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(09/24/99 9:00am)
The voice, energetically raspy, is unmistakable. So are the clothes, a patchwork of red and blue plaid. And the sayings. And, of course the helmet-mobile. Less recognizable is the man. Lake wouldn't have it any other way. Dan Staffieri, "Staffieri as in Lake Erie -- they call me Lake," Penn football's volunteer assistant running backs coach and full-time motivator, prefers to put the focus on the team. If you're reading this in print, there's a good chance you've already seen Lake today. Whenever the Penn football team has a home game, Lake does his thing. Standing on the face-mask platform of the Quakers helmet-mobile, 78-year-old Lake covers campus trying to drum up support. Lake and his bullhorn seem to know no boundaries, driving up and down Locust Walk, disembarking to wander through dining halls and dormitories encouraging everyone to go to the game. "That's hysterical," Penn co-captain Jim Hisgen said. "People who don't know him may not understand but it's funny just to see an old man riding around talking to people." But to those on the team, Lake is so much more than the comical old guy in plaid who rides around in the larger-than-life helmet. When the Quakers come charging out of the tunnel and onto the turf of historic Franklin Field tomorrow night just before kickoff, Lake will be the last one they see. He'll be slapping them low fives and giving them one of his motivational cheers. "Do better than your best, do better than your best." He's at every practice, roaming the field, motivating the troops. Slapping them on the rear, always encouraging. "P and G, pepper and go. Andiamo, andiamo! C and D -- concentration and determination. C'mon now, c'mon now. Do better than your best." Each week, he posts close to 30 new motivational slogans in the locker room. Every day, he wears a new strip of white athletic tape -- one motivational word scrawled across it -- on his forehead. Yesterday it said "win." Wednesday it said "hit." At the end of every season, Lake unveils the next year's key motivational phrase at the football banquet. We need one in '81. Breakin' through in '82. Toe the line in '99. Before every game, usually on Thursday or Friday night, Lake leads the team through a motivational "breakdown." "We say, 'Penn Pride. [pause] Best. I-V-Y champs. [pause] We'll toe the line [pause] in '99. [pause] Do better than your [pause] best.' "These four things are communicated between the players and everybody's saying the same thing. Either one word or one number, with 100 people on the squad doing it all at once. It's not just one person -- it won't work that way." Everything Lake does can be summed up under the banner "Speed of Corps." Needless to say, "Speed of Corps" is not easily definable. "I can't define the mind. It's heart and soul that says, 'I can, I must, I will,'" Lake said. "We -- very important -- will get the job done. Regardless of the I." According to Lake, "Speed of Corps" is a carryover from his days in the Marines. After World War II ended, he attended Maryland, where he played guard and linebacker. His senior season, the Terps beat Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day and were crowned national champs. While some may wax nostalgic about the good old days of "iron-man football," Lake -- trying to avoid discussing himself while focusing on the team -- certainly does not. "Today, I like it better than ever with the two-platoon system, because you can get more people into the game." He is loved. He has been invited to countless weddings. His calendar is booked solid with appearances. "I average about 35 [events] -- not all speaking engagements -- a year, which would include luncheons, banquets, high school pep rallies and high school banquets. And I go there for one reason -- to represent Penn and to recommend [Penn to] the honorees. That's very important. It's not for me -- I don't do it because of me. I do it because of the program at Penn and the players. Most importantly the players." Former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski, president of the Maxwell Club, frequently calls Lake to have him give his "breakdowns" to the club members. Two years ago, then-University Trustee George Weiss endowed $500,000 in Lake's name to benefit student-athletes at Penn. But the best part about the story is that Weiss, speaking at a football reunion during Homecoming, announced the endowment wearing a strip of athletic tape across his forehead. What did the tape say? "Lake." But Lake hates to dwell on himself, wanting more articles on the team. "We have a defensive front that we call the ferocious front. Mike Germino is the posse leader, with [Adrian] Puzio, [Brian] Person and [Jason] Maehr. The ferocious front. That's what I think these guys are and they deserve all the credit they can get." As an outsider, it's easy to misjudge Dan Staffieri. At first glance, he looks out of place, an old man with a bullhorn, all "How you doing?"s and "Oh very well"s. On game day, the near-octogenarian in the plaid suit wanders the sidelines cheering; to the fans he appears out of place, a throw-back to an era of single-wings and leather helmets, time-warped to an age of electronic scoreboards, artificial turf and $3 souvenir Diet Cokes. But he is an essential part of the Penn football team and has been since 1977. His "Speed of Corps" has been the one constant through the Quakers' recent Ivy League dominance, their nine Ivy titles in 17 years. Through five coaches, 22 years and 117 victories, Lake has been on the sidelines. He was there when Penn last played Villanova in '80 and he'll be there tomorrow night when the Quakers and Wildcats renew their rivalry. "I love him," Hisgen said. "It's nice to see a guy with so much spirit. He's so happy. During the middle of the season, when you're dragging, he tries to cheer you up. And that makes everybody happier and we practice better." Lake humbly admits that it is through the players that he has acquired his nine championship rings, which he displays proudly, four at a time. When recruits come, he holds up the rings and says, "This is what it's all about." Tomorrow night, after all the breakdowns have been uttered in unison, after the helmet-mobile has been put in park and all the hands have been slapped, Lake will emerge from the tunnel after the team. He'll take to the sidelines in his red and blue plaid, ready to cheer the Quakers to victory for a full four quarters. And Lake, of course, will be doing better than his best.
(09/14/99 9:00am)
No one has anything bad to say about Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert. "I guess I'm just sad because I did get along really well with her," College sophomore Kenneth Goh said last week. "She was very well liked," said Matt Kredich, who coaches both the men's and women's swimming teams at Brown. "She was very professional in the way she treated other coaches." "She wasn't just everybody's buddy -- she did a pretty good job of motivating as well," said Tim Holovacs, who set two school records in the freestyle in 1989 with Lawlor-Gilbert as his mentor. In 1982, things were good for Lawlor-Gilbert. Not yet 40, she had already served as the women's head coach at UCLA. She was a former Olympic Trials qualifier. She had served as head coach of the Bahrain national team. And she had just taken over the reins at Penn, becoming the first woman to head a Division I men's program. Since then, however, Lawlor-Gilbert's men's teams have compiled a 65-118 record. Her women's squad has floated closer to .500, going 115-124. But the women have also gone 0-42 in the Ivy League in the past six seasons. Since '91, the men are 20-55 against their league opponents in the EISL. In Providence, Kredich is scratching his head. "I'm kind of surprised. Last year was probably the best year for the Penn women since I've been coaching and it looked like the team had a good time. They had some pretty impressive swims," he said. "I would expect somebody to retire if all of a sudden they had a really abysmal year or the kids weren't good kids or weren't getting along. But it's especially odd to do this at this point in the season." Kredich has a right to be confused. Two years ago he became a member of that small group which Lawlor-Gilbert just exited, those Division I coaches spearheading both a men's and women's program. But the similarities end there. He has never had to deal with being mired at the bottom of the league. Seven years ago, he took over a struggling Brown women's program. That year, the Bears finished last, tied with Penn at 1-6 in the Ivies. Fast forward to today. Brown has topped the league standings the past two seasons and claimed first at the Ivy Championship tournament four years in a row. In that same time, Penn has done nothing but tread water in the standings. I can't reach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert. I've called and I've called, but she's unreachable. So I don't know why she quit. Matt Kredich doesn't know. All I know is that her athletes respect her and have enjoyed swimming for her. And that the last time the men's team finished as high as fourth in the EISL was 1990-91. For the women, it was 1989-90. Philadelphia is a city that has grown accustomed to mediocrity. But the Quakers swimmers have posted numbers that would make even the Phillies and Eagles cringe. "It could very well be [that she's just tired of losing]," Kredich ventured. "Kathy was always good at looking at individual successes and judging herself based on those things. But in more public and objective measures of success, I can imagine that it would be really tough to come up short on those measurements. If your own standards of evaluating yourselves are different and you're viewing yourself as being successful, after awhile I can certainly imagine that losing could wear on you." Kredich pointed out that Lawlor-Gilbert was best at working with individuals like former All-Ivy selections Steve Kuster and Jeff Brown and helping them cultivate their abilities at the college level. And while she was at Penn, Lawlor-Gilbert witnessed every single men's and women's school record broken. But records are made to be broken. And as good as Lawlor-Gilbert was at steering individuals to their personal bests, just six of her athletes -- a total of nine event honorees -- were named first-team All-Ivy. Since she took over at Penn, 510 first-team All-Ivy honors have been awarded throughout the league. Nine out of 510 is just 1.8 percent. These are Division I athletes, and they should be commended for their hard work. But for Lawlor-Gilbert's troops, it has been 17 years of hard work with nothing to show for it on any level other than personal bests. Why has Penn struggled so severely to be competitive? A team's success can almost totally be attributed to a coach's recruiting. According to Kredich, a new coach has a two-to-three year window where a recruit can be told that a program is going to rise up through the league. "You have to be able to give a recruit a really good reason why your program is going to be at the top of the league. If you can't do that or you're not willing to do that, then you're going to recruit kids who don't mind being at the bottom or at the middle of the league." The Penn swimmers can't be expected to compete with top scholarship athletes in Division I. But there's no reason why Penn should be so at the bottom of the pack in its own league so consistently. While Lawlor-Gilbert has been at Penn, Tom Kovic has taken a non-high-profile sport -- gymnastics -- from the middle of the pack to the cream of the Ivies. And Roger Reina has steered the wrestling team from the Ivy League gutter into a squad that can compete with the top-10 teams in the nation. "You wipe the slate clean [with a coaching change] and that's a big advantage -- people like to be a part of something new," Kredlich said. I still haven't heard from Lawlor-Gilbert. I wish her the best of luck in whatever endeavors she decides to pursue. But at Penn, it's time for something new. And something different. And while assistant-turned-interim head coach Mike Schnur has his roots in the old program, it's still somewhat of a fresh start. And after 17 years, a 180-242 record and no league titles, a fresh start is all you can ask for.
(09/09/99 9:00am)
If you hadn't known better, you might have missed it. A few errant water bottles littered the line of scrimmage. Coaches were standing on the field of play. And the handful of Penn fans in the Franklin Field stands were clearly outnumbered by the Millersville faithful. At 11:07 a.m. last Saturday, the Penn offense trotted out to run a few 7-on-7 drills prior to the start of a three-period scrimmage against the Division II Marauders. With goal line drills going on at the west end of the field and a few aimless joggers still making their way around the track, Hoffman took his place on the field. Hiking the ball to himself -- center Carmelo Rubano didn't come onto the field until midway through the drill -- Hoffman dropped back a couple steps and fired a pass to Mike Verille on the right sideline. Forty minutes later, the real -- or at least as real as a three-period scrimmage gets -- scrimmage kicked off, and there was Hoffman, taking the snaps with the first-unit offense. If there was any question as to who is the Quakers' No. 1 quarterback, it was answered when the sophomore transfer stepped onto the field. And not that there should have been a question. During spring practice, the big issue regarding Al Bagnoli's squad was simple -- who would replace Matt Rader as Penn's field general? Last season, Rader passed for over 2,000 yards while leading Penn to the Ivy title. His heir apparents appeared to be Ed Mebs -- a sophomore who registered an incomplete pass moments before the goal posts were torn down against Harvard -- and Reed Werner, a junior who punted 23 times but attempted just four passes in '98. Enter Hoffman. Just two years prior, the pigskin gods had brought forth Rader, a transfer who started seven games at Duke in 1996, upon a squad which had not had a steady starter at quarterback since Mark De Rosa left to pursue a pro baseball career. Then in July, the Quakers were blessed with luck once again when Hoffman announced his transfer to Penn. Last season, Hoffman passed for 2,199 yards and registered a 116.3 pass efficiency rating while starting all 12 games at Northwestern. Against Illinois, he completed 20-of-29 passes. In a blowout loss to Penn State, he still managed to throw for 229 yards. And that was in front of 96,382 fans. Penn played in front of 101,254 total fans all last season. At 6'6", he stands four inches taller than his center, co-captain Rubano. He was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota as a senior at Breck High in '96. He was a SuperPrep and a Prep Star All-American. That is not the kind of resume one expects to find on an Ivy League quarterback. To the causal observer, the QB question shouldn't even have been an issue. But Mebs and Werner had strong springs and the word from the team as to who would start was very much guarded. "I'm not in a position to say that [Hoffman] has that position," sophomore tailback Kris Ryan said at last Friday's media day. Senior wideout Brandon Carson nearly gave something away in describing the team's balanced offense. "We have a bunch of good running backs, and we have a good quarterback and good receivers?" A good quarterback? "I don't know if I'm supposed to say or not," Carson said. "I guess you're probably just going to have to wait." The unassuming Mebs, who stands six inches shorter and 45 pounds lighter than Hoffman, also revealed little. Mebs -- who like Hoffman has three years of eligibility remaining -- said all the right things, though he appeared a little deflated in spirit. "It's too early to say right now [who will start]," Mebs said. "[The transfer] wasn't the best thing for me personally but for the team it was a good move." Hoffman seemed unfazed by the apparent mystery, unconcerned with the apparent competition. "I'm not too worried about who's going to be named starter and when and that type of thing," he said. But if there was any sort of imposed gag rule, Bagnoli didn't seem to know about it. "Right now, it's Gavin one, and Reed and Ed are battling for two," he said. "Is that not beating around the bush, is that OK?" And so it was that Hoffman came to play the first two quarters in the scrimmage. It might not have been a Heisman-worthy performance. And sure, untouched (thanks to his alternate-color jersey) he still managed to throw a first-and-10 pass dead-on into a group of Millersville defenders. But Hoffman showed poise, arm strength and agility while completing 13-of-21 passes for 163 yards. And on third-and-one, he connected on a 36-yard touchdown strike to Carson. Most importantly, though, it was just an exhibition, a preseason scrimmage, and it was Gavin Hoffman in the flesh, lining up behind Rubano at Franklin Field, and not at Ryan Field, where his former teammates were getting abused by Miami of Ohio, 28-3. Yesterday, it became official. Bagnoli announced that Hoffman is the No. 1 quarterback, with Werner at No. 2. Sophomore Tom DiMenna and freshman Mike Mitchell will compete for the third spot on the depth chart. Mebs has been switched to wide receiver. But not that there was really any doubt in the minds of the fans. Hoffman has the size, the ability and the experience to fill in more than capably for the departed Rader. And like Rader, he is a tall, athletic, former Division I-A starter who fell into the laps of the Penn coaching staff in the midst of a quarterback search. "Both have very strong arms, both have very good football minds. Both make very, very quick and accurate decisions. So they're very similar," Bagnoli said. "The difference is, at the comparative stage, Gavin's much more experienced than Matt was." So maybe that experience will translate positively for the Quakers. Because the last time a former I-A starter arrived on the Penn scene, he left with a ring on his finger and his name in the record books.
(06/01/99 9:00am)
Big 5 resurrection is cause for celebration To hear Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell speak at April 23's Palestra press conference announcing the sudden return of the full round robin to the legendary but disjointed Big Five, one could not help but wax nostalgic. But most Penn students have not gone through the aging process. On November 23, 1954, Penn President Gaylord Harnwell met with the presidents of La Salle, St. Joseph's, Temple and Villanova at Houston Hall to announce the official formation of the Big Five. Members of Penn's Class of 2002, however, know Harnwell only as a college house dorm and have never set foot inside the currently under-renovation Houston Hall. More importantly, the current crop of students has never seen a true Big Five champion crowned. Thousands of Penn students cheered the Quakers' march to the Ivy title and the NCAAs this past season. Those same fans scratched their heads while trying to figure out how the Red and Blue managed to defeat Temple, St. Joe's and La Salle yet still finish a second-place 1-1 in the puzzling Big Five standings. It's been eight years since a class graduated from Penn knowing what it means to see a complete slate of games played in the Big Five. For over 30 years, the Palestra served as the exclusive home of the Big Five as sell-out crowds routinely packed the most storied gymnasium in college basketball for Big Five doubleheaders and City Series matchups. In June 1986, the Big Five presidents signed a 10-year pact to continue the traditional full round robin format but with games played at each school's respective gymnasium. In May of 1991, Villanova, citing an increased Big East commitment, put an abrupt end to the 10-year deal by requesting a schedule reduction to just two City Series games each year. In April, the five schools revealed the surprising news that the full round robin schedule would be revived starting next season. Thanks to the Big East's reducing its number of conference games from 18 to 16 and the NCAA's raising the number of allowed regular-season games to 28, Villanova has leapt back into the fold and a real Philadelphia champ will once again be crowned. "I never expected that they would arrive at this -- it's a remarkable thing," Temple coach John Chaney said. "It's pretty darn good that we finally found some reconcilable differences to reach this level, because I think it's good for the city." On Friday, Big Five Executive Director and former Penn Athletic Director Paul Rubincam could hardly contain his enthusiasm. "It's exciting -- I woke up at three o'clock this morning and couldn't get back to sleep while thinking about the excitement for Philadelphia basketball," he said. Even Villanova, for eight years the source of the Big Five fans' anguish, got into the act. "I'm very proud to be a part of it," Villanova AD Tim Hofferth said. "It's a great day for college basketball." For eight years, the Big Five existed in name only. The champion crowned each year was just a paper champion, as fans at the four "city" schools cursed the suburban Wildcats, the two-game series and now-departed 'Nova coach Rollie Massimino, seen as the villain behind the Big Five's breakup. But while the true Big Five -- the reason why Rendell called Philadelphia "without question the capital of college basketball" -- lay dormant, a glimmer of what the Big Five had meant during its 30-plus-year heyday could be seen every time two of the member schools met on the hardwood. Any disbeliever need look no further than November 23, 1998, when the Quakers beat then-No. 6 Temple and thousands of screaming Penn students stormed the court in a basketball-induced fervor. These fans might not cringe at the mention of "90-47" and might not have heard of the legendary Ken Durett, but when they held their fingers in the air and screamed "We're No. 1!" they learned a little something about the meaning of the Big Five and bragging rights. Perhaps an even better example that the Big Five magic did not evaporate despite the City Series' loss of meaning is the Penn-St. Joe's contest of January 24, 1998. On a chilly Saturday night in West Philadelphia, a standing-room-only crowd packed the Palestra. Red-wigged Hawks fans screamed themselves hoarse. And when Paul Romanczuk went to the line with two seconds left and the Quakers down two, an entire section of Penn fans held its collective breath. Close to 9,000 spectators saw the Hawks steal a back-and-forth, down-to-the-wire battle that night. But this was not the Penn-Temple game of November 23, with the Owls holding a top-10 national ranking and the Quakers the co-favorite for the Ivy title and a possible-return to the top 25. This was a non-conference battle between two sub-.500 squads, each with an outside chance at best of reaching the NCAAs. And it was a sellout. While the Hawks-Quakers game that night might not have sent ESPN scurrying to rearrange its broadcast schedule, in terms of Philadelphia basketball it truly meant something. The beauty of the Big Five is that when two Philly teams take the court, rankings and won-loss records get tossed out the windows of the 71-year-old Palestra. The confusion of the muddled half-round-robin standings aside, Big Five games taken in isolation have remained exciting and intense. Just ask Penn AD Steve Bilsky. "I would come to the Big Five games, whether Penn was involved or not, and I didn't see any change in the way the players played the game, the competitive spirit, the coaches' intensity," he said. "The essence of the Big Five [was] still alive.? The players, the spirit and the competition has never left." And now, for the first time since 1991, those games have real meaning beyond the scope of their action-packed 20-minute halves -- a real Philadelphia champion will once again be crowned. It would be easy for a Penn fan to complain. At best, the Palestra will host six Big Five games; at worst, it will see just Penn's two home contests. And the fabled doubleheader at the Palestra, practically a religious event in the "capital of college basketball" for over 30 years, will remain a thing of the past. But to take a negative stance would mean being blinded by nostalgia. "In a totally ideal sense, to have all the games at the Palestra would be wonderful but -- especially in Temple's case of having a new facility -- it might not be totally fair across the board to have that be an edict," Bilsky said. "But I think enough of it is captured in the competition, in the fact that's there four games so there's going to be a championship. And I think that's the essence of it and that'll make it just as good as it's been." As a Penn student who has never seen a Big Five doubleheader, who has never seen a Villanova home game played at the Palestra, I could complain about missing out on the way things used to be, on a period in Philadelphia college basketball I can only imagine. But the essence of the Big Five lies in the games themselves. Even when there was no real title at stake, the excitement was still there. So when Temple AD Dave O'Brien says, "We know that the Palestra will be rocking again but we know that the other facilities in the city will be rocking as well. I guarantee you that the Apollo is going to be rocking too," my heart skips a beat. So next year, whether it's the Palestra or the Apollo, Tom Gola or the Pavilion, I'll be there. Because the important thing is that the Big Five is back. There will be a true champion once more. And it will be a great day for college basketball, Philadelphia and tradition.
(05/14/99 9:00am)
Paul Romanczuk recently attended a camp in Houston where he worked out for professional scouts. Last week, a handful of former Penn basketball players knocked off a squad of ex-Princetonians in the semifinals of the Gold Medal Basketball Tournament in Conshohocken, Pa., which benefited the American Cancer Society and Coaches Versus Cancer. While the Red and Blue alumni -- or soon-to-be alumni, like Paul Romanczuk and Jed Ryan -- had little trouble with the likes of Brain Earl and Co. in the semis, they fell to Stampone and D'Angelo in the finals, 81-69. Ryan led the way with 24 points, while Romanczuk and '95-96 All-Ivy first-teamer Tim Krug each scored in double digits. "It was nice playing with [former players] like Vince Curran and Paul Chambers, sharing stories about Dunph," Romanczuk said. "It was fun and it was for a good charity." Romanczuk, however, had to miss the opening round because he was at a camp in Houston playing before a few professional scouts. Romanczuk was not the only Philly representative at the camp, as both Rasheed Brokenborough of Temple and Villanova shooting guard Howard Brown, a two-time All Big-Five selection, were in attendance. "I played alright, my team made it to the championship," said Romanczuk, the 1999 winner of Penn's Bus McDonald Inspirational Player Award. "There were some scouts there, not as many as I thought there'd be. All in all, it was a good experience." The camp featured 80 college players divided into eight teams of 10, with minutes split evenly among the athletes. Dunphy spoke highly of Romanczuk's experience. "It was a nice opportunity. They paid for everything," Dunphy said. "It wasn't like one of those camps where they charge you $150 and there's 900 guys there and unless you're 6'10" and flying through the air dunking, you're not going to get noticed. It was pretty well organized." Still, Romanczuk said that he will most likely pursue an occupation away from the hardwood next year. "A few teams have called me but nothing too enticing. I think I'll still be working for Arthur Andersen," said Romanczuk, who ranks 19th all-time at Penn with 1,162 points. "[If I wanted to play professionally] it's something that I'd have to pursue, get an agent and really pursue it." · Romanczuk did add that he would not be following the same path out of Conshohocken as Princeton's Earl. The Ivy League Player of the Year is pursuing a professional career with the Atlantic City Seagulls of the United States Basketball League, which Romanczuk said is "definitely not what I want to be doing." A second-round draft pick of Atlantic City, Earl made a quiet entrance into the USBL on May 7, playing one minute for the Seagulls in a 106-103 loss to the New Jersey Shorecats -- AC's first loss of the season. On May 10, Earl was placed on the inactive list in order to prepare for his last set of final exams at Old Nassau. Still, Earl fared better in his inauspicious debut than brother Danny of Penn State or Brokenborough, both of whom were drafted by the Seagulls but did not make the roster. Brokenborough was not as lucky as fellow Big Fiver K'Zell Wesson, a 6'7" former La Salle forward who was drafted by the Seagulls in the first round and made the roster. · While the closest Romanczuk will be getting to a basketball jersey next year will be Casual Fridays, Dunphy hopes to see all his former players pursuing pro careers. "Early in their post-graduate careers, I would like to see them pursue it," Dunphy said. "Why not, when you have youth on your side and no other commitments to worry about? There's a time in your life where you can experience many, many things and go to Europe and play, or meet new people, or go to the CBA, as Ira's [former Quaker Ira Bowman] doing. It would be hard to tell them not to pursue that." Dunphy acknowledged the potential language barrier, the European teams' American-player limits and "the need to keep your head above water financially" as possible limitations to playing in Europe. However, he foresaw possible opportunities for all his graduating seniors, not just Romanczuk and Ryan. "Mike Sullivan could have an opportunity, Brendan [Cody] -- they all could if they chose to?. I can picture in my mind, let's say, Brendan going to Ireland, or Sull doing the same thing." But the 5'11" Cody, who scored six points in 32 career minutes at Penn, had other ideas. "Really? Really? I don't think that's in my future. I think I'm done with hoops," Cody said when told of Dunphy's suggestion. He then added, in jest, "I appreciate Ireland offering the contract and everything but I just couldn't handle it so I had to turn it down and just hang out." As for next year, Cody has no "definite plans" but said that he will be "Gone. Away. I don't think I'll be in Philadelphia for a long, long time." Sullivan, who has no plans to head to Ireland as he will be working at a technical consulting firm in Hartford, said that "I'm just going to lay low and join the working force." Ryan, meanwhile, is no stranger to playing in Europe, having toured Finland in high school with Team USA-Adidas. "Some of the coaches [in Finland] had said, 'Listen, when you get older, give us a call and come back and play here,'" said Ryan, who ranks fourth all-time at Penn with 152 three-pointers made. But Ryan's plans for next year include finishing up a few required courses in the fall and starting a job in commercial real estate with former Penn big man -- and Conshohocken teammate -- Vince Curran. But the 6'7" sharpshooter, third all-time at Penn in three-point percentage (41.6 %), will keep his options open. "When I get older I may want to play, so I figured instead of playing in rec leagues I might as well play somewhere and get some money for it," Ryan said. "It's just common sense." · Former Penn star Jerome Allen, who signed with Milwaukee on May 5, was not the only ex-Quaker to make an appearance in the transactions box of sports pages across America last week. While Penn fans everywhere peered at their TV sets with hopes of an Allen sighting on the Bucks bench during their opening-round playoff series, few may have noticed that Bowman, the '95-96 Ivy League Player of the Year, was picked up by the Shorecats of the USBL. Bowman, the last player cut by the Indiana Pacers when they pared their roster to 15 in the '96-97 preseason, played a stint in Australia after leaving Penn and has since blossomed in the CBA. This year, Bowman started 50 games, finishing 13th in the league in scoring with a 13.8 average and sixth in steals with 1.75 a game, while leading the Pride to the CBA title. Although not one of the lucky ones who earned a call-up to the NBA, Bowman was named to the CBA's All-Defensive first team. Bowman also played for the Shorecats, who are coached by NBA legend Rick Barry, following the 1997-98 CBA campaign. · With Allen having taken the European path in pursuit of his NBA dreams and Bowman opting for the CBA route, what path should Penn senior-to-be Michael Jordan -- three-time winner of the Kiefaber Award as team MVP -- and other Quakers take in pursuit of their own NBA dreams? "It's a tough question," current Bucks general manager and former Penn coach Bob Weinhauer said. "At one time I thought it was better to play in the CBA, kind of like if you went overseas you were out of sight, out of mind. But I don't feel that way anymore.? We will find you -- if you're good enough, we will find you."
(05/14/99 9:00am)
After two years of making a name for himself playing professionally in France, former Penn basketball star Jerome Allen has taken a giant leap in his efforts to return to the NBA. On May 5, Allen was signed by the Milwaukee Bucks to a balance-of-the-season contract. The two-time Ivy League Player of the Year, who led Penn to undefeated Ivy titles in 1993, '94 and '95, last played in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers in the 1996-97 season. Allen dressed for the Bucks' final game of the season on May 5 but did not play; he was not included on Milwaukee's playoff roster when the Bucks were forced to narrow their squad to 12 players prior to the start of their first-round series with Indiana. "[Bucks coach] George Karl and I sat down the day after the regular season was over and we had to put together our playoff roster," Bucks General Manager Bob Weinhauer said. Weinhauer said the team chose to put 6'10" center Scott Williams -- who won three titles with the Chicago Bulls in the early '90s -- on the playoff roster because of his height and experience. Weinhauer, who served as head coach of the Quakers from 1977 until 1981 and led Penn to four postseason appearances -- including the 1979 Final Four -- said that while Allen was left off the postseason roster, he "practices with us every day. He helps run the other team's plays in practice and he goes with us on the trips." After four years of rewriting the record books at Penn, Allen -- who is fourth on the Quakers all-time scoring list with 1,518 points, first in steals with 166 and first in assists with 505 -- was a second-round draft choice of the Minnesota Timberwolves (49th overall) in June 1995. As a rookie in 1995-96, he played nearly 15 minutes a game until the T-wolves replaced head coach Bill Blair with Phil Saunders, who cut Allen's minutes in half. Allen signed with Indiana as a free agent prior to the '96-97 campaign and played 76 games that season with the Pacers and the Denver Nuggets. After being waived by Cleveland prior to the start of the '97-98 season, Allen headed to France, where he blossomed into a star. Last season, he led Limoges to the Pro A title. This year, Allen started all 30 games, averaging 13.0 points, while his 5.6 assists per game was good for third in the league. Weinhauer, who also played a major role in bringing Matt Maloney into the NBA while serving as the Houston Rockets' vice president of basketball operations, compared the two former Quakers backcourt mates. Maloney signed a seven-year, $17 million deal with the Rockets last year but saw his playing time fall this season and was left off the playoff roster. "Jerome has greater quickness, a little bit more size and more strength. Jerome is more of a defensive player, but Matt has a single skill that makes him in the right situation a very valuable NBA player -- he can flat-out shoot the basketball from the three line," Weinhauer said. "If Jerome has a flaw, it would be his lack of being able to knock down shots consistently." Allen, however, had elevated his shooting percentage to 49.5 percent this season, a marked improvement from his 37.1 percent accuracy last season and his 35.0 percent success rate in two NBA seasons. He attracted the Bucks' attention for several reasons. "He has the qualities that we were looking for -- he has size at 6'3 1/2", he has strength, he has quickness and we were looking for someone who could fit into our defensive schemes," Weinhauer said. "Jerome has the ability to play both spots, both the 1 and the 2." The ability to play both guards was attractive to the Bucks, as Vinny Del Negro was placed on the injured list May 4 with a sprained left ankle. This summer, Allen will join a group of free agents playing with the Bucks at various camps and tournaments, like the Rocky Mountain Review in Salt Lake City. Weinhauer expressed optimism about Allen's NBA future but added a dose of reality as well. "I will try to do my best to make sure that Jerome gets the exposure that he needs so that he has an opportunity," Weinhauer said. "One of the things we have to keep in mind is that there are only 29 teams with 12 spots available in the NBA. And there are a lot of good players that don't have the opportunity to have a full NBA career." Penn coach Fran Dunphy was enthusiastic about Allen's signing. "It's always been his dream to get back into the NBA, and if this is indeed a first step to come back and play NBA basketball, then that's great," Dunphy said.
(04/28/99 9:00am)
For the second year in a row, the Terrapins have crawled back into their nationally televised shell. Maryland has decided to postpone next season's meeting with the Penn men's basketball team at the Palestra, which had been tentatively scheduled for early December. In December 1997, when Penn was playing at the Franklin National Bank Classic in Washington, D.C., Quakers coach Fran Dunphy spoke with both Maryland coach Gary Williams and Kansas coach Roy Williams about the possibility of playing home-and-home series. Penn reached agreement with both schools, and in November the Quakers opened their season with a 61-56 loss to Kansas at the Palestra; Penn will visit Kansas' legendary Phog Allen Field House in early January 2000. Last summer, however, Gary Williams called Dunphy to request that the first Penn-Maryland game in the home-and-home series be moved from the 1998-99 season to the 1999-2000 campaign. Recently, Williams revealed that Maryland would once again have to postpone the Quakers-Terps matchup. "Maryland has asked us to put it off another year," Dunphy said. "They already asked if we would do it again, we've acquiesced to that, so hopefully everything will work out and we'll get them here in the year 2000-2001." Last summer, Maryland postponed its game with Penn because an opportunity arose to play an additional nationally televised game on ESPN. Dunphy expressed the belief that Maryland's decision not to visit the Palestra in '99-00 was based once again on a TV opportunity for the Terps. Chuck Walsh, Maryland's sports information director, said that ESPN regularly approaches Maryland with proposals for made-for-TV games; Walsh, however, could not comment on the exact reason why Maryland had opted not to play Penn next season. According to Walsh, Williams makes the Terrapins' schedule -- which is typically not announced officially until the end of summer -- while consulting Maryland Athletic Director Deborah Yow and the prospective opposing coaches. While Williams has not yet given Walsh the exact reason for Maryland's decision to postpone the Penn game, Walsh maintained that "Gary doesn't duck out of games" and that the contest would eventually be played. While Maryland will not be visiting Penn next year for a non-league matchup, the Terrapins will be participating in the Preseason NIT and the recently conceived ACC-Big 10 Challenge, as well as playing a non-league game with Kentucky. The loss of Maryland on the 1999-2000 Penn schedule is not entirely without an upside for the Quakers. With the recent surprise announcement by the athletic directors of the Big Five schools that the City Series will resume full round-robin play beginning next season, Penn suddenly found itself faced with having to make a scheduling change. While La Salle, St. Joseph's and Temple were all previously slated to play the Quakers, Penn would have had to renege on one of its arranged games to make room for Villanova. Maryland's decision to postpone its contest with Penn thus allows the Quakers to avoid the discomfort of canceling a game. St. Joe's, on the other hand, was forced this week to eliminate Drexel from its schedule next season to make room for a Big Five contest with the Wildcats, forcing the Dragons to back away from one of their bigger potential gate receipts of '99-00. In addition to the full slate of Ivy games and the complete Big Five circuit of games, Penn is also currently scheduled to play in November's Preseason NIT and will participate in the Cal Bear Tournament over winter break while tentatively awaiting a Terrapins visit in 2000-2001. The Quakers last played the Terps on January 21, 1997, falling 103-73 to Maryland at Baltimore Arena; Penn, however, holds a 12-2 edge in the all-time series against the Terrapins.
(03/16/99 10:00am)
Florida frosh do not act their age Florida frosh do not act their ageThe Gators' freshmen showed poise while Penn's veterans folded. SEATTLE -- The Penn men's basketball team rode veteran leadership to 21 victories and the undisputed Ivy League title. But as the Quakers tried desperately to cling to a 43-32 halftime lead on Thursday, it was Florida -- a team which relies heavily on its freshmen -- which played with poise while Penn shut down in the second half. Three of the Gators' top four scorers this season are freshmen, while Penn entered the game with four veteran starters each averaging over 11. But it was Florida's freshmen, especially point guard Teddy Dupay and forward Mike Miller, who calmly led the Gators into the second round of the NCAA Tournament while Penn forced shots, missed free throws and committed 12 second-half turnovers. Although the Quakers jumped out to a 14-3 lead, a single possession in the opening minutes foreshadowed some of what would plague the Quakers in the second half. Two minutes into the game, Geoff Owens drew a foul working inside. After Owens missed both free throws, Paul Romanczuk seized the rebound and was fouled. The senior tri-captain then missed both his free throws and Florida emerged unscathed. With the Quakers cruising behind 11 first-half threes, the four missed free throws in a span of two seconds were easy to ignore. Senior Jed Ryan and junior Matt Langel were a combined 10-of-11 from downtown while Michael Jordan, a junior, dished five assists and committed no turnovers before the break. In contrast, Florida's freshmen combined to hit just three first-half field goals as the Gators found themselves in deep water at halftime. "A lot of it had to do with our guys being in a fog to start the game -- it was the first time any of our guys had been in this situation," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "Penn wasn't in this situation before [either], they hadn't been to the NCAA Tournament, but the bottom line is they're juniors and seniors, while we're dealing [primarily] with freshman and sophomores." It did not seem to be a problem in the second half, however, as Dupay and Miller led the Gators with 11 and nine after the break, respectively. Penn's veteran starting five could only muster 13 -- five of which came after the game was largely decided. "Coach has really expressed in the last month-and-a-half of basketball that we're no longer freshmen," Miller said. "We've got a whole year of basketball under our belt and we just needed to play mature." Florida had clawed to within six at 48-42 with 12:26 remaining, when Jordan went to the line looking to stop the bleeding. But the Quakers tri-captain -- who entered the game shooting over 80 percent from the line -- missed the front end of the one-and-one. Dupay answered at the other end with a two-handed, high-arching floater to cut the lead to four. Jordan was then fouled on a drive of his own and went to the line for a one-and-one. With another chance to stall Florida's comeback, he missed. A few possessions later, Dupay drained another layup heave to give the Gators their first lead, 49-48, with 10:56 to play. Dupay then came off a screen at the top of the key to bury a three over Frank Brown at the 9:57 mark. Florida would never look back. While Jordan failed to convert his one-and-ones as Dupay drained seven points in two minutes, it is unfair to single out Penn's floor general. Romanczuk went to the line with a chance to erase the Gators' 52-50 lead. The senior tri-captain missed his first. His second shot, also a miss, does not figure in Penn's game total of 5-of-14 from the line, as a Jordan lane violation voided the shot before it even hit the rim. "We missed two one-and-ones [and Romanczuk's pair], so essentially we go 0-for-6 from the foul line on that one stretch where we needed to weather the storm," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "The mentality that you need to have, you need to hit those foul shots. I thought that was as big a key to the second half as those jumpers [Florida hit]." But for all the jumpers Miller and Co. drained, the veteran Quakers had no answer. In the second half, Romanczuk and Owens combined to register just one missed field-goal attempt, while Ryan was held scoreless. "It's very difficult? we had a great opportunity but we let it slip away," Dunphy said. "I feel badly for Jed and Paul and all of our seniors. You want to play the best possible game you can, especially with it being your last game. And we didn't play well in the second half. It's disappointing, no question about that. These times are precious." And in the most precious 20 minutes of the season, Penn's veterans came up short while a young Florida squad kept its NCAA hopes alive.
(02/22/99 10:00am)
Penn finds itself alone in first after two raod wins and a Princeton OT loss. HANOVER, N.H. -- While the Penn men's basketball team bus may have been stuck in traffic prior to Friday night's matchup with Harvard, the Quakers returned to Philadelphia in the Ivy League driver's seat. As Ivy co-leader Princeton was hard at work pulling away from third-place challenger Dartmouth on Friday night, the Quakers had their hands full at Harvard's Lavietes Pavilion. But a pair of second-half surges helped Penn emerge victorious, 81-76, to keep pace with the Tigers. The following night in Hanover, the Quakers once again started slow before employing an unbelievable 45-8 run to steamroll Dartmouth. As Penn was putting the finishing touches on its 82-49 romp, the news slowly filtered into Leede Arena that Harvard had shocked Princeton, 87-79, to leave the Quakers alone atop the Ancient Eight standings. "Harvard's always tough at Harvard. Dartmouth's been playing good basketball, they played a real close one [with Princeton]. We were focused and prepared to come up here and get a win," Penn guard Matt Langel said. "It's like we've been saying all season, 'Every game's the biggest game,' whether it's a Big 5 game or an Ivy game. We knew this weekend was going to be tough." At Dartmouth, the Quakers looked to be in trouble early. With Penn trailing 6-2 just 1:48 after tipoff, center Geoff Owens dove under the Quakers' basket to save his own loose ball and split his chin open on the Leede hardwood. Though Owens would return at the 11:24 mark, his chin covered by a butterfly bandage, Penn was already struggling to keep pace with the Big Green. After sophomore Greg Buth followed his own three-pointer by picking Michael Jordan's pocket -- the Quakers' sixth turnover, equal to their number of field goals at that point -- Big Green freshman Charles Harris drained one just inside the arc to make it 22-16, Dartmouth, with 9:15 remaining until the break. But Penn -- as if responding to the announced Harvard 35, Princeton 29, halftime score from Cambridge -- went on a tear. Langel followed a Jordan layup with a leaner over Buth and a running jumper to even the score at 22. With Dartmouth in a daze, the Quakers ran up the score. Frank Brown -- who saw no action in Friday's win -- drained a trey from the left side with 58 ticks on the first-half clock. Langel then nailed a buzzer-beating three of his own on a feed from Jordan to give the Quakers a 40-25 halftime lead. Dartmouth point guard and freshman sensation Flinder Boyd -- who has worn a cast on his broken left wrist all season -- drained a three to open the second-half scoring. Rather than stopping the bleeding, Boyd's hoop stood alone, sandwiched by two remarkable Penn runs. Owens -- who received six stitches at halftime -- checked into the game after Boyd's trey and helped the Quakers put on a show. The 6'11" center was unreal as Penn, which finished the first half on a 24-3 run, ran off a 21-2 stretch over the next seven-plus minutes. During that span, Owens -- the bandage now flapping loosely from his chin -- dropped in a hook shot and a layup, rejected a Buth attempt, grabbed a steal and dished out an uncharacteristic three assists. Langel hit another from downtown -- he finished with three of the Quakers' 11 treys -- to close the run and put Penn ahead 61-30 with 11:22 to play. The Quakers would never look back. "We became disorganized, out of sync? and they just kept coming. We couldn't put a band aid on the problem," Dartmouth coach Dave Faucher said. "That started the decay. We tried to regroup at halftime and come back two-by-two, but that's when fatigue sets in the second night. It's hard to play from behind with all the energy and effort we used the first night [against Princeton]." Ten players registered in the scoring column for Penn as the Quakers rolled to their second 30-point win of the year. The Quakers did not enjoy the same easy success the night before at Lavietes Pavilion. Trailing 41-35 at the half, Penn did not take the lead for good until Langel drained a three from the top to make it 73-71 with 1:29 to play. In the first half, Harvard co-captain Tim Hill more than picked up the slack for fellow co-captain Paul Fisher, out for the remainder of the season with mononucleosis. Hill, a point guard, outshined Jordan in the first half, scoring 14 points, nailing 6-of-6 from the line and handing out six assists with no turnovers before the break. Jordan struggled in the first half, committing six turnovers -- including a handful of traveling calls -- while dishing out just three assists. "It was a big game for us but it was a big game for them too. Tim Hill's a senior, they wanted to win on his home floor in his last game against Penn," said Jordan, who notched his 300th assist in the game, becoming just the fourth Quaker in history to record 1,000 points and 300 assists. "They came out way more emotional than we did." While Hill put on a show in the first half, the second half was all Jordan and the Quakers. The junior tri-captain shot 4-of-5 after the break en route to 24 points, while Penn put together a pair of 9-0 runs to steal an Ivy League victory from the Crimson (11-13, 5-7). But Penn was lucky to even get to the game after an accident on the Mass Pike caused the Quakers to sit in traffic and show up late. "Harvard was gracious enough to set the game time back 15 to 20 minutes for us. We left the hotel in plenty of time but got caught behind in an accident," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "Hopefully it won't hurt you but I think it had a little bit of an effect." The effect had clearly worn off by the second half, though, as the Quakers shot a blazing 71.4 percent after the break to pull it out in Cambridge. Jordan nailed 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final minute, while Owens -- a 49.4 percent free throw shooter -- added two more crucial free throws after a Mike Beam desperation trey cut Penn's lead to three with 30 seconds left. "There's no way I should be a 50 percent [free throw] shooter. I'm looking to improve that," Owens said. "I've been working on foul shooting every day. It's just a matter of getting in a zone in my mind when I'm shooting free throws." After a doctor's check-up on Owens yesterday, the Quakers were relieved to hear that the center has bruised cartilage in his jaw and did not suffer a break, as first feared. While further reports are expected today, Owens is slated to play tomorrow against Villanova.
(02/15/99 10:00am)
Penn recovered from a rough first-half at Brown to sweep two Ivy rivals and move into a tie for first place. NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- In a wild Ivy League weekend in southern New England, the Penn men's basketball team earned two victories, buried the "Yale curse," and found itself back atop the Ancient Eight standings. The Quakers escaped a first-half scare to down Brown 73-57 on Friday before pummeling Yale 71-50 at the John Lee Amphitheater the next day to close out the weekend. But the biggest story of all occurred Friday night, when the lowly Elis earned just their second Ivy win of the season by stunning league-leading Princeton, 60-58, in double overtime. With Penn guard Lamar Plummer at the line and the Quakers holding a 67-53 lead over the Bears, a few radio-wielding fans leapt into the air screaming for joy. As Plummer drained both free throws, the public address announcer at Brown's Pizzitola Center revealed the source of the fans' glee -- Princeton had fallen. "When you're playing, you don't really hear [the score updates being announced]," Quakers tri-captain Jed Ryan said. "But when you get on the foul line and you finally hear that the final score is 60-58, then you're like, 'Wow, shit! Okay, now we're back in it.'" Ryan's three-point shooting in the second half made the difference for Penn (16-4, 8-1 Ivy League) in Providence. The senior forward hit 4-of-4 from beyond the arc as the Quakers -- down 31-29 at the half -- pulled away from the Bears (4-18, 2-8). A 14-0 Brown run, coupled with Penn's 13-for-33 first-half shooting, had the Bears within sniffing distance of their first win over the Quakers in eight years. "We didn't play well and we knew it," said Penn coach Fran Dunphy, who witnessed the Quakers drop a 40-13 lead in a 50-49 loss to Princeton last week. "So we just said let's forget our egos, forget feeling sorry for ourselves and let's go out and play hard and do the things we can do." With 12 minutes to play and the shot clock at two, center Geoff Owens rejected a spinning eight-footer by Kamal Rountree, the Ivy League's second leading scorer. Frank Brown then took a feed at the other end and drained a 14-footer from the left side to make it 47-35 Penn. Six minutes later, Ryan swished another of his trademark treys and the Quakers immediately followed with a steal at halfcourt by Paul Romanczuk. The senior tri-captain threw down a two-handed jam in front of the dancing members of the Penn band for a 20-point lead. The Quakers would never look back. Riding the second-half momentum of the Brown game and the emotions from the Tigers' loss, Penn came storming out of the gates against Yale. The Quakers wasted little time in building a first-half edge over the Elis (4-18, 2-8), a team clearly spent from Friday's win over Princeton. "That's an excuse, if somebody says, 'Hey, you've got a player hurt,' that's not an excuse," said Yale coach Dick Kuchen, not ready to concede that the Princeton win drained his team. "It was probably one of the bigger wins? in the Ivy League because nobody's been able to beat them for 36 games, but it's still an excuse. You should still be able to come back and play the next night." A three-pointer by Plummer at 11:17 capped a 16-4 Penn run and put the Quakers ahead 21-6. But a pair of Penn turnovers and a nearly three-minute dry spell for the Quakers helped the Elis pull within 10. But Penn tri-captain Michael Jordan answered with a three-pointer to push the lead back to 13 and send the Penn-heavy crowd -- which included more than a few "Romanczuk 3:16 T-shirts" -- on its feet. Unbeknownst to Jordan and the crowd, the junior point guard eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career with the trey, becoming the 27th Quaker in history to reach that milestone. "I got it? Oh sweet. I had no clue," said Jordan, who finished with 19 points and five assists -- one more assist than the entire Yale team. For Jordan and the Quakers, the focus of the game was clearly not on personal milestones but instead on returning to the top of the Ivy League. "We're still going to have to win out anyway," Jordan said. "We're happy that Princeton lost, so now we can just win straight out and go to the Tournament without a playoff." But with Penn's determined focus on plowing through its Ivy foes, personal milestones were bound to fall. Ryan was unconscious from downtown against the Elis, draining a career-high seven three-pointers en route to a career-high 23 points. Ryan's hot hand took the pressure off Penn's inside players, as Romanczuk and Owens combined for just eight shots from the floor against Yale. "If Jed wasn't going to shoot them well tonight then maybe we would've forced it inside," Dunphy said. "But if he's making those shots, well, what the hell, let's go and just ride him, ride him like a big ol' horse. He did such a great job tonight." The weekend sweep helped the Quakers exorcise the demons of Tuesday's folding against Princeton. "Emotionally, Tuesday night was just one of those things that will remain with us for a long time," Dunphy said. "But there's only one way we can handle it -- to use it as the greatest learning experience any of us ever had. "But I think we've moved on, we've gotten it out of our system." The 21-point drubbing of the Elis gave the Quakers their first season sweep of Yale since 1994-95. "Myself and Jed [Ryan], we talked to the guys in the hotel," Jordan said. "We were like, 'We split every year. This is the year where it's got to stop.' Gabe Hunterton's gone, so the curse of Yale's gone. We came out on top tonight." In Jordan's freshman year, Hunterton hit two free throws after a controversial foul to give Yale a 60-58 win at the Palestra -- the same score by which the Elis beat Princeton Friday. And with that score fresh in their minds, the Quakers rolled to an easy win over Yale. In the final minute, Penn senior Mike Sullivan picked Mark Bratton's pocket at half court and elevated for a two-handed slam to make it 70-46. The Elis sandwiched a Dan Solomito free throw with two garbage-time layups to hit the 50-point mark. But nothing could steal the Quakers' joy at having buried the "Yale curse" and resumed their shared perch above the Ivy League.
(02/04/99 10:00am)
The Penn men's basketball team is in the midst of its best Big 5 campaign since 1979. But has the Big 5 lost its luster? In six seasons of coaching at Penn, Chuck Daly led the Quakers to four Big 5 titles and an astounding 19-5 Big 5 record. "In those games there was such magic, it was the Palestra," he said. "Those games were as big as they got, in the regular season or beyond." One of Daly's greatest distinctions at Penn was recruiting the now-legendary Class of '79 -- the athletes who formed the framework of Penn's run to the Final Four 20 years ago. That Quakers squad -- the only Penn team to reach the Final Four -- is remarkable for its Big 5 season as well. The 1979 Penn team, led by first-team All-Big 5 honorees Tim Smith and Tony Price, the co-Big 5 Player of the Year, was the last bunch of Quakers to win three City Series games and claim at least a share of the Big 5 title. The last team, that is, until this season. Twenty years after Penn's mythical season, the 1998-99 Quakers stand at 3-0 in Big 5 play. But the similarities hardly end there. The last time Penn beat both St. Joseph's and Temple in the same season before this year? 1979. Penn's record after the first week of February in 1979? 13-3, with wins over the Owls, Hawks and La Salle and a Villanova matchup looming. The Quakers' record today? 12-3, with wins over the Owls, Hawks and Explorers and the Wildcats once again looming on the horizon. But there is one major difference between Philadelphia basketball in 1979 and today -- the state of the Big 5. "I believe [the Big 5] is a thing of the past," Smith said. "With the games being played at the different university gymnasiums, it's not going to be the same." On November 23, 1954, the presidents of St. Joe's, Temple, Villanova and La Salle joined Penn president Gaylord Harnwell at Houston Hall to announce the official formation of the Big 5. From 1955 until 1986, Penn's Palestra -- the site of more college basketball games and more NCAA Tournament games than any other facility in the country -- served as the exclusive home of Big 5 action. In 1986, however, the presidents signed a 10-year pact agreeing to uphold the traditional four-game round-robin play under the condition that the games be played at each school's respective gyms. In 1991, Villanova successfully petitioned to revise the agreement so that each school's Big 5 commitment would be reduced to a mandatory two City Series games per year, ending round-robin play. To hear the Quakers' stars of the Big '70s discuss the Big 5 today, one would think it had completely dissolved. "The fact that all the games were being played in the Palestra drew a lot of attention, both TV and other media-wise, to University of Pennsylvania basketball," Daly said. "There was such an electricity. That having gone by the boards, I don't think it helps Penn [today]." "One of the big games came against Temple, when there used to be a Big 5," said Price, who poured in 19 points in Penn's 79-74 defeat of undefeated and 15th-ranked Temple at the Palestra on January 10, 1979. Gone by the boards? Used to be a Big 5? With the loss of the Palestra's legendary doubleheaders and many of the schools playing just the two mandatory City Series games each year, the Big 5 has lost much of its luster. "I'm really sad that the whole thing was taken away when the schools started playing on their own campuses," said Smith, who became the 20th Quaker inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame at halftime of December 1's Villanova-St. Joe's contest. "I don't think it'll ever be like it was in the '60s and '70s because you play at different sites." But don't tell that to this year's Quakers. Despite the Big 5's changed position in Philadelphia basketball, the current Penn men's basketball team has an opportunity to go 4-0 in Big 5 play -- a feat last accomplished by the 1973-74 Quakers, who peaked at No. 11 in the Associated Press poll. "I think it's alive. If you came to the Temple game, you'd realize its alive. Of course they're going to say it was better back when they were playing and maybe I fight that it's better right now," Penn tri-captain Paul Romanczuk said. "It's all I know, it's tradition to me." Current Penn coach Fran Dunphy certainly has experienced the Big 5 then and now. As a La Salle junior in 1969, Dunphy played a key role on an Explorers squad that reached No. 2 in the polls and went 4-0 in the Big 5. "It's certainly changed," Dunphy said. "It was wonderful when all the games were being played at the Palestra, I thought that was great -- but things change, life goes on. It's not going to be that way anymore." The Big 5 has changed, and no one can argue that it grips Philadelphia today like it once did. But to Philly-raised ballplayers like Romanczuk, the Big 5 has always been important. "There was a different sort of tradition back 15 to 20 years ago, with the doubleheaders played at the Palestra," said Romanczuk, whose dad captained Drexel -- a Philadelphia school perennially knocking on the Big 5's door -- in 1976. "[But] it still means a lot to me to play against guys that I've played with in high school? guys from Temple, St. Joe's, La Salle, Villanova. Some of the guys on the other teams are friends, some are enemies." Listening to Romanczuk, and then to Smith, the differences between 1979 and 1999 seem to dissolve. "[The Big 5 games] meant a whole lot to me because I'm from the city," Smith said. "The guys I was playing against, I grew up with some of them. My high school coach was at the games, people who went to high school with me were at the games." While the Big 5 may have changed, it is certainly still alive and kicking. Anyone in search of proof need look no further than Penn's November 23 win over then No. 6 Temple. "I know in the films that I watched of the Temple game, fans at the Palestra reminded me of fans during the '79 Final Four season," said Bob Weinhauer, 1979 Penn coach and current general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks. "Throughout my whole tenure at Penn I thought we had the best fans in Philadelphia and the Big 5. And the student body, against Kansas [November 17] and against Temple, demonstrated that same type of enthusiasm." Daly said that his best memories at Penn came in Big 5 games. "Some of the victories we had against St. Joe's, Villanova? those victories were very special." Like Daly, Dunphy also has trouble pinpointing a favorite Penn Big 5 memory. "There's so many of them I couldn't [pick] one game," Dunphy said. "But when I leave the gym at night, and I'm walking out the door, I pinch myself, saying, 'I'm coaching here at the University of Pennsylvania and I'm coaching at the Palestra.' That is as much [of] a memory as I need." The more things change, the more they stay the same.
(01/28/99 10:00am)
The previously undefeated Penn women's squash team lost 7-2 to the defending national champion Tigers at Princeton. The Penn women's squash team headed to Princeton last night with an unblemished 6-0 mark, a perfect 54-0 individual match record and national title aspirations. Two hours later, the Quakers hobbled out of Old Nassau with the defending national champion Tigers owning a 7-2 victory. "We lost 7-2 to Princeton in a match that really could have been a win for us," Penn coach Demer Holleran said. "Everyone's very disappointed." Holleran, who garnered All-American status in each of her four years at Princeton and led the Tigers to a national championship in her senior year, brought the Penn squad to her alma mater with high hopes. Penn has finished third in the nation in each of the past three seasons. This year's impressive start, however, had the Quakers (6-1, 3-1 Ivy League) dreaming of finally knocking off the Tigers for their first Ivy crown. Princeton (7-0, 2-0) all but derailed Penn's hopes of finishing No. 1, though, as the Tigers claimed 3-0 victories at the third, fourth and fifth spots on the ladder. "Tonight they were definitely better fighters," said Regina Borromeo, Penn's No. 5. But the 7-2 final does not indicate just how close the Quakers actually came to winning. "When it's so close that you can see the victory and you let down? it's very disappointing," Borromeo said. In addition to a 3-0 win by Dana Lipson at No. 6 and three-time first-team All-American Jessica DiMauro's 3-2 victory at No. 2, Penn had several near-misses that could have altered the course of the match. "We felt we could have won this match 6-3 or 5-4," Holleran said. "Katie Patrick [lost] at No. 1 to Princeton's Julia Beaver, who's really a great player, and Katie could've beaten her. It was 9-5 in the fifth." Patrick's loss was one of two 3-2 Princeton victories last night. Nevertheless, Holleran was pleased with the sophomore's play against Beaver, who last year became the first athlete to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season. "I'm proud of her and the way she played," Holleran said of Patrick. "She could've played better at the end of the match, but really she worked hard and proved herself." For DiMauro, the loss marked the fourth time in her career that Penn has fallen at the hands of the Tigers. But the senior remained upbeat about her team's performance. "I'm disappointed about the loss, but it's not discouraging," DiMauro said, "because everyone knows just how close we are and we have another shot at them." The Quakers still have a shot at a three-way tie for No. 1 if they defeat Harvard on February 13 and the Tigers lose to the Crimson the following day. Last night's loss also provided Penn with a chance to re-evaluate its play. "We did have a lot of close matches that really we could have won," Holleran said. "So I think people are? hoping to make improvements in the next few weeks before we play another tough match." Penn heads back to Princeton Friday for the Constable Invitational before resuming match play February 13. "[The Constable Invitational] is sort of an invitational with the top 20 players in intercollegiate squash," Holleran said. "Jessica [DiMauro] and Katie [Patrick] both have a chance to win that tournament, and Helen [Bamber] hopefully will win some matches. For the others, if you win, it's great." The tournament provides an excellent proving ground for Penn while not counting towards the team's record. "It's great for pride, but it doesn't go into the record," Holleran said. "I expect that they'll compete hard [this weekend], that they'll gain experience and that it will stand them in that much better a position to win."
(01/20/99 10:00am)
Do you really hate Princeton? Then show it by rooting for the Tigers in non-Ivy League games. "M.J. is Henderson's bitch!!!" Step back to last March 3. It was a game without any title implications. Associated Press No. 8, undefeated-in-the-Ivy-League Princeton had pulled into the Palestra to take on the Quakers (10-3 Ivy) in what was supposed to be a final tune-up for the Tigers before heading to the NCAAs. Palestra magic was at its thickest. Just thinking about the game -- which Penn ultimately lost 78-72 -- makes me want to don a "Penn Hoops Rocks the Palestra" T-shirt and break into a rousing rendition of "PRINCE-ton, PRINCE-ton? you suck!" And that's why I root for the Tigers. Vehemently so, in fact. Don't get me wrong. I'd rather have the Palestra rats gnaw off my flesh than be caught wearing one of those day-glo orange "Go Tigers" shirts so popular among the Princeton ranks last year. But as a diehard Quakers fan, I feel a duty to cheer on dreaded Princeton in all its non-Ivy contests. Don't agree with me? Then ask yourself why you are having so much difficulty pulling for Princeton. Chances are, I already know your response -- "I hate Princeton." Thanks to factors ranging from geographic proximity to history to academic rivalry, Princeton is our most hated archenemy in all sports. And none more than basketball -- the only sport in which an Ivy school has the potential for major national attention. And the only way to get that attention is for both Penn and Princeton to register wins against nationally-recognized opponents -- and then to stir up the mix at the NCAAs. With the weak six sisters perennially fighting for third in the Ivies, Penn and Princeton both know that their twice-yearly battles are must-wins, with the coveted tourney berth at stake. So naturally, Penn fans hate Princeton fans and the Tigers faithful return the feelings. Just look at the signs -- from the MJ/Mitch Henderson number to "Look Ma, no homework," another Tigers fan favorite. But this desire to root against our league rival should have no bearing on non-Ivy games. Because above all, the Ivy bond prevails. Ever since the Ivy Group Agreement effectively began the Ivy League 45 years ago, the schools comprising the Ancient Eight have been linked by a no-scholarships bond. Not to get sappy, but call this bond a sense of Ivy brotherhood. And while brothers hate losing to brothers, they would never wish their brother to get his ass kicked by a stranger. "I want all the teams to do well against their non-Ivy opponents," Penn tri-captain Paul Romanczuk said. "I find myself cheering for Princeton." And if Penn and Princeton are the only Ivy schools fielding competitive teams, then so much stronger the metaphor in this two-team brotherhood. Need another reason? Then revisit last year's finale once again. Princeton had already secured the Ivy title, yet the Palestra overflowed with more of its trademark magic than it has in any other game in the past two seasons, November's overtime win against then-No. 6 Temple included. Why? Because every Penn rooter worth his weight in "Abner's -- Go Quakers!" T-shirts knows that last year's No. 8 Tigers team was overrated. And every Red-and-Blue-painted fan was gripped with a burning desire to see Penn knock Bill Carmody's squad off its overhyped media perch and boot them back to Old Nassau. The better Princeton performs outside the league -- and the more their slow-down, move-away-from-the-ball brand of basketball gimmicks sweeps up the pollsters -- the more thrilling the Penn-Princeton matchup gets. And the bigger the hatred of the Tigers grows. Thus, the more satisfying a Quakers win becomes. But if Penn should fail to win the Ivies, there should be no excuse for rooting against the Tigers in the NCAAs. Those Quakers fans who stuck every pin into their Steve Goodrich voodoo dolls and laid their savings on Michigan State should be ashamed for crying sour grapes. Had Princeton made the Sweet 16 last year, the seeding for this year's Ivy champ -- be it Penn or Princeton -- would be given more careful consideration. So go ahead. Root for Princeton. Because come March Madness, we're going to be needing that seed.
(01/11/99 10:00am)
The Penn men's basketball team opened Ivy League play with two home victories. With Friday's snowfall blanketing the Palestra and the 2,000-plus crowd barely registering on the noise meter, the Penn men's basketball team struggled to put away previously punchless Yale (1-11, 0-2 Ivy) in its Ivy League season-opener. The Quakers narrowly held off a second-half Elis surge to escape with a 68-62 win. The next night, with much of the snow melted, Penn (6-3, 2-0) emerged from hibernation to entertain a larger and livelier Palestra crowd with an 86-55 drubbing of visiting Brown (2-12, 0-2). On Friday, the Quakers abused Yale for the first four minutes, holding the inexperienced Elis -- who start two freshmen and two sophomores -- scoreless while building a 9-0 lead. With Penn holding a 15-9 edge with 10:38 to play, Michael Jordan headed to the bench for a quick breather. Yale capitalized immediately, as freshman guard Onaje Woodbine sandwiched a David Tompkins hook shot with a three-point play and a 15-footer -- both scores following Josh Sanger turnovers -- to put the Elis ahead 16-15 with 9:07 remaining in the half. Jordan quickly reentered the game, and the Quakers responded with a 22-5 run. Paul Romanczuk broke through with four inside buckets down the stretch. Jed Ryan drained a 20-footer with 48.5 seconds left to cap Penn's scoring binge. With 1.1 seconds on the clock and Penn leading 37-21, Woodbine committed an offensive foul -- the Elis' eighth turnover in as many minutes -- but Ryan, looking to throw a last-second baseball pass, moved behind the baseline for a travelling violation. Yale capitalized, as Kevin Marschner tossed up a buzzer-beating three-footer to send the teams to the locker room with the Elis down by 14. "We practice that play a couple times a week, we just made a mental error," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said of the botched inbounds play. "That play was big. It was a message-sender." Dick Kuchen's Yale squad continued the message into the second half, scoring the first 10 points to close the gap to 37-33. With Penn center Geoff Owens in foul trouble -- he headed to the bench with his fourth foul at the 10:23 mark -- Yale sophomore Neil Yanke took over. The Quakers made the little-known Yanke, who averaged 3.6 ppg last season, look like Steve Goodrich. The 6'10" native of Akron, Ohio, hit 5-of-7 field goals and helped limit Penn to zero inside hoops in the half, as Yale cut within one, 50-49. The Quakers had an answer for Yanke's break-out game, though, as a slew of jumpers by Jordan and Frank Brown and a Langel three-point play stretched Penn's lead to seven. The comfort was short-lived, however. Layups by Tompkins and Yanke -- who finished with 19 points and 12 boards -- cut the lead to three with just over three minutes to play. But then Jordan dished to Ryan, who drained Penn's fifth trey in seven attempts on the half, and followed up one of Yale's 24 turnovers with a driving layup at 1:47 that put the Quakers up 65-57 and secured the win. "We got lucky with the win," Dunphy said. "They showed us nothing unexpected. We got off to a false sense of security knowing full well they were going to come back." Owens, playing in his first Ivy contest in almost two years, was particularly underwhelming against Yale, finishing with only two points and four fouls. "He didn't play well. Nobody knows it more than him, and nobody wants it more than he does," Dunphy said. "Yet I wouldn't trade that guy for all the tea in China. But he can't bobble the ball [under the basket]. Just dunk the stinking thing, that's what I want to see him do." Maybe Dunphy was reading the tea leaves, too. Against Brown, the 6'11" junior had three two-handed slam dunks. In the 31-point Quakers romp, Owens grabbed nine boards, swatted four Bears attempts and scored 14 points in just 25 minutes. "[Against Yale] I definitely got tentative. I was worried about fouling, I was thinking about too much," Owens said. "If I just play my game without worrying about picking up fouls I play a lot better." The dismal Bears could not have known what they were in for when they stepped onto the Palestra court. Shaking off the lethargy of the Yale game, the Quakers exploded from the tip-off. Penn scored every time it brought the ball past halfcourt until a three-second violation by Owens at 13:48. Brown's offense was also working in high gear, as the visitors from Providence, R.I., hit 7-of-9 shots to open the game. Yet after 10 minutes, Penn led by 15 points. The Quakers hit an astounding 80 percent (16-for-20) of their first-half attempts. "I can't tell you the last time we did that," Dunphy said. Penn's torrid first-half shooting was characterized by a Jordan play with 9:57 remaining. Off a feed from former high-school teammate Lamar Plummer, Jordan launched a 23-foot bomb, drawing a foul from Brown junior Corey Vandiver in the process. As Jordan fell to the court, the ball swished through; smiling, he pumped his fists up and down repeatedly before heading to the line to complete the four-point play. Brown's inexperience showed in the second-half, as the Bears shot just 8-of-25 after the break while Penn's offense continued to roll. Four starters scored at least 14 points in the game as the Quakers dished out a season-high 24 assists. "The biggest difference was consistency," Brown coach Frank Dobbs said. "We made some foolish errors -- dribbling it off our foot, palming the ball. With experience you just don't do those things. That's what makes it tough playing a team like Penn -- they don't have those types of lapses." Even the reserves got into the act against Brown. With Penn up 73-50 and 2:59 on the clock, senior Brendan Cody, sophomore Jon Tross and freshman Dan Solomito joined Plummer and Sanger on the court. The subs erupted to close the game on a 13-5 Penn run. Tross used all of his 6'7", 190-lb. frame to slam one home with authority with 25 seconds on the clock, while Solomito torched the Bears for three rebounds and seven points in his 2:59 of play -- his first points in a Quakers jersey. Solomito, a 6'6" forward and 1998 first-team Jewish All-American, finished the Penn scoring with 9.1 seconds left on a three-pointer from the top of the key. The Verona, N.J., native then stole the ball at half court with 1.1 left. Solomito capped his fast break with an emphatic dunk but time had already expired, with Penn victorious 86-55.
(12/02/98 10:00am)
A newly-coiffed Jordan and a reemerging Frank Brown gear up for the Engineers at the Palestra on Thursday night. In the midst of a nine-day layoff after upsetting No. 6 Temple, the Penn men's basketball team is anxious to work off the holiday turkey against Lehigh Thursday at the Palestra. Against the Engineers (3-2) last year, Penn (1-1) narrowly escaped with a 75-73 victory. After squandering a 15-point second-half lead, the Quakers -- playing without an injured Michael Jordan -- fought off a Lehigh comeback to ice the game on a pair of free throws by Frank Brown with six seconds left. · In last year's meeting with Lehigh, Brown and the Quakers were close to perfect from the charity stripe. The team hit 16-of-18 (88.9%), its best performance of the season. In two games in '98, Penn has been far from consistent from the line. "We didn't get any against Kansas," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "Against Temple, Paul [Romanczuk] essentially didn't shoot them very well." Against Lehigh a year ago, Romanczuk hit 7-of-8 free throws. In his most recent performance, however, he hit just 4-of-11 against Temple. The Quakers as a team are shooting 17-of-29 (58.6%). · Prior to the Temple game, Jordan, shooting guard Matt Langel and center Geoff Owens -- the self-proclaimed "Triple Threat" -- abandoned their black New World Order wrestling t-shirts and donned Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) shirts instead. "At first it was the whole N.W.O thing when Goldy and Melcher ['98 seniors Jeff Goldstein and Mike Melcher] were here," Jordan said. "They left, so we kind of just took it and decided to call ourselves the Triple Threat since there's a faction in the ECW called Triple Threat." Penn's "Triple Threat" consists of juniors who have lived together for two years and work out together in the summer. They also reside with a number three -- football wide receiver Brandon Carson. · There is one thing the Triple Threat won't be sharing, however. Jordan followed his 22-point performance against Temple by setting his hair into corn rows. "I got it done Saturday," Jordan said. "It's just a change-up, that's all. My mom would call and say, 'Comb your hair,' or just do something with the 'fro I had." According to Jordan, Langel and Owens will not be following suit. "Owens and Matt are pretty high on their hair," Jordan said. "I try to get them to get baldies -- well, I convinced Owens to get a bald head freshman year -- but Matt's too pretty; he won't touch his head." · Former Blue Chip Illustrated top-100 recruit Frank Brown -- who missed 41 of 55 Penn games the past two seasons with a knee injury -- has made an emphatic return to the Quakers. Pouring in 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, Brown singlehandedly kept Penn in the game against the Jayhawks. Last week, he followed up that performance with eight points in 26 solid minutes against Temple. Accordingly, Dunphy will allot Brown more playing time Thursday. "He's got to play the whole game ," Dunphy said. "I don't mean 40 minutes, but he's got to rebound; he's got to defend; he's got to make shots for us." Brown actually did all of those things against Lehigh last year. In 32 minutes, he scored 14 points and pulled down a career-high 11 boards. Dunphy has even higher expectations for Brown against Lehigh this year. "I want to see him play. He's spent enough time on the sidelines. He doesn't need any more," Dunphy said. · The Engineers will be without the services of injured power forward Fido Willybiro. The 6'6" junior averaged 21 points and 8.5 rebounds in Lehigh's first two games before being sidelined. Dunphy was quick to point out that the native of Senegal does not pronounce his name like the default American canine moniker. "Feeeeedo," Dunphy said. "If your name was 'F-I-D-O' wouldn't you want to say 'Feedo' as opposed to 'Fido'?" Regardless of pronunciation, Willybiro uncharacteristically turned in a "dog" of a performance last year against Penn, hitting just 1-of-9 field goals and missing a layup with 1:42 to play that would have put his team up 72-71. · The key concern for the Quakers will be stopping Lehigh's Brad Eppehimer. The 6'0" shooting guard ranks third in Division I in scoring with a 25.2 average in five games. Eppehimer has been to the line an astounding 57 times in five games. Jordan, though, is not worried. "He does these little tricks with his legs when he shoots jumpshots where he kicks the guy and falls on the ground," Jordan said. "But I think myself and Matt [Langel], we're smart enough defenders not to go for his little antics."
(12/01/98 10:00am)
The Penn men's basketball team pulled off the impossible win against No. 1 seed UNC. The Penn men's basketball team's 73-70 victory last week over then-No. 6 Temple sent Palestra fans into a floor-rushing frenzy and Quakers historians scouring the record books. While the win ended an 18-game, 16-year losing streak to the Owls, it also marked another, seemingly more fitting achievement for the Red and Blue. By beating Temple, the Quakers notched their first win over a top-10 opponent since March 11, 1979. Nearly 20 years ago, unranked Penn shocked North Carolina -- the East Region's No. 1 seed and the No. 3 team in both national polls -- by a 72-71 score in a second-round matchup at the Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C. Neither the national media nor the 12,400 screaming Tobacco Roaders in attendance gave the Quakers much of a chance. The ACC-champion Tar Heels seemed a virtual lock to roll past Penn on their march to Salt Lake City and the Final Four. But the Quakers -- who would ultimately reel off four NCAA victories and reach the Final Four -- had no plans to roll over for Carolina in the heart of ACC country. As Penn prepared for its Sunday afternoon showdown, assistant coach Bob Staak began a chant that spread quickly among the Quakers. "We've got a secret," Staak said. In the locker room, Penn coach Bob Weinhauer reinforced the team's confidence. "He laid out the matchups and said, 'Look at this, player for player, we match up well and we are a better team'," said James Salters, a junior guard in 1979. While the media quickly dismissed Penn in predicting a UNC-Duke meeting for the Eastern Regional title the following week, the Quakers knew that Staak's chant carried weight. "The secret was that we felt we could play with anybody they put on the floor," Penn co-captain Tony Price said. "We felt we were ready to play, and people just didn't know that -- they thought we were just happy to be there." In the first half, the Tar Heels found Penn more difficult to shake than anticipated. Behind sophomore Al Wood's 16 points, Carolina claimed a mere 36-34 edge. With the Raleigh crowd screaming, the Tar Heels cruised out of the locker room to claim a 44-38 lead early in the second half. "It was definitely a hometown crowd," Weinhauer said. "Chapel Hill from Raleigh is only about 10 to 12 miles." To the disbelief of the crowd, Penn clawed back to knot the game at 48. Then Price took over. The 6'6" forward singlehandedly assumed control of the game. Price -- the last Quaker to earn Big Five Player of the Year honors -- drained a 15-footer from the baseline. UNC quickly tied it up at 50, but Price answered by hitting another baseline jumper, pulling down a rebound and driving the length of the court for a layup while being fouled. Price then drained the free throw to give the Quakers a 55-50 edge. Tar Heels big man Pete Budko, who played four-plus seasons in Europe and now resides in North Carolina, still remembers Price's other-worldly tear. "Penn wasn't that big across the board. We thought that size alone was going to overpower them," said Budko, who was drafted in 1981 by the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. "But [Price] was taking it to our big men in a bad way. That was not a good sign, not something that was supposed to happen." Carolina's Yonakor scored four points in a 26-second span to pull the Tar Heels within one, 66-65. UNC then stopped the Quakers to recover the ball -- and a chance for the lead -- with a 1 1/2 minutes left. The hometown crowd rose in anticipation of the kill. "There's just something about the Carolina mentality that you're going to end up on top," Budko said. "I can remember thinking what we always thought in games like that -- we don't care what happens in the first 39 minutes, we're going to come out on top." But Dave Colescott missed the jumper for UNC and Price pulled down his ninth rebound of the game. Spinning, he threw a long bomb to a breaking Salters downcourt. "I saw no one was down the floor, so I just crept on down. When Tony threw the outlet, I saw Al Wood making the angle for the block. I did a jump stop and a power layup -- if at six feet you can have a power layup," Salters said. "[Wood] hit me, and all I could do was watch -- I followed through and saw myself going to the floor." The shot fell through, silencing the crowd. But the 5'11", 150-lb. Salters never saw the ball find the bottom of the net. Undercut by a flagrant foul from Wood, Salters found himself lying face-up on the hardwood. The ensuing details seem legendary even after 20 years. "I was on the floor on my back trying to get some oxygen and Wein just came running off the bench. From that point on, the only thing I remember is Coach Weinhauer's hand on my chest, saying, 'Be still. Get some rest'," Salters said. "It was almost as good as if the buzzer had gone off at that moment. It was a great feeling." Salters stepped to the line and nailed his first free throw, putting the Quakers up by four and all but icing the game. "We took Tony Price and put him on the ball to pressure the inbounds pass," Weinhauer said. "It was just a one-man press with Tony coming off the foul line. But he created a problem and the guy threw the ball away and we won the ballgame." But even the final seconds in this now-legendary upset were shrouded in the stuff of myth, as the clock seemed to be playing tricks on the Quakers. "I didn't think the clock was going quick enough," Weinhauer said. "I went over to the scorer's table and suggested that they run the clock out at the proper speed." The officials in Raleigh, the home of N.C. State, sided with Weinhauer. "The guy said, 'If we could run it out without stopping it we would'," Weinhauer said. "Obviously N.C. State people wanted to see UNC lose." With the final seconds ticking off properly, Penn closed the door on the greatest victory in school history. Two weeks later, the Quakers found themselves squaring off with Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the Final Four. Carolina fans, meanwhile, were left to wallow in the self-pity of "Black Sunday" -- a day in which the ACC diehards in Raleigh not only witnessed Penn knock off UNC but also saw AP No. 6 Duke lose to St. John's. "It was Black Sunday," Budko said. "There's no question about it -- that was probably the most shocking loss [of my college career]." For Penn center Matt White, a First Team All-Ivy selection in '79, the win over the Tar Heels remains the single greatest memory of the Final Four run. "Beating UNC -- that's the Big Time. We had a great year and everything, but you have to really respect those ACC boys," said White, who played professionally in Spain until the age of 35. "Going down there and winning that -- to me that was the best thing we did." Weinhauer summed up the atmosphere after the victory. "We didn't need a plane to fly home, we could've flown home by ourselves," Weinhauer said. "That's how excited everybody was." Fast forward to 1998. Weinhauer is now the General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Penn has just succeeded in spoiling the 6th-ranked Owls Big Five party. To hear today's Quakers talk, it sounds almost as if they've taken a page from the 1978-'79 handbook. "Last night were moments that are going to define our entire season," current Quakers forward Jed Ryan -- who was two years old during Penn's Final Four run -- said after the win. "And they're also moments that define your entire life and your entire career as a Penn basketball player."
(11/23/98 10:00am)
Penn running back Jim Finn set the new Penn single season rushing mark with 1450 yards. ITHACA, N.Y. -- With a 35-21 victory at Cornell on Saturday, the Penn football team (8-2, 6-1 Ivy League) took Ancient Eight matters into its own hands, claiming its third undisputed Ivy crown of the 1990s. Entering the game assured of at least a tie for the Ivy crown, the Quakers held off a late Cornell come-back attempt to validate last week's goal post tossing and foil the plans of Ivy bridesmaids Brown and Yale, both of whom were victorious on Saturday. "Like the champions that they are, they really did a nice job responding. When it came to crunch time, they made the plays," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "It's nice that they don't have to share it with anybody, and it's always nice to be called the best." In the frigid, 37 degree conditions of Schoellkopf Field, the Quakers offense started slowly. Penn's defense and special teams, however, hardly seemed to notice the offense's stagnation, as the Quakers raced to a 21-0 halftime lead without the aid of an offensive touchdown. "It was a weird offensive game early on," Bagnoli, who has now earned three titles in seven years at Penn, said. "All of a sudden we look up and we've got a couple of touchdowns and we probably hadn't [gotten] more than two first downs." With 5:30 left in the first quarter, Penn owned just four yards of net offense, thanks to a pair of penalties worth 39 yards. At third and four on their own 21, the Quakers looked to running back Jim Finn -- who entered the game needing just 41 yards to break the Penn single-season rushing record -- to make something happen. Penn's co-captain coughed up the ball, though, and Cornell tackle Tom Richards swallowed it up at the Quaker 22. On Cornell's first play of the drive, Quakers cornerback Anthony DeSalle -- starting in place of injured senior Hasani White -- foiled the Big Red's attempt to crack open the scoring. DeSalle intercepted Mike Hood's pass at the 17 and broke loose, sprinting up the left sideline for an 83-yard touchdown run. On the point-after, holder Jason Battung -- the Quakers fourth-string quarterback and sometime-receiver -- botched the snap. Battung recovered the ball, stood up and fired a pass to T.J. Trapp into the endzone to give Penn an 8-0 lead. Penn's offense was not alone in its early struggles. Hardly a well-oiled machine in the first quarter, the Big Red netted just 35 yards in their first 7:50 with the ball. Forced to punt a minute-and-a-half into the second quarter, Cornell hoped to contain Penn co-captain Joe Piela when he fielded the ball at his own 17. The Fair Lawn, N.J. native faked left and rolled right, tearing a hole through the Big Red special teams en route an 83-yard return of his own. With that return, Piela -- who finished the day with three returns for 106 yards -- eclipsed Penn's 30-year-old single-season punt return mark of 436 yards, finishing with 512. Co-captain Finn then did some record smashing of his own. On first down at the Cornell 23, Finn plowed right for a gain of six yards, breaking the previous Penn season rushing record of 1,302 yards, set by Bryan Keys in 1989. "It's a great thing to accomplish, but winning the Ivy championship is our main goal and my main goal -- that's what the season was about," Finn -- who finished the season with 1450 yards -- said. "Everything else is just gravy." His 36 carries gave him 323 on the year, erasing Jasen Scott's '96 mark of 290 carries from the books. Needing 14 points and three rushing touchdowns to break Penn records that stood at 58 and 91 years old, respectively, Finn tried mightily to cross the goal line in the first half. Each time, though, Finn and the Quakers offense stalled in the red zone. Two field goals by Feinberg sent Penn to the locker room up 21-0. In the third quarter, Penn senior quarterback Matt Rader -- also in search of a handful of Penn records -- orchestrated the first strong offensive drive of the game. After two plays and a penalty, the Quakers set up a third and 10 from the Cornell 13. Rader, taking the snap out of the shotgun, found Dave O'Neill cutting right to left in the endzone for his second touchdown reception of the season. With Penn up 28-0 heading into the final quarter, it seemed likely that the Quakers seniors would be enjoying their Ivy championship from the sidelines. But Cornell was not quite ready to die. Arousing from an offensive slumber, the Big Red got on the board at 10:38 of the fourth quarter when Hood found a leaping Joe Splendorio for a 37-yard touchdown pass. A Jim Finn fumble at the Penn 26 set up Cornell's second score. Hood completed a 24-yard pass -- again to Splendorio -- on the first play of the drive. Fullback Deon Harris then powered it in to cut Penn's lead to 14 with 8:15 remaining. Two plays later, however, Finn more than made up for his fumbles, rumbling right for a 71-yard pick-up to the Cornell 9. He then plunged in to notch his 17th touchdown of the season on the next play. "He's a big back, a big boy, and he's a hard runner," Cornell senior linebacker John Hanson said. "Our defense tried to get the ball away from him, and it worked a couple of times, but he's a good running back." Even after Finn's score, Hood remained a thorn in Penn's side. With 3:20 left in the game, the senior notched his 11th touchdown pass of the season with a 61-yard bomb -- yet again to Splendorio, to make the score 35-21 after the extra point. The Big Red then swallowed up an onside kick. Cornell drove to the 10, where Hood completed a nine-yard pass to Justin Bush on third and goal. But Penn's DeSalle again was a factor, breaking up Hood's pass in the endzone to give the Quakers the ball back at their one-yard line with 58 seconds left. Rader ate the ball twice, preserving the 35-21 victory and sealing the book on Penn's '98 Ivy League championship. The senior finished his Penn career by completing 14-of-27 passes for 143 yards, as the Quakers earned their seventh undisputed title since the Ivy League began official play in 1956.
(11/19/98 10:00am)
Though Penn center Geoff Owens was only 1-of-11 shooting Tuesday night, he blocked two shots and grabbed six rebounds. At 8:08 p.m. Tuesday night, Geoff Owens leapt in the air for the opening tip-off of the 1998-'99 Penn men's basketball season as a Palestra crowd of 7,852 held its collective breath. Owens lost the tip. Seven-foot Kansas center Eric Chenowith outstretched the Quakers pivot man, batting the ball to Jayhawks swingman Nick Bradford. Though the 6'11" junior scored just two points on 1-of-11 shooting in Penn's near-upset of No. 8 Kansas, he had one key stat. Owens logged 28 minutes. That's 28 more minutes than the Audobon, N.J., native played for the Quakers in 1997-'98, when a medical condition forced him to don street clothes for all 29 Penn games. And that one stat is what Penn coach Fran Dunphy -- regardless of what the Palestra faithful may have thought of Owens' second-half scoring goose egg -- is so pleased about. "I thought his first game back after a year of not playing collegiately was great," Dunphy said. "He's worked so hard I don't care if he goes 1-for-50, just that he's taking those shots, because in the end those babies are going to go down." While Owens' .091 shooting percentage and two-to-one fouls-to-assists ratio against Kansas may not send the engravers rushing out to polish off his Wooden Award just yet, he certainly played a key factor in Penn's more-than-competitive effort. Though the shots may not have been falling for Owens, he has never been known to be a scorer. In 26 games in '97, then-freshman Owens averaged 5.0 points while hitting just .455 percent of his shots. What the Quakers missed most during Owens' year lost to hypertension was his inside presence. Last season, 6'11" Jayhawks All-American Raef LaFrentz took advantage of a depleted Penn frontline -- which boasted 6'8" freshman forward Josh Sanger as its pivotman -- for 25 points, shooting 12-for-15 from the floor and snaring 11 rebounds as then-No. 1 Kansas handed Penn an 89-71 loss. With Owens manning the inside duties Tuesday night and LaFrentz lost to graduation, Penn was able to give the Jayhawks a run for their nationally-ranked money. In the Quakers' first-half shut-down of the Jayhawks offense, Owens alone grabbed four offensive rebounds in 14 minutes of action. Last year, the entire Penn team grabbed just six offensive rebounds in 40 minutes against Kansas. With 11:28 remaining in the opening half, Owens followed a Michael Jordan layup with his second block of the half, rejecting Kansas' Ryan Robertson and sending the student sections into a frenzy. "Sometimes guys that size block shots without even realizing it," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. Ten minutes later, Owens put back a Matt Langel miss for his first -- and only -- bucket of the game. That ran the Penn lead to a game-high seven points, putting Penn up 26-19 and sending the Jayhawks into the locker room a wounded bird. In the second half, however, Kansas came out like the charged team Roy Williams has brought the nation to expect, embarking on an 11-2 run to take a two-point edge. Though the Quakers battled evenly with the Jayhawks the remainder of the half in the eventual 61-56 Kansas win, Owens turned in a final stat sheet showing little improvement from his first-half numbers. In the second half, Owens' line reads as follows: 14 minutes, 0-5 shooting, 1 rebound, 0 blocks, 3 fouls. While the Bishop Eustace product struggled statistically down the stretch, disappointed Quakers fans unfairly pinned much of the blame for the loss on Owens' hard-luck hook shot. "In all honesty, I thought Geoff was great," Dunphy said. "He did very well defensively. He worked real hard getting to the spots which I was concerned about before -- he was seldom out of position." Without the big man, who has worked tirelessly to improve his offensive game and add mass to his string bean physique during his year removed from Penn basketball, the Quakers would have been eaten alive down low by Jayhawks seven-footer Chenowith. Owens' maturity showed in the second half, when he refused to fold even when his shooting touch left him. "In the past, when I wasn't shooting the ball well, my whole game would go off," Owens said. "But last year sitting out I learned that every minute on the court has to be spent [working] hard, so if I'm not making shots I just have to go down and defend." Furthermore, there is even an upside to Owens' ten misses. In his first campaign with the Quakers, the avid wrestling fan averaged a meager 4.7 shots per game. Though his shots did not fall against Kansas, Owens launched a varied array of field goal attempts -- lay-ups, runners, hook shots and even a 10-footer. And if Owens stays aggressive on offense, his shots are bound to fall. When that happens -- and the Quakers have an inside scoring threat to go along with Owens' instant defensive presence -- then the Palestra faithful heartbroken by Tuesday's outcome will finally have the well-rounded pivotman they've been wishing for since Matt White -- another 6'11" center -- went from walk-on to All-Ivy for the Final Four Quakers exactly 20 years ago. "[Owens] had a couple of great shots in there that basically just didn't go down for him. We got some breaks in the second half -- the ball was just not finding the basket for him," Williams said. "[When Owens' shots fall] it will give Penn more balance too because with more inside scoring, [teams] won't be able to load it up [on defense] on the perimeter. Owens will help Penn by giving them presence inside offensively."
(10/30/98 10:00am)
Two opposing forces collide when the Penn men's soccer team (4-9-1, 0-4-1 Ivy League) entertains Yale (7-6-1, 2-2 Ivy) Saturday -- the Elis' desire to remain in contention for the Ivy title and the Quakers' drive to win their first Ancient Eight contest of the season. The answer to the question of which team will emerge victorious lies not in the mathematical breakdown of statistics and records. Rather, the strength of each team's desire will determine the outcome of Penn's Homecoming game. "I think the drive to get our first Ivy win is the stronger force," Penn senior tri-captain Jared Boggs said. "It would be nice to end Yale's hopes of winning the league, but it's a lot more important to get our first Ivy win." Quakers coach Rudy Fuller, meanwhile, believes that the victory holds equal importance for each team. "The incentives to win are equal. Any time you have a chance to win a championship, you're going to give it everything you have to get that done," Fuller said. "So I expect Yale to come out strong, playing like gangbusters." On the flip side, according to Fuller, Penn will be driven by more than just the prospects of earning the elusive first Ivy win. "It's our last home game, it's Homecoming. We're going to be very excited to play," said Fuller, who assumed command of the Penn helm in the spring after five years as an assistant at Georgetown. "We have a very important goal that we set at the beginning of the year, and that was to exceed last year's win total [of four]," Fuller added. "Both teams have a lot to play for, so it should be a very entertaining game." As of two weeks ago, Penn's hopes of reaching five wins seemed a distant reality. Ten games into the '98 season, the Quakers, with a new offensive lineup, owned just one victory and a 0.3 goals per game average. The prospects in New Haven, meanwhile, looked even more bleak. The Elis, who returned three All-Ivy starters on offense from a '97 squad that finished a close third in the Ivies at 4-2-1, 11-5-1 overall, were struggling. Mired at 4-6-1 overall, and 1-2 in the Ivies, the inexperienced Yale defense had allowed 20 goals in its last eight games. A funny thing happened, though. Both the Quakers and the Elis turned the corner. Penn won three of four, as its once-dormant offense emerged to score six goals and bring the Red and Blue closer to the five-win mark. Yale, led by Ivy League-leading scorer Jay Gould (10 goals, 23 points) took three in a row, including a 3-1 victory over Columbia, to reemerge in the Ivy hunt behind 3-0-1 Brown and 3-1-0 Dartmouth. "This little streak has really gotten the guys' juices going again," Yale assistant coach Dave Barrett said. "We're playing with confidence. After a tough stretch I think we're ready to come together as a group and finish the season with a bang." Regardless of the outcome, tomorrow's game marks the final home appearances of senior tri-captains Ralph Maier and Jared Boggs. Maier, a midfielder, scored his first career goal in Wednesday's win over Maryland Baltimore-County, while Boggs, a midfielder/defender sidelined with a partial tear of the medial cruciate ligament, hopes to return against the Elis. "While many teams would have crumbled at a couple points [we faced] this season, Jared and Ralphie have really kept the ship heading in the right direction," Fuller said. "They are two of the hardest-working, most-dedicated guys in the program and they should be applauded for the amount of energy and effort they have put into the team this year." Boggs and Maier are the two remaining recruits from the Class of '99, having hung with Penn soccer through thick and thin -- the magical eight-game unbeaten streak of '96, the seven-game losing streak of '97 and the growing pains of a face-lifted program in '98. "I had high hopes as a freshman. I wanted to have a ring on my finger at some point during my four years," said Maier, who cites '98 as his favorite season. "That didn't happen but it's certainly not going to get me down. I've enjoyed playing here and I'm glad I could make a contribution and hang in there all four years." While both players named Penn's 1-0 victory at No. 18 Cornell in '96 --which set up the Red and Blue's first winning season since 1984 -- as the most memorable game in their careers, a win over Yale in their home finale could make them reconsider. "A win over Yale would definitely be up there," said Boggs, a native of Wayland, Mass. "This is my senior year, my last home game, so it might rank at the top," Boggs also believes that the game is unpredictable, given the two squads' hopes and their contrasting styles of play. "It will be an interesting game, because the two teams are such a contrast," Boggs said. "It might be a closely-fought game like many of ours are, or it could be a scoring spree. Who knows?"
(10/26/98 10:00am)
Even the most casual soccer fans know the number one dictum of the world's most popular game -- a Brazilian player without a last name must be good. PelZ. Ronaldo. Romario. Bebeto. Marcio. Saturday, Brown sophomore and soccer dynamo Marcio blasted a penalty kick past Penn goalkeeper Mike O'Connor 31:19 into the game, giving the Bears (10-2-1, 3-0-1 Ivy League) the only score they would need as Brown dropped the visiting Quakers 2-0 at Stevenson Field. The loss ended Penn's two-game winning streak and left the Quakers (3-9-1, 0-4-1) still searching for their first Ivy win. "Some people just have to step up and take the responsibility. I'm glad that I was the one who stepped up, and I'm glad that I scored," Marcio said of his fifth goal of the season. "I like taking PKs [penalty kicks]. I always have." The last name -- Schittini -- of this Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, native has been omitted since he burst onto the Ancient Eight soccer scene last year. Marcio notched six goals and 16 points as a freshman in '97. A questionable yellow-card foul call on Penn sweeper Tom Hughes, who locked up with Brown forward Chris Dodson inside the 18, set up Marcio's penalty shot. "Dodson beat [Penn defender] John Salvucci and was coming right at me down the right side. I turned my body all the way around to chase him after he touched the ball by me," Hughes said. "It was a footrace right to the goal. He got the edge on me, and pushed me with his hand to get further past me. "I was still running to get the ball, and the ref saw me trying to push my hand around him, trying to get inside, and we both went down." Penn coach Rudy Fuller believed the whistle should have been blown earlier, outside the 18-yard box. Quakers tri-captain O'Connor was more blunt in his opinion of the referee's call. "They got their legs tangled and the ref called it a penalty shot, so it was a bad call," said O'Connor -- who made two saves in the game. With the exception of the foul and subsequent penalty kick, the first half featured even play by both squads. In the locker room, Fuller emphasized to his squad that though the game was evenly played in the first half, he felt that Penn could tighten up its passing game and come out stronger after the break. "It was just a question of cleaning up our play a little bit," Penn junior Ted Lehman said. Meanwhile, Bears coach Michael Noonan envisioned other plans for his team in the second half. "In the locker room, we talked about scoring early in the second half," Marcio said. "That way, we could have a little more composure with a two-goal lead and be sure that our defense wouldn't let down." In the battle of halftime pep talks, Noonan KO'd Fuller. The Bears could hardly wait for play to begin, scoring goal number two a mere 19 seconds into the second half. The entire sequence surrounding the quick score by Brown's Anders Kelto seems to have shocked the Quakers, as each player involved recounted it with a slightly different spin. "Mike O'Connor got taken out of the play somehow, and it kind of got banged in off somebody's leg," Salvucci said. O'Connor remembered the goal --for which Dodson and Marcio were credited with assists -- as hitting off a Penn defender's leg. "It was kind of a weak goal," O'Connor said. "[Kelto] shot it, it went off the post, it was banging around in front of the net, and then it just went in off one of the defenders." "We weren't ready for it. Their midfielder came down and crossed the ball," Hughes said. "Another guy was running in, he shot it, it hit the post, and somebody came in and followed it in for the goal." Regardless of how Brown managed to find the net so quickly, the score seriously deflated the Quakers' chances of knocking off the Ivy-League leading Bears. Though the Red and Blue managed seven more shots in the half, they failed to find the net for the eighth time this season. It was the first time Penn -- which beat St. Mary's and St. Francis last week to up its goal total from three to seven -- had been shut out since October 16. "I'm happy with the way things are going right now," Fuller said. "We made two mistakes, and Brown capitalized on them. Otherwise, it was an even game. We're still looking to win -- that's the bottom line."
