Princeton and Penn face off tonight at 7 pm in Jadwin Gym. Read previews of the game at DailyPrincetonian.com, GoPrincetonTigers.com, and PennAthletics.com.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that interim Penn head coach Jerome Allen is bolstering his chances, but his permanent hiring has yet to be decided upon.
All signs lead to Jerome Allen’s being selected as Penn’s next men’s basketball coach.
Allen, the Quakers’ interim head coach since the firing of Glen Miller in December, has been receiving high praise from alumni, players, and athletic director Steve Bilsky.
Moreover, ZagsBlog.com reported yesterday that, according to sources close to the program, Allen would officially be named the full-time coach before the Final Four.
However, on Saturday, Bilsky would say only that the former Penn basketball standout was a strong candidate and that the coaching search would intensify in coming weeks. He reiterated that yesterday in an e-mail.
“We’re not going to comment on the veracity of any particular blog or rumor,” he wrote, “but the search is ongoing and will intensify during this month.”
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The Daily Pennsylvanian’s Buzz Blog also believed rumors of Allen’s hiring might have been premature, but are probably a good sign for Allen.
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Brian Delaney of the Ithaca Journal compares Louis Dale the Sophomore vs. Louis Dale the Senior.
Here’s an item for tomorrow’s notebook that you may find interesting. It compares Lou Dale’s numbers during league play in 2007-08, and again this year. Remember, these are just league play numbers, not full season.
Should be interesting to see where Louis Dale falls in the all-Ivy selections, which will be released Wednesday.
As a sophomore, when he was named player of the year, Dale’s Ivy League numbers were: 14.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.1 spg, 46-percent shooting (66 for 143), 29 percent shooting from the arc (14 for 49) and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.8 to 1.
As a senior, his league numbers were 13.3 ppg, 4.6 apg, 3.0 rpg, 1.2 spg, 51 percent shooting (68 for 134), 45 percent shooting from the arc (25 for 56) and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.7 to 1.
Coaches take the entire season into consideration when voting for all-Ivy, but generally place a larger emphasis on the 14-game schedule.
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Delaney also thinks Cornell’s shooting slump is over.
In its last six Ivy League games, Cornell made 71 of 132 shots from the three-point arc, or 53.8 percent.
The highlight was Cornell’s 20-for-30 outing Friday night at Brown, which helped wrap up a third straight league title.
“We obviously have a lot of shooters, a lot of people capable of shooting the 3,” said Ryan Wittman, who had the worst 3-point shooting night of his teammates at Brown, connecting “only” four of eight. “Tonight was the kind of night where everyone was on at the same time.”
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The Bleacher Report wonders how far Cornell can go in the tournament.
The Big Red are paced by three-point marksman Ryan Wittman, the son of former Indiana Pacer Randy Wittman, who has made All-Ivy League first team two straight years and is a lock to do it again this season. Wittman averages 17 points a game and has drained 42 percent of his three-pointers, drilling 100 on the season. Seven-footer Jeff Foote is also a lane-clogger who can score around the basket, earning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year honors a year ago.
This isn’t your typical egghead Ivy League team, instead winning at Alabama, UMass, St. John’s and LaSalle and dropping a five-point game at Kansas and falling to Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. That schedule was put together with the NCAA Tournament in mind and Cornell responded with 27 wins, tying for second-best in Ivy League history. The goal for the Big Red isn’t just to get in, but to become the first Ivy League team since Princeton in 1998 to win a tourney game.
The biggest mistake a power conference team can make will be to take the Big Red lightly and trot out a zone defense—Cornell is deadly from three-point range with five players hitting at least 39 triples on the season.
HOW FAR CAN THEY GO? Two rounds, but more likely a celebration of the Ivy League’s first NCAA Tournament win in 12 years.
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Cornell head coach Steve Donahue has been named a finalist for the 2010 Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award, and the 2010 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award.
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Intro by Bill Bradley.