Going against pretty much every other preseason prediction, the Boston Globe has picked Penn to win the Ivy League in 2010-11. In the Globe's radical scheme, Princeton and Harvard follow and Yale surpasses Cornell, who they expect to fall from first to fifth after losing a talented senior class.
The Globe points to the return of unanimous all-Ivy point guard Zack Rosen, as well as the addition of Tyler Bernardini back into the lineup. And instead of mentioning Miles Cartwright — the most highly touted of the Quakers' freshman class, the Globe spotlights freshman Marin Kukoc, son of Chicago Bulls star Toni.
I'm not sure how much attention the Globe pays to the Ivy League outside of some coverage of the Crimson, but as I've tried to point out, this prediction seems like it's out of left field.
As a Philadelphia sports fan born and raised, legendary Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Bill Lyon has always, to me, epitomized sports writing. Lyon's been retired since 2005, but still contributes to the paper every once in a while.
Sunday, in Lyon's first column since Roy Halladay's October 6 postseason no-hitter, the 33-year veteran of the Inquirer noted that the success of the Temple, Villanova and Penn football teams reminds him of the glory days, when college football was the main attraction for Philly sports fans. About Penn, he writes of Al Bagnoli's success in keeping the Penn football legacy alive, hearkening back to the late 19th century when "The Flying Wedge was all the rage."
As with all of Lyon's work, the piece is well worth a read, especially now that he's retired and only occasionally shares his gems. It also brings to light the amazing fact that Penn was once "deemed the best collegiate football team in all the country," something too few current students realize. So as the Quakers march on in search of their fifteenth all-time title and eighth under Bagnoli, remember to have some historical perspective on how this season fits into a longstanding tradition of excellence at Penn. Franklin Field may be as empty as ever each Saturday, and Penn no longer has an impact nationally, but Bagnoli is continuing to create his own glory days.
Here's a few minutes of post-game interview with men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller after his 2-1 loss to Princeton, which claimed at least a share of the Ivy title with the win. My apologies for the uncontrollable shiver about 1:00 in. It was cold in Princeton.
It was a fun day to be on the Penn football team. A 52-10 annihilation of archrival Princeton. Here's what the Quakers had to say after the game. Video by Cal Silcox:
Ethan Alter here at Princeton, covering a crucial match for the No. 13 men's soccer team. With both Penn and Princeton undefeated in conference play, the winner of this game is guaranteed a share of the Ivy title and will hold the tiebreaker in terms of the NCAA tournament berth. Should the game result in a tie, then it will all come down to the last weekend of Ivy play
The game begins at 7 p.m. The liveblog is embedded after the jump; to open it in a new window, click here.
It's Saturday at Princeton, and Ethan Alter is covering the Penn women's soccer team's last match, an all-or-nothing contest against the Tigers. If Penn wins or ties, then they earn the 2010 Ivy title and an NCAA tournament bid. A loss, however, hands those prizes to Princeton.
The game begins at 4 p.m. The liveblog is after the jump, or you can open it in a new window.
We've got a very exciting day in Penn sports (only to be topped by next weekend's festivities), and for those of you who aren't able to make it out to Princeton, you can follow along on The Buzz for live updates not only from the football game, but also from both men's and women's soccer, who can both clinch titles with wins today.
The schedule:
Football: Penn (4-0 Ivy) vs. Princeton (0-4) - 3:3o P.M.
W. Soccer: Penn (4-1-1 Ivy) vs. Princeton (4-2-0) - 4 P.M.
M. Soccer: Penn (5-0-0 Ivy) vs Princeton (5-0-0) - 7 P.M.
In other news from the rivalry, Penn sprint football destroyed the Tigers, 70-0, last night to clinch a share of the CSFL title. Check back to the Buzz this afternoon for all the action.
First off, don't miss today's story by Megan Soisson about the value of Penn's O-line this year. Of course the O-line is always important, but the experience and stability up front has been especially meaningful for this team and Megan does a nice job highlighting that. But that's not what this post is about. We also ran a graphic with the story that compared the total number of rushing yards gained by Penn this year with the distance it would figuratively translate to on Locust Walk. Here's an interactive version of the graphic that I made for theDP.com:
Penn received a verbal commitment from its first recruit — Greg Louis, a 6-foot-6 power forward out of William T. Dwyer high school in south Florida, told The Daily Pennsylvanian Tuesday he would be coming to Penn for his college career.
"I wanted to go somewhere where I could make the most of all my opportunities," he said. Louis was deciding between Penn and Tulane, but ultimately chose Penn for it's Ivy League academics and basketball tradition.
"I’ve been thinking about it for a while, I was leaning toward Penn for a few weeks. I made my decision about a week ago."
Louis added he was primarily contacted by assistant men's basketball coach Mike Martin, who told Louis he would be a benefit to the program, Louis said.
"Penn is an easy school to sell. There’s a lot of great things going on in Philadelphia, a lot of great things going on at the university," he said. "They’re really enthusiastic about picking up from past season, so they're doing all they can to improve and be competitive."
Louis said he originally hadn't spoken to head coach Jerome Allen very much. "He has a different way of approaching players," the high school senior said. Adding that despite the initial distance from Allen, "it was obvious that he wanted me to come."
Louis is Penn's first recruiting commitment in what has so far been a quiet pre-season for the Quakers. Penn was the last Ivy League school to have a reported verbal commitment. Rated an 88 by ESPN, the power forward will look to fill the shoes of a graduating class that includes forwards and captains Jack Eggleston and Conor Turley, as well as Andreas Schreiber and Zack Gordon.
"I can definitely bring a lot of energy to the team, a great attitude, I work hard," Louis said of his future contribution to the program, "I’m not really big on talking. I’ll show you next year," he said.
"I’m just happy that I’m secure and I know where I’m going to school, and a great school at that."
Saturday after the Homecoming football game, students and alumni moved from Franklin Field into the Palestra for the annual Red and Blue Scrimmage. Head coach Jerome Allen sat at center court and let his assistants handle coaching duties while he absorbed the game.
Allen was ultimately looking to see how freshmen and players returning from injuries integrated into the Quakers style of play. And from what I saw, the newcomers impressed.
Miles Cartwright stood out from the rest of his class — he was paired up with Zack Rosen and did a great job defending him. It took some initial coaxing for Cartwright to really play aggressive defense, but once he got some confidence, he was very effective.
Marin Kukoc also made some athletic plays (see video below). Both Kukoc and fellow freshmen Steve Rennard weren’t afraid to shoot some treys.
Rob Belcore was also solid in his three-point shooting — no official stats from the scrimmage, but. his shots were consistent. When Cartwright began to show signs of fatigue, he moved onto defending Rosen.
Dau Jok, though lauded as an excellent shooter, didn’t really stand out on Saturday. He showed some signs of future success, but my impression was that he hadn’t quite picked up on the offensive and defensive schemes. Definitely a knowledge gap, but he still showcased some talent.
Tyler Bernardini and Andreas Schreiber showed no signs of lingering injury. Like I mentioned in the live blog, I wasn’t a student to see either play in the 2008-2009 season before they were injured, so I can’t really compare to their previous level of play, but neither looked like they had missed entire seasons. I expect a smooth integration back into the lineup.
It’s hard to say how the Quakers will compete once the regular season begins, but I saw promise from this team on Saturday. Overall, they looked confident, well-bonded and didn’t appear sloppy.
But the scrimmage was full of turnovers — it’s hard to presume whether or not this is a result of strong defense or weak offense, but this is definitely something to look forward to as the season opens.
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