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After facing a temporary academic suspension that kept him off the court from January of 2016 until the conclusion of this past season, Woods has been back at Penn taking classes since last spring and is now ready — and academically eligible — to help the Quakers return to the Ivy League Tournament.
It is never too early to look ahead to some of the more intriguing matchups on the calendar. For Penn men's basketball, a season full of optimism features a plethora of compelling games that could prove vital to the team’s success. Should the Quakers handle the twists and turns of a difficult schedule, they could find themselves back in the Ivy League Tournament, where they can dare to dream of some March madness of their own.
The Penn women’s basketball freshmen are eager to add to the winning formula that has produced back-to-back Ivy League titles for the Quakers the past two seasons.
Whether one sees Penn as the little brother to the Harvard-Yale-Princeton triumvirate or not, though, one thing is undeniable — the Ivy League is improving, and fast.
As the Quakers graduated one of their all-time great centers in Sydney Stipanovich, the 6’4” freshman from Charlotte, N.C. will be stepping into a big void. Given her raw talent and knack for learning the game, coach Mike McLaughlin sees her as worthy of earning the starting-five nod to kick off the season.
The freshman four — Jarrod Simmons, Jelani Williams, Eddie Scott, and Mark Jackson — complement each other well and are looking to make an immediate impact on the program.
In addition to a greatly improved Ivy League this season, Penn women’s basketball also has the chance to play better non-conference teams, such as preseason top-five squads Notre Dame and Baylor, as well as local rivals in the annual Philadelphia Big 5 series.
On Saturday, the men’s and women’s teams held their annual Red and Blue Scrimmage. The women took the court first before the men played in the sequel. Both games were closely contested with the Red squad squeaking out a 65-62 victory in the women’s game and the Blue team was victorious 78-72 in the men’s game
This Saturday, both Penn men’s and women’s basketball will kick-off their seasons with the informal Red and Blue scrimmages in the Palestra. The scrimmages will be intrasquad, so for their first taste of competition for the long season, the Quakers will find themselves.
The Palestra just saw a new shade of Red and Blue.
On Sunday afternoon, the Philadelphia 76ers held their Blue x White Scrimmage with the White squad squeaking out a nail-biting overtime victory in front of a raucous, packed- to-the-rafters Palestra crowd.
The Process is coming to Penn.
On Thursday, the Philadelphia 76ers announced that the Palestra would be host to the team’s Blue x White Scrimmage on Sunday, October 1 from 1:00-3:30 p.m.
While the 82-year-old spent much of his career at Villanova, he was no stranger to Penn. The season before he took the helm with the Wildcats, Massimino was actually an assistant coach for the Quakers.
Penn met conference leader Columbia with admirable grit in the early game, but the Lions were consistent with their momentum and ultimately claimed the win at the Palestra.
The unusual makeup of rosters after season cancellations presented unordinary opportunities for many Penn athletes, from upperclassmen leading two classes of rookies to players returning for a fifth year.
Senior forward AJ Brodeur scored his first points of the game with 3:28 left in the half, and he hit his first field goal with just 28 seconds left in the half.