Automatic Bids to the NCAA Tournament: University of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is different than those teams earning a bid by winning a conference tournament. Those pesky Ivy Leaguers have yet to go to a tournament to decide which teams gets the automatic bid from their conference. Therefore, the bid goes to the team who wins the conference title in the regular season.

Pennsylvania was the first team in Division I to punch their ticket to the big dance in 2007. They earned their automatic bid by finishing the regular season 2.5 games ahead of Yale to win the Ivy League. Finishing 21-8, Pennsylvania had a good regular season but definitely not a great one.

Playing in the Ivy League, Penn has not played an overly rough schedule this year. Penn only played two ranked opponents throughout the season, losing both games. Their biggest victory of the year unquestionably would have to be the 68-49 beating they put on Drexel back in November. Other than that Penn has won ten out of its last 11, all the while going 12-1 in conference play (this article was written before the March 6 game played at Princeton).

Senior forward Mark Zoller leads Penn in scoring and rebounding. He averages 18 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He is at the very least one of the best players in the entire conference. Joining Zoller is senior guard Ibrahim Jaaber averages about 16 points and five and a half assists a game. Junior Brian Grandieri, another guard, averages 12.1 points a game. Other than these three players Pennsylvania has very little threats offensively. They are a very undersized team with their tallest player standing at a modest 6-foot-9.

Something that can act as a benefit and a crutch during the tournament is a team's age. Relatively speaking this is a young team with only three seniors on the roster. What is nice for Pennsylvania is that two of those seniors are not just the heart and soul of the team; they are the two best players on the roster. Senior leadership along with youthful excitement is always nice to have in March.

Truth be told though this is a team that cannot be expected to do much in the tournament. Looking back at their performance throughout the year one would be disappointed to see just how Penn has played against high caliber teams. Other than the win over Drexel Penn's tournament resume is anything but impressive. Throughout the year they have lost to Syracuse, Villanova, North Carolina, Seton Hall, and St. Joseph's. While being 21-8 is not by any means a bad season it just doesn't mean as much when the wins are against cupcake teams.

Simply put Penn won't be playing the likes of Yale, Harvard, and Cornell anymore. I like the senior leadership and determination that Pennsylvania has entering the tourney but I just don't think they have enough talent to make it very far. It all depends on how the brackets are drawn up but I don't envision Pennsylvania making it past the first weekend. Unless they get a very favorable draw I doubt I will even pick Penn to win a single game in the tournament this year.