Untitled Document
Brown Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Harvard Penn Princeton Yale



 Page 1 of 2 ALL12
Username Post: IL Schedule        (Topic#20899)
bradley 
PhD Student
Posts: 1842

Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
12-30-17 07:27 PM - Post#241639    

Princeton plays five out of their first six IL games at home -- strange. Needless to say with the schedule, they need to get off to a good start. The schedule may help a bit with the amount of playing time that the freshmen are getting but you never know. Fortunately, with the non-conference schedule, the freshmen experienced playing in hostile environments.

**Butler knocked Nova today at Hinkle Fieldhouse -- they had a 21 pt lead with 9 minutes to go. Hard to believe that Tigers did not get demolished -- game #1.

 
SRP 
Postdoc
Posts: 4894

Reg: 02-04-06
12-30-17 11:46 PM - Post#241650    
    In response to bradley

Both teams were probably not yet at their best. Butler is a good team that always gives itself a chance.

 
bradley 
PhD Student
Posts: 1842

Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
12-31-17 09:15 AM - Post#241658    
    In response to SRP

Fourteen games later, a young Tiger team does look very different. The likelihood that this year's team goes into the regular IL season as the top ranked team is amazing after watching them come off the Jadwin floor at halftime against Lehigh. In fairness, part of the reason for the ranking is due to the non-conference play of the league but Coach got them to ramp up their intensity level on defense and rebounding.

Opening game should be a good challenge at the Palestra. Can the Tigers smother the Penn shooters as they did last year in the two regular season games? There were times that Penn could not even get off shots -- or has Penn improved significantly from last year? Hard to predict based on the strength of Penn's non-conference opponents.

 
Eric Von Zipper 
Senior
Posts: 343

Age: 71
Reg: 11-11-17
12-31-17 10:10 AM - Post#241660    
    In response to bradley

For what it's worth, the teams Pennsylvania has defeated so far this season are a combined 37-74.

Only Navy (9-5) and Northern Illinois (7-6) have winning records.

 
Tiger69 
Postdoc
Posts: 2801

Reg: 11-23-04
12-31-17 10:34 AM - Post#241661    
    In response to Eric Von Zipper

Hey, but look out for that team that beat up on Delaware State !

 
sparman 
PhD Student
Posts: 1339
sparman
Reg: 12-08-04
12-31-17 11:24 AM - Post#241664    
    In response to Tiger69

I'll make fun of Penn's schedule after we beat them, not before.

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
IL Schedule
12-31-17 11:40 AM - Post#241665    
    In response to Tiger69

Ivy Strength of Schedules:

45 Harvard
65 Princeton
99 Yale
136 Columbia
225 Cornell
262 Penn
321 Brown
325 Dartmouth

Dartmouth (BC, UVM), Penn (Temple, St. Josephs), Harvard (UVM, Wofford) and Yale (Georgia Tech) have scheduled tough games into January. Columbia (Sarah Lawrence), Princeton (Rowan) and Cornell (Central Pennsylvania College) have not. Brown (NJIT) has an Ivy-like contest remaining.

Also interesting to note that almost all Ivy squads have primarily played away from home (including neutral sites):
Princeton (4 of 14 at home)
Yale (5 of 15)
Columbia (4 of 12)
Cornell (4 of 12)
Dartmouth (4 of 11)
Harvard (5 of 13)
Brown (5 of 12)

The outlier (in-lier?) is Penn (8 of 14 at the Palestra). In fact, other than a jaunt to Connecticut (Fairfield), Penn has only left the Keystone state to play single games in Ohio, NJ, DC and Connecticut. Unless they make a tournament, Penn and Columbia look to be the only Ivy squads not to have boarded a plane (presuming Columbia bused to Longwood in Virginia)!

Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 12-31-17 11:50 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

 
bradley 
PhD Student
Posts: 1842

Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
12-31-17 12:12 PM - Post#241666    
    In response to Eric Von Zipper

There has been a suggestion that the Tigers should play a weak schedule and rack up a bunch of non-conference wins followed up by a strong IL regular season to ensure a NCAA bid regardless of the IL Tournament results. Problem with the theory is that the computers have caught up with this type of strategy as reflected in Penn's KenPom ranking with a 9-5 record. Even if Penn had a 11-3 and possibly 12-2 non-conference record this year, it would be unlikely based on the performance of the IL teams in non-conference play in addition to Penn's schedule.

Remember -- one of the arguments for the IL Tournament was the increased possibility of getting 2 IL teams to the Big Dance????

 
Mike Porter 
Postdoc
Posts: 3615
Mike Porter
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
Reg: 11-21-04
Re: IL Schedule
12-31-17 02:08 PM - Post#241669    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Huh? Penn played 9 of 14 games away from the Palestra, including an 8 game stretch away from home that lasted 39 days.

Our schedule is definitely weaker than normal and I expect that will come back to standard in the seasons to come. We had to learn to win again so I am fine with this year. Very similar to Sydney Johnson led Princeton when he was bringing your own program back to life (check out your own schedules in 2009 and 2010).

 
bradley 
PhD Student
Posts: 1842

Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
Re: IL Schedule
12-31-17 02:19 PM - Post#241670    
    In response to Mike Porter

I think that it made good perfectly good sense for Penn to play a weaker non-conference schedule this year as they are probably in a midst of a comeback. I do think some Penn fans may have gotten a little carried away with this year's non-conference record as to how it might lead to being the IL regular season favorite --- but fans are fans.

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
12-31-17 02:28 PM - Post#241672    
    In response to bradley

Correction: the site I was using didn't denote the Gulf Coast Showcase correctly.

Penn looks to have played 5 of 14 at home.



 
PennFan10 
Postdoc
Posts: 3578

Reg: 02-15-15
01-01-18 11:42 AM - Post#241685    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

As well as flights to Dayton and Florida for Penn. They played a stretch of 8 road games in a row on the road

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
01-01-18 11:58 AM - Post#241686    
    In response to PennFan10

I stand corrected - again - even on Harvard who has actually only played 3 of 13 at Lavietes. 10 of last 11 on the road, as well as 6 of next 8. That's only 5 of first 21 games at home.

I guess the point is that all Ivies play most OOC on the road. Shame that some of our precious few OOC home games come when students are on break.



 
Tiger69 
Postdoc
Posts: 2801

Reg: 11-23-04
01-01-18 12:22 PM - Post#241687    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

As I think we all have noticed, college sports, with the exception of perhaps football and basketball at large state universities, have lost their audience. One can cite many reasons. But, I wonder if it is possible, without altering the demographic of student bodies, for the Ivies to expand their following. I suppose that it is not important. But, it would be nice to have a bit more community following in addition to a few more students. Otherwise, we have essentially club sports and who needs the arenas? Is this wish hopelessly outdated?

 
SomeGuy 
Professor
Posts: 6391

Reg: 11-22-04
Re: IL Schedule
01-01-18 09:34 PM - Post#241709    
    In response to bradley

What Penn fans have suggested Penn is the favorite? There have been a couple of 14-0 predictions, but those were not serious predictions -- just folks having fun.

We led in Pomeroy for a little while, but I think we generally were just pleased (and more than a little surprised) that things had worked that way.

Now, Princeton is clearly the favorite to repeat (at least for the regular season). If the current Pomeroy ranks were to hold through the Ivy season, I suppose Penn would be a slight favorite to win the tournament at home despite not having the highest ranking. Is that what you are referring to? That's not a Penn fan being overconfident -- that's just a fact based on the current numbers. I don't expect them to hold -- I think Harvard and Yale will outplay their OOC performance.

 
SomeGuy 
Professor
Posts: 6391

Reg: 11-22-04
01-01-18 09:42 PM - Post#241710    
    In response to bradley

There was no scenario where Penn had an at large chance this year. The question was whether Princeton, Harvard, and Yale were top 100 teams. That is who the conversation was about. If Penn came out playing top 100 basketball. That would be a truly remarkable jump. Penn is playing about where they realistically could get to. The fact that they are close to the top of the league is because the top teams have played on the lower range of what could be expected.

Next year we can start thinking about playing the type of schedule that HYP played.

As for suggesting playing an easier schedule for at large purposes, you are right -- it won't help land an at large. An Ivy will need to play a tough OOC schedule and win most of them. And having 4 top 100 teams in the conference will help as well.

 
bradley 
PhD Student
Posts: 1842

Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
Re: IL Schedule
01-02-18 12:43 PM - Post#241739    
    In response to SomeGuy

Just my opinion but expectations are set pretty low when there is an excitement of being the most highly ranked team with a 140+ KenPom rating, even for one day, especially for a historic programs like Penn or Princeton.

It is the same reaction to teams focused on just getting into the top four in order to play in the IL Tournament.

The attitude may be somewhat reflective of where the league is at this point and time but hopefully not.

 
penn nation 
Professor
Posts: 21083

Reg: 12-02-04
Re: IL Schedule
01-02-18 02:16 PM - Post#241748    
    In response to bradley

It's more reflective of how bad this program has been for a decade. We are celebrating the fact that the floor has now been raised. Our ceiling is limited, but at least we are headed in the right direction.

 
SomeGuy 
Professor
Posts: 6391

Reg: 11-22-04
Re: IL Schedule
01-02-18 07:16 PM - Post#241790    
    In response to bradley

Absolutely, but when you are coming from 300 or so a couple of years back, it takes time. So no, the ultimate expectation and hope is not for a 140 ranking. It 's just the reality of where we can be on the way up. This is the best Penn has been in 10 years, and with the exception of Rosen's senior year, it isn't close.

 
bradley 
PhD Student
Posts: 1842

Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
Re: IL Schedule
01-03-18 11:07 AM - Post#241851    
    In response to SomeGuy

Seems to me that Penn has the opportunity to be competitive this year especially with the quality of play in the IL. Quakers should have a fighter's chance playing the Tigers, especially at home, as they can shoot the basketball. The possibility does exist that the Tigers revert back to their poor play thru a good segment of the first eight games of the season. If the Tigers play like the last six games -- different story.

After watching last night's game against Vermont and Penn's game against Toledo, a Penn offense with a Harvard defense would be a very good team. Conversely -- ugh.

I would not be surprised if Henderson puts Stephens on Betley and the Tigers offense has Stephens and Bell going to the basket with kick out options to Cannady and Much. Should be a good one.

 
 Page 1 of 2 ALL12
Icon Legend Permissions Topic Options
Report Post

Quote Post

Quick Reply

Print Topic

Email Topic

4356 Views




Copyright © 2004-2012 Basketball U. Terms of Use for our Site and Privacy Policy are applicable to you. All rights reserved.
Basketball U. and its subsidiaries are not affiliated in any way with any NCAA athletic conference or member institution.
FusionBB™ Version 2.1 | ©2003-2007 InteractivePHP, Inc.
Execution time: 0.018 seconds.   Total Queries: 8   Zlib Compression is on.
All times are (GMT -0500) Eastern. Current time is 02:23 PM
Top