Ian Wenik

Quakeaways on Fran McCaffery becoming Penn men’s basketball’s new head coach

by

Penn men’s basketball made it official on Thursday, revealing that the school has hired Class of 1982 alum Fran McCaffery as its head coach.

At first glance, the deal looks like a win-win for both sides. The Quakers get a proven high-major winner and one of the best offensive coaches in the country to revitalize the program and the alumni base. For the 65-year-old McCaffery, the homecoming job is a soft landing after a 15-season run at Iowa. McCaffery can recruit and scheme what will presumably be his last collegiate coaching job without the pressure-cooker environment inherent to power conference basketball these days.

There will be much ink to spill about McCaffery in the coming days and weeks, but in the short term, here are a few thoughts about the hire I’ve jotted down:

Read more

Power ranking candidates for Penn men’s basketball to succeed Steve Donahue

by

Instead of dragging out the inevitable, Penn fired Steve Donahue on Monday after 10 years as head coach and two consecutive seventh-place finishes in the Ivy League. Donahue ends his time at Penn with a record of 131-130.

The Quakers have retained Georgia-based executive search firm Parker Executive Search to find Donahue’s replacement. It seems likely that the next Penn head coach will be one of the names below, conveniently grouped into a handful of tiers for debate and discussion:

Read more

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 95-71 loss at Princeton

by

For the second straight year, one of the worst seasons in Penn basketball history came to an end with a humiliation at the hands of Princeton.

 

The Quakers came out sluggish and were never seriously competitive with the Tigers in a 95-71 drubbing at Jadwin Gymnasium. Penn (8-19, 4-10 Ivy) has now finished seventh in the Ivy League for a second straight season, while Princeton (19-10, 8-6) clinched a trip to the Ivy League Tournament with the easy win.

 

Penn has now lost 13 consecutive games to Princeton. The all-time series is tied at 126-126, the first time the all-time ledger has been even since the Roosevelt administration … the Theodore Roosevelt administration, that is.

 

For one last kick in the behind, the Tigers’ Xaivian Lee racked up a 23-point triple-double.

 

If you’re a masochist, read on.

Read more

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 92-87 win at Columbia

by

NEW YORK CITY — In an otherwise lost season, Sam Brown delivered an evening of pure joy for Penn on Saturday night.

 

The sophomore guard accomplished something no Penn player had since Hassan Duncombe in December 1989: score at least 40 points in a game. Brown’s virtuoso 42-point showing carried the Quakers to a 92-87 win over Columbia.

 

It didn’t mean much in the standings, save for assuring that Penn (8-18, 4-9 Ivy) would avoid finishing last place in the Ivy League. That spot is now reserved for the Lions (12-14, 1-12), whose season has nosedived after a promising nonconference campaign. It seems likely that both teams will have new coaches next season.

 

Penn never trailed on Saturday, but there were more than a few perilous moments. Things got especially dicey when Columbia star Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa intercepted an inbounds pass from Nick Spinoso and drained a three to cut Penn’s lead to 86-85 with 30 seconds to play. 

 

But Brown calmly converted all six of his free throw attempts to assure the Lions would get no closer.

 

Brown was the biggest story of Saturday night. What made his evening so special?

Read more

Quakeaway from Penn men’s basketball’s 90-62 loss at Cornell

by

In a season marked by one low after another, Penn took what may have been its biggest body blow yet in a humiliating 90-62 defeat to Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.

Even that final score is generous to the Quakers (7-18, 3-9 Ivy). Penn went into the halftime locker room down 63-27 after allowing the Big Red (15-10, 7-5) to drain 15 three-pointers in the first half.

By night’s end, nine different Cornell players had made a three-point basket, tying an NCAA Division 1 record.

There’s only one meaningful takeaway from Friday night’s disaster:

Read more

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 79-78 overtime loss to Harvard

by

Penn’s flickering postseason aspirations were officially snuffed out on Saturday night after the Quakers endured another heartbreaking loss, this time in overtime to Harvard at the Palestra, 79-78.

The Quakers (7-17, 3-8 Ivy) managed to lose despite having free-throw shooters heading to the line with a three-point lead twice in the final 11 seconds of regulation. But both junior wing Ethan Roberts and senior wing George Smith missed their one-and-one front ends.

Harvard (10-14, 5-6) forced overtime after Penn guard Sam Brown deflected a Crimson home run pass into the arms of senior guard Evan Nelson, who drained a contested three over Brown’s outstretched arms with a second to play.

The Crimson took the lead for good when freshman Robert Hinton converted two free throws with 26 seconds to play in overtime. Penn missed three game-winning shot attempts in the final 12 seconds of OT, with senior big man Nick Spinoso missing a desperation hook shot off the front rim just before the buzzer sounded.

Here’s what we learned from another devastating defeat:

Read more

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 88-75 win over Dartmouth

by

In a season that’s been filled with painful finishes, Penn delivered a moment of unabashed joy at the Palestra on Friday night against Dartmouth.

The Quakers used a 15-0 run in the second half to power past the Big Green, 88-75. It didn’t matter one bit to Penn (7-16, 3-7 Ivy) that Dartmouth (12-11, 6-4) entered the game in second place in the Ivy League or already had a win in hand over the Quakers. Penn delivered one of its most aesthetically pleasing performances of the season.

That aforementioned 15-0 run shattered what was a 53-53 game with just inside 14 minutes to play. Sophomore Sam Brown — the game’s biggest story — scored what proved to be the game-winning basket when he drained a mid-range jumper in the middle of the lane over the Big Green’s Ryan Cornish, then added a layup and an assist.

Senior George Smith drained the dagger with an open three from the left wing.

It’s all happy Quakeaways, starting with how …

Read more

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 82-72 loss at Brown

by

Any realistic hope Penn had of reaching Ivy Madness died on Saturday night after the Red and Blue staggered through a road loss to Brown, 82-72, on the second night of a back-to-back.

Though Penn (6-16, 2-7 Ivy) was competitive throughout the evening and cut the deficit to as little as one point in the second half, the Quakers never led. A stepback three from Brown (12-10, 4-5 Ivy) superstar Kino Lilly Jr. pushed the Bears’ lead back to four with 10 minutes to go and Penn never seriously threatened after.

Brown is now effectively three games ahead of Penn thanks to its head-to-head sweep of the Red and Blue.

Instead of focusing on the minutiae of the game itself, this Saturday’s Quakeaways will serve as a progress report on the long-term questions I asked a few weeks ago:

Read more

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 72-71 loss at Yale

by

Another week, another gut-punch loss for Penn.

The Quakers were on the verge of pulling the biggest upset in Ivy League play this season before another sequence of late-game disasters sent Penn to a 72-71 defeat at Yale.

Penn (6-15, 2-6 Ivy), after another flat start, used a pair of deep Sam Brown threes to take two late leads on the Bulldogs (15-6, 8-0), but the Red and Blue never were quite able to land the killshot they needed.

Eventually, Yale made Penn pay. With the game on the line and the visitors clinging to a one-point lead, Bulldogs big man Nick Townsend found freshman wing Isaac Celiscar cutting to the hoop for an easy layup with a little more than eight seconds to play. The Quakers ran both their big men at Townsend, and Brown was just a step behind Celiscar.

Penn couldn’t even get a potential winning shot off. The Quakers had a sideout inbounds opportunity on Yale’s end of the floor with six seconds to play, but no one could get open and Ethan Roberts’ desperation pass to freshman Michelangelo Oberti was easily deflected for a game-killing turnover.

The Quakers’ devastating loss brought back plenty of bad memories, starting with how …

Read more

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 61-59 loss to Princeton

by

There have been plenty of excruciating losses in Penn’s 12-game losing streak to arch-rival Princeton, but none have inflicted a pain quite like Friday’s 61-59 loss to the Tigers at the Palestra.

With less than a minute to go, there was Penn (6-14, 2-5 Ivy) in the lead despite being forced to play without star wing Ethan Roberts, who sat out the contest with an undisclosed injury. As has happened in so many of these losses to Princeton (16-6, 5-2), every break possible went the wrong way for the Quakers when it mattered most.

After sophomore guard Sam Brown missed the back-end of a one-and-one which would have extended the Penn lead to 59-56, junior forward Johnnie Walter had the offensive rebound in his hands for a split-second but couldn’t quite corral the ball. The Tigers secured possession and then saw sophomore guard Dalen Davis break free to drain a wide-open three-pointer from the left wing, giving the Tigers a 59-58 advantage with just over 30 seconds remaining.

On the next possession, senior big man Nick Spinoso drew heavy contact as he went up for a layup, hit his first free throw to tie the game, but missed the freebie which would have given Penn the lead. Walter then fouled Princeton’s Jackson Hicke as he put up a midrange jumper with six-tenths of a second to play.

There was zero doubt Hicke would miss. The 6-foot-5 sophomore hit both shots at the line to kick Penn fans back into a familiar pit of misery.

What could Penn fans take away from yet another disheartening loss?

Read more