PHILADELPHIA — There are losses, and then there are capital L “Losses” that are so embarrassing and so complete that they force you to reevaluate your priors about the team you cheer for.
The 86-69 beating Penn took at the hands of Saint Joseph’s on Friday night at the Palestra falls into the latter category.
The Quakers (2-2, 0-1 Big 5) were never seriously competitive against the Hawks (3-1, 2-0) in their sole nonconference home game against a premier opponent. The Hawks used a 14-2 run early in the first half to break a 9-9 game wide-open, then tacked on a 15-2 run midway to expand its lead to a high of 32 points.
As of early Saturday, Penn has fallen nearly 75 spots in KenPom’s rankings in less than two weeks of play, plunging from 186 to 260.
Red flags abounded on Friday, starting with how …