My first and only actual beat so far at the DP was Volleyball (I've been an editor since covering them last Fall). I got to write a few fun stories earlier this year, but some new writers have been covering them recently. I still follow the team closely, and they have been having a tremendous season, with one of the two biggest games of the season on tap for tomorrow. So, I decided I needed to write something on The Buzz about our most under-the-radar fall season team.

Also, I found one more interesting item on the Fitzpatrick backboard incident. So continue after the jump to get the scoop. (more...)

[Update] I just talked to Brian on the phone. We had a bad connection so I don't have too many direct quotes, but I got some more very interesting details on this absurd story.

First, his one-line reaction: "That was the coolest thing I have ever done." He said he'd never imagined he could pull that off.

The play happened in the middle of practice after they ran drills and before they were going to scrimmage. They were just shooting around and Carson Sullivan told Fitzpatrick to go up for an alley-oop.

"I just caught it and dunked it. I didn’t dunk it hard. I didn’t hang on the rim. The minute I dunked it the whole thing just shattered and I fell to the ground with the rim in my hand," Fitpatrick said. "I didn’t know what happened. It took me like five seconds to realize… I was kind of a little confused at first, then I got up and I was bleeding a bit."

He couldn't tell me what the other players' reactions were because he was in such shock himself after the play, and then realized he was bleeding and wanted to get it taken care of. Jack Eggleston - the team's big brother figure - walked him to the training room to get him cleaned up.

"I was all confused. I was sitting there, glass everywhere, the rim right next to me, and I’m like ‘What the f*** happened?’"

There was actually a downside to the whole situation. Fitzpatrick said yesterday was his first day practicing fully for the last six weeks or so. He had been out with tendinitis in his knees. It got cleared up and then this happened, and he'll be out for another couple of days because he actually went to the emergency room and got four stitches in his elbow. (So much for the Twitter feed saying "Everyone is ok".)

More sad developments for all the fans and regular attendees of games: Fitzpatrick said he doubts he could ever pull this off again in a game. "I doubt it... That'd be really cool, but it doesn't happen very often." He said the hoops in Weightman Hall are really old (maybe they should fix all of them?) and the ones in the Palestra, as I mention below, are really well supported.

Because of the bad connection we only talked for a few minutes and I didn't get a chance to ask him about a nickname for the dunk. What are some of your ideas?

[Original post]

Most of you probably already heard from the Penn Basketball Twitter about freshman Brian Fitzpatrick's ridiculous dunk at practice yesterday that tore down the rim and shattered the backboard. I found out today that it was actually in the gym in Weightman Hall, not in the Palestra. I mentioned yesterday in a comment on my last post that I thought it probably was in the Palestra, since that is the team's normal practice venue. I actually learned today that it is nearly impossible to shatter a Palestra backboard because they are reinforced with a special type of glass to prevent that from ever happening. Anyway, here are some pictures of the aftermath of Fitzpatrick's freakish power. Forgive the poor quality; I took these with my cell phone.

Two Penn facilities employees (one not pictured) were already fixing the backboard in the Weightman Hall gym when I went down there to check it out today. They've got a new backboard already, but still waiting on the rim.

Unfortunately most of the mess was cleaned up before I got down there today. It took three trashcans to hold all the glass and rubber that Fitzpatrick brought down.

It's been weeks since my original post about Sean Mullan, a basketball recruit from Australia. I haven't heard back from Mullan since that original post, so I haven't been able to provide an update on his status... until now. Although I still haven't heard back from the man himself, a reliable source confirmed today that Mullan is officially coming to Penn.

It seems that this might have been in the books for a while at this point.  When I heard from his mother in late May she indicated that everything was just about squared away, but they hadn't received their official documents yet. Then Sean's name showed up in the Penn Directories a few weeks ago, but I still could not take that as confirmation that he was definitely coming.

With Mullan in the bag, the Quakers' 2009 recruiting class is up to five players (though two are unofficial). Mullan joins Carson Sullivan and Brian Fitzpatrick as the official recruits for 2009, while Malcolm Washington and Tommy Eggleston will also join the team as "preferred walk-ons." The distinction, as far as I know, is virtually irrelevant. Penn Athletics has not released an official list of this year's recruits, but it should come very soon. Washington and Eggleston will not be on the official list.