams and Chaminade played against Class of 2017 recruit Dave Winfield Jr. and Harvard-Westlake (CA) on Jan 28 last season.
Williams dominated the game with 31 points and 20 rebounds, leading Chaminade to 74-63 victory. But Winfield, who had recently returned from an injury, scored just two points and had one rebound.
While Penn basketball’s season came to a close two weeks ago, there is one Big 5 team keeps on going.
La Salle, which won a share of the Big 5 Title this season, is still dancing, having won three games to make the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
The Explorers' run began in Dayton as one of the final four teams into the tournament, where they defeated Boise State to get into the main field of 64.
Next up was a trip to Kansas City, where the 13th-seeded Explorers pulled out two close victories over fourth-seeded Kansas State and 12th-seeded Ole Miss.
But this La Salle team has some firm connections with the Red and Blue other than simply playing in the Big 5.
Senior center Garvin Hunt, who has not played during the NCAA Tournament run, is a College of Arts and Sciences graduate and was a commit under former coach Glen Miller. The Bahamas native played six games for the Quakers in 2008-09 before deciding to
quit playing basketball while at Penn.
After graduating in 2012 with a degree in Architecture. Hunt used the fifth-year graduate transfer rule to become eligible to play at La Salle this season. The redshirt senior forward had two points and three rebounds in La Salle’s 74-57 victory over Penn on Jan. 5.
Hunt isn’t the only member of the La Salle program that used to be a member of the Red and Blue, as two members of the Explorer’s coaching staff were part of Penn basketball in the mid-2000s.
Harris Adler came to Penn in 2002-03 as a member of former coach Fran Dunphy’s staff. He worked his way up from head coach of the Quakers’ junior varsity basketball team to the title of assistant coach by '04-05.
Adler was a part of the coaching staff of a Penn squad that won an Ivy League title and made the NCAA Tournament.
Matt Bloom, La Salle’s video coordinator, was a manager for the Quakers for his four years at Penn. He worked under Dunphy and graduated with a degree in PPE.
So when the Explorers play Wichita State at the Staples Center on Thursday, they'll be carrying plenty of Penn connections to the Sweet 16.
In 1979, Penn enjoyed its one and only Final Four appearance, of course making an improbable run before falling at the hands of Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the national semifinal.
But that wasn’t the end.
Until 1981, the NCAA Tournament featured a third-place game for the two teams that lost in the Final Four. So despite a crushing 34-point defeat against the Spartans, the Quakers had to stick around in Salt Lake City to face DePaul.
The Red and Blue started out the game in inauspicious fashion, falling behind 15-8 within the first five minutes.
And while Tony Price proceeded to score 10 consecutive points for Penn, the Blue Demons still led 27-18, 10 minutes into the game.
The Quakers cut DePaul’s lead to just eight right away, but the Blue Demons used a six-minute, 15-0 run led by Gary Garland – who was named to the All-Tournament team – to extend the lead to 23.
“It was embarrassing,” Penn's James "Booney" Salters said after the game. “What were we doing down by 20 points in the first half again?”
But Penn’s postseason run didn’t end with a blowout loss.
Vincent Ross helped the Quakers cut into Penn’s large deficit, scoring six points as part of a 22-9 run to end the opening half down just 54-43.
In the second half, the Red and Blue got contributions from many players, with Price, Salters, Kenny Hall, Tim Smith and Bobby Willis each scoring at least six points after the break.
What kept DePaul ahead was the contributions of Mark Aguirre, the Blue Demons’ freshman star. Aguirre went for 14 of his game-high 34 points to prevent Penn from overtaking DePaul.
While the game tightened up, both teams were going through foul trouble, as they combined for 53 fouls in the game, with 31 by Penn.
The Blue Demons had two players – Curtis Watkins and Garland – who dealt with early fouls and eventually fouled out. By the same token, the Quakers had four players (Matt White, Ross, Smith, and Price) that fouled out before the game ended.
At the end of regulation, the Red and Blue finally tied up DePaul thanks to a late jumper by Salters with 19 seconds remaining. Salters’ jumper sent the game to overtime.
But with White and Smith fouled out, DePaul took over in the post to finish off Penn. Aguirre added six more points in the extra frame, while Price fouled out with a career-high 31 points in his final collegiate contest for the Quakers.
“I thought we had them,” Ross said. “But we were tired. It took a lot out of us to come from so far down.”
Price was more disappointed in his team’s performance, as he thought his teammates didn’t put their full effort into the final game of the season.
“There were a lot of players on this squad who didn’t come to play,” he said. “I wanted to end my career on a winning note. I wanted to say that we’re the third best team in the nation. Others really didn’t care.”
Despite some players not giving their all in the final contest, Penn’s magical run is still the best postseason performance the Quakers have ever achieved.
At 25-7, the 1979 Penn squad will be remembered for its march to Salt Lake City and it all came to a close against DePaul.
For this week's Penn Sports Plus, we're all aboard with Penn Sailing captain Jack Swikart as he tells us what his sport is all about.
How does one join Penn Sailing?
Penn Sailing takes new members at the start of both the fall and spring semester, since sailing is a two-season sport. Prior experience is great, but certainly not necessary - in fact most of our new members have little to no experience at all. We always have a booth at the activities fair and a website (pennsailing.org) with contact info for the team if you miss the activities fair.
Where do you practice?
The team practices four or five days a week out of the Corinthian Yacht Club of Philadelphia, which is about 15-20 minutes by carpool from campus. It's an ideal place for sailing since the Delaware River is much wider than the Schuylkill, and gives us the room we need to maneuver.
What's the best moment the team has had?
It's tough to narrow it down to just one moment, but since I joined in the fall of last year, the best moment was beating out Cornell for the final spot in the 2011 Atlantic Coast Championships (the biggest regatta of the fall season). It really felt great to qualify for such a high-caliber event and have something to show for all of our effort that season.
What is a sailing tournament like?
Tournaments in sailing (like rowing) are known as regattas, and vary widely in terms of competitiveness and intensity. Some events, such as qualifiers and conference championships, are very intense and the competition is top-notch. On the other hand more recreationally-focused regattas, such as the Philly Fleet Race which we host each fall, are fairly laid-back and are great for just enjoying the activity of racing sailboats.
How competitive is Penn's squad?
Penn's team is very competitive every year. We've won the Mid-Atlantic Club Championships three of the last four years, and have even been nationally ranked as recently as last spring, when Sailing World magazine ranked us 23rd in the nation among all college sailing teams, club or varsity. Even though it's tough to keep up with the varsity teams, we try our best and most of all, we have fun.
With the spring sports season in full swing, various Penn teams spent their weekends preparing for the beginning of the conference season, jockeying for position in the Ivy League and even participating in Championship events. As the calendar gets ready to flip to April, the Red and Blue are looking to make moves that will define their seasons. Here now is this week's edition of the Weekend Wrap.
Men's Tennis: The Penn men's tennis team secured its first road victory of the season on Saturday. Against St. John's, the Quakers captured the doubles point early on, and rode the momentum to a 5-2 victory. With their non-conference schedule complete, the Red and Blue now turn their attention to their Ivy League opener on Saturday.
Track and Field: In Penn's first outdoor meet of the season, the Quakers notched several victories in the 2013 Philadelphia College Classic. Most notably, freshman Sam Mattis broke Penn's discus record on his first collegiate attempt. Additionally, the women's field squad performed well, as junior Morgan Wheeler moved up to third place in Penn history in the javelin throw after a 45.72 meter attempt.
Women's Lacrosse: Hosting Ivy League rival Cornell, the No. 16 Penn women's lacrosse team was able to survive a late scare from the Big Red, and won, 12-11, in overtime. After the Quakers built a 10-3 halftime lead, Cornell charged back. The Big Red knotted the score at 11 with 1:22 to play in regulation, but junior Shannon Mangini's goal in the extra period saved the Red and Blue.
Baseball: The Penn baseball team captured three victories in four games against Lafayette over the weekend, securing a series victory over the course of two doubleheaders. After sweeping Saturday's doubleheader in Easton, Pa., the Quakers took the first matchup on Sunday, 7-6. Later in the afternoon, however, the Leopards roughed up Penn's pitching, and avoided the sweep with an 8-6 victory in 10 innings.
Men's Lacrosse: Playing in its second Ivy League contest, the Penn men's lacrosse team could not overcome No. 2 Cornell's hot start, and lost 10-5. The Quakers held the Big Red scoreless for the first ten minutes of the match, but Cornell's first goal provided a sense of things to come. Trailing 4-2 at the end of the first quarter, Penn could not mount enough offense to turn the game into a shootout.
Women's Tennis: The Penn women's tennis team throttled local rival Temple over the weekend, sweeping the Owls on Saturday, 7-0. Penn captured the doubles point early in the match after solid efforts from junior Stephanie Do and sophomore Alex Ion, as well as sophomore Sol Eskenazi and freshman Sonya Latycheva. The Quakers then finished off the sweep by winning all six singles matches.
Wrestling: Despite a strong performance at last year's NCAA Championships, neither senior Micah Burak nor any other member of Penn's wrestling team notched All-American honors over the weekend. Only half of the Red and Blue’s six-man crew made it to day two, and only Burak was still in the run for a podium spot on Saturday.
Softball: The Penn softball team turned in two dominant performances over the weekend, and capped off a season sweep of Holy Cross. After a 5-1 victory over the Crusaders in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, the Red and Blue continued their strong play later in the afternoon. The Quakers mercy-ruled Holy Cross in an 8-0 win that pushed the team's record back to .500.
Gymnastics: The Penn gymnastics squad defended its ECAC title over the weekend in Ithaca, N.Y., after squeaking past Cornell. The team became the first in school history to capture back-to-back ECAC titles. Penn posted its second-highest point total of the season, and the Quakers' 193.725 points barely eclipsed Cornell's 193.250 points.
Rowing: The Penn men’s heavyweight rowing and women’s rowing teams raced over the weekend, and both finished the competitions on high notes. After losing the Burk Cup to Northeastern on Saturday morning, the men captured the McCausland Cup over George Washington later that afternoon. The women's team swept both George Washington and St. Joseph's to continue its strong spring season.
Women's Swimming: Penn junior Shelby Fortin was the only Quaker to participate at the NCAA Championships over the weekend. Fortin performed well, finishing 58th in the country in the 500 free with a time of 4:52.98. The junior also finished 49th in the 200 free event on Friday.
Update: Coach Jerome Allen declined comment on Harvard's NCAA upset through Athletic Communications Director Mike Mahoney Monday.
In this edition of The Roundtable, six of our editors past and present ask what Harvard's win means for the Ancient Eight heading into the 2013-14 season, plain and simple:
Former Sports Editor Mike Wisniewski: Harvard's win is obviously good for the league. Why wouldn't it be? It's not like they ran away with the title -- the competition across the board was incredible this year, even though it was pretty certain Harvard or Princeton would end up winning it. It's a shame -- for the league, that is -- that the Crimson couldn't put in a more respectable performance against Arizona, but knocking off New Mexico was impressive enough. That would have been the upset of the tournament had Florida Gulf Coast not stolen their thunder.
Associate Sports Editor Steven Tydings: It is beneficial to the Ivy League in the sense of money since the league will get money from the victory. But it also hurts Penn in terms of image. You have a program that just six years ago was the class of the conference and getting the better players like Ibby Jaaber, Mark Zoller, Zack Rosen, etc., but is now 9-22, and hasn't won a title in six years. Now Harvard appears to be light years ahead, as they not only win a tournament game but also have a strong recruiting class and two players (likely cheaters) returning to make next year's team the favorite to run away with the conference, making it likely that Miller's final recruiting class with Cartwright/Dougherty will go without a title and leave coach Allen with little to nothing on his resume and a team full of just his players in 2014-15, for better or worse.
Associate Sports Editor Riley Steele: I wrote the other day that it was in Penn's best interest to compare itself to the other teams in the Big 5. I truly felt like we as a program limited our goals/sights to what the Ivy schools around us were doing, we would never be able to improve to a point where we could truly succeed, both in conference or on the national stage. It appears, however, that I was wrong. What Harvard did the other night was incredibly impressive, something that we as a conference should actually take pride in. Still, even though Penn beat Harvard just over three weeks ago, the gap is widening between them and us, as Steven pointed out. Who knows how improved the squad will be next season, but it's clear that Harvard is helping the league's image, as well as establishing itself as the class of the Ivies and putting itself on a national stage.
Associate Sports Editor Mars Jacobson: I don't think Harvard's win really matters to the Ivy League. Everybody already knew that Harvard were going to be the heavy favorites for next year, and one win in the NCAA Tournament doesn't make them all that much better. One win also doesn't boost the prestige of the league or its image in the eyes of recruits, especially since Harvard didn't put up much of a fight in their second game. At best, it is marginally beneficial to the league with the money the league gets from the victory and hopefully an even better Harvard squad can make a run in next year's tourney.
Obviously, it doesn't bode well for Penn next year but like I said, we already knew that it's going to be almost impossible for Penn to compete with Harvard. Second or third should be the expectation next year for the Quakers, but who knows? Maybe they can steal a game or two and get themselves in the title chase.
Former Associate Sports Editor Kenny Kasper: Harvard's win over New Mexico signifies the widening gap between the Crimson and the rest of the Ivy League. Though the Crimson's relatively young squad lacked the consistency to emerge from conference play unscathed, Harvard is the only Ancient Eight team that could have pulled off an upset against New Mexico at the big dance. Clearly, the leadership at Harvard decided it was time for its basketball program to be a competitor only in the Ivy League, but also on the national stage. Harvard hired a big-time coach in Amaker, and Amaker has reeled in big-time recruits and propelled the program to a top 25 ranking at some points.
Unless other programs in the Ivy League react quickly, the Crimson's momentum will snowball until it has a complete monopoly on talent with the smarts to attend the Ivy League. And while that talent pool is somewhat limited, Harvard is showing it has far more potential than anyone supposed before.
Associate Sports Editor John Phillips: I think we all need to keep in mind that over the course of an Ivy season, the best team may not always win. Last year, Penn took down a ranked Harvard squad, and were it not for a Penn loss to Princeton in the last game of the season, then the Red and Blue would have had a shot to steal a bid from a stronger Harvard team. If that scenario can play out, then who's to say that Harvard will be far and away better than the rest of the Ivy next season. Words like impossible and monopoly shouldn't be thrown around when talking about the Ivy. This year, it was a two horse race, but Penn, Brown and Yale are on the up-and-up, and upsets happen.
It was good for the Ivy when Cornell went on a run in the NCAAs, and it is good that Harvard did the same this past weekend. Wins like that put pressure on the Ivy administrators (Bilsky included) to raise the league's visibility, and that's always good.
Saturday morning, Penn senior DE Brandon Copeland participated in the final NFL Regional Combines of the draft season in his hometown of Baltimore.
Though he didn't PR in any events after a solid Pro Day performance last Monday at Villanova, he still said it was "a good day," and he "did well in everything and was still a leader for the day." That said, he still knows he can perform better and hopes to do so at the Eagles local workout in April and potentially at the NFL Super Regional combine April 7 in Dallas. He will learn this week whether or not he receives an invitation.
As one of just four defensive ends registered for the Baltimore Combine, Copeland said he did the majority of his drills at outside linebacker. He's hoping to be a 3-4 combo DE/OLB, so doing these drills wasn't unexpected. He said he did well in the first half of defensive line drills then was bumped to linebacker.
Video from Baltimore isn't available yet, but here's video of Copeland from Villanova's pro day:
We'll continue to track the progress of Copeland and teammates Joe Bonadies (OL) and Scott Lopano (P).
After a 65-60 win over Howard on Thursday, Penn women's basketball team faces Fairfield in the second round of the Women's Basketball Invitational tonight at the Palestra. The win over the Bison was the program's first postseason victory, and the squad is looking to keep its season alive for at least one more game.
The Daily Pennsylvanian was pleased to break out our broom sticks and have a chat with one of the captains of the Penn Quidditch team, Justin Bogart, who breaks down how the game has traveled from the skies down to earth.
Wait, playing quidditch? Don't you need magic?
Bogart: Funny you should ask this. Most people who first hear about quidditch actually wonder a similar thing but their response is usually in the form of ‘but your broom don’t fly’ or something of the like. Here’s a brief history of real-life quidditch or muggle (a muggle is a person that lacks any magical abilities) quidditch as it is typically known. Muggle quidditch was conceived at Middlebury College back in 2005 by Xander Manshel, who adapted the magical sport found in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, for, simply put, gravity. Instead of flying on brooms high above the ground, the seven group of muggles (three chasers, two beaters, a keeper, and a seeker) that comprise a quidditch team run around with brooms between their legs.
To emulate the act of flying, if your broom is removed from between your legs at any moment during the game it is as if you are “falling” from the air and as a result are temporarily “knocked out” until you run back to your sides hoops. However, most people wonder how the snitch, which in the novels is a small magical gold ball with wings that flies over the quidditch pitch, was adapted for our non-magical world. In muggle quidditch, the snitch runner is a cross-country runner who dresses in all yellow and has a sock with a tennis ball (the snitch) velcroed to his shorts. The seekers must then completely remove the sock from the snitch runner’s shorts in order to have ‘snatched the snitch.’
Just how physical and demanding a game is quidditch?
Bogart: People who haven’t played quidditch just don’t understand how physically taxing the game of quidditch actually is. They just can’t get over the fact that the game is based on a fictional sport from a children’s novel. Consider this, however. The hoop-to-hoop distance on a muggle quidditch pitch is 36 yards. That means that you are constantly running, in a full sprint, the 36 yards up and down the quidditch pitch. Not only that but also quidditch is a full contact sport. Tackles are allowed as long as you wrap the other player with one arm above the knee and below the neck and initiate contact in the other player’s peripheral vision (not from behind). Quidditch sees players from all different sports backgrounds: rugby, soccer, lacrosse, etc.
Why should someone come out to practice (Hill Field at 2pm on Saturdays)?
Bogart: I always tell people to come out to practice because it is a great way to get some exercise while having fun and meeting new friends in the process.
Could you talk a bit about the quidditch community, and how inclusive it is?
Bogart: This is a great question. The quidditch community is very unique in that it has a huge online presence. I can’t tell you how many of my quidditch friends I first met on social networks such as facebook or tumblr. Then when I met them in person at a pick up game or a tournament, I already felt like we knew each other. I guess that’s what happens when you create a sport in the technological age. Now, the best descriptor I’ve heard of the quidditch community is ‘family.’ I truly believe that each and every person in the quidditch community has the support of one another.
For example, in May of last year, the Bowling Green State University quidditch team learned that a former member of their team, by the name of Hilary, passed away suddenly. They created a facebook event, which asked the members of the quidditch community to raise a broom or quaffle for the player at the same designated time (details can be found here http://www.internationalquidditch.org/2012/05/brooms-up-for-hilary/). The event was called “Brooms up for Hilary.” Sure enough players from all over raised up their brooms, quaffles, snitch tails, etc and had a moment of silence for Hilary. Even people who never even knew her or the Bowling Green State University quidditch team. The only connection they had with her was that they all were part of this quidditch community. Having a group of people like that that you can count on for support is truly powerful.
There are some people who want to hold onto the magic of how the game was played at its inception (capes, etc) and others who want to try and make the game more mainstream. Where do you fall in regards to that debate?
Bogart: Having started playing quidditch very early on, I am a bit biased in this regard. I love the capes and I wish we could bring them back. They made the game feel like quidditch to me. Another tradition that I fear we may lose soon is that the world cup trophy has always been an empty vodka bottle spray painted gold. I love this. I don’t want a real trophy. The traditional trophy just gives the vibe that all in all we are just a bunch of friends playing a game. And I want to keep that vibe. At least we still have the brooms.
But that being said, I also love the competition. Perhaps this is because I’m a twin and I grew up all my life with competition. We just have to be careful not to glorify the competition and winning too much in my opinion. The best part about quidditch is that while on the pitch you fight hard to win, but off the pitch you are all just really good friends. I want to keep it that way. And if we totally forget the magic of how the game was played at its inception, I fear that we may lose this.
Describe what a quidditch tournament is like. Are there any similarities with Rowling's description of the World Cup in Harry Potter?
Bogart: In my opinion, a quidditch tournament is kind of like a big carnival. Typically, game play lasts over two days and is broken up by musical performances as well as other talent shows. Tents are set up all over the grounds for announcers, merchandise, and teams. I feel like the quidditch tournaments successfully capture the “spectacle” that is World Cup as described in Harry Potter.
This Sunday, the Quakers will square off with Cornell in a battle of the two top Ivy League teams. We took a moment to catch up with Cornell’s head coach Jenny Graap, a Pa. native now coaching at her alma mater.
Daily Pennsylvanian: Your team is off to a great 6-0 start, including an impressive win over Penn State and two wins in the Ivy League. What has your team done to be so successful early on?
Jenny Graap: We have worked hard in the off-season to be prepared. Our strength and conditioning coach Tom Howley instills discipline and attention to detail in our Cornell athletes. WLax is fortunate to train under coach Howley, and we embody his lessons in all that we do. Our assistant coach Jen Baker has also been a tremendous asset in preparing our players, particularly for the mental aspects of competition. We have strong leadership on the squad and our players are unified both on and off the field. Our 2013 season has started off well, and Cornell has been fortunate to learn from our mistakes in games while still winning. Sometimes it takes a tough loss to teach important lessons, but we are staying focused on growing and improving as individuals and as a collective team regardless of our record.
DP: Lindsay Toppe already has 25 goals in just six games after having 11 all of last season. Only a sophomore, how important has she been to your team and how much better can she get?
JG: Toppe is a talented athlete with an exceptional lacrosse IQ. She is composed no matter what the defense throws at her, and her coaches have been very impressed with her development. She learned a ton during her freshman campaign and she has improved on all levels. Toppe's quickness and defensive ability allows her to be one of Cornell's most impactful players in our ride.
DP: Your team dropped two tough Ivy League games to Penn and Dartmouth last year, both by a goal. What does your team need to do to get over the hump and win those close games?
JG: Last year, 2012, is in the books ... Over and done. Our current squad has 19 returners who know how bad it felt to come up one goal short, especially in pivotal Ivy games. Our 2013 team needs to feed off the energy and intensity of our veterens who are setting the example of hard work in every contest. The Big Red needs to stay humble and to stay hungry all spring.
DP: You played at Cornell and you’ve coached at Cornell. How has the experience been coaching at your alma mater and how has the Ivy League changed over that time?
JG: Coaching at Cornell is a dream come true. I love recruiting great women to my alma mater. My assistants and I look for the very best high school and club lacrosse players who are hard working, confident and driven to succeed. Cornell is truly a special place, and what remains consistent over time is the calibre of young women who choose Cornell. Competition in the Ivy League has always been strong but over the years different teams have emerged at the top.
DP: You’re a West Chester native and played for the Philadelphia Club at the USWLA national tournament. Is this trip a nice homecoming for you or is it all about business?
JG: I personally love coming home to Philadelphia! I hope to get a soft pretzel and maybe a chicken cheese steak while I'm in town! We expect a good group of Cornell lacrosse alumni to be at Franklin Field on Sunday. Go Big Red!
Here is a new feature for the Buzz called Quaker Notemeal, where we'll cycle through some important statistics heading into an upcoming Penn sporting event. The first Quaker Notemeal will go over some key numbers that may decide Saturday’s Penn-Cornell men’s lacrosse matchup.
One- Always good to focus on number one, right? In this case, an important thing to look out for will be end of game situations. This season, the Red and Blue have three wins by two goals or less, including two one-goal victories.
On the other hand, Cornell’s only loss this season came in a one-goal affair against Bucknell on Wednesday, as the Big Red gave up a game-winning goal with exactly one minute to play. If the game is close at the end, Penn may have a slight edge over No. 2 Cornell.
Three- It is only fitting that both team’s attacks are led by seniors wearing the same number. Tim Schwalje was Penn’s leading scorer returning from last season and has picked up from where he left off, leading the Quakers with 11 assists and 21 points.
For Cornell, it is all about Rob Pannell. His resume speaks for itself, as he has won Ivy League Player of the Year twice, been named first team All-American, and is a two-time winner of the Jack Turnbull Division I National Attackman of the Year. This season, he has recovered from a season-ending injury early last season to lead the Ancient Eight in both assists and points per game.
Ten- The 10-goal threshold is another stat that will strongly factor into Saturday’s outcome. Cornell came into this week leading the NCAA in goals per game but began the week with the loss to Bucknell. An important thing to note from that loss is that it was also the first time this season the Big Red have been held to fewer than 10 goals.
10 will also be important for Penn. The Quakers are 4-0 this year when holding teams to fewer than 10 goals, compared to just 1-1 when allowed 10+ goals. If Penn wants to upset Cornell for the first time in seven attempts, they will likely need to hold the Big Red’s high-powered offense to single-digit goals.
.444- That is Penn’s scoring percentage when it has a man-up advantage. The Quakers lead the Ivy League in man-up scoring percentage. While Cornell averages four penalties a game, – fifth in the conference – the Big Red also kill off 78 percent of their penalties, good for second best in the Ancient Eight.
20 to 10- Penn has outscored opponents 20-10 in the fourth quarter this season. This is a large reason why Penn has gone from 0-4 in one-goal games last season to 2-0 in the same situations this year. The 10-goal advantage in the fourth quarter mirrors Penn’s overall scoring margin, 62-52.
Last month, the Penn Chess Club secured its third straight Ivy League Championship. In an email interview, Penn Chess Club President and Captain Zack Weiner explained some inner workings of the game and the tournaments.
How did you get into chess? Did you ever take lessons?
Weiner: I got into chess like most kids, playing against my dad. Once I realized I was pretty good, I wanted to get better, so I started taking lessons in elementary school and my parents hired a coach for me in middle school. By the time I got to high school it was basically all self-motivated studying that got me to where I am.
What do you guys do in a typical meeting? Is it more going over strategies or playing chess itself? How frequently do you guys meet?
Weiner: We meet every Sunday in Houston Hall at 2pm. Anyone is welcome to come. Most players come just to shake off the rust and play some games for fun. A lot of times we end up getting real into it and analyzing our games afterwards though.
How do competitions usually work? Is there a ranking system?
Weiner: The way that team tournaments like The Ivy League Chess Championship work, is that you compete in teams of 4 and you are paired up by rating (In chess, the higher the rating the better. For example, I am about 2150, the best player in the world is over 2800.) So our highest rated player plays against their highest rated, our second highest against their second highest, etc. If out of the four games you have a score of 2.5 or better (a win counts as 1, a draw as .5), you win the match. The team with the best match results after 4 rounds wins the tournament.
What's the organization of the Ivy League chess competition? How many times have we won it in recent history?
Weiner: The Ivy League Championship is run and hosted by Columbia University. We have won every year that I've been here, which makes us three-time champs!
Do you guys still play bughouse?
Weiner: We definitely do still play Bughouse at club.
Do you have any tips for beginners for beginners in chess and in Bughouse?
Weiner: I think the most important principal for beginners in chess is patience. As the great Emanual Lawler said, "When you see a good move, look for a better one." It takes a while for novice chess players to realize there is no rush, and the game becomes more beautiful, and more fun, the more you put into each move. For bughouse, my recommendation for beginners would be to focus on king protection first and foremost.
Now that the Penn men's and women's basketball seasons have ended, it's time to turn our attention to the progress of other teams sporting the Red and Blue. With the baseball, softball and tennis teams in action, among others, it was a busy weekend for the Quakers. For coverage of those teams and more, here is this week's edition of the Weekend Wrap:
Men's Tennis:
After completing a slate of five matchups over spring break, the Penn men's team was back in action on Saturday. The Quakers went up against No. 26 Virginia Commonwealth, and ultimately fell, 7-0. It was a rough day for every member of the team, as the Red and Blue failed to capture any of the three doubles matches, and dropped every set in singles matches.
While the Penn football team may not be seeing any action beyond spring practices anytime soon, it's been a busy few months for three senior players. Brandon Copeland, Scott Lopano and Joe Bonadies participated in Villanova's NFL pro day on Monday after weeks of preparation.
After a rough start to the season, things are turning around quickly for the Penn women's lacrosse team. Coming of a victory in their Ivy League opener, the Quakers picked up their second consecutive conference victory, this time over Yale, 12-8. Senior Caroline Bunting had a huge game, recording three goals and four assists for the Red and Blue.
Although poor weather conditions shifted the start of the Penn baseball team's back-to-back doubleheaders with George Washington to Virginia instead of Philadelphia, the Quakers were able to secure a series victory. Strong pitching, a deep rotation and timely hitting came in handy for the Red and Blue, who took three of four from the Colonials.
The Penn softball squad put together two of its most impressive performances of the season over the weekend. Sophomore pitcher Alexis Borden kicked off the two-game set with her second career no-hitter on Friday. The Quakers followed up that 8-0 victory with an equally impressive offensive outing on Saturday, demolishing Lafayette again, 11-2.
Despite a strong start on the uneven bars, the Penn gymnastics team fell to North Carolina over the weekend, 194.075-191.525. Seniors Kirsten Strausbaugh and Dana Bonincontri led the team with seventh and eighth -place finishes, scoring 9.775 and 9.750 respectively.
The Penn women's tennis team faced a tough matchup with Maryland over the weekend, and ended up dropping a heartbreaker, 4-3. Though the Quakers fell, Maryland is a strong team and coach Sanela Kunovac was more than pleased with how her girls performed. Stephanie Do, a junior, and her doubles partner, sophomore Alex Ion, won their doubles match early, but the Red and Blue couldn't sustain that momentum over the course of the day.
Although the Penn men's lacrosse team faced quite a few obstacles this weekend, the team was able to defeat No. 7 Princeton, 11-10. Playing in difficult weather, the Quakers held of a furious rally from the Tigers, and were able to preserve a much-needed Ivy League victory. After Princeton narrowed the Quakers’ lead to just one goal with 45 seconds left, the Tigers missed two shots at a goal before turning the ball over, securing the win for Penn.
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