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Pettinella lands at Cincinnati
07.22.05—The Cincinnati Post reports that former Penn forward Ryan Pettinella will transfer to Cincinnati. Pettinella will sit out the upcoming season as per NCAA transfer regulations and be eligible for the 2006-07 season. The rising junior averaged 4.8 points and 3.0 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game last season for the Quakers, but left school this spring. In the articles about the decision, Pettinella and his father both cited Cincinnati's faster pace of play, despite the fact that the Bearcats averaged just 1.5 more possessions per game than Penn this past season. Penn ranked 149th at 68.1 possession per game, while Cincinnati ranked 100th at 69.6 possession per contest. |
Pettinella has high-major offensive skills, but it will be interesting to see if the new Big East resembles the old Big East in terms of physicality. It's no coincidence Pettinella's father went out of his way to discuss weight training, as his son will need plenty of that to play in the post in the Big East. However, the Pettinellas' justification of the transfer based on tempo of play rings completely hollow. If they didn't wish to get into the reasons for the transfer, that would be one thing. However, the Pettinellas seem to have Penn confused with Princeton when it comes to the talk of a slow tempo, and the result is a series of mischaracterizations of Fran Dunphy's style of play in several newspapers. |
Klunick to miss at least 2005-06 season
07.18.05—The Springfield State Journal-Register reports that Harvard point guard Tyler Klunick will miss the upcoming season after sustaining a torn ligament in his right ankle back in May. The rising sophomore told his hometown paper that the type of injury he suffered generally takes around one year to heal, but added. \"I definitely know I couldn't play next year, so as of right now, it's not looking good, but there is always an open door for the years after that. My gut feeling is that right now it is pretty much over.\" Klunick was a heralded recruit out of Lanphier High School in Springfield, Illinois, but a hand injury limited him to just 14 games as a freshman last season, in which he averaged 0.7 points in 4.5 minutes per contest. |
People around the Harvard program were very high on Klunick last season, even after he appeared to have some difficulty picking up Frank Sullivan's system right away. However, this is the latest injury in a high school and college career that has seen Klunick struggle to stay healthy. According to the State Journal-Register article, a ruptured spleen cost the guard most of his freshman season in high school, and a fractured ankle and back problems wiped out a portion of his senior campaign as well. Senior Mike Beal was probably going to start at the point this season anyway, and Sullivan brought in a pair of point guards in this year's recruiting class, including highly touted Drew Housman, so the blow isn't as big as it might otherwise be. |
Gil Jackson departs Penn for Howard
06.03.05—Howard University has announced the hiring of longtime Penn assistant Gil Jackson as its new head coach, with a press conference scheduled for Monday, June 6. Howard had been an assistant to Fran Dunphy for the past 16 seasons after a successful career coaching high school basketball in Delaware. At age 57, this will be the first Division I head coaching job for Jackson. At Penn he was chiefly responsible for the defense and for working with the big men. Jackson has his work cut out for him, taking over a Howard program that went 5-23 last season, including 17 straight defeats to end the season. |
Jackson's departure leaves a large hole in the Penn coaching staff and gives Fran Dunphy two basic options. He can promote both Dave Duke and Matt Langel and hire a new third \\\"volunteer\\\" assistant. There are a number of Penn alumni who played under Dunphy who would be candidates for this position. The other option is to hire an experienced assistant from outside the program to take over for Jackson in the top assistant's role. However Dunphy decides to proceed, there will be pressure to hire a person of color to maintain diversity on the coaching staff. |
Pettinella to transfer from Penn
04.20.05—The Daily Pennsylvanian is reporting that Penn sophomore Ryan Pettinella plans to transfer from Penn. The 6-9 Pettinella averaged 4.8 points and 3.0 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game last season. He was Penn's best scoring option in the low post, but struggled mightily with his free throw shooting (42.5 percent) this past season. |
The loss of Pettinella is a serious blow to Penn's excellent frontcourt depth, and should the Quakers repeat as Ivy League champions next year, Pettinella is the only big man with the inside moves to score against high major opponents. This means that incoming freshmen big men Brennan Votel and Cameron Lewis will be counted on to back up juniors Steve Danley and Mark Zoller. |
Will Scott granted release from Cornell
04.19.05—According to a source close to the program, Will Scott has been granted his release from the Cornell basketball program and is seeking a transfer. Scott's name was removed from the roster on Cornell's website, and he is reportedly considering Louisville as a possible destination. Louisville head coach Rick Pitino is a friend of Scott's family from his days with the Knicks, where Scott's father, Dr. Norman Scott, is the team physician, and his brother, Eric Scott, is a graduate assistant for Pitino. Scott averaged 4.3 points in 9.7 minutes per game as a freshman this past season. |
Scott didn't play a great deal this season, but he was looking at an increase in minutes next year with Cody Toppert graduating this spring. His game consists almost entirely of three-point shooting, but he does so very well, knocking down 31 of 64 three-pointers (48.4 percent) in 2004-05. His departure costs Cornell its best outside shooter, but it will open up more minutes for classmate Khaliq Gant in the backcourt, who proved to be a capable outside shooter as well last season (42.4 percent). With Louisville headed to the physical Big East, it's hard to imagine Scott cracking the rotation given his thin build, should he end up there. |
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