After watching last night’s games on the elevated court that Wheeling talked about a few posts earlier, I really hope that this idea doesn’t start catching on. I don’t like it at Vanderbilt, but the arena is small and intimate enough to make for a raucous and exciting environment. But at a huge stadium like Ford Field, the fans are way too removed from the action. The same was true in Houston, where CBS analyst Billy Packer observed that what should have been a home court advantage for the Longhorns wasn’t really an advantage at all because the Texas faithful were barely audible on the court.

The entire setup also looked pretty ridiculous. Players and coaches sat on chairs below the court, and players jumped off of the court and over their bench to track down loose balls as if they were cliff diving. It couldn’t have been too safe, either.

The beauty of the college game, and even of the NBA to a certain extent, is that the fans can get very close to the action. We take this for granted at the Palestra, where every seat has a front row feel. It’s unfortunate that the NCAA feels the need to use football stadiums as basketball venues. Sure, you can sell more tickets that way, but you’re just making more money off of some hardworking college kids. At least let them enjoy the experience to the fullest and give them a suitable arena for a basketball game.

Finally, on a somewhat unrelated note, how great of an institution is Davidson? Not only do they do your laundry for free (okay, it’s part of the tuition, but still), but in light of the school’s impressive run, Davidson’s Board of Trustees pledged to pay for any student to go to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games in Detroit. Transportation, tickets, and lodging were all included. Of course, the student body is very small, making an operation like this one feasible. But in a tournament full of greed, it’s refreshing to see a school that has its priorities straight. And how sweet is Stephen Curry’s shot?

If you’re interested, Big Red reserve Jon Jaques is contributing to the New York Times’ NCAA Tournament blog. In his first entry, he discusses the difficulty of preparing for the NCAA Tournament when all of the other teams are still competing in conference tournaments. He also talks about Selection Sunday and the emotions surrounding it, and he does a good job of putting the fanfare in perspective, especially for an Ivy League team. You can follow it here.

We all knew that Fran Dunphy and his Temple Owls would be going to the Big Dance after beating St. Joe’s in the A-10 championship on Saturday, but the Hawks’ fate was uncertain. After yesterday’s loss, Phil Martelli said, “I’ve told everybody, if you believe in a greater power than us, pray your (butt) off. Right now, I have to believe in the power of prayer.”

Maybe it has something to do with Easter weekend approaching, but not only were Martelli’s prayers answered — so too were those of Holy War rival Villanova. Both Big 5 squads were very much on the bubble heading into today, and both found their way into the tournament bracket.

While Villanova snagged a 12 seed, St. Joe’s wound up with an 11 seed, which is a bit suspect. Why? Because Temple, the A-10 champion, got stuck with a 12 seed. The two teams split the regular season series, but the Owls beat the Hawks in the A-10 championship game, when it counted most. It seems pretty unfair that the Hawks would wind up with the better seed. But hey, it’s just one seed, and when has the tournament selection committee ever been perfectly accurate or fair?

And to top it all off, Notre Dame won more games this season than it ever has before, earning a 5 seed. The dozen or so of you non-Jews at Penn clearly need to go to church more often.

In any event, it is the first time since 1999 that three Big 5 teams have made the tournament. Now, in the one year that Penn finally fails to make the tourney, you have your pick of Cornell or three Big 5 teams to root for.

The Penn baseball team just wrapped up its Florida trip today with a 12-1 thrashing of NJIT.  The week certainly had some very low points, most notably an 18-0 loss to UConn, as the Quakers finished up with a 3-4 record. However, the two starting pitchers that combined for Penn’s three wins were excellent and might have emerged as a reliable one-two punch. Just look at today’s doubleheader pitting the Quakers against Dominican and NJIT.

Todd Roth has picked up where he left off last season. The big right-hander — who recorded a tremendous 1.98 ERA as a freshman last year and was named as a freshman All-American — has mowed down the opposition over the past few weeks. Today against NJIT, he hurled seven strong and struck out nine. Against Maine earlier in the trip, he threw seven innings and fanned nine batters as well. It seems that the sky is the limit for this kid, and Penn is very lucky to have him.

And to balance out Roth, southpaw Tom Grandieri — the only lefty on the staff — is making a name for himself. After two successful appearances out of the pen, the sophomore transfer made his first start today against Dominican. He walked one and struck out five in 5.1 innings and also knocked in a run, guiding the Quakers to a 7-1 victory. In 8.2 innings this season, he’s given up one hit and two earned runs.

This young, righty-lefty duo looks to be a very promising one for Penn going forward. Roth is obviously more experienced and tested as a starter, but Grandieri’s successful outing in his first career start for the Red and the Blue after starting out in the bullpen  is quite impressive. And the best part is that they’re both just sophomores. The Quakers will be back in action against Temple on Wednesday, and the Ivy League season begins on March 29 at home against Yale.

First off, what a game last night. Even though the Quakers didn’t come away with the “W,” they came awfully close — even closer than they did in Ithaca a few weeks ago. For the second consecutive game against the best team in the league, Penn rose up to the challenge when it could have just as easily folded after last Saturday’s devastating loss to Brown. This has to be a big confidence-builder for the team going forward, and it should also give them a little extra motivation when Cornell comes to the Palestra next season.

And say what you will about bad calls and no calls (evidently Friday night referees in the Ivy League are the worst in the business with other conference tournament games going on around the east coast), last night’s game was the third straight very exciting Penn-Cornell contest. Dating back to last year’s fierce battle at the Palestra, we have seen the beginnings of what could likely become a very fun and heated rivalry between the Quakers and the Big Red over the next few years. Cornell is young and talented; Penn is young and talented and should be a much more successful team next season. With Princeton in the cellar, I can certainly see the potential for a great Penn-Cornell rivalry in the immediate future. Not to take anything away from the greatness of the Penn-Princeton rivalry — the two teams will always compete in entertaining games no matter what. But as far as league importance and quality basketball is concerned, Penn-Cornell might be the real attraction going forward.

Speaking of the Tigers…they somehow managed to pull off a win over the Lions last night, 75-64, earning their third Ivy League win of the season (and sixth win overall). An interesting note from that game, aside from the fact that John Baumann and Niko Scott combined for 41 of Columbia’s 64 total points, is that K.J. Matsui saw only seven minutes — more than 12 below his season average.

The Tokyo-native is somewhat of a secret weapon for Columbia. He started the first two Ivy League games of the season and has since been used as a perimeter threat off the bench. Penn fans know this all too well. Earlier this season against the Quakers, he played 31 minutes off the bench and went 5-8 from behind the arc, ending up with 17 points. Matsui is an even 50-100 from downtown this season, leading the league with his 50% clip.

Given how good Matsui was against Penn last time the two teams met — and given how much trouble Penn tends to have guarding against the three — I’d have to imagine that he sees a lot more than seven minutes tonight. Tonight, the Quakers will have to do a better job of containing him and Niko Scott around the perimeter without losing sight of Baumann.

In some circles, he’s Columbia forward John Baumann, the senior that leads the team in points. In other circles, he’s Columbia pitcher John Baumann, the second team All-Ivy hurler that led the Lions in strikeouts last season. To his fraternity brothers, he’s known simply as “Hard Hat” — the summertime construction worker keeps one in his room.

On Saturday, Baumann will make his final trip to the Palestra. A few weeks ago, the New York Times published a great article about him that can be found here.

The DP’s interesting article from a few weeks ago about this “John of all trades” can be found here.

Do your homework before you write. Clearly I need a refresher course. My last post hinged on the ridiculous assumption that Penn schedules its Ivy League games, which it surely does not — a fact that most sports fans take for granted. While I’ve known this all along, it completely slipped my mind when writing the previous post. I certainly feel like an idiot for my unwarranted and sarcastic bashing of the athletic department when I was obviously in the wrong.

Penn’s athletic department is not at all at fault for holding senior day over Spring Break; it’s just an unfortunate consequence of the way that the Ivy League schedule works. When schools have different vacation dates and all games have to be played on weekends, you wind up with the unavoidable situation of having senior night over Spring Break. It wouldn’t make sense to have it any time earlier in the season.

The Ivy League scheduling also alternates home and away dates every season, so you would think that we’d get stuck having a home rivalry game against Princeton over the vacation as well. However, the athletic department realized this situation a few years ago, and the two schools were able to work out a solution in the 2004-05 season where the first game is always played at Penn.

Contrary to what I suggested earlier, the athletic department has worked tirelessly to protect against these attendance issues and should be commended for their efforts. While I’m not sure about the merits of holding “fan appreciation day” over the break, the onus is on me to talk to the marketing arm of the athletic department before bashing the idea. I plan to do so in order to provide a more accurate assessment of the situation.

So to anyone in the athletic department that I offended with my last post, I’m truly sorry. I was the one that made an unconscionable error, and I’ll do my homework next time so that it doesn’t happen again.

I hear that’s a pretty good class for Wharton kids, but I’m in the College, so I wouldn’t know. Maybe the class should be required for the people who work in Penn’s athletic department that are responsible putting together basketball schedules and promotions. Because you’d have to think that in a Wharton marketing class, they’d teach you not to hold “Fan Appreciation Day” or “Senior Night” on days when fans can’t come to the games.

Nonetheless, the athletic department, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that the Red and Blue Crew should be “appreciated” when they’re on SPRING BREAK. Better yet, Brian Grandieri — who has given his heart and soul to Penn basketball and its fans over the past four years — will play his final game at the Palestra in front of an absolutely empty student section. What a great way to honor the seniors!

I understand that attendance hasn’t been good at all this year. But between ordering a ban on the “Hey Song” and scheduling these games during Spring Break, the athletic department is completely failing to ameliorate the situation. In fact, the situation is just getting worse. It is absolutely unconscionable that students have to miss out on the last home games of the season, and even more ridiculous that they’d have to miss out on a promotion designed almost exclusively for them. How could the athletic department be unaware of the fact that the campus clears out after Thursday? Kids that have to travel to get home or go to Spring Break destinations have flights to catch and aren’t going to hang around a few extra days at Penn — it would be unreasonable for anyone to expect as much.

Obviously, when you’re not a league title contender for the first time in a while, it’s not easy to keep attendance and fan support up. The whole process can get a little frustrating. And I’m sure that the athletic department is trying its best to improve the attendance issues — it reflects poorly on an institution that prides itself on school spirit to not have the gym packed. But honestly, this is beyond absurd. Shame on Penn’s athletic department for this tremendous oversight.

Well apparently, one or two of you would rather read about the upcoming Penn baseball season than about the sub-par football and basketball teams. I expect the number of the hits on this blog to drop off significantly after spring break… But with the very warm weather the past two days, it feels like spring is upon us. The smell of baseball is in the air. So without further ado, a few quick, interesting notes about familiar names on (or not on) Penn’s baseball team this season.

Tommy Grandieri, as in the brother of Brian, is the starting right-fielder this season, and you can expect to see the southpaw make a few appearances on the hill this season.
He is a transfer from Villanova. Against DII West Chester, he went 1-3 with a walk.

Matty Tellem, as in the son of renowned sports agent Arn Tellem, is a freshman infielder on the team this season. His dad represents Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, and Frank Thomas, among others, and is a local product of Haverford College.

Nick Francona, as in the son of Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, is not on the roster this season. The senior, a lefty starting pitcher, had a rocky relationship with coach John Cole and quit the team last season. The one time draft pick of the Sox will not be back for the Red and Blue.

And a quick alumnus update: Former Penn left-handed pitcher Josh Appell ‘05, who had spent the past two seasons in the Mets’ farm system, was traded to the Houston Astros system during the off-season.  He finished up last season playing high-A ball in Port St. Lucie for the Mets, though he spent the bulk of the season with the Brooklyn Cyclones, recording a 3.65 ERA over 24.2 innings.

I hope you got your baseball fix. (Can Zack Rosen suit up for the Cornell game this weekend? Thanks.)

Former Penn baseball player and current Chicago Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa has left Spring Training in Arizona after complaining of a rapid heartbeat during some drills on Saturday. He will undergo tests at a hospital in Chicago. You can read more about it here. A bat that DeRosa gave the DP years ago still sits in our sports office, and we obviously all wish him the best and hope that he’ll be back out on the field for the Cubs soon.