Update on Penn and Princeton Hoops Recruiting

For Princeton, click here.

For Penn, click here.

Does every player in the league seem to be a shooting guard, 6'8" forward who perhaps is neither a 4 or a 5, and an undersized PG?

The Penn report, from The Daily Pennsylvanian, seems more gleeful than the Princeton report, which is from The Trenton Times. The former is a student newspaper; the latter is not. Penn perhaps has more reason for glee, given their most recent triumphs in Ivy play. Still, you never know how good these kids are until they walk into the gym and begin playing. Ryan Pettinella was supposed to be one of the next best big men for Penn. After two undistinguished seasons (okay, Penn fans, there were glitters of promise every now and then), he transferred to Cincinnati. That move backfired when Cincinnati gave head coach Bob Huggins his walking papers, and Pettinella is now at a community college near his home in upstate NY. Similarly, Princeton combo guard Max Schafer was a first-team all-state player in basketball-rich NJ, only to have two lackluster seasons for the Tigers so far.

Remember, they're just teenagers. While Penn is gleeful about recruit Andreas Schreiber (and the report on him confuses me a bit -- if he's that highly ranked out West and he's that great a get for Penn, you'd think he'd be choosing Penn not only over Princeton, but also over schools more highly rated than UC Santa Barbara -- whose nickname is the Gauchos and who play at a court called the Thunderdome). Penn fans who read this blog, please comment on what you're heard about Schreiber, especially those of who who sometimes watch practice at the Palestra and pick up things here and there.

Princeton didn't land uberrecruit Brian Zoubek, the 7'1" son of a Princeton alum who chose Duke after his junior season at Haddonfield (NJ) HS ended. They got a very good consolation prize, of sorts, in 6'4" shooting guard Blake Wilson, a teammate of Zoubek's. A Penn cognoscenti told me that Penn was hot on Wilson's trail and was excited about the prospects of landing him, so getting a commitment from Wilson is a good thing for Princeton (which, by the way, shot much better last year than its fans had come to think -- it was the Tigers' defense that was their undoing last year).

Princeton fans shouldn't start thinking about any domino theories though. For example, should Zoubek go to Duke and get buried on the bench or hate it or want to go somewhere where he can play and star, don't start thinking that he might transfer to Princeton to play with Wilson. Sure, it's a fun thing to dream about during a horribly rainy week in New Jersey (like the one we just had), but it's a delusion and most unlikely to happen.

I'll have more on my thoughts for the Ivy hoop season in a few weeks. I'll give you one hint as to my outlook. Penn should be strong, but Princeton could surprise (on the positive side of things, this year).

Then again, what else is really new?