Cancel culture strikes again.
Err… I mean the Coronavirus strikes again.
The CBI tournament just got the axe, which is making me rather nervous about March Madness:
This is something else:
The Ivy League has decided to cancel the League's upcoming Basketball Tournaments and implement highly-restrictive, in-venue spectator limitations for all other upcoming campus athletics events.
📰 » https://t.co/Y4nEjbsh0N pic.twitter.com/8zsrweXVXo
— The Ivy League (@IvyLeague) March 10, 2020
Sports Betting Updates
It was a little more than a year ago when former Penn basketball coach Jerome Allen pleaded guilty to a felony count of money laundering after taking a bribe of more than $250,000 from the father of a prospective recruit.
Allen, who is now an assistant on Brad Stevens’ Boston Celtics staff, was hit today with a 15-year show cause penalty while Penn was given a handful of sanctions as well.
Kevin and Russ bounce around the Villanova, Temple, and St. Joe’s news, 6-for-6 fans, discuss why the Sixers season feels like a chore, the Sixers’ depth issues and the postseason, Brett Brown’s job security, Monty Williams, the timing of the Flyers’ signing of Michael Raffl, Phillies banning tweeting during player/manager availabilities, a brand-new eSports arena, and answer Twitter questions.
Please subscribe to the show ([iTunes] [Google Play] [Stitcher] [RSS]), leave a 5 star review, and follow us on Twitter: @Kevin_Kinkead @JoyOnBroad
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Audio after the jump:
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I know what you’re thinking –
“Kyle won’t write about the Villanova loss since he’s a biased Villanova guy.”
That’s partially true. He’s doing business stuff for the site, so he himself is not going to write about it. He asked me to whip something up in his stead.
Penn looked good last night. Really good. Credit where it’s due; they’re a well-coached squad that knows how to space the floor and play disruptive defense and do the small things well. It’s not to say that Jay Wright is chopped liver compared to Steve Donahue, because Jay obviously just won two national championships, but I think we all knew that Villanova was gonna fall off a little bit after losing a bunch of guys to the NBA. Going down to Furman early in the season showed us that they were probably ripe for a Big 5 picking.
The Quakers didn’t win every category across the board last night. They actually took three fewer shots than Nova but were better from the three point line, hitting 7 of 16 tries for a 43.8% number. Villanova put up some deep bricks to the tune of a 9-26 night (34.6%), and that was probably the key difference, the three point shooting, along with Penn grabbing 13 offensive rebounds to offset a -3 turnover margin. Nova’s bench went 0-5 from three and contributed just 11 of their 75 points, while the Quakers got 25 combined points from Michael Wang and Jake Silpe on 7-14 shooting. Nova only mustered six assists as Penn forced them to play off the bounce, and when it came down to the final minutes, they team hit their free throws to finish the job.
“You come at the king,” quipped The Wire‘s Omar Little, “you best not miss.” Over the course of twenty-five basketball games stretched across seven seasons, Villanova has firmly established itself atop the Big 5 throne. In that time, there have been plenty of swings at the champs, and a whole lot of whiffs.
While its city brethren have struggled to escape the shadows of their former glories, the Wildcats have been busy writing new chapters in their own history books. Jay Wright’s program has claimed two national titles in three years. Wright, who was once a Rollie Massimino lieutenant, has eclipsed the accomplishments of his former boss and cemented his place as the best coach in Villanova’s history. Finneran Pavilion, fresh off a $65 million renovation, finally matches the sartorial splendor of the head coach. And the recruiting classes haven’t been too bad, either.
If there were a season that at least one of the Big 5 teams could catch up to Villanova, it stood to reason that 2018-19 might be the one. Despite a lofty #9 ranking in the preseason AP poll, Villanova was very much a team in transition for this campaign.
Wright was tasked with replacing 4 key players from the 2017-18 championship team: Jalen Brunson, last year’s Wooden Award winner, which is given to college basketball’s best player; Mikal Bridges; Omari Spellman; and Donte Divincenzo, the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. All but Brunson were selected in the first round of the June 2018 NBA Draft.
Early in the year, the Wildcats looked vulnerable. Villanova followed up a blowout loss to Michigan with a dispiriting overtime setback to the Furman Paladins. Villanova dropped both contests on its refurbished home court.
Wright’s squad hasn’t lost since.
Nothing is immune to the insidious tendrils of corporate influence. Not even Philadelphia’s hallowed cathedral of college basketball.
The Palestra is no longer the Palestra. Sort of. The naming rights were sold to a global financial group called “Macquarie,” which apparently has an American headquarters in Philly.
Penn alum Jon Tannenwald, who I’m 99.9% sure hates this move, wrote about it for the Inquirer:
“It’s a multiyear deal that will boost the Penn basketball teams’ budgets, and boost a range of community service programs that the athletic department runs. Athletic director Grace Calhoun wouldn’t disclose the amount of money changing hands, or the exact length of the deal, but she did call it “far and away the largest sponsorship Penn athletics has entered into, and one that we feel is really going to visibly change the way we’re able to sponsor our programs.”
I guess the building itself is still going to be called “The Palestra,” you’re just going to see the branding on the court and public address announcers will use the verbiage, “Macquarie Court at the Palestra.”
Pics after the jump:
