Bradford's back for another week of post-game analysis. Mr. Blackmon gives us a little taste of what it may have been like on the field during a high-stakes matchup between Penn and Yale.
To say these two teams don't like each other would be an understatement.
From the coaches to the players on both sides, about the only thing they have in common is that they look forward each year to having the chance to release that dislike on a football field. If you noticed whenever there was a close-up after the plays there was a lot of talk going on between the teams and I can guarantee they weren't telling each other 'good play'. The intensity was evident through the force that each hit had behind it.
The first half was a defensive struggle that would make the traditional football fan happy. It was a grind-it-out, hit-them-in-the-mouth, struggle-for-every-inch type of game: the teams combined to allow 10 points total. At halftime, I can imagine Coach Priore stressing to the defense to keep up the pressure and continue getting shots at the quarterback whenever they can. The more you hit the quarterback, the more he's worrying about getting hit instead of making plays. The offense most likely received a similar message. It was not like they were not making plays on Yale's defense, Penn just was not finishing drives off with points.
If you were expecting the same type of game in the second half then you were in for a rude awakening. Yale came out in the second half airing it out and had great success doing it and grabbing a quick touchdown. After seeing Yale go the aerial route, Coach McLaughlin seemed to follow suit and opened up the playbook and allowed Billy to show off his arm; he hit Joe Holder for a touchdown in the back corner of the endzone. Yale quickly answered with a 60-yard touchdown to extend their lead back out to 10.
The 4th quarter was full of plays that kept fans jumping out of their seats. It seemed like Billy decided he was not going to allow his team to lose. He knows that on offense each play starts with the quarterback and it's his job to make sure the offense goes as planned. Early in the 4th quarter Billy called his own number and took a 40-yard QB keeper to the Yale 16-yard line and then found Luke Nawrocki running down the hash for a quick touchdown.
Then Coach Bagnoli made the call of the game. In a play that gets practiced for about 5 minutes during Sunday's walkthrough and another 5 minutes during Tuesday's practice, Bagnoli called a timely pooch kick to take the ball out of the deep returner's hands. That call could not have worked out better for Penn, as the ball dropped just in front of the up-man and was scooped up by a Penn player. Penn quickly put more points on the board behind the legs and arm of Billy Ragone.
Billy perhaps had his best statistical game of his career, tallying 330 yards of total offense and adding 4 touchdowns. The Quakers had 8 different players catch passes and 6 different players carry the ball. With that sort of offensive production and Penn's continued defensive dominance, it's not looking too good for the rest of the league.
The Good: This was the first time I've seen Penn's offense look this versatile. We know what we're going to get every time Brandon Colavita steps on the turf. Wideouts Ryan Mitchell and Ryan Calvert have been quarterback Billy Ragone's go-to guys so far this season, and today Ragone mixed it up. He found a lot of success with tight end Luke Nawrocki over the middle and found Joe Holder once in the end zone as well. And with that combination of run and pass, it just opens up Ragone's scramble game, as we saw on his 11-yard touchdown.
The Bad: Ivy League penalties. I'm obviously all for penalties that are going to keep players safe, but the ridiculous 15-yard personal fouls the refs called on players for taunting, celebrating, etc. are just absurd. This is football. The whole Ivy-League-better-behaved-than-thou mindset is just silly and even the Versus commentators said they had never seen some of these penalties called before.
The Ugly: Yale special teams. Yowza. Allowing an onside pooch kick and then fumbling their next attempt at a kickoff return. And a missed PAT. Just remember that if the onside kick had not worked in Penn's favor, we would all be crying about how Al Bagnoli should never have attempted a trick like that. But props to the coach for having the chutzpah to go for it.
It's a battle of the Ivy unbeatens at Franklin Field today. 2-0 Yale and Penn face off, and the loser of this game will have a much tougher road to the Ivy title game. I'm here today with Ethan Alter and Eli Cohen, and it looks like this will be an exciting game on a beautiful fall afternoon.
If today doesn't scream Ivy League football, I don't know what does. The sun is shining, it's a crisp 60 degrees outside, the leaves on campus are turning, and we've got a showdown a Franklin Field with two 2-0 Ivy teams. So I asked the roundtable crew to give me two keys to the this crucial game.
Brian Kotloff: Well, I wrote my whole preview on Yale QB Patrick Witt, so I'll say he holds the key to this game. I think the Quakers need to get an early lead and control possession with the run game to force Yale to abandon the run. A passing attack like Yale's is just so much easier to defend without the threat of the run. Then, I think Penn needs to apply pressure up front, so I see DL Brandon Copeland as a huge factor in this one. Penn should hope to hurry Witt without having to blitz, so it can keep the defensive backs in coverage in order to defend the Bulldogs' spread offense. If Witt can sit comfortably in the pocket all day, the Quakers could be in trouble.
Kevin Esteves: Right, Penn will have to pressure Witt, and at the same time, their secondary will have to be in lockdown-mode. Coach Bagnoli admitted in Kotloff's preview that Witt makes it hard on the secondary because you have to defend the whole field. That could spell trouble for the Quakers, as Penn's own secondary has been burned repeatedly in the team's first few games. They'll need a big performance from a guy like Justyn Williams.
Calder Silcox: Penn's pass defense may not be great, but Yale's is worse. The key to this game won't be Penn's defense. I think this game could be a shootout, and the Billy Ragone connection to Ryan Calvert and Ryan Mitchell will be key. Assuming Penn can open up the game on the ground, that is. My second key, assuming this does, in fact, become a high scoring affair, will be the foot of Connor Loftus.
Megan Soisson: Brian stole my thunder. I spoke with Brandon Copeland yesterday and he had an awesome perspective on playing his position. He said what he loves about defense is the mentality of always trying to get to the QB and force turnovers — as if the ball is his for the taking. If Cope (or anyone for that matter) can get to Witt and put some pressure on him, the Quakers will be in good shape. Offensively, a balanced attack is key. Penn has improved on that in the last few games, and they've had success.
Little known fact: The Palestra is not at its best on Friday or Saturday nights. Or any night. Come during the daytime and you'll see what I mean. With the light pushing through the opaque skylights, the ceiling and rafters are lit up blue, and the banners pop.
But nobody, except the teams that practice there, gets to see it. I'd love to see some Big 5 or Ivy games pushed up into the daytime in the future. Until then, your chance to see the Palestra in a new light will be Saturday, when both basketball teams hold their Red and Blue intrasquad scrimmages.
Starting conveniently after The Line ends, the women's team will give fans a first look at 9:45, and the men will start at 10:30. We'll be liveblogging with our first impressions of the 2011 Quakers.
So come and get a look at some rough pre-season basketball. But also come see one of my favorite places at Penn.
They say there's no school spirit at Penn. Apparently three freshmen didn't get the memo.
Jake Albano, Jordan Holmes and Michael Pintauro are camping out on College Green in a less-than-three-man tent, hoping to be first in The Line Friday for men's basketball season tickets. It hasn't been since the pre-Jerome Allen years (as a player) that students actually camped outside the Palestra to get tickets. These three young fans want to change that. They've been mistaken for Occupy Philly protesters. They've been on an all-McDonalds and Insomnia Cookies diet. They're a little bit concerned for their safety. All in the name of Penn Basketball.
My colleague Brian Kotloff and I braved the cold tonight to see what these gentlemen were all about:
(Hat tip to Penn cheerleader Jenna Schultz a.k.a. @jultzz)
With the game tied and less than two minutes remaining, last week’s football game between Penn and Columbia looked to be eerily similar to the 1996 game between the two teams. Thankfully, the Red and Blue escaped with the victory, and I avoided any possible blame for jinxing the Quakers by blogging about the last time they lost to the Lions. Although I won’t always be focusing solely on the history of the football team, this week’s segment, relevant to Saturday’s Penn-Yale matchup, goes back to the gridiron.
On this day in Penn sports history …
October 20, 2007: This date marks the longest football game played in the history of the Red and Blue — a triple-overtime thriller between Yale and Penn at Franklin Field. Coming into the game, the Bulldogs boasted a 5-0 record and were tied for first in the Ivy League with Harvard, while the Quakers were a mediocre 2-3 overall, but 1-1 in the Ivies and coming off a 59-28 thrashing of Columbia the week before. A year earlier, the Red and Blue also took the Elis to overtime, but ultimately fell 17-14 en route to a 3-4 Ivy season.
In regulation, the game went back and forth — an offensive struggle that ended with the score tied 10-10. In the first overtime, the Bulldogs received the ball first and advanced to the Penn 4-yard line on the first play, and after two Quaker penalties, scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to take a 17-10 lead. Penn did not tie the score easily, as they were faced with a fourth-and-five on the Yale 20 on their OT possession. After an incomplete pass on that fourth down, it looked like the Bulldogs could celebrate, but flag was thrown on what the Yale Daily News called “a questionable pass interference,” giving the Quakers new life. Three plays later, Penn evened the score, 17-17, forcing a second overtime.
Receiving the ball first this time, Penn got as close as the Yale 6-yard line, but ultimately had to settle for a field goal to take a 20-17 lead. The Bulldogs also failed to reach the endzone, and they barely tied the game on a 21-yard field goal after their long snapper skipped the snap back to the holder. On the play, Yale kicker Alan Kimball actually stopped his momentum to give the holder time to set up the ball, and then Kimball proceeded to punch a wobbler through the uprights to tie the score, 20-20.
On to the third overtime they went, where college football rules stipulate that teams must go for two points after scoring a touchdown to help prevent the game from going on forever. Yale again received the ball first and basically duplicated their possession from the first overtime — a long completion on the first play, and they punched it in close. It was not without controversy, however, as it appeared Bulldogs running back may have been brought down before reaching the goal line. After failing on the two-point conversion, Yale led, 26-20.
The Quakers followed by quickly marching down the field, setting up a first-and-goal at the 2. Being very similar to the 2011 squad, the 2007 team tried to punch it in on the ground on first down, and second down, and third down, but the Bulldogs’ front line stopped all three attempts, bringing up and fourth-and-goal. The DP’s postgame recap best sums up what happened next:
With his team down by six in the last overtime, it was [Joe Sandberg] who took a pitch to the left side on fourth-and-goal from the 1. Out of room, he improvised, reversing direction and [passing] the ball to a grateful Nick Cisler, the senior fullback [who was wide open in the endzone]. Sandberg sprinted to the sideline for an impromptu hug with offensive coordinator Bill Schmitz. Then he turned around and crouched in disbelief. Ineligible man downfield. Five-yard penalty.
An incomplete pass on the play following the penalty sealed the wacky, controversy-filled game for the Bulldogs. Yale went on to finish 6-1 in Ivy play, its only loss coming against Harvard — the outright Ivy champs that season. For Penn, the 2007 season was the last time it finished the Ivy season with a losing record (3-4), and the game marks the only triple-overtime game in its history to date, as well as the last time the team lost to Yale.
Of the many great stadiums to take in a college football game, the ones that most easily come to mind are places like The Big House in Michigan, Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. If a Penn student was asked the question, he or she could probably name dozens of stadiums before thinking of the one right down the street.
The rationale behind including The Frank on the list is due mostly to the field's illustrious history — the oldest college football stadium still in use, the site of the first ever radio and television broadcasts of a football game, and one of the few NCAA stadiums that can also claim to be the former home of an NFL team, which Franklin Field was for the Eagles from 1958-1970.
Others listed are less surprising, such as The Swamp in Gainsville, FL, Ohio Stadium in Columbus, and Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. After Franklin Field, the next most surprising on the list is probably Bronco Stadium, home of the Boise State Broncos and the Smurf Turf. Notably left off the list was Beaver Stadium in Happy Valley — I wonder what our state school friends think about that one.
With The Line fast approaching, the Red and Blue Crew is out trying to drum up support for its biggest event of the year.
Today they were out on Locust Walk in front of Steiny-D with a basketball hoop, handing out prizes to anyone who could make a shot. The giveaway? These ridiculous net-hats with a Penn logo. Because when it's cold outside, I want a novelty hat of very loose mesh. Thanks, Penn Athletics!
“We play Friday, Saturday night in the Ivy League — a lot of the campus doesn’t know that," Rosen said. "[Getting a good turnout] would be a major start in the right direction.”
Accompanying the Quakers will be Richard Kendall, Pennsylvania Class of 1951, who will be the oldest rower to compete this weekend, according to The Boston Globe.
The 82-year-old oarsman has won the Senior Veteran Singles division (age 70 and over) in 10 of the past 11 years — missing the regatta in 2006 after recovering from cancer. He still holds the course record for the event, which he set in 2001 at 20 minutes, 31.75 seconds.
While a student at Penn, Kendall was part of the lightweight team that overcame insurmountable odds to win the Henley Royal Regatta in 1951 — the rowing equivalent of the Super Bowl. The team celebrated its 60th Anniversary of the feat last year.
The award strives "to honor the absolute finest from the gridiron at the high school level," according to NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell.
Loftus graduated from Servite High School in Villa Park, Calif. In each of his four seasons there, he was ranked in the top five of all kickers nationally. He also helped his team to an overall 44-9 record on the way to four consecutive Trinity League championships. Off the field, he posted a 4.78 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and was named the school's salutatorian.
The freshman has had big shoes to fill at Penn, however, succeeding Andrew Samson, the best kicker in Penn football history. He has struggled a bit so far. In the Quakers' comeback win at Dartmouth on Oct. 1, Loftus nailed a 35-yard attempt at the end of the first half to put the Quakers up by 10, but also missed a 38-yarder and had another attempt blocked, two scores that could have cost the Quakers a win. Heading into this weekend's game against Yale, he is 6 for 9 on field goal attempts, with a long of 44 yards.
Penn coach Al Bagnoli isn't worried about his young kicker and certainly isn't surprised about his award.
"Connor has been a terrific addition to our program," Bagnoli told Penn Athletics. "He is certainly deserving of this award. He had a tremendous high school career and we knew we were getting a great kid with an excellent history of success on the field and in the classroom."
Loftus will have some Ivy League company when he is honored at a reception at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on December 6th. While he represents the Western Region, Princeton wide receiver Matt Costello and Columbia defensive back Tyler Hamblin will represent the Northeast and Midwest regions, respectively.
Youth will be key for Penn men's basketball this year. The team has six seniors (including a few super seniors) but no juniors on the underclassmen-heavy roster. We've seen some promise out of the sophomore class, but there are still many unknowns — the entire freshman class being the biggest.
Henry Brooks: No. 2, Miller Grove (Ga.): The freshmen is definitely high on the unknown list after tearing his ACL last year. But his pedigree is also high, coming out of the second-best ranked high school program in the country. The Wolverines went 31-2 last season and with Brooks' leadership emerged as a "national powerhouse," as ESPN called them.
Miles Cartwright: No. 26, Loyola (Ca.): The guard is not an unknown. After Game 1 last year, Penn fans knew exactly what they were getting — a bonafide star for four years. If that bodes well for the future, so does that fact that his old teammate, Loyola senior Julian Harrell, will join him at Penn next year. The swingman and leader of Loyola's team committed to play for Penn earlier this month. ESPN notes that this is the school's highest preseason ranking since 1989-90.
Greg Louis: No. 49, Dwyer (Fla.): The big man could play big minutes for Penn in a frontcourt that needs as much help as it can get. He comes out of a program that is building some basketball cred in the football-dominated state of Florida. Dwyer won the Florida 5A title last year, when Louis was called the most important player on the team and the "Glue that holds Dwyer together," by a Palm Beach Post beat writer.
On Wednesday morning, Penn announced the hire of Brian Dolph to help bolster the squad as the look to improve on last year’s fifth place finish at the EIWA Championships.
Dolph had previously worked on the Penn coaching staff from 1994-2003 under the successful term of Roger Reina. In this stint he worked with 33 first-team All-Ivy wrestlers, 1 national champion in Brett Matter and 1 national runner up in Brandon Slay.
As a collegiate wrester at Indiana University from 1986-1990, Dolph notched a 127-9 record, including a program-best 46 wins during his last year. That year he captured the 150-pound NCAA Title, which secured a third straight All-American honor.
After leaving Penn in 2003, Dolph worked as an assistant at Cleveland State from 2006-07 and briefly served as the head coach at Massillon Perry High School (2004-06) and North Canton Hoover High School (2007-10) in Ohio.
During his time as high school coach, he would train future NCAA champions Michigan’s Steve Luke and Minnesota’s Dustin Schlatter. Last year Dolph worked as a volunteer assistant for the University of Michigan.
Even though we tried our best, we knew we wouldn't be able to cover Team Philly every week. But alas, the Penn preseason is upon us, so we can now talk Ivy League hoops. The Quakers are coming off a 7-7 Ivy campaign last year that could have been markedly better had they been able to close out those heartbreaking OT games (3 losses in a row to Harvard, Princeton and Cornell). And though they have lost one of their rocks in Jack Eggleston, the Quakers have added a talented group of freshmen and will have a bevy of talent in the backcourt. With that said...
Question: What should the expectations be for the 2011-12 Quakers?
Brian Kotloff: It's easy to say that expectations should always be "title or bust" for this storied program. But college basketball rebuilding efforts aren't that simple — and yes, the Quakers are still rebuilding and recovering from a setback known as the Glen Miller hiring. Remember, this freshman class is the first recruited solely by Jerome Allen, since last year's class included some Miller leftovers. As AD Steve Bilsky told us last month, we still don't know what a "Jerome Allen team" looks and plays like. That's my first expectation for this season: I expect these players to really gel as a group and become a more cohesive, finely-tuned unit.
The results everyone really cares about, of course, lie in the standings. And when I consider where Penn should finish this season, I think back to the comparison Bilsky made last year between Allen and then-Princeton coach Sydney Johnson. Historically, the programs have been remarkably similar (title count: Tigers 26, Quakers 25) and I believe that trend will continue. The numbers are eerily similar -- Johnson turned around the Tigers from 6-23 in '07-'08 to 13-14 in '08-09 to 22-9 in '09-'10, while Allen's team jumped from 6-22 in '09-'10 to 13-15 last season. It would only make sense, then, if Penn finished in second place in '11-'12 with somewhere around an 11-3 Ivy record. In other words, I expect them to continue to follow the natural progression back to the top of the league, but not reach the summit quite yet. Let's just hope Jerome doesn't follow Sydney's path too literally.
Kevin Esteves: I'm with you that this year we'll get a better sense of what a Jerome Allen team looks like. Though this team will be young, I think the culture has changed to a more positive, winning one. The Quakers won't be coming off a 6-22 this time around and the guys got a small taste last year of contending (even if that taste was abruptly soured by the trio of overtime losses).
As far as where I see them landing, the Princeton comparison seems appropriate, but I just wouldn't look too much into that. It seems like in the past two years or so, the Ivy League has really become a different animal. The level of competition has been raised and each of the Ivy teams are loading up on talent for years to come. It's easy to say Harvard will dominate and take the league handily, given that it returns all its players and a stud group of freshmen. But all it takes is a solid 40-minute effort from any of the Ancient Eight squads to upset one of the big dogs. I'd be really surprised to see Harvard, or any team for that matter, go undefeated. Any time that's the case, the door is opened that much wider, so I do think Penn has a chance to be right up there in in the top 3. If the Quakers can find steady, serviceable production down low, they'll be one of the more dangerous teams in the league.
BK: The problem with that logic is that Penn didn't put together too many "solid 40-minute efforts" last season and lost its most "steady, serviceable" big man (apparently he's made a career switch to become an international blogging sensation). We've only really seen the Quakers run on all cylinders once (see: Ranked and Spanked). But so often in '10-'11, they'd click for 5, 10, or 20 minutes at a time and flash their potential, only to fall apart during the final push (see: like every game last season). I think they need to prove that they can perform for the full 40 minutes before we can count them as true title contenders. Otherwise, I could see them beating Harvard or Princeton, yet losing to a lesser Ivy team.
You mentioned the need to find production down low, but where do you think that production will come from? In general, what do you expect from this team on an individual level -- who will break out, who will take a step back, etc.?
KE: Valid points. I am not overlooking the fact that Penn lost Eggleston — Cap'n Jack was much more than serviceable. But the way the roster seems to shape up now, the strength of the backcourt will be what drives this team. Sure, it would be nice to have a guy who could put up about 12 and 8 down low and match up with Harvard's behemoths, but that steady production I was talking about will more likely come by committee, a possibility Coach Allen mentioned in this ESPN season preview. Senior Mike Howlett, sophomores Fran Dougherty and Cam Gunter and even freshman Greg Louis can all conceivably give that.
But again, I think the potency of the backcourt will make this team what it is. I expect to see Miles Cartwright continue his development and become a more viable three-point threat (he shot 34.7% last year). That will make him that much more dangerous, as he's already arguably the best penetrator and finisher on the team. And I think we'll see an improved Rosen as well. Though he became more of a distributor last year, he had an off-year in terms of shooting the rock. I think his FT% will jump back up to the mid-80s (79% last year) and he'll be more effective balancing when to attack offensively and when to set up his teammates. Also, it's now or never for this guy. He saw through his buddy Jack what it looks like to go four years without a title. I think we'll see some games where Rosen just plays out of his mind.
BK: Can't disagree with you there — this is Zack's year. We've seen him enter The Zone a few times before, but with the added element of desperation, you're right, we could see some truly special, unconscious performances. I'm very excited to see what he has in store this year — I think after three years of training, he will reach another level as a point guard when it comes to going with the flow of the game.
As for the complementary pieces, I'm hopping on the Belcore bandwagon. Who knows where his jump shot disappeared to the past two years, but as with Zack, I see senior-year light bulbs going off in Rob's head. I believe he will surprise us with a revamped offensive game to supplement his invaluable defensive and intangible contributions. After all, he did shoot 43 percent from deep as a freshman and was once described as having "J.J. Redick-like shooting range."
To me, all of the big men are question marks. Of course Dougherty and Gunter have potential, but I don't envision them taking any huge steps forward. They'll certainly be quality rotation guys. Howlett holds the key to the front court and possibly the entire team, as he gives the team a physical presence inside that no one else can provide (I'd bet that his plus/minus numbers were off the charts). However, I still have doubts in his ability to remain healthy for an entire season. So my bold, completely speculative prediction is that the Quakers play a lot of 'small ball' with slender freshmen Greg Louis (6'7) and Henry Brooks (6'8) inside and 5'11 freshman Patrick Lucas-Perry making a splash in a three-guard lineup. You've got to work with what you have, and I think Jerome will simply give his five best guys the most minutes, regardless of position.
With "The Line" just three days away and team practices already in full swing, the time has finally come to delve into Penn hoops. To get your preseason fix, check out the season preview for the Quakers featured on ESPN (made by the folks over at Blue Ribbon Yearbook).
The preview goes into a good amount of detail about what can be expected from the 2011-12 Quakers and has a bunch of interesting quotes and tidbits from Coach Allen. Here are the grades they gave for Penn's team:
BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS
BACKCOURT: A
BENCH/DEPTH: C
FRONTCOURT: C+
INTANGIBLES: B
Also, according to the article, sophomore swingman Marin Kukoc, who missed all of last season to injury, is ready to suit up. It will be interesting to see where he fits in the rotation, especially if he's slotted as a small forward. Seniors Tyler Bernardini and Rob Belcore figure to get a healthy dose of minutes at that spot, but then again, with the number of potent guards this team has, the Quakers could go with a lot of small lineups — the article even has a quote from Coach Allen saying that Belcore may be called to play the four at times.
There's much more to talk about, but something makes me think that there will be a Mano-a-Mano on Penn hoops tomorrow, so stay tuned for that.
With the Philadelphia 76ers 1982-83 NBA World Championship banner hanging behind him, Josh Harris officially announced to the city his purchase of the franchise.
It was during that banner season that Harris moved to Philadelphia to begin his freshman year at Penn. He held the event today at one of his old college haunts, the Palestra.
Watching that 82-83 season "led to a lasting impression on me," Harris said, "and led me here to this day."
"In the city of Philadelphia, we see the Palestra as a symbol of grassroots basketball," Harris said. He and new team CEO Adam Aron emphasized improving the experience of the fan, starting by slashing many ticket prices to make games more affordable.
A native of Washington, D.C., Harris graduated from Wharton in 1986. He co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, and currently sits at No. 309 on Forbes' list of the 400 richest people in America. His net worth as of Sept. 2011 was $1.45 billion, according to Forbes.com.
While Harris will remain in New York ("My night job," he called owning the Sixers), Aron will oversee the operation from his hometown of Philadelphia. A graduate of Abington High School, Aron holds a bachelor's degree and an MBA from Harvard.
Harris leads a group of 16 investors who bought the team for a reported $280 million. The group includes West Philadelphia native Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. The group also includes Penn grads Art Wrubel, a New York real estate investor, and Marc Leder, who runs a Florida buyout firm.
Standing under the Penn basketball banners — one hung during his time at Penn — Harris pledged to bring back the 76ers back to prominence.
"Our goal, make no mistake, is to create a world-class franchise and win NBA championships," Harris said.
That's something that hasn't happened since his freshman year of college.
Gilliams, also an alum of the Penn men's basketball team, "is accused of misappropriating at least half of the $4 million given to him by an intermediary, New York financier Vassilis Morfopoulos," according to the DP article.
He reportedly agreed to forfeit half a million dollars in property, and will be restricted to the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania region for criminal and civil court appearances.
Gilliams made his money in commodity trading of gold, diamonds, sugar and oil. His company's website has a rather peculiar bio of Gilliams:
Tyrone Gilliams Jr. achieved star status in academia and sports while being mentored by highly esteemed Wharton professor and sports lawyer Ken Shropshire. Tyrone later began a highly profitable business in artist and concert promotions. Due to the extreme success of Tyrone's concert promotions as a student athlete; he was able to purchase new car(s), fine clothing, jewelry, and cellular phones. This as one would imagine resulted in a closer observation by the NCAA. Albeit, he was viewed by some to have gotten help from the Alum, it amounted to a student athlete conducting prudent business practices forthwith receiving awards.
Editor's note: Once again, the esteemed Jack Eggleston joins us from his new home in Leverkusen Germany, where he plays for the Bayer Giants, a German pro-team. After an 0-3 start to the season and an ankle injury to boot, Eggleston earned his first professional win Sunday in an 89-78 victory over Herzöge Wolfenbüttel. The Penn basketball alum scored a team-high 20 points and added eight rebounds. He's also learned how to use the umlaut effectively.
As of Friday, the college basketball season is officially underway. While that may be exciting news for college basketball fans and disgruntled NBA fans looking to get their fix, players know better. Something that doesn't ever end can't have a true beginning. It's more like a transition to a new phase in the cycle. Practice simply takes the place of individuals and conditioning in the daily routine.
The thing that virtually everyone touches on when writing or talking about college basketball in October is hope. Each team gets to look at that magical, yet ephemeral, zero in the loss column and thinks that this is The Year. Preseason polls either build confidence or get posted on locker room walls as motivation. Negatives don't exist. Coaches are upbeat and patient. Practice jerseys are crisp. All is right with the world.
Obviously these feelings don't last. As the year begins, people get hurt, personalities clash, and reality sets in. Maybe we're not quite good enough. Maybe this isn't The Year. And for the overwhelming majority of college programs, it won't be.
I often think about all the disappointment I had in my four years and my naïve optimism every October. How could I have ever thought a team that finished 6-22 had a chance to win a championship? In retrospect it seems foolish. But for the start of this season, I again find myself excited about the possibilities. As the sage Andy Dufresne reminds us in Shawshank Redemption, "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things." So to the Quakers and the Green Wave (haven't forgotten about you Danny), I wish you a hopeful start to the season.
It's only Monday, but this is by far the best video I will see this week. Penn men's and women's basketball players did a spot for the Penn Sports Network to promote the Line, Penn's annual basketball season kickoff and ticket event, which will be this Friday night at the Palestra. Two words: Rob Belcore.
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