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.

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

First, last night Fran Dunphy took his Temple Owls down to Washington, D.C., and almost defeated John Thompson III’s Georgetown Hoyas, losing by one point, 46-45. Why do I bring this up?  Just read the lede of this Mike Wise column for the Washington Post. Not only does it bring back memories of the Penn-Princeton rivalry, but it also relates to Ari’s point about Ivy League schools recruiting top level talent (or the inability to recruit such players).

Secondly, quick anecdote about Villanova. For those that don’t know, I’m also a member of the Penn Band and was at the Villanova game Monday with the Band. Before the beginning of every game our director receives a “game script” from the host school’s athletic department that tells us when we’re playing during timeouts and stoppages of play. The timeouts were labeled, with most of them relating to the game clock. But one timeout listed in the second half read, I kid you not: “When Villanova scores 95 points.” Again, we were given this before the game started. So clearly the Villanova Athletic Department believed the Wildcats would wipe the floor with the Quakers, even though Villanova had only once ever broken 95 against Penn.

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.

For the first time since the 2005 season the Quakers entered the national rankings, as their 367 votes earned them 24th in the latest
Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision Media Poll. Penn’s 7-2 record is 18th best of any ranked team, and its two
losses were to No. 2 Villanova (14-3) and No. 22 Lafayette (20-17 in overtime).

In addition, the Quakers got two Ivy Player of the Week awards. Senior linebacker Jake Lewko won Defensive POY after a career-high 15
tackles, while senior quarterback Kyle Olson won Offensive POY after scoring both of Penn’s touchdowns.

Penn @ Villanova

Click Here

Penn at Penn State M. Hoops

Al Bagnoli sides with the latter, as he already said that Kyle Olson will be his starter. But the question remains: how much playing time will Garton actually see? Bagnoli said “Kyle will take the majority of the snaps and we’ll play it by ear, see what happens. We fully intend to get Keiffer in the game.”

Sure, Garton should get in the game, if not to get the talented quarterback a chance to make some plays, then just to make sure Harvard has it in the back of its mind. But what if Olson continues to light it up, like he has the last two weeks? Harvard’s No. 6 Ivy pass defense shouldn’t be too much of a probem for him, but its No. 2 run defense certainly will be. If Olson plays well and say the team takes a lead, does Bagnoli risk bringing in a completely cold Keiffer Garton?

It seems that “playing it by ear” simply means Bagnoli will have to make the decision on the fly. If Olson can’t get the offense going, Garton will almost definitely see the field. If Olson keeps it up, though, I don’t think Bagnoli can (or will) go to Garton. And when you throw in the consideration of whether he will mix in the wildcat/slash/single-wing/whatever, this will almost definitely be the most interesting element of this game. And Bagnoli’s decision could very well end up determining the next Ivy League champion.

Arguably, the Penn defense has been the best in the Football Championship Subdivision. They have allowed only 11 points per game, the fewest in the nation. On top of that, the Quakers are giving up the fewest rushing yards per game in the FCS, with 60.88. In all of Division I football, only BCS No. 3 Texas is giving up fewer yards per game on the ground. I know it’s silly to compare FCS teams with FBS teams, but that’s an impressive stat no matter how you look at it. Penn last led the FCS (then Division I-AA) in these two metrics in 2002.

The Quakers are also second in total defense (227 yards per game), sixth in opponents’ quarterback rating (99.58), and tenth in sacks (three per game). Penn leads the Ivy League in every major defensive category according to the NCAA website.

As far as this weekend’s matchup against Harvard goes, fans shouldn’t expect either team to have too much success on the ground. While Penn has the best rush defense in the nation, Harvard’s is third-best. There’s a good chance the contest could be decided through the air, with Penn’s 88th ranked passing offense against Harvard’s 88th ranked pass defense and Harvard’s 60th-ranked throwing attack against Penn’s 21st-ranked pass ‘D’.

Second-place Yale lost to Dartmouth while Penn was battling Cornell this afternoon. The Quakers were down 2-0 to a pumped up Big Red team playing on senior night, and were even on the verge of being swept when it was 23-20 in the third set. They clawed back miraculously to win that set 25-23 and went on to defeat Cornell in five games.

The Bulldogs’ loss dropped them to 8-3 in the Ivy League, and with just three games remaining Penn (20-4, 11-0 Ivy) has to win just one of its next three (all at the Palestra) to be the outright Ivy champs. I doubt I’ll ever say this again, but I really wish I could’ve been in Ithaca tonight. It sounds like it was an absolutely amazing game. Chances are the team didn’t even know that Yale had lost, since the games were played at the same time. So they fought furiously to stay undefeated knowing that even with a loss they still controlled their own destiny toward being crowned the victors, and it certainly paid off. It has truly been a special season for this team. Their first chance to clinch the outright title is next Friday the 13th against Harvard. And if the Quakers win and the heavens are truly on Penn’s side (despite the ominous date), then the next day Penn football will also beat Harvard to clinch a share of the title.

Check out Monday’s DP for complete coverage of today’s game and for reaction from Coach Kerry Carr and some players.

After the jump, some more notes on this year.

• The Quakers have not gone undefeated in the conference since 1986 when they went 7-0. But they did not win the championship that year since it was decided by a conference tournament and not the regular season record.

• Only one team (Princeton in 2007) has gone undefeated since the League switched to a double round robin format in 2001.

• Penn won three straight titles starting that year and hasn’t won since. They went 13-1 in 2002 and 03, and only one other team (Yale last year) has achieved that record.

• Overall Penn has won eight Ivy titles in volleyball, bested only by Princeton’s dominant total of 14. Cornell has six, Brown has four, Cornell has three and Harvard has one. Dartmouth and Columbia have never won. This includes shares of Ivy titles dating back to 1977, the last year available in the Ivy League records (Penn won that season).

• Junior libero Madison Wojciechowski is on the verge of breaking the single-season record for digs for the third time in as many seasons. She has 478 digs with three games remaining, and the record she set last season was 511. With a 5.37 digs/set average she’s on pace to hit 527 digs this year even if Penn sweeps all three of its remaining games. She is already second all-time in career digs at Penn, and if she finishes with 527 that will put her at 1,495, just 30 shy of Cara Thomason’s record of 1,525. Knowing Mojo (as her teammates call her) she’ll probably get 30 in the first game of the year next year. Or maybe she’ll just go crazy in these next three games and break the record in just three seasons. Regardless, she’s the best libero of all-time at Penn.

• Since she’s clearly the best ever at Penn, I decided to look into her numbers in the context of complete Ivy League history. Not including any Princeton players (whose individual career stats were strangely unavailable after a thorough search), only two liberos in Ivy League history besides Thomason have more digs than Wojciechowski has already amassed. Both players were on Brown: Katie Lapinski notched 1,728 from 2004-07 and Tomo Nakanishi tallied 1,762 from 1996-99. Hypothetically, if Wojciechowski were to average five per set, only play three sets per match, and Penn played 25 matches next season (they’re playing 27 this year), then she would finish with 1,870. If she matches (not to mention surpasses) her projected 2009 total of 527 then she’ll finish her career with an unfathomable 2,022 digs.

I’m sure there are plenty of other numbers that are just as remarkable about this team. The one thing I am very curious about, if anybody wants to help me look it up, is the last time two Penn teams went undefeated in the Ivy League in the same season. That would be incredibly interesting to know, and incredibly difficult to figure out. That stat and others regarding volleyball will have to wait for the end of the season when everything is said and done.