Penn (inexplicably) is -1 (-115) in this game. Data says they should be at least +2.5. Is there another injury or absence at Yale I don't know about?

Game is on NBC Sports Philadelphia for those in the area and ESPN+ for everyone else who feels like sitting inside their living room for the last couple of hours of daylight on a winter's day. I might be in the woods with the dog, but who knows.

Make it 16 now. 7:40 to go.

The men, at best, are playing for 4th place. A Princeton win over Dartmouth is just fine.

Would have been a premier event at the Palestra if they weren't so worried about a virus that we're just going to have to live with at the risk of flu-like symptoms unless you're a fool. Watch all the other Ivies go back to having fans in the building in February, after Penn has played 5 of its 7 home games.

• palestra38 Said:

The limited number of ”players’ families and friends” that are allowed in the Palestra includes quite a few long time, high rolling, season ticket holders. I’ve been noticing them on tv since Penn shut out those of us who pay the ridiculous prices, but apparently don’t contribute enough. What’s that all about?

The limited number of ”players’ families and friends” that are allowed in the Palestra includes quite a few long time, high rolling, season ticket holders. I’ve been noticing them on tv since Penn shut out those of us who pay the ridiculous prices, but apparently don’t contribute enough. What’s that all about?

Beat me to it--I was about to say that Vince is insufferable.

• palestra38 Said:

The limited number of ”players’ families and friends” that are allowed in the Palestra includes quite a few long time, high rolling, season ticket holders. I’ve been noticing them on tv since Penn shut out those of us who pay the ridiculous prices, but apparently don’t contribute enough. What’s that all about?

Thrilled to be up 12, but I still don’t think we played that great. I don’t agree that “we’re playing for fourth place at best.” Look around the league. We’re as good as anybody including Princeton, who has somehow managed to escape with wins three times to get to 5-0.

Ok, but we’re more likely to finish 2nd than 5th.

Ok, but we’re more likely to finish 2nd than 5th.

Right, that’s exactly what I have said all along. It doesn’t just apply to us, though. The whole league is like that, so forget about circling @Brown and @Cornell. Circle ’em all.

Jordan is a Soph and just dropped 31 on the preseason favorite. Please put down your analytics and the silly nitpicking and appreciate a talent very rarely seen at this level while he’s still here. He is an elite scorer. And to comment he “still doesn’t know when to shoot”… may I ask what that means to you?

And to comment he “still doesn’t know when to shoot”… may I ask what that means to you?

Does it really make sense to question somebody’s shot selection on a day where he goes 13 for 24? That’s a shooting percentage I take every time.

Bottom line: Is Penn a significantly better team with or without him on our roster? Anybody wanna say “without”?

Ken pom now has Penn finishing third at 8-6. He has Harvard and Brown at 7-7.

To the good, Penn has six players who get time with ratings above 100. Guess which of those player has the lowest of those six 100's. Hint: he had 31 today.

Glad he did on a day when Penn couldn't buy a 3.

But Dingle is great--probably the best player in the League. He certainly can do things Swain cannot. And we have to ride a player like that. we need to cut back on allowing Mosh to go 1 on 1, however.

Dingle can do things AJ could not, especially in the open court. AJ was a great Ivy center. Dingle is a great player, period.

You really think letting those guys in helps give us a home court advantage? Seriously? You know who they are. They sit there and make about as much noise as I do when I’m asleep - and I don’t even snore. It’s just more hypocrisy coming out of our athletic department.

They shouldn't be able to do it because Slajchert is also very tough in the half court if not doubled and Charles, Smith and Martz are all very effective 3 point shooters. Problem is we often have too many other guys taking too many shots, along with giving up too many second chances. But we have a mix of players that should be very tough to beat at our level....demonstrated by a beginning to end defeat of the consensus favorite.

Dingle can do things AJ could not, especially in the open court. AJ was a great Ivy center. Dingle is a great player, period.

I'd be interested to see a breakdown here, but at least in my faulty memory Slajchert and Dingle aren't often on the court at the same time.

• palestra38 Said:

Fortunately, Yale had no more luck from 3 than Penn did. The other narrative this game supports is that this Yale team does not have its usual frontcourt depth and makes them a better matchup for Penn as was discussed pregame.

Speaking of Dingle, does anyone else see some Allen Iverson in his game beyond the jersey number?

Rough estimate from the PBP in the box score is they were together for 12 of Slajchert’s 19 minutes on court yesterday.

• penn nation Said:

and honestly, i still have no idea what to make of Jordan. He looks like one of the best ever at Penn. But his stats do not back that up... but his usage does...shrug.

Didn't you recently post that you haven't watched any games this year? So how would you even know what he looks like?

The issue isn't whether Dingle can improve, it's whether he has taken difficult shots because he wants his points on a great team (see, McDonald, Keven) or because he is the only one who can get his own shot. And the obvious answer is the latter.

Jordan Dingle has a mindset that is totally focused on winning

and his play that seeks to “pile on the points” is with that goal in mind.

That doesn’t mean that he, and by extension, the team can’t improve as he becomes a better distributor, just as AJ did.

Fun fact : Name the Penn player with more assists than Dingle this year without looking it up.

Anyone who puts up a net positive ORtg using 1/3 of a team’s possessions when he’s on the floor is a uniquely valuable player. Most 30%+ volume possession eaters are well under that rating, and tend to play on very bad teams. Sophomore & junior year Tony Hicks for example.

Is it good to be so dependent on so valuable a player? Of course not. It would be better in particular to have Martz, Smith, & Willams upping their usage rate, even if it means lowering their impressive ORtg, because it would shift defensive attention away from Dingle and Slajchert and mean we’re an overall harder rotation to guard.

Still, we do need to recognize that Steve’s system is getting a lot of positive offensive play out of these supporting players.

If those three were all a little more like Monroe and his 18% on O there’d be fewer of those stagnant stretches the offense can lapse into.

But suffice it to say that on a per minute basis, Dingle has a long way to go on a good number of stats.

Also, he leads the team in turnovers by a country mile--one of the worst A/TO ratios on the whole squad.

It would probably be about the same. This has just become a generally pissy place.

if you're not outraged you're not paying attention

And if anyone isn't endowed, they are absolutely entitled to outrage.