rbg
Postdoc
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Reg: 10-20-14
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08-17-18 08:44 AM - Post#260404
At Mid-Major Madness, Marc Craig (previously the lead mid-major writer at The Fieldhouse, The Athletic’s national college basketball platform) posted his senior thesis from his time at Ball State looking into how "Cinderella" teams make runs to the Final Four.
The thesis is broken up into six installments, which can be found at the following links.
Part 1: Goliath versus David - https://www.midmajormadness.com/2018/7/11/17555884...
Part 2: Fighting Like David - https://www.midmajormadness.com/2018/7/17/17578416...
Part 3: The Unassuming Shepherd Boy - https://www.midmajormadness.com/2018/7/24/17605218...
Part 4: The Valley of Elah - https://www.midmajormadness.com/2018/7/31/17634742...
Part 5: Charging the Giant - https://www.midmajormadness.com/2018/8/7/17660530/...
Part 6: Conclusion - https://www.midmajormadness.com/2018/8/14/17688380...
Looking at the information, Craig boils things down to schools that have close proximity to one of the nation's biggest 100 cities, a coach who’s an outsider, players who are catalysts, an administration that financially supports the basketball program (preferably a school without a football program or a football program that does not suck the money from the basketball program), and a fearless attitude. With that in mind, he sees 3 programs that have a chance to be the next mid-major to make a serious Final Four run - Grand Canyon, Lipscomb and Penn.
- But there’s a lot to like for the Quakers. They are led by Steve Donahue, who played college basketball and baseball at Ursinus College, a Division III school northwest of Philadelphia. He coached in the high school and Division II ranks before taking an assistant job at Penn for 10 years. Then he then took the reigns as head coach of Cornell for 10 years, where in 2010 he led the team that made the Ivy League’s only Sweet 16 since 1979. He took a high profile job at Boston College in the ACC, but didn’t much fit in as a Goliath. He was fired after four years, and returned to Penn. Just like Shaka Smart, Donahue rattles teams with his tempo. Instead of speeding up the game he slows it down to a glacial pace, which doesn’t allow more talented teams the opportunities to take advantage.
Finding catalysts shouldn’t be a problem for Donahue. In recent years he has adopted a motto for his team: WhÄnau. It’s a Maori word for extended family, which he picked up from The Legacy, a book about the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team. The word symbolizes the culture of the Penn program, setting aside all personal egos to help out your teammates. The proof is in the construction of Penn’s roster. There are 21 players on the team. He sees all of them as important. Not only did Penn have four players in double-digit scoring on the season with none more than 14 points per game, but it was the only team in the country which had eight different players score 20 or more points in a single game. That’s textbook catalyst behavior.
And Penn’s location is its greatest asset. It is situated in downtown Philadelphia, the sixth largest city in the United States and a hotbed for grassroots basketball talent. Its historic basketball arena, the Palestra, has often been called “The Cathedral of College Basketball†since opening its doors in 1927. Penn is able to attract large schools to come play at the Palestra during the regular season to boost its profile and NCAA Tournament résumé, a luxury few mid-major teams in the country can claim. Momentum for the program is building towards something special, potentially even a trip to the Final Four. -
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Streamers
Professor
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Reg: 11-21-04
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08-17-18 08:51 AM - Post#260405
In response to rbg
We can dream, can’t we?
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palestra38
Professor
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08-17-18 09:08 AM - Post#260406
In response to Streamers
That always was why Penn had an advantage in the days before Big Money Basketball. But the real thing that is omitted is that AAU corruption steers almost all truly superior players away from places like Penn with coaches like Donahue. The only Ivy with a link to the major AAU pipeline is Harvard because it hired a "Goliath" coach.
I don't know if Penn can recruit the talent to get to a Final Four in today's game, but if it is close, Steve has shown he can coach the hell out of a game.
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TheLine
Professor
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Re: Can Penn Crack the Cinderella Code to the Final Four?
08-17-18 09:08 AM - Post#260407
In response to rbg
And Penn’s location is its greatest asset. It is situated in downtown Philadelphia, the sixth largest city in the United States and a hotbed for grassroots basketball talent.
AI has effectively killed this as an asset unfortunately.
Nice read by the way, though I'm real skeptical about a breakthrough. The big conferences have learned how to skew the system.
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PennFan10
Postdoc
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Reg: 02-15-15
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08-17-18 10:19 AM - Post#260412
In response to palestra38
That always was why Penn had an advantage in the days before Big Money Basketball. But the real thing that is omitted is that AAU corruption steers almost all truly superior players away from places like Penn with coaches like Donahue. The only Ivy with a link to the major AAU pipeline is Harvard because it hired a "Goliath" coach.
The AAU Corruption story is not systemic. It's a handful of bad eggs.
I don't know if Penn can recruit the talent to get to a Final Four in today's game, but if it is close, Steve has shown he can coach the hell out of a game.
Except @Yale last year right? 
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palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32803
Reg: 11-21-04
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08-17-18 10:36 AM - Post#260415
In response to PennFan10
I disagree with that coaching move. However, it seems to be the right play by the numbers, according to those that work the numbers.
But Penn overachieved last season.
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