Last Wednesday, the women's basketball team allowed me to join them in practice and participate in most of the drills.

For those of you who have not already read the article, you can find it here. Spoiler alert: they kicked my ass. I am curious to hear reactions to the article.

I know it seems ridiculous to be positive about a 1-24 team, but I was truly impressed and believe everything that I wrote. From reading his quotes in the paper, coach Mike McLaughlin may sound trite and full of Crash Davis-esque cliches, but I came away from this practice extremely impressed with his -- and the team's -- demeanor and positive attitude. His optimism and kindness really aren't a charade, and I believe the players appreciate it. That doesn't mean he never gets angry, but he keeps it in check compared to predecessor Pat Knapp.

There was some material I gleaned through interviews that did not make it into the newspaper, but that I thoguht was interesting nonetheless. After being manhandled by the women, I asked their opinions on NBA commissioner David Stern's recent comments to Sports Illustrated that a woman could play in the NBA within the next decade.

"I definitely don't see it," senior Amy Donovan said. "I think that women are becoming much more athletic. They're definitely closing the gap and becoming much more skilled, and the game is getting better. But I just think if you took the best women's championship UConn team and put them against a lower-level men's Division I team, they wouldn't stand a chance, just because of the strength and athleticism."

While the women's game has evolved substantially in recent years -- and still has more room for future growth -- Donovan's statements were echoed by everyone I talked to. Instead, they said that people should respect the women's game for what it is, even if there are fewer high-flying, acrobatic dunks.

"I don't know, [the NBA is] such a high level, a special level, for gifted, athletic, tall, big, strong, physical [players]," McLaughlin said. "I don't know if I believe that as much. I think the women's game is special in its own way. If they don't achieve to play with the men, I don't think that's any drawback [on the women's game]."

The players said that there is evidence that women's basketball is starting to get more credit nationally, citing the increased Sportscenter coverage of UConn women's basketball and the recognition of 6'8" Baylor star Brittney Grimer's ability to play above the rim.

Still, the unspoken sentiment was that there is a certain limit to how close the women can get to the men, and based on the physiological differences between the genders, I have to agree.

"Men are always going to have the upper hand in athleticism" senior Sarah Bucar said. "I'm not a huge feminist or anything, I'm just looking at it the way it is."

When asked to assess Stern's comments, senior Caitlin Slover, who said that she doesn't watch the NBA because she is not a fan, nodded over to the men's team as it started practice.

"That would be like me going out and saying, 'I could guard Zack [Rosen].' It's not going to happen. Or [saying], 'I could guard Darren [Smith].' Well, Darren, he's pretty old and slow so that can happen," she joked. "It's just one of those things where men are so much more physically fit and stronger. I just don't foresee it."

Based on my performance at practice, I guess it's fair to say that all of those supposed male physical advantages didn't find their way to me.

Hi this is Ari Seifter here live at the Palestra as the Penn men's basketball team (1-12, 0-3 Big 5) has its last chance for a Big 5 victory against Saint Joseph's (7-11, 0-1 Big 5). The Hawks are 0-7 on the road but have a good chance to get that first road victory against a depleted Penn squad. Click below to access the live blog.

Click Here

After a decisive 82-71 win, Penn (1-10) is finally off the schneid with its first win of the season, snapping the worst start and longest losing streak in program history. I'm sure this was a big win for the team from a mental standpoint. As Zack Rosen said, "I think it's huge for everybody in that locker room for their mental [standpoint], just believing, and knowing that when we go out there there's a possibility of us winning a game."

But let's also make sure we're clear about what this win wasn't. It wasn't really evidence of a turnaround, or a sign that brighter things are necessarily ahead for the rest of the season. Tonight's opponent, UMBC, is now 1-13 on the year. By most available measurements, such as RPI and Sagarin ratings, this was a matchup between two of the worst 15 teams in Division I this season up to today. As Rosen also correctly stated, it was the first time the team really executed a gameplan and controlled the game, but that is more of an indictment of the team's play up to this point. There's no question that this win was orders of magnitude less impressive than Cornell's 71-66 loss to national No. 1 Kansas, a game the Big Red led most of the way and was decided in the final two possessions.

To be fair, though, a win's a win, however uninspiring the matchup, so congratulations to coach Allen for his first victory as head coach, and also to the players, who have all worked very hard.

On a separate note, my parents are both Penn alumni ('76 and '78) and were invited to a Penn basketball alumni reception at Michaels 1600 restaurant before the game. In an attempt to increase my investigative acclaim, I followed along to see what, if anything, I could observe.

(more...)

Hi everyone, this is Ari Seifter coming to you live from Monmouth's brand-new (and very nice) arena. We just got some technical difficulties with wireless internet fixed. Penn has never lost to Monmouth - or any team in the Northeast Conference - but Penn also hasn't won a game yet this season.

Click Here

Hey everyone, this is Ari Seifter coming to you with live game updates from the men's basketball game against Drexel.

Click Here

The Ivy League Preseason Women's Basketball Media/SID poll was officially released today. I've covered Penn for the past two years, so this year I was given the honor of having Penn's media vote (over women's basketball guru Mel Greenberg).

Apparently, I did a pretty good job -- or I was engaging in groupthink -- because my rankings matched the final results. Below are the results of the 16 votes (one media and one SID vote per school), with first-place votes in parentheses.

Pts.

1. Dartmouth (11) 123

2. Harvard (5) 115

3. Princeton 86

4. Columbia 83

5-t. Cornell 57

5-t. Yale 57

7. Penn 36

8. Brown 19

I thought it would be a useful exercise for discussion purposes to release my votes, and the reasoning behind them. So follow along after the jump for my breakdown.

(more...)

Although Penn basketball has historically dominated Penn State and in fact holds a 31-13 all-time record against its larger in-state rival with a similar name, the Nittany Lions had a resurgent season in the Big Ten this year. That includes a dominating performance against the Quakers in the first half that led to a 85-73 victory at the Palestra earlier this season.

While Penn State didn't survive the NCAA tournament bubble, tonight the Nittany Lions defeated Baylor, 69-63, to win the NIT championship.

With 36 busloads of students as well as Joe Paterno -- claiming that basketball is his second favorite sport -- in the crowd, the Nittany Lions came back after being down four at halftime.

Meanwhile, Penn also played earlier this season against two of the four teams still alive in postseason play -- North Carolina and Villanova, which square off in the Final Four.  The Quakers lost by 15 to the Tarheels on the road in the season opener, while Big 5 rival Villanova drubbed the Red and Blue by 22 in early December.

So using margins of victory over Penn as a barometer -- and the fallacious transitive property of sports -- Villanova > UNC > Penn State.  Perhaps the Wildcats will win tomorrow then?

In fact, if Villanova were to beat UNC and then beat the winner of No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 Michigan State in the championship game, it would be the first time since 2003 that the NIT and NCAA Champion were from the same state. That year St. John's and Syracuse won those titles, respecitvely. That's the only time this coincidence has happened since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

For those of you looking for a break from the NCAA tournament monotony, one of my colleagues got a great interview with Penn engineering alum and nine-year MLB player Doug Glanville.

The Phillies fans out there probably remember his two stints with the team, while Cubs fans undoubtedly recall his game-winning triple in the 11th inning of Game 3 of the 2003 NLCS.

The full transcript couldn't fit into the paper, so make sure to read the whole thing online because it's a very interesting read.

Following a disappointing 76-49 home loss to Seton Hall (14-6, 2-5 Big East), Penn coach Pat Knapp gave a very candid and animated interview, in which he seemed to call out his team several times. Since not everything can fit into the paper, here are a few highlights, along with my analysis, below:

On Carrie Biemer’s losing her streak of 27 straight double-digit games: “Not to give people scouting reports, but [the Pirates] are quick, they’re athletic and they’re long, and they got out there on her. The thing is this isn’t all about Carrie scoring points. You saw us miss a lot of inside shots, layups, lobs, fast-breaks. That’s not the point of the night. The point of the night is we need to rededicate ourselves to a team defensive effort because, particularly in the second half, we were, to put it mildly, not very good… These are things we preach and talk about all the time. To me it makes no difference - I don’t care if Seton Hall is in the Big East or the NBA; get out there, play with focus, play with purpose, play with heart.”

Penn is in dire need of consistent second and third options outside of Biemer. The senior captain has tallied roughly 32 percent of Penn's field goal attempts and accounts for 34.7 percent of its scoring. Fellow senior Kelly Scott has been a solid threat on the outside, and she is the only player besides Biemer to average in double-figures with 11.1 points per game. Sarah Bucar's perimeter shooting is sorely missing as she battles a foot injury, and the Quakers could sure use sharpshooter Kim Adams - who left the team after the season opener - to spread opposing defenses for Biemer on the inside.

On the importance of non-conference games: “I’ve never believed that the season begins and ends on February 1 [about when the Ivy League starts in full swing]. There’s a lot of things you can do up to February 1 that can cumulatively make you better ... and get you on track. At one point we were on track, and we need to get back on track right now. We work hard every day in practice to work on combinations, to take care of the ball, to rebound, to run good stuff. I’m certainly not critical of every player that played tonight. We had some that played pretty sharply and with a lot of heart. But when you’re asked to rebound and you just don’t flat-out box somebody out, you didn’t do the right thing. And I don’t care what uniform or number you have, or whether you start or whether you don’t. Answer back. Penn needs to answer back: ‘What are my basic responsiblities?’ I’m not very happy with this effort at all, and I could care less what is read or not read because I’m going to say the same things to the team.”

Non-conference games have been a weakness for Penn (3-11, 0-1 Ivy) in the last few years, but then again the Ivy League is relatively weak, especially compared to the major conferences like the Big East. The team's seniors were unable to record a Big 5 victory over four years, though to be fair, Penn played its Philadelphia rivals much tougher this season. And when the Quakers don't represent well in Philadelphia, it certainly can't help in Knapp's efforts to recruit local-area kids.

As for rebounding, Penn struggled mightily early on with its small lineup, but had appeared to bounce back over winter break with encouraging efforts on the boards, even against big teams like Temple.

On Sarah Bucar’s absence: “We miss everybody. We miss Jess Knapp; we miss Jourdan Banks. Nobody has any idea what they would have done to our depth, or to our competition or to our scoring. It’s just not Sarah Bucar. Do we miss Sarah? Of course we miss Sarah. But it’s Anca [Popovici’s], and Tyler [Cumbo’s] and Erin [Power’s] job to lead the team. Having said that, I think two people who played really hard … and stayed focused and tried to do what we asked them to do, certainly tonight I would put Anca and Erin at the top of that list. I’m not going to go down the whole list. It’s a team effort, and I would be shocked if Anca and Erin were satisfied with their games. I’d be shocked because the bottom line is [that] Penn plays well and Penn wins.”

Like all coaches, Knapp wants to emphasize the players he has on the floor, but Bucar is especially missed for her maturity and leadership as a floor marshall on offense. Bucar is also tenacious in ball pressure on defense and has recorded a team-high 1.3 steals per game.

On Big East teams being of a higher caliber than Ivy League teams: “It doesn’t matter. Here’s why…. Harvard’s a pretty big team, [and there were] a couple big girls on that team out there today, right? We didn’t box them out, and we can. We can. [There are] a couple pretty quick players on the Dartmouth team. Well, same thing tonight. It doesn’t matter, it really doesn’t matter. What we don’t want to be here is ordinary. This is very important. If you print anything, print this. We don’t want to be ordinary. That we just show up, and when the uniform says a different league, we’re supposed to lose. That’s not my makeup. I hate that. So we do everything we can to get these kids ready to pull the upset, get the big win, put in the great effort. Prior to this, what does it matter that we lost to Villanova by two, St. Joe’s was a close game [along] with La Salle [and] Temple. It doesn’t matter. Now is now. The last two weeks is the last two weeks. If we can transfer those lessons, bring them to the table. And all those teams had different strengths… So I thought we had a shot [tonight]."

Knapp is certainly right that Penn's effort against Seton Hall won't get it done against the Ivy League, as was evident in the opener at Princeton, which Penn lost 64-49. The Quakers have been quite inconsistent this season and need to regain the tenacity they showed against the Big 5, even though they couldn't quite come away with victories. Led of course by Biemer, Penn has certainly shown flashes of the talent necessary to have a decent showing in the Ivy League.

On Penn’s offense: “At halftime, 11 assists and 11 turnovers, you don’t want to turn the ball over like that. We can’t have 16 [turnovers] against these guys, but yeah, you’re right, that was a little better… Offensively, how many backdoors or drives or post-ups or offensive rebounds did we make? And you said, rightly so, 15 assists to 16 turnovers. So offensively we did our share of good things. I went on a 10 minute rant here about what? [Rebounding, boxing out] and defense. Toughness is necessary, focus is necessary, and defense as a team is necessary.”

Penn's offensive flow has improved drastically over the course of the season, though there is still quite a long way to go. The offensive execution wasn't particularly bad against Seton Hall, though the Pirates did contain Biemer and Scott. Sophomore guard Erin Power continues to be the unsung hero on offense. Even though she doesn't score a lot of points, she facilitates much of what Penn does offensively and has stepped up even more recently. Power has 46 assists - 29 more than anyone else on the team - to only 21 turnovers. To put it another way, Power is +25 in assist-to-turnover ratio while the rest of the team is a combined -63.

Knapp will certainly lay into his team in practice in the next few days, and Penn will look to be a different team in the Ivy League slate this weekend. As Knapp said:

“I have no idea how this effort gets us ready for Harvard and Dartmouth, but I’ll tell you something: we’re going to bust our butts the next three days to get ready.”