03/19/08 5:00am
With Cornell returning nearly every player from this year's undefeated squad, you would have to be crazy not to pick the Big Red to repeat as champions.
Call me crazy, or call me partial, but Penn will win the Ivy League next season.
The Quakers finished the season with six Ivy League losses; to contend for the title next year, that number will probably have to fall to no more than one.
03/18/08 5:00am
Coach Glen Miller said that, at Penn, "it's first place or last place." But with two straight wins to close the season, the Quakers at least avoided their first losing Ivy campaign in 17 years.
After losing a heartbreaker to Cornell, Penn defeated both Columbia and Princeton to finish with an 8-6 league record, good enough to stand alone in third place.
02/28/08 5:00am
This time last year, basketball was the furthest thing from Porter Braswell's mind. He was too busy exploring the Serengeti and throwing spears with Masai warriors.
Braswell, a freshman guard at Yale, spent just over two weeks of his senior year at The Lawrenceville School on a trip to Tanzania.
02/26/08 5:00am
One telling sign of a veteran team is an ability to put together a complete game - 40 minutes of solid play in all phases, offensive and defensive.
The youth of the Penn men's basketball team is no secret, and it has most often manifested itself away from the Palestra.
02/25/08 5:00am
BOSTON - After two straight blowout victories, it finally looked like the Quakers were beginning to find their groove.
Then, they went to Boston.
Thanks to a first-half offensive outburst, Harvard stopped Penn 89-79 Saturday night.
Coming in, the Quakers were still very much a factor in the Ivy League race.
02/22/08 5:00am
When Penn hosted Harvard earlier this season, Brian Grandieri rescued his team from defeat by scoring a clutch four points in the final minutes. But the lasting memory from Penn's 73-69 victory was not Grandieri's heroics.
Instead, it was the first half tussle between Penn's Justin Reilly and Harvard's Evan Harris that led to Reilly's exit with a gash in his head.
02/18/08 5:00am
Down one at halftime, Penn coach Glen Miller talked about the need to come out strong in the second half.
But three quick Yale layups after the break had Penn reeling, and it looked like the Quakers could fall below .500 in the Ivy League for the first time since the 2003-04 season.
02/13/08 5:00am
The stats didn't support the outcome tonight.
Penn shot 38.6 percent from the field and Princeton shot 50 percent. Penn converted 17 baskets and Princeton had 24. Penn scored 20 points in the paint and Princeton had 42.
Yet the Quakers still won.
Princeton had a distinct advantage in almost every offensive number but one - free-throw shooting.
02/11/08 5:00am
ITHACA, N.Y. - Saturday night may have marked a change in the Ivy League guard.
In front of a raucous Newman Center crowd, Cornell defeated Penn 87-74 and took a stranglehold on the early championship race.
Cornell's victory effectively knocked the Quakers (7-14, 2-2 Ivy League) off their pedestal as the league's dominant team and propelled the Big Red (14-5, 6-0) to that perch.
02/11/08 5:00am
NEW YORK - Though Penn entered this weekend atop the Ivy League, two close victories at the Palestra against the teams who currently share last place in the standings had proved little.
The first tough tests of the conference season came this weekend as the Quakers hit the road to battle New York's two Ancient Eight squads.
02/05/08 5:00am
More than anything, this weekend's opening Ivy League games were a chance for the Quakers to rebound from a rough first half of the season.
And rebound they did.
In the two games this weekend, Penn beat Harvard and Dartmouth on the glass by a combined 88-63.
01/31/08 5:00am
Cornell is not used to being in this position. In fact, no one is besides Penn and Princeton.
The Big Red (10-5, 2-0 Ivy) were picked to win the Ivy League by media members before the season began, and so far, their play has pretty much lived up to the hype.
01/24/08 5:00am
Out of the long list of problems Penn has experienced on the court this season, defending the three-point shot hardly stands out.
But three minutes into last night's game at Temple, the Owls had already jumped out to a 12-point lead thanks to five open looks from long range, four of which went in.
01/23/08 5:00am
Last year, the Penn men's basketball team spoiled the homecoming of former coach Fran Dunphy by defeating his new team, Temple, 76-74, at the Palestra.
But this season, it's the Owls who look to spoil any chance of the Red and Blue posting a "1" in their Big 5-standings win column.
01/18/08 5:00am
Over the first nine games of the season, the Penn men's basketball team held its opponent under 70 points only once. In the six games since, the Quakers have accomplished that feat five times.
Granted, those better defensive numbers have come against the likes of NJIT and Florida Gulf Coast - hardly top-flight or even mid-major-level competition - but there are signs of progress, especially in the interior.
12/11/07 5:00am
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J., Dec. 8 - The story for the Penn men's basketball team this season has been its youth. But for once, on Saturday night the Quakers actually looked like the more experienced team on the court.
In a game that gave the feeling it would go down to the wire, Penn used a 10-0 run late in the second half to defeat Monmouth 69-61.
12/07/07 5:00am
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J., Dec. 8 - The story for the Penn men's basketball team this season has been its youth. But for once, on Saturday night the Quakers actually looked like the more experienced team on the court.
In a game that gave the feeling it would go down to the wire, Penn used a 10-0 run late in the second half to defeat Monmouth 69-61.
12/03/07 5:00am
VILLANOVA, Pa., Dec. 1 - The Big 5 season opener is always a highly anticipated event and is almost always a hard-fought battle. This year's edition was pretty much over from the minute the opening tip was tossed.
In front of a packed Pavilion crowd, Villanova was in control from the start en route to an 87-61 dismantling of Penn.
11/28/07 5:00am
Lafayette lives and dies by the three. For a Penn team that has struggled defending the long ball thus far, that could spell trouble.
The Leopards (3-2) have made ten or more three-pointers in four out of five games this season, and they will get another chance to tonight when the Quakers (2-4) visit.
11/20/07 5:00am
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - The Penn women's soccer team came into its first-round NCAA College Cup match against James Madison expecting to have its hands full with the Dukes' speed and athleticism.
In the game's opening minutes, it looked as if the Quakers would have no chance to stop the speed of James Madison's attacking players, let alone slow them down.
