Penn's Allen plays down dire forecast

JEROME ALLEN doesn't take into consideration things he can't control.

That explains why he doesn't pay attention to his Penn basketball team being selected to finish seventh in the eight-team Ivy League yesterday.

"You guys picked us seventh, but I didn't," Allen, entering his sixth season as head coach, said during yesterday's preseason media teleconference. "I think we prepare every day to do what we all say we want, and that is to be champions of this league."

Becoming champions in the Ivy will be difficult considering the run Tommy Amaker and Harvard have been on. The Crimson was a unanimous selection as the favorite to win its fourth consecutive league championship.

Combine the Quakers' 8-20 (5-9 Ivy) season in 2013-14 and the loss of seven of the team's top 10 scorers, and a seventh-place projection wasn't unexpected. But if Allen doesn't put stock in those types of things, how does he feel about his job security?

Following a 20-win season in 2011-12, Penn has gone a combined 17-42 during the last 2 years. Some Penn donors and basketball supporters felt Allen shouldn't get another chance to right the ship.

"I can only control what I can control," Allen said. "The beauty about that is that basketball at Penn is a pretty big deal. There's a lot of people that care, there's a lot of people that are passionate, there's a lot of people who are opinionated. Because of that, when you look at those things from another perspective, you say, 'I get it.' "

He gets it because he's been through it as a player. Allen twice won the Ivy League Player of the Year, as a sophomore for the Quakers in 1992-93 and again in his junior season. His 1,518 career points are sixth in the program's long history.

But the coaching aspect of late hasn't gone smoothly. And with another young, inexperienced team this season, Allen's master plan will again be challenged. Juniors Tony Hicks, whom Allen expects to be the primary ballhandler, and big man Darien Nelson-Henry are the only two regulars returning to the starting lineup.

Penn will need immediate impact from a freshman class led by 6-1 guard Antonio Woods, a Cincinnati native.

Allen said he doesn't believe juniors and seniors automatically assume leadership roles. But he will need Hicks and Nelson-Henry to do just that if the Quakers are to be successful. Hicks led Penn in scoring last year with 14.9 points per contest. Nelson-Henry averaged 10.6.

"Just like everyone else, we're trying to figure out where we're at," Allen said. "I don't allow anyone to tell me where we're going to finish according to how others evaluate the current rosters and all of that."