Penn's traveling down Tobacco Road again.
Fresh off a three-year series with North Carolina, the Quakers will face the Tar Heels' bitter rival, Duke. Though Penn's schedule has yet to be officially announced, several games have already been confirmed, including a Dec. 31 game in Durham, N.C., at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Though Penn lost by an average of 29.33 in the three games against Carolina (two of them at the Dean Dome, one at the Palestra), the Quakers only lost 72-59 to Duke on Dec. 7, 2005 in Durham.
According to Duke Athletics, the game will be at 6 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2, though both the start time and television coverage are subject to change. In addition, a source has confirmed that just like in 2005, there won't be a return game at the Palestra.
Some of the other confirmed games include the presumed opener Nov. 13 at defending NIT champion Penn State and the home opener Saturday Nov. 21 versus Delaware.
Temple and La Salle have also been confirmed for consecutive January Wednesdays (the 13th and 20th, respectively), but games against the other three members of the City Six have not.
This is especially interesting in the case of Villanova. Since Friday Dec. 4 and Saturday Dec. 12 are booked, it appears that for the first time since the 2005-06 season Villanova-Penn won't be played on a Saturday in early December. The last time the game was not in December was January 2001. This year the game will take place at the Pavilion.
But the Quakers are still missing a game. On Aug. 20 the team announced via Twitter that it needs "one game to complete our 2009-2010 schedule - looking for a December 1st home game and having a difficult time." And as of yesterday, assistant coach John Gallagher had a post on Basketball Travelers Inc., asking for an opponent to fill the void.
UC Philadelphia. So far this summer Penn has gotten four verbal commitments for the class of 2014. And while the Quakers picked up two point guards, a shooting guard, and a forward, three of the recruits all have something in common: they're Los Angelenos.
Though Steve Rennard hails from Metuchen, N.J., Casey James, Kevin Panzer and Austin Kelly all are from the greater Los Angeles area. Panzer and James were teammates on Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo, Calif.); Kelly hails from North Hollywood.
James, who shoots well for a one-guard, originally gave a verbal commitment to San Diego but has since backed out. The 6-foot-8 Panzer is also a strong perimeter shooter for his size. Kelly, a shooting guard, has said he needs to bulk up his 6-2, 170-pound frame. And finally, Rennard, though also a point guard, has solid range as a spot shooter.
With these three new California recruits, Penn's projected 2010-11 roster will have six players from California: the three recruits, incoming freshman Malcolm Washington and juniors Conor Turley and Tyler Bernardini. (Penn would have had seven but Harrison Gaines transferred in March to Cal. State Riverside.)
Jerome comes home. After Penn's first losing Ivy season since 1990-91 last year, coach Glen Miller has decided to bring back someone well-versed in Quakers glory days.
Fresh off playing in Europe, Jerome Allen, from the legendary class of 1995, was recently hired as an assistant coach. He will replace Perry Bromwell, who will now work in Development.
Allen is Penn's all-time leader in assists with 505 and was voted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame Class of 2009. He also was a two-time Ivy Player of the Year and three-time All-Big 5 selection.
This summer he was both a coach and a player in the Delaware County Pro-Am League. Allen saw firsthand several of his future players, as both current players Zack Rosen and Jack Eggleston, as well as incoming freshmen Carson Sullivan, Brian Fitzpatrick, Washington and Jack's brother Tommy all were on Allen's Trad Jazz roster.
Allen was part of three Ivy champion Penn teams, including the 1994 squad that beat Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA tournament. He also holds the distinction of being the most recent Ivy League player drafted by an NBA team. Minnesota selected him 49th in 1995, the same year they picked Kevin Garnett.
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