1) Cornell officially released it’s M. Hoops schedule, and the Big Red certainly do have their work cut out for them. They play at least four “BCS” schools: at Alabama  in the season opener, versus Seton Hall in the home opener, then at two of the most well-known stadiums in the country in Syracuse’s Carrier Dome and Kansas’ Allen Field House (the potential fifth team is St. John’s in the Holiday Festival). They also play three City Six teams beside Penn: at Drexel, versus Saint Joseph’s and at La Salle. However, their schedule isn’t all tough games, as they play Division III schools Clarkson University and Penn State Erie, Behrend College (yes that’s one school) as well as Bryant University and University of South Dakota, both of which joined D-I last year.

Over at Cornell Basketball Blog, some Big Red fans are scared the team will start 0-4 (@ Bama, @ UMass, vs Seton Hall @ ‘Cuse) while others believe “we are good enough to win all four of those games.”

This now makes Penn one of just three Ivy schools not to have released their schedule yet ( Harvard, Yale, Brown and Princeton previously released theirs). I guess Glen Miller’s still trying to find the one more team.

2) Over on SB Nation they’ve listed the top five metropolitan areas that care more about their college hoops teams than their NBA franchise. And unsurprisingly Philadelphia is ranked, coming in second to Tobacco Road/Research Triangle/North Carolina Piedmont area. Yet I don’t know how fair it is to rank them since the “local” NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats, play over two hours away. Actually of the top five (NC, Philly, Cincinnati, Louisville and Washington-Baltimore) only two areas have local NBA teams.

Regardless, the site calls the Big 5 “the most unique tradition in college basketball” (the editor in me cringes at “most unique”). And sorry St. Joe’s fans, but the Holy War “is sort of an inferior vs. superior match-up. St. Joseph’s is a smaller school who would love to shake the mid-major label, while ‘Nova is in the Big East…and frankly a notch higher on the academic hierarchy.” (Via VU Hoops, which I’m sure loves that last part.)

3) Lastly, turns out the Quaker mascot is one of the creepiest in Division I. Though to be fair, he was tortured.

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.

The Athletic Department announced the football television schedule today, with the Quakers appearing on Comcast Sports Network against Villanova (Sept. 19), Yale (Oct. 25) and Princeton (Nov. 7). In addition to those three home games, Penn’s Sept. 26 game at Lafayette will air on RCN and, with a tape delay, on MASN.

What’s interesting, though, is who will not carry these games: VERSUS. Before the 2008 season, the Ivy League began a partnership with the former Outdoor Life Network and current home of the NHL (insert joke here). Last year’s Penn-Brown Homecoming game reached VERSUS’s 73 million-home audience, even if none actually tuned in. And last year, all eight schools received a national TV showing. (Because of The Game, Harvard and Yale each got on twice.)

No love for Penn (or Columbia, or Dartmouth) so far this year. The only confirmed games on VERSUS are Cornell at Yale on Sept. 26, Princeton at Brown on Oct. 17, and The Game on Nov. 21.

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?

Although Penn Athletics probably won’t officially release the M. Hoops schedule until September like last year, a few more non-conference tidbits have come to light. First up, it’s been confirmed that Penn will host Delaware some point this November.

But the juicier tidbit I’ve heard from multiple sources is that Penn will be traveling back to Tobacco Road. But this time they won’t be playing defending champion North Carolina, but instead rival Duke. It appears that the Quakers will play at Cameron December 31. So ‘t make sure your New Year’s Eve plans include a TV; the game is rumored to be nationally televised.

Penn last played the Blue Devils in December 2005, losing by a respectable 13 in Durham. However, despite that one-game away series, there will not be a return contest in the Palestra, a source said.

Meanwhile, Penn won’t be the only Ivy to face a potential preseason top 10 team during winter break.

The athletic department just released the 2009 football schedule. None of the matchups are that surprising since the Ivy schedule is set in stone through the 2023 season and two of the three non-conference games are against teams the Quakers faced (and lost to) last year.  In fact, those two games, home versus VIllanova and at Lafayette, will not even switch venues. Last year Penn lost in overtime to Villanova, 20-14, at Franklin Field, and then lost in Easton, Pa., the next weekend, 24-17, to the Leopards. The third, and new, non-coference opponent is Bucknell, who the Red and Blue last faced in 2006.
Penn 2009 Dates and Opponents
Sept. 19 – VILLANOVA
Sept. 26 – at Lafayette
Oct. 3 – at Dartmouth
Oct. 10 – BUCKNELL
Oct. 17 – at Columbia
Oct. 24 – YALE (Family Weekend)
Oct. 31 – at Brown
Nov. 7 – PRINCETON (Homecoming)
Nov. 14 – at Harvard
Nov. 21 - CORNELL

(Home games in CAPS)

Now that Penn Athletics has finally released the men’s basketball team’s schedule, becoming the last Ivy League team to do so, we finally know once and for all what the season looks like.

And boy, are there some intriguing matchups.

I’ve already mentioned that the Princeton games have been switched from a game at the Palestra in February and one in March at Jadwin to the opposite. Now we have confirmation of that. Will anyone even be at the Palestra for the game during spring break? What about the away game at Jadwin?

Starting the season at UNC is going to tough. It’ll be really interesting to see if coach Glen Miller uses his highly touted freshmen class against the Tar Heels at all.

The biggest non-conference home game, at least outside of the Big 5 games, is clearly the game against Penn State. Not only would a Penn victory make up for all of those times uneducated people have said “Oh you go to Penn. When do you think Joe Paterno will retire?” but it’s actually a great chance for the Quakers to beat a major conference team, even if the Nittany Lions are consistently the joke of Big Ten basketball. Plus, if everyone wears their “Not Penn State” shirts the Red and Blue Crew would look pretty impressive in a single color. (Of course, we’ll still have the Taco Guy.)

But the biggest “huh” of the schedule is the Drexel game. First, it’s at Drexel, for the first time ever. Clearly, Dragons coach Bruiser Flint is happy. But even weirder, it’s at 10 a.m. On a Tuesday.

It’s part of ESPN’s November 18th hoops marathon, which includes 14 games in 23 hours, and will be nationally televised on ESPN. That’s pretty cool, but I wonder if anyone actually will go to the game. And so much for the Ivy League and its athletes missing as little class as possible. But at the same time, Penn getting a little extra exposure can’t hurt.

We’ve known most of the info for a while now, but the Athletic Department finally officially released the ‘08 - ‘09 M. Hoops schedule this morning.

Here itr is:

Day, Date … Opponent

Saturday, Nov. 15 … at North Carolina

Tuesday, Nov. 18 … at Drexel

Saturday, Nov. 22 … MONMOUTH

Tuesday, Nov. 25 … PENN STATE

Saturday, Nov. 29 … at Albany

Tuesday, Dec. 2 … VILLANOVA #

Friday, Dec. 5 … NAVY

December 29-30 … at UCF Holiday Classic (Orlando, Fla.)

Monday, Dec. 29

Campbell vs. Chicago State, 4:30 p.m.

Penn vs. Central Florida, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 30

Consolation, 4:30 p.m.

Championship, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 6 … LAFAYETTE

Wednesday, Jan. 14 … TEMPLE #

Saturday, Jan. 17 … at NJIT

Wednesday, Jan. 21 … at La Salle #

Saturday, Jan. 24 … SAINT JOSEPH’S #

Friday, Jan. 30 … at Harvard*

Saturday, Jan. 31 … at Dartmouth*

Friday, Feb. 6 … COLUMBIA*

Saturday, Feb. 7 … CORNELL*

Friday, Feb. 13 … at Brown*

Saturday, Feb. 14 … at Yale*

Tuesday, Feb. 17 … at Princeton*

Friday, Feb. 20 … DARTMOUTH*

Saturday, Feb. 21 … HARVARD*

Friday, Feb. 27 … YALE*

Saturday, Feb. 28 … BROWN*

Friday, March 6 … at Cornell*

Saturday, March 7 … at Columbia*

Tuesday, March 10 … PRINCETON*

Dates and times subject to change

Home games in ALL CAPS played at The Palestra

* - Ivy League game

# - Philadelphia Big 5 game

Building on David’s last post, so far six Ivy League teams have released their Men’s Basketball schedules. These are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton and Yale, leaving Harvard and of course Penn as the two that have yet to disclose their schedules. To further add to David’s post, the February 7th and March 6th Penn games against Cornell are confirmed, as are the two Princeton games. However there’s a big change. Normally, the Tigers visit the Palestra on a Tuesday in mid February, and Penn visits Jadwin on the Tuesday of Spring Break. But according to the Princeton site, it’s reversed. Princeton hosts Penn Feb. 17th, and travels to Philadelphia March 10.

Looking at the non-conference opponents for the other schools, you can say there are three levels of competition. At the bottom are Princeton and Dartmouth. Princeton is clearly in rebuilding mode, as the non-Ivy team with the best record the Tigers will face is 19-12 UNC Greensboro. In fact, UNC Greensboro is the only Tiger non-conference opponent that had an over-.500 record last year. Furthermore, the Tigers also play D-II school Concordia (N.Y.). Maybe they’ll lose to the Clippers just like they did to D-III Carneige Mellon in 2005. (They do face two major conference schools. But South Carolina went 14-18 last year and replace coach David Odom, and Rutgers went 11-20.)

Likewise, while Dartmouth does face a major conference school (Providence), the Friars went 15-16. Instead, its best opponents are Colgate and Marist who both went 18-14 last year. And the Big Green also play a non-Division-I school, facing D-III Plymouth St. They’ll also participate in the Golden Bear Classic hosted by Cal Berkeley, facing Cal (16-15), and the winner/loser of Air Force (16-14) vs. University of Portland (9-22), who should not to be confused with 23-9 Portland St.

In the middle tier of non-conference scheduling, we have Brown and Columbia, who face tough mid major teams, and middling high major schools. The Bears play two 2008 tournament teams in George Mason (23-10) and American (21-11), as well as ACC team Virginia (15-15). The Lions also get the Eagles of American and a Big Six conference opponent (Seton Hall, 17-15).

Although Penn does have probably the hardest non-conference game of any Ancient Eight team, two other Ivy schools  have tough games before starting league play. Stanford (26-7), who made the Sweet Sixteen a year ago, plays at (yes at) Yale. The Bulldogs also travel to Alabama (17-16), and Oregon St. (6-25), where they’ll take on former Brown coach Craig Robinson (no not this Craig Robinson).

But Cornell takes the cake. The Big Red probably has the toughest stretch of any Ivy team, traveling to Indiana (25-7), Syracuse (19-13) and Minnesota (20-13) in a seven day span. They also will play in the NIT Preseason Tip-Off, whose top five seeds are Purdue (24-8), Oklahoma (22-11), Arizona (19-14), Boston College (14-17) and Davidson (26-6). (All but BC made the tournament last year.) Finally, as I already wrote, Cornell visits the Palestra… to face St. Joseph’s (21-13), a 2008 tournament team.

So where would you say Penn’s non-conference slate of UNC (32-2), Penn St. (15-16), Albany (15-15), Navy (16-14), Lafayette (15-15) and of course the Big 5 schools rank? I’d say probably second to Cornell’s.

UPDATE: Here is Harvard’s schedule. The Crimson’s hardest game is probably a trip to Boston College. Penn now is the only team that has yet to release its schedule.

The official announcement of the M. Hoops schedule for the 2008-09 season is still several weeks away. But as several of the Quakers’ opponents — including four of the seven other Ivies — have released their schedules, Penn’s is beginning to take shape.

Penn State will visit the Palestra on Nov. 25 for its 44th meeting with Penn, but first in six years. The Quakers are 31-12 all-time against the Nittany Lions and took the last meeting, 62-37, in the 2002-03 season opener.

As reported by The Summer Pennsylvanian, Penn visits Albany on Nov. 29. Other known non-conference opponents are Navy (Dec. 5), Lafayette (Jan. 6) and La Salle (Jan. 21), all at the Palestra. The Quakers will also host Saint Joseph’s and finish their three-game series with North Carolina, although dates are unknown. And there will be no repeat of last year’s Sunshine State debacle, as Penn will not play Florida Gulf Coast or Miami this season.

So far, the Ivy League slate looks as follows (games in parenthesis have not been confirmed):

(Jan. 30 @ Harvard)
Jan 31. @ Dartmouth
Feb. 6 vs. Columbia
(Feb. 7 vs. Cornell)
Feb. 13 @ Brown
Feb. 14 @ Yale
Feb. 20 vs. Dartmouth
(Feb. 21 vs. Harvard)
Feb. 27 vs. Yale
Feb. 28 vs. Brown
(March 6 @ Cornell)
March 7 @ Columbia