Current March Sadness, Past March Gladness

by Jon Teitel

 

March 9, 2004 was supposed to be the big season-ending battle between two traditional Ivy powers to determine which one of them would proceed to the NCAA Tournament. While the fierce hatred between Penn and Princeton will be on display for a sold-out Palestra, the significance of the outcome has already been rendered moot after this weekend’s results. Penn’s 21-point win over Harvard on Saturday night improved their record to 17-9 overall (10-3 in conference), but Princeton’s 64-59 win over Dartmouth the same night allowed the Tigers to clinch the conference title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Instead of spending Selection Sunday in front of the television to see whom they draw in the Big Dance, Penn will hope to follow in the footsteps of last year’s Yale team. The Bulldogs not only were chosen to play in the NIT, but they even won a first-round game against Rutgers before losing in the second round. Princeton is 19-7 overall, with their only conference loss so far coming to Penn in February. Princeton certainly does not want to get swept by their arch-rivals, but the team must secretly love the fact that they are the Ivy champions even if they lose to Penn by 100 points. Princeton hopes to repeat the Ivy glory of a quarter century ago, as this month marks the 25^th anniversary of the last Ivy League team to make it all the way to the Final Four.

The 1978-79 edition of the Penn Quakers were one of the best basketball teams in the school’s history. The team’s success that year was not a one-time fluke, but rather the culmination of a decade of Ivy dominance. Penn recorded the third-best winning percentage of the 1970s (behind only Marquette and UCLA), winning eight Ivy titles and almost 80% of its games. The 78-79 team faced some uncertainty after losing Keven McDonald (who led the team in scoring for three straight seasons) to graduation the previous year. The man running the show was Bob Weinhauer, who had taken over one year before when Chuck Daly left for life in the NBA. Weinhauer was nothing short of a spectacular coach: in five seasons, his teams went 62-10 in the Ivy League and won or shared five 5 Ivy titles. Penn had an unspectacular regular season, and did not beat a single team that ended up in the Tournament, but certainly finished on a high note. Sometimes numbers alone cannot tell the story, but in this case, the numbers do great justice to the Quakers. They finished 25-7 overall (including 13-1 in the conference), and were almost unstoppable on their home court (9-1). After setting a school record for most points in a season (2427), the Quakers completed the year ranked 14^th in final AP poll. Veteran leadership was a key factor to Penn’s success, as Weinhauer had four seniors and a junior in his starting five.

Penn’s best player was senior co-captain Tony Price, who was named Ivy and Big 5 Player of the Year. The forward scored 633 points (the second-most in school history behind Ernie Beck’s 673), and led the team with 19.8 PPG and 8.7 RPG. Price was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the second round of 1979 NBA draft (ahead of Bill Laimbeer), but only played five games. The other senior co-captain was point guard Bobby Willis, who led the team in assists. Willis was drafted by the hometown Philadelphia 76ers in the seventh round of the 1979 draft. Penn’s tallest player was also one of its best, 6'10" Matt White, who was named first-team All-Ivy along with Price after pulling down 7.5 RPG. The senior was the model of offensive efficiency: his63.3 FG% that year (157-248) is still a school record, as his career total of 59.1 FG%. White was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in the fifth round of the 1979 draft. The fourth senior was small forward Tim Smith, who was named honorable mention All-Ivy after ranking first on the team in free throw shooting (85.7 FT%), second in scoring (13.4 PPG), and third in rebounding (6.4 RPG). The lone junior among the starting five was shooting guard James Salters, who was named second-team All Ivy. Although the smallest (5’11") and lightest (150 pounds) member of the team, he is still the third-best free throw shooter in school history (83.7%), and was drafted by the New York Knicks in the eighth round of the 1980 draft.

In 1979, only 40 teams participated in the NCAA Tournament, composed of four regions with ten teams seeded one through ten. Penn was only able to muster a #9 seed, marking them as one of the longest shots to win it all. On March 9^th in Raleigh, NC, the Quakers began their improbable run with a 73-69 win over#8 seed Iona (coached by future NCAA championship coach Jim Valvano). Price had a double-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds, outdueling Iona’s future NBA strongman Jeff Ruland (who had 19 points). Two days later, the Quakers had their biggest upset of the tournament with a 72-71 win over #1 seed North Carolina, who was playing in their home state under Hall of Fame Coach Dean Smith. Price again was the leading scorer with 25 points and 9 rebounds, but it took at total team effort to get the big win. Smith chipped in with 16 points and 9 rebounds, and both Salters and sophomore Ken Hall made big free throws to clinch it at the end. The Quakers stayed in the state but moved over to the city of Greensboro, and on March 16^th they beat #4 seed Syracuse (coached by future NCAA championship coach Jim Boeheim) 84-76. Price continued his dominance with 20 points and 7 rebounds, and Smith (who would join Price on the all-regional team) added 18 points and 8 rebounds. Two days later, the Quakers’ Final Four dreams became a reality with a 64-62 win over #10 seed St. John’s and its Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca. Price was named regional MOP after scoring at least 20 points for the fourth straight game (21), White came through with 9 rebounds, and Salters made two key foul shots at the end for the second time in a week.

Despite their heroics up to that point, nobody expected Penn to continue their success in the Final Four in Salt Lake City, UT, as Penn was the second-lowest seed to ever reach the final weekend. After such a long road to the final destination, coach Weinhauer decided not to fly into Utah early. His rationale was based on, of all things, race concerns: Weinhauer believed that his Black players might feel uncomfortable in a white area like Salt Lake City, so he kept them in the City of Brotherly Love for as long as possible. On March 24^th, Penn’s magical season was stopped by an even more "Magic"-al team. Penn got destroyed by #2 seed Michigan State 101 (coached by that year’s NCAA championship coach-to-be Jud Heathcote) 101-67, and the game was effectively over at halftime (as the Spartans roared to a 51-17 halftime lead). Price’s 18 points and White’s 11 rebounds were simply no match for Michigan State sophomore Earvin "Magic" Johnson (whose triple-double helped him garner Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors) and senior Greg Kelser (who, like Price, was drafted by the Pistons in 1979). Two days later in the consolation game, Penn put forth a much better effort against #2 seed DePaul (and Hall of Fame coach Ray Meyer), losing 96-93 in overtime. The Blue Demons were led by freshman Mark Aguirre and senior Gary Garland (the brother of Whitney Houston and nephew of Dionne Warwick!), but the best player on the court was Price. He had 31 points and 14 rebounds, en route to being the tournament’s top scorer with a total of 142 points, but was somehow left off the All-Tournament team. While this may seem like an inexplicable slight, one glance at the five players who were selected over Price shows why he failed to make the cut. The five players named were Johnson, Kelser, Aguirre, Indiana State’s Larry Bird (all of whom went on to be top-6 NBA draft picks), and Garland. It was a quite a march through March, full of stars on the court and legends on the sidelines, and 25 years later that Penn team remains one of the greatest in school history. If Princeton can re-create even a fraction of Penn’s past glory, then they will have their own memories to reflect on in the future.