Archive: February, 2010
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Are you ready?
No, really, are you? Because if you aren't, you'd better be by this Saturday. Consider yourselvers warned.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
ITHACA, N.Y. - Greetings from courtside at Newman Arena, where Cornell can clinch at least a share of its third consecutive Ivy League championship by beating Penn.
I'm tweeting from courtside, so follow along below. You'll also see updates from the Carrier Dome, where Villanova is facing Syracuse and its record-setting crowd. So stay tuned throughout the night.
Here are links to all of today's scores involving local teams. You'll also find the weekly stats compilation, then the live blog.
Drexel 67 at James Madison 64
Penn 48 at Cornell 68
Villanova 77 at Syracuse 95
City Six rankings table
|
Team
|
Record
|
Conf.
|
Big
5
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Drexel
|
15-15
|
10-7
|
1-2
|
135
(115)
|
134
(101)
|
136
(120)
|
158
(124)
|
121
(109)
|
|
La
Salle
|
11-16
|
3-10
|
1-1
|
159
(148)
|
155
(126)
|
157
(145)
|
192
(173)
|
77
(83)
|
|
Penn
|
5-19
|
4-6
|
0-4
|
308
(309)
|
310
(292)
|
319
(317)
|
312
(303)
|
222
(182)
|
|
St.
Joseph's
|
9-19
|
3-11
|
1-2
|
207
(195)
|
195
(195)
|
197
(190)
|
215
(207)
|
48
(53)
|
|
Temple
|
23-5
|
11-2
|
3-0
|
24
(30)
|
14
(14)
|
19
(22)
|
20
(24)
|
61 (59)
|
| Villanova |
23-4
|
12-3
|
3-1
|
14
(15)
|
8 (7)
|
7
(40)
|
8 (7)
|
26
(24)
|
Schuylkill 16 NCAA Tournament teamsheets
|
Team
|
Wins |
Losses |
Top
50 wins
|
201+
losses
|
Avg.
win
|
Avg.
loss
|
13 |
16 |
0
|
9
|
279
|
186
|
|
7 |
22 |
0
|
4
|
221 |
113
|
|
| Delaware St. | 15 |
15 |
0
|
2
|
202
|
98
|
15 |
13 |
0
|
2
|
202
|
86
|
|
11 |
16 |
0
|
1
|
236 |
67
|
|
| Lafayette | 17 |
11 |
0
|
6
|
270
|
210
|
18 |
10 |
0
|
5
|
273
|
176
|
|
12 |
17 |
0
|
7
|
278
|
202
|
|
5 |
19 |
0
|
9
|
250
|
181
|
|
| Penn State | 10 |
17 |
0
|
3 |
222
|
90
|
| Princeton | 16 |
8 |
0
|
2
|
241
|
126
|
| Rider | 15 |
15 |
0
|
3
|
220
|
115
|
| Rutgers | 14 |
14 |
1
|
0
|
171
|
52
|
| Saint Joseph's | 9 |
19 |
1
|
0
|
199
|
82
|
| Temple | 23 |
5 |
7
|
0
|
140
|
33
|
| Villanova | 23 |
4 |
5
|
0
|
118
|
18
|
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Lurking in the background of any ranking-based poll is one fluky possibility: that the team with the most votes at a certain rank won't in fact be ranked there.
That's what happened this week. The last-place votes were so spread out that Delaware got more of them than any other team, but was ranked 14th by the voters. Question their wisdom if you will, but their justifications are pretty good.
A word about my whereabouts this weekend. By the time many of you read this, I'll be in New York preparing to cover the Penn-Columbia game for the Inquirer. If the roads are clear Saturday morning, I'll go to Ithaca to cover the Quakers' rematch with Cornell, also for the Inquirer.
If the Big Red win both games this weekend, they'll clinch a share of their third consecutive Ivy League championship. A Princeton loss at Columbia on Saturday wouldn't officially end the race, but Harvard would need a near-miraculous turn of events next weekend to split the title.
This means that I won't be at Tom Gola Arena on Sunday for the Temple-La Salle game. So let me offer a word of caution to those of you who think Temple has the Big 5 title sealed up. The Owls are better than the Explorers, and should win the game. But it was not so long ago that Fran Dunphy's team lost a game at Tom Gola Arena that it had no business giving up.
1. Villanova, 16 points (10 first-place votes)
- "As you've heard Villanova's Corey Stokes got cited for public urination - an act that is still less offensive than Andy Rautins' hair." (Brian Ewart)
Among my followers on Twitter is Andy Rautins' Hair. Seriously.
2. Temple, 23 points (3 first-place votes)
- "The majority of basketball teams have a 100% field goal percentage on slam dunk attempts. Dayton is not one of those teams. If they were, Temple would have lost to them." (Todd Falkenberg)
- "Big 5 Champs! It's great for the city schools that 'Nova could go to another Final Four but they can't even say they're the best team in Philly" (Nick Catrambone)
As I was saying...
3. Rutgers, 68 points (1 last-place vote)
- "Normally if your worst loss of the season is a 14 point beating at the hands of UNC, you had a very good year." (Nick Catrambone)
4. Drexel, 76 points
- "Watching this team is like watching a 10-car pile-up. And Bruiser is the 11th guy in the back who won't stop honking his horn." (Jeff Shafer)
Comment of the week:
- "At Drexel games, they do the common thing where a kid shoots from halfcourt for a chance to win a prize. I was at a game where if the winner made the halfcourt shot, he'd get a $200 gift card to Barnes and Noble. Kind of a crummy gift for such a difficult shot, but Drexel isn't getting much revenue at the gate this year so I can understand. But the crazy thing is that someone made a half-court shot at Drexel earlier in the year and won a 40 inch plasma television for doing so. This means Drexel entered the season feeling supremely confident that nobody would make the shot and thus never needed to procure two 40 inch plasma TVs. They bought one so they could parade it out there game after game and tantalize a poor kid with it and then watch said poor kid miss a shot. Then at the end of the year, they'd give the TV to Chris Fouch and then they'd go on probation. But unfortunately for Drexel, someone made the shot. They have no budget left and now they're giving out $200 gift cards to a bookstore of a school that carries most of its classes online anyway. And who has time for books when you're reading Tannenwald's Crunchy Numbers segment on Soft Pretzel Logic all day anyway?" (Todd Falkenberg)
5. Princeton, 78 points
- "List of things you can't do if you want to win the Ivy League: 1. Lose to Brown." (Nick Catrambone)
Dartmouth takes offense to that, I suspect.
6. Lehigh, 90 points
- "CJ McCollum's been getting his Scottie Reynold's on lately. 22 points or more in his last five games." (Nick Catrambone)
7. La Salle, 109 points (1 last-place vote)
- "On March 6th, many basketball fans in this city will go to the Villanova-West Virginia game and say they're seeing two great teams and it's a potential preview of the Big East championship and yada yada yada. Frankly, that game doesn't matter. They will both make the tournament. The real game on March 6th in this town is La Salle vs. St. Joe's to see who doesn't make the Atlantic 10 tournament." (Todd Falkenberg)
8. Lafayette, 110 points
- "The best chance for a third NCAA bid for the Schuylkill 16 lies in the Patriot League, where S-16 teams make up the top 3." (Brian O'Neill)
9. Penn State, 114 points
- "Penn State punished this Northwestern basketball fan in return for voting them 16th last week. I am increasingly concerned about what Delaware now has in store for me." (Jon Solomon)
10. Rider, 115 points
11. Saint Joseph's, 137 points (1 last-placce vote)
- "Like the rollout banner said on Saturday: 'St. Joe's Basketball Wins: 9 / Temple Football Wins: 9.' At least the Hawks aren't losing their only two double-digit scorers after this season - oh wait, never mind." (Nick Catrambone)
12. Bucknell, 138 points (1 last-place vote)
- "Bucknell winning the Patriot League tournament doesn't require a huge stretch of the imagination. They could still be under .500 if they do it, though." (Brian O'Neill)
13. Delaware State, 160 points (2 last-place votes)
14. Delaware, 174 points (3 last-place votes)
15. Penn, 177 points (2 last-place votes)
- "Where would the teams from Penn's alumni game last week rank in this poll? Top five?"
Shawn Trice and Matt Langel played in the game an hour after coaching Temple against St. Joe's. Jerome Allen played too. Seriously.
16. Monmouth, 183 points (2 last-place votes)
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
It's a big night on the local college basketball scene, with five of the six city teams taking the floor. The featured games are Dayton at Temple and South Florida at Villanova, but there's much more to discuss too.
Because of all the action, I'm holding off on this week's Schuylkill 16 until tomorrow. But I'm making up for it with a live blog throughout the night, taking in the Temple and Villanova games.
Here are tonight's scores:
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
During my interview with Joe Lunardi on Saturday, one of the topics we discussed was potential expansion of the NCAA Tournament.
Lunardi's personal view of the matter should come as no surprise.
"From a basketball standpoint, there's no need to expand," Lunardi told me. "It's not like we're leaving out a potential national champion in the current format."
But Lunardi acknowledged that there is also a business side to all of this, and that the people who deal with the business of college sports will ultimately have the final questions to answer.
"Does it make sense for the sport for to have more Tournament games and more games available to the public on television?" he said. "If so, at what cost to the regular season, the conference tournaments, key late-season games?"
One person who straddles the line between the competition and business sides is CAA commissioner Tom Yeager. He was in town recently, and I caught up with him for a few minutes to get his opinion.
Whether you agree with Yeager or not, the numbers he refers to below are serious money - especially the bonus revenue his conference gets when CAA teams win Tournament games.
Q. There's a lot of talk lately about the NCAA Tournament expanding - maybe to 68 teams, maybe to 96 teams. What's your view of the debate?
A. We've had a couple of briefings about it by the NCAA, and it's really to protect the business element of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It's not about 'Oh geez, there's a bunch more deserving teams.' That argument will still go when there's 96 teams in, or when there's 70, or whatever. There's always somebody that's going to be on the cut line and doesn't make it that believes they should be in.
So when you look at it in context, the men's basketball championship is about 98 percent of the NCAA's revenue. That runs through all sports - men and women, Divisions I, II and III, all kinds of education and social programs. So the study that's being done about expanding the Tournament is with the sole view of protecting that business element of the championship.
It's not about 'there's 30 more teams out there that could win the NCAA title. That's not really the impetus for the discussion.
Q. On a practical level, do you think it's a matter of folding the NIT into the NCAA Tournament?
A. Yes. The NIT would go away at that point. The NCAA owns the NIT now, it has for the last six or seven years. So that's part of it, and an opportunity to enhance the Tournament experience for our teams that are in it. I think there's little down side - again, assuming that the general elements of the existing business deal can be preserved.
Q. I hate to phrase the question this way, but I can't really think of another way to do it. You mentioned it, and there were some NCAA meeting minutes that were circulated which said that making more money is the primary reason for expanding the NCAA Tournament. In your estimation, is that the right primary motive?
A. Well, yeah. The men's basketball championship funds the NCAA. It funds everything the NCAA is doing. In our league, for example, it provides a million and a half dollars a year out of that for our student-athletes, for emergency needs and special things. All that could go away - or not go away but be significantly reduced.
So I think to the element of expansion that can protect the business model, that doesn't compromise the basic educational mission, is something we need to look at. So, again, if this is simply about putting more teams in the tournament, then no, I don't believe it's necessary.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
It's funny how things come around sometimes.
The first time I wrote about Herb Magee was just over two yeas ago, when the legendary Philadelphia University coach passed Clarence "Big House" Gaines and set a new record for Division II wins.
It was so long ago relative to Philly.com's history that the content management system in which stories were kept at that time no longer exists. The old blog platform is still standing in a closet somewhere, but barely.
I haven't written about Magee since then. But it's time to do something about that, especially because I won't be able to get to tonight's game that could be his 903rd career win.
If the Rams beat Goldey-Beacom College in Northeast Philadelphia tonight, Magee will pass Bob Knight's Division I record of 902 victories. From there, only Northern State's Don Meyer's current mark of 922 wins is left before Magee sets the all-time record.
Coincidentally, the news broke last night that Meyer is retiring at the end of this season. So you have to think Magee will pass him some time soon, health permitting.
Daily News photographer Sarah Glover has put together a neat video in which Magee offers a few of his legendary shooting tips. I'll defintely watch it, not least because I could use the help.
I've never been any good at basketball. Just ask Dan Harrell after I chucked up a bunch of airballs between games at the Palestra this past Saturday.
But there's no question that Herb Magee is incredibly good at playing and coaching the game of basketball. We can probably all learn a thing or two from him.
In addition to Sarah's video, there's a photo gallery chronicling Magee's career as a player and coach.
I've also put together a list of all the articles about Magee that have run in the papers over the last few days. Check it out below.
There's one other thing I want to share. Magee set the Division II wins record so long ago that the College HoopsCast was still in existence at the time. On the show that week, I talked about Magee's landmark with Mike Jensen, and he said this:
When this is done, his health permitting, mark it down: Herb Magee is going to be the all-time winningest coach in college basketball. Because he's going to keep going, and going, and going, and winning, and winning, and winning. So this is another step on the way, another milestone.
Consider it marked. If you don't believe me, the audio file is in the player below.
Tuesday, February 23
Magee remains focused on eve of hoops mark by the Inquirer's Keith Pompey
Hoop dream by the Inquirer's Editorial Board
It could be quite a Knight for Philly coaching legend Magee by the Daily News' Chuck Bausman
Monday, February 22
Phila. U's Magee set to eclipse Knight with 903 wins by the Associated Press' Dan Gelston
Sunday, February 21
Philadelphia U's Magee has made victory routine by the Inquirer's Ashley Fox
Philadelphia U.'s Magee ties coaching mark by the Inquirer's Keith Pompey
Friday, February 19
Philadelphia University's Magee on verge of milestone by the Daily News' Dick Jerardi
Sunday, February 14
Philadelphia U.'s Magee gets 900th coaching win by the Inquirer's Rick O'Brien
Friday, February 13
Phila. U's Magee closes in on 900 career wins by the Daily News staff
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Ramone Moore scored a career-high 24 points and nine rebounds, and Lavoy Allen added 16 points and 10 rebounds as the Owls edged past the Hawks in a thrilling Big 5 game at the Palestra.
Darrin Govens scored 21 points and Garrett Williamson scored 20 for St. Joe's, which fought ferociously throughout the second half to force overtime.
A big key for the Hawks was their 16-for-23 performance from the free throw line. The refereeing was at least questionable on multiple occasions during the game, but it seemed to even out over the full 45 minutes.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
I've been wondering for a few days how badly Villanova was hurt in the rankings by Monday's loss to Connecticut, and today I finally had time to look it up. Obviously there have been games since then, but not so many that the numbers aren't still fair.
The answer seems to be that the Wildcats didn't suffer much. They've only moved down two spots in Pomeroy and Basketball State since last Friday, and three spots in the RPI. But they were hit hard in the Sagarin rankings, falling from fourth to 40th.
A win Sunday at Pittsburgh would certainly reverse that. For now, though, all eyes are on the Palestra, which will host three games in 26 hours starting tonight. Penn plays Brown this evening and Yale tomorrow, both at 7 p.m., and Temple faces off against St. Joe's in a Big 5 game at noon tomorrow.
I'll be liveblogging Temple-St. Joe's, so please join me for that. It'll be nice to be in the Palestra for an afternoon game, which is a real treat with the sun coming through the windows in the ceiling.
Here's the weekly stats compilation. You'll note that I got rid of the table of national teams this week. I did so mainly because I feel like we know a lot about the teams in question already, and I also think that there's just too much parity out there to pick a few teams to feature.
That will make March a lot of fun, but for the moment it's making February rather frustrating.
City Six rankings table
|
Team
|
Record
|
Conf.
|
Big
5
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Drexel
|
15-13
|
10-6
|
1-2
|
115
(104)
|
101
(104)
|
120
(111)
|
124
(123)
|
109
(107)
|
|
La
Salle
|
11-14
|
3-8
|
1-1
|
148
(124)
|
126
(97)
|
145
(120)
|
173
(144)
|
83
(71)
|
|
Penn
|
4-17
|
3-4
|
0-4
|
309
(324)
|
292
(316)
|
317
(325)
|
303
(308)
|
182
(160)
|
|
St.
Joseph's
|
9-17
|
3-9
|
2-1
|
195
(186)
|
195
(179)
|
190
(187)
|
207
(193)
|
53
(42)
|
|
Temple
|
21-5
|
9-2
|
2-0
|
30
(34)
|
14
(17)
|
22
(18)
|
24
(26)
|
59 (48)
|
| Villanova |
22-3
|
11-2
|
3-1
|
15
(13)
|
7 (4)
|
40
(4)
|
7
(5)
|
24
(36)
|
Schuylkill 16 NCAA Tournament teamsheets
|
Team
|
Wins |
Losses |
Top
50 wins
|
201+
losses
|
Avg.
win
|
Avg.
loss
|
12 |
15 |
0
|
8
|
281
|
184
|
|
7 |
20 |
0
|
4
|
222 |
107
|
|
| Delaware St. | 14 |
10 |
0
|
2
|
224
|
150
|
15 |
13 |
0
|
1
|
202
|
86
|
|
11 |
14 |
0
|
1
|
234 |
55
|
|
| Lafayette | 15 |
11 |
0
|
6
|
277
|
202
|
17 |
9 |
0
|
4
|
277
|
169
|
|
12 |
15 |
0
|
6
|
279
|
202
|
|
4 |
17 |
0
|
8
|
251
|
166
|
|
| Penn State | 9 |
16 |
0
|
3 |
226
|
93
|
| Princeton | 15 |
6 |
0
|
1
|
238
|
115
|
| Rider | 15 |
13 |
0
|
1
|
222
|
112
|
| Rutgers | 14 |
12 |
1
|
0
|
165
|
51
|
| Saint Joseph's | 9 |
17 |
1
|
0
|
195
|
87
|
| Temple | 21 |
5 |
6
|
0
|
139
|
39
|
| Villanova | 22 |
3 |
5
|
0
|
115
|
23
|
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Boy, this week's rankings are all over the place. Villanova and Temple are still 1-2, but the Owls snatched a first-place vote on the basis of the Wildcats' loss.
Princeton is up to fifth, St. Joe's is ninth and Penn State just barely edged out Bucknell for 11th.
All the way at the bottom, Penn's upset of Cornell didn't just propel the Quakers out of the cellar for the first time since December 2, it pushed them two spots up to 14th.
Now Penn sits above Delaware, which strikes me as crazy, but that's democracy for you.
Here's a question to discuss, especially as we get ready for Temple-St. Joe's at the Palestra on Saturday: Will the Hawks make the Atlantic 10 Tournament? After tonight's loss at Xavier, the Hawks are in 13th place in the conference with a 3-9 record, half a game back of 3-8 St. Bonaventure. The bottom two teams of the 14 miss out.
It's a good thing that Fordham is 0-12, or there would be at least a slim chance that both St. Joe's and La Salle could finish at the bottom of the standings. At least one of the teams will make it to the first round.
Here we go:
1. Villanova, 14 points (12 first-place votes)
- "Apparently the Wildcats' defense stayed on campus Monday night instead of making the trek down to the Wachovia Center." (Mario Machi)
2. Temple, 25 points (1 first-place vote)
3. Drexel, 47 points
- "How good is the CAA?!? Drexel might be better off in the ACC than the CAA, at least for this year." (Mario Machi)
4. Rutgers, 55 points
- "I feel so uneasy listing Rutgers third in this week's poll that I am using the comment box to share this discomfort with the world." (Jon Solomon)
- "You may want to sit down for this one. Rutgers' game with UConn Saturday could have major implications on who gets a bye in the Big East Tournament. I'm not even sure their fans remember how to get to MSG." (Jeff Shafer)
5. Princeton, 65 points
- "Princeton has held every Ivy League opponent under 55 points, and now has a legitimate shot at winning back the crown for the P's." (Max Wheeling)
6. La Salle, 84 points
- "If you combined La Salle's and Penn's walking wounded to form a Big 5 All-Injury team, how many games would they win (healthy, of course)? Seriously, doesn't Dr. John have some managers or walk-ons who can suit up? " (Jeff Shafer)
7. Rider, 107 points
8. Lehigh, 119 points
- "Lehigh has a good chance at being Kentucky's punching bag in the first round of the Tournament." (Jon Mozes)
9. Saint Joseph's, 120 points (1 last-place vote)
10. Lafayette, 139 points
11. Penn State, 150 points (3 last-place votes)
- "Big Ten basketball stinks. Penn State has zero Big Ten wins. By the transitive property, Penn State is last in the Schuylkill 16." (Joe McNamara)
- "Perhaps my Nitts could win a conference game if they moved back to the A-10." (Tim AumAn)
Comment of the week:
- "Penn State will probably wake up in Chicago on Thursday just like Nick Catrambone did on a recent visit to Chi-town: they won't be quite sure what city they're in, they'll have a headache and they'll know they didn't score enough last night." (Daniel Simpson Day)
12. Bucknell, 151 points
13. Delaware State, 157 points (1 last-place vote)
- "I can't believe I missed out on Lehigh-Delaware State. Only 172 lucky people got to see the MEAC vs. the Patriot League in the ultimate Culture Shock Game." (Todd Falkenberg)
14. Penn, 166 points (1 last-place vote)
- "Sure, Penn is still not a very good basketball team, but how many other squads in the area have a top 25 win to their credit?" (Fred David)
- "My apologies to the Quakers. They've finally found a way to bump my write-in candidate, Neumann-Goretti High School, out of the rankings. That's what a win over Cornell will do. The Palestra was rocking like it was 2007!" (Mario Machi)
15. Delaware, 174 points
16. Monmouth, 195 points (6 last-place votes)
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Here are the live scoreboards for tonight's games. Neither one is on TV, so you can follow them here on Philly.com:
Temple at St. Bonaventure
Saint Joseph's at Xavier
Come back later tonight for the latest Schuylkill 16 rankings.
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
