1) Despite the recent installation of a carousel at the Dunning Coaches Center, one Penn coach is raking in national honors. Not surprisingly, Karin Brower won her second-straight W. Lax Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year award after Penn went 15-3. It would've been interesting to see if Brower still prevailed had Maryland coach Cathy Reese been in Brower's region. Reese led a very young Terrapins team to an undefeated regular season and Final Four berth, before falling to North Carolina in the semis. (She did win Southern COY honors.)

Northwestern coach Kelly Amonte Hiller won National Coach of the Year, after the Wildcats went undefeated en route to a fifth-straight NCAA championship.

2) In what's got to be considered an upset (or at least proof that there are more University of New Mexico voters than Penn voters), the Palestra almost certainly will lose its matchup against the University of New Mexico's "Pit" on CBS' Arena Wars. And it's not even close, as Penn has 42% of the vote to the Pit's 58%. I guess people believe in separation of church and sports since somehow the Cathedral of College Basketball can't beat a Mountain West gym.

3) Temple has released its men's hoops schedule, and Fran Dunphy's going to be in for a rough year. The Owls host Kansas, which almost certainly will be a top 5 preseason team, as well as Siena who has won NCAA tournament games in each of the last two seasons. In addition, Temple faces five other Power Conference teams, hosting NIT champion Penn State Dec. 5, playing at Georgetown Nov. 17, taking on Virginia Tech and St. Johns at the Palestra Nov. 27 then 28 and of course battling in the annual Big 5 matchup with Villanova at home Jan. 2. (As a side note, the link also confirms Penn's recruits, though Noah already commented on that.)

4) In case you're ever quizzed on terms related to Cornell Athletics, here's your Big Red sports glossary. I guess it's supposed to be funny, though saying that Dartmouth excels in ice sculpture isn't exactly back-breakingly hilarious, especially considering this exists. Penn's entry:

Pennsylvania: Slimy Ivy rival in Philadelphia. It has strong athletic teams and questionable recruiting ethics. Learn to hate them. They’re ruthless, bad sports and play to win at whatever cost — even if it means throwing toast on the football field. And they call themselves Quakers.

So I guess we are Cornell's biggest rivals?

1) Thanks to reader Will, vote for the Palestra over "The Pit," which is the University of New Mexico's stadium on CBS Sports' "Arena Wars."

2) Right as Penn's M. Lax coach is leaving, the W. Lax team is gaining coaches, as former standout Melissa Lehman will return to the team as an assistant coach. As a senior she was second on the team in scoring during the team's run to the 2008 NCAA Championship game.

3) The Ivy League has five preseason All-American FCS selections, and Penn's K Andrew Sansom is on the first team. CB Chris Wynn made the second team.

4) The info isn't really that noteworthy, but the headline and image of this CBB post grabbed my attention. However, I advise you to vote on the right-hand side for who you think the biggest challenger to Cornell is.

The Triangle -- Drexel's student newspaper -- ran a column last Friday about the Penn-Drexel men's basketball game that will be televised on ESPN at 10 a.m. Nov.18 and will take place at Drexel's Daskalakis Athletic Center. (See here for my original reaction.)

However instead of celebrating this game -- it'll be the first-ever time Penn plays at the DAC -- the columnist comes across as whining that this isn't good enough. He wants Penn to play at Drexel every other year. While I agree it is a little unfair that Penn has never played the Dragons north of Market Street, I don't think it's simply because Penn wants to maintain home court advantage.

While that plays a part, at the same time, the DAC is not that impressive of a facility.  It holds only 2,300 people (roughly a quarter of the Palestra), and is the smallest of any City Six venue.  Frankly, any game in the Palestra will have a better atmosphere, as well as allow more fans (of both teams) to attend. Why should the two teams sacrifice that?

If it's the money factor, then why not let Drexel call it a "home game" every other year and let them keep some of the proceeds?

Also, It's not like the rivalry has been that one-sided in recent years. Penn's only 5-3 in the last eight years against the Dragons.

What do you think about the DAC hosting Penn every other year? Would this significantly decrease your chances of attending (ignoring the 10 a.m. start this year)?

In the past few weeks, I've had a lot of seemingly random posts, ranging from connections of the Ivy League to the NFL, to Cornell's basketball team as the best ever to Ivy League hoops previews that are two months early.

But starting today, I'm going to try something a little different. From now on, I'll collect these randomly related Ivy League and/or Penn links that aren't time sensitive and post them each Wednesday. And any story with a more direct news link, such as Cornell's Adam Gore tearing his ACL or analysis of the just-released men's basketball schedule, will get posted ASAP.

So without further ado, here's the first couple of links:

1) In honor of Yankee Stadium closing Sunday night, Jim Caple, of ESPN.com's Page 2, ranked "America's 100 most important sports venues." The title is pretty important, because Caple specifically states it's neither the best venues nor his favorites, and it's not just stadiums (ESPN's headquarters comes in at No. 10).

Penn gets on the list twice. The Palestra comes in at No. 34, while Franklin Field makes the cut at No. 71. (The Palestra actually gets one of the few photos.) ESPN praising Penn athletic facilities isn't anything new, but it's still nice to see our stadiums mentioned on the most-read sports website. The only other Ivy venue is the Yale bowl, and Penn is one of just two universities to have both on-campus football and basketball venues listed (Tennessee is the other).

2) This might be a month old, but if you're sad that the Penn football team just lost its fifth overtime game in its last 16 contests, just remember, at least you don't root for Columbia.

Earlier this week St. Joseph's announced its men's basketball opponents, although no times or dates were released. Two things are worth noting for Quaker fans. First off, as you might remember from this DP article, all of the Hawks 2008-09 home games will be played at the Palestra. So there's a good chance college basketball's cathedral will be home to multiple games a day come winter.

But more importantly, a familiar foe of Penn will be visiting the Palesta twice this year. Cornell, yes the very same defending-Ivy League champions, will face St. Joe's at the Palestra. I'd personally be surprised if Penn coach Glen Miller isn't in attendance scouting the Big Red, assuming of course Penn doesn't have a game of its own that day.

So as for you Penn fans, are you going to try to watch the Big Red in the Palestra before they take on the Quakers? I wonder when was the last time a non-Big 5 team visited the Palestra during the regular season to play two different teams. I'm sure it's happened before.

NB: I found this news from former DP writer Jonnathan Tannenwald's college sports blog, Soft Pretzel Logic. I strongly suggest you check it out since it's clearly the best professional blog about college sports in the Philly region.