What the Hell Happened to Penn Basketball?

Jerome Allen was brought in with much hope in 2009, but tonight's game will be the last for the Penn men's basketball coach and former Quakers star.

“Finally,” my friend Chris said, “We have a basketball team again!”

It was the first game of the 2010-11 basketball season. Penn was about to complete a 69-64 win over Davidson. The Wildcats are generally a mid-major powerhouse, and the win meant good things for the future. Freshman Miles Cartwright scored 18 points in his first game to lead the Quakers. We chanted Cartwright’s name as he scored bucket after bucket in the first half — leading to an awkward moment when his father turned around to thank (or laugh at) us.

My friend Chris wasn’t the only one excited. I was, too. I attended Penn in the early 2000s, when the team made two NCAA tournaments. (And went 4-0 in the Big 5 my sophomore year!) I was a sports editor at The Daily Pennsylvanian for a year. I probably wrote more than 100 stories on Penn basketball during my time at Penn. I am no Penn superfan — I can name scores of people who put my fandom to shame — but I care. And that year, we decided to really care. My friends and I were so optimistic about a turnaround that year we purchased partial season-ticket packages.

Why? Penn had stumbled to a 6-22 record the previous season, coach Glen Miller was fired and former Penn star (and NBA player) Jerome Allen took over. That season, Allen’s team pulled off one great victory: A 15-point thrashing of No. 22 Cornell. College hoops stats guru Ken Pomeroy‘s numbers gave Penn a 10-percent chance of winning going in. That year, Cornell advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. Things were looking up.

Tonight, Penn hosts Princeton in the final game of each team’s season. This used to be the game that decided the league. Between the 1968-69 and 2006-07 seasons, Penn or Princeton was the league’s representative in the NCAA tournament every year but two. There will be a big basketball game at the Palestra this week, but it’s on Saturday: Harvard and Yale, the league’s co-champions this year, will play for the automatic NCAA tournament bid that afternoon.

Tonight’s Princeton-Penn game will be Allen’s final game as coach. What the hell happened?

AS IT TURNS out, Davidson wasn’t all that good that 2011 season, finishing just 18-15. Penn went 13-15, with a 7-7 Ivy League mark. But there was still hope. The next year, behind an Ivy League Player of the Year season by Zack Rosen, the Quakers finished 20-13 — and were just a game behind Harvard in the Ivy League.

But Rosen, who was recruited by Miller, graduated. (He now plays professionally in Israel.) And Allen’s first two Penn seasons would be his best. The Quakers went 9-22 in 2013, 8-20 in 2014 and sit at 9-18 going into their final game this season. News broke on Saturday this would be Allen’s last season.

The vibe around Penn is one of disappointment. “You can’t find a person walking around the Palestra who is overjoyed to hear that Jerome Allen’s Penn tenure is down to one game,” the Inquirer’s Mike Jensen wrote. “I think the way I felt about it — and a number of people I’ve talked to sort of express the same thing — is that it’s not shocking but it is disappointing,” Allen’s former teammate Tim Krug told the DP.

I, too, am disappointed it didn’t work out. It might sound silly, but I went to Penn in part because of Jerome Allen. Penn’s 1993-94 team, led by Allen and Matt Maloney, went 25-3 and actually won an NCAA tournament game. There’s a clip on letsgoquakers.com of that NCAA tournament win over Nebraska. Because I am a huge dork, I watch it occasionally. That team was just unfathomably good for a Penn team. I think I fell in love with the idea of going to Penn because of that squad. I got to go to a good school, in my hometown, and still have a bit of that big-time college basketball fan experience I yearned for. (If you’re wondering why I didn’t just shoot for Duke, it’s because Jerry Tarkanian’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels were the first college basketball team I fell head over heels for. Screw Duke.)

Allen returning to coach seemed like a perfect fit. And he worked at it. “This isn’t a situation where someone gave a lackluster effort and they only cared about their own career,” Penn basketball board member Stan Greene told The DP in another Q&A. “We had an individual who was committed to doing anything in his power to return this program to the status it enjoyed when he was a player.” And Allen was just so likable. His suits didn’t look as expensive as Villanova coach Jay Wright’s. Wright is known nationally for his sharp dress. For my tastes, though, Allen dressed better.

BUT THE RESULTS didn’t come, no matter how hard Allen worked. The recruits Allen got did not translate into winning seasons. If Penn loses tonight, it will be three consecutive seasons with single-digit wins.

The move, officially not a “firing,” comes when some alumni believed the program was about to turn around. Josh Verlin, who runs City of Basketball Love, tweeted the other day that Penn has hope thanks to a strong 2014/2015 recruiting classes. But new athletic director M. Grace Calhoun clearly thought it was time for a change.

Many Penn fans are optimistic this is a chance for a turnaround. There are plenty of possible replacements for Allen. But it could be a long turnaround. Penn last made the NCAA tournament in 2007. Ivy teams that were once also-rans — say, Harvard — are now attractive options for the types of recruits that can attend a school that does not offer scholarships.

The Palestra will be packed this Saturday for the Ivy League playoff game between Harvard and Yale. Perhaps one day it will be packed again for a big Penn conference game.

Follow @dhm on Twitter.