The Ivy League did something interesting Thursday – it tweeted out its all-time best women’s and men’s teams as selected by the Ivy League office, consisting of five players each. Check out the league’s selections with thoughts after the jump…
Mike Tony
Big 5 doubleheader at Palestra officially slated for January
There have been signs that a Big 5 doubleheader was a distinct possibility for next season. Now it’s a sure thing.
Philly.com reported Wednesday that the Palestra will indeed host a Big 5 doubleheader on Wed., Jan. 20, 2016 featuring Temple vs. La Salle and St. Joseph’s vs. Penn, the first all-city twinbill since the Big 5 Classic’s last outing in 2004.
“This is how Philadelphia first fell in love with college basketball – by seeing two great games and four great teams in one night in what I think is the most intimate setting to watch a game,”
Penn coach Steve Donahue told Philly.com.
Donahue, former Penn and current Temple coach Fran Dunphy, St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli and La Salle coach John Giannini have always publicly revered the Palestra as the hub of Big 5 hoops, and they were undoubtedly driving forces behind the 2016 twinbill.
The Big 5 office reportedly said “other facts about the celebration” will follow. What could those be? Well, Big 5 executive director and former Penn athletic director Steve Bilsky said in February that he envisioned a Big 5 week with a banquet the night before, an alumni game, students from the schools playing against each other, sponsorships and television.
Former Penn coach Tom Schneider, 1946-2015
Penn Athletics reported Monday that Tom Schneider, head coach of the Penn Quakers from 1985 to 1989, died March 17. He was 68.
Schneider led the Quakers to the 1987 Ivy League championship and went 51-54 in four seasons before leaving to take the head coaching post at Loyola (Md.).
According to Penn Athletics, Schneider was working as a history professor at Polk State Lakeland Collegiate High School in Lakeland, Fla., where he had served as a professor since 2005.
Schneider was an assistant for Penn from 1979 to 1983 under head coaches Bob Weinhauer and Craig Littlepage, who Schneider would succeed in that post after serving in the same role at Lehigh for two seasons.
Polk State College ran Schneider’s obituary on March 19.
“Players know when a coach is right and they listen,” said Polk State basketball coach Matt Furjanic, a longtime friend of Schneider’s since the 1970s according to the Polk Newsroom. “It’s the same way in a classroom — students enjoy learning from teachers who know a lot about the subject and know how to teach it. Tom did.”
Former Penn coach Jerome Allen joins Boston Celtics
As an outstanding people person who the Philadelphia Inquirer correctly noted that no one wanted to see fired as Penn head coach in March, Jerome Allen was likely to find a decent assistant coaching gig outside the confines of the Palestra.
But was anybody expecting this?
Ian Hummer will play for Sacramento Kings in NBA Summer League
The Sacramento Kings need help. Like, lots of help.
Enter Ian Hummer.
The 2013 Ivy Player of the Year and Princeton graduate is one of 16 players named to the Kings’ 2015 Summer League team Tuesday. Hummer joins big names Willie Cauley-Stein, David Stockton (yes, John Stockton’s son) and a host of others.
Hummer currently plays for Nilan Bisons Loimaa of Finland and joins Wesley Saunders as the second former Ivy League Player of the Year to be competing for a NBA roster spot.
Hummer was invited to the Los Angeles Lakers’ pre-summer league camp in 2013 and played professional club basketball in Germany in 2014.
Big 5 doubleheader at the Palestra, anyone?
A Big 5 doubleheader could be a couple of agreements away.
Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported this afternoon that there is “an effort” to hold a Big 5 doubleheader at the Palestra with Penn facing St. Joseph’s and Temple squaring off with La Salle.
Narducci’s source said there is nothing definitive at the moment, though there has been discussion of scheduling the games during the week, sometime after Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 18, 2016).
As the Inquirer notes, Penn’s 56-52 win over St. Joseph’s on Jan. 24 drew a crowd of 8,538 last season, while Temple’s 58-57 win over La Salle at the Palestra on Dec. 6 drew 7,445.
Big 5 executive director Steve Bilsky, who officially retired as Penn athletic director a year ago Tuesday, said in February that he envisioned a Big 5 week with a banquet the night before, an alumni game, students from the schools playing against each other, sponsorships and television – the whole works, obviously.
The Big 5 round-robin city series ended in 1991 but was brought back in 1999. ESPN broadcasted the first game of Saturday’s Big 5 doubleheader between La Salle and Temple.
What the Inquirer doesn’t mention is that the doubleheader talks were clearly motivated by the Ancient Quaker’s post today on the formation of the Philadelphia Big 5. Clearly. No coincidence or anything.
Wesley Saunders will play for Utah Jazz in NBA Summer League
Per reports from RealGM and SB Nation, recent Harvard graduate Wesley Saunders will play in the NBA Summer League next month as a member of the Utah Jazz.
The news is not surprising, as Saunders participated in a pre-draft workout for the Jazz on June 15, according to Jody Genessy of the Deseret News.
Utah will play six games this summer plus a tournament at the end of the slate.
Of the 13 players who played for the Summer League Jazz in 2014, only four actually played for the Jazz in the 2014-15 regular season, and only one of those four players were undrafted (Ian Clark).
The Ivy League at 60
Ivy League basketball as we know it began in 1956 with the official formation of the conference, making the upcoming 2015-16 slate the 60th in its rich history. To celebrate that history, Ivy Hoops Online will be remembering the top moments, coaches and players throughout the league”s past six decades casino during this offseason.
We”ll start by counting down the top 10 moments in history for each of the conference”s eight colleges, starting with Princeton. We”ll be counting down the top 10 moments in Princeton history, courtesy of our Toothless Tiger, each weekday starting today.
Princeton on the prowl under Mitch Henderson
I wrote a week ago that Steve Donahue is off to a great start as head coach at Penn.
But it’s Princeton’s head coach who has a program primed for an outstanding finish.
Mitch Henderson’s next season at the Tigers’ helm will be his fifth, and with the talent he has returning, it should also mark his first Ivy League championship.
This coming season, the Tigers will return all five starters and six of the first eight in their 2014-15 rotation. That means Princeton returns virtually all of its potent offense from last season too, one that finished 92nd in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency (behind only Harvard among Ivies). And Princeton was the highest scoring offense in the Ivy League last season at 68.9 points per game. The Tigers easily led the league in field goal and three-point field goal percentage a season ago.
Penn coach Steve Donahue off to a great start
Anyone who wants to know how Steve Donahue is faring so far as Penn basketball’s new head coach can refer to a May 16 Tweet from Donahue:
Hopefully this proves to be a valuable resource for our program! #PennPride https://t.co/ok2aERvZUl
— Steve Donahue (@Coach_Donahue) May 16, 2015
It’s all there: Donahue’s savvy embrace of analytics for his new program, awareness that upgrades to the program must be highlighted and emphasis on accordingly communicating with both the public at large and the Penn student community (The Daily Pennsylvanian is a student newspaper whose story Donahue linked to in the Tweet).
Donahue’s making moves – simple, logical moves – and making sure we know it.
As for logical – how else to describe tapping Penn professor and program superfan Nakia Rimmer to work on basketball analytics projects with select undergraduates for the coaching staff? It’s not a shocking measure given Donahue’s commitment to analytics-friendly motion offense predicated on three-pointers and ball movement. But it’s still refreshing and supports Donahue’s acknowledgment upon his hiring that the Palestra and the Big 5 weren’t enough to ensure success for Penn anymore.