After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the Fran McCaffery era of Penn men’s basketball finally tipped off this weekend.
On Friday, Penn set a program record for points scored in a 119-72 trouncing of Division III Rowan. Two days later, the Quakers made the trip to Washington D.C. to face last year’s Patriot League champion American Eagles. In a contested matchup, Penn fell to the Eagles 84-78.
Sports columnists and TV talking heads are paid to overreact. Luckily for you, The Daily Pennsylvanian doesn’t pay me. This season, I will be looking to evaluate some of the overreactions about the Penn men’s season, starting with this past weekend:
Penn’s dominant win over Division III Rowan shows us nothing Overreaction: Yes
It stinks that the first game of Fran McCaffery’s tenure at Penn was against a Division III opponent. With so much hype being built around the team this offseason, a 47-point thumping was extremely anticlimactic.
Still, despite the evident skill gap between the programs, the game did show us one thing: freshman forward/center Dalton Scantlebury is a name Penn fans will know.
The freshman center logged 17 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, and three steals on Friday. The scoring output can be partially chalked up to playing the Profs, but his lateral quickness and defense will keep him on the court this season. The 6-foot-9 Chicago native played 12 minutes off the bench against American, grabbing six boards in the process.
There is a real controversy at point guard Overreaction: No
After battling for the starting spot this summer, sophomore point guard AJ Levine started at the one against Rowan and American. On Sunday, against American, McCaffery had a very short leash for the 6-foot, scrappy guard. Levine played just six total minutes in the contest, logging three personal fouls and three turnovers in that time.
With Levine struggling and senior point guard Dylan Williams injured, senior guard Cam Thrower played the majority of the minutes at point guard at American. Thrower logged 16 points in 31 minutes, but he turned the ball over four times as well.
Before the season, the staff indicated to the DP that either Levine or Williams would be starting, and that Thrower would be seeing minutes off the bench as a combo guard. Now, that doesn’t seem so clear.
On Sunday, when asked who will start at Providence on Tuesday, McCaffery said, “We will decide sometime today.”
TJ Power’s slow start is a reason for concern
Overreaction: Yes
There’s a lot of excitement about former 5-star, ex-Duke, ex-Virginia, and now-junior power forward TJ Power — for good reason.
With this excitement, though, comes heavy (and maybe somewhat unfair) expectations. This weekend, Power played OK. He averaged eight points on 31.6% shooting, eight rebounds, and one assist through the two matchups.
At American, Power struggled to create for himself — especially in frames where he shifted to small forward while senior wing Ethan Roberts rested. Power forced bad shots and could not convert at the rim.
“[Roberts] draws a lot of attention, so I think sometimes when he’s out, we just got to use each other out there on the floor,” Power said after Sunday’s game. “I try to be more aggressive and get to my spots close to the rim, just to get myself going there. I missed some easy paint touch shots that I should have made.”
Despite a less-than-ideal start for Power, it's important to remember that an elbow injury kept him from the court for close to a month. The rust was evident, but it does not mean that it won’t shake off with time. Give me a few more weeks before I start to panic.
Michael Zanoni could be the team’s No. 2 option Overreaction: No
Senior forward Michael Zanoni was unconscious from three against American, shooting 60% on Sunday. The former Mercer transfer, now in his second year with Penn, ended his day with a team-high 20 points in 37 minutes.
Zanoni got a bad break the past two years. He missed his entire sophomore year at Mercer with a foot fracture. Last year, he was coming into his own at the end of non-conference play before contracting mononucleosis, which sidelined him until Penn’s Ivy League chances were down the drain.
Because of this and all of the “new” around the program, the three-point sharpshooter has been overlooked by media and fans alike. He is easily the best pure shooter on Penn’s roster, and it’s not an overreaction to say that he could be the team’s No. 2 option behind Roberts even if Power progresses.
CONOR SMITH is a College senior from Mount Royal, N.J. studying communications. He currently serves as deputy sports editor. All comments should be directed to .
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