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(04/12/00 9:00am)
Matt Langel and Michael Jordan were selected by the Atlantic City Seagulls and Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs of the USBL. Penn senior men's basketball co-captains Michael Jordan and Matt Langel were selected in the United States Basketball League's eight-round draft yesterday. Langel was taken in the fourth round (41st overall pick) by the Atlantic City Seagulls, while Jordan (49th) was taken in the fifth round by the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs. Neither player has decided whether he will ultimately choose to play in the USBL -- an 11-team league with a season that lasts from April 21 to June 25. Langel has contacted Atlantic City about playing in the league, but he is not certain whether he will report later this week for the Seagulls' first practice. "It's something I have to think about," Langel said. Jordan, meanwhile, has not yet discussed his situation with the Bethlehem-based ValleyDawgs. "I need to sit down with some people to decide," Jordan said. "It may depend on my money situation." The league season would conflict for both players with a basketball camp held for professional hopefuls in Houston later this month, although Langel said that USBL teams would be understanding of such prior engagements. Jordan and Langel both received invitations to the Houston camp, which takes place April 26-30. Langel estimated that 55 players will be in attendance, running drills and playing full-court games in front of scouts for leagues in the United States and overseas. Jordan played last weekend at the Portsmouth Invitational, a camp in Virginia that traditionally includes about 10 future NBA draft picks. Jordan believed he played well at the camp -- but not exceptionally well. "My numbers weren't great, but they were OK," Jordan said. Jordan and Langel were both named first team All-Ivy this year, with Jordan winning Ivy League Player of the Year honors. Both Quakers guards have also scored over 1,000 points in their careers. The two guards intend to continue their basketball playing careers in some fashion. While both harbor hopes of being selected in the NBA draft in June, neither Jordan nor Langel has ruled out playing in the CBA or in Europe. "Realistically for me, something overseas will probably be the best option," Langel said. The USBL owners tend to select players in the draft with regard to both talent and the possibility that they will choose to play in the league. Oklahoma State's Doug Gottlieb was chosen first in the draft.
(04/07/00 9:00am)
From Andrew Carnegie to Bill Gates, it's a story that has played out many times in the business world: The little guy gets squashed by the big guy. And now, according to two Penn alumni, the University is wielding its big business power against their small Internet-based Penn apparel company. Joe Anderson and Jeff Belanoff, both physicians, started Ultimate Industries in January 1997 as a part-time venture. According to its two owners, Ultimate Industries has only sold about 100 shirts over the last three years and donates more than it sells. "Our motive wasn't to make gobs of money," Anderson said. But despite the company's stated purpose of broadening the selection of available Penn merchandise -- rather than just making a profit -- Anderson and Belanoff may soon be forced to shut down their company. Penn informed the owners in a letter dated February 15 that their license would not be renewed, retroactive to January 1. Although last month the company received a license extension to June 30 and a notice that Penn would reconsider if Ultimate Industries would resubmit its license application, the owners could be without a license in three months. "[Penn's] just taking a little company making barely nothing -- a couple of alumni nonetheless -- and squishing them for no apparent reason," Belanoff said. According to Associate Vice President for Business Development Lisa Prasad, Ultimate Industries' use of non-registered Penn insignias is the reason the company was originally denied renewal of its license. Anderson and Belanoff have been using the same logos since they were first granted a license by the University -- the standard split red and blue "P" along with several of their original designs. However, Prasad said Penn has "used a lot more scrutiny" this year in granting licenses, as University licenses are now granted by a committee in Business Services, whereas in the past they were controlled by the Center for Technology Transfer. Currently, 77 companies have Penn merchandising licenses. "[The CTT] didn't always look at the product samples for appropriateness," Prasad said. Prasad said several of Ultimate Industries' logos -- including a Quaker jumping through the "Q" in "Quakers" and a Ben Franklin look-alike in a football uniform leaning on a red and blue "P" -- do not fit University standards. She also said Ultimate Industries violated license regulations by including a registered trademark symbol next to these non-trademarked logos. According to Anderson, who graduated from the Engineering School in 1984, Penn's letter declining Ultimate Industries' license request did not give a reason for declining to renew the apparel company's license. "We asked, 'Why?' They didn't give us a reason," Anderson said. "I finally got a verbal answer a month later that they don't like what we're selling." Anderson and Belanoff, a 1983 College graduate, both expressed disdain for the way in which the University has treated them over this issue. They point to "legal gobblygook" in the February 15 letter and "hoops" they must now "jump through just to get reconsidered." "If the University renews us in good faith, I think that's a reasonable thing," Anderson said. "But, if not, I think it represents the fact that the University's basically now a corporation." Prasad said Penn hadn't had prior problems with Ultimate Industries.
(03/29/00 10:00am)
Andrew Coates was slated to receive a scholarship to play for the Wildcats, but they pulled the offer. Penn basketball player Andrew Coates and his family have filed a lawsuit against Northwestern University, claiming the Evanston, Ill., school illegally rescinded a scholarship offer to the Seattle native in 1998. According to the lawsuit, Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill took back the Wildcats' scholarship offer to Coates in July 1998 -- just over two weeks after Coates notified the Northwestern coaching staff that he would accept the basketball scholarship. Coates' father, Peter, said yesterday that Northwestern's eventual repudiation cost his son a chance at a scholarship elsewhere. Coates is currently paying full tuition at Penn --Ehe receives no financial aid. The Coates family is seeking "all damages caused by Northwestern's wrongful conduct," which includes payment for tuition at Penn as well as "emotional distress, damages [and] punitive damages." Coates, who has been advised by his lawyers not to comment on the suit, is currently a forward on Penn's team. He missed all but one game, a season-opening loss to Kentucky, this season due to surgery on his foot. Northwestern officials, including O'Neill, declined to comment through an athletic department spokesman. Penn coach Fran Dunphy also declined comment yesterday. The lawsuit alleges that O'Neill offered Coates a scholarship to Northwestern in an e-mail to the then-Eastside Catholic High School junior dated May 11, 1998. "We are offering you a full scholarship to attend NU -- we will make sure that one is available to you! We want to make you a Wildcat," said an e-mail titled "Scholarship Offer" from O'Neill to Coates that was filed as part of the suit. According to the lawsuit, Coates accepted the scholarship in a phone call to O'Neill's office on June 29, 1998. O'Neill was in Hawaii at the time. As a response, a letter addressed to Coates dated two days later from Northwestern assistant coach Bob Beyer said, "Congratulations on your decision to attend Northwestern and welcome to our basketball family." Then, in early July, Coates participated in the Nike All-American Camp. There, his play was hampered by a hyper-extended knee that he suffered in the final game of his junior season at Eastside Catholic. Coates was also ill that week with intestinal problems. Peter Coates alleges that this led to O'Neill sending an e-mail to him at around midnight on the night of July 13. "[O'Neill] said that he was disappointed in [Andrew's] play at the Nike camp and wanted to know what would be a good time to talk to us," Peter Coates said. At around 10 p.m. the next night, O'Neill called the Coates household. He told Coates' father, according to the lawsuit, that "Andrew cannot help our program. We are no longer interested in Andrew. I'm sorry. It's my fault." In addition to breach of contract and other related allegations, the Coates family is also claiming O'Neill defamed Andrew by telling the head coach of Stanford's basketball team that Coates was never offered a Northwestern scholarship. "This statement was defamatory because it indicated that Peter Coates and/or Andrew Coates had lied about whether such an offer was made," the suit alleges. "Further, the statement was defamatory because it indicated that Andrew was not a sufficiently talented student and athlete to receive such a scholarship offer." The suit further claims that "statements indicating Northwestern's commitment to recruiting Andrew? were false" and thus were both intentional and negligent misrepresentation. As evidence, the lawsuit sites a letter from the Northwestern coaching staff that says, "no other coaching staff believes in you more and will work harder for you than we will." Northwestern began to recruit Coates during his junior year at Eastside Catholic. According to the lawsuit, Coates, as requested by the Wildcats coaches, sent Northwestern a videotape of two of his Eastside Catholic basketball games. The two tapes came from his junior season, a season in which he averaged 20 points per game en route to an All-Seattle Metro team selection. On April 30, 1998, in a document cited in the suit, Northwestern assistant coach Billy Schmidt sent Coates an e-mail saying the Wildcats staff had received the tape. Shortly after that, O'Neill sent the May 11 "Scholarship Offer" e-mail. In that e-mail, O'Neill -- who had never met or seen Coates play in person -- also said, "I just wanted to let you know I have received your tape and watched it closely?. I want to make sure you realize how impressed I was with your performance." Coates visited Northwestern from June 25 to June 28, 1998, at which time he and his father met with the basketball coaches and Northwestern President Henry Biesen. O'Neill allegedly told Coates he anticipated the 6'8" small forward would play 20 to 25 minutes per game as a freshman. Following Coates' oral commitment to Northwestern, according to the lawsuit, Coates "advised other college recruiters that he would be attending Northwestern and he did not try to impress or attract the attention of other college recruiters." The lawsuit was filed in Washington state on February 25 and has since been moved from the Superior Court to District Court. A trial date has not yet been set.
(03/28/00 10:00am)
Penn rebounded from a 2-3 spring break trip to thrash its city rival. The daily routine of life at a crowded university in Philadelphia is about as far removed as you can get from a Hawaiian vacation. But for a Penn's men's tennis team returning from a tough week of tennis in the Aloha State, the change from a tropical paradise to the streets of West Philadelphia was a welcome one. The Quakers (7-7) rebounded from their 2-3 Hawaiian swing over spring break by pummeling Temple (2-4), 6-1, at the Lott Tennis Courts on Friday. There were no palm trees in the background for Penn -- just a sizable contingent of supporters in the Quakers' first home outdoor meet of the season. "It helps a lot to have that much support," Penn freshman Ryan Harwood said. "You really feel like you're playing at home when you're playing outside." However, it was not just the scenery that was different for Penn against the Owls. The Quakers were also a different team on the court. Penn excelled in doubles competition in Hawaii, beating four of its five opponents on the trip. But on Friday, only the Harwood/Brett Meringoff duo posted a doubles win for Penn, as the Quakers dropped two of three doubles matches to start off in a 1-0 hole to their cross-city rivals. However, the momentum Temple gained with a doubles win was fleeting. In another departure from its island form, Penn reversed its singles struggles to gun down the Owls in each of the six individual matches. In fact, none of the Quakers lost so much as a set to the overmatched Owls. "There has been a little dejection carried forward to the singles," Penn coach Gordie Ernst said. "But we didn't get any of that [on Friday]. We played like a bunch of guys who just killed the team in doubles." The biggest win for the Quakers was by sophomore Fanda Stejskal at No. 1 singles. The Czech Republic native, who is ranked ninth in the region, defeated No. 5 Pero Pivcevic -- who hails from Split, Croatia -- in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. "[Stejskal] played focused, intense tennis," Ernst said. "When he's like that in that zone, he's really tough to beat." The other Penn winners in singles competition were Harwood, sophomore Brian Barki and juniors Joe Zupan, Rob Pringle and Eric Sobotka. In addition to the differences in the match results, Ernst has seen a notable change in attitude on his team. He admitted he was disappointed with the team's effort in Hawaii, but he has seen rededication by his athletes over the past week. "We took an average team like Temple and we pounded them, so that's a good sign," Ernst said. "The attitude was a lot better."
(03/23/00 10:00am)
The Quakers went 2-3 in the Aloha State over spring break, but they had their chances. For the Penn men's tennis team, the story of its spring break in Hawaii is like that of the Buffalo Bills' bid for a Super Bowl ring -- a tale of near-misses. Penn (5-5) won two of five matches in the Aloha State. But the Quakers could very well have come home 4-1, as they lost one-point matches to both Hawaii and BYU-Hawaii. "We just didn't come up with clutch wins," Penn coach Gordie Ernst said. The Quakers were up 3-2 against BYU-Hawaii last Thursday and needed just two wins in the four matches left for a victory. All four matches went into three sets, but only No. 6 singles player Rob Pringle was victorious. Joey Zupan nearly sealed that key second victory for Penn at No. 4 singles, but the Quakers junior could not hold a 3-1 third-set lead over BYU-Hawaii's Logan Woolley and fell, 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. Penn played its last three matches in Hawaii -- including the BYU-Hawaii contest -- without its No. 1 singles player, sophomore Fanda Stejskal. Stejskal, who had surgery on his elbow in November, reinjured the joint following the Hawaii match. In that match against the Rainbows, the Quakers again took an early lead by winning the doubles point, but Hawaii took home a 4-3 victory after winning four of the six singles matches. Stejskal's contest with the Rainbows' Antonio Garcia, like the Penn-Hawaii match as a whole, started out well for the Red and Blue, as Stejskal took an early 5-3 lead. But Garcia broke Stejskal's next serve and stormed back to capture the first set, 7-5. The second set proceeded in an eerily similar fashion, as Garcia again broke a Stejskal serve to cut into a 5-3 lead. But this time the Penn sophomore did not fold, winning the next point to take the second set. Garcia was too much for Stejskal in the end, though, as the Hawaii No. 1 took the last set, 6-4, for the victory. "[Stejskal] shows flashes of brilliance," Ernst said. "They're like falling stars -- you see them only very rarely because of his injuries." Stejskal, who could not even hold a water bottle the day after his match against Garcia, has been practicing for several days now and is expected to return tomorrow against Temple. Also missing from the Penn singles lineup in Hawaii was senior co-captain Brett Meringoff. Meringoff also usually teams with freshman Ryan Harwood at No. 1 doubles, but Penn was able to overcome his loss at that position on the trip, as Pringle and junior co-captain Eric Sobotka teamed with Harwood to post a 5-0 record in Hawaii. Overall, Penn bested four of its five opponents in doubles on the trip. "Our doubles has improved drastically, which is huge," Harwood said. "The doubles point is what decides matches if it's 3-3 [in singles], and it also sets momentum for the match because that's how it starts off." The Quakers had singles success on two of last week's matches, as they bookended their Hawaii trip with a pair of 9-0 victories against Hawaii-Hilo and Chaminade. Only sophomore Brian Barki against the Vulcans and Zupan against the Silverswords dropped a set in the two matches. In between those victories, however, was a three-match losing streak, including a 7-0 loss to Hawaii-Pacific. Even in that match, though, there was another just-miss for the Quakers. The contest had already been decided, but that did not lessen the drama of the No. 3 singles match between Harwood and Filip Meijer. Harwood and Meijer split the first two sets and were knotted at two in the third set. But then Harwood was penalized a game after losing his temper and apparently swinging his racket against the fence. "It was questionable whether I should have gotten the game taken away from me," Harwood said. Nevertheless, Meijer went up 3-2 on the penalty. But Harwood won two of the next three games to knot the score. "By now, we're both dragging," Harwood said. "It was burning hot and everyone [else] was off the courts for two hours already." Even though it technically meant nothing, the three and a half hour match certainly did not mean nothing to Harwood and Meijer. But like the Quakers had throughout their trip in Hawaii, Harwood fell just short. The Penn freshman lost 7-6 in the final set.
(03/08/00 10:00am)
Unlike last weekend against Brown and Yale, Penn did not have a huge height advantage against Princeton -- the Quakers' starting five was only one inch taller than the Tigers' starting five. But it sure did not seem that way, judging from Penn's dominance inside last night. For nearly 24 minutes, the Quakers held Princeton scoreless in the paint. Nate Walton's layup 3:47 into the second half was the first shot the Tigers made inside. In fact, aside from a 15-footer by Chris Young in the first half, Princeton had done all its scoring up to that point on three-pointers and free throws. And, in the same time period, 24 of Penn's 34 points had come from the paint. "It's always a plan of ours to go inside first," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. But the Quakers were not the first to test the area around the basket. After winning the opening tip, Princeton fed the ball immediately to Young, their 6'11" center. And, as a harbinger of things to come, Owens swatted the Tigers sophomore's first shot of the game. Penn's Michael Jordan and Ugonna Onyekwe committed turnovers on each of Penn's first two possessions, but the Quakers were indeed able to get the ball inside on offense on their next two possessions. Owens first hit Jordan on a cut for a layup to give Penn its initial two points and scored himself on a three-foot hook over Princeton forward Ray Robins on the Quakers' next trip down the floor. Last month, Princeton forward Mason Rocca almost single-handedly kept Princeton in the game with 16 second-half points when the Tigers and Quakers matched up in Jadwin Gymnasium. But Rocca was in street clothes last night, sidelined with tendonitis in his ankle. And his replacement, Robins, had all sorts of trouble with Penn -- both on offense and defense. Robins scored just two points on the night and was held to a mere 15 minutes of playing time after picking up three early fouls while guarding Owens. Like he did at Jadwin, Tigers coach Bill Carmody had a forward guarding the Penn center. At Princeton, it was Rocca on Owens, while last night, Robins had the difficult assignment of stopping a player several inches taller than him. Carmody, however, did not second guess himself. "I thought it would have been worse the other way," Carmody said. But it was pretty bad for the Tigers anyway. On the night, Owens scored 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting. And, more surprisingly, the Penn big man showed an uncanny ability to find an open teammate inside, as he dished out a career-high six assists. "I think it's always nice to have that kind of presence in there making good decisions," Dunphy said. "I can't say that that's one of the big fella's strong points, but he certainly did a great job at it tonight." Onyekwe, meanwhile, scored 20 points of his own, including four dunks -- two in a 20-second span late in the second half. Owens and Onyekwe combined for four blocks and three steals, but Carmody did not blame all of his team's shortcomings inside on the Quakers' defense. "We did what we wanted to do offensively," Carmody said. "We just didn't put the ball in the basket. I didn't think their defense bothered us tonight like it did at our place." But whether it was Penn's defense or their own volition, Princeton struggled mightily inside in the first half -- hitting just 1-of-7 shots inside the arc. The second half was a little different inside, as Walton's ability to penetrate and tenacity on the boards helped to close the gap between the frontcourts. But despite Walton's 14 points and nine rebounds in the final 20 minutes, Penn won the scoring battle in the paint, 40-14. "Nate was the only guy that seemed to have life out there," Carmody said. But, like Robins, Walton was hampered by foul trouble and fouled out with 22.7 seconds remaining. The key big man for Princeton was supposed to be Young. But last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year had not practiced in the last four or five days due to tendonitis in his ankle and had a quiet 16 points on the night. "Chris, he has a sore ankle, but he wasn't moving very well in there," Carmody said. That, in addition to Penn's defense, made it hard for Princeton to find their big man in the post most of the game. And when they did find Young, Owens was often there to at least alter his shot. When Owens was not in the game, the Tigers did have some success on the inside, but not nearly enough to make a difference in the end result.
(03/07/00 10:00am)
Point guard Michael Jordan will play the final home game of his illustrious career tonight at the Palestra. There will be no comebacks for this Michael Jordan. There will be no more games at the Palestra. And unlike teammate and fellow senior Frank Brown, Jordan will have no fifth year of eligibility. Instead, when the final buzzer sounds after tonight's Penn-Princeton game, Quakers senior Michael Jordan will make his final postgame trek to the Palestra locker room. Except for the NCAA Tournament, his storied career at Penn will be over. But what a career it's been. Jordan's name is now a staple in the Penn record books. He is in the top five in school history in career points, three-pointers attempted, three-pointers made, assists and steals. But, somehow, those numbers fall short of revealing Jordan's true legacy. To get a better idea, let's go back to the 1996-97 season, Jordan's first in a Penn uniform. The Quakers were just a shell of the team that had won the previous four Ivy League championships. Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney -- two future NBA players who made up one of the top backcourts in Penn history -- had graduated in 1995. Without them, the remaining Quakers posted a less-than-stellar 17-10 record the next year. While that team was good enough to share an Ivy championship with Princeton, the vacuum of graduation would suck away the rest of the players that made up the dominant Penn teams of the mid-'90s. Into this untested roster came Jordan. He was viewed by many as the next Jerome Allen -- a little less athletic, a little more skilled. He was the guy who was supposed to carry the torch of Allen and Maloney, a torch held briefly by Ivy League Player of the Year Ira Bowman in '95-96. And Jordan did carry that torch. Sure, his hold on it was tentative during his freshman year, when Penn finished fourth in the league and two games under .500 overall. Sure, he may have nearly dropped it a few times in his 17-12 sophomore season. But Jordan kept that torch burning, and now his team has been able to brand two Ivy League titles into the record books. Back in April of 1996 -- five months before Jordan arrived at Penn -- his high school coach, Abington Friends' Steve Chadwin, gave Jordan possibly the highest praise a point guard can receive: "His best attribute is that he makes his teammates better," Chadwin said. And, time and time again, that became evident in Jordan's four years with the Red and Blue. True, Jordan will lead the team in scoring for the third consecutive year. But, more demonstrative of his impact on the team, Jordan will also top the team in assists for a third straight time. One gets the feeling that, if he needed to, Jordan could score 25 points a game. But instead, Jordan plays the role of distributor on offense and tenacious defender on defense. "There's stretches every single game we played here where he strapped the rest of the team on his back, scored a few baskets in a row or hit the shot we needed," Penn center Geoff Owens said. And Jordan is never more in his element than in the final minutes of the game. "When it comes crunch time and we need a tough basket, we're probably running everything through him," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. But running everything through Jordan most often means that the Quakers point guard isn't the one taking the shot. While Jordan's slashing layups certainly are a large part of his game, more often, visions of Jordan drives and kick-outs to fellow senior and backcourt mate Matt Langel for a three-pointer will dance in the heads of Penn fans when they recall the Quakers' No. 23. Langel, too, will see his final action on the Palestra floor tonight. For four years now, his lethal outside shot has been the dagger for many a Penn opponent, as the Quakers' guard stands just two three-pointers behind Garret Kreitz for second all-time in Penn history. Langel will close his career with well over 1,100 points, a 40 percent three-point percentage and a place in one of the best backcourts to wear Penn's Red and Blue. Debates will rage over which duo was the best since Steve Bilsky and Dave Wohl graced the Palestra court 30 years ago, but Jordan seems to give the nod to his predecessors. "What'd they [Allen and Maloney] win, three championships together?" Jordan said. "We only have two." That, in a sense, sums up Jordan's definition of success. He'll be first team All-Ivy League for the third consecutive time and seems a lock to be Ivy Player of the Year, but Jordan is the first to dismiss his individual accomplishments. "All that stuff is all well and good and fine, but I just want to focus on going 14-0 and all the team goals," Jordan said. In many ways, Jordan has been married to this team since his first practice with the squad three and a half years ago. With his arrival came lofty expectations -- expectations that he would be the man to lead Penn back to the Big Dance. "For anybody to do what he has done, in terms of coming in and basically being a significant other from day one, is not the easiest thing to do in anybody's program," Dunphy said. When things have gone right for Penn these last four seasons, Jordan has often received the majority of credit. When things have gone wrong, the Philadelphia native has taken more than his share of the blame. However, Jordan tends to downplay his impact to Penn basketball. "I'm just a member of this team," Jordan said. "I didn't carry the team." But most would agree that the Quakers would have much less of a chance of celebrating back-to-back championships without Jordan at the point. "[Jordan] was a star in every sense of the word -- his personality, how he played on the court," Owens said. "He's just someone that will be sorely missed around here." But Jordan will not be the only player stepping foot on the Palestra tonight for the last time in a Penn uniform. Langel and Brown -- who has scored 404 career points himself -- will also be playing their last Palestra home games. "[Today is] not a fun day for me," Dunphy said, "see[ing] those guys walk out there and represent the last time they'll be playing in a Penn uniform at the Palestra."
(03/06/00 10:00am)
Standing in front of the almost-full College Hall room 200 last Thursday, History Professor Bruce Kuklick addressed his class about what he called a great "moral problem" -- Versity.com. A commercial Web site that pays students $8 to $12 per lecture to post their notes online, Versity.com features notes from college courses across the country, including Kuklick's American History class. And when he found out about the Web site last week, an irate Kuklick vowed to address the issue with his class the next day. "I'm officially telling you that you shouldn't be [posting my lectures online]," Kuklick warned his students, saying the site seems to violate professors' intellectual property. Kuklick isn't alone in his concern. Last month, Yale University demanded that Versity.com remove the lecture notes of its professors from its Web site, citing as reasons possible copyright law violations and university rules prohibiting students from participating in commercial enterprises. "This was clearly, in our opinion, something that at the level of Versity.com was violating the law and at the level of the undergraduates was violating our regulations," Yale spokesman Lawrence Haas said. Although Penn currently does not have a policy regarding distribution of course notes online, a committee of administrators already investigating intellectual property rights on the Internet has begun the process of addressing the issue. "We do believe that the commercial use of such notes may violate intellectual property policies and we're investigating," said Deputy Provost and English Professor Peter Conn, who chairs the committee. More than 10 percent of Penn undergraduates are registered users on the Web site, according to Versity. com, which has online notes for 52 Penn classes this semester. "We believe that posting faculty lecture notes without their consent -- and even without their knowledge -- violates canons of collegiality," Conn said. Versity.com officials, however, deny breaking any laws. According to Versity.com spokeswoman Janet Cardinell, the Web site only took down Yale's lecture notes, "in order to have discussions with them." "We've reviewed the copyright laws and the copyright does not extend to coverage for basic historic fact, or scientific fact or information in the public domain," Cardinell said. Many Penn professors had no prior knowledge that their lecture notes were available online. The reactions of professors who found out about the site ranged from mild surprise to outright anger at Versity.com for not seeking their permission before posting notes from their courses. Psychology Professor David Williams, the chair of the undergraduate division of the department, saw posting of notes from his lecture on Versity's Web site as "neither good nor bad." "It's an inevitable consequence of the availability of the Web," Williams said. But Legal Studies Professor Phil Nichols, like Kuklick, was not happy. "I'll announce it in class," Nichols said. "If I find out anyone's feeding notes to Versity, I'll fail them." Many students said they see few problems with having class notes posted on the Internet. One student who sells her notes to Versity.com said she sees no moral or legal issues conflicting with her job. "As long as it's not plagiarism, as long as it's your own interpretation of the lecture, it's fine," she said. Statistics Professor Abraham Wyner, who was aware his lecture notes were accessible on Versity.com, saw no major legal or ethical difficulties. "I'm perfectly willing to participate in such an endeavor," Wyner said. But he, like many other professors, was disappointed by the quality of the notes. "What they put on the site looks like it took about five minutes to do," Wyner said. According to Cardinell, other colleges -- but not Penn -- have contacted Versity.com about the online lecture notes. But Yale is the first school to request an all-out ban of lecture notes on the site. "We saw [Yale's request] as a chance to raise the debate," Cardinell said. "A lot of what's going on is misinformation and lack of information of what the product really is and how students are using it."
(02/28/00 10:00am)
Seniors Michael Jordan and Matt Langel were instrumental in the Quakers' victories this weekend. BOSTON -- Just when the Penn men's basketball team looked like it was going to slip from its undefeated precipice at the top of the Ivy League, just when a blemish from Dartmouth or Harvard seemed imminent, Michael Jordan and Matt Langel extended their hands and rescued the falling Quakers. With Jordan and Langel, Penn escaped bruised but not beaten on its last road trip of the regular season. But without the two senior co-captains, the Quakers' spot atop the league would not look anywhere near as secure. On Friday, Langel prevented an upset loss to Dartmouth by scoring 11 straight Penn points late in the game -- a game in which the Big Green had the lead for almost all of the first 23 minutes. And on Saturday, it was Jordan who played the savior role for Penn by knocking away a pass to Crimson forward Dan Clemente with 1.9 seconds left to foil Harvard's best chance for victory. "Langel and Jordan are a heck of a backcourt," Dartmouth coach Dave Faucher said. But more than that, the two Quakers co-captains are a heck of an experienced backcourt. They have combined to play 209 games in their four years at Penn, and that experienced showed through this weekend. When Dartmouth center Ian McGinnis took a pass from guard Flinder Boyd and hit an easy five-footer with 7:56 remaining on Friday, the Big Green had closed the Penn lead to 52-48 and had the momentum and the home-crowd support on their side. But Langel soon changed that. The Moorestown, N.J., native hit a three-pointer 15 seconds later and would add eight more points in the next 4:39 to put the game out of Dartmouth's reach. In the time it took for Langel to hit a runner, a jump shot, a layup and two foul shots to give the Quakers a safe 13-point cushion with 3:02 left, Dartmouth could only muster a Shaun Gee layup. "[Dartmouth was] not playing a lot of help defense, so if you can get by your man a little bit, it seemed like you had an open opportunity to get a shot at the basket," Langel said. And Langel took advantage of those opportunities like a senior guard should, especially in the second half. He scored 17 of his game-high 23 points in the final 20 minutes. But it wasn't as if the Quakers' two-guard worked all the magic himself on Friday; Jordan had 21 points of his own. Still, it was Langel -- not Jordan -- who rescued Penn in its most pressing moments on Friday. Saturday, however, was a different story. Jordan's stat line was not overly impressive: 14 points, six assists, three turnovers and two rebounds. But Jordan's contributions went far beyond the scope of the stat sheet. Whenever Penn seemed to be losing its grip on the game, Jordan took over. The Quakers jumped out to an early 18-5 lead and looked to be heading toward a rout. But less than four minutes later, Harvard cut the lead to nine and usurped the momentum. Even Langel was riled at this point, as he kicked a chair on the bench after coming out for a breather. Sensing the game was falling apart at the seams, Jordan sewed it back together by driving the length of the court and hitting a 10-foot jump shot. And the Philadelphia native did the same thing again when Harvard took its only lead on a Clemente jump shot with 15:21 remaining. This time Jordan drove for a layup, and Penn regained the lead for good. But Harvard would not go away, and if not for Jordan's great defensive play in the last 10 seconds, the Quakers would have gone back to Philadelphia with their first league loss in a year. Jordan, however, did nearly cost Penn the game with an up-and-down traveling violation with 9.3 seconds left and the Quakers only up by one. But the Penn senior redeemed himself by diving and knocking away a pass from Harvard guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman to an open Clemente with 1.9 seconds left. So instead of an unguarded 15-footer, Clemente had to take an off-balance 25-footer with Langel's hand in his face after the inbounds pass. Clemente missed the shot, and Penn took the six-hour ride back to West Philadelphia unscathed.
(02/24/00 10:00am)
Jonathan Searles, also a Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguer, will have to wait until classes end before reporting for duty. Like many other Penn students, Jonathan Searles will be pining for Florida on March 8. But Searles' won't have visions of afternoons spent relaxing on the warm sand when Penn's spring break gets underway two days later. Instead, Searles will be dreaming of doubleheaders on the Bradenton, Fla., baseball diamond. You see, Jonathan Searles is no ordinary Penn student. The Wharton freshman also happens to be a professional baseball player. Drafted last June by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the eighth round, Searles spent the summer playing Rookie ball for Bradenton, where he posted a 1-0 record with a 4.15 ERA in 13 innings pitched. March 8 is the date Searles' Bradenton teammates have to report to Florida for spring training, but on that date Searles will not be packing his baseball gear into his duffel bag in Bradenton -- he'll just be packing for a trip back to his Huntington, N.Y., home. Yes, Jonathan Searles is no ordinary baseball player, either. His contract with the Pirates stipulates that Searles does not have to report to Florida until mid-May, so unlike his full-time baseball-playing teammates, he will finish out the school year before making the 1,000-mile trek to Bradenton. But although Searles says he doesn't regret his decision to finish out the school year before going back to being a baseball player, you can't help but notice his baseball yearning when he talks about Cliff Baek, his teammate at Bradenton. Baek has already reported to spring training and is using the extra time to hit in the batting cages and lift weights. "What's better than that?" Searles said. "He'll have a month's practice on everybody." To Searles, sports may not be everything, but they certainly take up much of his life. Sure, he's often found studying in his room. And sure, he parties and socializes like any other college student. But from college basketball games to football catches in the Quad, everything seems to come back to sports for Searles. "If it sounds shallow, sports are my love," Searles said. "I don't see anything wrong with devoting most of your time to what you love." Despite the devotion, Searles does nothing to broadcast his status as a Pirate. Quite the opposite. In fact, most of his friends didn't find out that Searles played pro baseball until more than a week after they met him. "He's one of the most modest people I know," said sophomore Blake Miller, who went to high school with Searles. "He just doesn't bring it up." Searles just wants to be ordinary. His favorite baseball player growing up was not your standard larger-than-life superstar -- it was gritty and unheralded Chicago Cubs' first baseman Mark Grace. "Mark Grace was consistent," Searles said. "Every day he played, and he always got a hit. Man, he always got a hit. And you never heard of him doing anything stupid off the field." In other words, Mark Grace is, through and through, just a baseball player. And that's exactly what Searles wants to be. He doesn't deny that he wants the fame that comes hand-in-hand with making the Show, but he wants that fame to come from what he does on the field, not off of it. Searles, like most people, calls what John Rocker said in the infamous Sports Illustrated interview "ridiculous," but he chastises Rocker even more for his antics inside the ballpark. "On the field, when he would flip off the fans -- there's no room for that in the game," Searles said. "You're a professional. Be a professional. The fans are there to watch the game. You're there to play. "The game of baseball is bigger than anyone that will ever play it." Searles seems a bit overwhelmed by the game at times. You can tell by the boyish wide-eyed enthusiasm he radiates whenever he talks about his summer in Bradenton. But maybe Searles is just overwhelmed with the joy he feels for the game. "I noticed a difference," said Searles' mother, Candice Searles, when discussing the changes in her son last summer. "We took a visit [to Florida] in July, and Jonathan was just happy. You could see it in his face." Of course, not everything in Florida was happy for Searles. The Huntington, N.Y., native had perhaps the most inauspicious pro baseball start possible. "The first thing [my teammates] said to me before I went out to the mound was, 'Don't give up a home run,'" Searles said. And what did the first batter Searles faced do? He homered over the left-field wall. "I put two fastballs by that guy and I said, 'Hey, why not, I did it through high school, let's just put a third by him, right?'" Searles said. "Whack," Searles said, laughing and shaking his head. "They were hysterical in the dugout." But Searles' youthful pound-it-in-there attitude -- though it hurt him that time -- is precisely one of the reasons Pirates scout Dana Brown courted Searles. "He's aggressive with his stuff," Brown said. "If you're going to pitch in the major leagues, you can't be intimidated by the batter." Searles didn't give up another long ball all summer, but he still showed much of the inconsistency of a pitcher just a few months removed from high school. In one game he walked the bases loaded only to come right back and strike out the side. "After that, I just sat down in the dugout and said, 'Damn, I've got to start making this easy on myself,'" Searles said. Maybe things would have been easier for Searles if he had decided not to sign with the Pirates. Instead of being on the lowest rung of the Pittsburgh ladder, he would have played varsity football for the Quakers, as coach Al Bagnoli recruited Searles as a quarterback. Searles could have played baseball at Penn too, as Quakers coach Bob Seddon tried to woo the 6'3", 195-pound pitcher after Major League scouts showed interest in him. Instead, Searles merely sits in the stands at Penn sporting events, seemingly still content with his decisions, yet still longing to be on the field. At the Quakers' first football game, Searles could not help but think about what could have been and reminisce about what was. "When the band was playing and getting ready for kickoff, I just tensed up, just like I used to do on the sideline before I get out for the first series," Searles said. "I know how everyone on that field was feeling at that time, and it was kind of frustrating." In baseball, too, Searles feels removed from the game when he's at Penn. Last semester, he long-tossed with freshman baseball player Paul Grumet, who was recovering from arthroscopic surgery. But now, as the snow melts, the Penn baseball team -- including Grumet -- is coming out of its winter hibernation, and Searles is again left pining for the baseball fields. "I say to Paul, 'Aw, man, you're so lucky. You get to go play right now. In the middle of school you can go play, relieve some tension, have some fun for a couple hours. I'm so jealous of you,'" Searles said. You can see the sentimentality of Searles as he holds on to his memories of high school baseball -- the same sentimentality that keeps a beat-up Eddie Bauer hat his ex-girlfriend gave him on Searles' head. You can see just a hint of superstition in Searles. He wore No. 14 on the seventh grade football team, when his team went 6-0. And after a switch to No. 11 the following year resulted in an 0-6 season, Searles went back to No. 14 for good. But most of all, you can see how Searles is just an ordinary person. He doesn't want to stand out of a crowd. He doesn't want to be known as "that Pirates pitcher." He just wants to be Jonathan Searles. "He's just a regular person, don't you think?" asked his mother, Candice. Regular, yes -- common, no.
(02/22/00 10:00am)
For a quartet of lucky fans, March Madness will start four days before the end of February. The Penn Athletic Department has planned a barrage of promotions to increase attendance at the Palestra when the Penn women's basketball team hosts Harvard on Saturday night. The Quakers are tied with the Crimson for second place in the Ivy League, one game behind front-running Dartmouth. The highlight of these promotions will be a raffle, with the two top prizes being a pair of tickets to either the men's Final Four at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis or the women's Final Four at Philadelphia's First Union Center. The winners of the raffle will then have to make one-of-three free throws before they actually obtain the Final Four tickets. Raffle tickets cost $2, and all proceeds will benefit the Undergraduate Assembly's outdoor basketball court project. "This seems like an operation that serves everybody's needs," said Bill Richter, Penn's coordinator of marketing and special events. "We want more fans to come and support the women, who are on the cusp of perhaps their first ever NCAA bid, and the UA wants some funds to support their outdoor court. So it seems like everybody wins." Other promotions for the game include a halftime shot for $5,000, as well as giveaways of Amtrak Metroliner tickets to New York and U.S. Airways tickets. A large contingent of Girl Scouts is also anticipated, as the first 500 people in attendance under the age of 12 will receive free Penn women's basketball T-shirts. Richter expects "a couple thousand people" to attend the game -- one that will have a large impact on the Ivy League title race. Attendance for Penn women's basketball has increased this season, but it is still uncommon to see as many as 500 fans in the Palestra for a game. "As a new coach, I've been kind of surprised by the lack of attendance, so I'm hoping that these promotions bring students in to our games for the first time this year," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. In addition to helping the Quakers draw fans, these promotions should also greatly benefit the UA, which needs funds for its $190,000 outdoor basketball court project. Construction of the courts on the roof of the parking garage on 38th and Spruce streets was approved by the University last month and is expected to be completed by September. To promote the giveaways at this Saturday's game, the UA -- in conjunction with the Athletic Department -- will send out mailings this week and make raffle tickets available on Locust Walk starting tomorrow. "A lot of people have never been to a women's game," Richter said. "The team is exciting. They're doing very well, and we'll make for a very festive atmosphere."
(02/18/00 10:00am)
Former Miami Dolphins coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Don Shula may have complained about Philadelphia's cold weather when he stepped off the plane today, but he certainly didn't complain about the food. "As soon as I got here, the first thing I ordered was a Philly steak sandwich," Shula said. "I'm a meat-eater, and that's just a good sandwich." Shula lists the Philly steak sandwich as his favorite item on the menu of Shula's Steak 2, the 2-year-old University City restaurant he was on hand to promote last night at the Sheraton University City Hotel's Grand Re-Opening Celebration. The celebration -- which also featured Philadelphia Mayor John Street as a guest speaker -- marked the culmination of three years and $5.5 million of renovations to the Penn-owned hotel. About 400 people crowded into the Sheraton last night to sample the buffet, listen to the string quartet and rub shoulders with the NFL legend. Although Shula has been out of coaching for half a decade now, his luster has not faded. "I'm thrilled to meet coach Don Shula," Street said last night. "This is just the highlight of my day for sure." Street spoke of the renovations and how they fit into his grand scheme of "making Philadelphia a better place to live." The mayor even talked about how Shula's Steak 2 fit into his program for making the city more physically fit. "I'm trying to tell people that good health and physical fitness is not inconsistent with good eating," Street said. Shula, meanwhile, celebrated Philadelphia and praised Super Bowl champion coach Dick Vermeil in his time at the podium. He also discussed his famed coaching career. The Philadelphia branch of the restaurant -- one of 15 steakhouses franchised by Shula -- holds special meaning for the longtime National Football League coach because Philadelphia was the site of his NFL-record 325th victory. Shula was carried off the field in that record-breaking victory in 1993, just as he was when the Dolphins closed out the NFL's only perfect season in 1972 with a Super Bowl VII victory over the Washington Redskins. "Those were two great rides that I've had in my coaching career," Shula said. Shula's time as a coach came to an end in 1995, when he retired from the Dolphins with 347 victories. But although Shula, as vice chairman of the Board of Directors for the Dolphins, remains attached to football, he still misses being on the sidelines. "I knew that when I stepped aside, I was going to miss gameday, and that's what I miss more than anything else," Shula said. "There's nothing you do to replace what happens on Sunday afternoon between one and four o'clock." The former Dolphins and Baltimore Colts coach also alluded to his plans to start another Shula's steakhouse franchise downtown next year. Shula now has a grandson living in Philadelphia, so another branch in the City of Brotherly Love makes even more sense to the former coach. Shula's Steak 2, however, was not the only part of the University-owned Sheraton's improvements. All 374 rooms in the hotel were renovated, and five new businesses opened within the hotel. Additionally, two new rooms were constructed: an Executive Boardroom for small meetings and the Palmaire Ballroom, the site of last night's celebration.
(02/17/00 10:00am)
The National Football League's winningest coach, along with Philadelphia's new mayor, will speak tonight at the Sheraton University City Hotel's grand re-opening celebration. Don Shula, who compiled a 347-173-6 career record in the NFL, and John Street will both be on hand in the hotel's newly constructed Palmaire Ballroom for tonight's unveiling of the Sheraton's three-year, $5.5 million renovations. Included in the renovations was the addition of Shula's Steak 2, a sports restaurant and bar franchised by the longtime Miami Dolphins coach. Shula's Steak 2 opened its doors two years ago in a building adjacent to the hotel, a site that formerly housed the Smart Alex restaurant. In addition to opening the popular restaurant and bar, the Sheraton -- which is located on 36th and Chestnut streets -- also renovated all 374 of its guest rooms and constructed two new rooms: an Executive Boardroom for small meetings and the Palmaire Ballroom for larger banquet-style events. Additionally the Sheraton added five businesses within the hotel: The Pulse Business/Copy Center, Enterprise Car Rental, the Computer Connection, Rose's Florist and Something Special Gift Shop. The University, which bought the Sheraton for $15 million in 1996, financed the three-year renovation project. "The renovations were way overdue," said Ken Kapikian, general manager of the Sheraton. "Luckily for us, the the ownership of the University allowed us to upgrade the property." The primary upgrade involved bringing in a branch of the Shula's steakhouse franchise. Part of the impetus for opening a Shula's branch in Philadelphia was the piece of history the City of Brotherly Love shared with the Hall of Fame coach. Shula broke George Halas' record of 324 career victories in 1993 when his team, the Miami Dolphins, defeated the Philadelphia Eagles. A football from that game hangs in the University City restaurant, along with more than 500 other pieces of memorabilia. The Dolphins coach, who retired in 1995 with 328 regular-season victories, opened the first Shula's Steakhouse in his hometown of Miami Lakes, Fla., nearly 12 years ago. The University City branch -- which opened its doors on September 28, 1998 -- was his 12th steakhouse. "[Shula's Steak 2] is a big addition to University City and the campus," Kapikian said. Shula coached for 33 years in the NFL with the Dolphins and Baltimore Colts. The 70-year-old coach led his team to the playoffs 20 times and compiled a career winning percentage of .665. He guided Miami to the only undefeated season by an NFL team, when the Dolphins went 17-0 in 1972 and beat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. Shula and Street are scheduled to speak at 6 p.m. Kapikian expects between 400 and 500 people to attend the invite-only banquet.
(02/16/00 10:00am)
PRINCETON, N.J. -- With the calm demeanor expected from a five-year senior, Penn forward Frank Brown took the pass from teammate Matt Langel in the corner and knifed home the heart-stopping, game-ending three pointer. There were still four minutes and 37 seconds remaining on the clock at Jadwin Gymnasium, but the clutch bucket had given Penn a 47-38 lead and, more importantly, squashed the momentum of a Princeton comeback attempt. Only 42 seconds earlier, the Tigers had pulled within two after being down 25-18 at halftime, but following Brown's three-pointer, all Princeton could do was writhe and gasp its way to the final buzzer. Even the traditional Princeton chants of "safety school" with under a minute remaining were weak and short-lived -- more solemn than spirited. Penn beat rival Princeton on the court last night, 55-46, but more than that, the Quakers (14-7, 7-0 Ivy League) may have beaten the Tigers (13-9, 5-2) into possible submission in the Ivy League race. "It's very tough to swallow right now," Princeton center Chris Young said. "It wouldn't sting as bad if we didn't have that earlier loss to Yale. But we did, and now it just doesn't look good." The Quakers now have a two-game lead in the Ivy League and look to be in the driver's seat on the road to the NCAA Tournament. The main reason for this was the laudable job Penn's defense did containing Princeton's top scoring threats last night. Tigers center Chris Young, who scored 30 points in Princeton's game against Harvard on Saturday, was held to just 11 last night. And the Quakers held guard Spencer Gloger and forward Mason Rocca -- two of Princeton's most dangerous offensive players -- scoreless in the first half last night. But, although Gloger -- who may have been hampered by strained ligaments in his left hand -- finished the game with a goose egg in the points column, Rocca almost single-handedly kept the Tigers in the game in the second half. Rocca scored 16 of Princeton's 28 second-half points. The lone Princeton senior, however, did seem to fade toward the end of the game. Rocca, who has not been able to practice with the team since December 15 because of tendinitis in his ankle, had no field goals in the last 7:28. "[My ankle] was pretty painful," Rocca said. "As the second half wore on, it really started to ache a lot." Rocca's two free throws with 5:55 remaining brought Princeton to within two points of Penn at 40-38. But the Tigers, who trailed for the last 29:04, would get no closer. A foul by Princeton's C.J. Chapman on the ensuing possession sent Langel to the line, where he sank two shots to stretch the Quakers' lead to four. Then Penn center Geoff Owens stole a Chapman pass intended for Young to set up a fast-break layup for Brown. After Chapman missed a shot from behind the arc on Princeton's next possession, the stage was set for Brown's nail-in-the-coffin three-pointer. Brown ended up with eight points in 18 minutes, while Michael Jordan led the Quakers with 14 points and Onyekwe added 12 on 5-of-10 shooting. Onyekwe also blocked four shots and did not commit a single turnover in 37 minutes, despite playing in front of what he deemed to be "as tough a crowd as you can get for an away game." "There's not much fright in him," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "Even from the first game that we played at Kentucky, he just figured we were supposed to be out there playing, and it wasn't any big deal." The highlight of Onyekwe's night was his 360-degree spin and two-handed dunk with 10.3 seconds remaining. Following an emphatic block of a Rocca shot, the slam provided an exclamation point to Penn's victory. The game went back and forth in the early going. After the Quakers took an initial 4-0 lead, the Tigers went on a 12-2 run in a span of only 2:26. Penn answered with a 19-2 run and went into the locker room at halftime leading 25-18. The first half seemed a little abnormal from the Penn side, however, as backup Oggie Kapetanovic amassed more minutes (14) than starters Owens and Brown combined (13). Foul trouble was the impetus for this anomaly, as Brown and Owens committed two fouls each in the game's first four minutes. When Owens picked up his second foul with 16:02 remaining, the Jadwin scoreboard indicated that the Penn center had three fouls, at which point Dunphy removed both Brown and Owens from the game. Brown spent the next 11 minutes on the bench, while Owens sat until the 2:37 mark of the first half. The Quakers held the Tigers to 28.8 percent shooting from the field on the night, as every Princeton player shot under 50 percent. Prior to the last two Quakers victories at Jadwin Gymnasium, Princeton had won six consecutive games against its Philadelphia rival. But, at least publicly, Penn players are not corroborating the death of Princeton in the Ivy League race. "We have seven more games to play," Jordan said. "It's not over yet." But the Quakers were unable to completely mask their emotions. Onyekwe held on to two orange Princeton foam noodles following the game. And although he tried to hide them, it was plain to see that he was going to save the two souvenirs. Perhaps they will just serve as a reminder of his first Penn-Princeton game. Or perhaps, more specifically, they're the spoils of last night's battle in Jadwin -- one that left the host Tigers in critical condition in the Ivy League title race.
(02/14/00 10:00am)
Penn center Geoff Owens elicited cheers from the Palestra crowd with his surprisingly fine free-throw shooting. Ovation after ovation rocked the Palestra on Friday night, as Penn fans applauded in disbelief at what they were witnessing. These standing ovations were not precipitated by thunderous dunks from Ugonna Onyekwe and Koko Archibong, or by a barrage of three-pointers from Matt Langel or even by a heart-stopping Michael Jordan weave through the Harvard defense. No, what the crowd at the Palestra witnessed on Friday night was even more amazing. Geoff Owens, he of the infamous 49 percent career foul-shooting percentage, drained shot after shot from the free-throw stripe. The charity stripe has long been Owens' bugaboo, but that was far from the case on Friday. The Penn center converted on his first eight attempts against Harvard to extend his streak of consecutive free throws made to an astounding 14. The Penn big man missed his final attempt from the foul line on Friday and only shot two free throws on Saturday, making one. But Owens has still made 15 of his last 17 shots from the charity stripe since Penn's win over Yale last week. And, more importantly, a King-Kong-sized monkey may finally be starting to dismount from the Audubon, N.J., native's back. "[Foul shooting] is something I've worked on for a while, but it's just been an Achille's heel for me the past couple years," Owens said. Things had gotten so bad for Owens at the line that Penn coach Fran Dunphy was forced to take his starting center out in the closing minutes of the Drexel game last month. The Dragons treated Owens like Shaquille O'Neal at the end of the game, intentionally fouling the Quakers' center in hopes that he would be his usual ineffective self on the line. And Owens did allow Drexel to creep back into the game in the second half by making just 3-of-9 foul shots. Following that game, Owens re-dedicated himself to becoming competent at the charity stripe, starting with a change in form. Owens, who used to release his free-throw attempts from near the top of his head, moved his hands lower and his release closer to his body to try to maximize consistency. "A lot can go wrong between here and there," Owens said, referring to bringing his hands from a set position to his former over-the-head release point. "Now I'm more tight." In addition to that mechanical alteration, Owens has been, by his own estimation, giving "100 percent instead of 95 percent" in practicing his foul shooting. He now shoots at least 100 free throws a day, many in pressure-packed competitions with teammates or game-like simulations. "Sometimes, if you stay on the line all day, you get used to a certain form," Owens said. "You shoot against someone, or you shoot two sets of two -- it makes it more game-like." The effort Owens invested into his foul shooting did not pay immediate dividends, as he shot just 2-of-5 from the line in his next three games. But since then, Owens has shot a stellar 88 percent from the stripe. And his seat on the bench at the end of each of Penn's last four games is a result of a flurry of Quakers blowouts, not his foul shooting. "I know my team needs me on the floor for defense as well as offense," Owens said. "It hurts my team that I couldn't be in the game. Hopefully, I won't be in that situation again where I have to come out of the game." On Friday against Harvard, Owens took just one shot from the field, but still managed to score 10 points on account of his 8-for-9 performance from the foul line. But Owens wasn't the only Quakers player to hit his foul shots on Friday. Penn hit a very impressive 20-of-22 overall from the line against the Crimson. "[Foul shooting] is very contagious, and now Geoff has started to make them," Dunphy said. "And now, as soon as he did it, everybody else is making them." For the other Quakers, making foul shots only leads to a collective "whoosh" from the Penn fans, but for Owens, conversion at the charity stripe on Friday led to standing ovations. The Penn center, however, was far from being flattered. "It's an embarrassment," Owens said. "I don't need a standing ovation. I want [making foul shots] to be normal from now on." It's unlikely that Penn fans will consider a sweet-shooting Owens at the foul line normal in the near future, but the Quakers center's recent success may just be the first step in Owens' transfer out of the Wilt Chamberlain school of free-throw shooting.
(02/11/00 10:00am)
After a 1998 incident in which a student was shot, Penn has been reluctant to host the games. Penn and three other Philadelphia universities agreed this week to split hosting duties for the city's high school basketball championship games, two years after a fatal shooting outside of the Palestra following the game convinced the University to distance itself from the event. Under the agreement, Penn will host the Philadelphia Public School Athletic League finals at the Palestra in 2002, with La Salle University's Tom Gola Arena housing that year's semifinals. This year's and next year's championships, meanwhile, will be at Temple University's Apollo and the semifinals will take place at St. Joseph's University's Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse. "It's something the Big 5 should do for their city," University spokesman Ken Wildes said. The basketball championships, which typically draw crowds in excess of 3,000 people, have been accompanied by violence and crime in past years -- including the fatal shooting on 33rd Street that following the 1998 championship held in the Palestra. Although police later deemed the incident -- which left one dead and three others, including a Penn student, wounded -- unrelated to the game, it prompted Drexel University to back out of hosting the Public League all-star games scheduled for one week later. The shooting also resulted in Penn delaying a decision about whether to host the 1999 championships, forcing the Public League to play the finals last year in St. Joseph's smaller and less accessible Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse. At the 1996 game, a riot nearly ensued following a questionable officiating decision at the Civic Center. And police reported hearing gunshots near 33rd and Walnut streets following the 1997 championship game at the Palestra. Last year's game at the Fieldhouse was not marred by any criminal incidents. Although the University last year steered clear of continuing its host status of the championships, Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said officials were not averse to discussing a joint effort. "When the issue came up of Public League [this year], we decided that maybe if we joined in a partnered way, it would be a good idea," Bilsky said. Bilsky downplayed the safety concerns, pointing out that none of the incidents occurred at the Palestra during the games. Similarly, St. Joe's Athletic Director Don DiJulia did not consider security a major factor. "We've hosted and we've been satisfied with the commitment by the city and the school district to provide adequate security," DiJulia said. "It's never been an issue here." Wildes said safety remains an issue and specific security measures will be addressed once the date of the championships draws closer. "We're just going to have to redouble our efforts? so that the participants and the spectators and the campuses themselves go away from it feeling very good," Wildes said. The four schools were asked to take part in hosting the Public League Championships, according to Public League Athletic Program Manager Linda McGee, because they had hosted the championships before and were the only ones with large enough arenas. The only other possible option, Drexel's 2,300 seat PE/Athletic Center "isn't big enough," McGee said. Although the current agreement between the Philadelphia universities only extends through 2002, the intentions are for the four sites to continue to be home to the championship game. "If it's good for the users and good for the facilities and this orderly process works," DiJulia said, "then there's no reason not to continue." A key part of the agreement is the flexibility it allows the four schools. "With this partnership, we can just be able to depend on another one of those universities to step in and fill the need if one of them has a scheduling conflict," McGee said
(02/10/00 10:00am)
Overcrowded bleachers and a playing field that looked like it lost a 10-round fight with the sun and rain will soon be just bad memories for the Penn soccer program. Rhodes Field, the decaying home to Penn's men's and women's soccer teams, will be receiving much-needed renovations within the next two years, pending University approval. The Athletic Department plans to construct a 500-to-1,500 seat brick grandstand with a press box and a VIP box on the east side of Rhodes Field, which is located on the east end of campus. In addition, officials said maintenance work will be done on the field itself. Penn has already raised approximately $500,000 for the $750,000 project, which will take approximately three to four months to complete. Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said the improvements to Rhodes Field would at the earliest be completed by the fall of 2001. "Currently, we don't have a facility that can compete with the other Ivies," said men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller, who added that he thought the new field -- once finished -- would be "the best in the Ivy League." While several parts of the field will receive minor renovations, the focus of the Rhodes Field project will be the construction of the grandstand. The grandstand, which will support the bleachers, VIP box and press box, will be constructed with brick -- a style consistent with the other major athletic facilities at Penn. "It will be a brick structure tying in the best effects of Franklin Field," Fuller said. The structure will also serve as a barrier from the noise of the Schuylkill Expressway, which is less than 100 yards east of Rhodes Field. The renovations will address other shortcomings of the current Rhodes Field. The facility's problems were magnified last season when a summer drought left the playing surface in poor condition and the success of the NCAA-qualifying women's soccer team brought more people to games than the bleachers could hold. The poor condition of the playing field -- with its patches of dirt, uneven ground and stray tufts of grass -- will be addressed this offseason, regardless of when the grandstand is erected. Some preliminary maintenance to the playing surface was done last month, but a complete resodding may still be necessary to return the field to a playable condition. "Best case scenario, the field rebounds on its own and is ready to go for this fall," Fuller said. "But if that isn't the case, we'll be looking at every option to get it back to where it was." The seating concerns, meanwhile, will not have a temporary solution prior to the construction of the grandstand, despite overcrowding problems last season. According to women's soccer coach Andy Nelson, attendance last year at times exceeded 600 -- despite the field's seating capacity of approximately 500. "I remember times last year when the few bleachers we have out there were just jam-packed with people and there's a whole bunch of people having to sit and stand around the side of the field," Nelson said. "We definitely need a facility that's going to cope with the crowds." The new soccer facility comes on the heels of the construction of the new baseball stadium at Murphy Field. Minor renovations are also planned for softball's Warren Field and the Palestra. "I think Penn Athletics is very serious about being strong right across the board," Nelson said. "I think this new facility will give us the opportunity to have as good of, if not better, facility than anyone else in the Ivy League."
(02/08/00 10:00am)
Seventeen students attended a meeting of the fan club last night. The members of the Red and Blue Crew, a student organization created to support Penn basketball, were noticeably out of costume at their second official meeting last night in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall. There were no faces with red and blue paint, no "Puck Frinceton" T-shirts and no Dunphys-on-sticks -- just a group of average-looking Penn students discussing the best ways to promote spirit at the Palestra. The hour-long meeting was attended by 17 students, along with featured guests Michael Jordan, David Klatsky and Diana Caramanico from the Penn basketball teams. Jordan and Klatsky spoke about the need for a large and loud Palestra crowd at games. "Fan support is really important because of the intimidation factor in the way our gym is set up," Jordan said. Meanwhile, Caramanico noted that while overall attendance has been up for Penn women's basketball games, student attendance has remained sparse. "We've gotten a lot more support this year than in the past," Caramanico said. "But we don't have that many students coming to our games." The Red and Blue Crew attempted to address Caramanico's concerns last night by considering ways to promote women's basketball at Penn -- specifically at the Harvard-Penn showdown at the Palestra on February 26. The Crimson and the Quakers are currently tied for first in the Ivy League at 5-0. Later this week, prizes will be announced for a raffle that will be held at the Harvard-Penn game. Additionally, concession promotions are also being considered for the game. The other major focus of the meeting was the distribution of T-shirts. Penn Coordinator of Basketball Operations Gil Beverly, who oversees the club, ordered between 700 and 800 Red and Blue Crew shirts to be distributed at no charge on a first-come, first-served basis to the 1,200 Quakers season ticket holders. More shirts will be available if demand is high enough. The Red and Blue Crew discussed encouraging students to wear the shirts to every game to create a sea of blue in the stands. However, no final decision was reached. The Red and Blue Crew adopted its name at the group's first official meeting in December and publicized last night's meeting with fliers and announcements at the Palestra last month. "Anyone who sits in the student section is a part of the Red and Blue Crew, just by definition," Beverly said. "This body sitting here [at the meeting] is what we're going to call the Red and Blue Crew Steering Committee." The Red and Blue Crew has not yet elected an executive committee, but the club does have a three-pronged mission: increasing student attendance at the Palestra, making the arena's atmosphere more enjoyable for fans and making the Palestra more intimidating for visiting players. According to Beverly, nearly half of the students in attendance last night were not at the first meeting. "That was one of the goals -- to get some new people energized," Beverly said. "I think there was a lot of positive energy in the room." Red and Blue Crew members also believed the meeting was a success. "We got some more things organized -- specifically, the T-shirts and the plans for the women's game," Engineering sophomore Wayne Davis said.
(02/04/00 10:00am)
Wins at Brown and Harvard could secure the sixth Ivy championship for the Quakers in the last seven seasons. Brown and Harvard have more than just home mat advantage against the Penn wrestling team this weekend -- they have a six-point handicap. For the second consecutive weekend, the Quakers will be spotting the opposition an initial advantage by forfeiting the 125-pound bout, but Penn (4-4, 2-0 Ivy League) is still expected to cruise past the host Bears (4-7, 0-0) this afternoon and the Crimson (3-3, 0-0) tomorrow afternoon. Sophomore Kevin Rucci's hand injury kept him out of the Quakers' three bouts last weekend, and the Penn 125-pounder will be absent from the lineup again this weekend. Penn, however, went 3-0 last weekend despite not having Rucci in the lineup. "It's not like football where one guy being out will just throw the whole team off course," Penn heavyweight Bandele Adeniyi-Bada said. "There are nine guys who can carry a six-point spread on our team." The wrestler who may have to carry the biggest load, oddly enough, is the smallest. Jason Nagle, the Quakers' diminutive 133-pounder and No. 1 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association rankings, will face both No. 2 Matt Picarsic and No. 3 Livio DiRubbo. Nagle knocked off Brown's DiRubbo in an EIWA finals upset last March, avenging DiRubbo's narrow victory in February. Harvard's Picarsic, meanwhile, was also left in the wake last year by Nagle's improbable run through the EIWAs. Two wins by Nagle would all but secure a top seed in the EIWAs next month -- a far cry from last year, when the Penn senior entered the tournament unseeded. Adeniyi-Bada, Penn's biggest wrestler, is also staring down an EIWA rematch this weekend. Today, the Quakers senior -- ranked fifth in the nation -- will face No. 8 Bronson Lingamfelter. The Brown heavyweight pinned Adeniyi-Bada in the closing seconds of the EIWA semifinals after trailing 11-3, but Adeniyi-Bada has twice avenged the defeat since that shocker. "It was just a lapse, basically," Adeniyi-Bada said of the match last March. The single biggest match of this weekend will feature Quakers junior Rick Springman in a high-profile rematch of a Midlands bout with Harvard's Ed Mosley. Springman, ranked No. 2 in the nation, pinned No. 4 Mosley in the December match after trailing well into the third period. "Rick's been wrestling extremely well in the practice room and I think he's taken big steps since his competition at the Midlands," Penn coach Roger Reina said. The Quakers have not backed off training in preparation for this weekend, as Reina continues to prepare his wrestlers to peak at Nationals. This week's practice has specifically focused on technical aspects of wrestling. "I've been working on different setups for my shots, looking to be a little slick," Adeniyi-Bada said. "You think these guys are expecting one thing and you hit them with a little slickness." Penn gained the upper hand in the Ivy League race last weekend with a 19-16 victory over No. 16 Cornell after sharing the league title with the Big Red last season. If the Quakers win against both Brown and Harvard this weekend, they will have earned at least a share of the Ivy League title for the fifth consecutive season. Going into last weekend's meets against No. 15 Cornell and Columbia, Penn had lost four of their last five dual meets -- although all five matches were against teams currently ranked as one of the top 25 programs in the nation. "We picked up our intensity against Cornell and wrestled more aggressively and more physically," Reina said. "We want to use that as a stepping stone and continue to increase that kind of intensity in competition." Penn will need to maintain its intensity level with the 125-pound spot possibly vacant until the EIWA Championships in early March. Reina said that Rucci could be ready by as early as February 20 against Lehigh.
(02/03/00 10:00am)
Penn is looking to renovate the arena's concourse and halls at a cost of $2 million. After 73 years of graceful aging, the Palestra may finally get a facelift. Penn's Athletic Department is in the process of completing a proposal for renovations to the halls and lobby of the historic arena. If the nearly $2 million renovations -- which will create museum-style exhibits in the halls and repair the deteriorating Palestra concourse -- are approved, construction will likely begin in April or May. The renovations would then be completed by the fall 2000 season. The Athletic Department is still in the process of raising the necessary funds, at which point the proposal will be submitted to the University for final approval, Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said. Since the Palestra's opening on January 1, 1927, the concourse has not undergone any renovations, and the halls are beginning to show their age. "[The concourse] is old. It's rundown. The walls are basically decrepit," Bilsky said. "A facility as important as this should never have been allowed to deteriorate into this condition." Construction may limit accessibility for summer basketball camps and practices but will not affect in-season sports or the festivities surrounding the Women's Final Four in early April. While the renovations are not geared toward modernizing the Palestra, Bilsky said the makeover will make the historic arena look "brighter and fresher." "This will be a true monument to Philadelphia basketball," Penn men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy said. Each of the four hallways will feature exhibits and photographs with a different theme. The west concourse will be dedicated to the Big Five, retaining the Big Five Hall of Fame already in place and adding sections devoted to each of the Philadelphia teams. Meanwhile, the north hallway, entitled "Legends," will feature the greatest players to compete on the Palestra floor. Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Kobe Bryant are among the names and faces that could grace these north walls, Bilsky said. The final two concourses, south and east, will be dedicated to Penn and the Ivy League, respectively. Possible exhibit themes include a timeline of the 1970s in Quakers basketball and an in-depth look at the Penn-Princeton rivalry from the days of Corky Calhoun and Bill Bradley to Michael Jordan and Brian Earl. According to Bilsky, the Athletic Department is "scouring archives" to get photographs of athletes playing in the Palestra for these exhibits. Renovation plans, however, are not limited to the halls of the Palestra. The main entrance in the west lobby will also undergo an overhaul. Bilsky expects the lobby to be the only section of the Palestra with a "modern" look, although two traditional mural-size pictures will also grace its walls. The photograph on the lobby's north wall will be of a sold-out Palestra in the 1920s, the spectators clad in suits. Donning the south wall will be a picture of the student section in the 1970s throwing out red and blue streamers -- a tradition discontinued in the early 1990s because of NCAA rules. Though a small-scale freshening-up project could have fixed the arena's glaring problems, Bilsky said that in accordance with the Athletic Department's ongoing attempts to improve athletic facilities, a more radical change was in order. "Rather than paint it and freshen it up, we thought we would make it into something that's a museum to Philadelphia basketball," Bilsky said.
