| |
LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA
CONFERENCE: Ivy League
LAST SEASON: 21-6 (.778)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 13-1 (1st)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 2/3
NICKNAME: Quakers
COLORS: Red & Blue
HOMECOURT: The Palestra (8,722)
COACH: Fran Dunphy (La Salle '70)
record at school 173-97 (10 years)
career record 173-97 (10 years)
|
ASSISTANTS: Gil Jackson (Elizabethtown '69)
Steve Donahue (Ursinus '84)
Dave Duke (Villanova '74)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 25-17-12-17-21
RPI (last 5 years) 79-113-153-125-58
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in NCAA first round.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
|
Psst! Want in on a secret? The Penn Quakers, one-half of the Ivy League's "Killer P's" along with Princeton (the two schools have won 28 of the last 30 Ivy League titles between them), could be a legitimate NCAA Tournament office-pool wrecker come March. Penn's laid-back coach, Fran Dunphy, won't say that, but he doesn't have to. All one has to do to know Dunphy likes this team is look at the Quakers' schedule. Blessed with one of the nation's most underrated backcourts in 6-0 senior Michael Jordan and 6-5 senior perimeter shooting whiz Matt Langel, Dunphy will put this experienced team to the test more accurately, to a road test. Dunphy's team will open against Kentucky at Rupp Arena in the Preseason NIT and will also take trips to Auburn, Kansas and Temple before getting into the Ivy League schedule. By the time the Quakers begin the league schedule, they'll either be battle-tested or suffer from battle fatigue. Bet on battle-tested. Three starters return from a team that finished 21-6 overall and 13-1 in the Ivy League (the only loss to Princeton when the Quakers somehow blew a 33-9 halftime lead at home), good enough to capture Dunphy's fifth Ivy League title in the last seven years. "I'd like to think we'll be a good basketball team again this year," Dunphy said. "We have an ambitious non-conference schedule and I just don't want our ambitious schedule hurting us. I think we have some good players back in Jordan, Langel and (center Geoff) Owens. I think we have enough back to repeat (as Ivy champions), but Princeton will be good again and so will Dartmouth." Sure, Princeton has a nice team (thanks to the addition of Spencer Gogler, who committed to Princeton, then signed with UCLA before changing his mind again and coming to Princeton) and Dartmouth has lots of key returnees.
|
Blue Ribbon Analysis |
|
BACKCOURT B+ BENCH/DEPTH C+
FRONTCOURT C+ INTANGIBLES A
Penn finally got its revenge last season on Princeton, breaking the two-year grip the Tigers had on the Ivy League hardware. This season, coach Fran Dunphy has Penn's most talented team since the Matt Maloney-Jerome Allen days and he plans on testing them with an ambitious non-conference schedule, which includes trips to Kentucky, Auburn, Kansas and Temple. Don't be surprised if Penn knocks off one of these heavyweights. Last season it beat Temple (without Pepe Sanchez, who was sidelined with an injury) and battled Kansas before falling, 61-56. And the Quakers were leading Florida, 43-32, in its first round NCAA Tournament game before ice-cold, second-half shooting (6-of-22, 27 percent) doomed them. Penn's strength will be the Ivy's best backcourt of Michael Jordan and Matt Langel. Jordan plays like "The Jordan" of the Ivy League. He came up big in big games, like the 22 points he dropped on Philadelphia City Series rival Temple in an upset victory last year. Langel is the sharpshooter of the two. He can sting opponents from three-point range. The Quakers should have a solid inside attack and should be able to defend the early-season big boys they'll face, thanks to the presence of 6-11 junior center Geoff Owens. Last season, Owens led the team in blocked shots (58, a single-season Penn record) and in rebounding (7.3 rpg). Without Owens two years ago, teams shot 46-percent against the Quakers. With Owens last year, that figure dropped to 40 percent. Add it all up and the Quakers are the team to beat in the Ivy, ahead of Princeton and Dartmouth. And with one of the country's most underrated coaches in Dunphy, a top-notch backcourt and their early-season experience playing some of the nation's best teams early in the season, the Quakers might be equipped to win an NCAA Tournament game or two. |
But Penn has Michael Jordan the Ivy's best backcourt talent since the Jerome Allen-Matt Maloney era. The Ivy League's "MJ" is a 21st century type of point guard. Generously listed at 6-0 in the Penn program, Jordan can beat anyone in the Ivy and just about anyone in the country off the dribble. Once he gets into the lane, you've got problems, because Jordan is equally adept at shooting that little floater in the lane or taking it all the way to the basket. Or if a big man comes out to cut off his road to the basket, Jordan can either dump it inside to Penn's near 7-footer Owens or kick it out to three-point shooting whiz Langel. "That kid (Jordan) is something special," said Temple coach John Chaney after Jordan scored 22 points in a 73-70 overtime upset victory over the then-No. 6 Owls last year. Jordan (15.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 125 assists, 32 steals), a two-time first-team All-Ivy selection, is 20th on the school's all-time scoring list (1,240 points) and third in assists (328 assists). And he has friends in high places. Over the summer, he worked as an intern for Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell. Also returning in the backcourt is the 6-5 Langel, an honorable mention All-Ivy League player last season. Langel is one of the nation's most proficient long-distance shooters. He averaged 11.3 points and shot .429 from three-point range. Langel isn't a one-dimensional player. He's a pretty good rebounder for a two-guard (4.4 rpg) and also handed out 84 assists (second on the team to Jordan, of course). Backcourt depth will come from 6-0 junior Lamar Plummer (a high school teammate of Jordan's) and three talented freshmen in 6-5 swingman Duane King, 6-2 shooting guard Harold Bailey and 5-11 backup point guard Dave Klatsky. The quick Plummer figures to earn more quality time this season. After undergoing laser surgery on his eyes last year, Plummer (4.3 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 13 assists, 10 steals) not surprisingly got off to a bit of a slow start in 1998-99, but he played his best ball late in the season. He is a true combo guard who can play the point and allow Jordan to move to the two. Or he can play the shooting-guard spot as well. One small problem? Even after the corrective eye surgery, Plummer's perimeter shooting eye wasn't all the great (.295 3 PT), so defenses tend to lay off him rather than risk him blowing by them off the dribble. Plummer is well aware of his Achilles and worked hard on his long-distance shooting in pickup games around Philadelphia and in the legendary Sonny Hill Summer League. King was quite a get for the Quakers out of Pleasure Ridge (Ky.) High School. The 6-5 swingman received feelers from Notre Dame, Marquette, Vanderbilt and Florida State, among others, because of his blend of athleticism and brains. King comes from good athletic stock. His brother is Ibn Green, a gifted tight end at the University of Louisville who will find his name on 1999 All-America teams and will be drafted fairly high in the 2000 NFL draft. King was ranked the No. 44 player at the 1998 adidas ADCD Camp after finishing in the top 25 in scoring and the top 30 in rebounding. And King hits the books as hard as the boards. He never got below an "A" in any class and never missed a day of high school. "Duane had an outstanding high school career and we look at him to help us at both the two and three positions," Dunphy said. "He is a hard worker who, if he brings the same discipline to the basketball court that he does to academics, will become a very special player." Bailey, a 6-2 shooting guard from Choate (Conn.) Academy, possesses a strong upper body and is a fine all-around athlete who is viewed as a possible heir apparent to Langel (along with fellow freshman King) at the two-guard spot. How good an athlete is Bailey? He high-jumped nearly 6-5 last year, the second-best high jump in Choate history. The 5-11, 170-pound Klatsky averaged 13.7 points, 8.1 assists and 2.2 steals for Holmdel (N.J.) High School last year. He raised those numbers to 19.0 points and 11.0 assists per game during Holmdel's seven-game state playoff run a year ago. This youngster is a winner (Holmdel was 93-21 during his four years) and a heady floor leader who will earn minutes as a backup to Jordan. And Klatsky will learn a thing or two going up against the Ivy League's best player every day in practice. "Dave may be the best decision-maker we have as a freshman," Dunphy said. "It will be nice to see him spell Jordan this year each game before taking over the position next year." Dunphy will build his frontcourt around 6-11, 200-pound junior center Owens, who missed the 1997-98 season with hypertension but returned last season to be an inside force for the Quakers at both ends of the floor. Owens is skinny, but he is skilled on the low blocks. He was fifth on a balanced Penn team in scoring (9.3 ppg) and was fourth in the Ivy League in rebounding (7.3 rpg). With both of last year's starting forwards gone, Owens the grandson of former Philadelphia Phillies general manager Paul "The Pope" Owens will be the focal point of the Quakers' inside game in 1999-2000 and has the talent to average a double-double this season. Backing up Owens in the middle and also seeing time at the four-spot will be 6-8 junior Josh Sanger (1.6 ppg, 2.2 rpg). Sanger doesn't have much of an offensive game, but he works hard, especially on the glass and on defense. Dunphy lost standout forwards Jed Ryan (11.7 ppg) and Paul Romanczuk (11.2 ppg) to graduation, but he is hoping to get NCAA clearance to use Frank Brown in 1999-2000. Brown played a total of 14 games over the course of the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons because of knee injuries but has already used his redshirt season (hence the need for the NCAA's help). The 6-6 Brown returned last season from nearly two years of inactivity to be a valuable sub for Penn. Brown (5.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 14 assists, 10 steals) is a fan favorite at the Palestra because of his non-stop hustle and trusty outside shot (.462 from three-point range). Also in the mix at small forward will be 6-6 sophomore Dan Solomito (1.3 ppg, 0.4 rpg) and two freshmen, the aforementioned King and 6-7 Koko Archibong. The 200-pound Archibong averaged a double-double (16.7 ppg, 11.0 rpg) as a senior at the Pasadena (Calif.) Polytechnical School and possesses the defensive skills and work ethic to get on the court right away. If Brown is given an extra year of eligibility as expected (a la Evan Eschmeyer at Northwestern and Danny Earl at Penn State), then Penn will have a lethal starting frontcourt. That's because folks at Penn think that 6-8 freshman power forward Ugonna Onyekwe might be the Ancient Eight's most talented new face yes, even more gifted than Princeton's Gogler. The 210-pound Onyekwe was born in Nigeria, but moved with his family to London when he was 14. "Ugonna is the type of athlete who can make an impact immediately at several positions," Dunphy said. "If he can make the adjustment quickly to the college game, there is no telling how good he can become." Also getting quality time at the power-forward spot will be Sanger and 6-10, 240-pound junior Oggie Kapetanovic, a Brown transfer who started 30 of his 51 games there. As a sophomore at Brown, Kapetanovic averaged 6.9 points and 4.0 rebounds. Dunphy would gladly accept those type of numbers and some solid post defense from Kapetanovic, whose older bother Vigor played for Penn from 1994-96. He will push Onyekwe for the starting power-forward job. Rounding out the frontcourt for Penn will be seldom-used 6-7 junior Jon Tross and 6-8 freshman Andrew Coates. Tross appeared in just 11 games mostly as an unofficial victory cigar in some of Penn's blowout Ivy League victories and averaged just 0.6 points and 0.7 rebounds. The 200-pound Coates, from Eastside Catholic High School in Seattle, Wash., is the final piece of Penn's seven-player recruiting haul. He battled various injuries during his senior year but was still able to help Eastside to the state playoffs for only the second time in school history. If Coates is healthy, he could see time at the three and four spots. If not, Coates could redshirt. On a team filled with interesting off-the-court stories, Coates is another one. He spent his free time last year making sandwiches for a homeless shelter in Seattle.
 | The 19th edition of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook is on sale now. To order, call 800-828-HOOP (4667), or visit their web site at
http://www.collegebaskets.com
|
| |
Conferences
America East
ACC
Atlantic 10
Big East
Big Sky
Big South
Big Ten
Big 12
Big West
Colonial
Conference USA
Independents
Ivy League
MAAC
Mid-American
Mid-Continent
Mid-Eastern Athletic
MCC
Missouri Valley
Mountain West
Northeast
Ohio Valley
Pac-10
Patriot
SEC
Southern
Southland
Sun Belt
SWAC
TAAC
WAC
West Coast
|
