Ibrahim Jaaber's stock on the internationl basketball circuit appears to be ascending. So far, he's gone from an obscure conference in Greece to a pan-European competition in Italy and, most recently, added Bulgaria too, where he holds official citizenship and suits up for the national team.

His first international gig after graduating Penn in 2007 landed Jaaber with Elegao BC of the Greek League. By midseason, he was leading the conference with 22.4 points and 2.8 steals per game. But after 15 games Elegao traded him to Lottomatica Virtus Roma, a Euroleague mainstay located in, you guessed it, Rome.

His initial contract was set to expire in June 2008, and reports at the time suggested that Panionios, another Greek League team, wanted to steal him away from Roma at the end of the season and bring him back to Greece with a multi-year deal.

But Jaaber is with Roma still, according to both Eurobasket.com's listing and the team's own site, so I assume he got a new contract there last summer. This year, he's started 11 of 12 games, averaged 27 minutes and 9.6 points, shot 46.5 percent from the floor and hit half of his 22 free throws. Full stats are here.

Euroleague is one of three major international basketball circuits in Europe and is more prominent than the other two, Eurocup and Eurochallenge. The Barcelona-based Union of European Leagues of Basketball runs both Euroleague and Eurocup. Every year it selects which teams — 24 for Euroleague, 54 for Eurocup — to give invitations to. The selection process is influenced by money and is not a pure meritocracy, but each domestic-league champion of the ULEB's 13 member-states usually gets a Euroleague bid. Here are this year's participants.

Roma competed for the third year in a row for the first time in club history, 25 years after its first and only Euroleague crown. Of course, it would benefit Jaaber's standing on the international scene and the NBA radar if Roma made it four in a row next season, assuming he continued to play there. Interestingly, Panionios, the Greek League team I mentioned earlier, was a selection this year for the first time since 1996.

Euroleague's postseason is a weird, four-round playoff system, where teams are divided into divisions and the field is pared from 24 teams to 16 to eight to four to two. Roma went 6-4 in conference play, which was good enough to squeeze into the six-game round of 16. That round is ongoing, and Roma is 0-2 so far.

As for his diversion in Bulgaria — I'll have to read up on that some more.

I caught the first hour or so of practice today, and though Glen Miller refused to do an interview, here is what I saw and can report.

After missing last weekend's road trip because of a concussion suffered in practice last Monday, Tyler Bernardini showed up to practice in street clothes about half an hour late and handed some forms to the trainer. After a brief discussion with the trainer that I was not privy to, Bernardini went into the locker room and changed into his basketball clothes and started to practice with the team.

In the drills I saw him run, he did not appear to be limited in any way. When Penn practiced its offense, he went at 100%, making hard cuts and knocking down shots from the get go. Obviously, given the dangerous nature of concussions, this information does not necessarily mean that he will be cleared to play tomorrow. All I can report is that, from what I saw in my hour at practice, he looked like he might very well be able to play.

While Miller declined an interview with me at practice, he did do an interview with Comcast, in which he said that Bernardini is "day-to-day." Apparently, that is all of the information that the team has.

In other news, Brian Grandieri, who played through a groin injury last weekend, also practiced at full strength. Though he certainly isn't playing his best basketball right now, you really have to admire the grit and determination that he has shown this season. Grandieri has fought through injuries every time he's set foot on a basketball court this year, but he never complains about it and always plays hard. His leadership in games is just as evident as it is in practice, bad knees and bad groin and all.

Finally, a few days ago, I told you about Ibby Jaaber's outstanding play this season in Greece. Well now, he's heading to to the prestigious Euroleague. Jaaber will compete on Lotomatica Roma (that's in Rome, for those of you Italian scholars). Read more about it here.

Check out tomorrow's DP for more coverage on the Penn-Princeton game, and stay tuned for updates on The Buzz.

Florida Gulf Coast is in its first season as a Division I team, hasn't beaten anyone better than Bethune-Cookman and is 3-9.

But the Eagles are playing at home.

At Alico Arena FGCU is 1-2, where it beat Maryland Eastern Shore and lost to Drexel and No. 16 Butler.

The win was obviously a rare one, while the losses were to a pair of good teams, certainly better than Penn. In both games, the Eagles had an early second-half lead, tied it up later on, but lost in the end. Against Drexel, the Dragons went on an 18-0 run to seal it up, and Butler used 14-of-15 shooting from the free-throw line to slam the door shut in the 78-66 victory.

Some overdue notes from the Elon game:

Joe Gill and Dan Monckton sat out the games with injuries, though I believe neither one is serious.

Ibrahim Jaaber, Stephen Danley and Ugonna Onyekwe were all in attendance for the Quakers' fourth victory of the season. Onyekwe was on crutches and had just tore his meniscus. He also looked really skinny. If any of you watched him play for Penn he was a beast, a punishing but talented forward who could finish around the basket. He could have lost the weight in order to take some pressure off of his knee, but he may just be adjusting himself to the European game.

Jaaber, on the other hand, is tearing it up in Greece's top league. Playing for Egaleo, Jaaber dropped 40 points in a win over Olympiakos (and former Temple guard Lynn Greer), as Egaleo dealt its opponents their first loss of the season. He also hit the game-winning free throw two games later to bring his team's record to 6-3.

In all, Jaaber is averaging 21.7 points per game (a team-high) on 55 percent shooting, 4.7 assists per game, 4.7 rebounds, 2.2 steals and only 2.7 turnovers. (Full Egaleo stats can be seen here).

Some other former NCAA stars in the Greek league include Duke's William Avery, Louisville's Larry O'Bannon, UNC's Reyshawn Terry, Pitt's Levon Kendall, MSU's Mateen Cleaves and former NBA journeyman Mamadou N'Diaye.