LIVE BLOG: M. Hoops at Brown

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Helmets for W. Lax?

The debate over head injuries in sports has been primarily focused on football, with the NFL in the unfortunate limelight. But obviously football is not the only contact sport — hockey, lacrosse, soccer, even gymnastics all carry risk of concussion.

Lacrosse is an interesting case — in men's lax the players all wear helmets as the game involves much more contact. The women do not. With both college lax seasons picking up in just a week, NYTimes sports reporter Alan Schwarz (a DP sports alum) wrote today 'A case against helmets in lacrosse.' The case, as stated, is that helmets encourage contact and give an unrealistic sense of protection from head trauma.

Although some safety advocates call for head protection in women’s lacrosse, almost everyone involved in the sport has said that its current ban on helmets for everyone but goaltenders is actually the safest approach. Hockey safety experts question if helmets foster more physical play. Football looks back and wonders whether big face masks encouraged a recklessness that can lead to long-term brain damage.

Now at its own crossroad, women’s lacrosse — with 250,000 playing nationwide — wants to take the road less battered. And so begins the second stage of sports’ continuing parry with head injuries — in which the best protection, many experts insist, is no protection at all.

Mano-A-Mano: Volume III

Four straight losses have dropped the Quakers into the middle of the Ivy League pack as quickly as you can say "Back to the drawing board." So with the league title realistically out of Penn's grasp, how should Jerome Allen proceed? Mano-A-Mano has been on a bit of a hiatus, but while Penn fans may not be getting an Ivy title this season, we're bringing you what you really want: a lengthy installment of the Esteves-Kotloff Battle of Brawl-nut Street. Without further ado:

Question: What should 'Pooh' do - continue to try to win with the vets or play the young pups?

Kevin Esteves: I think Allen needs to continue to ride the veterans — basically, don't switch up the rotations. Just because you lose four straight games doesn't mean you jump ship and change what you're trying to accomplish. I'm fairly certain that with the leadership of Allen, Rosen and Eggleston, that desire to win won't be compromised by a few bad losses. I also think they need to gut out a bunch of victories down the stretch here for the following reasons:

1) It would be a disservice to Jack Eggleston for the coaching staff and the players not to do everything they can to win ball games. This guy has been an absolute rock for this team and has, unfortunately, faced some bad seasons. But he deserves to go out with some more wins and an upset of Harvard or Princeton would make for a great story, even if it didn't mean the Quakers would be contending.

2) Sense of pride. As I mentioned earlier, you can't compromise what you're trying to accomplish on the court. You can tell these guys have a sense of pride and if they can pull off some wins and get out of this losing streak, it will make them that much tougher. If you change up your rotation and try to give the younger guys some more burn, you're not putting yourself in the best position to be successful. That's one of Allen's mantras, so I don't even see this being much of an issue.

3) Recruiting. Potential recruits are watching and you have to be able to sell to them what the program has accomplished in the past year. To go from 6-22 to where they are now is a marked improvement and you don't want to take any more steps backward. Personally, I think it would look bad to recruits if the team got away from trying to win ball games just to look out for the future.

Brian Kotloff: I’m with you for now, but as the season wears on, things can change in my mind. If Princeton and Harvard keep winning – which seems pretty likely – and Penn loses even 1 or 2 more games, the chances of catching them will essentially evaporate. I’m not calling for sitting Rosen or Eggleston for any more time than they would normally sit, I just think this could be an opportunity for some freshmen to get playing time they haven’t gotten so far this season. Maybe instead of subbing Rob Belcore for Bernardini, Dau Jok, Casey James or Steve Rennard comes in. Even a 10-minute run for those guys would be very beneficial in giving them a taste of real Ivy League action. Next year, Rosen, Bernardini, Belcore and the rest of the returning vets will need to be able to trust the young guys, so they might as well start that process when an Ivy title isn’t on the line. Plus, Allen needs to see what they can do in a game setting rather than at practice. It’s like training a firefighter but never giving him a chance to put out a real fire.

Rotating in the young guys over older rotation players doesn’t mean you’re not trying to win; you’re just trying to win with different guys. If anything, playing the freshmen alongside Eggleston – who has a tremendous will to win – will help them learn first-hand what it takes.  As far as recruiting goes, wouldn’t a potential recruit want to see that he can get a chance to play right away if he comes to Penn? And the program is just not at a level right now where the current performance is the main thing that will draw recruits. Allen is trying to sell recruits on the appeal of playing in Philly, at the Palestra, in the Big 5, etc. and restoring the program's greatness, not trying to brag about an 8-6 Ivy record or whatever they could end up with if they maintain the status quo. You don't get a trophy for third place.

KE: And I'm not trying to say that none of the young guys should get any more PT. I believe Cam Gunter and Fran Dougherty are huge for this team going forward (especially with Eggleston and Turley graduating). After Cam's last performance, we may see more of him. If he's on the court, he's there to help the team win, not to get more experience and improve the team's prospects going forward.  Overall, I think the summer will be the time for the other guys to make strides in improving. They've had a chance to learn the system and get a taste of the grind of college basketball practices, so they know what they need to work on. I don't think a few minutes here and there for a guy like Dau Jok or Casey James is going to have a huge impact going forward. With Rosen, Cartwright, Bernardini, and Belcore coming back, guys like Jok and James (Jock Jams?) will be slotted behind those guys again next year, so it's not as if they’re going to be relied upon to be go-to scorers next year.

BK: Well we agreed this week that Penn’s biggest issue is depth, so wouldn’t you want to play James, Jok and Rennard now so that the team will potentially have great depth on the wings next year? And wouldn’t Dougherty or Gunter gain even more from playing, say, 20 or 30 minutes per game the rest of the way rather than 10-15? That way, when next year comes around and those guys need to replace Eggleston and Turley’s minutes, they know what it’s like to play big minutes night in and night out.

I think Dougherty in particular can benefit the most from more PT down the stretch. He will have lofty expectations next year to be a breakout player, and will be forced to carry the heavy burden of replacing Captain Jack. The next seven games could go a long way in helping him learn the Eggleston Way: setting good screens, executing the pick-and-roll, crashing the offensive boards, guarding the other team’s best post player, making the outlet pass to start fast breaks, etc. I think Allen could give him increased responsibility in the last handful of games to start that difficult learning process. As tough as it is to swallow, college basketball careers are short and a replacement for every single player needs to be ready at all times. Sometimes a coach might need to put feelings aside and do what’s best for the future of the program.

KE: You clearly have no heart, Mr. Kotloff.

BK: You clearly just got burned, mano-a-mano.

This Week on 33rd Street - Feb. 18

We're back with another edition of This Week on 33rd Street, where Kevin, Brian and I answer the questions "what went wrong?"; "what separates Penn from programs like Princeton and Harvard"; and "how many Ivy wins can this Penn team get?" Check out the video below:

FB Recruiting Profile: Spencer Kulcsar from Oradell, NJ

(Highlights from sophomore year at Northern Valley Demarest)

Recruit: Spencer Kulcsar from Haworth, NJ

Height: 6’0”

Weight: 205 pounds

High School: Bergen Catholic, Oradell, NJ

Position at Penn: RB/TE

Recruited By: Temple, Purdue, Yale, Harvard, Brown, Virginia

The Recruiting Moment: Saw the Quakers take on Bulldogs at the Yale Bowl.

The Skinny: A 1^st team All-Bergen County and 3^rd team All-State product, Kulcsar was a teammate of Billy Lewis for two years at Northern Valley Demarest before transferring to local parochial power Bergen Catholic. In his last year he caught 28 passes for 481 yards and ran 52 times for 605 yards while lining up as slot tight receiver, tight end, and running back (in addition to linebacker, long snapper and rush end). The all-purpose player will look to play tailback at Penn, and certainly fits the mold. Once he gets to campus he has to add some weight while still maintain his speed.

The Quote: “I absolutely loved how much the other recruits wanted to win. They want to win an Ivy League championships as much as I do.”

Princeton gets some props

When ESPN color commentator, studio analyst and basketball writer Jay Bilas released a list of "the most respected" college basketball players in the country today, I did not expect to see any Ivy Leaguers. I was wrong.

Halfway down Bilas' list is Princeton's Kareem Maddox, about whom Bilas had this to say:

Kareem Maddox, Princeton: A senior who has seen the depths and is now leading his team toward the Ivy heights, Maddox has worked hard to become a versatile player with the most unique skill set in the Ivy League. He can post it, handle it and drive it, and he is a very good passer. On the other end, Maddox can guard inside or on the perimeter and is a great teammate that will do whatever is asked of him, including coming off the bench.

I'm not sure where the "respected" part comes in here - Bilas defined a respected player as one who "is admired for more than just his talent and skill" yet raves about his talent and skills - but I can definitely confirm that he's right on in his assessment based on what I saw Feb. 8 in the Penn-Princeton game. Maddox jumps out on the stat sheet - he's averaging 13.2 points (on 59-percent shooting), 7.2 rebounds and 2 blocks per game - and jumped out to me when I watched him in person.

Looking at those numbers, I expected to see a traditional big man working down low. Instead, Maddox was a force inside and outside, continually facing up in the post and taking his man off the dribble. He filled the stat sheet against Penn with 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 blocks. He only put up 8 points on 3-for-7, but it seemed like he could have scored much more with the way he could blow by Penn defenders at will. On other nights, Maddox has been on fire; he's already posted a 10-for-13, 8-for-12, 8-for-11 and 9-for-10 game this season. Most recently, he shot 8-for-10 and scored 23 points to lead Princeton past Cornell, 57-55, and improve the Tigers' league record to 7-0.

The point is, I don't know where this kid came from (he averaged just 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds last year), but he may be the frontrunner for the Ivy Player of the Year award, as there is no one in the league like him.

W. Lax ranked sixth in IWLCA preseason poll

Spring has arrived early in Philadelphia and with it, signs of spring sports. The Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Association released its annual preseason poll and, to nobody's surprise, Penn once again cracked the Top 10.

This year's Quakers — coming off their fourth-straight Ivy championship — were ranked No. 6. in 2011. The top five were Maryland, Northwestern, North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse in that order.

This marks a drop of three spots from last year's preseason poll, in which Penn was ranked third ahead of UNC, Duke and Syracuse. Penn's run in the NCAA tournament last year was ended in the quarterfinals by No. 1 and eventual champion Maryland.

Penn will first see action at home against Drexel next weekend before an early ranked bout with UNC. Six teams on Penn's schedule were ranked in the IWLCA's preseason Top 20.

FB Recruiting Profile: Cole Stern from Highland Park, Ill.

Recruit: Cole Stern

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 200 pounds

Position at Penn: WR/Safety

Recruited By: Illinois State, North Dakota State, Purdue, Yale, Harvard

The Recruiting Moment: After he committed to Penn in August, Harvard began to pursue him hard.

The Skinny: In high school, Stern was a basketball player who decided to play football in his freshman year after the advice of two friends. The Highland Park senior ended up 1^st team All-Area as a junior and senior. He brings a dimension of size and speed (he clocks in at 11.0 seconds in the 100 meters) to Penn’s offense. “My athleticism is what I rely on,” said Stern who has great jumping ability. But he will have put in hard over the summer to tighten up his route-running and work on his hands.

The Quote: “A lot of these coaches were like car salesman.  Coach Bagnoli and the other coaches...were real cool and real honest.”

FB Recruiting Profile: Billy Lewis from Demarest, NJ

Recruit: Billy Lewis from Demarest, NJ.

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 180 pounds

Position at Penn: DB/WR

The Recruiting Moment: Going on to the field and into the locker after the game against Brown Homecoming Weekend.

The Skinny: The Northern Valley-Demarest QB threw for over 2000 yards and ran for over 1000 yards in his senior season while successfully managing the spread offense. Although he played QB at the high school level, Lewis has 4.5 speed. “Even though I haven’t had a lot of experience, I can definitely make the transition and the speed will be huge,” said Lewis. He is confident he can also learn to develop as an asset for the special teams as a kick and punt returner.

The Quote: “Both the history they have and the history of the stadium are awesome. The decision will affect the next 40 years of my life, not just the next four.”

Ready to wear the Red and Blue

It seems like that groundhog may finally be right. Spring — and a few more 60 degree days — is on its way bringing baseball, allergies, and most importantly spring football practice. This year will mark the third time Al Bagnoli will come into the season as the two-time defending Ivy League champion. But in his 18 years Bagnoli — arguably the greatest coach in Ivy League history — has never managed to three-peat.

However this may be the year. And certainly the man clearly has a way with the recruits. The Quakers will need to replace more than a dozen starters and will look to some freshman to fill the void. Can this class match the seniors with 22 wins in Ivy play over four years? Over the next month we will reach out to Penn’s football recruits and give you the inside scoop about these freshman who will don the Red and Blue.

Check back on the Buzz tomorrow for a look at wide receiver Billy Lewis.

Polo explained

Hopefully many of our readers saw the story in today's DP about a Penn College sophomore working to bring the sport of polo back to Penn and the challenges she is facing. For those of you who don't know much about polo (myself included) our multimedia editor Liz Jacobs put together a nice infographic on the subject. Mouse over the graphic to learn more:

Globetrotting with Mike McLaughlin

DP Sports profiled women's basketball coach Mike McLaughlin today about a little known fact: for three years he played on the Washington Generals, perennial losers to the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters. McLaughlin was nice enough to hand over a stack of old photographs from his playing days, which we are happy to reproduce here, spiky hair and all:

Title scenarios...

10 days ago Penn fans (and journalists eager for a trip to the big dance) we're counting their lucky stars, excited that this just might be The Year. But after four losses, as Kevin Esteves points out in his column today, the hope of any Ivy title has all but faded from the collective mindset.

But for those still grasping at the last shreds of banner-hanging prospects, here's a guide to how the Quakers season will have to play out:

• Penn must win-out. The toughest game left on the schedule appears to be Friday March 4th, at Harvard. If the Quakers run the table, they finish 10-4 in conference.
• Frontrunner Princeton (7-0) must lose three of their remaining six games before they close out the season with a loss at the Palestra on March 8th. The most plausible of those three losses would be at Harvard on Saturday March 5th, but two other Ivy pack-dwellers will need to step up. Cornell kept Princeton close in Ithaca, and Yale gave the Tigers a run for their money at Jadwin, so those are two games to watch.
• Harvard (6-1) must lose twice, in addition to falling to Penn in on the 4th. Considering in the above scenario they beat Princeton, they'll have to go .500 on their upcoming four-game road trip at Cornell/Columbia and Brown/Yale. Again, Yale looks to be the best bet for Penn.

Game 21 - Columbia: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

After three straight overtime losses, the Quakers found themselves in New York City with the chance to stop the skid. Instead, Penn succumbed to a second half run by Columbia and lost 75-62.

The Good: Cameron Gunter's solid line of 12 points (4-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 at the line) and 3 boards. Red and Blue fans would probably like to see some more rebounds out of the big fella — Penn got destroyed on the glass in general, more on that later — but he gave Penn some good minutes and his best production by far of the season. He had been scoreless on the season up until this point (45 mins of burn - or what you might call lately, an "Eggleston.") Gunter's presence lifted Penn in the first half and his length and activity bothered some of Columbia's penetrating guards. Tall order, literally, to task the freshman with clearing out Columbia's 6'9, 245 Mark Cisco and 7'0, 265 Max Craig, but he definitely showed Coach Allen something.

See more after the jump.

The Bad: Columbia's 10-0 run to start the 2nd half. With the game tied at 35-apiece going into the half, it looked like this one was going to be another close finish. However, the Lions stormed out to a double-digit lead early in the second half, thanks to a few momentum-building shots by Noruwa Agho. Agho scored 8 of the 10 points during the run, and finished with 15 in the second period. For the most part, Penn did a good job defending him; he made some tough shots, but that's what scorers do.

The Ugly: 13-2. That was the offensive rebounding edge held by Columbia. It's tough to get into a rhythm offensively when you have to defend for multiple possessions at a time, and Columbia's ability to get extra opportunities was surely a key. Offensive rebounds is one of those hustle categories, and I'll definitely grant that Penn's disadvantage could be attributable to a size difference (Asenso Ampim at 6'6, 245 is a bull down low, and the aforementioned Cisco and Craig eat up alot of space), but for Penn to win the battle under the boards, they would have had to have so much more energy than Columbia. After the string of draining overtime losses, that was not the case.

Liveblog: M. Hoops at Columbia

Michael Gold and Kevin Esteves are live on the upper west side, where Penn and Columbia will face off to finish the Ivy weekend. Follow all the action in our liveblog below, or click here to open a new window.

Game 20 - Cornell: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Another game, another devastating overtime loss for the Quakers. Penn's first two overtime losses — to Harvard and Princeton — in this three-game losing streak were understandable, and, if anything, they were encouraging for Penn's prospects in the Ivy League.  But Penn played down a level to Cornell Friday night. This one's got to be tough for the team, but for some context:

The Good: Not much here, but Jack Eggleston's line was once again impressive: 21 points, nine rebounds, and five assists Captain Jack is starting to make these type of lines look routine (averaging 19.2 points and nine boards over his last five games). Probably the lone bright spot for Penn, Jack brought it all game — logged 45 minutes — and you have to feel for him, as he's valiantly pulling out these big-time games, yet receiving "L's" at the end of the night. Another "good" that I completely forgot about during the game? Rosen's 15 points pushed him over the 1,000 career points mark (he entered the game sitting on 999), the 36th player to do so in Penn history. I'm sure he wasn't feeling good about this one though post-game.

See more after the jump.

The Bad: Penn's lack of focus to start the game. I don't know if it's just me, but I was expecting Penn to come out firing on all cylinders, getting back to the basics and cruising to a nice victory to lift their morale.  You have to give Cornell credit, though. The Big Red came out of the gates on fire and Penn really had no answer for Max Groebe, who torched Penn for six threes off the bench. To give some context, my favorite stat of the first half was that nine different players for Cornell had scored in the first half. NINE! When Cornell eventually cooled off, Penn was able to climb back in it and even take a nine-point lead with 8:41 remaining, but ultimately, the duo of Chris Wroblewski and Groebe was too much. I talked to Wroblewski after the game and not surprisingly, he told me that Coach Bill Courtney had emphasized in practice that the Big Red needed to take it to a Penn team that would be mentally and physically exhausted, and they sure did. So did Penn lose due to their mental and physical fatigue? I can't say for sure (and I'll toss that out to you guys), but the Quakers certainly had their chances to win the game and they didn't execute down the stretch — they were outscored 8-3 in the final four minutes of regulation.

The Ugly: Is it Turley's missed 1-and-1 free throw that could have given Penn the lead with 1.3 seconds remaining ? Miles Cartwright's 9 turnovers? Or Penn's bench getting outscored 54-15?

All three were pretty ugly, but I'm sure the ugliest part of it all must just be the sick feeling the Quakers have in their stomachs. Three-straight overtime losses — I can't think of a team that has gone through that. Can you?

Liveblog: M. Hoops Penn at Cornell

We're in Ithaca, N.Y. bringing you the action from Newman Arena, where Penn (9-10, 3-2 Ivy) takes on Cornell (5-15, 1-5) looking to stop a two-game losing streak — and looking to avoid anymore run-ins with overtime.

Michael Gold and Kevin Esteves have the play by play below:

Click Here to open the liveblog in a new window

Rivalry week

College basketball fans have not been disappointed with this year's rivalry week. Duke-UNC, Georgetown-Syracuse, Pitt-West Virginia and, oh yeah, that overtime Penn-Princeton thriller.

While we celebrated the P-P rivalry with an entire sports section devoted to the matchup, ESPN's Andy Katz seems to think that Penn-Princeton might be headed to the backburner. On his blog this week, he noted several up-and-coming rivalries to watch out for:

Harvard-Princeton: Penn coach Jerome Allen will have something to say about the top two spots in the Ivy. And nothing in the Ivy can or will replace Penn-Princeton. But the top spot for the foreseeable future is Harvard-Princeton. It might be the most competitive competition for the next few years as Sydney Johnson and Tommy Amaker build conference powers.

Sorry Andy, but I'm gonna have to disagree on this one. Penn may have come away from its last two games with two losses, and those two losses make winning the league that much tougher for Penn, but the closeness with which Penn played both those games (and Harvard played Princeton) shows how even these teams all are.

I will admit that Harvard has some great young talent, so I can see the Crimson being good for several years to come, but there's not reason to think Penn won't give either of these team's a run for their money this year or in the near future.

Shall we call it a tri-valry?

(h/t to Zach Klitzman)

Local recruit Devin Coleman considering Penn

The Quakers made the final-four list for Philly recruit Devin Coleman, a 6-foot-2 guard out of Friends Central in nearby Wynnewood, Pa., according to this article from Philly.com.

Coleman was named to the McDonalds All-American nominee list (with 1,000 high school players). His coach told the Inquirer that he would wait until after the season is over to make his decision. Along with Penn, his coach says he is looking at Clemson, Rice and Rhode Island. According to scout.com, he also (at some point) had interest from several other local schools: Drexel, Delaware, St. Joe's, La Salle and Temple. Scout lists him as having offers from all of those programs.

By online grading standards, Coleman would be a strong pull for Penn. He's rated a three-star, 89 on ESPN, which describes him as "streaky at best from three point range where he needs time and space to be a threat." It says his talent is driving to the basket and body control, as well as defense.

To provide some context, freshman Miles Cartwright was rated 90 by ESPN.

Spartans back on the Patrick Lucas-Perry train

Potential Penn recruit Patrick Lucas-Perry may be getting a second look from coach Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Lucas-Perry was on the Spartans' radar until he injured his knee last year, causing Izzo to look elsewhere.

But as this Flint Journal story points out, the Spartans might renew their interest in Lucas-Perry (5-foot-11, 165 lbs.) as they're  in need of a true point guard for next year.

Lucas Perry had mentioned that Penn was in his final four schools, along with BC, Harvard and Oakland. I'd imagine that if Michigan State offered, he'd be likely to accept, getting to stay in his home state of Michigan and playing for a high-major program like the Spartans. Penn picked up its first guard for the recruiting class of 2011 on Tuesday, Camryn Crocker.