Two sure signs of spring this morning: baseball's opening day and the dismantling of the seasonal air structure. Rejoice!
Oddly, this comes just a day after the DP's gag issue joked that someone had maliciously popped the Bubble. The power of satire, folks.
The Ivy League announced the 80 men and women chosen for Academic All-Ivy honors for the 2011-12 winter season today, and 10 Penn athletes were honored.
To qualify for the award, the student-athletes had to be a starter or key reserve on an officially recognized varsity team with a 3.0 or better cumulative GPA. Each Ivy school nominated five men and five women from its winter teams.
Here are the Quakers who were selected: Zack Rosen is the most notable of the Quakers honored. The Wharton senior was a unanimous selection for Ivy League PLayer of the Year and a first-team All-Ivy selection.
Brendan McHugh, a senior in the College, will leave Penn as its most accomplished swimmer in history. He holds six individual school records and is a two-time Ivy League champion in the 100 breaststroke. He qualified for three events at this year's NCAA Championships, finishing 14th in the 100 and 200 breast races. He will continue his career at the Olympic Trials this summer.
College senior Jess Knapp led the women's basketball team to its highest win total since the 2004-05 season. Despite playing with two torn knee ligaments in the final 13 games of the season, Knapp finished seventh in the league in blocks and eighth in rebounding.
Erich Smith finished his wrestling career at Penn at the NCAA Championships. The College senior won his first match of the tournament, 6-4, ending his final season with a 20-18 record.
College senior Thomas Mattsson played No. 1 in each of his four seasons on the men's squash team. The captain was named a first-team All-Ivy this year for the first time in his career.
Amrit Bhinder, a junior in Wharton, finished 12th in women's epee at the NCAA Fencing Championships with 12 victories. She was honored as an All-American for the second year in a row.
College junior Rachael Goh was named to the All-Ivy team in women's squash for the second consecutive year. She finished this season with an 11-5 record playing in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots.
Zane Grodman completed his fencing career at Penn with a 15th place finish in men's foil at the NCAA Championships. The College senior had 43 bout wins this season and helped lead the Red and Blue to a 16-0 start.
Gymnastics captain Kirsten Strausbaugh won the uneven bars and floor exercise at the ECAC Championships to help Penn win its first ECAC title since 2004. The College junior will compete in the all-around at the NCAA regional meet on April 7.
Catherine Okoukoni ended her indoor track and field career with the third-best high jump in Penn history at 12.45 meters, earning second-team All-Ivy honors at the 2012 Indoor Heptagonal Championships. The Engineering senior continues her career in the outdoor season.
Believe it or not, there was a lot that didn't make it into my long read in today's DP about Zack Rosen's professional basketball aspirations, so I thought I'd share a little more here.
Rosen sat down two weekends ago and heard pitches from about a half-dozen agencies that are seeking to represent him. It's a difficult process because different agents bring different qualities and skill sets to the table, and since Rosen doesn't know where he'll end up, it's kind of a gamble no matter what he does.
It’s not an easy process because it’s like — do you want to go with a bigger agency that represents all these NBA guys and you’ll be one of them, but are they going to do everything they can for you? are they going to make you feel special? Are you always going to have access to them? Or do you want to go with someone who’s up and coming.To aid him in this process Rosen has a core group that he's leaning on for advice when he needs it, "my circle," he called it. That includes his parents, Penn coaches Jerome Allen and Dan Leibovitz, and his St. Benedict's high school coach Dan Hurley, who just left Wagner to take a coaching position at Rhode Island. I asked Rosen what they've been telling him:Do you go with someone who has more pull with NBA people but doesn’t know much about Europe — there’s so many factors. It’s exciting.
Listen to what they have to say and then sit down and evaluate what you want. That stuff’s foreign to me, I don’t know about it. Jerome knows tons about it because he played for so long, and coach Hurley knows so much about it because of Bobby [Hurley, his brother] and what they went through with that. [Bobby was a first round NBA pick in 1993 out of Duke].He also has several friends who played professionally in Israel who he is talking with about that process. One frequent question that comes up in discussions about becoming an Israeli citizen is whether Rosen would have to do the mandatory service in the country's army. He wasn't sure of the answer.
Finally, just for fun I asked Rosen where he thought he'd be in 20 years. I have no clue what my answer would be to this question, but Zack had a pretty clear idea. It goes without saying that it involves basketball:
Married happily with kids. I’ll never get away from basketball. … There’s nothing that I’ve found in life yet that I’m more passionate about. If you’re that passionate about something, you’re gonna do it. If it came down to going out or sitting in my room and watching some lower level D-I game that had a good coach and I was watching strategy, I love that.I don’t know if college coaching is for me. Just because the hours are ridiculous. People don’t realize what those guys go through, on the road. That would have to be the right fit for me to do it. But I really could see myself coaching high school. [Butler senior Ronald] Nored doesn’t even want to play, he’s going to be the head coach at Gordon Heyward’s old high school starting next year, he already signed. He’s excited about being a high school coach.
The way coach Hurley and the people at St. Benedicts and my high school coach at Colonia, the way they influenced me changed my life, if I could have that positive influence on kids 14-18 years old and change the trajectory of where they’re going to go, to me there’s nothing more satisfying.
Where else are you going to have that kind of impact on people directly. In business? I don’t know how. There might be. I just don’t see that yet. And I’m not as passionate in that area. If I can touch people’s live through coaching, teaching, that would be awesome.
The farther I take it playing, the more opportunities I’ll have. The more people you meet, the more you learn.
Last week I reported that Penn senior Rob Belcore had received an offer from Italian pro league team Angelico Biella. The first offer came in, it wasn’t what Belcore was looking for, so negotiations continued. Last Thursday morning, Belcore was notified that negotiations had stalled so Angelico Biella could focus on the weekend's game. He was told they would continue beginning Monday.
Stay with me, because it gets complicated.
Last Friday (March 23), an Italian hoops website reported that 21-year-old Greek player Leonidas Kaselakis had been practicing with the team. All signs pointed toward Kaselakis signing with Biella, as the following day the same site reported that Belcore was not offered and Angelico Biella was not interested.
Yesterday, Kaselakis was sent home to Greece. Giovanni Barga of Eurobasket.com reports that Angelico Biella will "probably get to the end of the season without adding players to its roster," but will continue monitoring the market. In the mean time, Belcore is back in talks with the team after thinking he would not be going to Italy this spring.
Biella certainly knows how to create drama. My sense is that the team has one roster spot available and wants to make the best decision possible. But with five weeks remaining in the season, one might think Angelico Biella would like to sign someone and have an extra body on the court. But again, for Belcore, it's a waiting game.
At the Sheraton in New Orleans for the Final Four, courtesy of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award facebook:
The DP accompanied the men's heavyweight rowing team as they practiced in the wee hours of the morning Wednesday on the Schuylkill. Here's a short video of the practice put together by our Video Producer, Dan Nessenson:
At the Butler game last week, I caught up with Penn alum, former PA governor, and avid sports fan Ed Rendell for an interview on Penn sports, the all-time Quaker greats, and what you should do when you've moved to Philly, and still have to root for a terrible home team. We published an abbreviated version of the interview in the paper. Here is the full transcript:
How many years have you been a fan of Penn athletics?Well, since my freshman year in the fall of '61. I remember on December 22 - I think it was - I was supposed to go home for Christmas to New York and we were playing St. Joe's on a Friday night. It went to a triple overtime and I missed my train. And we won in triple overtime.
Do you have a list of your top five Quaker athletes?
Oh gosh. I think they'd be all basketball. And it would be that great '71 team - Dave Wohl, Steve Bilsky, Corky Calhoun and Bob Morse, and maybe I'd throw in Keven McDonald or Ron Haigler. The later years.
Where does Zack Rosen rank in there?
I'd say Zack is one of the top five guards to ever play for Penn. But Butler's doing a great job tonight. A great job.
You're a native New Yorker, right?
Yes.
How long did it take you to start rooting for Philadelphia teams?
Well, it depends on the sport. I lasted longer on the football Giants. Didn't become an Eagles fan until the early seventies.
For a long suffering Redskins fans or Mets or Wizards fans, what do you say?
Some day it will turn around. [laughing] For the Redskins, hopefully not too soon.
He may not have gotten a ticket to the Big Dance during his four-year career, but Penn's star point guard Zack Rosen will head to the NCAA Final Four this weekend in New Orleans as a finalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.
The award, of which Rosen is one of 10 finalists, will be presented at 3 p.m., Friday. He'll take part in some other festivities as a part of the award, which recognizes "great achievement during competition and in their community while staying in school."
There had been some rumors in recent weeks that Rosen might get a shot to participate in the 3-point competition during the Final Four, though he said he hasn't heard anything about that. The website for the competition lists five confirmed players.
Meanwhile, Rosen is relishing the opportunity to attend college basketball's biggest weekend.
"I’m going down to the Final Four with a notebook," he said. "I want to find Coach K and ask him about motivating people or sit down with Brad Stevens and talk about ball screen defense."
The Ivy League Player of the Year has taken a brief but well deserved respite from the court since his season ended witha loss to Steven's Butler team in the CBI post-season tournament last week. He'll start training again soon for the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, where he'll hope to impress NBA scouts as he begins to look toward a professional career after Penn.
Read more about the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and Rosen's weekend here.
Penn Law professor Stephen Burbank, the "Special Master" of the NFL since 2002, will arbitrate the salary cap allegations between the NFL and the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys.
Burbank worked extensively last spring and summer during the NFL lockout and in the months leading up to the lockout.
If you haven't been following along, the NFL penalized the two teams for overloading contracts in 2010 in order to take advantage of a salary cap loophole. Teams were reportedly advised against this salary dumping, but the rule was never in writing. The league has decided to take away a combined $46 million over two years and distribute it to the remaining teams (with the exception of New Orleans and Oakland).
Burbank will have his hands full in the arbitration, as the NFL has essentially struck down hard on a salary cap violation when there was technically no salary cap in place. And here's one more kink to be ironed out: John Mara, owner of the New York Giants and division rival of the Redskins and Cowboys, chairs the committee that docked the salary cap space. According to The New York Times, Mara asserts that "the penalties imposed were proper"
I spoke with Zack Rosen today about his prospects for a pro career and his outlook on the situation. He's meeting with several agents tomorrow who will hope to woo his favor as he begins to look toward a career in the NBA or European Leagues.
You'll have to wait for the dead-tree version of the story sometime next week and pay for a copy of the DP (just kidding!) but in the meantime, I thought I'd bring up one point that Rosen touched on during our conversation:
"I watch a lot of college basketball," Rosen said. "Watching it now around the country, I watch games and — it’s not arrogance — I don’t see a lot of guys that I would say, 'damn, that guy is so much better than me.' I just don’t."Coupled with today's news that Duke's freshman guard Austin Rivers is reportedly leaving the Blue Devils to declare for the NBA draft, I thought it might be fun to compare the two head to head. Rosen doesn't put a ton of stock in stats, and it's obviously an oversimplification — especially in terms of NBA scouting. We're also comparing players from the Ivy League and ACC. But consider also the defenses Rosen faced this year. Their primary goal was almost always to simply stop #1. Nonetheless:
You won't find Rosen's name on many NBA draft projections. Rivers is a projected first-rounder.
Penn's basketball season may be over, but it's time to look toward the future and Jerome Allen and Co. might want to check out these Penn students who can dunk.
Here's the best from Penn Rec's dunk contest Thursday night:
The Line is alive and well! Oh wait, that's for Spring Fling floor passes.
Thursday morning around 12:15 am (6:15 am in Italy), Italian Serie A team Angelico Biella offered Belcore a first offer for the remainder of the team's season. Belcore, who holds an Italian passport, would be eligible to begin playing in Italy immediately. While the contract is currently being negotiated, it would be prorated based on the 6-7 weeks remaining in Angelico Biella's season.
If Belcore were to accept the offer, he would forego the remainder of his final semester at Penn. He would return to Philadelphia after the season to take summer classes and graduate, then potentially return to Italy in the fall.
UPDATE: Contract negotiations have been stalled until Monday, as Angelico Biella is preparing for its game Saturday.
Stay tuned for more details as they come.
Tonight’s match-up against Butler brought this long – in a good way – season to a close, losing 63-53. Just two years ago, the Quakers were a 6-22 team. Now, they rose out of the rubble since then to complete the season 20-13. Though a slightly messy way to end the season, this game provided a glimpse into some of next year’s emerging talent and also the work that needs to be done. As Jerome Allen said, this tournament was a “celebration of the season we did have.”
The Good: Close game with some younger faces. For the majority of the game, the score was close. It was only in the last few minutes that Butler pulled away. During this game, we got to see some faces that rarely made it on to the court this year. Simeon Esprit played for 9 minutes and scored a nice three in the final minutes of the game. With Howlett and Bernardini out for what would be the final game, this match-up previewed some of the talent that will be available next year. The two younger big men, Brooks and Dougherty had some playing time together, with Doc emerging to show what he will bring to the table next season. In the final game for the seniors, the attitude was focused on learning for next season.
The Bad: Shooting behind the arc – Penn was uncharacteristically off when it came to 3-point shooting tonight. They were 4-20 overall and shot for 20% from three in both halves. Cartwright was the highest scorer, raking in 12 points, but he was 1 for 7 from three. Both executing on these shots and getting more shots up and in when in the paint was crucial in keeping up with Butler down the stretch.
The Ugly: Turnovers – At times, this game looked like a game of volleyball or pop-a-ball. One second Butler had it, the next Penn, and so on during empty possessions. Though at first the out rebounding was going to be "the ugly" focal point, the turnovers were even more noticeable throughout this game. There were 25 turnovers together for both teams, and Penn kept losing the ball in this manner. They just had a lot of trouble keeping the ball secure during possessions.
I'm here at the Palestra on a steamy Philadelphia evening (the 8pm start has worked in our favor) with Sushaan Modi and Allison Bart, as Penn takes on Butler in the second round of the CBI Tournament. Student tickets were free for tonight's game against the Bulldogs, who appeared in the last two NCAA championships. Follow along, as you probably don't get HDNet to watch on TV.
Inquiring minds want to know.
From the Indianapolis Star's preview of tonight's Butler-Penn CBI matchup:
ZACK-SANITY?
Butler coach Brad Stevens compared Penn senior Zack Rosen to another Ivy League guard of some renown. "His numbers are almost across the board better than Jeremy Lin," Stevens said. "He is the Ivy League Player of the Year. Jeremy Lin wasn't." Rosen (18.5 ppg, 5.3 apg, 40 percent on 3s) and Butler's Ronald Nored are two of 10 finalists for the Lowe's Senior Class Award.
The official ink and paper preview of Penn men's basketball's game vs. Butler Monday night hits newsstands tomorrow, but in the mean-time, here's a few points on the visiting Bulldogs for this second-round CBI matchup:
Earlier this season, many thought the Harvard Crimson had a legitimate shot at advancing deep into the NCAA tournament — at least deeper than usual Ivy contender.
Not yet. In its first tourney appearance since 1946, Harvard fell, 79-70, to SEC tournament champion Vanderbilt in Albuquerque, N.M. The Crimson played Vandy close through much of the first half, but the Commodores pulled away before the break, thanks to a 13-0 run. Harvard was able to narrow the deficit to five with just a minute and a half left, but couldn't close the gap.
BOX SCORE: Vanderbilt 79, Harvard 70
Crimson sophomore Laurent Rivard led Harvard with 20 points. Forwards Keith Wright and Kyle Casey scored eight and 13 points, respectively. Wright added nine rebounds. Vanderbilt guard John Jenkins scored 27, shooting 7-for-12.
It will still be a banner season for Harvard. The Crimson cracked the Top-25 rankings for several weeks, and captured their first-ever outright Ivy League title.
The Penn men's basketball team beat Quinnipiac, 74-63, Wednesday night, but there were very few fans in attendance to witness the Quakers' victory.
The reported attendance at the Palestra was just 1,268.
In an effort to boost student attendance for Monday night's game against Butler, Penn Athletics is giving out free student tickets. An email sent out today said that the goal is to fill both ends of the Palestra with students.
Tickets will be handed out on Locust Walk today, Friday and Monday. Students can also pick up a ticket in Weightman Hall or can order one online.
Tickets are also free for Penn staff and faculty.
If you're not a student or staff or faculty member, chairback seats are just $10, but can only be purchased by contacting the Ticket Office directly. General admission tickets are $5 and can be bought at the box office or online. And if you haven't heard, you can now print your tickets at home!
Before spring break, students were definitely back into Penn basketball, but poor promotion for the Quinnipiac game led to a very small crowd.
Fortunately, they have another chance to pack the Cathedral. The last time Penn Athletics handed out free tickets to students was the Harvard game and the Palestra was rocking. Do you think the effort will work this time around?
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