Andreas Schreiber missed all but two games last year as he suffered from a separated shoulder injury.
It appears he’ll miss even more time.
Multiple sources have confirmed that the Swedish forward/center has re-injured his shoulder and will be out indefinitely. He’s started both games so far this year yet only averages 5.0 points and one rebound per game. He technically is a senior, but has junior eligibility due to the injuries.
Two games down for M. Hoops, and two losses to BCS teams. But as my colleagues Neil Fanaroff and Ari Seifter asked, how much can we learn from these two defeats about the 2009-10 men’s basketball team? Neil believes, not much, since this is way to soon to make snap judgments about the team. Ari believes we can make broader statements about the team’s ability to compete with top-flight teams.
Not to cop out, but they’re both right.
Clearly this Penn team, especially this early in the season, isn’t suited to compete with a top 5 team like Villanova. And there’s a good chance the Quakers’ trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium will result in an equally lopsided loss to Duke. But that doesn’t mean that Penn will be irrelevant against better competition forever. Ivy teams in general aren’t irrelevant nationally. Cornell beat Alabama this weekend. Harvard beat Holy Cross and Williams and Mary, two better mid-majors. Even Brown — which was last in the Ivies last year — was semi-competitive agains Virginia Tech. Penn has awhile to go before they can be as successful as Cornell is right now, but that doesn’t mean they’ll go winless in the Big 5 from now until they quit out of desperation.
On the other hand, Neil’s right that losing to Penn State and Villanova tells us very little about Penn’s Ivy chances. The fact of the matter is this season will be a success or failure depending on Penn’s Ivy play. If Penn goes 4-10 in non-conference play like it did last year, people will surely be up in arms, calling for Glen Miller’s head. But then if the team were to somehow go 10-4 in League play, perhaps beat Cornell at the Palestra, go at least 1-1 versus Princeton and not lose to Dartmouth — twice. I’m not saying they necessarily would do that. And Tyler Bernardini’s injury could affect them significantly. But frankly it’s too early to tell if they can compete with teams more equal to their caliber.
I realize some of you already posted your thoughts on Ari’s initial column. But feel free to do so again here on The Buzz, especially your thoughts on this year’s team.
Also, read after the jump for two more Hoops items
I just got back from Alpha Chi Omega’s BMOC (Big Man On Campus) philanthropy event at The Trocadero downtown. It’s somewhat of a pageant, in which a number of campus big-shots (in both junior and senior divisions) get to show off some talent in the hopes of winning the title of BMOC. But the biggest news of the night? Tyler Bernardini - competing for the title of Junior BMOC - came out to perform his act with a noticeable limp (I wasn’t quite sure what the performance was, but it involved him rapping and being angry, I think). And then during the dance portion for the juniors, Bernardini was on crutches.
He suffered an apparent foot injury against Villanova Monday and coach Glen Miller said he was to receive an MRI Tuesday. So seeing him on crutches does not bode well for the Quakers moving forward.
The Harvard Crimson is reporting that seven-foot center Ugo Okam from Montverde Academy in Florida committed to Tommy Amaker and the Harvard hoops program tonight. According to multiple reports, including my own investigations, Okam narrowed down his choice to either Harvard or Penn weeks ago. He was Penn’s best remaining prospect as a true post presence.
I spoke with Okam’s coach, Kevin Sutton, a week ago and he indicated that Ugo would be waiting until early November to announce his decision, when he can sign a commitment during the early signing period for the Ivy League. Sutton said that Okam is a tremendous shot blocker with excellent timing, but “his defense is way ahead of his offense at this point.” While you have to take any coach’s praises with a grain of salt, he added that Okam is an extremely hard worker who has showed vast and rapid improvement since picking up the game four years ago after moving from Nigeria. He mentioned that Penn’s coaches were blown away by his improvements every time they saw him. On the offensive side, he said he still has a lot to improve, but noted a good ability to finish when he catches the ball in the post and added that he shoots around 63% from the line.
I have no information on why Okam chose Harvard, and neither does The Crimson. While Glen Miller has already put together what seems like an already stellar class of recruits, you never want to lose out on a legitimate seven-footer who can probably contribute immediately on defense and rebounding. Harvard really needed him, as they had just one other recruit despite an ambitious recruiting season. From what I know of Amaker’s recruiting tactics, I’m sure he made that abundantly clear. That’s not to say Miller and Co. weren’t just as aggressive, but it’s the only analysis I can offer at this point. I’ll try to get some more information in the next couple of days.
With the NCAA basketball season just weeks away, everyone’s been releasing their preseason polls. The conference polls have been trickling in over the last week, and the national polls came out today.
The Ivy League released its preseason rankings yesterday, with Penn coming in at third behind Cornell and Princeton. Cornell is, as expected, the unanimous favorite, returning all five starters from last year’s Ivy championship. You’d be hard-pressed to argue against the conference being Cornell’s to lose.
Princeton, Penn, and Harvard are essentially in a dead heat for second place, with only 10 points separating the three schools. Yale, Columbia, Brown, and Dartmouth round out the bottom half of the League in that order.
Keep reading after the jump for a rundown of Penn’s opponents in the national polls and to see how the other Big 5 schools are projected to finish in their own conferences.
I know it’s been a while, but here’s a Random Ivy notes:
1) Sure it’s been beaten to death many times before, but here’s another column decrying the Ivy League’s ban on football postseason play. I’ve already stated I’m pro-football playoffs, and won’t rehash the arguments. But this column, written by someone from Delaware of all places, emphatically believes it’s “the dumbest, most unfair rule in sports” that the Ivy champion can’t play in the FCS playoffs. (Some background: when he’s talking about Delaware playing Delaware State, he’s referring to the Blue Hen’s refusal to play their in-state rivals.)
2) As a hard-hitting linebacker (and center) for Penn and the Eagles, Chuck Bednarik probably would’ve liked the Penn-Yale game Saturday that ended 9-0. He actually was present at Franklin Field, signing copies of an oral history about him. Although we were told not to talk to him, Soft Pretzel Logic got a short video interview with the Philadelphia legend.
3) The Cornell Basketball Blog has an index of season previews, and not surprisingly the Big Red are the consensus preseason No. 1 Ivy team. Penn’s preseason ranking is extremely more volatile, ranging from second to seventh.
Friday marked the beginning of college basketball season as teams were allowed to start officially practicing. Many schools celebrate the start of the year with Midnight Madness. Thought up by former Maryland coach Lefty Driessell in the early 1970s, the tradition has developed into a major event at many Division I schools.
Midnight Madness is basically a glorified pep rally to kick off the season in which the team is introduced and sometimes scrimmages or practices, fans compete in contests and the coaches make spectacular entrances. Well maybe that last one only applies to Maryland coach Gary Williams, who has exploded out of a box (or something like that) and entered the Terrapins’ stadium on a motorcycle. In addition many schools use the event as a recruiting tool, with an estimated 160 blue chip recruits attending a Midnight Madness event in 2007.
But one team that doesn’t do a Midnight Madness event is Penn. (Interestingly, no City Six team had events yesterday, though La Salle and Saint Joseph’s have similar events planned for next week.)
Former coach Fran Dunphy liked the event, and the last one took place in 2004 (in 2005, Dunphy’s final season, the night coincided with Fall Break, like it does this year, so the event didn’t happen.) However, since Glen Miller has been here the Athletic Department hasn’t organized an official Midnight Madness.
Of course, instead Penn has the Line. This year’s Line certainly was closer to a Midnight Madness format than say 2007, as Miller and several players stayed quite late into the night. Yet the Line is restricted to current students who are interested in spending an entire night in the Palestra in order to get season tickets. But what about alumni? What about students who don’t want to spend an entire night in the Palestra? What about Penn fans who don’t want to buy a full set of season tickets? Furthermore, since the Line was before the official Midnight Madness start date, no practicing could legally happen.
Meanwhile, while Penn Athletics did acknowledge the start of practice today, the opening session was closed to the public, as well as the media. (In fact Miller doesn’t open practices to the media until a couple of weeks into the season.)
So do you think Penn would be better suited to have a Midnight Madness event, complete with players practicing? Perhaps the Athletics Department can create an event in conjunction with the Line. Under this system, a practice open to the general public could happen at midnight, followed by students spending the rest of the night in the Palestra to get the tickets.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Those who know me personally know that I place a premium on not sleeping, as I hate to miss anything.
As it turns out, going to bed around 1:30 am at The Line Saturday made me miss something that would have further driven home the point I made in my column today. Reader/Red & Blue Crew member Alexa Luzecky let me know that later in the night, sophomores Zack Rosen and Mike Howlett returned to the Palestra along with teammate Rob Belcore. They hung out for a while, watching Superbad and talking to some fans. Howlett and Belcore eventually left, but Rosen stayed the night, getting up with the participants at 7:45.
If I failed to drive home the point in my column, then this certainly did. Glen Miller and the hoops team went way above and beyond in their displays of appreciation for the fans, and I applaud them personally for truly forming that personal connection to the fans.
It’s been Celebrity Friday here at the Palestra for the past couple weeks, with some notable NBA stars stopping by.
Yesterday, it was Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson. He came by during practice and talked to the team for 15-20 minutes. His son was visiting the school and he paid a visit to the Palestra while the team was warming up. Magic, of course, has a firm place in Penn basketball lore, as his Michigan State team knocked Penn out of the 1979 Final Four, ending the greatest Tourney run in Quakers history.
Last week, it was three-time NBA title winner and former Sixth Man of the Year Toni Kukoc. He stopped by practice and hung out with the team for a while.
Read on to see what sophomore Mike Howlett had to say about the visit.
Hello everybody, and welcome to the historic Palestra for tonight’s Line. Neil Fanaroff here, coming at you from the 2009 Line. I’ll be posting updates all night, letting you know of the goings on here in case you didn’t have the foresight to come to the announcement. It looks to be a fun night for everyone involved.
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