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Penn's Steve Donahue named Ivy League coach of the year

Penn also had three players earn all-star mention, led by first-team all-Ivy choice AJ Brodeur.

Penn's head coach Steve Donahue calls plays against LaSalle during the 1st half at The Palestra, Monday, November 13, 2017. LaSalle beats Penn in Double overtime 75-71. ( STEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer )
Penn's head coach Steve Donahue calls plays against LaSalle during the 1st half at The Palestra, Monday, November 13, 2017. LaSalle beats Penn in Double overtime 75-71. ( STEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer )Read moreSteven M. Falk
    by Marc Narducci | Columnist
    Published 

Penn coach Steve Donahue, who guided the Quakers to a share of their 26th Ivy League title, has been named Ivy League basketball coach of the year.

In addition, Penn sophomore forward AJ Brodeur was a unanimous selection for the all-Ivy first team, while sophomore guard Ryan Betley was a second-team choice and senior point guard Darnell Foreman earned honorable mention.

Donahue took over after the 2014-15 season, when the Quakers went 9-19, He has improved the team in each of his first three years. Penn was 11-17 and 13-15 his first two seasons, respectively. This season, the Quakers are 22-8 and shared the Ivy League title with Harvard, both with 12-2 records in the league.

Second-seeded Penn will meet third-seeded Yale (16-14, 9-5) at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Ivy League tournament semifinal at the Palestra. Top-seeded Harvard meets Cornell. The championship game is noon Sunday.

While this year was Donahue's first Ivy League title at Penn, it is his fourth overall, after guiding Cornell to three consecutive championships from 2008-2010.

The 6-foot-8 Brodeur averaged 12.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game overall, numbers that jumped to 14.8 and 7.6 in Ivy play. He is also an accomplished defender.

Betley, a 6-5 product of Downingtown West, is Penn's leading scorer at 14.7 ppg. He was fifth in the Ivy League in three-point percentage (.448).

Foreman, a graduate of Pitman, has averaged 10.4 points, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals.