Penn recruit Mike Turner, whose coach told The Daily Pennsylvanian that he was leaning towards Penn two weeks ago, has committed to Northwestern, according to Scout.com's Evan Daniels.
Turner received a scholarship offer from Northwestern, Chicagohoops.com reported.
Coach Tom Schneider gives the referee a piece of his mind during a game against Brown in February 1988.
(Photo by Tommy Leonardi)
Hi all, Megan Soisson here bringing you live updates from the Red and Blue scrimmage, the first real look at the 2010 men's basketball team.
Your post-game press conference video after Penn football's 24-7 victory over Brown:
Penn (right to left: Billy Ragone, Brian Levine, Al Bagnoli):
Brown coach Phil Estes:
Hi Penn fans! This is Brian Kotloff along with Alex Siegel here at Franklin Field as the top two teams in the Ivy League square off. Follow along with us on the blog below
To celebrate the official dedication of the new Weiss Pavilion, the Heisman Trophy Trust presented Penn with a Heisman of its own to celebrate the former Penn student athlete (Class of 1892) and coach (1920-22). The trophy will be displayed in Weiss Pavilion.
"The idea just seemed natural to have former Penn player and coach John Heisman return to historic Franklin Field as part of its new addition, the George A. Weiss Pavilion," Director of Athletics Steve Bilsky said in a statement. "We’re pleased and honored the Heisman Trustees would allow us to display college sports most recognized award."
Here are a few photos of the new hardware, courtesy of Jonathan Tannenwald's twitter:
Jerry Simon rattles the rim.
Jerome Allen sits on the bench during his sophomore season.
(Photo by Paul Ho)
Penn coach Jerome Allen participated in the Ivy League's preseason media teleconference yesterday, as Penn was voted to finish fourth with 89 points, following No. 1 Princeton (128), Harvard (120), and Cornell (96).
His comments:
On the upcoming season:
This upcoming year is going to be an interesting one throughout the league. Now more so than ever, in my opinion it's well balanced and all eight schools this season will represent themselves very well. I think in particular here at the University of Pennsylvania it should be a very interesting one for us. We have a combination of some veteran guys along with some youth and it’s our job as a staff to try to blend that and mix together the best way we possibly can.On the recent changes to the roster:We have a solid core of guys that have taken on the leadership to really help the younger cast know what it’s going to take to win. I’m excited, I’m looking forward to this coming season, not only for us here at the University of Pennsylvania but throughout the league. I can’t wait to get started.
I just think currently, right now, we have a number of guys that not necessarily we had to make decisions on, but it's the nature of the beast, this is the business that we’re in. I think we got this opportunity as a staff to try to get back to the brand of basketball that so many people are used to seeing here at the University of Pennsylvania. For lack of a better way of saying it, there are some individuals that may be left off the final roster.
On who on the Penn roster might be surprising this year:
You never really know how she is until you marry her. We’ve been dating for a while, and we’re really only two weeks or so into our relationship, so who can we count on to really be present or constant contributors to this team? I'm not really sure. We have some guys coming back that we’re counting on, but I hope I’m surprised by several others because I think they all have a tremendous opportunity, not only to help this program but to compete and play division I basketball and I think that’s really where the focus should be and maximizing the opportunities they have.On the return of some injured key injured players:
I think all those guys have done a tremendous job of working on the bodies and following up with rehab and really just buying into just getting better to 100% to try to just contribute to the program and I’m excited for them because you never really know what you missed 'til it’s gone. The fact that they weren’t able to contribute due to injury and have an opportunity going forward to really be a part of the program is exciting for them and hopefully they’ll come back and really take advantage of the things that are in front of them. I think the biggest thing any time you have to spend time away from the game, it’s a process to get back to a) where you once were or b) better than you once were, and they’ve all embraced that process and hopefully they’ll come back if not the same then hopefully a little better.On what has changed since last year now that he is head coach:
From a coaching standpoint nothing has really changed. We said dec. 14 that we just want to get back to playing the brand of basketball that so many are used to seeing, and even today, Oct. 27 this is kind of our focus. We just embrace the process. We want to go from point A to point B. that’s really our focus right now. We know it won’t happen over night. Eventually we will get from point B to Point C but we want to first master that first step. Comparing that to last year, that’s kinda how I approach it as well, to have as many winning experiences as we possibly can in terms of playing the right type of basketball. It’s the same thing, its just the forecast is different, but I don’t really know. I still come to work everyday with real appreciation for this opportunity and appreciation for the guys that I have to work with in terms of players and also appreciation for the other guys on the staff that are committed to helping Penn basketball get better, so that’s how much as changed.For the full audiocast with each of the other League coaches' comments click here.
There were a couple pieces that didn't quite fit into my story today on concussions and academic aftereffects, but I thought I'd share a few more quotes here:
Ex-Penn football player Colin Donnelly told me that he thought the head injury dilemma would be the end of football, eventually. I asked him what he thought about the recent changes the NFL had made in its policy against vicious hits. His response:
My mentality when you go out on the football field, you don’t want to kill the person across from you, but you do play to hurt them. You know if you hurt them you will win. That’s just kinda the football mentality. And now that you’re taken away from the hitting it’s going to change the game a lot.He then went on to mention a point many have brought up — the dangers of helmets. Many posit that players lead with their head when hitting because the helmet gives them the feeling of protection or even invincibility.
Back in the day when they would wear the leather, people wouldn’t hit, and same with rugby, people don’t hit with their head in rugby. And pretty much your helmet is like your battering ram. You feel like you can hit people with your head because you feel like your head is protected, so I think that that might start change.
The other notable piece came from Dr. Kathy Lawler. She talked about how hard it can be socially for athletes to deal with these problems:
Especially for athletes, when they can’t play, sometimes they really are miserable. Think about it: you can't sleep, you can't concentrate, you feel guilty you, can’t study — the whole range. And then on top of that a lot of them feel like they let their teammates down; they're not playing. There’s this sort of ‘god I’m a wimp I have a concussion, I have a headache.’Sometimes I kid around and say 'what I really want to do is put a big orange cast on you'. Because if you have a fracture, no one questions you can’t play. Whereas when you have a concussion you look fine.
And I think there’s that whole layer of it’s hard to be around and maybe your whole social, maybe you live with other athletes, its your whole social network and all of a sudden you’re not playing and you feel like god I’m being a wimp and it’s hard socially. What do you do on the weekends when you get a headache? it’s noisy, music, talking, partying and it gives you a really god awful headache. So that’s another whole layer, socially it can be really miserable, which I think plays in to the depression piece.
But as both mentioned, attitudes among players are changing drastically. Donnelly:
From my history, when I was younger, I think when people would get a concussion you would almost be like ‘oh they’re just like a baby’.In the lockerroom, if you have a concussion everybody’s asking about you, everyone cares about you, so I think that the perception has really changed in the past 10 years, that the awareness has really come up and people realize that it’s a serious thing.
I’m sure almost everyone has had a concussion in their history of playing, so you know how it is, you know how it feels, you try to help each other out.
Paul Chambers muscles by the Villanova defense (with the flat-top haircut) in a December 1989 Big 5 bout.
Shawn Trice, current assistant coach at Temple with Fran Dunphy and close friend of Jerome Allen, downs a dunk in Penn's February 18th, 1994 win at Dartmouth.
Fans pack the Palestra for the 1981 edition of the Penn-Princeton rivalry.
(photo by Ben Alman)
Rummaging through closets at the DP, I stumbled on piles upon piles of old sports photos. So over the coming three weeks The Buzz will feature a photo-a-day to countdown the start of the men's basketball season.
We'll start with a photo of #53, Jerome Allen, rocking the rec-specs and throwing down a reverse jam.
Leave a comment if the photos bring back any memories.
It was an extremely busy and mostly fruitful weekend for the Quakers, so here's a roundup of what's in this muggy Monday's DP:
There are two items we learned while hanging out at The Line Saturday night, and though basketball practices won't be open to the media until Tuesday, we've decided to share what we heard and give you more information in the coming week.
Sophomores Tommy Eggleston and Sean Mullan not announced in team line-up
The younger Eggleston and Mullan were not introduced during player introductions. And since this year Allen required all team members to be at the Line and sleep over at the Palestra, it seems unlikely they just missed the event. The Penn Athletics online roster still lists them, but rumor is that they did not make the cut. Without the two, there would no longer be any sophomores on the squad after Brian Fitzpatrick transferred over the summer, Malcolm Washington stepped down from the team and Carson Sullivan left in January to play closer to his Charlotte, N.C., home.
Tommy Eggleston's stats from last season: 9 games, 18 minutes, 0-for-3 fg, 2 rebounds, 0 points
Mullan's stats from last season: 12 games, 30 minutes, 2-for-10 fg, 1-for-3 freethrows, 3 rebounds, 5 points
I've talked a lot about how large Penn's roster is — or was. Without the remaining sophomores, the roster would sit at a manageable 18, just three above the Ivy League travel limit of 15. With injuries, Allen should no longer have any problem taking his team on the road.
Speaking of injuries...
Dan Monckton aiming for January return
I spoke briefly with Monckton in some downtime and he said the knee is recovering well from his offseason microfracture surgery. Since he's no longer on crutches and moves around normally, he told me he's shooting for a January return to play, just in time for most of Big 5 play and to prepare for the Ivy League schedule. Monckton's presence on the floor will surely be missed in the first half; not only did he have a breakout year last season (7.1 ppg; 109 total rebounds, second to Jack Eggleston), but his thunderous dunks got an often hushed crowd into the game.
On a side note, while I was having some trouble shooting threes at the Palestra, I asked Monckton for some tips.
"Confidence, Cal," he said. "Confidence"
OK, so maybe I'm overdoing it a bit with all these videos, but hey, I'm the online editor, forgive me. Check out Cal's story on The Line, and here's our final edited video recap:
And lots more photos, courtesy of awesome former sports photo editor Pete Lodato, winner of two CSPA Gold Circle awards:
Since I didn't have time to upload all of the videos I shot during The Line, here's a few good ones I came back to today. Reporting in the interviews by Mr. Silcox. Stay tuned for his story on The Line later tonight, as well as an edited compilation of all these videos I've been posting. As I mentioned in the live blog, if the videos don't load for some reason, just click the screen again and it'll let you watch them on YouTube.
Jerome Allen and Dau Jok bet on making a half-court shot (with a disclaimer by Allen, in case Elton Cochrane—Fikes is reading):
More after the jump
Mike Howlett's introduction, in which Rob Belcore stands on spot where Howlett "bodyslammed Cornell's Jeff Foote" last year, and also refers to him as "the dark-haired Brian Scalabrine":
Darren Smith's introduction (because Belcore calls him really old, and because he is):
Cal Silcox interviews Dau Jok:
Cal interviews Miles Cartwright:
Interview with UA President Matt Amalfitano, who has put a big emphasis on helping out the Red and Blue Crew and improving school spirit:
Giants utility man and current disabled-list member Mark DeRosa visited today with the Penn baseball team — which he played on in the mid 90s when he was also a quarterback on the football team — before heading to Citizens Bank Park, where his Giants play the Phillies tonight in Game Six of the NLCS. Here's an interview with DeRosa from Penn Athletics, where he shares that his college roommate was Mark Fabish, Penn's current tight ends coach.
So you thought you wouldn't be getting the press conference footage because today's football game against Yale was on the road? Think again. Here is your raw footage of coach Al Bagnoli fielding questions after the Quakers withstood a late comeback to beat the Bulldogs 27-20 in New Haven. This video was shot by one Lauren Plotnick.
[Update Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m.] Took a while for the rest of the video files to transfer, but here they are. Penn players Brandon Copeland (98), Luke DeLuca (41) and Billy Ragone (10) in the top video, Yale's Patrick Witt (11), Tom McCarthy (48), coach Tom Williams, and Adam Money (17) in the last one. Interesting item, I just noticed on the box score that Witt, the quarterback who transferred from Nebraska last year, was also listed as the starting free safety for the Bulldogs and did indeed record one tackle in the game. And we thought using Matt Hamscher at safety was unconventional...
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