After my football recap, here’s my roundup of Penn Hoops news:

1) Over the last few weeks, it looks like Penn’s schedule is finally firming up. In fact, it appears that all but one game has been set. Unfortunately for the Quakers, getting that last game might be a little troublesome. According to the team’s twitter account, they can’t find anyone to play at the Palestra on December first. So if any ADs from Mid-Atlantic Mid-Majors read this blog, I'm sure Glen Miller would be happy to hear from you about that date. (On an aside, here's an article about some of the challenges of creating a Division I basketball schedule.)

2) Mid Major Madness is ranking every team in Division I, and Penn came in at 262 out of 344. The description of the team talks about the high hopes of last year, but says the Quakers went 10-18 since they weren't "able to handle the pressure" and "due to their poor performance at home in conference play" (can't argue with that). As for this upcoming year, they make the bold prediction that Harrison Gaines' transfer will affect the team's chances to rebound.

Previously, Dartmouth at No. 329, Brown at No. 307, and Columbia at No. 291 were ranked. That means Penn is behind Cornell, Princeton, Harvard and Yale (my guess for who they'll rank as the top four Ivy teams).

3) Sports Illustrated notes that several elite basketball recruits are considering Harvard due to its expanded financial aid package and Tommy Amaker's recruiting techniques. But that might come back to haunt Amaker. The former Michigan coach, according to the Cornell Basketball Blog, has recruited many players by promising playing time. As you can imagine, this is quite an attractive pitch. Yet it might just be false promises since the Crimson now have a surplus of players (possibly as high as 14--all juniors or younger--in 2010).

So far Amaker's stay in the Ivy League hasn't been great, as Harvard came in tied for sixth in the league last year (with Penn) and in a three-way tie for last in 2008. We'll see going forward whether or not Amaker finally breaches the top half of the league (I guess Mid Major Madness thinks that'll happen this year).

4) Looking at the Big 5 wire, Villanova senior Reggie Redding will be suspended for the fall semester after police found marijuana in his car. While that might not affect the Wildcats’ chance of returning to the Final Four, it does mean he won’t be able to suit up against Penn in December. Then again, he only scored two points on 1-for-6 shooting in last year's Big 5 game.

5) In other City news, the three enshrinees in this year's Big 5 Hall of Fame class are some of the biggest coaching names in the history of the unofficial conference: Chaney, Massimino, and “Speedy." Or for full disclosure: Temple's John Chaney, Villanova's Rollie Massimino, and La Salle's William “Speedy” Morris. The three have a combined 58 years coaching in the Big 5, as well as over a combined 15 Big 5 titles.

Although rankings don't directly impact college basketball in the way they do college football, nothing quite compares to the burgeoning past time of "bracketology."  Created by former Saint Joesph's SID Joe Lunardi, the practice of creating mock brackets throughout the season has become quite popular. In fact, Lunardi's bracketology updates can get 10 million hits in February and March.

So without further ado, here is the first Bracketology of the 2008 season.  From now on, every time one comes out, I'll post it here and explain how the Ivy and Big 5 teams are doing.

Currently, Cornell is the conference rep, and this probably won't change until the Ivy League season gets under way.

Meanwhile, two Big Five teams have berths. (Saint Joseph's is the seventh team "left out.") Villanova, in one of Lunardi's more head-scratching decisions, is a six seed facing Kent State.  Yet they're playing in Dayton, Ohio, which is about 3 hours and 30 minutes from the Golden Flashes' campus.

But even craizer is Temple, which as an 11 seed is playing Arizona St. in.... PHILADELPHIA! So much for preventing lower-seeded teams from having a distinct home court advantage.

But in addition to bracketology, which obviously has a national focus, there's a brand-new ranking out that is definitively local in flavor.  DP alum Jonathan Tannenwald, of Soft Pretzel Logic fame, recently started "The Schuykill 16" which is a poll of the 16 D-I teams that play closest to Philadelphia, more or less.

The poll is comprised of voters of different backgrounds and slants. This includes MSM writers, bloggers and even the president of the DAC Pack.  And no less than three people have connections to The DP, including myself.

Just like with Bracketology, I'll post the results for this poll each week when they come out, as well as my own ballot. (You can see this week's after the jump.)

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Note: As we move into basketball season, items about the Big 5 will be included in "Random Notes"

1) Philly.com has launched a new college basketball blog dedicated to City Six hoops. Not only will the blog have posts from the Inquirer's college sports staff of Mike Kern, Bob Cooney and Dick Jerardi, but five of the six City Six coaches will also post their thoughts.

Interestingly, Villanova's Jay Wright -- in classic we're-too-good-for-the-rest-of-the-city fashion that Villanova demonstrated when it almost left the Big 5 -- "was not able to make the commitment because of his busy schedule during the season," according to the first post. Is his schedule really that much busier than any of the other coaches? The only possible answer is that the Big East does involve more traveling than the other conferences represented in the city, as the Wildcats travel to Wisconsin, Florida, Illinois and Indiana for conference play. (Ironically, their farthest non-conference game is at Madison Square Garden.)

2) Nittanydelphia, a blog dedicated to Penn State and Philadelphia sports, is publishing previews of all Big 5 teams.  Here is Penn's entry. From there you can find the other schools' as well.

3) Many preseason publications had the Harvard men's basketball team finishing as high as third in the conference. One key reason voters saw the Crimson moving up from seventh to third was 6-foot-10 freshman sensation Andrew Van Nast. However, Van Nast has injured his shoulder and will miss the entire year. The Crimson are not completely out of luck, since they do return all five starters from last year.

4) Looking over the Sagarin NCAA football ratings, four Ivy League teams are ranked above at least one FBS team. Harvard is the top Ivy team at no. 135 and is ahead of eight FBS teams, including Washington State of the PAC-10.  No. 156 Brown is ahead of two FBS schools, and both No. 162 Penn and No. 165 Yale are ahead of No. 171 North Texas.

Update: Lindy's Sports also picked Penn to finish second behind Cornell.  But they give stats of returning players, so you might want to check that out.

Penn still hasn't released its 2008-09 men's basketball schedule yet, but national sports magazines have already started their Ivy League predictions.

Athlon Sports just released its 2008-09 college basketball preview edition, and the magazine has selected Penn to come in second in the Ivy League. Cornell is picked to win it again, although it does mention Adam Gore as a key contributor; clearly that's not going to be the case now that he's out at least four months with an ACL injury.

Sophomore Tyler Bernadini was the only Penn selection on the All-Ivy First Team. Cornell led with two selections, Juniors Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale, who was named Preseason Player of the Year.

Penn's entry states that "the concern is that the strength of the team is in the younger classes, similar to what Cornell had going into last season."  It also calls Coach Glen Miller's five freshmen the "league's best" incoming class. And finally, it mentions the return of Darren Smith and Tommy McMahon from injuries.

After the jump, the entire predicted order of finish and All-Ivy First Team.

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