CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Ivy League has two standard-bearing programs that have dominated the league for much of its existence. Penn and Princeton have combined to win 51 of the league’s 65 titles to date in men’s basketball, with Penn claiming 25 of them. The Quakers have often been right there with Princeton in the years the Tigers were champions as well, and they have done it with veteran and young teams alike. They seemed immune to having to rebuild like so many programs must.
So it would surely surprise someone to look up at the Ivy League standings and see Penn with a 5-18 overall record, not to mention 2-4 in the Ivy League. That’s where they stand after Friday night’s 73-54 loss at Harvard. The records have an explanation, but they would surely still surprise many.
“Most programs in the country have their ups and downs,” said Yale head coach James Jones, the dean of coaches in the league as he is in his 14th year at the helm. “But when I first came into the league Penn was so dominant you would have never thought of them being down.”
Brown head coach Mike Martin, who spent six seasons as an assistant at Penn before returning to his alma mater this season, thinks the record is quite deceiving. He has the added perspective of having seen his team get blown out by the Quakers at the Palestra last weekend.
“I don’t think their record is anywhere near reflective of the quality of basketball team they are,” said Martin, who also spoke highly of their young talent.
The first part of the explanation is that the Quakers are one of the youngest teams in the country. They are one of four programs that began the season with no seniors on their roster, but that alone only tells part of the story, especially since they have five juniors. The Quakers’ roster of 15 players had a combined 15 years of college experience entering the season, and junior Miles Cartwright is the only Quaker who had played over 1,000 career minutes.
A little more to the point, on Friday night the Quakers started Cartwright alongside two freshmen and two sophomores. 12 different Quakers have started at least one game, with only Cartwright starting all of them and only three others starting for a majority of them. Ten players got in Friday night’s game, all playing between 12 and 34 minutes, and only three were upperclassmen.
Despite the struggles, Jerome Allen, one of the school’s all-time greats and a three-time Ivy League champion as a player, says the record is deceiving with regard to how the season has been.
“It hasn’t been difficult,” said the fourth-year head coach. “We can’t be in a rush to win. I’m all about the process and building the right habits. At the end of the day, the numbers are where they are, but for us, we’ve got to take it one game at a time and continue to build.”
The talent the Quakers have is visible, but they need to grow from the experience. Tony Hicks could be a very good scorer, while big man Darien Nelson-Henry could be a nice anchor inside before his career is over. Among the sophomores, Henry Brooks, Jr. got good experience last year and Greg Louis is athletic enough to be a solid contributor. Fellow sophomores Patrick Lucas-Perry and Camryn Crocker have potential as well and have shown some of it at times.
Junior Cameron Gunter has been a bit player, but he nearly had a double-double on Friday night with 10 points on 5-6 shooting and nine boards. He’s still 6’8″ and long, so it wouldn’t be a complete shock if he developed into a contributor for this team.
“They’re a better team than they played against us tonight,” said Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker. “They’re explosive on the perimeter and hard to guard in that regard.”
Injuries haven’t helped matters, especially up front. While Nelson-Henry and Brooks have done what they can, including Nelson-Henry impressing with 14 points on 6-9 shooting on Friday night, not having junior Fran Dougherty hurts. Dougherty, who missed eight games earlier due to mononucleosis, is now out with an elbow injury. If he played in enough games to qualify, he would lead the Ivy League in rebounding. As it is, he’s second on the team in scoring and shooting nearly 51 percent from the field. He’s not the only player hit by injury, as among others they were also without junior Steve Rennard on Friday night, but Dougherty is the biggest contributor they have missed.
The Quakers also played a challenging non-league schedule, and while not up there with some of the ones they have played in the past, it’s been a challenging one nonetheless. Penn has been known for playing a lot of tough teams and at times taking their lumps in non-league play over the years. They played CAA contender Delaware twice away from home and have traveled to play Lehigh, Butler and La Salle while hosting Villanova and Saint Joseph’s. Of that group, Butler is the only NCAA Tournament lock, with Delaware, La Salle and Lehigh each having a chance to be there.
Friday night was the beginning of four straight games on the road for Penn. It will be a good test for this young group of where they are right now and how far they have come. Other coaches around the league expect them to finish up well as the younger players start to grow up.
“It’s always surprising when Penn is not at the top of the Ivy League, but I don’t foresee them staying where they are for long – not with Jerome at the helm,” said Martin.
