I caught the first hour or so of practice today, and though Glen Miller refused to do an interview, here is what I saw and can report.

After missing last weekend’s road trip because of a concussion suffered in practice last Monday, Tyler Bernardini showed up to practice in street clothes about half an hour late and handed some forms to the trainer. After a brief discussion with the trainer that I was not privy to, Bernardini went into the locker room and changed into his basketball clothes and started to practice with the team.

In the drills I saw him run, he did not appear to be limited in any way. When Penn practiced its offense, he went at 100%, making hard cuts and knocking down shots from the get go. Obviously, given the dangerous nature of concussions, this information does not necessarily mean that he will be cleared to play tomorrow. All I can report is that, from what I saw in my hour at practice, he looked like he might very well be able to play.

While Miller declined an interview with me at practice, he did do an interview with Comcast, in which he said that Bernardini is “day-to-day.” Apparently, that is all of the information that the team has.

In other news, Brian Grandieri, who played through a groin injury last weekend, also practiced at full strength. Though he certainly isn’t playing his best basketball right now, you really have to admire the grit and determination that he has shown this season. Grandieri has fought through injuries every time he’s set foot on a basketball court this year, but he never complains about it and always plays hard. His leadership in games is just as evident as it is in practice, bad knees and bad groin and all.

Finally, a few days ago, I told you about Ibby Jaaber’s outstanding play this season in Greece. Well now, he’s heading to to the prestigious Euroleague. Jaaber will compete on Lotomatica Roma (that’s in Rome, for those of you Italian scholars). Read more about it here.

Check out tomorrow’s DP for more coverage on the Penn-Princeton game, and stay tuned for updates on The Buzz.

After last night’s disheartening performance at Columbia, we know that it likey means more minutes for Penn’s three point guards. Normally, Penn’s ballhandlers — Kevin Egee, Aron Cohen and Harrison Gaines — combine for just over 40 minutes, meaning that only one of them is on the court at most times. But last night, with no Tyler Bernardini, they got 31, 13 and 21 minutes, respectively.

Bernardini’s injury is now confirmed to be a concussion sustained in practice on Monday. He won’t see the court tomorrow in Ithaca, either, since he didn’t make the trip.

Some other notes from the game:

• Think 2-for-11 (18.2%) was Penn’s worst three-point showing of the season? Not even close. Losses to Loyola (4-23, 17.4%) and North Carolina (3-19, 15.8%) were worse, as was last week’s 0-5 showing against Dartmouth.
• The game ball for Columbia goes to K.J. Matsui: 6-10 shooting, 5-8 on threes for 17 points in 31 minutes off the bench.
• Cameron Lewis and Andreas Schreiber combined for 8 fouls in 29 minutes.

Here are the other results from last night:

Cornell 72, Princeton 61
Yale 83, Harvard 70
Brown 77, Dartmouth 51

And here are the betting lines for tonight’s games:

Princeton at Columbia (-6); Over/under: 115
Penn at Cornell (-13.5); Over/under: 144.5
Dartmouth at Yale (-9.5); Over/under: 134
Harvard at Brown, (-9); Over/under 141

What do you think is the best Ivy League bet to make tonight?

We don’t know the nature or extent of his injury for sure, but Tyler Bernardini might not see the court this weekend.

We have reason to believe that he recently sustained a concussion, but according to Penn’s sports info office, it was a different injury.

How do you think his absence affects Penn’s game plan against Columbia and Cornell?

Sorry, Andrew, one post illustrating what happened last night is not enough.

Penn’s six points, 5.9 percent shooting and one field goal in the first half were all the worst by any Division I basketball team in the shot clock era. Even the 30-point total was Penn’s worst in 40 years. Here are a few stats that I found must supplement the last post:

• Penn had 16 turnovers and 12 missed shots before scoring a single point
• 10 players attempted a three pointer for Penn, seven of which didn’t make one
• Nine players had multiple turnovers, five (Brian Grandieri, Jack Eggleston, Tyler Bernardini, Justin Reilly and Andreas Schreiber) had four or more
• The five starters (Grandieri, Eggleston, Bernardini, Reilly and Cohen) had eight more turnovers (21) then points (13)
• The starters had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.095
• Six players had more turnovers than points
• Schreiber (2-for-5) and Bernardini (2-for-9) were the only players to make more than one basket

I could go on, but I don’t want to see grown men crying before New Years. Here are some quotes from Penn head coach Glen Miller after the game:

“That’s probably the worst performance that any of my teams have ever had — and I’ve been a head coach for a long time. I’m very disappointed.”

“We were just very lethargic and unsure of ourselves. We certainly didn’t handle the five days we had off. We’re a much better team than that.”

“I want to give [the Eagles] credit. I think they’re a better basketball team than their record [4-9] and I think that will come through when they get in league play.”

Since it’s a new year coming up soon, Penn fans can look on the bright side:

• Penn’s 36 rebounds equaled FGCU’s total
• Joe Gill, playing in the first half for (I believe) the first time in his career had a wonderful game, hitting his only shot attempt, scoring four points, and dishing out one assist to no turnovers in seven minutes
• None of this matters until the Ivy League

Scoring or passing? Talent or experience? When it comes to point guards, Glen Miller seems to be valuing the latter in each case, which is how Harrison Gaines has ended up with a reduced role in Penn’s last two games. Aron Cohen dished five assists in 25 minutes Thursday; Gaines had four fouls — chalk up at least one to frustration — in 15 minutes.

It seemed like Gaines had secured the spot before stepping on campus — and he essentially had. Before the season, Miller and his staff were telling anyone who would listen that Gaines was going to start and that he would wow them all. But Miller acknowledged after the Elon game that the dynamics at the position have changed. Gaines has lost that favor, at least for the time being.

“We were high on Harrison,” Miller said. “But he’s a young point guard … He’s learning, he’s getting to see a lot from the bench, and Aron’s done a good job of organizing us in practice, getting us into [our] offense, and on the defensive end he’s done some good things too … Right now Aron has more experience and that experience has come to the forefront.”

Putting both of them on the floor wouldn’t make much sense because it would require keeping a better scorer — Mike Kach, for example — on the bench. So who should the every-day point guard be come Feb. 1? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Thursday’s game had the feel of a bad dinner party. Not as many people showed up as you would have liked, and everyone couldn’t wait to get out of dodge once it was over.

The most-beleagured-award goes to Elon, though. The team drove from Chattanooga to Philadelphia after losing the night of the 18th; after losing to Penn, the team packed up for a bus ride that night to Charlotteville to play Virginia tomorrow afternoon. Three games in five days and 1,600 travel miles, according to the Elon athletic department. And still no road wins this year. Next time people get down on Penn basketball, remind them that the Quakers program is good enough that it can avoid anything near that scheduling hell (thanks to the Big 5, Drexel, preseason tournaments in Philadelphia and eager-to-play schools sprinkled throughout Jersey). Give some holiday thanks for that.

Phoenix coach Ernie Nestor said he made the decision to bus the entire trip because of “economics.” No kidding.

Not that the Quakers were riding on easy street, either. Miller praised his team for getting by during finals on miniscule doses of sleep and practice and still coming ready to play against Elon. Brian Grandieri called the last two weeks “miserable” and did his best to expedite the postgame proceedings. When Tyler Bernardini began to respond to the final question with an anecdote from his high school days, Grandieri slapped his leg, laughed, and gave the freshman a wrap-this-thing-up look. Bernardini obliged, and the Quakers were mercifully out the door, free to enjoy their first winning streak of the season.

There were a few comments on our website today about the wisdom of Brian Grandieri’s comments after Saturday’s loss to Howard. I had the chance to ask Glen Miller about it at practice yesterday; here’s what he said:

He’s a captain, he’s been around a while and he’s played on some successful teams, so we’re going to assume that he knows what it takes. He’s led us in the preseason, he’s led us throughout our first three games, so if he feels that way it’s his right as a captain to voice his opinion. It’s nice if it’s kept in the locker room, but what he said is what he said. He was speaking on emotions and that’s the way he felt, so hopefully it will have a positive effect on our team going forward.

Freshman forward Tyler Bernardini took a similar view, but also said that the older and younger elements of the team each need to make some changes.

Hopefully the older guys are starting to look at some of the younger guys and feeling more comfortable with our abilities … It’s more them adjusting to us and realizing, hopefully, that we can contribute as well.

He [Grandieri] is working hard every day in practice, and he’s proven his skills and what he can do, and I feel like it’s time that we all need to step up and start to prove to him that we can help, too. The guys that he was playing alongside with, Ibby [Jaaber] and Mark [Zoller] — they’re storied people in the Penn program. Right now, he’s playing along a lot of guys that are young and have no credibility, so we have to kind of establish that credibility.

What do you think about Grandieri’s actions? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Also, be sure to check back with The Buzz later tonight for live updates of the game against The Citadel.

What a rough game to watch, as Penn loses its third game in as many tries. After the overtime loss to Drexel, you had to be pretty confident in the Quakers’ chances of not seeing to drastic dropoff from last season as well as being the favorite in the Ivy League. But two games later, this squad is reeling.

What was most troubling was the defensive effort from Penn.

For a team that allows 29 points per game and 48 percent shooting from the three point line, I can’t imagine how a 1-3-1 defense was the best option defensively.

The Red and Blue played that set - with the point guard up top, big man in the middle with someone on either side of him and an athletic guard or swingman patrolling the back line - almost the whole game. And as a result, the defense allowed Howard to shoot 22 threes, making 12 of them. Many of these came from the corner, the area of the court that is traditionally most succeptible to threes in the 1-3-1 scheme.

Still, some execution would have prevented the onslaught that ensued. The Bison put up 80 points on Penn after averaging 56 in their first two losses to Duquesne (129-59) and Virginia (92-53).

Howard shot 57 percent not only by hitting wide open threes, but also beating Penn defenders off of the dribble. Quakers forwards seemed a step to slow against the small Bison side, and they conversely couldn’t use their size to their advantage. Penn inside was not particularly strong or intimidating, and recorded no blocks (after altering nine shots in the first two games).

And yet what was even more disturbing was the lack of communication.

Howard players were left wide open, and not just for three, but often under the basket. Whenever players screened, or crossed each other, Penn defenders struggled to cope, for example two defenders heading to the same offensive player on an off-the-ball screen.

This miscommuncation manifested itself on the offensive side as well. The Quakers had 14 turnovers from eight different guys - Grandieri was the only player who played over five minutes that didn’t give one away (Howard had four such players). Many of these were not so much bad passes, but bad decisions - throwing a pass into heavy traffic or to a place that a cutter wasn’t heading.

Key stats:

Read Monday’s paper to hear captain Brian Grandieri’s strong words following the surprising loss.

Penn had its chances down the stretch to win the game, but in the end, Drexel just made more big shots. A lot of that was due to the fact that the Quakers were not getting the ball to the right guys in the right spots. When they most needed shooters on the floor, there were none to be found.

Tyler Bernardini, tentatively labeled “maybe the best shooter” on the team, played four minutes total. Aron Cohen, who had the hot hand in the game, didn’t even attempt a shot in overtime. But six of the final nine treys the Quakers attempted were from big men Jack Eggleston and Brennan Votel (and of those six, they made only one). Not having Darren Smith out late definitely hurt the Quakers’ versatility, but it was still hard to swallow watching five guys stand on the perimeter and the center taking the shot.

I thought Harrison Gaines was the Quakers’ third-best player out there. He was very patient in the half-court, showed some deft passing and a nice handle, and was solid in man defense. Three dimes and a steal in 13 minutes is more than enough for a first outing. While I thought he made a premature exit, it was probably the right move if Miller took him out in favor of experience.

Speaking of experience, Brian Grandieri stepped up when he had to. At first, things looked shaky and Miller even sat him for a long stretch in the first half. But around midway into the second, he seemed to shift a few gears up, and grabbed some big offensive boards, got in the lane, and got to the line. Before the game, Miller said that he wasn’t sure if Grandieri “would have to score 18 to 20 a game or if he was even capable of that.” Well, he scored 23 (8-14 FG, 7-12 FT) and was the main reason Penn got back into the game.

On the bright side, the Quakers’ defense looked very sharp in the second half. The team did a good job of sealing off the leaks from the first half. While in zone, they rotated better to cover the corners and rebounded well, and in man they were generally tight and disciplined. Nonetheless, it’s hard to win a game shooting 31/22/50 (FG/3PT/FT). The right guys need to be able to get the right looks, and someone is going to have to emerge as a viable isolation threat.