Virginia

Five things about Penn men’s basketball in new Fran McCaffery era

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Penn basketball looks a lot different than it did when I last wrote about the program roughly three weeks ago after Fran McCaffery’s hire as head coach became official.

Where to begin? The new stable of assistant coaches? The official return of leading scorer Ethan Roberts? The ex-five-star recruit and power conference transfer who just committed? The new 7-footer coming over from the pros in Norway?

There’s an unmistakable air of optimism around the program right now, and with good reason. In the spirit of the estimable football writer Peter King, here’s “five things I think I think” about the Quakers at this juncture of the offseason:

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Could Division III be in the Ivy League’s future?

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Dear Ivy League presidents:

I have tried to warn you for almost three years.

The warning signs were there. The arrogance was pervasive. The lack of understanding of the current landscape of college athletics on your part was mind-boggling.

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Princeton men’s basketball 2018-19 season recap

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I attended the University of Virginia during the Barry Parkhill era, earning a law degree in 1972. Needless to say I was elated when my “borrowed heroes” captured the Cavaliers’ first national championship. Their “worst to first” turnaround brought to mind the Miracle Mets’ run to the World Series in 1969 while I was in Charlottesville.

It is time, however, to return my attention to my real heroes, the Princeton Tigers, the season just concluded and the prospects for the future.

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Brown all-time moment No. 5: 2003 NIT appearance

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We’re counting down the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s history as part of our Ivy League at 60 retrospective. Brown is next because people need to know whether there are Bears in Charlottesville or not.

In just its third postseason appearance ever, Brown represented itself quite well against Virginia in Charlottesville in a NIT first-round matchup, the Bears” first ever NIT appearance. Sure, Brown lost, 89-73, but there was so much more accomplished here beyond just a final score.

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The shellacking in Charlottesville: No big deal

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Field goals were few and far between for Harvard at Virginia Sunday. (foxsports.com)
Field goals were few and far between for Harvard at Virginia Sunday. (foxsports.com)

There is no way to sugarcoat a 49-point loss: Harvard shot a pitiful 16 percent percent from the floor, while Virginia shot almost 60 percent. No matter how many cringe-inducing Harvard statistics are highlighted, however, this game’s story was all about Virginia’s excellence; not about Harvard’s incompetence. Over 40 minutes of play, Virginia showed us all that they really are a Final Four-caliber team. Crimson fans who delusionally believed that Harvard might be of the same caliber learned today that they’re not. For the rest of Harvard’s fan base, however, this game shouldn’t be too concerning.

First of all, in the same way that “a win is a win,” a loss is just a loss. When the dust settles from this debacle, Harvard’s players will realize that, in the big picture, nonconference regular season games against top opponents don’t matter much (unless, of course, you win). What matters most for Ivy League teams is that they perform well in the “14-game tournament.” On a day when the Crimson’s unluckiness seemed to show no bounds, Harvard is lucky that this flat performance came against a nonconference foe.

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